I could be tripping, but I swear I remember hearing a full phrase for memento mori (Latin for, 'remember to die'), but I can already say it's not anything that's come up on wikipedia, or the poem by Walter McDonald. The full phrase should be in Latin, I believe it rhymes, something something empori, memento mori (not the actual line, I'm just trying to give a better description).
Sorry, I know this is incredibly vague, but I seriously could not tell you what it is until I see it, and recognise it. Thanks.

My father didn't care about our family when he was in 30s..
Got cancer and never followed proper medication. All the ancestral land is selled by his greedy brothers. He died and I was just a kid back then. My mother is not able to see from her one eye. She was way traumatized all these years.
Being an elder son , I had to deal with my mother's narcissistic and highly traumatised personality which I myself justify because of the reasons.
My maternal and paternal relatives treated us like a shit. When my father was on deathbed , they made us untouchable because of the fear of infection. My mother raised me. But I grew up like a lifeless kid. I never played games , i studied hard because that was the only thing I could do that time.
By focusing on partime jobs and studies, i couldn't make friends ( believe me keeping friends was expensive for me!) Because you need daily at least 50 rupees if you have to sit with them for tea.
I had girlfriend when I was 18-19. She was 4 years older than me. She cheated me brutally with her old friend. I took a year to get back in my senses. I blame her for spoiling my college years.
Somehow , i became engineering graduate two years ago. Now I'm working, I have real life ahead to face. I earn very less. My mother is almost got old. My younger brother lives like he's Nawab by my money. If I refuse , my mother Gaslights me unconsciously. I understand her , I have to understand her why she is like this.
My only uncle (34) died before 3 years. His wife got married someone else. His daughter is 5 y/o and unfortunately she is mentally disabled. My grandmother lives with her separately because she has issues with my mother. She never miss a chance to increase my tension. I feel so bad , my own blood relatives can't see me like their child. My father had two sisters. They don't speak with me because they wants our ancestral house in village.
I failed at romantic relationships which gave me unbearable trauma. Society looks at my mother as a great woman but no one looks at me like a human. My insecurities are so hyper. I can't smile , i desparately find someone just to talk.
I have read too much philosophy when I was in isolation. That's why I'm facing an existential crisis. I don't remember when I smiled last time. My maternal relatives also treats me as the competitor of their children ( they are crorepatis) not as a son of their poor sister. My great grandfather was very close to the King of our province before independence. I have read too many books just to cure my loneliness. But nothing works anymore. After years of studying hard , i became a mediocre.
Today morning I got a call from my sister in law. She expressed her concerns that my cousin is not close to her and life seems boring. She said that if this is being normal life then I probably do something. And then she justified a woman who recently caught cheating her husband. I know my cousin is in too much loss in his business. That's why he's not able to give her attention. But this woman triggered my all insecurities again. I'm still living cause I have a hope for being loved someday, and the chaste lady like her feels cheating on her husband then it can happen with me too. I see no purpose in life is I don't get loved.
I look very playful and handsome according to some women. But trust me I don't believe in anything anymore.I want someone to motivate me for killing myself. Because I'm a coward. I can't see blood. If one really cares about me then they should really help me to end this miserable life. Please don't give me sympathy if anyone is reading this. Because I don't deserve it. I wish I die as soon as possible. I have no one in this world. I see nothing getting better.

Hi, throwaway because this is my first time writing. I (22F) have resentment towards my brother (30M)
I never was close with my brother nor was I ever dependent on him. We are 8 years apart and out of 5 kids we were #1 and #4. Back round: I am the only girl and he never saw me as someone who can do things like the boys. I remember one time were he told me that I could play with him if I didn't cry (which I agree with), but then was a time were I was in middle school, and he was in college. I walked into our house all my older brothers were around the table with my mom sad, and I asked my mom about buying me soda for a party I went to go to for a friend, but it made them unhappy. I played it off and went to my room when my mom called me down to argue with me about the soda. My older brother showed up and pushed me against the kitchen counter and called me a bunch of names and just making a circus out of the whole thing. When I begged my mom to get him off of me all she could do was to do a non-enthusiastic voice that didn't get him off of me and I had to tell him to get off of me and get physical, run upstairs and call my best friend at the time. I never recovered from this. My dad was on a business trip, so I don't even know if my dad knows this happened and why I was grounded, (never knew why I was grounded, when I asked my mom smiled and closed my bedroom door). I just apologized and never talked to them for a whole year. Until my dad made me talk to my mom and she tried to make me feel bad for the things she had put me through, throughout childhood.
Now, my daughter is about to turn two and a few years ago I knew I wasn't going to rely on anyone to buy things for my daughter instead of me and my boyfriend. Yes he is the father of my child, and we were childhood friends, turned lovers. My whole family knew him as a kid. The grandparents of my child were pestering me so I canceled the baby shower and after that, even though I already felt less, my parents decided to make me feel even more less if that was even possible.
One day I went over to my parents with fast food in hand (pregnant af) because they found a crib that I would like.
Reverse a week to when I told my mom (at the bar I work at) that I was looking at cribs I found on market place cause I was funding my kid on my low income and my boyfriend's spare money he had with a house we bought. She told me "You shouldn't be looking on there you need something that will last, how about I buy you one," I told her okay and said, "I am looking for a wooden crib, not a white, grey, blue, or pink crib. A wooden one." She said okay. I then repeated the same thing to my dad and he said okay.
Back to the situation, I show up and my mom showed me a Facebook ad of a white crib. I am baffeled and said I don't want a white crib, she said I know wooden cribs were expensive, I then question market place and she said they were cheaper there. I get taken back because this thing was less than $100 and during the pandemic this was a good price, but not for what I would want in my house (wooden trim and doors).
My boyfriend and dad make a joke about a white crib so I say, "i'm done with this conversation." and try to keep eating my food. I know my levels of patience and they don't and my mom would want anything to look like the victim. My mom tells me to look at a crib, I repeat myself I'm done with this conversation. She goes over and over again even after my mom switched to a wooden crib and kept repeating myself. It wasn't until my mom gave up and said, "I guess you don't want a crib then," I was 6 months pregnant. So I said, " I guess I'll buy my f-ing own then." she then walked away to her room. When she did I wasn't hungry then and went to throw away my food, and my dad told me don't talk to her that way, and all I could do was look at him surprised and say, "Who tells a pregnant woman 'I guess you don't want a crib then,'. He didn't have a response and I went off on him and told him I had a boundry. I knew when I had enough and they didn't. I drew a line in the sand and they walked all over it because they wanted me to just get over it, but i am done and I was leaving. He said okay. I went home crying and then thought to myself my child deserved more and bought a $200 crib (more than my 2 week paycheck) off of Wayfair.
The next day I was happy to be pregnant as a 20 year old and wanting to buy paint for her bedroom when I received a phone call from my oldest brother. I was weirded out since we don't talk, and I answered. It was a 10 second phone call of him cussing and insulting me for 'yelling at our mother' when I responded "hold on" all he said was no and hung up. Knowing it was my mother I called her and asked her what she said and she said she didn't talk to him only his wife so I said she needs to fix this because it wasn't a big deal. She said she would. we hung up and I called my other sister in law (across the country who is married to my second older brother) she said that my mom made me seem as I was a spoiled brat even though I working at 12 years old and paying for myself and my friends to even going to the movies with me. I even bought Christmas presents starting that age. My 2SIL was the person who told me what was going on with my uncle (substance abuse turned transplant, yes I believe I am a black sheep. I am the last to know when a family member is dying or getting married." While talking to her, I get a text from my older brother uninviting me from my nephews birthday party. I start crying while texting my mom what happened and all she could tell me was " i didn't want to argue with him." So I sent a screenshot of what my brother said and left it at that. Didn't talk to my family for whole 2 weeks and got a "take back what I said" from my 30 year old brother. Atia?
Was I being spoiled or naive?
Edit: when I was talking to 2SIL I learned my parents actually bought the crib but never told me so or showed me the physical crib

In my grief I find myself really angry. I find myself sitting and staring mindlessly at whatever screen I’m looking. I feel numb. I want people to understand me, but they’ll never understand me.
I may not have been close to my big brother in adulthood, but god dammit do I miss that mother fucker like crazy. I keep crying, and it feels like the tears never stop. I feel so empty from time to time, alongside guilt. Every time I laugh I feel so guilty. I feel like I shouldn’t be happy anymore. I feel like this isn’t real. The thing I remember from when I was little was just how much I loved my big brother.
My partner has been so needy and all I want is to just tell them to fuck off. I don’t know if that’s actually the case or if I just want to be self destructive. My partner has tried, I just dislike while I’m grieving continuously feeling like I need to parent an adult because their parents failed to do the job. Amongst other things.
I have laid in bed or on the couch for hours in hopes of sleep because at least then I won’t think about it. It’s the only escape I have. Wake me up when September ends by Green Day should not feel nearly as relatable as it does.
Some of my friends aren’t up to my standards of supportive either. Literally I said “I wish I forget. I miss my brother” and this jackass responds “it’s all apart of the process.” I hope he never loses his sister, because this shit changes a person fundamentally. But also after me saying my brother passed tell me why he said “that’s rough. I’m sorry” like it was a fucking GOLDFISH that died? And it doesn’t even feel like the want to acknowledge my grief when I say something in the group chat. Being left in fucking read by my friends is so fucking fantastic. They’re such fucking terrible friends right now. My best friend is the only good one as she’s talked me through so much of this shit.
I want the police officers that’s negligence resulted in my brother’s death to suffer the same fate. I want them to die alone in a cell with no one to hold their hand too. They deserve it. They deserve to suffer the same way he did. They deserve to suffer for the pain they’ve caused my family. This isn’t even the first death that county jail has had, and the most fucked up thing I’ve seen was “you play you pay end of story.” Like he wasn’t a fucking person.
At his funeral my uncle took a picture of him my brothers corpse. All the anger just swelled up and I almost physically attacked him. I had to walk away and I angry cried to myself because how dare he disrespect my brother like that?
If people don’t learn to leave me the fuck alone when I’m crying I will fucking lose my shit. I’ve been approached at work several times. One of which I was made to take a walk that I didn’t want to. I wanted to cry on my own , get it out, and return to work. But no, had to walk with two strangers and talk about it and I wasn’t fucking comfortable at all. Then someone approached me and asked if I needed 5 minutes and I said no. For fucks sake, just let me cry to myself in peace .
I want my brother back. I want to say I’m so sorry. I want to hug him and tell him I love him so much. I just want 5 more minutes. He’s the only one who can make this better.
I want to just rot in bed all day and think about how much longer it is until I see him again. It’s too damn long, that’s for sure.

I am not complaining, I just find it immensely interesting that some people rather change their religion than to follow its evils. To me it shows a level of brain washing but at the same time the brain washing was never able to get into their basic morals, and that's good.
Uts really funny tho, she said "where did you get this stupid stuff from"
I said "the quran" She didn't yell at me she just said istaghfur Allah. Not for me but because she called it stupid. I showed her a verse for sex slavery. She told me that diffrent time back then. And that the quran made it haram later. I told her no it never did these things are still in the quran, slavery is allowed under the quran too. She said the prophet bought slaves and made them free. I told her no, only those who became Muslim were freed the others stayed slaves. She just kept on denying until we stopped the conversation. I think she said something about how it's bad that the quran was in English? I told her it's here in arabic too I can read it.
Honestly I am not sad. I am more proud than I am sad. The idea of God helped my mom cope with her horrible family and above all she became better off than all of our uncles and aunts. And honestly my mom deserved success hearing her stories is genuinely hard.
One of my aunts ( I have 3 aunts one is a swear heart who has been abused the other is dead but I remember her being fine, and the other is a monster) is a horrible, narcissistic monster. And my mom told be about how she was abused by her( in a pretty similar way my mom "abused" me don't get me wrong she never meant it she has apologized and I want to work through it) we're my aunt would constantly yell at her and no matter what she wouldn't stop even if she begged her. It makes my blood boil hearing that story. My sweetheart aunt is diffrent from my mom because instead she went to an abusive household with a peice of shit turd that is a waste on this god forsaken earth husband.
One time I talked to my dad about that husband's abuse and my dad straight up told me "non of our business" I did not let that slide, I don't remeber what I said but I think I called him stupid or something (he didn't hit me we were over the phone) he got pretty mad and told me not to forget my place and I just told him to shut up with that shit cus he ain't in the 90s no more.
And now I realise I diverted to something else. I hope you find this interesting, I di believe my mom is a feminist where she believes in equality. Once my English teacher responded to a joke a student told for equality between men and women and he baisaicly said " Men and women are diffrent, the quran says so so men better" I told my mom and she called him stupid. So I think that was a little important to tell to show where my mom comes from in such matters

It was the first book in a series, I'd love to try to find it again to see how the whole series ended, thanks for any help anyone can give! I remember a good amount of details from it, but my google searches are coming up empty.
Plot Synopsis: The main characters were two siblings (maybe twins?) that I think were around 15-16 years old. Their parents were adventurers and when the siblings were younger they disappeared without a trace. The story starts with them being given over to the care of their uncle. Their uncle is very mysterious boat captain with a crew, and he's hunting some type of ancient treasure. Eventually the kids discover the boat is a Q-ship, a heavily armed merchant ship with concealed weaponry. The boat travels to this island ruled by some kind of pirate warlord, who is connected somehow with the mysterious treasure the uncle is hunting for. The siblings go off, have adventures, and get into trouble on the island, eventually defeating the pirate warlord. From what I can remember of the mysterious treasure, it's connected to a magical gyroscope that the uncle has. The gyroscope might have been in multiple pieces and the uncle was searching for more pieces that the pirates have? The gyroscope definitely has magical powers, which is presented as advanced science in the book and might be related to unlimited energy.
Notable Characters: Main Characters: Two siblings, maybe twins, one boy and one girl. They do everything together and are close. Should be in their teens and are obsessed with adventure and finding out what happened to their parents. Uncle: Mysterious uncle, owns a merchant ship with hidden guns on it, is hunting for mysterious treasure. Pretty sure he's part of a secret organization that the main characters parents belonged to as well. Gruff but caring toward the main siblings.
Genre: As best as I can remember, the genre would probably be young adult adventure, with a dash of sci-fi and mystery.
Book Description: It was a hardcover book with a red cover, had an elastic band on the book that held it shut like a journal. It's most unique aspect that should help identify it was that it had multiple foldout sections with drawings, pictures, and text giving more background and details to the story. One foldout section I can specifically remember was a blueprint diagram of the uncles boat, I think the purpose of these was to emulate a expedition's journal.
Setting: It was definitely set in "real" earth, I think it was set in the early 1900's? Post WW1 but pre WW2, the ship was mechanical and there was modern technology like electricity, but the vibe of the setting was definitely "age of adventure".
Length: 200-400 pages is my best guess.
Personal Details: I read it around the 2010's, give or take a few years. It was newer when I read it, although it had a sequel out that I remember reading. It was definitely for middle school/early high school readers.

Me and my girlfriend are trying to find this movie because we liked it in the past. From the past 10 years I believe. A lady lets a man who is traveling stay at her and her fathers nice house in some foreign country (I forget which one but they had british accents if I remember correctly). Later it’s revealed the dad is secretly dead in his chair upstairs. She drugs the traveler at the pool and it turns out shes secretly killing and dismembering people in her basement and giving the meat to her family members restaurant. Her uncle or brother (we forget) is a detective or something of that sort and he’s in on it at the end. The lady is dark haired and young and looks like she could be of spanish descent. At one point a police officer goes to the house to investigate (with other officers/detectives monitoring him) and he is allowed in by the lady but lured into the basement and dismembered too, to which the monitoring officers follow suit. We believe we watched it on Hulu or something a while ago. Driving us nuts because we can’t find anything about it anywhere online

I found this, somewhat similar.
https://www.reddit.com/Paranormal/comments/1davvgc/disremembered_severed_ghost_hand_in_my_bed/
Disremembered severed ghost hand in my bed!Jun 8th 2024, 05:49, by No-Satisfaction2669
When I was about 9 or 10 years old I was staying the night at my aunt and uncles 2 bedroom apartment in Everett WA. The building was about 10-20 years old built in the late 80s early 90s. I know this because of the street. I'm not sure of the history of the building but I very vividly remember this night. I was with my sister and we were for whatever reason staying the night with my aunt and uncle this night. They didn't stay in this apartment for very long as this was my only memory of the apartment. I've asked them about this apartment and mentioned this story to them. My aunt and uncle being very religious, brushed it off and said they don't recall this memory. My sister remembers everything. We were sleeping and in the pitch dark room. Me and my sister sharing a queen sized bed. I woke her up after feeling something in the bed that wasn't her hand. I lifted it up and it was hand. Being confused and it being pitch back. I felt the fingers, it was body temperature, the hand and I threw it on the ground. I shook my sister awake and we turned all the lights on. We saw nothing on the ground where I threw the hand. To this day, I never knew what it was. The next morning, we told our aunt and uncle, and they flipped the whole mattress but found nothing. To this day, I always think about this hand. I remember feeling it in the blankets. Then grabbing it, interlocking fingers with it. I was holding hands with it. Then I held it straight up in the air. I was confused as to why it wasn't connected to my sister. Then I realized it wasn't my sister's hand and that's when I threw it to the ground and woke her up. It was so weird. I remember kinda seeing it in the shadows of the darkness. It wasn't cold to touch at all, but it felt like a human hand. She woke up and we searched the ground and didn't see anything. My sister, being confused as well, said it was probably a dream. I didn't straight back to sleep. It was so weird that my aunt and uncle brushed off the story. I've always wondered what happened in that apartment. Or in that room.
submitted by No-Satisfaction2669 [link] [comments]

There's a book i'm trying to remember, it had multiple plot points and things happening such as the kids uncle gets shot, they try to stop the hindenburg from crashing and then realize It needs to crash, they have a black pyramid with peoples minds plugged into it, they have deserts with warrior people who train the MC to fight, there is a world covered in water, and they have an evil spirit who is trying to unravel everything by making the universes connect, and a futuristic place that feels like it was out of cyberpunk, I've searched all of these topics and nothing pops up on Amazon or even Google, I even asked chatgpt and It didn't know. Please help its driving me nuts!

i dont know where to ask but i found this place so hopefully this is good im trying to identify evertything in my pc i didnt build it my uncle did and he doesnt remember after taking some stuff off i could see that there is a label but dont know how to get to it due to a panel from the case covering it with no way to remove it this is what it looks like

As a kid growing up in the 2000's I enjoyed the ABC Schools education blocks that would air after 9am, with shows like Count Us In, Take on Technology, For the Juniors, etc, but there's some shows in particular that I haven't found a single trace of online, but I know my parents had one episode taped to a VHS tape now lost.
One of which was called "Music Moves" or something like that. The episode was talking about Body Percussion in music. The clip was only the first part of the episode, but had a demonstration of people making noises, slapping their legs, etc, to create ambience for a creepy poem. I recall it going something like this;
Wind, creeps through the castle, an eerie chilling sound. Wind, bangs on doorpanes, and scatters leaves across the ground. Wind, drowns out footsteps, that chase me through the forest, till I scream. Wind, slams my window shut, and wakes me from my dream.
I also vividly remember a set of documentary pieces about the human body, the same tape had two episodes, one was about the lungs and Respiratory system, and the other about the heart and Circulatory system. It would show X-ray like diagrams throughout the 5-minute pieces, interposed with weirdly soothing melodic techno music.

I saw this poem on yt shorts like ages ago and I've been looking for it since. The title is 'invictus' I think but it's in an anthology, and the backstory is that this girl gave her ex a bottle of cologne that he'd always wear and that they broke up and all I can remember out the poem is. ' When I smelled that scent on my coworker, it brought me back to when, I was so in love it had a smell '

This is really long, sorry/thanks in advance
tldr: my dads a drug addict, possibly a narc, who has fucked me over one too many times and now i dont know what to do.
Me (18F) and my dad (44M) have always had a good relationship, until now. My dads been a drug addict, specifically crack, for about ten years now. When my parents were still together, he had gone to inpatient rehab twice because my mom has really good insurance through her work. At the time he was doing a lot of freelance construction work so me and my younger sisters (13 yo twins) were told that he was on a job in a neighboring state. When i was ten, my parents say me and my sisters down and told us about my dads addiction and how they were getting a divorce. I didnt really know anything at the time about drugs, but i knew they were bad and i remember being confused and scared. In 2016 my parents divorced and my dad went to live about 40- 60 mins away from us and we saw him on the weekends. He was working as a handyman at an apartment complex in exchange for no rent and low pay. His girlfriend (43F), we'll call her M, very quickly moved in with him (my parents divorced in april, him and his gfs "anniversary" is in may) and brought two kids with her, one boy, we'll call him i, who is now 10 y/o and lived with her fulltime, and one girl, a, who is now 16 who has split custody with her and M's ex-husband. I didn;t see much of this happen, but i learned about two years ago that my dad was using a lot during the weekdays when me and my sisters werent there, and was also using his work credit card for food. This leads us to may 2022 when he was arrested. I still dont have a clear reason of why he was arrested, but a few likely causes are a hotel room he had destroyed during a crack binge, the employer mentioned above that he was stealing from, and another job that he did in which he was paid before he had finsihed the job and then didnt finish the job. He got three months for whatever his original arrest was for, and it was very very hard on myself, my sisters, his gf, and her kids both mentally and financially, as my dad was the breadwinner. In between 2016 and 2022, my dad had done a dozen shitty things to myself, my sisters, his gf, and her kids, including but not limited to dumping myself and my sisters at our aunts house so he could go get high while he claimed that his car broke down, dissapeared at least a dozen times on 1-3 day crack binges, and having massive anger issues that made us all scared of him. I've learned in the last few years that my dad is very very VERY good at making everything seem like someone elses fault, and making himself appear innocent. anyways, my dad was released in august of 2022 and had 1-2 years of probation. I made the decision to move in with my dad in december of 2022 bc me and my mom had a very strained relationship at the time, mostly bc she doesnt show love very well, at least not the way i want to be shown love, and that she had access to my bank account bc i was a minor and was using the money from my job to pay for food, gas, etc. this was both my [arents fault, bc my dad wasnt contributing to child support at all, and my mom was really drowning in debt and money issues. presently, me and my mom are doing a little better, partly bc shes in a slightly better place financially and partly bc shes been supportive of everything ive gone thru w my dad in the last 2-3 years. Last summer, april/may of 2023, he violated his probation by "mixing up the dates" and going to his appt with his PO a week late. While he claims that he just forgot what day it was on, its more likely that he was just using again and knew that he wouldnt test clean, and decided to wait since crack is out of your system, at least in terms of urine, in about three days. He got a sentence of thirty days, accounting for time served, and he was released in late may. I was still living with him and his gf at the time and it was horrible to see his gf struggle so badly without him there as the breadwinner. I used every one of my paychecks during this period to pay for food or give her money for bills or gas during this time. one thing about loving an addict is that there is always some doubt that they are lying to you about what they're doing, where they're going, what they're spending money on, and if they're even sober. while i believed him for the most part, a small part of me doubted that he really just mixed up the dates of his PO meeting. my dad and his gf also had issues within their relation ship that caused a lot of fighting and just a weird and tense environment. I knew this, but it was way worse than I thought before I actually lived with them. About six months ago, it got to the point where his gf broke up with him and he went on a crack binge and dissapeared for three days. I was still living with him then, and it really messed me up and i was so angry and hurt. this was when I decided to move back in with my mom, as he was just too unstable especially without his gf, and i was trying to focus on college stuff and graduating. I moved back in with my mom almost a year after i had moved out, this past february. I went back to staying with him during the weekends, and he actually moved into the basement of the house we were renting. It's kind of a weird situation, but the landlords live in another state, but their daughter and her young kid still live in this state, so when the landlords visited they would stay in the basement. the landlord was also kind of my dads confidant/ sponsor, as he was a religious man and him and my dad had an odd relationship of part landlord part friend. the landlord agreed to let my dad move into the basement and have someone else rent upstairs, as the landlords also wanted to up the rent from 1700 to 2000 a month. I learned at this time that my dad owed the landlords 16,000 dollars in rent/ loaned money. he told me that the landlords had given him a year to pay this money back, or at least a good chunk of it, or they would completely evict him. this was february/march of 2024. around this time, about a month after him and his gf/M had broken up, he started talking to/dating another women that he had went to highschool/ troubled kid school with (red flag number one). in short, they dated for about a month and a half and for about a month she was moved in and living with him until my dad found out she was a crazy bitch and a methhead. she moved out in early may, and he was arrested the same week for, ONCE AGAIN, missing his damn probation meeting BY A WEEK. Yes, he did the same thing he had done almost exactly a year prior. while he was living in the basement of this house, he was also fixing up the upstairs for someone else to rent, which the landlord was paying him for. the really great part was that he was arrested on monday, and the landlord was coming down that thursday/ friday to come get it ready to rent and meet the new potential renters. the saturday after he was arrested, my aunt picked me up after one of the worst eight hour shifts i'd ever had at my job, and told me that my dad had no house, no job, no car, and basically nowhere to go when he eventually got out of jail. that afternoon/night i met the landlord for the first time. It was humiliating listenign to the landlord tell me, my aunt, and my uncle that my dad actually owed him about 50,000 dollars in rent/ loaned money/ work he didnt do but was payed fo tools/ etc. this man is truly a saint, bc the first thing he asked me is if i have a place to stay, as he didnt know that i was living with my mom and wanted to make sure that i had a place to live despite everything with my dad. he even paid for three months of a storage unit for my dads stuff and gave us a week and a u haul to move everything out. i also learned that my dads boss, who owned his own kind of freelancing construction company, found about twnety tools in my dads garage that he thought he had lost which led him to fire my dad. backtracking a bit, about a week before he was arrested my dad got back with his gf/M, so she was involved in some of this too. she got her a different lawyer than the one he had previously and my aunt worked with the lawyer to try and make a case for the judge for my dad to go to a sober living facility instead of jail. we all wrote letters to the judge, including my dads ex-landlord and ex-boss, advocating for him to go to court mandated inpatient rehab/ sober living. I'll admit, my letter was short and shitty because i knew that my dad didnt want help and that any amount of time in rehab or a half-way house wouldnt change his mind. the letters didnt really work, and my dad was sentneced to another thirty days with time served. thankfully, the judge was considerate and allowed him to leave for one day so he could go to my graduation ceremony. honestly, i don't even think i wanted him to be there. i wasn't happy that he was, even when i saw him, i was just apathetic. this leads to now, in which he gets out on tuesday (6/11) and i dont know what to do. i want to tell him that he's a piece of shit and that he doesnt deserve to even be in my life and that i dont really ever want to talk to him again bc im really convinced that he will never be sober or take accountability for his actions, the way he has hurt everyone that loves him over and over again, not to mention the egregious amount of money he owes to multiple people. but he's also my dad and in between all the bad stuff i've mentioned, hes an amazing dad and person. one of my coworkers, whos really one of my bestfriends and who i tell almost everything to, has even said that she cant imagine how hard it must be to see both sides of him and have to choose whether to have faith in the part of him that i know loves me to death and is an amazingly strong, funny, kind, accepting man or the part of him that is ruled by addiction and cant take accountability for his actions and thinks that his family holding him accountable is "being negative" and trying to stop him from being happy (both things he said to me). i dont want to lose my dad, but i dont think i can keep putting myself through this. especially considering i'll be three hours away at college in three months. the really funny part is that he'll be back in jail, either for 30 days or 60, bc the state is suing him for not paying child support, and his hearing is in july. some part of me wants to just avoid him for the next month until hes back in jail and then run away to college in august and not have to deal with him, and the other part of me wants him to know every time that he has let me down, fucked me over, upset me, caused me to lose sleep, and what will probably happen to him if he keeps doing this shit. what do i say to him? do i avoid him? do i confront him and confront years of anxiety and cowardliness from me as i always kept the peace and stayed quiet with him? i know this isnt really narc parent material, but theres not really a sub for addict parents. i appreciate any adivce or words you have. (also thanks for reading this took an insanely long time to type out)

The missing page of Laura's diary is this entry written by Sheryl Lee after the filming of FWWM:

Where do I begin? It has been a little over a month since we stopped filming. In a way, it seems like years and in another, only yesterday. As I sit down now to write this, so many emotions arise. The gift and the experience that you gave me are beyond expression of words. I am aware that your death also allowed an old part of myself to finally die… a very self-destructive part. Through you, I came face-to-face with my own dark side. I feel as if I have lived a whole lifetime in those two short months of filming. I will never forget how, the week after we finished, I suddenly became aware that my thoughts were my own again. My mind and my life had been completely occupied by you. You came to me morning, noon, and night—especially night. That was your time, the darkness of midnight. You continually wove your spirit into my dream world, revealing bits and pieces of yourself, myself, and our fears and struggles. The thing I remember most about you, though, Laura, is your loneliness. That loneliness haunted me. Walking back into my empty hotel room by myself each day, left to deal with the fragmented pieces of my own life, your loneliness would still fill my room. My prayer is that you are now someplace where you are truly loved and at peaceful rest.
Much love and gratitude, Me

Source: https://welcometotwinpeaks.com/actors/sheryl-lee-laura-palmer-diary-poem/#:\~:text=You%20came%20to%20me%20morning,%2C%20Laura%2C%20is%20your%20loneliness.

You are Hero's kid. What a legacy.
You don't remember much of your early life, but you definitely did remember him being a good dad.
He was a big shot in the big city, but he always managed to be there for you out in the middle of nowhere.
Sometimes, you'd wonder where he went, but then your mum would show you the TV and you'd know. Your dad was a Hero. The Hero. So you never did resent him for that as a kid. He loved you, and you loved him. You remembered that, if nothing else.
Then that day came. The news. Your dad was dead. Killed in action. You remembered Aunt Rebecca, Uncle Keith, Uncle David coming over, giving your mum a shoulder to cry on. They were family friends. Dad's friends. They used to pop in every now and then, back when your dad was alive. You'd see more of them.
You were too young to really understand what was going on. There was the public funeral. Along with your mother, you got front row seats to the public ceremony. Nobody knew who the two of you were, of course. Different capes would come up, give a speech about your dad. You barely had any idea what was going on, dumb kid you were. The most vivid thing you remembered was that you didn't like your mum trying not to cry too hard in front of you. The ceremony was beautiful. He got a nice big statue in a public space, some flair with torches, red white and blue placed next to flowers and a funeral pyre.
The real ceremony wasn't much better. Mum. You. Grandparents. Your Aunt and 2 Uncles. As you grew older, you'd just refer to them by their names. And a few others you didn't know.
Life didn't give you a break. A month or 2 after that, someone broke into your house. You'd later find that this was a villain your dad had put away some time ago. She'd got out on good behaviour, saw the news, and went mad with the thought of revenge. Apparently, back then you used to have covert bodyguards, discreet enough you never noticed them. Living out in the boonies was its own protection, something your dad had thought up apparently.
The villain, Moros, had made her way past these bodyguards, and she was there, in the house, with you and your mum. By the look on her face, you knew enough to be scared. You remembered her enraged shouting, how scared you were of her, your mother screaming at you to run as she spread her arms, drawing the villain's attention. You remembered running as fast as your little legs could carry you, scared out of your mind.
You remembered your mother's choked scream as Moros stabbed her, laughing. You remembered turning back, wanting to check on your mum as you turned the door knob desperately, barely tall enough to reach it. You remembered Moros' haunting laughter, as she stalked towards you, blood on her jacket. You remembered feeling powerless.
You remembered the sound of loud crashing, as both of you turned your heads. You remembered Moros' head getting pulverized, splattering in one punch as Rebecca, Alexandria killed her in one strike, a look of pure fury on her face. You remembered the look of hesitance, as she stared at you for a bit, blood dripping down her fist before she went to check on your mum. You remembered too much of that day.
Your mother survived that day. But she was crippled, at the time, in a coma. You were moved to the big city, where you got a more extensive guard on you. Your mother was similarly moved to a big city hospital once she was stabilised. You made regular visits to her.
All your schools were great. You lived with Rebecca sometimes. She had high standards for you for your schoolwork. She was distant, cold at times. Unlike your dad, who always made time for you, she was never around the house. When she tried to bond with you, she was awkward. You liked Keith better, when you lived with him. It was a security measure, every 2 years you'd alternate between New York and Los Angeles. Sometimes, David would pop in. You'd hear stories about your dad. How he was a good man. How he was the best. So many stories, so many people with their takes.
You felt this pressure to try and live up to him. To embody what all the documentaries, tales, what people said about him. You researched how to get powers online, strived for academic excellence because you heard people got powers that way, pushing themselves towards perfection. That never had any fruit.
People stopped talking much about him a year or 2 after his death. But you always remembered, always took every little thing said to heart as you grew up. Hero. Hero. Hero.
At some point, you started slipping academically. This was when you lived with Rebecca. She didn't give you a speech, or dig into you. She just gave you a look of disappointment. That hurt more than anything.
You turn on the news occasionally, see more of the world going to shit. You think to yourself that you should be there trying to fix things. To make things better. Like dad. You wonder when you'll get powers.
You slip out from your bodyguards one day. You'd memorised their routines, when there was a rotation period between them etc. You wanted to feel like you could stand on your own 2 feet.
So you had fun by yourself in the city. You wanted to feel normal. Like you weren't constantly coddled. Stifled. You bought your own food. Snacks. You went to the arcade. You went to see dad's big statue. Then you decided to get back home.
You'd taken a weird route getting back. It was dark out. No cars about. You noticed 2 guys walking in the same direction as you a bit behind you. Your heartbeat quickened. No need to stereotype right? Just 2 guys walking in the same direction. You sped up, pretending like you were trying to get some exercise or something. They sped up. As you turned your head to check, you could have sworn you saw the glint of a knife.
Fuck. Suddenly you were a kid again, back in your first home as Moros stalked after you, laughing. You ran, calling yourself so stupid for getting into this kind of situation, what if they were just 2 rough looking guys, right? You ran anyway.
You tripped on your own 2 feet. You were dazed for a bit, and desperately tried to get back up after remembering what just happened. 2 feet entered your line of vision and a hand was placed on your shoulder. In that moment, you idly thought to yourself, "Am I going to die here, just a disappointment to everyone?" Later, you'd probably reflect on the irrationality of it all, but in the moment raw emotion and primal instincts culminated in you.
You trigger.

i’m 6 months pregnant. currently struggling almost every day with flashbacks of the sexual abuse i suffered in my young childhood. for the longest time i only remembered the gentlest of it. my uncle taking out his penis and making it talk like a puppet, to get me to touch him. i couldn’t have been older than three. but last month another one of his victims came forward. she filed a police report against him for rape. and when that happened it was like a million things i didn’t remember just fucking flooded back. all the years of horrific, painful sexual abuse. rape. i was just so young i never even knew what was happening. my grandmother even walked in on him hurting me and did nothing. and now they’re all lying for him. it makes me fucking sick knowing these people are my family. none of them ever believed me when i tried to tell them what happened to me. i was always my families scapegoat. always painted as a sick, perverse child with a need for attention. EVERYTHING i did was “for attention” whether it was something as simple as cutting my hair short or something as rough as literally attempting suicide at 14. i am TERRIFIED to be a mother. i am afraid of repeating the cycle. i would never be able to live with myself if i ever made my child feel the way i have my entire life. i have had thoughts of giving my baby up for adoption simply because i cannot believe i could ever be a good mother. i don’t want to hurt my baby. i don’t want to ruin him. i am so, so scared. i already know i love him so much, but i feel so much guilt when i’m having an episode or anytime im crying because he starts to move like he’s trying to comfort me. it makes me feel so guilty. please help. i don’t know where else to talk about this.

I've been working on a poem about my experience as a pollytherian, here's what I've come up with so far.
I dream at night that I'm three different beasts. An otter, a raven and a thylacine. I remember running through the bush, teaching my cub to hunt. Until a farmer came out with a gun. Suddenly a gunshot rings. And the spot between my eyes starts to sting. Everything faded to black. And now I'm back. Smaller and more pale. Missing my sandy brown paws, and long striped tail. ... Suddenly I'm up in the air. Spiraling and diving fast as a hare. After a while I see a lovely meal. Look around and think to myself "that'll be easy to steal" What I didn't notice was the pane of glass Which I quickly hit, broke my neck and passed. ... Then I'm somewhere much warmer. Floating on my back in the quiet blue water. Suddenly mother signalled danger. But before I had time to react. I was in a sharks digestive tract. ... I sit up and stretch. Feeling something twitch past where my wrist bends. I go outside and quietly play. When a stranger walks past and yells "you're not an animal, stop acting that way" I quickly wander off. After a second, hearing them scoff. "What in tarnation" "The hell is wrong with this generation"

Boys: Justin, Ripper, Topher
Girls: Anne Maria, Jasmine, MK
Episode 19: The Princess Pride
"Last time, on Total Drama Action! Just when the cast thought they were safe, I swung in to surprise – I mean, antagonize them."
"The cast were forced to use their creative sides while showing off their back sides. As they made superhero costumes out of spandex. And...some other junk. Nice tights!"
"Of course, they were foiled by the diabolical Pythonicus, evil alter-ego of the villainous Chef!"
"In a fight against evil, the cast proved they could be heroes. And also, loooseerrss!"
"In the end, the most diabolical of them all was MK, who twisted things in order to get Chase eliminated."
The recap footage ended, and the scene flashed to the control tent where Chris was waiting with a smile. "Will the Gaffer alliance recover from Chase being gone? Will Anne Maria and Topher keep going out?" he pressed a button on the keyboard to his side, causing a picture of the couple to appear on one of the screens behind him.
"Maybe you'll find out right now?" he shrugged impishly as the scene changed again and he walked towards the cast trailers. "Maybe you won't? On another, totally dramatic episode of," he stopped in his tracks and the camera zoomed out with each further word, "Total! Drama! Action!"
(Theme Song)
The episode began with, of all things, a close-up of some brown and beany mush plopping onto a plate. The camera panned up to reveal its source as burrito beans in the hands of Jasmine being put together. Shots of Ripper, MK, and Justin also showed them making burritos as well.
The camera zoomed out to show the four constructing burritos on the table next to the tent's entrance while Topher and Anne Maria were at the other table, the former overseeing the quartet as he stood on the table and the latter simply applying lipstick to her lips.
“Ten more seconds, guys! The biggest burrito wins!” Topher declared and looked at Anne Maria. “Do you think I'd make a good reality show host?”
Anne Maria put her lipstick away. “Can you excuse me? I'm working on my facial features,” she said.
“But you already worked on yourself in the morning,” Topher said.
“You'd do the same if your hair was lookin’ messy,” Anne Maria retorted.
“Touché,” Topher pulled back.
“And time is up, folks!” MK informed everybody with her watch.
"Ripper, what do you got?” Topher asked the burly boy.
“Allow me to demonstrate my beefcake burrito!” Ripper held up his plate - his burrito has no wrapping and simply consisted of beef shaped into a cake. “I actually managed to make a cake out of beef.”
“How interesting,” Topher observed after getting off the table. “Jasmine, how about you?”
“These are my twin burritos!” Jasmine said with a plate that had two burritos tied together with an elastic rubber band.
“You actually wrapped your burritos?” Topher inspected heavily.
“Of course I did,” Jasmine nodded. “Twins are sometimes inseparable, and it's a good thing that these burritos aren't Siamese, otherwise they would have tried to eat one another.”
Topher laughed at her quip. “Points for that quip,” he said and made his way over to MK. “MK, how did you manage to make your burrito?”
“I am proud to present the MK Whopper!” MK took her burrito out from under the table and presented it - the burrito was shaped to look like MK with the beans as the body, wrap pieces as the hat and clothes, a sliced piece of tomato as the mouth, and pieces of beef as the eyes.
“The burrito is self-serving, but quality effort regardless,” Jasmine commented.
“Quality? Check out the guns on these beans,” Justin objected as his leitmotif played and he whipped out his burrito shaped to look like a flexing bicep. He even flexed his own bicep and moved his eyebrow in order to impress the contestants, but they were unfazed. “Nothing. You feel nothing?”
“Nope,” Jasmine shook her head.
“I was never once into you, Justin,” MK added as well.
“Man, this scratched schnoz has destroyed my looks and my life!” Justin moped. “Why?”
“MK, your self-art and ego is unsurprising, but you did make the biggest and best burrito, so you win,” Topher told her.
“This isn't right,” Justin protested and was now out of his seat. “I demand a second neutral opinion.”
“I'm no doctor or anything, but we all have reality-show-itis, and it's making us turn things into a challenge,” Anne Maria spoke up.
“I'm not sure if that's a thing, but I can't help myself when this day is bland and boring,” Topher said.
Confessional: Justin
“When my good looks went, so did my winning edge,” Justin told the viewers. “But some people are still managing to kick butt, and they're not nearly as good looking as I am!” He paused to think about what he said. “Okay, as I was.”
Confessional Ends
Justin was now sitting next to Anne Maria. “You know, you're the only one taking the game seriously. I just wish I knew how you did it all. It's so inspirational.”
“I'm just playing the game the best I know how,” Anne Maria said. “And it's not by sabotage like Scott did to me.”
“Scott also sabotaged my chances in the game as well,” Justin continued. “Hey, we have something in common.”
“Yeah we do, now go away,” Anne Maria ordered. “I don't know if they'll be a challenge, and I'd like to relax in peace.”
A few off-camera footsteps gave everyone pause, and they looked towards the room's entrance as the shot moved to a side-view of the room. Chef Hatchet had entered wearing a faded purple Medieval-styled costume, complete with a simple horn bearing a flag marked with a simple black-and-purple shield.
He blew a few awkward notes, then the camera moved in for a close-up as he made an announcement. "Hear ye, and rise! For Sir Chris!"
"Sir?!" Jasmine repeated with disbelief. "This Bruce's ego is fussing me to heaps!"
The shot moved back out to show Chris McLean riding atop the same decrepit-looking horse that had been used for a much earlier episode. He was wearing a knight's helmet and holding what looked to be a boot made of glass, and dismounted once Chef laid out a small rug for him to stand on.
"Hold on," Topher said slowly. "Glass slipper. Medieval stuff. This must be a Fairy Tale theme!"
"Topher," Chris said with stern annoyance, "if you ever steal my intro again, I'll have to personally boot you off the show."
"Hey, you can't do that!" Topher protested. "You brought me onto this show!"
"This boot," Chris said happily, "will determine the Princess for today's Fairy Tale movie challenge! The rest of you," he added as the camera panned across the tent from right to left, "compete for the honor of rescuing the fair Princess."
Anne Maria immediately raised her hand eagerly. "I wanna be the Princess!"
"I said the fair Princess," Chris repeated. "And what we think is fair is that the candidates be the ladies who haven't had a win since the merge: MK," he looked at the unamused techno, "and Jasmine." The focus moved to the Outback girl, who merely raised an eyebrow.
Confessional: Jasmine
"Okay, I am not Princess material," Jasmine said in the make-up confessional. "Not only am I too tall to fit the role, but I'm not really interested in fairy tales."
Confessional Ends
A short drumroll preceded an even shorter chanted note as MK and Jasmine approached the end of the table closest to the tent entrance.
"Yeah, there's no way that I'm gonna be some Princess, McLean!" MK barked at the host who was standing nearby with the glass boot still in his hand. "And don't even try to jam that boot on my foot."
"Okay," Chris said slowly, "that's a no for MK. Jasmine, you're up."
"Well, I'm not fond of fairy tales," Jasmine said, "but I might as well."
"Hold on there, Thunder from Down Under," Chris told her. "You have to put the boot on first. Make sure you're actually Princess material."
Jasmine frowned. "Okay then." She sat on the end of the table, slipped off one of her shoes, and tried to force it on.
The host and other castmates watched as she grunted and began to sweat, trying to get the boot onto her foot. Eventually, she let out a disappointed breath and held the boot back up. "It's no use," Jasmine told the host. "I can't get it on, and even then, it would shatter to pieces."
"Well," Chris said blankly, "guess that's both candidates out, unless MK changes her mind."
MK just glared at him. "Not a chance."
Anne Maria immediately grinned. "Yo Chris!"
"Looks like we have to do another selection method," Chris grabbed the glass boot and began to turn, only for Anne Maria to dart forward and snatch the footwear away from him.
Anne Maria swiftly tossed aside one of her heels and replaced it with the glass boot. "There," she said with a smile, raising her leg to show the boot glimmering on the end of it, "I always knew that I was meant to be royalty!"
"Fine, Anne Maria can be the Princess," Chris said heavily. "Let's just get this over with. Chef?" he looked back over his shoulder, and the shot pulled back to show the hulking man arriving back on the scene. He had changed into a pale blue ballerina's outfit, and had strapped a pair of fake wings to his back that, along with the glittering 'wand' in his hand, gave him the appearance of a fairy godmother.
"I dub thee, Princess Anne Maria," Chef said shortly as a touching song played, waving the wand above the grinning girl's head and releasing a cloud of sparkling dust that nearly choked Topher, Ripper, and Justin.
Confessional: MK
"Anne Maria as the Princess?" MK told the confessional camera with a snort and a laugh. "I wouldn't want to be in that Fairy Tale. Along with any others out there."
Confessional Ends
A harp played in the background as an image of Chris' head and a large hardcover book appeared on screen in front of a yellowish stock background. "It's story time, with uncle Chris," the host's disembodied head said before the scene flashed to him seated in a large purple armchair with the same book in hand. His left hand was on a joystick built into the arm of the chair, and he seemed to be slowly rolling through the set.
"Once upon a time," he began slowly, the camera pulling back to show the host rolling up to the contestants minus Anne Maria on a wheeled platform, his chair joined by a matching footstool, pedestal side table, and even a fireplace. "Five brave knights went on a quest to rescue a Princess from her ivory tower." He pulled back on the joystick, and the platform came to a stop. "But, it wasn't gonna be easy! First," he looked at the staircase behind him, "the knights had to get past my very good friend," the shot quick-panned up and left to Chef, now dressed in a tattered vest and trousers with a long moss-green wig and beard, "the Terrible Toothless Troll!" The shot zoomed in on Chef as he quickly blackened a few of his front teeth with a sharpie. "And, his Bad Breaks Bridge!"
The camera zoomed out even further as a few ominous chants played in the background, showing a large mountainous set featuring a rickety rope bridge over a treacherous and craggy fake waterfall. The contestants gulped.
"To get past the Terrible Toothless Troll," Chris read on, "the knights had to wear disguises! There was the Frog Prince," he grabbed a vaguely frog-like great helm from behind his chair and tossed it to Justin, "and the Ugly Stepsister," he tossed a large wig of wavy red hair in a tall bun to MK. "Snow White," he tossed a pink sleep mask to Jasmine, "and one of her Seven Dwarves," he followed that up by throwing a tall wizard's hat patterned with stars, moons, and lightning bolts to Topher. "Aaand," the host finished by pulling out a bright red hooded cape, "Little Red Riding Hood."
He tossed it to Ripper, who raised an eyebrow as he caught it. "Seriously? Can't I just be Riding Red?"
"No dice dude. That's what it says in the script," Chris told him as an unseen intern delivered a plate of milk and cookies to the host's side table. He turned and grabbed one, saying "Good work, kid," before continuing his monologue. "And so, the Ugly approached the Terrible Troll."
"I can't see in this thing!" MK said.
"Oh yeah," Chris said to a dramatic rise in the background music, "for this challenge, each knight is blind." The five teens immediately began to protest, causing the host to snap at them. "Nowhere in this story does it say 'the cowardly knights complained'!" he told the cast with a brief glance at his book. "So get it together, steppy, and get crossing!"
The footage skipped ahead to show MK slowly inching her way across the bridge while holding on to one of the rope rails. "This ain't too bad," she said to herself. She was hit by several red apples in rapid succession, causing her to yelp in pain.
"Oh, also," Chris said as the shot cut back to him, "those are Wicked Witch's apples, so, they're poisonous and rotten. You might wanna watch..."
He stopped talking as the shot cut back to MK slipping on one of the apples and fell off the bridge to the rocky set below. The camera followed as she fell and bounced off of several outcroppings before landing onto the hard ground. The shot cut briefly to the other contestants as they winced in pain before cutting back to the techno girl lying awkwardly on the ground with an apple in her mouth.
"Well, looks like MK isn't fairy tale hero material," Chris commented, dunking one of his cookies into his glass of milk. The short girl writhed in pain.
Confessional: MK
MK had on a neck brace and bandages around her head and torso, "I'm having trouble remembering what happened after the fall. Does that mean I have a concussion?"
Confessional Ends
A harp was played as the footage cut back to the other contestants standing at the start of the bridge. "Next, the eighth dwarf," Chris said as he moved his platform around towards the far staircase. "He grabbed a fistful of courage and headed across the bridge."
Topher glanced over at Chef. The man had hunched over, and was slapping a cat o' nine tails against his hand with a wild grin. He took a deep breath, put on the wizard’s hat over his eyes, and charged forward with a battle cry. Chef raised his eyebrows and rushed out to stop him, but he jumped onto a rope rail and ran through it until he was past Chef.
"Did I make it?" Topher asked, having reached the other side.
Confessional: Topher
"Poise classes have taught me to always be aware of my surroundings, whether I’m blindfolded or not," Topher grinned. "And with Anne Maria as the Princess, I’m not botching this one."
Confessional Ends
The footage skipped ahead to Jasmine's attempt, the sleeping mask already over her eyes and her hands firmly on the ropes of the bridge as she walked forward at a steady pace. Chef squeezed a mother goose, launching a golden egg out of its rear like a bullet. It shot past the girl's shoulder. "What was that?" Jasmine asked as she moved her head to track it. A second egg hit her square in the chest, knocking her back a step and putting a grin on Chef's face.
Jasmine frowned for a moment, then took a cautious step that was apparently at the bridge's weak point. The camera zoomed in on the bridge as it rippled, knocking loose every plank all the way to Chef. With a gasp and a scream, the troll and his goose fell, and the scene cut to him as he grabbed something behind his back. "They don't pay me enough for this!" Chef yelled, pulling the cord of a hidden parachute and floating down safely.
Jasmine was unaware of the danger and took one more step, expectedly screaming and falling. The camera cut to Chris as he followed the Amazon girl's fall and winced at the sound of an impact. "Awesome!" he cheered. "You’re up, froggy." The scene cut to the start of the bridge where Justin stood. "Then Captain Hood after that."
Justin put on his helmet. "At least my face will be protected from further indignity," he said as he slowly moved towards the bridge. He walked right shoulder into one of the posts holding up the bridge.
Ripper laughed. "Tough break, pretty boy," he jeered. "Go a little to the right." The eye candy followed the advice and walked into the other pole, causing Ripper to laugh. "Sorry man!" the bully called before laughing again.
Chef was shown running past the center of the bridge with an ax raised and ready to strike, while Justin stayed at the bridge completely oblivious. Ripper laughed once more and pushed the model into the cook. "Let me give you a hand," he said as he did so. Chef brought his ax down and hit the hot boy's helmet, causing the eyes to spin comically and Ripper to laugh once more.
Confessional: Justin
“There I was, down dirty, and deafened,” Justin recapped his failure. “And I thought "W.W.A.M.D.": What would Anne Maria do? And then it came to me! She'd use her head.”
Confessional Ends
With a battle cry, Justin rushed the cook with his helmet and ran him over, safely making it to the other side. "Justin's still got it!" Chris said as the camera cut to him. "All right, the final knight attempting to enter Fairy Tale Land is," the shot cut to Ripper as he tied a blindfold over his eyes and faced away from the camera, "Riding Red! We're over this way!"
"My seeing is good," Ripper said as he turned around. The camera cut to his perspective to show that he could actually see Chef putting on a blonde pigtailed wig. "I'm able to see Chef as a female troll! Hilarious!"
"Rapunzel dude, let down your hair!" Chris called, and Chef lengthened one of the pigtails and began swinging it around. He cracked it like a whip at the bully, who dodged it.
The camera cut to Justin watching Ripper avoid every attack. "Hey! He can see!" he cried.
"How?" Chris asked sarcastically. "With his X-ray vision? That'd be cool."
Chef attacked one last time, but Ripper grabbed onto the pigtail and swung across to safety with a whoop.
The footage skipped ahead to a close-up of Chris's book as he began to narrate once again. "And so, the Terrible Toothless Troll knocked off two losers," the shot pulled back to show Jasmine, wearing a leg cast and her right arm in a sling, and MK sitting on the ground nearby. "But," the camera panned over to Justin, Ripper, and Topher on the right, "three semi-brave knights made it to the other side and continued on their noble quest. Whereupon I, in my wisdom, inspired them with a vision of Princess Anne Maria."
The shot pulled back even further, revealing that the group had assembled in front of a small stage with a pink-tinted backdrop depicting a large white castle off in distant hillsides. A slow piano melody began to play as Anne Maria, now dressed in a regal-looking pink gown and tiara, was lowered onto the stage by a few wires.
"When I was a little girl, I'd dream of my first kiss," Anne Maria began to sing in a rather mediocre voice the moment she hit the stage and the wired harness was reeled back up. "It would come from my perfect prince!" A number of tiny birds and chipmunks gathered around her, the birds even landing on her hands. "And in my dream, it went like this!"
The scene immediately cut to the three remaining knights as they watched the performance. Justin and Topher were both stunned by her display, while Ripper couldn't care less.
“She's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” Justin said.
Definitely,” Topher chimed in.
“I must've been so busy seeing her as a potential alliance member and extra vote that I didn't see her outer beauty. Wow,” Justin continued in amazement. “We'll be the best looking couple in the kingdom!”
The music came to a halt as Topher and Ripper were surprised by what just came out of Justin's mouth.
“Excuse me, but I am still dating her!” Topher objected heavily.
“And there's no way she'll ever be into you,” Ripper told Justin.
“I saw you cheat, Ripper,” Justin let him know. “You don't deserve to be anybody's prince.”
“And who died and made you the rule master?” Ripper faced the handsome boy threateningly.
"Guys, guys!" Chris said, stepping forward and getting between the boys. "No need to fight! At least not until after this break," he declared happily. "Will Ripper inflict any deformities on Justin? Or will Justin's ripped physique bring two tons of hurt down on Topher's head? Find out when we come back!"
(Commercial Break)
The footage came back to a distance shot of the stage Anne Maria was still singing on, her music resuming as the shot cut closer.
"My prince will be tall and handsome," she sang, the camera panning down to catch Justin standing straight and proud. "My prince will be tough as nails," Ripper flexed his biceps and then lifted a startled Topher over his head.
"My prince will have lots of money," Anne Maria continued, the camera moving back on her as she showered the stage with a wad of cash. "My prince will tame wild whales!" She flexed her own arms, Chris nodded to the beat, and the shot cut to Topher looking at a small and rather disoriented baleen whale on the floor in confusion.
The shot panned down to Jasmine and MK who were watching the performance with boredom on their faces.
"How are you feeling about the whole Fairy Tale thing?" Jasmine asked MK.
"Couldn't care less," MK answered bluntly. "I just don't know why we have to keep watching though."
A close-up was shown of Anne Maria reaching for a wary-eyed frog in a small crown, the Jersey girl pulling it closer to her as she finished her song. "When we kiss~, my prince will be you~!" As the music ended, she held up the frog and kissed it on the lips, but broke almost immediately in a fit of revulsion.
Anne Maria threw the frog away from her, and it landed on Justin's face. "Warts! Get it off!" he cried out as he ran around trying to get the frog out.
"Wasn't that song brilliant?" Chris asked as the focus moved back to him, Jasmine, and MK. "It was so brilliant, I know everyone wishes they could hear it over, and over, and over again! And now they can." He snapped his fingers, and a CD case bearing Princess Anne Maria's picture on the cover was placed in his waiting hand.
"Relive the magic of Anne Maria for only $12.99," he told the camera as a deep and theatrical tune began to play. "Call 555-SELLOUT to get your authentic Princess Anne Maria CD," he added as the camera zoomed in on the case, "before everyone else downloads it illegally!"
"I'll take one!" Topher quickly begged, earning him a CD. "This will be worth spending thirteen dollars of my money."
Confessional: Topher
"My prince will buy me lots of hot dogs! My prince will love ponies too!" Topher was listening to the CD through headphones as his confessional began. "Her singing isn't the best, but I do want to support her," he told the camera.
Confessional Ends
"After risking my life for you, I have come to realize this!" Justin said as he approached the stage. "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. And the smartest. What are the odds?"
He offered his hand to Anne Maria, but she didn't take it. "Thanks for telling me what I already know!"
"Uhh, aren't you going to compliment me on my bravery?" Justin asked.
"Nah! Princesses are supposed to be complimented in my world,” Anne Maria said, to Justin's disappointment. “It's not their job to give them out to anyone, but for me, I'll make an exception for Topher, the handsomest knight around!”
The camera moved to Ripper rolling her eyes and Topher smiling. “And you are the most beautiful princess around!” Topher complimented back before a sound caught the attention of both. They turned their heads at once and the scene followed their gaze over to Chef, still in his troll costume but now riding the same fly-ridden horse from earlier in the episode.
"How has that horse not died yet?" MK commented. "It can't be in good condition after all their time being used on this show."
"Just because it's a little old, doesn't mean it's not fighting for their life," Jasmine told her.
Anne Maria hopped onto the horse's back while Ripper and Topher came over. “Are we supposed to catch him?" Topher asked.
"No, it's a classic princess abduction," Chris explained calmly. "As the villain makes a whirlwind getaway on a swift steed."
Chef kicked the horse with his feet, but it didn't react. "Guess ol' Betsy here didn't read the script," he said gruffly.
"Kick harder," Chris commanded, and Chef promptly complied. A stronger kick caused the horse to kick backwards, hitting Justin – who had been standing closest - right in the face.
"That did it," Chef said as Justin was shown to have a few teeth knocked out and a bruised right eye.
"So, that's how the three knight dudes lost the Princess," Chris narrated, "But fate, aka me, wasn't finished with them." Chef and Anne Maria rode off behind him. "They followed the troll all the way to a fight to the death, because that's how I like my princesses saved."
"Sir Topher!" Anne Maria called out playfully as she was slowly abducted. "You better be the one who rescues me!"
"These two haven't even got a chance!" Topher replied arrogantly.
"As good luck, I'll give you my favor to carry into the battle!" Anne Maria tossed the glass boot, but it unintentionally hit Justin in the face.
Confessional: Justin
Justin was having his bruises covered up by make-up brushes from two unknown people while the glass boot was on the table.
“Falling for Anne Maria has been hard on the face. I think we'll have a no glass shoes policy if we start dating soon,” Justin informed and put the boot away. “I have no idea what Chase and Millie's policies are, but they're probably less dignified.”
Confessional Ends
The footage cut forward to a close-up of the old horse chewing on some hay before the camera panned over to a small castle archway propped up against a tower of some sort. "Sir Justin, Sir Topher, and Sir Ripper reached the ivory tower in which the troll had stuck the super tanned princess," Chris read as the three remaining competitors walked into the scene and he followed on his rolling platform. The shot panned up the towers, where several other pieces of crenelated wall had been attached here and there, and at the very top there was a pinkish spire and balcony where Princess Anne Maria waited.
"But there was only one way to rescue her," the host continued with a grin on his face and tense music building in the background. "One of the brave knights had to slay the dragon!"
"Dragon?!" Jasmine asked in alarm. "Tell me you didn't get a real dragon for this!"
"Seeing as dragons don't exist," MK told her, "I find that highly unlikely."
"She's right," Chris said as the music switched to something more ominously lurking. "We're reusing the alien monster guy."
Seconds later, a few tremendous mechanical footsteps were heard. MK and Jasmine looked to stage right and the camera pulled back, showing off the animatronic monster in all its glory. Chef was wearing the motion capture suit that controlled it, and it had been given a hood with horns, a scraggly 'beard', and two tiny wings in order to make it look more draconic. Chef raised his arms menacingly, and the monster echoed the pose and growled.
"Let the dragon slaying begin!" Chris announced, pulling out a trio of wooden swords and throwing them to the knights. Ripper caught the shortest, Topher the most slender, and Justin the broadest, and the three turned to face the tower and dragon.
"I'm counting on you, Sir Topher!" Anne Maria called from above, smiling at the fanboy and blowing him a kiss. He accepted it with a grin, and Anne Maria turned her attention to the other two knights and frowned. "As for you two, you'll need all the luck you can get."
"Yeah, cause I'll be the one who's going to slay today!" Topher boasted before turning and charging at the dragon.
"Not so fast," Justin charged at Topher and the two clashed their swords into each other's, only breaking when they noticed a foot-shaped shadow fall upon them. They rolled out of the way before the monster stomped them, and the camera panned over to Justin landing next to Ripper.
“You want Topher to win?” Justin faced Ripper.
“Like I care which one of you wins,” Ripper scoffed.
“Then help me take him down and I'll let you win,” Justin offered.
Ripper thought about it, and the viewpoint moved over to Chef guiding the monster in stomping and snapping at Topher. He was able to strike the dragon's head with his sword. “You are not going to stop me from rescuing Anne Maria!” the fanboy told the dragon.
“Just get them both chasing you,” Ripper suggested.
“And why?” Justin asked.
“Do you want to stop that monster or not?” Ripper glared. “Just do it!”
Justin sighed but complied, and both Topher and the Chef-controlled monster made moves to chase after him while Ripper watched from the sidelines.
“Are you going to fight me or run away from me?!” Topher asked with a taunt.
“Justin, you're going to stop running in 3…2…1!” Ripper ordered, and Justin paused his dash.
Topher also stopped chasing him as well, and the dragon, who was still trying to chase the others, caught its foot on Topher and somehow tripped. It flailed its arms humorously before crashing to the ground.
"A job well done," Ripper said as he ran over to the large red button on the side of the beast's neck. “Now to claim my second immunity win in a row!” he said as he readied his sword to finish it off, but Justin came up to push him off the dragon and onto the floor.
"Sorry Ripper," Justin told him. "If Izzy was the prize, I'm sure you'd do the same thing." He plunged his sword into the dragon's neck, causing it to fizzle and short out. "Anne Maria," he dramatically called out, "your prince is coming."
"Some prince," Ripper mocked.
The camera panned to the right to show Chris' moving platform as he arrived with Jasmine and MK in tow.
"Wanna rescue Princess Anne Maria too?" he asked the camera. "Now you can, for only $79.95!" he pulled out a pink-and-yellow striped box and held it up for the camera, a vaguely Anne Maria-shaped doll barely visible inside. "Order your very own Princess Anne Maria Limited Edition Glass Boot Doll! Playing with the Anne Maria doll is more fun and less dangerous than playing with the real Anne Maria. Guaranteed!" He finished with a cheesy grin.
The scene cut to the top of the ivory tower as Justin climbed up to the balcony where Anne Maria waited. "I have arrived!" Justin announced.
"Not the guy I was expecting, but a reward is a reward," Anne Maria grumbled and the two moved in for a kiss.
"Wait, wait, there's no kissing!" Chris interrupted the two from his chair.
“What?” Justin felt confused.
“Oh yeah!” Topher cheered from under the dragon.
"It says here that Prince Justin and Princess Anne Maria must sword fight to determine the true winner!" Chris explained while reading off his book.
"Which means I still have a chance at winning immunity?" Anne Maria asked quickly.
"You're much smarter than most princesses," Chris replied.
"Usually, most fairy tales end with a kiss," Jasmine said.
"Well, this is a modern tale," Chris explained. "Gals have to fight for themselves."
“You can say that again,” MK agreed.
“If that's how it has to be-” Anne Maria said.
“No,” Justin cut her off, now kneeling on one leg. “I am a noble gentleman. A brave knight. A handsome prince. I would never hurt a lady.”
“But you would hurt a guy working with you,” Ripper interjected after getting up on his feet.
“I said I was sorry, Ripper,” Justin told him with annoyance and focused back on Anne Maria. “I refuse to raise a sword to Anne Maria.” Anne Maria took the sword from him. “I give up any chance at immunity to spare her. And now…”
Justin puckered his lips and moved close, only for his eyes to widen. The camera pulled back to show the hilt of the sword buried in his crotch.
“Not sorry! I'm already taken!" Anne Maria declared before pushing Justin off.
Justin fell with a scream until he hit one of the 'towers' on his cheek. He kept on hitting one tower after another until he hit the ground on his back in severe pain. “I'm okay!”
The camera panned over to Chris and the other losers. "Anne Maria wins immunity! Again!" the host announced.
"Yes!" Anne Maria cheered.
The opening sequence of the Gilded Chris Ceremony came and went, leaving the scene focused on the tux-wearing host at his podium. "So," Chris began with an award already in his hand, "with immunity, Anne Maria is the first to win a Gilded Chris." He tossed the statuette to the girl, sitting on the left side of the bleachers, and she caught it with a smug grin.
"Immunity and my own dolls? How much better can this day get?" Anne Maria said.
"Well, it's not like you're getting the profits from the Princess Anne Maria line," Chris said plainly.
Anne Maria's eyes popped open in shock. "Uh, what?!" she said in outrage. “It's my line!”
“I’m saying that you're not going to get the profits because they’ll be sent over to your family for safekeeping, along with a Princess Anne Maria doll,” Chris explained. “I don't want any of my interns or producers to take what's rightfully yours. Lawsuits and all.”
“Oh!” Anne Maria said in relief. “I'm relieved, but I'm also upset that you made me act like an idiot!”
"Then you should have let me finish! Also still in the competish," Chris announced with another two awards in his hand, "MK and Jasmine." The former caught her prize in her lap with a confident grin, and the latter with a happy smile.
"And also Ripper," the host continued, the camera panning to the bully who smiled as he caught his award.
Spotlights were put on Justin and Topher, the former in a body cast. "Who will live happily ever after, and who will die penniless," Chris said as the music built dramatically. "And the last Gilded Chris goes to… Justin!"
"What?!" Anne Maria stood up. "You have to be joking! Justin should be going home!"
"Yeah, you're right. I was just kidding," Chris said. "Justin's actually the one who's been eliminated."
Topher caught his award. “I knew I would be safe.”
Confessional: Topher
“I told everybody to vote off Justin,” Topher confirmed. “He tried to move in on my girlfriend, and him getting booted would serve him right. The best part is, everybody was on board with it and I didn’t even have to try and convince them.”
Confessional Ends
Justin got up and started to head to the red carpet, but stopped to look at the contestants. “So is no one even going to miss me?”
“I never liked you,” MK shrugged.
“See ya,” Ripper said apathetically. “Get better soon, or sometime.”
“Okay, stop already! I'm going! But you'll regret it,” Justin told them and walked to the red carpet. Before getting into the limousine, he gave one last look to the remaining players. “With me gone, this competition just got eighty percent less handsome.” The eye candy turned around, only to hit his head on the roof. “All right, seventy-nine!” he groaned.
The footage paused there, and the camera pulled back to show it on one of the monitors in the control tent. Chris was sitting in his chair playing with a couple of Princess Anne Maria dolls, a few more scattered on the nearby desk.
"I know what I told Anne Maria, but marketing says that our target audience is too old for dolls," Chris told the camera as the footage on the monitor cut to static. "They're just not selling!" He looked to the side, and the camera panned to follow and show Chef playing with a group of Princess Anne Maria dolls dressed up as soldiers.
"Princesses, attack!" he said with a dark grin, lighting a miniature cannon with a match as the deeper and more dramatic ending theme began to play. The cannon fired with a puff, blowing the heads off two of the dolls.
Chris gave him an odd look, then turned back to the camera. "Hey target audience! Make sure you don't miss the next kiss-filled episode of Total! Drama! Action!" As soon as he finished saying the title, he mashed the mouths of the two dolls he was holding together and made kissing sounds. "Now you see, Chef," he told his companion, "that's how you play with dolls."
(Roll the Credits)
(Bonus Clip)
The scene opened to Justin sitting on the back seat of the limousine with the glass boot in hand. “What I've learned? Well, maybe that good looks won't take you everywhere you want to go,” he said wisely. “I mean, what have I ended up with? A wounded face, a bruised ego, and a shoe that I can't even wear. Maybe if I stopped modeling and threw all my energy into getting smarter, more girls could fall in love with me,” he thought. “But modeling pays. And Jesús, my booker, says that even with my severe facial wounds, he can get me a bunch of leg modeling and some celebrity kid's birthday party. So, love schmove.” He threw the glass boot out the window, and a shattering sound indicated that the boot was destroyed.
Eva - 15th
Geoff - 15th
Izzy - RETURNED
Trent - 13th
Sky - 12th
Brick - 11th
Scott - 10th
Izzy - 9th
Millie - 8th
MERGE
Chase - 7th
Justin - 6th
Boys: Ripper, Topher
Girls: Anne Maria, Jasmine, MK

Introduction

Given the nature of RH Novels, there are a lot of LIs, and as someone who has read many RH books in the last few years, I have seen a lot of unique LIs but also noticed that most MMCs follow a few tropes.
So, I have decided to make a series of posts highlighting some of my favorite tropes and iconic (or my favorite) LIs that fit them, with this being the first one.
(This will have direct book quotes and a lot of spoilers. Proceed with caution)

Who is The Unhinged Psychopath?

The Unhinged Psychopath is one of the most popular tropes in RH books. Usually found in Dark Romance and Urban Fantasy, the Unhinged Psychopath is probably the easiest trope to distinguish. They are usually impulsive men, who have little to no morals and a penchant for discarding people's lives with no remorse.
Do you remember reding a book, where there is that one character that is always playing with a knife? Or maybe you remember reading a character's POV that had the weirdest train of thought? Or, you were reading an Urban Fantasy book that happens in an academy, and suddenly a character is described as wearing clothes that could be taken from Hot Topic. Perhaps, there is a character that gives a very cheery monologue, clashing with the unhinged content of said monologue.
Well, there is a big chance that this LI is the Unhinged Psychopath. While not all of the MMCs in this category have all of these traits, they are very common. They are also going to be usually feared oand treated cautiously by the other MMCs, with some even warning the FMC about the unstableness of The Unhinged Psychopath.
Since this is my list, my requisite to put a MMC in here was that he had to, at least once, make me have this reaction.

The Spotlight

Damien from Fate Hollow Academy

^{Pain fueled my magic, and I got pleasure out of seeing others suffer.
But for the first time in the twenty-six years I’d been alive, pain made my skin crawl. Maybe it was because I hadn’t inflicted it. Knowing how to create pleasure from pain was something I was good at. Maybe I could teach her to do the same. She needed to learn that pain can empower.
I stalked through the shadows and into room one-zero-three. Something about that wolf named Grayson caused my little bird pain, and I wanted to paint the walls red with his blood. I’d cut off his dick and present it to her on a fucking platter.}

(Damien's POV - Term 1)
Probably one of the most iconic Unhinged LI's in RH novels. Damien is a Pain/Shadow Demon, that needs to cause others pain to get his powers recharged. He also has a traumatic past, that made him hate and distrust humans. Those two things make for a very disturbed individual, who throughout the whole series is a lunatic.
From maiming people left and right, to his Hot Topic sense of style, Damien has become a very popular character, that has probably inspired more than a few RH LI's in the past years, something that earns him the spot on this list.
Highlight

^{He reached into his pocket and grabbed something before holding his hand up with something inside it. I opened my palm under his hand and he dropped a bone.
To be exact, he dropped Grayson’s pinky bone.
My mouth dropped, and I blinked once, twice, and a third time before shutting it. “You took his pinky bone and gave it to me?”
“I made him suck it clean,” he told me, his eyes twinkling. “Turn it over.”
I gripped it in between my thumb and index finger and flipped it over to reveal a white wolf with its head cut off carved into it.}

(Wren's POV - Term 1)
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Arion from All The Pretty Monsters

^{My eyes dart to the top of the stairs when a familiar, shirtless man dressed only in a pair of sweatpants that barely hang on his hips starts dancing his way down them, licking blood off his fingertips as his head tips back. He dances up two steps, and then he dances back down the rest of the way, his eyes closed as he moves toward us with the beat of the music.
His eyes open and hone in on mine, sending a trickle of painful awareness and dread coursing throughout me, just as the song changes. A wicked smile curves his lips as he keeps dancing his way down them, hips moving in a salsa rhythm in beat with the music.}

(Violet's POV - Gypsy Blood)
Arion is a vampire that has no soul and was kept in a coffin underground for more than a century. So, to no one's surprise, he is not the most well-adjusted man in the world.
He gains a spot in here because first, I love his official entrance/meeting with the FMC. In this household, we love a camp king. And, secondly, his whole history of absolute devotion to his ex-girlfriend (and then the FMC) and friends is just insane. The more the story went on, and the more Arion kept talking, the more I became absolutely flabbergasted by this character (still love him).

^{Damien and I both swing our gazes to the beta I have penciled to the wall now that he’s released the illusion. And by penciled to the wall, I mean I’ve stabbed two-hundred-and-forty-three slightly long pencils into key places on his body to pin him there. He’s on his tiptoes, and if he steps down, they’ll all snap and we’ll have to start all over again.
“They still need a few more inches of length for this process to be less tedious. It wouldn’t hurt them to be a little stronger, too. Still superior craftsman ship, though,” I say as I lift up the pencils that haven’t spilled off the desk.}

(Arion's POV - Gypsy Freak)
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Savage from Her Vicious Beasts

^{“Hold my chicken.”
“Rooster,” Xander corrects, accepting the black bird.
I scowl at my pack-brother because he can take his private school education and shove it up his big dragon ass.
“His name is Eugene,” I snap. Patting said chicken on his red head-frills, I turn back to the trembling cashier of the Opal Feather. The sight of us always makes these humans piss their pants. A dragon, a wolf and a shark walk into a luxury store and, well…they all know what comes next, I suppose.
Or it could be the blood still on my teeth and the bare skin of my torso. On a hunt, I only stop for lunch, you see. Lunch being the two birdie security guards now lying on the shop floor behind me.}

(Savage's POV - Her Feral Beasts)
While this series has only two books and a prequel out as of now, Savage has already been solidified as one of the most unhinged LIs that I have ever read about. As, a mostly feral, wolf shifter who is also part of a gang, Savage is an impulsive man, that lacks morals and common sense, making for some hilarious scenes, despite how disturbing his actions can be.
He get's progressively unhinged (and weird) as the story goes along, and I doubt that will change in the future books.
Highlight

^{I position the final explosive at the base of the anima dorm and beckon to my little leopard friend to follow me as I move back. I can’t very well make sweet love to my beautiful regina if I’m blown to pieces now, can I?
...
The Forklift Brothers spent a little time distracting the guards with a student who “managed” to get his entire arm stuck down a toilet. Bob’s your uncle and now I’m ready to go.
“Ready, spotties?” I ask the gathered felines. “On my count⁠—”
One of the kits whose name I don’t care to know gives me a panicked look under his comb over. “But, Mr Fengari, there are girls in there.”
“Yes,” I say, not so patiently. “But the prettiest one is far beneath the building. This is the way I get to her.”
Pickle, one of the nerdy leopards who made the bomb, clears his throat. “Sir,” he says nervously behind his protective goggles. “Should we, er… give them a chance to get out?”
“Who?” I frown disapprovingly at him.
“Um… the other animas?”
“Oh,” I say slowly. I forgot about other people for the moment. Correction. Didn’t care about them for the moment. “Hear ye, hear ye!” I broadcast into the minds of all the animas in the old building. “Get out of the anima dorm in one minute because I’m about to blast it up to the Wild Mother herself!”}

(Savage's POV - Her Rabid Beasts)
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Caspian from Myths and Monsters
Now, Caspian is not as well known as the other MMCs on this list, but, to me, this would not be a complete list without his inclusion. I did ponder if I should add him here, or on a future list of the more calculist psychopaths, but this man goes off the rails during the actual book events, so he stays here.
Now, why is here in this list, you ask? Well... Is he an obsessive monster? Yes. Does he turn into a rockstar, and as soon as the FMC is interested in him, discards his band and goes camping across the US with her? Also yes. Commits mass murder in the name of the FMC? Check. Tries to BITE OFF one of the other MMC's arms? Actually yes.
Highlight

^{Flip— Caspian tackled me to the ground, slashing his claws at my face. I bit into the cigarette as I threw my arms up, trying to protect my head from his attack. I felt a sharp pain in my arm and yelped.
He fucking bit me! I grunted and rolled. He fell into the dirt beside me but kept trying to claw and bite me like a damn cat. I looked no better, batting at his hands and face like I was trying to play-fight a kitten.}

(Mothman's POV - Run & Hide)
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Enzo from Kept

“Fucking skank,” Eddy spits out, even as he trembles. “Talking to the cops.”
“Oh,” I breathe in delight, wiggling the blade a little until his chin is tilted high in the air as he works to avoid it. “I’m not a cop, Eddy boy.”
I feel the jolt as he jerks against the needle I slide into the soft flesh of his stomach, a high-pitched grunt leaving his throat.
“Who the hell are you, then?” I love this part. Leaning in, I press my lips right against his ear.
“I’m Batman. Welcome to Gotham City, bitch.”

(Enzo's POV - Kept)
While making the list, I knew that I needed some representation from a Contemporary book, but I couldn't choose _who_. And then I remember the Batman scene, and that was it. I know that me putting this man instead of a more popular MMC will be controversial, but his POV, or even his other scenes were just...He is just so fucking weird. I can't even choose which moments to highlight.

^{"She’s ours, and I’m taking her. Pull your head out of your ass, Ryder. She was fucking made for us, and I’m not letting her go. I don’t give a flying fuck what you and Maverick have to say about it.”}

^{He shoves past me towards the door.
“Or her, come to think of it. None of you get a fucking say in this. Pick her or don’t, but I’ve made my choice. She’s not going anywhere.”}
(Ryder's POV - Kept)
Enzo is a psychopath that redirects his murderous intent to only evil people, such as pedophiles, rapists, men that are violent to their partners, and other scum of the earth. He still has a few screws loose, and it's consistently unhinged throughout the book. He doesn't mask it, it's not a slow burn. From his first scene, you know that you will be on a wild ride during his POVs.
Highlight

^{“Nobody else touches what’s ours.” He says “I will kill them, prey. I will kill them slowly, and then I’ll fuck you on top of their corpse. Tell me you understand.”}

(Zella's POV - Kept)
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Lorcan from The Fifth Nicnevin

^{“You’re my redcap.”}

^{He beams, showcasing a mouth full of sharp teeth. With one hand, he pulls off his cable-knit hat—which is as blood red as his species suggests—and waves it in front of him with a flourishing bow.
“Lorcan, or Lore, if you prefer. Not Daddy, though, I’m not into that.”}
(Rhoswyn's POV - Beyond the Faerie Gate)
Lore is an underfae, more specifically, a redcap, a fae species that need their hats to be bathed in blood regularly or they will die, they are known for being ruthless and violent. And, Lore is one of the most famous ones, being thousands of years old and an ex-assassin of the Autumn Court.
Everyone is wary of this man, for good reason, and his thought process is absolutely hilarious sometimes. My favorite scenes involving him are when we are reading from any of the other MMC's POVs since they are always just weirded out and flabbergasted by Lore.

^{Lorcan, on the other hand, doesn’t. “Are you really surprised that she’s special?” He blinks into a different chair. “She’s perfect.”
I wish I was a psychopath. I imagine that life without giving a fuck would be simple.
“The nobles are going to freak,” Jaro shudders. “Regular fae necromancers are treated with suspicion, and their power is limited to whatever they’re born with. Hers…”
“She could raise an army of the dead using her connection to the Goddess,” I confirm.
“Pretty Rose has thorns.” Lorcan looks almost… aroused by the idea.
His pupils are blown wide, and on his head, his knit cap springs upward into a stovepipe hat in a disturbing display that makes me grimace.
To a redcap, I suppose learning your mate has the capacity for untapped slaughter and bloodshed would be a turn on. But the visual was just unnecessary.}

(Drystan's POV - Beyond the Faerie Gate)

Honorable Mentions

Vincent from Saint View Psychos - Vincent fans, I'm so sorry... I love him so much, but he is only 50% psycho.
Everyone from Darkmore Penitentiary - I really wanted to put someone from this series, but I couldn't choose which of the MMCs was more unhinged, so, unfortunately, they were all relegated to the Honorable Mentions. Suffering from sucess, I suppose.
Jude from Dance Butterfly, Dance - He is very kooky, but he never fully reaches the full potential of his unhingeness.
West from Four Horseman - Unhinged man, but all of the MMCs are a little psychotic on this series, so oh well.
Boogeyman from Her Feral Beasts - If the next book was out, I'm sure that I would put him on the actual list, since even Savage thinks he is insane.
Oscar from Ironside Acadamy - While he is unhinged, compared to the other people on this list he is very nice, a golden boy, truly. Still putting him in here because he's absolutely hilarious.
Annex by The Blackened Blade - His outfits were so Hot Topic coded. Does the author think that those are cool? Even Damien dresses better than that. Overall, very unhinged, but there is only one book out as of now.
Ryder from Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac - Before the riot starts, this man will appear on another list of mine. Despite him being a lunatic, I decided that he fitted my other Spotlight more.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
So, what do you think of this trope? And do you have any other Unhinged Psychopaths to add to the list?

when I was little I used to watch my uncle play games with ps2 and one day while he was playing games again a game caught my attention but I could never find the game if anyone has an idea I would be very happy, first of all my uncle played the game on ps2 it was a third person game obviously all I remember is my uncle he was chasing a man and the man he was chasing eventually enters a room and as far as I remember, he feeds himself to the giant creature in the room and integrates with the monster and then my uncle fights with that monster, if I remember correctly, the monster had a few heads and could not move much, just like that half-life the tentacle monster and also the graphics of the game was something like prince of persia style with leagacy of kain and also the game was cellar style or underground, that's what I remember for now.

I’ve decided to rewatch every Amazing Race and rank them all.
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SEASON 24 (ALL STARS) gets a 6/10
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This is probably one of the most frustrating seasons! It looked like very little effort was put into the returnee cast, the route, the challenges, leg designs and even editing/storylines were inconsistent. However…it usually wasn’t boring! There was some drama (some of it a bit annoying though), there was the charm of seeing returnees (I do love the appeal of All Star seasons), and a season with Rachel Reilly is never boring! So I find it similar to the Family Edition in that it has lots of flaws but is generally entertaining enough to enjoy. So it gets a 6 because it was still enjoyable (but is obviously ranked near the bottom).
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Theme

• This is the 3rd returnee season (after TAR11 All Stars, TAR18 Unfinished Business and now TAR24 All Stars). An All Star season is meant to be the “best of the best” and this season consisted of returnees from TAR18-TAR23 only as well as some 3-time players. Also no winners and some early boots, so it actually feels more like Unfinished Business 2 rather than All Stars 2. I love returnee seasons and seeing entertaining past players interact and you feel invested in them in episode 1 (most seasons take a few episodes to become invested in the cast). However it was the weakest Amazing Race returnee cast by far.
  
• Now to judge the returnee cast. Out of the 2-time players, you had 4 fantastic choices (Natalie/Nadiya, Leo/Jamal, BoppeMark, Brendan/Rachel) and 4 terrible choices (Dave/Connor, John/Jessica, Joey/Meghan, Caroline/Jennifer, all from TAR22 haha). Dave/Connor more suited an Unfinished Business season. I wouldn’t even mind if they just slotted Dave/Connor into a regular season with 10 other newbie teams like Bruce in Survivor 45 (rather than wasting a precious All Stars slot). They’re nothing special - they just raced 4 legs and got medevaced so they wouldn’t be too out of place on a regular season. I even said Eric/Danielle from TAR11 could have raced on a regular season too. Not using an Express Pass (John/Jessica) is NOT a reason to be on All Stars (also not that interesting), Joey/Meghan were only back because of their YouTube fame (also not that interesting), and Caroline/Jennifer are there for the hot girl team quota (and AGAIN not that interesting). The main criteria should be ENTERTAINMENT and these 4 were NOT.
  
• Out of the 3-time players, Jet/Cord were a good choice being such a fan favourite (despite being very overrated), Margie/Luke are always a fascinating team to watch so they were fine, but Flight Time/Big Easy weren’t needed for a 3rd time. They were fine in TAR15 but were just okay in TAR18 so I don’t see anything new they could bring really. So many better 3-time choices. And lastly you have the Mark/Mallory hybrid which I’m actually not too negative on (Mallory is also a 3-timer). Ideally they should have put on an alternate team when Bopper couldn’t race but I think Mark/Mallory had potential for entertainment and a fascinating storyline. Very different from Eric/Danielle’s situation because Mark AND Mallory were both popular characters.
  
• I personally don’t mind 3-timers if it will improve the cast but I know many fans would prefer to stick with just 2-time players for fairness. But I don’t believe any combination of 2-timers would have made this a good cast, with fans suggesting Andy/Tommy, Jaymes/James, Pam/Winnie, Max/Katie, Abbie/Ryan etc. Let’s be honest - these teams would not have dramatically improved the quality of the cast! They should have either waited a few seasons or just go all out and try to replicate Survivor Heroes vs Villains (regarded as one of the best All Star seasons of Reality TV) - it had winners, lots of 3-timers, classic players and no weak links in the cast. While I believe TAR24 was too soon for an All Stars, Survivor Heroes vs Villains was also “too soon” (only 4 seasons after Fans vs Favorites) but good casting made it a legendary season. 3-timers and winners are not necessarily a bad thing!
  
• So this is who I would have picked (I believe just go all out and get the biggest stars and characters possible) = I would have only picked 4 teams from TAR19-TAR23 (Brendan/Rachel, Natalie/Nadiya, BoppeMark, Leo/Jamal). While Bopper would still have gotten sick, I would have picked another team to replace them rather than Mark/Mallory (maybe Bill/Cathi - arguably the best older team). I would then pick four 3-timers (Jet/Cord, Margie/Luke, Charla/Mirna, Rob/Amber). I would then fill the remaining slots with winners because it would be nice to have the equivalent of a Sandra or Tony from Survivor (2-time winner) - either Rob/Brennan, Chip/Kim, Nat/Kat, Rachel/Dave (if still together), Ernie/Cindy or Nick/Starr. Some other good choices (if the teams above decline) would be Colin/Christie, Eric/Jeremy, Oswald/Danny, Joe/Bill, Dustin/Kandice, Kynt/Vyxsin, Zev/Justin or any winners. Also Brook/Claire and Tim/Marie but they declined and could have considered Amani/Marcus who also declined.
  

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General Thoughts

• This season didn’t have many boring sections but felt like an unsatisfying mess. The choice of returnees was frustrating and then you had 2 of the “underwhelming choices” be the top 2, Natalie/Nadiya going 1st was a huge loss, Mark/Mallory damaging the reputations was disappointing (but good TV), the 3-timers didn’t do much this time and then mixed with the poor route and challenges. The Accidental Alliance vs The Brenchels was a big storyline at the end and while that drama was “better than nothing”, it also came across as annoying (similar to Brandy vs Caite in TAR16). I like returnee seasons, and I believe this would rank lower if they were all new teams. For example I enjoyed watching John/Jessica, Margie/Luke and Flight Time/Big Easy because I knew their history, but would be boring if I didn’t know their backstories.
  
• The editing and storylines also seemed off. You had multiple teams together at the Spanish steps challenge and then a foot race to the pit stop yet it didn’t feel as tense as it should have been. They also had Brendan/Rachel almost missing a flight in leg 5 as well as a train in leg 6 and they both lacked suspense (editing is the issue). Also while I liked Brendan/Rachel this season, their storyline was all over the place. Rachel started as wanting to redeem herself with a few positive moments (not stressing, helping Luke) but then later became hated by every team and had some meltdowns. The redemption storyline was just dropped. The same thing with Dave/Connor who were meant to be super sweet but the editing made them annoying and self righteous. Even the Accidental Alliance drama seemed to be dropped at the end where Brendan/Rachel were interacting with the other teams like nothing happened. This is also the first season to cut the intro for several episodes. So mostly entertaining but some unsatisfying storylines and editing choices.
  
• Dave/Connor are 2 of the more unique winners, as opposed to the “dull” Jason/Amy and Bates/Anthony type winners. The first parent/child winners, the oldest individual to win, and had a great story of being medevaced the first time and returning to win. Some find them likeable, some find them annoying, but I prefer them to a team we don’t care about at all. I probably would have preferred a Leo/Jamal win or the craziness of a Brendan/Rachel win…but it was an okay result but not great.
  

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Route

• This season had a terrible route! No new countries (besides 1 task in Wales), only 3 continents, lots of double legs in 1 country (first 8 legs were 2 legs in China, 2 legs in Malaysia, 2 legs in Sri Lanka, 2 legs in Italy) and lots of simple city legs that look like post-Covid routes (Leg 2 for example looked like it only took teams less than 2 hours to complete and the pit stop was like 20 mins away from the previous one). Apparently a lot of legs were designed last minute which I understand. Besides the Family Edition, I think TAR21’s route was worse though because TAR24 had slightly more iconic sites (Canton Tower, Petronus Towers, Coliseum and Spanish steps, Mount Titlus, first visit to Wales, Las Vegas strip) and a bit of a variety with snow, rainforests, cities etc. Terrible starting line at that college - a starting line isn’t a huge deal but it does get you hyped when it’s at an epic location (like next season’s Times Square).
  
• A lot of the challenges were also very cheap looking and simple for an All Stars. Challenges like operating a remote controlled chariot and shaving a balloon look very underwhelming. Not many challenges stood out besides pouring the drinks/DJ Detour (a fantastic Detour) and remembering the Welsh poem. They should have just resorted to Switchbacks of classic destinations and challenges as that would suit an All Star season. And some odd choices in regards to predetermined flights (lots of sign-ups for flights rather than flight searching) and Dave/Connor’s 5-8 Road Block distribution didn’t make sense.
  
• This season basically had the same format as the last few seasons which I don’t mind. It brought back the twist where the winner of the Express Pass gives a 2nd one to another team. It was unique this season because for the first time a team gave away the Express Pass at a challenge and basically “burnt it”. Besides that, this season also had 2 Double U-Turns and Speed Bumps. No Fast Forwards which is a shame because I think it adds something slightly interesting to those episodes. Only the 3rd season to not have a Fast Forward.
  

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Cast Ranking
1.Brendan/Rachel - they carried this season! Rachel started out as not wanting to be her old emotional self and was a lot less whinier than TAR20 (although I preferred her meltdowns honestly haha). She had a “heroic” edit where she prayed rather than getting stressed out - also supported Luke at the cocktails challenge and helped Brendan get through the plate spinning. However they are also responsible for the biggest drama of the season - U-Turning Dave/Connor and the “We hate the Brenchels” storyline. Once again Rachel has most of the cast hating her…and I love it! Rachel then reverted back to her old crying self in the last 3 legs with meltdowns at the bulls, crying at the Wellington toss and picking fights in the finale. So still crazy, still got her sequins, fell over a few times haha, bizarre lines (saying “I want to win to get a baby” over and over haha) and provided the drama and laughs that this season needed.

1. Dave/Connor - the rivals of the Brenchels and made the next biggest impact! They seemed very sweet and relatable like at the disco “We’re just 2 Mormon boys from Salt Lake City” haha and I liked their sweet bond with Caroline/Jennifer where they let them step on the mat in front of them. But they also feel annoying and entitled. Dave mentioned his achilles A LOT, Dave complained about his age A LOT ("Yeah outrunning an old man", “U-Turning a 60 year old man” and “This is a young person’s game”), complained about Brenchels A LOT and they seemed very self righteous over the U-Turn. Their involvement in the Accidental Alliance came across as childish rather than noble, “That snotty woman! She’s scary looking!” So I'm not sure if they were meant to be likeable or not - they sort of sucked a lot of the fun out of the season honestly. But a decent redemption for them and they made a decent impact and got us talking.
   
2. Leo/Jamal - still fun and likeable with some sneaky moments but more toned down than last time. A few cheeky moments like “We love you Connor, we love you Connor” when he finished the sewing (hoping for help), but then “I’m kidding, I don’t” after they left. Strategic again like when they wanted to lie to Jet/Cord at one stage but didn’t because they wanted to avoid the U-Turn this time. Made the smart decision rather than the emotional one when U-Turning the threats Jet/Cord. Unfortunately finished in 4th place again.
   
3. Jet/Cord - the cowboys are “back in the saddle”! Another likeable team but I found Leo/Jamal more interesting. They were “threats” again, “We’re like butter, we’re on a roll” when coming in 1st haha and also worked alone again “We’re used to being the lone rangers”. I sort of liked how they didn’t join in on the Brenchel drama. Still find them a bit overrated but I know a lot of viewers enjoyed seeing them again.
   
4. Caroline/Jennifer - were the sweethearts and underdogs who weren’t great racers but slid by each week (and saved by 2 non-eliminations). I thought they were likeable enough, “Who would u-turn Dave/Connor, they’re the sweetest guys…and have great hair” haha Were proud of their flirting again and used it to get an Express Pass off Jet/Cord…and were helped multiple times by Leo/Jamal and Dave/Connor. You don’t need to be a strong “girl power” team…the underdogs who get through by flirting are just as interesting haha But weren’t that great TV honestly….like last time.
   
5. Mark/Mallory - a fascinating dynamic even though most fans didn’t like this hybrid. In a way it did damage the reputation of 2 fan favorites (Mark/Bopper and Gary/Mallory) because they were very negative to one another (Mark refusing to race without the backpack despite having everything he needed, and Mallory seemed uncaring and not taking responsibility) but I enjoyed their drama. I liked how Mallory joked about losing their passport on leg 1…and the foreshadowing. I prefer their messy dynamic rather than them just being nice and boring for 2 legs.
   
6. Natalie/Nadiya - screamed at eachother through the whole 1st episode and I loved every minute they were on screen “It’s in Asian, I can’t read it!” haha They were such a hot mess in their 1 episode and possibly my favourite first boots! This season would have been so much better if we saw them involved in the Brenchel drama later, and I would have loved to see some more crazy moments and seeing them get to visit Sri Lanka.
   
7. Margie/Luke - the last 4 didn’t really contribute much this season. These 2 are ahead because I always enjoy watching their dynamic with their sweet bond and occasional bickering (nothing bad, just normal healthy struggles). Luke’s sexuality was finally brought up (a nice scene where Luke explains his coming out to Margie) and I liked Margie saying that when Luke pulls her this time, he has to be gentler because she’s older haha Felt very likeable this time, like when they were reflecting on the train ride in Sri Lanka.
   
8. Flight Time/Big Easy - they were fine but didn’t do much this season. They had a nice moment dancing with the locals in Borneo, joking about the Beekmans winning with roller bags, and talking to their wooden donkey when they couldn’t work out what they did wrong. So ultimately a few more fun moments than the 2 ranked below them. Didn’t feel like they wanted to be there as much as previous seasons.
   
9. John/Jessica - didn’t do much this time. They were at the centre of lots of storylines in TAR22 but I think that was just “lucky circumstances” rather than them being big characters. They were just a generic nice couple here. It was nice though seeing Joey/Meghan and John/Jessica helping each other again like last time (and Brendan/Rachel having a random final 3 alliance with them haha). Their only moment here was them working with other teams thinking Caroline/Jennifer were behind them, and losing a footrace.
   
10. Joey/Meghan - Also didn’t do much and the only difference is John/Jessica made it further. Joey just played up to the cameras like last time (screeching “White is not my color” at the wedding dresses) but they were still likeable enough. Their only storyline was Meaghan helping John despite the 2 of them being in last place. So not the smartest move but nice that they still have that friendship.
    

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Leg Rankings
1.Leg 8 - Italy (F6 - Flight Time/Big Easy eliminated) - the most entertaining episode of the season! So much drama going on between all teams and great scenery. Brendan/Rachel U-Turning Dave/Connor…with Dave’s irrational hatred for the rest of the leg plus Brendan/Rachel disagreeing over who to U-Turn. Then Dave/Connor helping Leo/Jamal (despite U-Turning them too and calling it a “blessed u-turn” haha). Decent challenges - racing donkeys (teams falling off especially Rachel, and the donkey struggling with Big Easy haha), building a wooden donkey (teams not using the box as part of it, many switches) and writing the Ancient manuscript (dull but some teams still struggled and was made better with Dave not accepting an apology and later mocking Brendan/Rachel). Rachel was hilarious “They can’t get me in a place of worship” haha Also had Dave/Connor and Caroline/Jennifer working together (with Dave/Connor accidentally losing them just like Bates/Anthony did) and just a good mix of fun and drama! Not for everyone, but I liked it.

1. Leg 4 - Malaysia (F8 - Non elimination) - fantastic, especially the Kuala Lumpur section at the end. The beginning in Kota Kinabalu had the trampoline challenge which had Jessica struggling and injuring her foot and Rachel having to take off her pantyhose because she was slipping haha But Kuala Lumpur had the Petronus Towers and Batu Caves, a night leg plus a fantastic Detour (if you ignore that it was impossible for Luke to do the DJ routine). Pouring the cocktails and the DJ routine had lots of teams struggling with placement shifts from the flights (one of my favorite Detours). Luke has a meltdown and smashes the glasses (Margie yelling like a mother to pick them up haha) and Rachel of all people calms him down. 3 hours later Brendan/Rachel pray and have a very positive edit and music (and don’t accept Margie/Luke’s offer for both to take a penalty) and a great ending between these 2. Loved the music and close up of Rachel’s cross haha Would be the best leg of the season if the whole leg was in Kuala Lumpur.
   
2. Leg 2 - China (F10 - Mark/Mallory eliminated) - it looked like a cheap Covid leg but pretty exciting overall. Some great drama with Mallory forgetting Mark’s bag and arguing about going back for it, “People from Kentucky don’t act this way” and Mark being like “I don’t have much and I mean nothing to her”. A trainwreck but can’t stop watching! Jet/Cord walk for a long time and lose their 1st place lead and some okay navigation drama at the start. Building the toy car at “Chuck e Cheese on steroids” was fun - a little girl annoying Flight Time, Meghan helping her ally John (despite being last), and especially Caroline struggling and Jen managing to get the Express Pass off Jet/Cord, “I knew I’d get it off him” hehe. The featherball was also fun with all teams so close together, and Mark/Mallory just not working well together at all. No team chose the massage, and I don’t mind watching teams in pain haha but I prefer skill based challenges so I don’t mind. 7 teams then check in together at the pit stop together. Very fun and fast paced!
   
3. Leg 11 - England/Wales (F4 - Leo/Jamal eliminated) - was decent and felt competitive enough but not as top tier as past final 4’s - mediocre tasks for a final 4 elimination and not many storylines but not too dull. Soccer task was ok but nothing special, shooting the clay pigeons/tossing wellingtons was terrible (still felt tense though at the end…and I guess it made Rachel crack), but I really enjoyed remembering the Welsh poem on the aqueduct (good scenery, cultural and challenging). The costumes and castle looked nice - “we’re in Downton Abbey” and Rachel finally has a TAR20 type meltdown when she picks the wrong size shoe and cries like a child (the foreshadowing at the start when Rachel says “I’m proud that I haven’t freaked out yet”). Placement shifts, self driving, Rachel meltdowns are always a positive for me, and actually had a strange positive edit where the final 4 were getting along. So still enjoyable overall and a sad ending for Leo/Jamal. Just needed a few better challenges, especially the Detour at the end.
   
4. Leg 7 - Italy (F7 - John/Jessica eliminated) - a good enough leg but would rank higher if it had bigger moments or storylines. It had the Coliseum, many teams together at the final puzzle (Roman Numerals) which is always a plus (Flight Time hilariously having no clue how to do it, Rachel not helping teams, and Leo/Jamal strategically helping last place teams)…and a foot race for last with teams thinking Caroline/Jennifer were behind. However the challenges were embarrassingly bad - remote controlled chariots seemed so silly and out of place (feels very inauthentic to the Ancient Roman theme), the gladiator routine was silly, and counting the Spanish steps wasn’t that hard as long as a local could tell you the Roman Numerals. Finding the site of the “unhappy Roman holiday” had some difficulties, Rachel thinking the “eternal city” is Ethiopia for some reason haha and while the detours were silly, they had some funny struggles with Leo “I watched all 4 seasons of Spartacus”. And of course a very close finish!
   
5. Leg 9 - Switzerland (F5 - Non elimination) - challenges were okay and nice Swiss scenery…but very big on the “We hate Brenchels” drama! I don’t mind it but can understand why some may find it annoying this episode. The “Accidental Alliance” is created on the train with teams mocking Rachel’s “I want to race around the world with my best friend” haha. And celebrate getting to clueboxes before Brendan/Rachel, helping one another “their family” and also complaining about them A LOT! Cleaning the room was okay as an attention to detail task and Jet was like “Now my wife knows I can clean”, and Helga “Figure it out!” was a great judge! Working out that the object is a drillbit for a tunnel plus the Mustang Puzzle were nice simple tasks - Rachel thinking it’s a wheel haha and Dave/Connor giving their allies answers. Delivering the milk through the snow at the end was a bit dull besides Brendan writing “TAR24 WINNERS BRENCHEL” on the gondola haha So just an okay leg but depends whether you like the “We hate the Brenchels” storyline.
   
6. Leg 6 - Sri Lanka (F7 - Non elimination) - another “okay” leg. Started strong with the tuk tuk Road Block - Rachel was fantastic screaming “GREEN GREEN GREEN” but her colours being wrong (her ally John eventually helps her). Lots of fun chaos with everyone manhandling tuk tuks “I was booty bumping rickshaws out of the way” haha But then there’s a train equaliser and delivering logs with an elephant/make paper from elephant dung was boring (and arguably animal cruelty making the elephant do that). “You’re only as fast as your big fat elephant”. They’re okay cultural tasks but not that difficult or interesting besides a few bubbles when making the paper. Nothing much happens besides some foot races - Jet/Cord vs Leo/Jamal “It’s Indians vs. Cowboys! And the Indians are WINNING!” haha and also Dave whining that John/Jessica outrun him “Yeah beat the old man”. The tuk tuk segment was a highlight of this season and it’s unfortunate that there was an equaliser and that the 2nd half dragged.
   
7. Leg 10 - Spain (F5 - Jet/Cord eliminated) - felt like a bit of a cheap and underwhelming final 5 elimination leg with some really silly challenges - shaving a balloon and running with bull costumes. A bit of the Brenchel drama (Dave saying the U-Turn was “kind of inappropriate” when it really wasn’t haha and “Dave/Connor are the sweetest guys on the planet”). Leo/Jamal decide to U-Turn Jet/Cord instead of Brendan/Rachel…but not that interesting “There’s only room for two cowboys on this race and it’s Leo and Jamal! Yeehaw!” Haha Shaving the balloon was terrible, nothing much from the flamenco dance, delivering the hams was a boring and generic Speed Bump, and the bull costumes were silly but at least had some fun moments - Rachel was hilarious as always getting knocked around like crazy saying the bulls were ”bullies”, Dave complaining “I’m an old matador”, Jet/Cord missing parts of the phrase, plus Jamal’s knee injury. It wasn’t necessarily too boring which is why it isn’t ranked lower.
   
8. Leg 1 - China (F11 - Natalie/Nadiya eliminated) - was terribly designed! The challenges were finding the Chinese symbols on the band members (very quick and forgettable starting line task), finding wedding dresses (had an okay navigational element and the only decent task), the Canton Tower bubbles (luck based and terrible) and summersaults (terrible, impossible to fail, too tame of a height challenge for All Stars, Caroline “Flight Time looks like a sexy piece of spinning meat”). Natalie/Nadiya were fantastic entertainment and saved this episode from being terrible by yelling “YOU IDIOT” and “I TOLD YOU” over and over (and even argue over who is doing the Road Block). “Those are Chinese flags, not race flags you lunatic!” It also had Bopper’s medevac which was a dramatic start and it’s nice seeing all the returnees bantering with one another (Brenchel army at the airport and Natalie/Nadiya joking about Rachel’s crying). But not much content besides Twinnie craziness, Jet/Cord dominating, and teams struggling to find the wedding dresses.
   
9. Leg 12 - USA (F3 - Finale) - for a finale, let alone the All Stars finale, the challenges were too easy - digging for a chest (boring), David Copperfield routine (impossible to fail and only designed to show off David Copperfield), putting lightbulbs in the Mirage sign (not challenging and only designed to show off Las Vegas) and looking for the neon sign in the helicopteskydive (didn’t look that hard to find). Very unsatisfying. But it wasn’t too boring with some minor drama with Brendan/Rachel and Caroline/Jennifer having a fight at customs (not caught on camera so just explained through talking) and there’s some arguing while digging for the chest (throwing sand in each other’s holes). Plus Brendan screaming at a taxi “We’re in a race so we can have a baby” haha plus Brendan/Rachel lost in a hotel that Rachel once worked at. And to be fair, it was very close between Dave/Connor and Caroline/Jennifer - sprinting to the final clue and waiting to see who skydived first. And a night leg in Las Vegas was a great idea…just terribly designed!
   
10. Leg 5 - Sri Lanka (F8 - Margie/Luke eliminated) - unfortunately a dull leg because Margie/Luke were an obvious elimination. It did have some great airport scrambles which is always welcome in the modern era (Brendan/Rachel taking a risk on a short connection and Margie/Luke failing to get on standby). Sewing the t-shirt had potential to be a tough interesting challenge…but needed to have all teams together. Several teams struggled, teams worked together (Jessica and Brendan, as well as Connor helping a struggling Jennifer) and Big Easy really struggled “If I have to sew something I’ll just ask my fiancé or my mother…or just buy something new” haha and Flight Time just shows off his basketball skills. The fishing had to be one of the dullest challenges ever and balancing the plates wasn’t much better (although Rachel is the one telling Brendan to calm down here). Printing the t-shirts was also a boring Speed Bump. Margie/Luke are way behind and have a nice scene enjoying the Sri Lankan train ride, but not much excitement.
    
11. Leg 3 - Malaysia (F9 - Joey/Meghan eliminated) - was terribly designed - boring challenges (repelling down a waterfall, delivering goods, blowdart) and separating the flights by 3 hours just didn’t make sense as there was little drama for the top 6…and then 3 teams far behind. And flight scrambles are always better than sign-ups. The top 6 just went through three tasks robotically, and even the bottom 3 had little drama or stress. I guess there was a bit of a storyline about the Brenchel army being the bottom 3 and facing the fact one of the friends will go. But Joey/Meghan are obvious boots after struggling to find a taxi. The only interesting parts were the rafts falling apart in the rapids and Rachel repelling in her underwear so her sequins don’t get wet “God forbid she lose some sequins along the way” haha The promos really hyped up the dangerous rapids and they were fine for that short segment but no drama came from them in the episode.
    

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Summary
Not a great season but I feel gets unfair hate (just like the Family Edition which also had bad leg designs, bad route, drama that some found annoying). I don’t think it was terrible as most legs had things happening that made each one interesting enough. Everyone vs Brenchels was similar to Everyone vs Weavers (had some interesting aspects, better than nothing, but was a bit annoying at times). The cast, route and challenges were unsatisfying but entertainment is most important to me and this season was usually not boring. TAR8 and TAR24 had similar weaknesses/frustrations so I’m ranking them together. I enjoyed TAR24 slightly more but I could see TAR24 getting a 5 or less if it wasn’t a returnee season, as it had some similarities to TAR16 (many teams were compelling because of their history rather than things they did on this season).
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So after each season I will place it on a ranking:
1.TAR5 - 10/10

1. TAR3 - 10/10
   
2. TAR12 - 9/10
   
3. TAR17 - 9/10
   
4. TAR18 - 9/10
   
5. TAR2 - 8/10
   
6. TAR7 - 8/10
   
7. TAR20 - 8/10
   
8. TAR11 - 8/10
   
9. TAR13 - 8/10
   
10. TAR6 - 8/10
    
11. TAR10 - 7/10
    
12. TAR22 - 7/10
    
13. TAR14 - 7/10
    
14. TAR1 - 7/10
    
15. TAR9 - 7/10
    
16. TAR21 - 6/10
    
17. TAR15 - 6/10
    
18. TAR23 - 6/10
    
19. TAR4 - 6/10
    
20. TAR24 - 6/10
    
21. TAR8 - 6/10
    
22. TAR19 - 5/10
    
23. TAR16 - 5/10
    

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