I Don't Know What Ep 15 Is Going To Be About, But Why Does The Preview Make It Look Like Tae-sung Is

i don't know what ep 15 is going to be about, but why does the preview make it look like tae-sung is straight up going to launch a case against sun-jae because he thinks he kidnapped her.

this is a really odd thing to consider with atla, but for a show that loves taking liberal scoops of hinduism, buddhism and south and east asian cultures for its worldbuilding, atla is really weird about letting its characters practice religion.

everything in atla is people taking about spirituality, defining themselves with spirituality, yet nobody engages it in the context of belief. we are given the concept of worshipped beings in the atla universe; tui and la and agni for example. but none of these gods are ever seen as gods that the characters hold belief in. we barely get a framework of belief with the earth kingdom (the earth kingdom is examined politically and never religiously in the series) which would actually be interesting because so many cultures did have a god or goddess of the earth. the water tribe goes into cultural rituals, but only for an episode. we know nothing about air nation religious practices beyond nonviolence bad and vegetarianism. even the fire nation is practically a blank slate.

it's almost like the creators were nervous at the idea of letting the characters practice a religion, even a created religion that's foreign to the majority of their (most likely christian) audience. the weddings are very christian-coded (you're telling me that the FIRE nation wouldn't have a hindu-style marriage which literally involves FIRE), and the characters are never seen worshipping or participating in cultural festivals beyond the usual 'oohh fireworks and food' type thing. normally i wouldn't care, speaking as a former kid who did spend religious festivals like that, but if you're going to put characters forward that practice eastern religions and then have them interact in the most surface level way possible, what's even the point?

In-hyuk and Tae-sung at the premiere for Lovely Runner: The Movie starring Sun-jae and they are both bawling their eyes out and have no idea why.

gathering data in preparation for our last Monday

hunger games and tbosas didn't imprint themselves on me the way that they did for many people, but it did make me wonder what the population was like for panem. oh god. where do i start with this. all of district 12 can somehow cram themselves into one waiting area so this lady can read names out of a bowl. that bowl was not full. how little people are there in this expanse of country. appalachia today has like millions of people living there. can you imagine cramming the entire of new york city into one waiting area so this one lady can pull names out of a fucking bowl. that's ignoring the other population in new york state. california has like 58 million people. televise or digitize that shit. how horrible were the conditions of panem that they can fucking herd an entire district into one waiting area when today you can barely fit an eighth of a small city into four football stadiums.

i know that the college-era timeline had to end poorly because we need the drama of it, but i would've loved to see everyone inform past im sol that sun-jae was her boyfriend after old im sol left back to present day.

and if i'm being really indulgent, cue kim tae-sung and baek in-hyuk not being to handle sun-jae's pining ass and decide to go on a mission to 'recover her memory.'