Peacock has finally come to Roku, so we’re finally rewatching ExoSquad. I think I'm going to notate any thoughts I have on it, which I'll tag with #Exothoughts, and there will be spoilers for the series.
So I woke up in the night wondering if Marsala's defense of Marsh at his court marshal could have been better. I guess it couldn't have been worse, seeing as how Marsh got the death penalty, but Marsala went with trying to justify the charge, rather than disputing it. I mean, did JT Marsh really commit mutiny?
Well, I looked it up this morning, and...yeah. He kinda did. And death is the sentence, too.
Art. 94. (§ 894.) 2004 Mutiny or Sedition.
(a) Any person subject to this code (chapter) who—
(1) with intent to usurp or override lawful military authority, refuses, in concert with any other person, to obey orders or otherwise do his duty or creates any violence or disturbance is guilty of mutiny;
(2) with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of lawful civil authority, creates, in concert with any other person, revolt, violence, or other disturbance against that authority is guilty of sedition;
(3) fails to do his utmost to prevent and suppress a mutiny or sedition being committed in his presence, or fails to take all reasonable means to inform his superior commissioned officer or commanding officer of a mutiny or sedition which he knows or has reason to believe is taking place, is guilty of a failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition.
(b) A person who is found guilty of attempted mutiny, mutiny, sedition, or failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.
If Captain Marcus had told Marsh to message the fleet, and Marsh refused, that would simply be a refusal to obey orders, and Marsala's defense would have held up. But that isn't what Marsh did. Marsh told Weston to "belay that order," despite not having the authority to belay anything, then argued with Marcus on the bridge, causing a disturbance, and that does appear to meet the minimum qualifications of mutiny.
I think if I was Marsala, I would have started with Maggie Weston, to find out if she had ultimately obeyed the order. We don't know for sure, but it is assumed that she did, since the message was relayed. If she did obey, Marsh incited nothing. If she didn't, she should be on trial with him.
Marsala could also have argued intent, which is key to the charge. Did Marsh intend to usurp or override Captain Marcus, or was he just argumentative because he disagreed with the order? Did he, at that moment--or ever--have any intent of taking command of the Resolute away from Captain Marcus? I don't think it would be too hard to argue that no, he did not.
So if I was Marsala, I would have used arguments about outcome and intent to get the sentence reduced to something like insubordination. He may have still been convicted, but it might not have been a death sentence.
Thinkin about writing a 5 + 1 and it would be 5 times people think Peter Parker and Spiderman are dating plus one time people figure out that they are the same person
idk this is just a thought that I might write out later
I AM CRYING AYT NAO BC BANGTAN HAS A FANDOM NAME AND TWITTER ALREADY WHILE EXO ONLY HAVE WEIBO AND LINE AND KAKAOTALK IM SO DONE AND STILL WE DONT HAVE A FANDOM NAME
way too many words and thoughts and feels for this group, so i need to unscramble everything as to not explode. this will be long.
i started following exo two months after they debuted, but even in this short amount of time my feels have been galloping all over the place. for a while, my bias list was seriously in danger of completely being given up on, since it was impossible for me to decide who i liked more than the others when i was spazzing out over every new photo that came in. but the initial proverbial dust has settled somewhat, and i want to jot down what i think of the members and groups as a whole. so here goes k for now, else i fear this would turn into a novel.
k: exo k is just a weird group for me. i certainly like them in general, but i'm more meh when it comes to individual members. even with the members i do like more, some of them also have flaws that definitely tamper down my feels for them a bit.
baekhyun: bacon's an interesting one. i really, really like onstage baek when he's actively singing because 1. he has a great voice, and 2. he seems made for idol life. it's incredible he only trained for about a year - he has amazing stage presence. i was actually kind of blown away by him here, and it's my favorite recording of him singing, so i'll just use it as an example. his voice is so smooth, especially in his part at the beginning, and he just radiates cool, confident charisma. and that little jacket flip at 0:15? that sold me. i don't get the sense he might be thinking "ok here, remember to flap your jacket a little" because it's just simply so natural, not contrived at all (which, ironically, is the exact opposite of what i'm going to say about him in a moment). it's those little details in his performances that make me enjoy watching him as much as i do.
going back to his voice, though, while i know i said he has a great, smooth voice, it's a very objective statement because i don't particularly like it, especially when he sings higher notes, over anyone else's. his voice is downright velvety when he sings lower, but the moment he goes up, i actually feel tense listening to him because something just feels tight and like it's being constrained.
when baekhyun's not onstage but still on camera, he becomes this greasy little thing with a frighteningly adorable face and aegyo. i get kind of resigned when i see him like that because all the cutesy stuff doesn't appeal to me at all; it's pretty clear he tries hard to sell himself to the public and get everyone to like him, but like i said, he thrives in the spotlight, and i guess it's working if he has the most fansites out of exo members in korea.
i haven't seen much of it, but when he's offstage and off camera, he seems quieter and less preoccupied with his image; and if that's true, that's the baekhyun i like the best.
kai: lots of people have said this before, but i like kai a lot more than i expected to. i don't think much needs to be said about his dance skills, as they're pretty self-explanatory if you watch any video. but even more than that, what makes his dancing so breathtaking and memorable is how one he is with the music, if that doesn't sound too daoist or something. when he dances, it's no longer a matter of 'this move goes with this beat', but 'if music had a physical form, this is how it would look'. he brings so much swag and intuition into his dancing, and he carries it all out so expressively and convincingly; i could watch him dance for a long, long time without getting tired. out of the many performance recordings i've seen, he's never once seemed to only dance halfheartedly or simply carry out the movements, and i definitely appreciate that as well.
offstage kai can be purely adorable, in a way that baek's prepackaged adorable isn't. from his actions and reactions to things, you can tell he's basically still a kid at heart (sometimes a really awkward and derpy one), even if the industry is trying to force him into this sexy sex god persona. i really like that he is quieter and shyer offstage, and fervently hope he doesn't grow into cocky stage kai too much and use him everywhere. that would be awful.
suho: i'm curious as to why suho and kai seem to be on such unfriendly terms, or rather, why kai seems so unfriendly to suho. i'm also curious as to why suho seems to have made no major bonds with anyone in his group. he comes off as a bit bland to me, although i'm sure he's a perfectly nice, genial person (or so his constant smile would indicate). i was pleasantly surprised by his live singing since his voice is sweet and so steady. hopefully his personality will come out more in the future? hopefully he has more of a personality? i want to like him.
chanyeol: my feels for chanyeol are fuzzy right now, and i don't know how much i currently like him. or actually, let me think about it this way: on a scale of 0-100 where 100 is omfg-i-love-you-to-the-ends-of-the-world-let-me-die-for-you, i'd give him about a...60. if you'd asked me two weeks ago, i would've told you around an 80-85 immediately. i first noticed him when i was just getting into exo and i was like "who is this guy who's constantly smiling? CONSTANTLY. SMILING???" i loved how deliriously happy he always is, plus his ridiculous laughter that's so big and unrestricted. add his deep voice and some very well-written fanfic to the mix, and he easily shot into my top two biases.
but then i started realizing that he's not as innocent and carefree as he comes off as; i don't doubt his personality does naturally veer towards large and loud and brash and intense, but it's evident that he cares quite a bit about his image too and, like baekhyun, grooms some of his actions for the public. also, what was this? stop, chanyeol, stop trying so hard to be cool and pander yourself out to people.
this guy is way too gangly for me to place much hope in his dancing, but i am pretty impressed with his rapping and beatboxing. he's no zico with his rapping obviously, because zico is just a whole 'nother talented story altogether, but he's a lot better than 'just getting the job done'. when he raps it actually sounds like a rap and not just quickly-said words (hi minho), he feels the music, he really likes music, and i'm satisfied with that. his beatboxing also sounds awesome, although i'm not one to judge since i know nothing about beatboxing - i can't even breathe like him in that video without sounding like i'm having a seizure. but overall, he's found his own niche within the group and i like him.
sehun: i don't even know anymore with this kid, man. i do know that if i do like him, it's because leftover luhan and hunhan feels are transferring over, because other than that, i've got pretty much nothing for him. i'm not entirely sure why exotics always say kris is the one with bitchface, when i think it's sehun who has it bad instead. or maybe it's just deadface. either way, that combination of sleepy, hooded eyes + emotionless face is pretty potent in scaring me away. that time his hair was pushed back for a performance and his eyebrows added to that too? ok that was s c a r y.
i don't mean to make it sound like i hate him, because i don't. i just don't have a good reason to like him either. i guess he's kind of cute...when he moves his face. he's a decent dancer...when he isn't completely lazy and actually does the movements properly. another thing i've noticed a lot and am quite :\ about is his bowing. d.o. and sometimes chanyeol do these full 90-degree bows; suho, baekhyun, and kai do decent 80-degree ones; but sehun always does this abysmal 60-degree tilt at the waist. isn't bowing supposed to be a big thing in korea? considering he's the maknae and his group has just debuted, shouldn't he be showing a lot more respect? it's ironic how he hasn't gotten any flak about this when krystal seems to be getting pummeled every so often for 'having a dark expression' on shows.
in general, sehun is very quintessential-sm-product to me. it's a miracle i love hunhan as much as i do when sehun makes up one half of the couple.
d.o.: i've saved my favorite for last :) d.o. started off as a dark horse on my bias list since he didn't especially catch my attention at first, what with flashy kai and charismatic baekhyun and hyper chanyeol around. but then i heard him sing, and i was floored; his voice has got to be one of my favorite out there right now. it's smooth, versatile, spontaneous, and glorious; it's hollow - the only way i can think of to explain this adjective is, you know how a clarinet has its distinctive woody sound? that is what d.o.'s voice reminds me of; and it's loose, with all the notes gliding together effortlessly - unlike with baekhyun, i don't feel any tension when i listen to d.o. sing. i love how he can just belt it out out of the blue too - i'm watching the star interview and at 1:35 he just suddenly breaks into song with that flawless voice of his. it was really impressive to me that his pitch and delivery were spot on, and even more so that he was so nonchalant about the singing and treated it as if there were nothing to it at all- which, to him, there probably wasn't.
this guy can also beatbox. his beatboxing sounds so different from any other i've heard, with all its little clicks and sighs, and i bet he could give chanyeol a run for his money. his rapping is also pretty good - like chanyeol, he's got the right instincts of movement and flow when he raps, and he pulls everything off very convincingly. all in all, i am very impressed with this wide-eyed bundle of talent, and i can't wait to hear him sing, rap, and beatbox more. can you say triple threat, seriously.
other than his musical prowess, i love his personality too. have i used the word 'adorable' too much this post? because i'm about to use it again: d.o. is adorable. he's got such a squishy face and looks alarmingly distressed when he isn't keeping his eye size in check, he is so obviously the mom of the group, he cares about his groupmates a lot, and seeing him transform from fierce rapper to adorable squishball in literally one second (0:45) during two moons made me want to squeal with no shame. yet despite all the cute, he can still be astonishingly suave, both onstage and off. you can tell he's a sincere and genuinely kind and good-natured person, and i'm very happy that he very much remains himself when in the public eye. he's steadily climbed his way into my top three exo biases without my noticing at all.
wow, that was pretty exhausting...and to think, that's only half of the group omg. what did i get myself into when i started stanning exo. i'll have to save m for later unless i want to stay up half the night, so yup. until next time.
