#tower prep rewatch

[intothewickedwood]

Tower Prep Rewatch: 1x01 New Kid

Okay, time for a Tower Prep rewatch! Here goes!

I’ve missed liveblogging! Last time I did was 4 years ago for a 3 year long Ouat Rewatch! Can’t believe it’s been that long since then! Maybe I’ll do one for the Wilds next. 

This poor kid. Ian said they were friends. I wonder what he must’ve thought happened to Ian that he can’t even contact him anymore. 

I remember Ian being my favourite character when I first watched. I thought he was cool as hell. I’ve rewatched a few times since then, but it’s been years since my last rewatch so I’m curious to find out if that changes. I also thought Ray was a really interesting character.

Could definitely do with Ian’s preflex ability. The amount of times I’ve walked into the same-ass doors. Reflexes, where you at??

Oh, Andrew’s his friends name! Poor Andrew!

Ow! Ian that is so violent. I forgot he could get like that. 

Ian must have trained in martial arts. He always seems to have that knowledge when fighting and training. 

I forgot Ian had a dad for sone reason. 

I always wonder if his mum, or I guess, parents had any choice in him attending Tower. And, honestly, the way his mum says “you haven’t even begun to realise who you are”, makes me wonder if he inherited powers from her. I just feel like, in media, I’ve seen several parents say that just before their kid’s about to inherit the family’s super secret magic powers.  

Hi Whisper! 

Would be so creeped out if I was playing an online game & someone knew my name & said they were looking forward to our next encounter. Time to log off and flee the country, Ian. 

The fact that Tower has access to a sound that can knock people out is terrifying.

I like that transition scene. 

Ian’s roommates are so mean to him straight away. Maybe they didn’t want another roommate, or something. Just, instant dislike as soon as he wakes up. I wonder if someone told them to treat him like that. But they might just be looking for a way to entertain themselves at the new guy’s expense. They also seem to know how he’ll behave upon waking up “Here he goes” “Here comes the jitterbug”. So maybe that’s how they reacted at first. Or maybe they’ve seen other students react that way. I wonder if they all did that to each other. And I wonder if, other they done this to other roommates like their former roommate Redfang/Stephen.

Ray just said it’s kinda nice to have a new roommate. So maybe he was gonna give Ian a chance. 

I wonder if they thought Stephen/Redfang was a “total freak” because he ran & didn’t conform to Tower’s rules. It sounds like Stephen didn’t handle being at Tower very well. 

Ian’s orientation feels kinda like Alice in Wonderland - from the map drawn onto a playing card, to the watching eyes. Definitely feels more like it’s designed to disorientate. But, then and again, Ian’s orientation was messed up by Don. 

I like the look of this glass part of the building surrounded by the forest. I don’t think we see it again. 

Apparently the perimeter wall is a hologram. It’s a shame Ian didn’t try to get past it. I would’ve tried climbing one of the trees right in front of it & jumping to the other side. 

Buffer seems to be lacrosse on skates with hoops! 

Why are they beating him with their sticks like that? I get he’s interrupting their game, but ouch! 

I used to think Cal was just arrogant, but now I think he might just be feeling perpetually irritated coz of the constant overstimulation he must be being subjected to with his super hearing & training. *Sends him my ear defenders*

“Every year a new kid gets sent down to get his but kicked by the buffer team” I wonder if Don had done that to those kids, or if it’s some kind of Tower Prep hazing tradition. I mean, I’m guessing Coach has been there a lot longer than Don, so it probably happened years before Don got there. 

Coach seemed to feel guilty about not telling Ian more when Ian asks in desperation. Maybe he’s remembering how confused & desperate he felt when he first arrived at Tower. 

I’m surprised Ray let Ian push him outta the way like that without retaliating.

So, I guess all these other students at orientation arrived the same day as Ian. They seem kinda calm about it. Maybe they weren’t kidnapped and went willingly, thinking it’s just a “good school”. 

The way they show Headmaster on the video, instantly followed by the introduction of CJ. 

I wonder if CJ saying “I can’t stand kids who can’t get with the programme was really just for show or if a part of her genuinely believes that.

I can’t believe they’ve got whole psychological profiles for each student. It’s giving The Wilds! Tower must have either watched & studied them for a while prior to their enrollment or they got a lot of info from their parents, and probs their previous schools too. 

Oh, he has studied martial arts! 

Some students must have tried to attack Headmaster after being brought to him post-kidnap, especially with him being so infuriating with his answers to questions & smug about believing he knows who they are at their very core. 

Ooh, Pink reference in the first episode of this, just like the Wilds! Just started my gazillionth rewatch of the Wilds last weekend. 

One of the Monitors, Monica, says she’s from “a little place where people didn’t understand me.” It makes sense that she’d feel more welcomed somewhere that embraces powers, but it makes me sad coz I bet the faculty used their knowledge of her feeling that way to manipulate & brainwash the heck outta her and other Monitors. She’s not the only Monitor who says something like that.

Don’t blame Gabe for acting out in class. The way the teachers pretend everything's normal. Straight up send me to West Campus! I’m not doing homework for my kidnappers! 

Don looking through Ian’s phone. Yup, this kid definitely has boundary issues to say the least.

I love that “You sure about that?” moment with Ray. Love the foreshadowing for him having powers that aren’t to be taken lightly. And I love that he gives Ian a choice. And even his roommates give Ian fair warning.  

The Gnomes! It looked like Headmaster told the Gnomes to let Ian go through the forest last time. 

I’m a bit confused about Tower’s location. For the longest time I thought it was on an island because of the scene where Ian runs to the edge of the forest and it’s revealed he’s standing on a cliff over the sea.I thought it was like that all the way around. So I thought that even if they could get past the Gnomes & the perimeter wall they’d have to make a boat or swim to get somewhere with other people. According to wiki, it’s on a remote peninsula, so that could mean there’s nothing else on land outside of Tower for miles, or it could mean there are people & buildings on the other side of the wall. I liked the idea that it was a remote island coz it made it all the more inescapable. It could still be a small peninsula on an island according to wiki, with even a few possible islands that match the location clues listed, but not sure. 

Oh, Suki, Gabe & CJ are trying to leave on this night too. I wonder what it was that finally pushed them over the head. Had to be CJ’s idea on her dad’s orders. 

It sounds like Suki’s parents might have been arguing over whether Suki should go to the school or not. 

I feel like CJ would’ve had an easier time lying if she made something up instead of saying she has no memory pre-Tower Prep. So she might be telling the truth about that. Her father could’ve brought her there when she was very young. Or could’ve straight up had her memory wiped by Specs. 

I always feel a bit conflicted about most of their powers being seemingly rather subtle. On the one hand, it’s cool to think people with those kinda powers could exist, but on the other hand, I love X-Men & it would’ve been cool to see them go all out. I found this show by looking up “shows with mutants”, so it would’ve been fun, but I guess that’s what The Gifted & Mutant X are for xD.

“Till I drop the disguise, and become me again. Whoever that is.” I forgot about Suki saying this line! It makes sense that she’s struggling to find her identity with the ability to sound like anyone. I like details like that, that explore the consequences of specific abilities. Poor Suki!

I wish we got to see Gabe’s ability being successful more times. I know he’s learning how to use them at the school, but damn, if his abilities were more consistent he’d be unstoppable. Could straight up tell the teachers to send everyone. But then there wouldn’t be a plot, so I guess it’s good he has limits. 

Oh, the Gnomes do use the sound!

I love how protective Ian is of them already.  

I should really take up martial arts. My dad’s a black belt karate teacher, and I somehow don’t know a single move! But I also don’t wanna hurt anybody, so that’d make training difficult.

Man, I can’t believe they ran out naked like that. I’d have at least put on a towel! Maybe they didn’t bring any for some reason?

So, at least Suki, Gabe and Ian all think their parents decided to send them there. I wonder where they would’ve gone if they’d escaped.

I feel like I remember feeling so creeped out when it was revealed that no one knew who sent the “I’m scared too” message to Ian

And that’s all! This was fun!

[fairytalesociology]

Tower prep rewatch Episode 11 and 12(trust;snitch) because I watched them together and didnt track which one had which thought.

•Emily went from the most confident character to the type of person that fidgets with her skirt and cant close a door. Would have loved to see more of her arc

•ian gave cj and ultimatum. She did exactly what he expected. And then he just lets it go because she fights the gnomes. She probably called them there to begin with.

•can cj be hurt by the gnomes? I would think she might be immune.

•"they have been made unbroken" that was so unsettling.

•headcanon: some (former) tower prep students develop a phobia of green lights. Maybe other colors as well. But defintiely the green lights. Or even just the color green. I dont know. My point is this is the ideal situation to produce a phobia.

•Redfang is fascinating as a concept whether hes real or not. Because these kids have made up their own mythologies/folktales based either in reality or not.

•Did you notice when suki was hiding the sat phone Cj was *pretending* not to look..the first time i thought she was just being respectful and giving suki a fraction of privacy in a place they dont get any. But thats not what she was doing.

•"the other less likely option is one lf us told him"; "the unlikely possibilty just became probable"

•"newsflash your fathers technology is keeping us prisoner" so the kids at tower prep fully acknowledge that fact at least once in the show. Which makes every calm moment even more fridge horror.

•i know ian blamed someone in his group(at first) for the gnomes finding the broken. But the broken dont talk to them much I wonder who they thought told.

•"not because tower prep is bad for you but because youre bad for tower prep" suki found out her father loves tower prep more than he cares about her.

•i wonder how long suki had been at tower. Long enough to be familiar eith it but not long enough to get rid of the homesickness and missing her family.

•on that note i think length of time for the core four longest to shortest time at tower prep is cj, gabe, suki, ian.

•feels like they could have just actually built the fence they wanted instead of using something tha vould glitch. It would have been cheaper. Why did they do it this way?

[fairytalesociology]

Reminding everyone of the headcanon Gabe uses his hyperpersuasion as a defense mechanism before I rewatch the episode where he gets sent to west campus because i am going to pay soecific attention to what he sounds like and what he says when hes afraid.

[fairytalesociology]

tower prep rewatch. Episode 1.

•cj was TERRIBLE at being a spy. Half of her lines could have been a confession.

•ray just chewing on his hand as if he's nervous in he bsckground of ian's introductoion to his roomates.

•"buffer do you play?" This is not a real soort. This only exist at this one secluded school. This line is fascinating.

•"disruorive as always" gabe is one od my favorites. Hes funny.

•the logistics of the dorms are weird. Because ian has 3 roomates but gabw only has one because in eoisode 2 they move rooms. Was this planned? Did the hasmaster PLAN to room him with gabe but want them to nahtrally meet so stick him with a bunch of others at first?

•Monica eithwr truly hated her hometown or has convijced herself she did just ro ease the pain of being foced away from eberythig shes known.

•"some students cant handke waht we do jere, some break." Obviously? This should have been an after school program. Probably would habe been safer. Worked better.

•why not just hire actual fscukty for the monitors posititions? Why are those students?

•"we've been oushed around too long" i wonder what made them decide enoigh was enough.

•"oritnation is closed" they rewlly dont want to tell people qhts going on.

•that is a LOT of people i. The orinetarion room for a system that has ro telport people. Do they all come on rhe same day or do some have tonwait a wwek/month fir prooer orientation?

•[the wag ive bee writing ray] do the experimental kids get an orirentsrion fipm? Or do they get even less information?

•gabes record is NEVER explained.

•okay so i know the show leanes rowards whisoer wrote the "im scared roo" note but i dknt know if i agree. Could hsve been any student.

@man-i-dunno

@wicked-storybrooke etx

[fairytalesociology]

Tower prep rewatch. Episode 7 "field trip"

•this is my favorite episode. It judt gives the other characters a little depth. And lets us in on a little of the urban legends thst pop up in the iolated spsce thst is tower prep.

•I know the show wants Ray to be the bully character but I just feel *bad* for him. Him admitting he doesnt always comes across as the nicest feels like a confession that *something* made him like that.

•domt rewlly know why Gabe dislikes Emily.

•cj's eyerool at being psired with fenton.

•"a week before my birthday inwoke up here." So fsirly certsin Fenton ends up hating his birthday. Because wow. Thats traumatic.

•I love how we get a little insoght into jow much damage tower prep has done. Not a lot. But enough.

•"field trip" and its just the grounds of the school. And they csnt even go to the edge of the grounds.

•why did Ray *eat* the slime mold?

•the way jenny[the nurse assitsnt sho is alfefintiely a student because she has been in other scebes as a student] tells gabe to stay in the infirnsry over night makes it sound like she works there during the night on top of classes and whstever trsining she does.

•fenton's powers are either some type of empathy or he is incredibly observant.

•I dont knoe if i think fenton ray and emily were spying on rewuest of a teacher or if they just did thst on theirn own.

•"what is broen and sticky?" I know suki didnt laught but thst was funny.

•most peoppes nsturwl instict isnt to hit an injury. So thsts a lesrned behabior on Ray's psrt. Dont know where he lesrned thst.

•Ray getting excited to be psired eith suki. I dont really like the crush angle they went with but okay.

•"not a problem for me" ray carrying suki.

•gabe is *so dramatic* but I guess thsts likely a bit of a control thing?

•where was the bio teacher during this? Why was headmaster the one hsndling a biology assignment.

•the woods are off limkts outside of this, theres no way these field trios ever end withou a single injury. Headcanon: they do them to show the kids theres no hope of escape.

•where did cal even get sandwhiches? Will whisper make sandwhiches?

•the look of guilt on cjs face when Fenton says he never becsme a boy scoutm i belibe *that* is the momebt she reslly starts to doubt what shes doing as a spy.

•theres like maybe 10 students during this field trip. How msny months does it tske for *everyone* to do thid assignment?

•fenton had a knife and the fsculty was fine with it. This school is 100% not in the states.

•i feel like the field trip and Ian's discussing cao's dosappesrsnce had to be at least a few weeks/months apart.

•why did cj dislike fenton *so much*.

•I will give headmaster thst assignming psrtners is probably the best route. Students pairing up and sticking to the ssme small group of people is probsbly fsirly common in this setting. Unlikely you would wsnt to mske a ton of friends or change who you worked with often.

•they have an x-ray machine. And what looks like an operating table. Makes since but how sure are we nurse has any thing close to a medical degree.

•"i'll frame you out" and thrn just the realization thst she was stsnding in poison ivy.

•the favt no one ever sropped rhem from hsngong out in the dtirgae room should have been a hint that cj was relsted to headmaster.

•all 3 of the siddchsrsvters jeeded more ecreen time. Ray, Fenton, and Emily. Like they all had interedting set ups thst didnt reslly *go* anywhere.

•"be back by sundown" is such a vauge timeline. But also thst id the longest bio assingment. they stsated at 6 am. And the fsvt they had to *walk*

•cj litterally hit Fenton sith a tree branch.

•This very well could hsve been some of kids firdt time in nsture aside from th well kept grass in between the classrooms in *years*

[fairytalesociology]

Tower prep rewatch episode 5 "the rooks"

Too much plot happened in this episode for it to be quite possibly my least favorite of the episodes.

• I can never tell what tone masked shadowy figures are supposed ro be in tv shows or film. I cant tell of the rooks are supposed to seem threstening or silly. Or both.

•how long has ian been at this school by this episode? It seems like long enough to have made enemies and friends. "The obly brither i cwre avout is the one you rejected."

•"cj happens to b my friend" gabe you may want to reconsider your choice in friends.

•love the coerume design choice of a lot of the kids at the dsnce just being in their uniforms.

•so coach was used as a gunia pig and that explains a lot. But he is also an adult in charge of kods so he doesnt get as much sympathy from me.

•"im owed this" i knle thats foreshadoeing about cj being headmasters dsighter but i feel lik rhe sentiment works for any student in tower prep.

•where did the rooks get the girls uniform gabe was wearing?

•is the skills lab just open to students after hours or did the kids sneak in there?

•"maybe you should hsve concered your ears" i loce when character flip threats around like that and use the words thwt out them down against the pwoppe that did that to begin with.

•where did they even GET the mask for the fratenrity? Did they sew them in home ec?

•suki's rsnt agsinst frsternities is so obvious written in the mid-2000s. Thered SO MANY things wrong eith frsrnernities but them not havin girls is * not the main issue*

•also suki: tou hsve way bjgger problems.

•i wish we saw way nore of noelle.

•suki drinking ian's juice when hes no tgerr to tell her way it even came from is both brave and disgusting.

•"live by the wing die by the talon" comes out suoer goofy in context.

•had this been played right they could hsve used this as part of the mystery and written it has kids reneacting their kodnapping to make sense of that. But its a kids show.

•gabe has been at tower prep way too long. Hes so excited about rook season.

•creepy organization aside coach's watch is really cool.

•i troed turning on caorions and watched the scene 4 times and i STILL dont know what jermey/odin called cj before revealing he was going to destroy the dsnce. Poe? Poet? Boa?

•"headmaster wants it done by the book. And this was the onlt booknwe could find." That is such a random book. Where was it? Why did they have it?

•also 3 teaxhers deleovering it in a breifcase was way funnier imthan it should hsve been.

•"nutrition is over. Please proceed to class" why not just call it lunch/dinner/breakfast? Was whisper too busy to record three recordings?

[fairytalesociology]

Tower prep rewatch. Episode 9 phone home.

•Called it the first time that Whisper would be the one they came for.

• "i wouldnt know who to call" cj's half-truths are a running thing in the series that are so much more blatant on a rewatch

•this school has a really strange budget and curriculum.

•some lf these kids are going to know how to do advanced physics but not know what an oven looks like.

•the giant cavern is either a test or they ran out of construction budget.

•I want to know how gabe and the girls became friends. Because gabe pretty much told ian he had no chance with cj because of how popular she was.

•"i didnt want to get a d" Gabe is barely passing some of his classes. Apparently.

•How. How is he failing cant he just talk his way into a grade he wants? No?

•we know very little about gabes pre-tower prep lofe and I think that was meant as a red hereing for him to be the traitor. But i didnt trust cj from the start of my first watch.

•cj and sukis very platonic kiss was sweet.

•at no point did they think to check for a gps despite knowing they have the tech. I moght watch too many spy movies.

•there are a few parts in this episode where cj tries to backpedal the goal. But then she lets ian make the call. I wonder if she told headmaster at some point and he warned ian's mom. Or if she told head aster about the merry Christmas thing and he added it to the robot?

•gabe ian and suki are probably going to think back on their adventures one day and realize how lottle cj *actually* helped.

•I want to see the whisker microwave thwt cake came out of. That was bigger than the ones in the nutrition room.

•this show brushed past the really dark part with Suki being told her brother was dead a little too fast

•and either they just guessed what flavor to ask for or whisper knows everyones favorite. Sonehow creepy and sweet at the same time

•some of the more long-term students probably view whisper as a maternal figure and mourn when she is upgraded.

[fairytalesociology]

Tower prep rewatch episode 8. "Dreams"

•the way dreams are woven into this makes it very hard to know whats real amd what isnt. And while I do enjoy that thematically paralleing the students confusion. I dont love it narrativley becsuse its just confusing to me.

•they call their planning space an observstory but theyre not taking any time of astronomy classes. No one is using it. why did they build an observatory.

•ian helps calm connor down tmbut that seems to be so against the standard tower prep welcome Or maybe ian specifically just had roomates thst didnt know how/want to comfort him.

•ok so there *is* a lab in the main campus. For some reason I had been misremebring thwt as being in another building.

•theres just a cell roght next ro the elevator and none of them questioned it. But i am. Why is that there.m Why is that a thing? It doesnt seem like they stop to put connor in there.

•i wonder if padt kf the ocerly strict bed checks are so theg get transport new srudebts on a gounrey and not get questioned.

•the thing gabe put on thinking it was music looked *physically painful*

•how concerned shouod we be thesr the foubder of tower prep had a rocky realtionship with reality" is such a valid question.

•"i have unresokved issues with everything. Why single out one thing." Theres definfiely something to be said about caravters with implied panic disorders being used for comedy but i like the way the show doss this. Gabe is very much *choosing* to be the joke vs the narrstivr just making him comic relief without wny regard for personslity. Its very clear the show can treat hin seriously as needed. Most if his jokes ate there not only or the auidience but to lighten the mood in high tension moments for the characters.

•theres no way psychology *actually* has a psychology degree.

•was that a bone saw in the lab?

•"they know my fsvoritr breakfast. Creepy" there are so manny levels of that microwave that have horrific implicstions. But canbwe just discuss the facr whisper got the egg order wrong? The foreshadowing of her eventual "malfunction".

•"Escsape is on all of your minds"; "cj didnt dream of the elevator." Oh the show *told you* cj was going to betray them.

•who has to do all the laundry for the lab? It cant be whoever does it for the aftusl school they would notice the fsct there were too much bedding That and any injuries from the experiemnts could easily leave unexplainable stains on the *pure white* bedding.

•gabe doesnt want ro go because fesr. Cj doesnt want ro go bdcause she 100% knows theyre getting way too close to answers shes supposed ro be keeping them from.

•"freshmen. Every time" oh so srudejts snapping and theowing rheir foodbtray has happened often enough thst gabe is just used to it. In another eoisode they say theyre allnfrehmsn but rhat csnt be corect. Gabe knows too much about this school.

•would love to know what the fire escape plan for this school is. Because they cant go *that* far. And i doubt they allow any outsiders for any reason.

•i think those emengency bedchecks would get so annoying so fast. Same with all of the alarms the school had.