Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not.

First, kitten pictures!
( Two kitten pictures under the cut )

Next, how many of y'all are fans of Welcome to Night Vale?  Want to talk about it?  Because I just listened to Parade Day, and I sure need a hug want to talk.

Oh goodness, that ending!  I shouted at my car stereo.  From the sounds of things I fear that the next broadcast may be made by Kevin.  D:

I was not expecting that to happen.  Tamika Flynn's power to rise against StrexCorp had received so much buildup as a storyline. Cecil threw off all pretenses of collaboration with the regime and went into open rebellion.  Even the weather seemed hopeful.  I had a sense that something was going to go wrong, but I was bracing myself for Strexcorp making one last strike-back against Cecil by going after Carlos (likely by trapping him in the house that doesn't exist).  And that could still be happening, but we know that Strex has Cecil and Tamika.

Nobody outside of Tamika's tiny band of dedicated readers/freedom fighters stood up to do anything.  It hurt my heart to hear Cecil, who normally believes the best of people despite living in a town full of horrors, realizing that nobody in Night Vale had been willing to risk themselves for the greater good.  Audio is a weirdly personal medium where it feels like the narrator is talking directly to you, which meant that (despite fully understanding the concept of fiction) I felt personally guilty about failing Cecil.  The show wasn't shy about making a point about the important difference between belief and action.

Anyway, other than being DEEPLY UPSETTING there was a lot to enjoy about the show.

-Cecil going on about how Carlos is awesome at science as well as handsome, followed by Carlos's fondly embarrassed "Stoooop!"  Awwww. I love their established relationship even more than the UST stage.

-Morse code secret messages!  Because the Internet is wonderful, some excellent person put translations on the transcript here.  However, Cecil is (as usual) not terribly subtle.  Surely Strex has people who can translate Morse too.

-Angels coming back!  Their presence made me doubly surprised that everything went to hell in a handbasket so much.

-Mayor Pamela Winchell is willing to admit that mountains might be a thing!  What a world.

-Cecil rebelled against Strex-owned Station Management by locking producer Daniel in and making faces at him, then barricading himself in the studio with cardboard signs saying KEEP OUT! with all-caps and an exclamation mark.  Bless.

-Welcome to Night Vale is often wise in between the silliness and horrors.  In this episode, I really loved the full version of the quote I begin to quote in this entry's subject line:

Are we living a life that is safe from harm?  Of course not. We never are. But that’s not the right question. The question is are we living a life that is worth the harm?

I anxiously await to learn where the show goes from here.