Transcript for:
Review of Dead End Paranormal Park

going to give you all a really quick warning I'm now in a new place in college so there might be some background noise so if there is anything in this video that does have background noise I am very very sorry but there is nothing I can do about that also if you couldn't tell by the length of this video it's uh very long so do expect a little bit of inconsistent audio I do deeply apologize for that but there is no way I'd be able to sit through this entire fucking script this script is 94 pages long and it's the longest script I've ever written so yeah there's no way my boys will be able to take that but alas I hope you enjoy hello everybody and welcome back my name is manga Ryder and today I'm diving back into discussing a form of content that I know for assertion is going to make my comment section very interesting let's talk about a show that has been hyped up as being the worst of current about garbage but then forgotten about three days later dead end paranormal Park I know I'm super light to this and I don't care shut up based off a short that was on cartoon hangover under the name dead India in 2014 and then being retold and remade as a self-published comic dead end paranormal Park is the third iteration of a story that was made by an author named Amish steel from the moment it was announced to be getting an adaptation on Netflix this show sparked a lot of backlash people hated the designs and looks of the main characters mainly this one who is called Barney and people got a good giggle out of going to the older versions and finding some very let's just say juicy stuff contained within the comics contents but like every show that gets backlashed like this the series rather than pulling the plug eventually came out releasing its first season that is 10 episodes long people gave this show a watch and had lots to say many people came out voicing their dislike for the characters and how they handle certain themes while critics praised the show for being a queer themed scooby-doo-like cartoon and praised its representation of marginalized grobes and as all of you may know by now hearing all this discussion about this show peaked my curiosity and I knew that I had to see it myself I went into the show with a completely open mind and took down some notes in case I wanted to give it a review or see if it was just a show that simply wasn't for me and was completely inoffensive after all the internet has grown to be quite sensitive nowadays suffice to say I got one episode in and had three pages worth of notes right off the bat so yeah a review was um it was Destiny at that point so after finishing the show and taking down all my notes I think I can now finally give my two cents here is my personal take on dead end paranormal Park starting with what it's all about [Music] it's Barney and Norma both going for a job interview to work at a park called dead end the two get to the park at around closing hours and make it to the main building where they assume the boss of the place Pauline resides they go inside and look around only to find out that the park is filled to the brim with all walks of demonic life where the two find out that the job applications were actually set up by a demon named Courtney to get sacrifices for her boss named Tema Lucas the reason she did this was if she was successful Courtney would be able to go home the ritual was almost successful and Barney was about to get possessed until his dog Pugsley jumps in and sacrifices himself to save his owner getting possessed by tuberculosis himself and begins wreaking havoc across the park Norma and Barney threw very strange means managed to save Pugsley and defeat the Demonic Overlord getting his soul stuck in a photograph but one bit of his soul Still Remains in Pugsley which allows him to talk Barney also decides to stay at the park due to family matters at home from then on the show becomes a series of Misadventures where Barney and Norma make new friends form very strong bonds and fight their own inner demons while Courtney tries to do anything she can to get back home while this is all happening a dark conspiracy begins to slowly plague the park with stunt doubles at the Park's owner Pauline going mysteriously missing and villains and Rivals begin to appear around every corner well that sounds like a simple enough premise right nothing really too complicated it wouldn't really require that much skill to write and execute so how did the show manage to do this story let's just get to ripping the show apart shall we the best word that I think perfectly describes the storytelling style in paranormal Park would be schizophrenic this show has some of the most random and unfocused storytelling that I have ever seen in a piece of media one of the many problems about this show that I grew to absolutely despise is that this Series has some of the most obvious plot convenience that I have ever witnessed there are so many instances I can point to where characters either should have died if the villains just used their fucking brains events happening because the characters magically lost brain cells events happening so that the plot can move in a certain direction or times when the characters should have been caught if the other characters on screen just opened their eyes or their ears I guess the lack of ear details in the art style was an actual defect that everyone in this world has because what is happening here you know when in bad horror media the characters just do dumb things and somehow manage to survive just fine paranormal Park does this on fucking steroids episode 1 is a prime example of what I'm on about not only did the beam that tried to possess Barney Move so slowly that Pugsley had all the Time in the World to sacrifice himself making this scene almost comical as opposed to being in hands but here we have telekinesis a supposedly very powerful Demon King who was shown to fly at Super speeds and have really amazing Powers not being able to hit a slow moving Target obeys rules that he shouldn't even know of and doesn't even use his powers correctly if this show ran on even the most basic of logic Barney and Norma would not have survived even the first episode oh but trust me the plot convenience gets a lot worse I have so many examples what about in episode 2 well while they're on the train Pugsley doesn't shut up and miraculously doesn't get caught or seen by anyone on board despite talking super loudly and not doing anything to hide himself what about in episode 4 where the kids summon a monster that devours their sleep something that only happened because Barney and Norma just conveniently didn't do their jobs what about in episode 6 will the characters do the body swapping Trope with Barney as he's nervous to talk to his Crush where no one truly notices or questions either Barney having completely different personalities or the fact that three characters one being a literal demon and one being a talking dog I might add are just using a fucked up book completely out in the open for the whole world to see what about in episode 7 where a crucial part of the Paulie mystery is a character that has never spoken any line of dialogue hell wasn't even around throughout the whole show and is now suddenly a crucial character or what about in the finale where the people in the park are completely turned to stone and despite the villains completely wailing on each other not a single person died as a result of falling over or being hit with an energy blast good job show a way to make your also threatening villains look actually really fucking weak not to mention that the character arcs of some of the cast also happens to be completely convenient to the plot as well like the Show pulling a Steven Universe and redeeming Courtney and Telescope so that the villains wouldn't be able to win because I forgot to mention Barney and Norma will also Turn to Stone in this the finale wasn't won by them but the villains I'm sorry I I can't make this up if I tried seriously this is actually a common Trend in the Show's first season Barney and Norma would sometimes do something stupid that would cause them to get in trouble and it's only through sheer luck and convenience that Pugsley or Courtney would be around to help them out of a bad situation some examples include the finale like I mentioned before episode 4 with the Sleep demon and episode 5 where they went to necropolis the show's version of hell to do a game show where Barney literally died I don't think I have ever seen a show where the protagonists are commonly just completely thrown to the sidelines and the villains are the ones that do the work for them that is that I gotta say that's that's a new one for me I have a suspicion why I have never seen a show do this because that shit is really stupid what a way to show that your main characters are too weak to handle world ending threads I cannot wait to see how they handle the bigger and more powerful foes given their super important roles in season one some might try and argue that the main characters did help in the finale because then just hanging out with Pugsley made titillation turn into belief to which I say wow that's uh that's pathetic some Demon King you turned out to be but where I think the story truly starts to fall apart is when you take a step back and start analyzing the actual World these characters live in the world building that is contained in this show is mental let's just jump right into it [Music] luckily for me paranormal Park's World building completely resides inside the walls of the park itself it also helps me solidify my point that the fact that this park hasn't been shut down is completely baffling for one the existence of demons making no sense dead end itself thrives off of being a horror-like theme park so the idea of there being demons hiding in the midst of all the mascots could have been something the show could get away with if it wasn't for the fact that these demons commonly find ways to inject themselves into the public where everyone with functioning eyes can see them the question that raises when it comes to Demons doing this is what is the relationship between people and demons in this world are people aware that demons exist is it common to see one this show answers these three questions by giving me two completely different answers on one hand the fact that Barney Norma and other characters get used to the idea of their being demon so quickly shows that demons might be a common thing in this show you can make the argument that because Normal has autism she might be able to accept it a lot quicker because you know autism's like that but in the case of Barney the 90 of him being completely fine with living in a park full of demons does make me think that in this world demons are a common thing however the show also tells me the complete opposite when demonic activities actually happen in the show like in episode 2 and 9 where possessed mascot costumes and literal demons start terrorizing the park what the Public's reaction to the monsters show me is that no it is not common to see stuff like this even inside a park like dead end which when put like that makes me ask the following questions how is dead end still open how come no one has went to the higher ups complaining about how people were treated in the park how come no one in the public brings up the idea that this park might be haunted how come there's been no investigation into the park when Pauline actors are constantly going missing how come the police have never been involved why has no one despite seeing and witnessing physical proof of there being otherworldly activity ever called the authorities you can't make the argument that the police wouldn't believe them because tens if not hundreds of people have experienced the same thing that shit would not go on noticed the easiest justification for this all going unnoticed would be to just have it so that the park has a spell on it that causes people to forget all the demonic things they experienced when they leave that would be a very simple explanation that would make everything that goes on in the park a lot more believable I mean after all you can't exactly go and snitch on the park if you don't even remember what you even saw there except that's not what the show does when doing some research and looking deeper into the show's production I was sent to a fan Wiki site by some friends that revealed something very interesting according to the wiki the showrunners actually addressed this point I made and made this argument with the concept of Pugsley and Courtney running and talking around the park around people a cut idea was an elaborate explanation as to how one of them casted some sort of Enchantment over the park populous it was too complicated though and the show creators realized it was funnier just to have the patrons either freak out in their presence or just assume their mascots what I'm sorry what was too complicated you mean to tell me that just simply saying the park has a spell that makes you forget the demon shit when you leave was too complicated to think I'm sorry what kind of a fucking argument is that so if I'm to believe this fan Wiki what that means is that everyone in the park knows and witnessed all this shit happening and yet didn't do anything to report any of this to the police or do anything to help defend themselves from literal demons I'm sorry you fucking what so why hasn't anything happened well the show does have an explanation but uh you're not gonna like it you wanna know why this park despite having multiple instances of magical activity is somehow still open well it's because the Park's motto is this well just keep it to yourself darling just keep it to yourself darling kind of keep things to ourselves here darling when I watched the show originally I thought that this was some sort of spell that made it so that people forgot what happened that was honest to God my initial impression whenever I heard a character say that line but if the wiki is true it turns out that that line isn't a spell but is instead just a catch phrase no one has reported any of the weird stuff going on in the park because Pauline said to just keep it to themselves I'm sorry but fucking what do you have any idea on how not making that a spell makes this Show's story completely fall apart people are shown to have gone missing that shit isn't something you just keep to yourself you call the guards you actually just sacrificed a very easy plot convenience that would have been A-Okay just so that you can make a few more jokes involving the demons what but that's not where the shitty World building stops believe you me there is so much more let's take Pauline being a ghost spoiler alert basically the main thing that got this story's ball rolling and let me show you why her being a ghost is never explained now in episode 7 it is revealed that Pauline is in fact a ghost that has the ability to possess people and she's been using actors to keep her Spirit Alive a show involving a premise like this would answer a lot of varying questions such as why is Pauline a ghost where did she get her power you know the basic shirt but in a Twist of events that I can only describe as the Creator stabbing my Intrigue in the heart and then twisting the knife the show doesn't answer any of these questions all we got from episode 8 which was meant to act as her origin story was that Pauline is a ghost and that's it we don't know where she came from where she got her powers why her soul was able to live on after she died we just know that she's a ghost and that she can do the things she can because well she's a ghost this plot point is never explained making me not get invested in the mystery of Pauline's life at all you had all the chances in the world to explain how this shit works so why didn't you do anything and I guess I never will know this stuff because in episode 10 Pauline is seen talking about her event on a rooftop and then suddenly Dives to a fucking angel what the honest fuck Jesus Christ speaking of the existence of angels let's talk about the idea of planes shall we because apparently it's this is yeah planes are in this show so far in the series we have seen three planes existing on screen Earth hell and heaven you're probably wondering why I'm even bringing this up well it's because in this world there is not three not four but thirteen planes this is where I along with other friends who actually pointed this out to me believe the evidence of the lack of thought towards the World building is at its absolute best there was no thought put into this part of the world for one the idea of there being 13 planes does not do anything for the plot the 13 planes idea is only hinted out of the show and the planes were not explored the only planes needed to make this story work would be necropolis hell Earth where the humans live and divine where the Angels Live making the idea of there being more planes not just too complicated but utterly pointless as for the names of these multiple planes well I got them all here from top to bottom we have Divine Imperium panadiso noraka disarray Echoes Earth bathmos Torres necropolis Gigan dudiel and Tartarus I do apologize if I pronounced some of those names wrong that's just one of the perks of being white where did I find all these names well they were in the wiki side and also in a lore book that the wiki cites as a source according to this lore book there are two planes Below in Acropolis due to the Ellen Tartarus meaning that there are planes worse than hell and there are five more planes above Earth with those being Echoes disorder naraka Paradiso Imperium and divine not only does it seem like this stuff would make the story far more complicated than what is necessary for a story like this one the descriptions for a lot of these planes are yeah they were clearly given names last minute hell if you want to have a quick chuckle naraka which I'm sure is a reference to Naraku is literally hell in Buddha's cosmology yet in this world it's implied to be a Divine plane so okay this shit is just a mixture of multiple mythologies and religions like Christianity Buddhism and Greek which completely contradict each other and are not used correctly which shows that there was no proper research done into the World building of the planes they are an absolute mess I swear for the love of God Allah Zeus Jupiter Cthulhu wakagaru Tia match Jesus brother amanra Oda trishna cuckoo Clan Toltec Thor Gaia and feigns fucking line this show could have just had Earth Heaven and Hell as the three planes of existence and nothing in the story would change there's enough shit contained in those three planes that could provide a whole Mountain's worth of Storytelling possibilities you do not need so many planes of existence for such a bare-bone story but to be completely fair this plot point was only hinted at in the show maybe later on they will explain everything and it'll be a lot better in which case I'll take back my criticisms but if this is their groundwork then uh yeah this um this ain't looking good so far what really bothers me about the World building of this show is that it can basically be boiled down to it feeling like a world that never got past the first draft the creators had all these cool ideas to make this Grand and epic story but forgot to trim off the fat leaving the narrative with so much stuff that is not going to be explored anytime soon it just kind of makes the story feel bloated but with the world and the story being ripped to shreds what about the presentation does that manage to help make the experience any easier well the short answer is no but allow me to explain like the story dead end's presentation can best be described as random and wildly unfocused this show has no clear idea or any sense of direction leading to the stories feeling unfinished unsatisfying and way too confusing one of the ways the show achieves this is the genre of the show on one side the series is an action horror comedy where the characters go on adventures to the underworld and have to deal with demons ghosts and other forms of demonic life but on the other side the series is a slice of life where we grow to learn who Barney and Norma are his people where the stakes are a lot lower these two genres while having the potential to fit together just fine in the hands of a good writer is not given that treatment in this show the easiest way to have these two styles of stories mesh together nicely would be to have the series do dedicated episodes that allow these formats to be explored properly one episode could be all about action and adventure while the next can relax and have the characters simply go through life and grow naturally from there the problem with these two formats in this show is that the creators do not know when to focus on these two kinds of stories properly these two styles are just meshed together throughout an episode's run time rather than having them be their own specific episodes with the transitioning between them making the show suffer from some of the worst tonal Whiplash I've ever seen take episode 7 for instance in this episode there are two plots going on at once Norma going down a mysterious rabbit hole and what happens if Pauline and her stunt doubles and Barney talking to his family about why he left home to stay at the park these are two stories that would have worked perfectly fine as just being their own dedicated episodes but the show decided to combine the two together causing both narratives to lose a lot of their punch because these stories never have the spotlight to themselves it's the biggest example of the show's Stakes between the demon story and the slice of life story not melding together at all one star story is clearly more important than the other but the show for some reason wants us to get invested in Barney's struggle as if it's equally as important to the show's plot and it's like not now Norma is about to discover why Pauline actor started disappearing Barney can we do this another time this is not the best place to explore your character right now this wildly unfocused storytelling also leads to many of the emotional moments coming in with the grace of a car speeding into a wall leading me to feel absolutely nothing for the characters involved and even made me question what just happened that caused that emotional scene to trigger because there was absolutely no build up to it anywhere I can honestly say that some of these scenes are so forced into an episode's plot that I honestly thought the show was trying to Gaslight me into thinking that I forgot an important piece of dialogue like I surely just missed something didn't I but no when I went back and watched some of the scenes again it turns out that that was never the case I was paying attention and I was watching what was right in front of me it just so happens that the show's execution of these plot points was just that bad speaking of the show's execution of plot points being bad you guys know the classic story advice show don't tell the one tip that every single beginner writer is told when starting out their stories I think it's safe to say that this role was not taken into consideration when the creators were writing this show they tell you everything but with a catch some plots throughout the show would do this really weird thing of telling you something that a character has gone through but will also not tell you the really crucial details to get you actually invested this was done I believe to have it so that the show can End season one on enough mystery so that season 2 can dive into the questions the first season didn't answer but the show managed to slip up on this by making the mystery so mysterious that they just ended up feeling like nothing an example of what I'm not about would be a plot relating to Barney's struggle with his home life but I will save giving that example for lighters so let's just put a pin in that for now what the show also likes to do with their butchering of the show don't tell rule is to have some scenes where this series will show or tell you something that didn't even happen in the story an example of what I mean would be in the finale where Courtney is trying to talk to communicate out of being evil where she brings up examples of Pugsley hanging out with Barney and Norma and these scenes were never in any of the stories prior I've seen Yu-Gi-Oh pull off more convincing friendship is Magic bullshit than this because at least I can watch examples of the characters being friends instead of the show coming up with brand new scenes and trying to label them as flashbacks like I was fucking there moving on to the pacing of the show's story dead ends pacing incense of time is non-existent according to the wiki this show takes place over the course of three weeks and two days with episode 6 and 10 half of the show's run time playing out over the course of two days do you see the problem here stories will play out either way too slow or way too fast making the story feel like it's punching you in the face to get you to notice a new plot point before your brain even has time to register the last thing you saw this constant barrage of shit being thrown at me made some episodes like the last four complete sensory overload there was way too much happening all at the same time and this Show's refusal to just pick a fucking Lane ended up severely hurting us this also makes stuff like Barney's romance with logs and normals adjusting to people feeling like they happened way too fast when in actuality this stuff happened over the course of three weeks damn you could have fooled me show I was under the impression that all this was happening over the course of a week tops you probably could have showed me lots more heartfelt stuff in those three weeks as opposed to having half your show be over two days God this show is fucking painful as for the animation and art Direction this show feels like it was made with a very small launches character movements feel way too automated and move very flashlight even though I presume this shot was made with tomb boom since that's the standard now which makes the action scenes this show tries to do feel like they have no soul or energy put into any of them it honestly feels like half the time the characters are just being dragged across the screen it's actually very unimpressive the character designs are very simple and Clash a little too much with Barney looking like a right Winger's mockery of a woke trans character and Norma giving me the impression that she would be a character on The Muppets but where I think the designs are at their worst is this character this is tinnitus's Sister discount undyne I'm sorry this design is so fucking ugly how this look managed to get approved baffles made there's no fucking Rhyme or Reason to anything here it's just an abomination of random features just put together honestly this shows art style and animation really does feel like parody of modern kids shows but the problem is that it's being played straight something that none of the main characters are followed a simple joke but I don't care as for the dialogue of the show dead end is one of those series that feels like it's made for kids and people who live on Twitter a lot of the lines the characters say are stuff I could definitely see people on Twitter quoting for how so relatable they are particularly with all the shit that Norma says I'm I'm bad with faces does this job have any benefits immortality okay but what about Denver what would Pauline do she'd save the dog and the park from any potential lawsuits she's dropping hard hands to Whalers I'm the socially awkward one stop stealing my thing honestly a Twitter was made into a person to be normal minus the racism and when it comes to the show's intended audience the Creator himself said that his story was made for audiences that light shows like Infinity train which I've heard was another kid slash young adult show now I'm not sure if Infinity train has this similar tone to Paranormal park because I've personally never seen it but honestly I feel like this show would have been better off as just being for kids it's art style in general tone is a little too cute to call for an older audience to watch it despite one of the aspects of it being a horror there's nothing that's too scary that would cause childhood trauma like the stuff from the 90s or the 2000s it is very tame I could definitely see a kid liking this show but older people yeah I don't think so you'd probably like it if you find this stuff appealing I guess honestly the way the show was presented just made it really boring but where I think this series really solidified as being an event to go through was the characters stories can have underdeveloped worlds and lackluster presentation but if the characters are written well then these things have the possibility to be saved luckily for paranormal Park its stories are mostly character driven and any show like that requires the writers to make a solid and likable cast so that the audience can be interested in what this show has to offer so does Paranormal Park succeed at least in this department look you guys aren't dumb all right you you already know what my answer is but allow me to tell you with a little more detail [Music] the characters in this show can be divided into three camps harmless and forgettable decent and even likable to extremely annoying let's start off with the best character of the show in my humble opinion that character being Norma Norma is the second main protagonist of the show alongside Barney she is the one obsessed with the goings-on of the park itself has a fandom boner for Pauline that could rival a K-pop Stan and is one of if not the only example of this series showing me any signs of actual combatant writing Norma is shown to have one reoccurring trait throughout the whole show she is established to have tism and is really really bad around people if too much is happening at once she goes into sensory overload causing her to have a full-on panic attack which the show actually lets us see in episode 3 where her fear for the real world is so strong she can handle other fears much easier she even gives a small speech where she says her fear world is the real world and it's corny but it's a it's decent this trait is one of the only things that paranormal Park actually shows and tells you and while its execution was nothing groundbreaking compared to everything else this small characterization of normal was a really nice breath of fresh air I will say making discount Pennywise die from consuming too much fear was actually pretty decent my only real criticism of this plot point is that the show explored this way too early this should have been around the end of the season Norma's character is mostly decently written but in saying that however I will say that Norma despite being tistic still does things that I think seemed really strange aside from her not reacting at all to seeing demonic life right in front of her eyes in episode 1 I'm still bothered by that by the way episode 8 has her going through a whole Arc of her finding out her Idol as a bad person and because she hates change she goes along with every movie she's in even ones where she try eyes to hurt Barney and it's like yes I can understand what the show is attempting to tell me it's trying to show off that parasocial relationship stuff between fans and problematic creators the way they actually executed this Arc was just really strange to me it just seemed like normal was in so much denial that she was even willing to hurt her own friends to avoid the pain of realizing Pauline is evil and it's like that's that's really odd I don't know there's something about this Arc that I really feel like could have been done better but if I'm being 100 honest she is by far the least offensive character in the show I don't really enjoy how she talks because like I said before so many of her lines sound like something straight off Twitter but being around people like normal all my life and also being a batistic myself I thought the way hertism was represented wasn't really offensive at all if anything I'm happy that it wasn't a lot worse moving on to Pugsley I don't really have many complaints to be honest he is literally what happens if a dog suddenly had the ability to voice his thoughts think of any simple joke someone would make with this premise and they probably did it at least twice in the show he doesn't really go through much growth and is really only a vessel to getting Tetris redeemed in the end he doesn't have an oh so great character Arc I'm sad to say I'm being serious I've literally got nothing on this guy he's literally just there there is also Barney's parents who I find to be pretty interesting characters but again I will hold this off for a little bit later I know I've said that at least three times throughout the course of this review and I'm very sorry but trust me trust me this will all make sense just bear with me for now okay I promise you it will be worth it when it comes to the side characters again I really can't say anything about them none of them have anything going for them that makes them super different to one another besides their race or gender for example I found badia and Logan or Vlogs as he's called in the show to be very one-dimensional characters who are literally only there to serve his future love interests for the two main characters while I could see some development between Norma and badia throughout the season Barney and Logan share the most bare-bone chemistry that I was honestly quite surprised at log fancied Barney even after all the weird shit Barney has done around him I don't know that kiss at the end just seemed really forced that really should have been saved for a later season but I mean hey I get it I'm a guy myself I completely understand the power of a boner it's just too bad that Logan's boners led him towards lamb mine but hey we ain't all perfect we don't perfect and when it comes to Other Side characters like Josh and Barbara yeah I I I I I I've literally got nothing moving on to the villains of the story these bad guys are some of the most forgettable threats I know of not only does the show have way too many of them fighting to be in the big bad at the end of the season but none of them also ever come across as a truly evil or dangerous thrash discount undyne is the biggest example of this she appears in only one scene and around the end of episode 5 and is just forgotten about until the finale where she leaves the same level of impact as a punch from a kitten the villains of this show are either completely dealt with redeemed or completely killed off by the Time season 1 ends making me question how the fuck any of them are going to be a threat in the next season if at all the story leaves me with no real threat besides the Angels which I can't wait to see how they somehow make them evil Angel's bad God's a bitch gotta gotta keep being that fucking drum I say heaven forbid we actually see angels as being good nowadays but now we get to the annoying characters the members of the cat us that I just did not find engaging or even tolerable to watch let's first start with Courtney Courtney like I mentioned way earlier in this review is a demon that lives in the park because she didn't fulfill her part of the deal with temi and thus has lived in the park for over a thousand years this sequence of events would of course make Courtney into the old man hates kids type character who was always cracking one-liners towards the youth around her and generally just being a bit of an annoyance to the other characters involved this is what she would have been ripping like if she was actually written properly instead what Courtney's personality turned out to be is a character that I can only describe as a d d player's idea of a chaotic neutral character AKA really fucking annoying Courtney's entire character in this show can pretty much be boiled down to hey look let me remind you that I'm a demon by doing something disgusting demonic or just being downright being completely out of nowhere for no reason other than the fact that I'm a demon please laughing quirky I shit you not that is pretty much all the jokes they fucking do here she's like The Adams Family minus the charm half of this Show's conflict is caused by this decrepit little Gremlin and what makes it annoying is that she is usually the one that ends up resolving the conflict making her a chaotic neutral character that is impossible to get invested in because she never just takes aside the writers have no idea if they want Courtney to be a full-on evil character and be a nuisance to everyone around her or be a character that is just apathetic to all the years of her being alone and is doing shit to entertain herself this show for some reason just loves taking the neutral plane in pretty much everything they do I'm starting to notice this lack of concrete choosing of a side makes her a Redemption Arc at the end not only extremely obvious and predictable but it has absolutely zero impact I'm telling you a human on multiple occasions that you would help the boys out if needs be maybe if you didn't do that every two episodes then this Redemption might have actually been something interesting my friends who have seen the show disagree with me and actually put Courtney as their favorite character mainly because they do like just how Reckless and dry she is in her humor and while I can understand the appeal of those kinds of characters for me I really didn't like it she Honestly made the show just more annoying to set throw it really sucks that she turned out this way she could have been so much better however despite my dislike towards Courtney there is someone that tops her someone that I have been making an effort to not mention too much over the course of this review there was a reason for that because I believe that this character not only killed whatever enjoyment I had with this series but as a character that is so badly written that watching them made me genuinely mad a character that made my blood boil all the pins that I've been putting throughout this review are coming off now let's talk about Barney [Music] yep I have an entire slide completely dedicated to this character and I think that by the end of my critique you'll understand why in this show Barney has a small story of his own he is a trans man that is dealing with a bit of hardship back at home and specifically his parents with the show occasionally referencing the struggle all throughout the season this is a story that of course does come along with a character being trans and the show tries to represent that side of Barney now I was able to see what the show was trying to do when it came to explaining Barney's dislike for his parents here's the story I think this show was trying to tell Barney lived a life that was full of uneasiness lack of belonging and lack of true love his relationship with his parents became sour because of a dinner they had with Barney's grandmother where she was allegedly very rude and very dismissive of the fact that Barney is now trans what made that dinner so hurtful to Barney was that his parents despite saying that they accept him for who he is never spoke up against the grandmother to defend him and sat on the sidelines as his grandmother belittled and bullied him this caused Barney to grow a severe distrost and resentment towards his parents which he makes very clear to them whenever they're in the same room because of this resentment Barney jumps at the chance to live at the park because to paraphrase his own words it's the only place where he feels like he truly belongs it's a place where he can be his true self and have no one question or challenge him on his identity the fact that the John's character feels like he belongs in a Parkville literal demons the joke that fights itself but I'm better than that's not gonna make that joke not gonna make the joke despite the park being filled with monsters and otherworldly demons the fact that no one asks about the trans side of him means the absolute world to Barney causing him to stay in the park for so long that he starts to abandon his family to the sadness of his little brother Patrick who accuses him of leaving them Barney continues to stay away from his parents until he finally reaches a point of realization in episode 6 and episode 7 is where he finally sits down with them and of course arguing and bickering ensues the argument gets to its breaking point when Barney's Dad finally snaps and says I don't get it we accepted you Barney then responds back with the phrase that's what parents are supposed to do that's the bear minimum and finally tells his parents what's been bothering him that being the fact that they didn't stand up for him when his grandmother was belittling him right in front of them snapping to a point where he tosses food off the table when Norma finally meets up with him and when Barney's Parents try to shoot her away by saying that what was going on as a family matter Barney finally cussed them out entirely by throwing the line back at them and when being pleaded to come home by his mom he says you gotta make it one first after the finale and getting to reunite with his parents again they tell Barney that they owe him an apology and will talk to the grandmother about her behavior and will do their best to keep Barney safe from her until she changes her ways when being put like this on its own this sounds like a pitch for a rather interesting story sure it can be seen as a little weird that Barney completely jumped ship after a single mishap but hey maybe that was the straw that broke the camel's back maybe that was his breaking point maybe his parents despite saying that they accept Barney actually don't and are just simply going along with it because they want Barney to stop bothering them the story could have had these lingering questions throughout the narrative and could have been able to show the viewers pieces of a puzzle and finally show the image of Barney's struggle this story could have been done as a way for non-transgender people to get a glimpse into the world of someone who is transgender showing some of the little things they say or do that have the potential to really hurt a trans person without even knowing it Barney's story could have provided a great insight into what shallow support looks and feels like for Trans people it could have been a powerful lens that would have provided some really nice perspective and insight into what it's like to be told that you have support but when shit hits the fan it turns out that you're just on your own Barney's story on the surface is really tragic sure he has support from his parents but the fact that they shut their mouths when a family member goes against Barney's identity of course really messed him up to him that act was an act of betrayal that everything they did didn't actually mean anything that their supposed support was all fake and like I said before to get him to leave them alone this is what the story could have showed and if they did that I would have given paranormal Park a lot of props and praised it for tackling a factor of being trans that I'm sure a lot of trans people hell even non-trans people can relate to very deeply that's what I would have praised if that was what happened but that's the problem the show did not do that what I got instead was a story so poorly handled and so atrociously executed that by the end of these 10 episodes I came out of this show despising Barney the way the show managed to mess up this side of Barney's character was painful to watch they did every single conceivable thing wrong instead of making Barney a victim of bad home life the show instead makes Barney the source of all his conflict how do they do this you may be asking yourselves well for one Barney is the aggressor in every argument or confrontation that he has with his parents it is always Barney that starts the fight not them whenever this happens the parents always try to reason with him and do their best to de-escalate the situation whenever things go sour and only really start arguing even with Barney and call him ungrateful in times where he's being a spoiled prick completely unprovoked the most prime example of this is in episode 7 where Barney completely out of nowhere is rude and acts Moody towards his mother which his father rightfully calls out as this being shitty Behavior if having the burger makes you happy we fully support you she says she supports you seriously Barney what was that far calm the fuck down whenever Barney receives Justified pushback or sympathy from his parents his two responses are either to end the argument with a snide comment and walking off or by exploding in their face making him come off as very very annoying now I do understand that Barney is still a teenager at least according to the wiki I found online if I'm to go off of what the wiki says Barney is 17 years old at this point in the show as we all know teenagers are fucking animals that deserve none of their rights the mental gymnastics that they're able to pull off in their tiny little monkey brains is something that should be studied under a microscope teenagers are demons so when Barney tries to make his parents out as Devils by not defending him against his grandmother's shitty Behavior even when they accept him themselves you could make the argument that Barney's doing this simply because he's a teenager it's in his nature to be a fucking douche this would all be fine in Dandy if there is just one catch whenever Barney steps out of line or says something too hurtful to his parents he should be seen as the bad guy the episodes should have been riffened in a way that you are supposed to find this Behavior abhorrent and you would want to see Barney get some pushback for being a shitty person if you are going to write a bratty teenager and want your audience to not completely dislike them this is the number one way to achieve that call your characters out teenagers getting pushed back as opposed to just allowing them to go off on schizophrenic rants unopposed opens up the chance for the character to get a slap in the face and waking them up to their really shitty Behavior allowing them the chance to grow and to develop into a more mature and understanding person after all one of life's greatest teachers is perspective that reason is why I find teenage characters like Max from A Goofy Movie and Kate from the Mitchells versus the machines to be likable teenager characters their shitty actions were punished and it forced them to grow does Paranormal Park call Barney out initiative behavior is there any big scene where Barney has to face real consequences from his actions well that's Point number two he doesn't Barney gets barely any pushback for any of the shit he says or does when he says something hurtful the person always comes back to him either accepting his apology right then and there or apologizes themselves when he's accused of shitty Behavior he conveniently always has an excuse that does not get challenged take episode 4 for example where it's shown that Barney hasn't texted his brother Patrick ever since he left and actively hides from him throughout the episode Barney your problem is with your parents what the fuck did Patrick do why are you cutting him out of your life he didn't even do anything why didn't you text back I did I mean I didn't I didn't know what to say how about happy birthday I was gonna but but then oh it's complicated happy birthday come on why are you being so selfish or what about an episode six where he decides that after waiting in line with logs for a few hours and making an absolute fool out of himself he just decides to completely drop logs because he now wants to talk to his parents when he could have just gotten on the ride and then talked to his family afterwards that's pretty stupid and pretty shitty right does Barney get punished for this oh yeah sure fine just give him a boyfriend at the end fuck off show Paranormal Park rather than going down the route of actively smacking Barney in the face for being a dick instead writes these scenes in a way that Barney is supposed to be seen as the victim the infamous bare minimum line that caused Twitter to blow up for a few hours was supposed to act as the writer's way of making you want to sympathize with Barney and not his parents the show constantly writes his arguments so that he never has to truly apologize for anything he either says or does because why should a victim apologize they're a victim what are you a fucking monster the show is writing this struggle expecting you to side with Barney but because he's always the aggressor and Jabs at his parents completely unprovoked this instead makes Barney out as an ungrateful and entitled brat that barely gets called out with the show even going as far as to have his parents apologize to him for not defending him against his grandmother and says he should not return home until his grandmother changes her ways what the fuck Barney doesn't get punished for being shitty but instead gets rewarded for it by having all his battles be fought and solved for him and he just gets all the rewards without having to raise a single finger rather than just growing a pair and standing up to his grandmother himself which is what literally any other story would have done his parents fight that battle for him robbing him of the chance of becoming a better character and allowing us to see what Grandma's all about but trust me we'll get to that later the way Barney was wrestling completely shot the message the series was trying to show you in the foot and it was the worst possible way to execute the story this stuff doesn't come off as empowering heartfelt or anything positive but instead makes Barney look fucking pathetic he is a complete coward that gets to reap the benefits of other people's hard work never having to truly suffer to go through an arc this is what people are praising now what oh yeah sure truly a trans icon guys okay I totally say it whenever Barney got into an argument in the show the story wanted my reaction to be oh my God I completely Get It Go off lad but when they came around to actually executing those arguments my reaction was instead dude what the fuck was that far my third Point towards this story being absolute garbage is that the show's breaking of the show don't tell rule in this side story is one of the most painful breaking of this rule that I have ever seen in a piece of fiction the series was really pushing it with this insufferable habit but here who boy is it bad remember when I said before that this show has a habit of not telling you the Vital Information to get you invested in the characters this is what it's like here it has this very frustrating case of keeping Vital Information a secret in hopes to build up suspense but just makes me confused on why Barney's acting so irrational Barney's whole struggle is shown through him just vaguely talking about it and not him actually being shown to deal with discrimination causing his conflict to feel like it doesn't even exist half the time let me list you the examples I found in the show where the story kind of tells you what happened instead of just either showing you or straight up telling you episode 1 tells you that Barney does not like his dad if I get this job we can get a place of our own just you and me no Mom no dad no Grammy gram even though we've seen no evidence of his father even doing anything to justify that line he wasn't even around in the first scene the show could have shown me something to sink my teeth into but no I guess I can only take Barney's word for it episode 2 gives a hint to what Barney's grandmother is like when he has the forced argument with Pugsley and says the line why can't you just be like you used to be used to be used to be you know what Barney you sound just like Grammy Graham this would have been a pretty powerful scene if we heard this line from his grandmother first and then have him repeated to Pugsley but the show does not do that it just drops that line and makes Barney go through a very sloppily done character Arc an arc that should have been already done if you really think about it this episode is also where the story partially tells you Barney's struggle with him coming out as being Trans in a long-spoken monologue rather than through a series of scenes that could be a flashback as Barney tells his story I just can't be at home right now okay I'm gonna stay here for a few days pugsy too this is the first place I've ever felt like I could just truly be myself I didn't think you think it's me I'm trans normal and everyone at school knows and everyone at home knows it's like a whole new place I can just be Barney and I can choose if and when I tell people now Barney is coming out seed and feeling like he truly belongs for once in his life is nice and all but on top of the fact that we are missing so much contact because the story made the foolish decision to make him come out to Norma in the second fucking episode we have seen no evidence of Barney facing any real discrimination beside his mother using his dead name when talking to his grandmother that is literally it do not fret I'll be getting to his parents later because we saw barely any evidence of Barney facing any kind of discrimination to his face the scene that could have been one of the best scenes in the show has no weight behind it because the source of Barney's pain was something I saw none of on top of this the way he tells Norma about his want to stay at the park was very poorly done the most Prime examples being the lines I'm trans Norma and everyone at school knows and everyone at home knows and being here it's like a whole new place notice how he says and everyone at school knows and everyone at home knows then immediately follows that up by saying and being here is like a whole new place Barney could have shed more light on how everyone at school and at home treated him out to these two lines but all he gives us is that they know and that's it he just moves on he constantly makes all these claims that he deals with a lot of struggle and needs to be away from home for a while but all this does is make me question the validity of his statements what struggles does he have why does people knowing that he's trans hurt him so much did they bully him did they reject him was he left all alone did being transmake him feel isolated did it make him depressed anxious hell maybe even suicidal I don't know because I saw and heard nothing and Barney did a really bad job at actually explaining why he wants to stay at the park and not at home some of you might make the argument that this kind of information isn't something a real trans person would like to talk about especially to a stranger that they barely know and that's fair enough sure but when you are telling a fictional story holding off information just to be more realistic does not do your wrifing any favors when we move on to episode 3 this is where we get to the best example of the show actually showing in a place where they should ironically be telling in this episode a monster has the characters under a spell that makes them experience their worst fears discount Pennywise and when we get to Barney we finally see what happened with him his parents and his grandmother it turns out that the grandmother was berating and belittling Barney while his parents said nothing to stand up for him this scene again would have been really powerful and we would have finally gotten to hear what his grandmother said to him that hurt him so badly except we don't we don't actually get to hear anything she says to him as the nightmare only makes her scream like a banshee pointing a disgusting finger at Barney as she does so yeah Make It Stop mom [Music] stop we hear nothing are you fucking kidding me of all the times where having dialogue would have enhanced the scene was for some reason not used making me once again question what his grandmother actually said to him that caused him to run away from home oh but do not worry it gets worse it gets worse when we get to episode 4 Barney comes into contact with his younger brother Patrick because his brother is having a birthday party at the park while in the midst of monstrous Shenanigans Patrick finally gets the chance to call out his brother accusing him of leaving him this would usually end up with an apology or something like that but instead Barney responds by saying I left everything mom and dad say they accept me but then at dinner with Grammy Graham they just let her say all that awful stuff to me and acted like it wasn't even happening I felt invisible when Patrick implores Barney to come home with him tomorrow morning Barney tells him that he can't what would have made for a really good scene if we had any flashbacks besides the Warped one in episode 3 is completely ruined because everything is just through dialogue we have no evidence of the parents acting bad anywhere else and we don't even know what his grandmother said to him exactly also wait to not apologize to your brother you fucking cunt again I'm just supposed to believe that Barney's family are just the spawns of safety in when in actuality I have no real reason to believe him besides the parents slipping up every now and again which spoilers happens quite a lot when someone knows a person who's transitioning Barney get the fuck over yourself fortunately the story takes a small break from this horrible storytelling technique throughout the next two episodes where there's an instance of Barney saying he needs to stop running away from his parents in episode 6 and it's like fucking finally you're doing something for once about goddamn time but it's not all perfect because he also drops this quick Line running away from what is there a demon after you huh worse my family and at this point I almost pulled my hair out because damn I wish I saw or knew more about the Unspeakable ax bar and he went through to justify that line and yet I still know nothing I'm just supposed to believe okay whatever but at the end of this episode Barney finally confronts his parents where we move on to the next and by far my least favorite episode episode 7 has Barney and his family go to a cowboy restaurant where the show gets to a point where it not only doesn't show or tell us what grandma said to Barney which is the main source of this entire fucking conflict but even goes as far as to not show a shit that caused one of the arguments I'm not making this up watch this I kind of want the high noon hamburger but I know you guys would rather I have a say your prayer salad calm down please no that's right I should be more upfront about what I need I was so happy you invited us to lunch you say I can have the nachos but then I get the nachos and you start talking about how you wished I got the broccoli when the fuck did this happen why weren't we shown this what are you talking about that's what I'm saying guys I swear to God if you don't start showing me the fucking conflict I am going to burst a blood vessel show what did the grandmother say to Barney what caused Barney to react so badly that it caused him joy to get away from his parents and be so afraid to speak up to them why did his parents not defending him hurt him so badly you have to show me Barney's pain because out of everything you have shown me so far I don't know how am I supposed to care about Barney's struggle if you won't show me him actually going through anything Jesus Christ despite me having so much negative criticism towards High Guardian spice I could at least say that the series actually showed me some examples of the trans character dealing with discrimination something paranormal Park is for some reason actively avoiding when I'm reaching a stage where I'm using High Guardian spies as a point of reference just only being done better you know you royally fucked up all of these scenes were the show vaguely tries to point you in the direction of what happened between Barney and his family result in a story that has so many unanswered questions that I don't even have enough to extend an olive branch to try and understand Barney for all I know he could have just completely overreacted and this show is trying to make me sympathize with a spineless coward you can tell me that I'm wrong or even say that I'm being mean but what else is there because the show isn't providing any other Alternatives aside from filling the lack of explanation to the brim with your own personal head cannons which is fucking garbage storytelling good jeez Christ by doing this completely butchered method of telling me this side of Barney's character in a sad Twist of events I have no insight into the story I just have rumors and accusations coming from Barney which is nowhere near as good as what we could have gotten if the show tried and just showed me what happened Point number four revolves around how Barney sees his parents as not supportive because they didn't stick up for him when his grandmother was belittling him in front of them yep we're talking about the parents now strapping ladies and gentlemen like I said earlier in this segment from Barney's perspective he sees this as an act of betrayal that their support this whole time has been fake and that they don't actually accept him this segment of the video is pretty much a response to that claim in which I list a few examples proving that accusation to be objectively false allow me to provide a counter case in defense of Barney's parents starting way back at the beginning in episode 1 there is a scene involving Barney and his mom talking about his new job interview which his mother comedically forgot about after telling him that his grandmother is coming over in addition to making mac and cheese the way Barney likes it without cheese Barney asks if he said his new name as opposed to his dead name when talking to his grandmother this is followed up by a quick pause where the mom tells him that there is a lot that Granny I'm not calling her Grammy gram because of such a fucking weird name doesn't understand to which Barney responds with she's not the only one this scene I believe is one of the only true pieces of evidence the show actually presents of Barney's parents not supporting him behind his back his mother used his dead name to talk to his grandmother which yeah is is kind of shitty and it's a damning piece of evidence that justifies Barney's just like for his parents for the rest of the show if you exude concentrated levels of fatherless and motherless behavior let's rewind this scene to see what's going on and let's apply some Nuance this time our first piece of evidence was something that you probably didn't think too much about when I first mentioned it but it's a very important clue that being Barney's mom saying that she made cheeseless mac and cheese this is a small but very strong sign that the mother really cares for her son parents will do small actions like making a food a certain way to show their children that they are thinking about them so to have her do this small gesture while not something you might notice instantly is still a very nice one the mother is clearly doing stuff to show that she cares when she gets caught for using Barney's dead name she looks and acts genuinely guilty for what she did trying her best to explain to Barney that the grandmother has a lot of stuff to learn and understand what this reveals is that Barney and his grandmother had a fight over the fact that he's trans and the parents while their role in that conversation is not yet known to the audience shows that they were present in that moment while we don't have the full context just yet this interaction also hints to the idea that the parents did something during that argument that Barney's mother regretted this even hints to the possibility that Barney transitioning could have been an ongoing problem if we're to go by the amount of hairspray cans in his bin as evidence but that part of the stories just guesswork on my end and it's a bit of a tangent let's get back on point either way my point is that even if we don't know exactly what happened the mother came out of it feeling very guilty from using Barney's dead name it reveals that she's trying to keep the peace between two very opposing parties and all the while sounding very regretful for what she did even reacting with a sigh of the thief when Barney says that last line me highlighting this scene isn't me defending what the mother did but it's to counter the argument Barney makes about his parents not supporting or caring about him when that simply isn't true because of the fact that she made mac and cheese the way he likes it and shows immediate guilt for being caught using his dead name shows that Shiva regrets what she did is this the face of an uncaring parent personally I don't think so episode 1 case closed the next time we really see the parents is in episode 4 where Barney after a misadventure with a sleep demon on his brother is seen in a mascot costume hiding from his parents as he still doesn't want to talk to them under the illusion that he isn't there Barney's mother says something that is the second nail to Barney's accusation when she goes up to him she says this we usually do small family parties but it's too hard to keep the piece at home right now did his brother show up oh that's a shame I thought he might you know kids though he's done one of his little Disappearing Acts now some of you may be wondering why I brought up this clip as an example of his mother caring about him and to those who didn't get it let me tell you why I find this scene to be very damning let's rewind and play those lines again we usually do small family parties but it's too hard to keep the piece at home right now did his brother show up oh that's a shame I thought he might you know kids though he's done one of his little Disappearing Acts now this may not sound like anything to non-trans people but what Barney's mother just did was a gesture that truly shows just how much she accepts Barney's identity what exactly did she do you might be asking even in situations that his mother is under the impression that Barney isn't an earshot of her she's still used male pronouns she referred to Barney as Patrick's brother she says I thought he might even when she's riffing on him she still says you know kids though he's done one of his little Disappearing Acts this usage of the correct pronouns while looking and sounding very small is one of the greatest forms of respect someone can give a trans person referring to them by their gender when the person isn't in the room and on top of that still using the right pronouns even when they're mad or annoyed at you this is what Barney's mother proved in this scene she may be annoyed or doesn't fully understand Barney's struggles but the fact that she's trying her best and saying his pronouns and calling him Patrick's brother with no struggle or hiccups at all I might add shows that she accepts her son and is willing to support him through his journey while also not wanting to get rid of her connection with her grandmother which if you're not a self-obsessed idiot makes all the sense in the world even if you want to go to the worst of conclusions this basically shows that the mother's developing as a character like God damn there's really nothing here I love how this scene was written to make you side with Barney but all it did was show just how much of a good parent his mother is they really tried to make the mother look like a Bitch by making her think she was talking to a stranger you know your writing is truly something when you try and frame everything against the character you want people to hate and end up making that character far more likable you guys have a true fucking gift at This I Swear give me your talents so yeah even in this situation the parents are coming out on top episode four okay it's closed things aren't looking uh great for Barney's accusation is it so what else did I find the next example of the parents showing that they care is in the infamous episode 7 where when ordering food the mother says this line you live your authentic truth honey if having the burger makes you happy we fully support you which Barney responds by Rolling his eyes something his dad calls out the mother may have said that line a little forcefully undone naturally but to say that you didn't mean it would be a complete lie but to last Barney is too ignorant to when his parents are actually being nice to him so fun the next Scene goes on and Barney and his dad after having a small scuffle with the last nutshell his dad shouts at him which his mother calms down the dad offering the last nacho to Barney is a good example of him caring about his son and wants to be nice to him and getting understandably mad when Barney continues to be persistent the mother tries to change the subject by saying how much she appreciates Barney taking them out for lunch to which he interrupts by continuing the argument causing his father to finally go off on him in one of the most cathartic rants I have ever heard we gave you nachos and the mozzarella dips and the cheese you have every choses you do based despite the rant sounding very relatable to many people that dislike their parents mainly the part of him comparing his treatment of Barney to other unfortunate people which is something I'm sure everyone has heard from their parents during an argument the rant ironically shows clear as day as to why his dad is so frustrated with Barney because it seems like despite everything they're doing to help Barney be happy with who he is Barney's bitchy attitude shows them that despite whatever they try it's simply not good enough again if you're not a self-obsessed narcissist this is a completely understandable thing to be annoyed about put yourself in the parent's shoes for a second imagine trying your hardest to be accepting of someone and they just keep pushing you away and demand you do better eventually you're going to snap eventually you're going to have enough of that person's shit not to mention that the rant also shows that the parents did everything in their power to care about Barney so good job there guys the mother even gets involved herself by saying that Barney could show a little more appreciation for the the things they've done for him which is perfectly fair but instead Barney sarcastically deflects this by trying to paint them as wanting him to thank them for every little thing they do for him not even once entertaining the notion that he might be in the wrong God's really a wonderful character the next scene plays and after another bit of arguing Barney's dad finally drops the line I mentioned earlier that put Twitter into a frenzy oh I don't get it we accepted you which again shows that Barney's parents are going Far and Beyond to help their son by accepting him for who he is the accusation of them not caring and accepting him is bullshit and once again Barney gives his Infamous response that is what parents are supposed to do that's the bare minimum excuse me what you sicken me this was not a good response the fact that him having a bad experience with his grandmother and his parents is what broke his love for his family after everything they have done for him to help him with his identity paint's Barney rather than being an understandable character is instead an absolute cunt I'm sorry but no matter how you look at this he's such a fucking pussy you can't even tell me that I'm being mean because the show didn't even show me anything that I did like I mentioned before so rather than trying to understand where his parents are coming from or even grow some fucking balls and be thankful that his parents are trying so hard he just tosses them aside and spits in the face of them because they wouldn't defend him from an old lady how can anyone defend this show this is pathetic now to be fair this scene does show off one other example of the parents being neglectful when the mother says this what about that dinner what what dinner and some could argue that the mom's saying what dinner could be classes evidence of them being neglectful but at that point you're pretty much just grasping at straws you've got nothing hell the show could have even done something where the fact that Barney's parents didn't call him on his phone for three weeks could be seen as them not caring but the show never makes that a plot Point hell to be honest I don't even think they remembered that it's incredible no matter how you look at this Barney just does not look good here but to get back on point despite Barney's heavy rant to them and even going as far as to make a snide comment at them when they leave excuse me we're having a family discussion oh sorry we didn't mean to so are we the parents still show they care by asking him to come home with them look guys I apologize for running away and not telling you that was wrong then come home which Barney drops that other line that boiled my fucking blood you've you've got to make it one first feel like Betsy here and even after that came back to him in the finale where they like I mentioned earlier apologize to him for not having his back telling him that they're going to deal with his grandmother the fact that anyone can see the parents doing all this shit and still try and make the argument that they are bad parents is some of the most disgusting mental gymnastics I've ever witnessed it is truly incredible that this show is expecting you to sympathize with Barney and is trying so hard to make you dislike the parents but all this Series has managed to do was make me feel bad for the parents that have to put up with Barney's nonsense my God Barney is just such a passive aggressive asshole the fact that your parents are trying their best with you and your reaction is to spit in their face is really fucking annoying the argument in the restaurant rather than being something that gave us context to Barney's bad home life instead just really show knows how much of a fucking brat Barney has been to his family and the parents are now getting sick of his shit because it seems like they're not doing everything to protect him from granny makes all the other stuff they've done seem like it wasn't good enough and like yeah fair enough if I had a kid like Barney who I'd be sick of his shit too he's damn lucky that his parents didn't just flat out disown him after all the awful things he said to them his parents are goddamn Saints when I was going into this series I was expecting to be hit with loads of contacts that makes the bare minimum line make more sense because yeah while that line sucks when you leave it on its own that's something you can do with practically any line of dialogue I've also been proven that that's the case when I watched High Guardian spice when people tried to make carawayotto's grooming Snapdragon when that wasn't even true don't just believe what Twitter tells you guys please make up your own mind but now that I've watched the show myself I now know the line's context and it's somehow even worse how did this show manage to make their victim such a fucking unlikable character you'd think people who deal with discrimination on a daily basis will be able to accurately depict genuine discrimination but I guess I've been proven wrong honestly at this point marginalized people should just get actual biggest to read through their stuff to see if their writing is accurate my fucking God because you know what really shoots this story in the foot the factor that makes all of this so bad the factor that makes all of this so much worse is my fifth and final reason the use of the word except this word is used constantly throughout the show it's used when Barney rants about his parents and it's used when his dad fights back the word accept is used to try and illustrate this conflict and I believe that this was what made this story so insufferable because I don't think this word means what the writers think it means the word accept is a very powerful one when someone says they accept you what that means is that even if they might disagree with you even if they might not understand what you're thinking or why you're doing the things you're doing or hell even if they don't particularly like you they still respect you despite your differences they are more than willing to extend an olive branch and say that you are allowed to live and act the way you want without much judgment if you want to do the things that make you happy someone's saying that they accept you is one of the kindest things they can say because of this I believe the word except was not used correctly in the context of Barney's story because the word is so powerful when Barney says that his parents accept him but then in the same breath talk shit about them not doing more it makes Barney come off as extremely entitled Barney has managed to reach a stage in his relationship with his parents that some people not just trans people would fucking kill for he's in a place where his family has embraced his identity with open arms and are doing what they can to help him out sure they didn't defend him when his grandmother disagreed which shitty sure but the fact that they themselves accept their son for who he is and just want him in their lives again when he leaves on such short notice shows that the parents despite that mistake still love their son for all we know the family just really hates confrontation just like Barney maybe they're both just as afraid of the grandmothers as he is wouldn't it have been better if we saw what actually happened because all of this mystery and unanswered questions on what actually happened paints Barney as being this privileged spoiled passive aggressive and spineless brat when he spits in the face of his parents accepting him do you not see how bad this makes him look I've been so worried about keeping the peace with Grammy Graham that I wasn't thinking about how it was affecting you I think running away might be a Gutman family trait I'm scared of confronting my mom too no Barney acceptance is not what parents are supposed to do that's not the bare minimum them accepting you for who you are shows that they love you stop being such an ungrateful cunt I'm not on your side despite the show wanting me to be for fuck's sake now some people might try and diminish all of this criticism as me just bashing on the trans character so let me make something very clear my criticisms are not towards the character being trans that has never been a vocal point of anything I have said for the past few minutes my criticisms have been all about the character's attitude and the show's horrible treatment of such a personal topic Barney could have been straight and says hell maybe just be gay like he was in the original iterations and I would have had all the same critiques if not more as a character Barney fucking sucks he is written almost like a parody that a person who hates trans people would write to make that Community look like nothing but spoiled brats that have never faced true bigotry this is representation that should not be accepted Because unless your situation is exactly like Barney's in which case go apologize to your parents because good fucking Lord you've been a massive piece of shit this show from showing me barely anything to justify his behavior managed to make Barney the worst part of the whole series causing lots of people to rightfully dislike an outright hate him the fact that a cartoon reviewer made this absolutely wild take and got so many likes on it hurts my soul more than you can even imagine the entitlement of this character is fucking poisonous now while I was writing this novel I mean the script I spent a bit of time thinking and talking to various people trying to figure out why this story was written the way it was and after chatting to some of my friends I have boiled it down to this Theory I personally believe that the way the story was written was the result of the studio not wanting to lose its target audience as such a sensitive topic could be uncomfortable to watch for certain people they didn't want to run the chance of possibly triggering Their audience so they sanitized the right thing so that nothing bigoted could be said or shown I do completely get why a studio would have this mindset because at the end of the day a Studio's main goal is to make money and having a Show's subject matter scare off a lot of people would not exactly make them the money they want however if this theory is true then man it really shows just how out of touch Studios can be you guys just need to go on webtoon and you'd see a story with a large following that deals with deeply traumatic shit and 5 minutes flash drama stories are both very common and very popular especially when it comes of trans issues so if they were still scared of losing their audience why not just put a trigger warning that would have been fine that's really the only charitable Theory I can possibly think of I genuinely feel like the creators of this show really wanted to do something but due to either a lack of vision or lack of control they just didn't know what to do maybe their hands were tied and lacked the skill to get around their limitations I don't want to be the guy that says over the writers were innocent because I don't think that's true at the end of the day writers still need to show that they can write a good story regardless of their obstacles and this show proves that they didn't have what it took to tackle this story properly no matter how you look at this the story being so bad is just inexcusable this Arc had so much potential to be good and it was completely messed up the way the final product came out pisses me off because it would have been so easy but it seems like I was wrong very wrong I actually decided to go on the internet to try and find anything about the behind the scenes production of paranormal Park where I was greeted with a whole segment made by Wikipedia they even provided sources that I read over and I can confirm that what I'm about to read is valid the Wikipedia page reads as follows on the 17th of August 2020 Steele explained how the show changed from its original iteration on cartoon hangover in 2014 and the graphic novels that followed it stating that he is grateful for showrunners who fought for lgbtq characters in their shows adding that there was absolutely no pushback from Netflix about representation while describing Barney as a trans male character he also hoped that the show will help out more trans creators getting their chance to tell their stories while hinting at other lgbtq characters in the show apart from Barney in another interview he was thankful to Netflix Executives by letting them have diversity in the show while pushing for it and pushing him to quote tell the story I want to tell stated that all the scripts were reviewed by glad and said he couldn't wait for people to know Barney in August 2021 Steele noted the importance of trans representation in the series hoped it took a stance against transphobia in the UK and noted there are quote multiple trans cast and crew May root of out stated that the trailer gives a quote great look at the show and said that the show features queer and trans characters addressing these identities quote through important storylines now if all of this is true I've got nothing holy shit you stumbled so fucking hard it turns out that my charitable theory was being too charitable it turns out that it was in fact the writer's fault that this story was so bad I find to use his own words as reference Netflix practically let him do whatever he wanted when it came to the representation even having a whole crew with multiple trans people involved that could have given him notes and advice on how to make Barney's story properly he had a whole team of people that could have helped him and this is the final product this is what they thought good trans representation is this is what got approved by your team are you fucking with me I guess with that logic I now led to believe that it was in fact the creators who didn't want to trigger Their audience with transphobic language they were actually the ones that sanitized Their Own Story I mean that's just me trying to still be charitable but if this turns out to be a case where they thought that what Barney went through in this story was genuinely horrid transphobia then I'm sorry that was pathetic well there we go I guess it turns out that the writing had apparently no quality control or pushback from both Netflix and the whole damn team more than one person was fine with this script I have nothing to say I'm just genuinely shocked this is what Hamish was able to do with full creative control everything was in your favor how the fuck seriously how the fuck so with all of this in mind what could the show have done better is there anything they could have done to make this story more hard-hitting or complex well I can definitely give it a shot like I said before briefly it's actually rather easy because despite the scenes hitting none of their marks properly a lot of them do ironically serve as a good bass line that I can build up from so like what I did with High Guardian spice let me show you what I would have done if I was given creative control and just to make it a bit more challenging for myself I will make it so that I will have to stick to the episode order that way I can't move anything around to make the pacing of this plot better sound good okay cool for the rewriting process let's use the five critiques that I made towards this story and let's see if I can fix it into something where Barney is the victim and have his hatred of his parents be completely Justified I'm using my own critiques to show that I'm not just talking out of my ass and it's also to see if I can address them myself so let's begin from the top just prepare yourself for a lot of storyboards [Music] [Laughter] [Music] oh well you know buggy you look ugly oh you really love me who's a good boy okay let's go [Music] foreign [Music] make it quick I'm busy I was wondering if you could name my biggest weakness what would it be I think the state of your room is enough evidence of your biggest weakness I haven't seen you cleaned that place in weeks well I was thinking more of something like the fear of Confrontation or the fear of letting people down is there a point to this darling of course there is don't you remember from yesterday is my first job interview I took what you said and now I'm going out and seizing the world well it's about time you did that your father and I were starting to get worried hey I've been trying my best you could be at least a little don't talk back to your mother either way make sure you get back early your grandma's coming over for dinner I told her that you would be there did you tell her that Barney would be there [Music] sweetie that was two weeks ago you know what your grandma thinks about that stuff it's going to take some time for her to get used to it she still has things to understand about you [Music] my first storyboard addresses three of my five criticisms in my rewrite I showed you the dynamic between Barney and his family to give you context on what the relationship is like at the moment even giving you the first hint that he's trans right here I also wrote it so that Barney was not the aggressor of the argument and was instead just defending himself when his parents showed dissatisfaction but above all I wrote the parents so that they were not Saints but harsh people who want Barney to grow out of what they think is a short phase this small change also makes this line no Mom no dad no Grammy gram a lot stronger because you just saw firsthand what Barney has to deal with when the episode is reaching its end I would also put in a scene where while Barney is getting ready for bed he looks to his phone and sees lots of missed calls from his parents showing that they would be concerned but from his perspective be mad at him then after giving a deep sigh Barney would shut off his phone and go to sleep saying goodnight to Pugsley but not responding as pugsy says good night back as he is now fully asleep I put this small scene in because it helps me kick start episode 2. with this [Music] wait where am I what's going on [Applause] no no no no no no no no please stop shame really you were always it's not true Barney hey Barney Barney Barney are you okay [Music] this little change I made was something I did to show you many different things at once for one pugly can indeed talk which Barney reacts appropriately to two through the use of a nightmare I showed and gave you a very quick hint on what his grandmother said to him and how his parents reacted all at the same time by doing this through a nightmare I was able to show just how much that dinner traumatized Barney and gave you a little bit of understanding to where this fear of his grandmother and his parents came from plus nightmares are just cool you can't go wrong with them what I also did by adding this scene in is that the subplot surrounding Barney and Pugsley now has a lot more white behind it because now you have heard Barney's granny say that demonic stuff to him which makes Barney saying this line why can't you just be like you used to be used to be used to a lot more brutal just like Grammy Graham you're damn right Pugsley you're damn right since I'm simply here to just make the big scenes I complained about better I'm not gonna go into the Nitty Gritty details of my rewrite between the big five and Barney's coming out scenes so the only thing I will say is that I would make Barney actually really regret saying what he said to Pugsley to a point where Beyond his knees begging for forgiveness which Pugsley would give him because well he's a dog unconditional love and a lot of smooth jazz but anyways let's move on to Barney's coming out scene and what I would have done to make it better huh so this place has washing machines pretty much and haven't been used for a couple years but they seem to be working now we have a place to wash my clothes this place really has it all wait can't you do that at home well yeah I I I mean I can but well I so you didn't go home when you said you did did you that's just oh all right fine you got me I didn't go home I'm sorry I lied to you that's fine but why didn't you don't you have a family you've been gone for over 24 hours I'm sure they would have at least called you by now well they didn't besides I think I just need to be away from them for a while with my business but but what is it about the park that makes you want to stay here honestly I thought that out of the two of us that'll be the one to stay here I mean I know all about Pauline the rides the mascots not the park Norma I'm staying here because I need to be away from my family for a while I need a chance to breathe and be my own person not having to constantly be reminded that I'm a failure that I'm something unnatural okay sorry it's just that this is the first place where I felt like I can truly just be myself without having to worry about judgment or anything like that well I feel that too yeah I'm sure you do but it's just not in the same way as me what do you mean Norma can I tell you something if you promise to not tell anyone else about it Barney I am the most anti-social person on the planet I couldn't tell anyone even if I wanted to okay here goes I I'm trans oh I never would have guessed you're the first person who's ever said that to me back home not only does my family know that but everybody at school knows as well well of course they would why does that matter it matters because whenever I walk into a classroom or in a room of my own house I'm given this look of of something I can't put it into words it's like they look at me as if I have something on my face or like I'm wearing weird clothes but they just don't want to say anything I always feel like I'm some kind of weirdo I I see don't even get me started on the bullying I've already had people who didn't like me before but now now they just have ammunition to use against me they call me everything from my dead name all the way to me being a freak it's the reason that he was even looking for a job in the first place I just wanted to find somewhere where I could leave and get away from it all I tried to put up with it after all who knows me better than myself but eventually it just reached a stage where I just felt fell alone yeah eventually I had to come out to my parents they seemed fine with it they said they would tolerate it but then I came out to my grandma and let's just say that it didn't go well so that's why you're staying at the park yeah back home I was known for who I was and not for who I am but here it's like a whole new place a place where everyone knows me is just Barney a place where I can just be me not having to be constantly reminded on who I was or who other people wished I was here I can be my own person can just be Barney I have my own life here I just I just want to live that for a while you know well you don't need my permission besides I wouldn't want to be roommates with Courtney [Music] the changes I made to episode 2's coming out scene was done to highlight this moment as being a turning point for Barney's character this is the first time he's ever had the power to come out to someone on his own terms in a life where his identity was known and abused something I both told and showed you through the use of dialogue and some drawings in this scene he finally had a moment where he could be the one to reveal that part of himself causing him to get a little emotional just for that little extra bit of spice I made him say more dialogue because I wanted to emphasize just how much being in the park means to Barney whereas in the actual show we only got a small taste I also made Barney say that his parents tolerate him instead of accept him which hints that his parents are not on board with Barney being trans not only am I showing the real gut punching power of the word tolerate especially when talking about your parents this change gives me the potential to write Barney's parents in two possible ways one have them be stubborn and completely irredeemable or the more interesting option have them develop and understand who Barney is and maybe even finally accept him but I'm getting ahead of myself let's get back on track so far I have shown you a lot more of Barney's inner conflict and a shaky relationship with his parents his desire to stay in the park due to a bad home life and school life and got to explore more of the trans side to his character with this I'm showing you just how much stuff he's been bottling up and having him finally talk about it with someone feels like a massive weight has been lifted off his shoulders I even got to make the friendship between him and Norma a little stronger also so you know just a nice added bonus now let's move on to episode 3 where my rewrite begins is when we get into Barney's head and we experience his true fear here's what I would have done [Music] foreign this doesn't look so bad what could be in here Natasha oh wait she told me about this this must be do you expect me to just sit by idly while you let's see how can you let her deal with these dogs she is Mike Bernie come on come on listen to me this isn't real this is all in your head you can fight it come on buddy this isn't real this stuff foreign [Laughter] [Music] [Music] they just sit there and say nothing didn't they hear and he thinks she said I needed them why didn't they help me Barney hey it's okay it's over now Norma when did you get here look we don't have time your friend our friends need help we got to get them out of their heads before it's too late okay let's go with this rewrite you now have a more solid understanding on what exactly the grandmother said allowing you to get why Barney is so fearful of his parents not having his back it also makes it so that the next scene of the two chatting to each other at the end of the episode doesn't have to be changed much if at all I would simply give it a bit more time to stick and that would basically be it I'm not our story about all that I know I'm already about an hour into this video and it also shows you that the nightmare Barney had in episode 2 wasn't bullshit making that more powerful as well but now we get to the episode I've been really excited about episode 4 where Barney and his brother have an argument and he talks to his parents onto the mascot costume what I'm about to change in this episode will hopefully make you see just how bad things are at home for Barney and I hope that with my changes I'll have convinced you that Barney is indeed the victim before I get to the biggest scene though I gotta fix the argument Barney has with his brother first so let's give that a shot why didn't you text back I did okay okay I didn't look I just I didn't know what to say it's been so long that I didn't know what to tell you how about happy birthday that would have been easy enough I was gonna happy birthday why did you leave what no no no I didn't I was I was gonna come back honestly so why didn't you Mom and Dad were so worried about you they thought you would run away or died Patrick no look listen you left us and didn't even tell us where you were why why did you leave it's because I needed space okay I'm sorry I'm so sorry that was uncalled for I didn't mean to do that Patrick I left because well mom dad and I are going through some stuff and I just need to be away from them for a while before I can talk to them again I can't explain everything to you it's stuff that you wouldn't understand how do you know how do you know I won't get it even if I didn't couldn't you at least called me or texted me where you were before you left I thought you were dead I know Patrick I should have told you where I was going and I'm so sorry that I didn't I shouldn't have been so selfish it won't happen again promise I just I just need to be away for a while that's all mom and dad are going to be picking me up in the morning they're worried sick about you come home Barney we really miss you I miss you I'm sorry Patrick but I can't not yet Patrick one thing I never liked about the old scene was that Barney never actually apologized to Patrick for not informing him of his whereabouts having him apologize shows that Barney is now starting to realize just how much his absence has affected his family and it makes him having second thoughts about leaving later on feel much more effective because now we have seen him experience just how much he means to his family at least to Patrick who was shown to be fully accepting of his brother being trans but here we get to the biggest scene of the show the part where with a couple of changes could change how the audience sees Barney's parents for good let's fast forward to that scene and let me show you how I would have handled it differently we usually do this kind of stuff as a family but it's hard to keep the peace at home right now um say did his sister show up she has short blue hair of it chubby wears guy's clothes have you seen anyone like that around [Music] oh that's a shame I thought she might oh well you know kids she's gone and done one of her little Disappearing Acts again well I shouldn't keep you too long come on Patrick let's go [Music] sisters [Music] you know kids she's got it done hello Patrick let's go excuse me listen about my wife's question you see Barney isn't actually a girl he's Patrick's brother well he was a girl was his sister but you know now she's a he I think it's a little complicated I'm still trying to wrap my head around it it happened fairly recently and well my wife isn't used to the whole thing yet but we're trying we just want to make sure that he doesn't hurt himself if you find him please tell him to contact us he tends to like theme parks I'm sure he was here at least once or twice I'm just very worried that we left on bad terms [Music] I'm sorry to dump all that on you I must get going good day [Music] this was the scene that I think would have been the best way to show the struggle of Barney's character not only did I show you that his mother doesn't actually support him and will use the incorrect pronouns whenever he's not around making you completely understand and sympathize with Barney but I rewrote it to make it seem like his father despite looking like he didn't care before just didn't know how to talk to his child and he's trying to mend his bond with him this also raises a question on the relationship they themselves have with Barney's grandmother why is the father trying to mend his ways but the mother isn't what could the reason possibly be the answer is very obvious when you think about it for longer than a few seconds but I'm not gonna tell you just yet okay all right don't don't spoil it for yourselves Gonna Keep Up that traumatic tension and all that but by changing this scene so that I made at least two characters from both sides sympathetic this now makes the dynamic between Barney and his parents much more compelling to watch because now that Barney knows that his dad is at least trying to change his ways while his mother is shown to still be at this ignorant stage this could cause Barney to have a bit of inner turmoil and if he actually wants to go back to his parents which makes him biting the bullet and talking to them in episode 6 a lot more impactful and makes Barney out to be much braver than before all because you now know that Barney while having at least one parent who is starting to look out for him is going back knowing that the other parent doesn't have the same mindset things are getting a little spicy Now isn't it so let us press onwards the next Small Change I'm going to make before getting back to the storyboards is that when Norma asks if a demon is following Barney in episode 6 I would simply just take out the word worse it's a small change and it probably sounds pointless I know but I did it because getting rid of that word makes Barney look a lot more mature and with how I rewrote the story so far it could even give the audience a hint that Barney not saying worse means that he's starting to look at his family differently now that he knows that his father is trying to change his ways but the big changes are when we get to episode 7. let me fix this episode's arguments from the ground up there will be no interruptions for this whole rewrite because I think it's best I just give it to you in its fullest context completely uninterrupted ready I hope you enjoy it hey Mom hi Dad hello Bonnie I see that you're doing well yeah you too well how have you been I've been I've been uh what are you thinking honey huh oh uh I'm thinking of getting the Helena hamburger if that's okay live your authentic self sweetie you can have whatever you want yeah Barney she said that you can have whatever you want don't roll your eyes at her oh sorry you can have it no no you no no please you haven't reach for it first you can take her no come on I insist Barney just take it you've done enough for me you can just have it you take the lousy nacho Barney fine what was that for honey your dad was just trying to be nice to you there was no reason for you to act like that at least dad actually tried to be nice I can't exactly say the same about you Barney do not talk to your mother like that how dare you I have been worried sick about you for days on end constantly trying to call you ever since you left I have suffered countless sleepless nights thinking that my precious baby was out there homeless dead or Worse oh well I'm glad to know that it took me leaving to finally have you care that's your makes us all better thank you so much for actually thinking about me for once in your life Bernie are you being serious right now had it never occurred to you that there was possibly a reason I left didn't you ever think that maybe there was something you did that made me do something so drastic I have done nothing but support you I have done nothing to make you help me when granny said all the awful stuff to me you just stayed silent and let her say all that Barney I understand your anger but it was not wise to just up and leave us we were worried about you for goodness sake I've told you what my mother is like she is a product of her time she's just another defenseless old lady who can only hurt you using words you should have just ignored her how am I supposed to ignore the fact that the parents who say they tolerate me wouldn't help me when I needed them you don't actually accept me for who I am you just put up with me that's not the same you say that you tolerate it but you drop it the moment I'm not in the room you drop it the moment I deal with someone and I need your help you just sat there when granny said all that horrible stuff to me maybe it's because Granny has a point Natasha maybe it's time you stop pulling this fuss and go back to being like how you used to be laughs foreign there you are look I need your help with Barney [Music] so that's it huh you don't actually believe me you think this is all just an act don't you honey I've I I don't want to hear it I get it now I'll never be your son I will never be enough for you will I just get out and get out and never come back see now that you're never gonna accept me I'm never gonna be more than just tolerated am I not when your mom is so against it [Music] foreign listen I'm sorry for leaving I'm sorry for running away and not telling you that was wrong I get it now but [Music] just leave me alone Barney please come home I will once I know that it is [Music] ah [Music] this scene was rather hard but was worth redoing to give this Arc more complexity episode 7 is the place where all of the conflict reaches its Climax and if the show went with something like how I wrote it I think that people even if they didn't agree with Barney could at least understand why he left and acts the way he does I made sure that the parents were guilty I made sure that Barney is shown to have went through discrimination be it through flashbacks or having scenes that blatantly show it on the other hand I also rewrote this story so that the parents while not completely innocent are not Devils but just stubborn and resilient people I find the way I wrote the parents based off of many stories I've heard and read from both trans people and parents of trans people to be a more realistic take on how some parents respond to their kid transitioning sure the parents may be shown to be worse in my rewrite but I wrote them in a way that it shows that they are are struggling but at least trying to understand Barney's struggle at least his father anyway it just makes the conflict more interesting and it all combines together in the final episode which is my final rewrite here's how I would have handled the finale [Music] Mom Dad where are you Mom Dad Barney what uh okay hello I'm glad you're here I'm glad you're here too I was so worried about you oh um thank you I'm not sure what we watched but I'm sure it was amazing yeah uh thanks Barney about what I said in the restaurant I am so sorry it's okay Mom I'm over it now no it isn't listen your father and I have been talking talking about you and who you are I see now that the way we treated you has been awful we should have never said we tolerated you as a parent I should have been there for you no matter what and I'm so sorry that I didn't have your back against granny I was so scared of talking to my mother and keeping the peace that I didn't stop to think about how it was affecting you I said so many awful things Barney and I'm so sorry I'll talk to my mother and you won't have dinner with her until she changes her ways I'm glad but it's okay ever since I left I've learned something about myself I found out that whenever I faced conflict I always just ran away I never faced anything head on and I just stood there and took it I didn't even try to stand up to Granny I see now that it was selfish of me to expect you to defend me I did nothing to stop us I'll deal with Granny myself can't just keep running away from her no if granny ever tries to pick a fight with you we will help you we'll talk to her together family [Music] thanks guys that means a lot so are you ready to come home not just yet I've got a lot of work to do at the park maintenance and all that foreign I could always come back on Friday very well I'm looking forward to it thank you for accepting me of course sweetie you will always be our son [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] with this whole rewriting of this particular story in dead end paranormal Park I now ask you a question when you reach the end did you at least understand why Barney acted the way he did you can feel free to leave your opinions about the actual quality of my writing in the comment section I'm of course not above criticism and I'm sure that there is plenty of stuff in my rewrite that you can criticize but what my main goal was in rewriting this whole Side Story was to give it the kind of attention the impact the effort and the relatability it deserved I wrote this story in a way that many more people not just trans people could relate to Barney's pain and inner turmoil because Barney's Arc is not just a trans experience even though that is a big factor what Barney went through was a human experience lots of people have a rocky relationship with their parents lots of people have trouble facing confrontation and want their peers to help them lots of people have gone through events that have changed who they are For Better or For Worse lots of people deal with the struggle of identity and finding a place that accepts them quirks and all lots of people feel alone and Abandoned and were told the same lie that the people around them support them when they actually don't lots of people have dealt with having an almost relationship-breaking argument with their parents where both sides said things they instantly regret lots of people feel like their life is out of their control and want to cling on to any small bit of it even when it costs them to stop thinking about others lots of people have gone through what Barney went through this is not a story that only trans people can relate to anybody that tries to make that claim cannot be further from the truth but because the show wrote it so that if you didn't go through that experience and are not trans you cannot find any evidence of Barney dealing with hardship the show in trying to make Barney's struggle unique made it into nothing the show in a tragic Twist of events ended up just hurting itself and to me that is the most tragic part let me give some personal advice to anyone that wants to write a good trans character from the perspective of someone who wants to understand you can dismiss this if you want to that's perfectly fine but at least try and hear me out what I want to say in your writing is your character just being a person I want to see them go through struggles conflicts dilemmas victories rivalries romance you know the whole nine yards that's what makes a character interesting then just acting like people seeing how they respond to the world around them however what I also want to say is how them being trans affects their lives I want to see you dive into what made them realize what they did to feel happy and comfortable and combat their dysphoria and why they did it that stuff is incredibly interesting that's something I would like to say you guys always say that you don't owe us an explanation for your existence and yes that is true that argument is perfectly fine in the context of real life your shit is none of my business but that counter does not work in the world of fiction when you are telling a story about identity holding off some information just to be more realistic does not do your writing any favors stories are where this kind of stuff needs to be told and explained to the audience in order for us to be invested in a character's conflict and inner demons if you don't have the character at least talk about what they're going through there's nothing that your audience can sympathize with unless they themselves have gone through this sentiment which I have constantly been proving why that's bad throughout the course of this entire segment if you want your story to reach more people you need to tell us this information give us the context we need to get on board with this part of your character you can't just expect your audience to accept that your character is trans and never question it that mindset is not only incredibly entitled and stuck up but it's an amateur mistake the audience can't read your mind they can't understand your character and figure out your point of view if you give them no pieces to create a puzzle that paints an understandable image give us the clues give us the reasons give us a story I know that someone might say that writing a reason for the character being trans is silly and that they don't want to do it but my question to counter that argument is why would you not want to why would you not want to explore one of the biggest and most impactful parts of your character's Journey why would you not want people to see hear and learn about what it means to be transgender you guys always claim to want people like myself to understand and learn your point of view so why not give us the chance this is the world of fiction this is the perfect place to do that if you don't explain anything and then get shit for it you have absolutely no right to complain about people not getting your work because you didn't even try in the first place of course I didn't get what you were trying to say you didn't fucking tell me I find it incredibly sad that some of these people get so worked up over bad representation and yet praise representation like Barney even though it's objectively shit this representation does absolutely nothing to help people understand trans people it doesn't even do anything to help people understand Barney it's just representation that preaches to be very small and specific choir when it could have been handled much differently I hate the fact that the main character of this show was handled so poorly it boils my blood that this is what some people praise now compared to other pieces of fiction that tackle trans issues this show is easily one of the worst Barney is not a good character let alone a good trans character I hate it so much because this show has showed me that it was capable of writing decent representation with Norma under tism but yet didn't give its other main character the same love or care I'm angry at this series because I wanted to like Barney I wanted to be proven wrong I wanted to watch a show that made me care and root for the character but I just didn't get that what I ended up getting instead was a story that can only be described as a fucking dumpster fire I cannot believe just how terribly this plot was written Barney's story deserved so much better foreign [Music] on how this show turned out from its schizophrenic storytelling style flat and annoying characters and extremely basic animation this show was a fucking chore to go through this feels like it never passed the first draft phase of a script and every single episode from the beginning to the finale was an assault on my sensors the only praise I can give the show is Norma and possibly pugslay for managing to achieve the goal of just being tolerable that is literally it this show had so much potential to be something and the fact that it was a big pile of nothing in the end left me incredibly disappointed I'm disappointed and angry because this isn't the guy's first draft hummish steel has had this story for fucking years from his short his comic and now his show Hamish has gone through at least three iterations of this story this series is his magnum opus a story that he fought vigilantly to get made for so many years when he got his chance he had all the power to make this show amazing he had a whole team that was ready to make this a show that could Inspire and touch the hearts of thousands around the world and to see his third draft end up being something like this is incredibly heartbreaking to me I don't want to say that the guy has no talent that would be going too far I just think that his story has this massive identity crisis it has no idea what it wants to say or where it wants to go usually I'd be excited to see what would happen in season 2 of a story but with this I got nothing I felt like I just watched a story that was originally something pretty decent but I got the sanitized version instead all in all I do not recommend that you watch this show there are videos of paint drying that provide more entertainment than this if you want to give it a shot by any chance just to feed your own morbid curiosity then I suggest that you just pirate it don't give Netflix any fucking money for making this shit we deserve better shows with actual competent rifling those pieces of content are the ones we should watch shows like Invincible Castlevania and Arcane shows that have actual quality I want this show to be seen as rock bottom for entertainment like this I want this to be a permanent reminder on what happens when you push for representation and then remove its teeth bad representation is always worse than no representation at all some of you guys need to raise your fucking standards because you just accepting everything just because because there's a marginalized character in the work regardless of the Show's actual quality have allowed shit like this to be made don't accept this kind of Storytelling just because someone on your team made it have some standards you guys that accept everything should be fucking ashamed of yourselves you guys claim to want to be represented well so why are you supporting complete garbage and if by some ungodly Miracle a show comes out that is even worse than paranormal Park I hope to God that when that happens you speak up I hope that you rake it across the coals like the rest of us I want people to start standing up and demand excellent writing because that shit even if it doesn't make that much money at the start lives on forever until you raise the bar and demand that shows and movies do better then we are going to continue getting garbage like Paranormal Park and that is a state of art that I do not want to see anymore please for all that you are worth have some fucking self-respect this show was pathetic but for now my name is manga writer and I will hopefully see you in the next one [Music] [Music] no no no no fuck it all right [Music] I want to die in place