Lmk Season 5 Rewrite - Tumblr Posts

I've been working on an lmk season 5 rewrite CONCEPT for the last three hours now and I'm about 2100 words in and still haven't gotten into the plot itself, is this how writing works?

I'm actually working on coming up with a name for it and everything, but right now all i got is 2100 words of unfocused ranting about the wasted potential of my favorite characters- I kid you not, I've barely mentioned the main fucking characters of the story, that's how invested in everyone else I am atm. This rewrite's an ensemble project and considering the fact that most of the writing on the actual story I've done has been complaints about the wasted potential of Nezha, li Jing, and the Samadhi Fire, it might not even center around the monkies as much. But yeah, if anyone's interested in reading some of the rewrite (CONCEPTS AND RANTS I am not smart enough to actually write prose) I'm working on, let me know. It's a work in progress I may never finish, but damn it's been fun

Lmk season 5 spoilers:

I need to talk about Nezha and Li Jing right fucking now

As much as I didn't like how the show wrote Li Jing, specifically the part where he pulled a complete 180 on his entire characterization for the sake of rushing the one plot I was most excited about, I really like the way Nezha was characterized (as long as we pretend Li Jing's the tyrannical asshole he was in mythology and was introduced to be in the season). Nezha's guilty that Li Jing hurt Wukong and Macaque, and he agreed with MK that his motives were suspicious, but as always, he places his duty before his feelings, connections, and physical needs. But he draws the line when Li Jing starts trying to hurt the kids. He stops him, no hesitation, and at the end of the season he even snaps at him, using Li Jing's own controlling rhetoric against him.

They could've used this in the season, that Nezha without hesitation will violate his orders to protect the kids. This is good characterization, considering the fact he was basically a soldier as a child, himself, and he had nobody to protect him. Even in the special at the end of season 3, when Nezha barely knows MK, he's still leaping to protect him from the mind-controlled Wukong.

Nezha tends to be treated as a warrior or a soldier by his peers, when in reality, he's a guardian. A protector. And this duty will take priority even over the fear he has for his father. He's been conditioned to believe the celestials and their leaders are above all, but his protective nature breaks this programming instantly.

Season 5 would've been better if Li Jing hadn't stopped to listen, because we would've seen this characterization front and center. We could've gotten Nezha fighting his dad (who Wukong commented was "a little stronger than Nezh-ie") and it would've been such a powerful moment, for all of the characters, too. This destiny stuff is assigned by the Heavens, and Nezha fighting against them on MK's side will show that MK should be against these pompous fuckers.

Li Jing could've been a major villain. We can have the Nine-Headed Demon as a major villain, too. Extremists on both sides, and it's up to MK to find that balance between order and chaos. MK represents the concepts of choice and will in this conflict. Willpower is a great mixture between chaos and order, because it defies the control others give and it fights the chaos trying to shatter it.

Back to the topic of Nezha and Li Jing, we could get Nezha becoming part of the group, and he and Pigsy could have a cool dynamic because Pigsy doesn't trust the gods, and he's a very unconventional father in comparison to King Li Jing. They'll disagree, question things, and idk maybe Nezha becomes like a big brother to MK, just wishful thinking there. Either way, Nezha and Pigsy would not get along (at least at first) and it would be really funny and interesting.

All I'm saying is that Nezha has the potential for dynamics with everyone. He and Wukong could also reference the fact that Au Guang (the Great Grand Dragon of the East, he was in season 3) kinda hates both of them. Idk, again, just some fanfic-y things. Maybe the show wouldn't write these things, maybe it would just stay plot-relevant, either way, there's lots of character dynamics to explore