History WMG / DemoReel

*** And both times it was casually passed over as a joke and never taken seriously. Once during Episode 2 when she was on her sugar rush, and once in Episode 4 when they were playing Truth or Dare. Tacoma asked her about her first sexual experience, and when she started to talk about it, he and Fabrisio stopped her. What she was upset about was how people didn't take her seriously and how Tacoma misspoke and said her career wasn't going anywhere.

*** Why make the reference the use of a slow, tragic song the Critic was singing about how draining and exhausting reviews were for him, and of how much of a toll they were taking on him, which ended with him being shot? It's not a triumphant song, it's a song about death, exhaustion, and putting on a brave face for fans/friends/family. Yet this is the song Doug chose for his "triumphant return" episode, not the more upbeat "Hello I'm the Nostalgia Critic" song by SadPanda or anything else.

****** The RapeAsBackstory bit was mentioned twice when she was under the influence, got Tacoma worried about her, and she was clearly upset about it.

***** Or it gave them greater significance by being metaphors for the misfortunes of those occupations. Or at least Tacoma was, since Rebecca's "my uncle touched me" backstory seemed like a throwaway joke for shock value.

**** Which was my point. That "reveal" was shitty writing and screwed both characters over.

** Or he just could've been making a reference to a big part of his favorite review: Moulin Rouge.

*** If he learned that lesson, he wouldn't have had to become a child actor himself.

MaraWilson had already taught him that lesson. And ToBoldlyFlee had him blaming himself for everything going wrong in the world, even internet laws. He didn't need any more "insight".

[[WMG: Tocama and Rebecca symbolize struggling independent writers and actors in general, thus giving Critic a better insight to what they go through while he criticized them]]

** ... What's your point? It ''is'' a psychotic breakdown. There are two Nostalgia Critics. One, the real one, is the PlotHole who gets retconned into being Donnie, and the other is The Writer's manifested desire to bring him back.

Just last month, Critic was helping Harvey Finevoice getting over his anger towards Linkara, and now he's willing to have Doug go through a breakdown to get himself back in the limelight. An AtopTheFourthWall villain poisoned his mind, and made him forget that he hated his job for years.

* Then why was it filmed and acted so much like a psychotic breakdown?

The Nostalgia Critic that appeared was the personification of The Writer's desire to bring him back. That was no more The Nostalgia Critic than Head!Six was Six in Battlestar Galactica.

Demo Reel was operational for roughly six months, half a fiscal year. Demo Reel was cancelled right around tax season, likely after Christmas when Chanel Awesome was looking over its financials and filing their taxes, looking at the profits from Demo Reel and the cost of new actors, a studio, new equipment, etc. and comparing it to previous years and the money generated from Nostalgia Critic episodes. Considering Doug was posting with excitement about Demo Reel cameos from Lewis and Lindsay for the future and upcoming episodes merely two weeks before the cancelation, it seems likely that this was a decision made very quickly and for business reasons, not solely for creative reasons.

** OP here: I didn't say that Donnie was eager to return, and certainly not to leave his friends behind, but neither of them really had a choice. Donnie/Critic HAD to leave purgatory and go back to the real world, and his friends HAD to pass on. But they seem to be aware of who Donnie was, and who he is going to become. And since the Critic FINALLY seems to have started enjoying his job again (, if the ending and his conversations with Doug is any indication,) they know that he is going to a place that he, at least for the moment, will enjoy. (Also, my point wasn't really to make the ending less sad, it was to make the events of Demo Reel feel less pointless for any character who wasn't the Nostalgia Critic.)

** OP here: I didn't say that Donnie was eager to return, and certainly not to leave his friends behind, but neither of them really had a choice. Donnie/Critic had to leave purgatory and go back to the real world, and his friends had to pass on. But they seem to be aware of who Donnie was, and who he is going to become. And since the Critic FINALLY seems to have started enjoying his job again (, if the ending and his conversations with Doug is any indication,) they know that he is going to a place that he, at least for the moment, will enjoy. (Also, my point wasn't really to make the ending less sad, it was to make the events of Demo Reel feel less pointless for any character who wasn't the Nostalgia Critic.)

** OP here: I didn't say that Donnie was eager to return, and certainly not to leave his friends behind, but neither of them really had a choice. Donnie/Critic had to leave purgatory and go back to the real world, and his friends had to pass on. But they seem to be aware of who Donnie was, and who he is going to become. And since the Critic FINALLY seems to have started enjoying his job again (, if the ending and his conversations with Doug is any indication,) they know that he is going to a good place (at least for the moment).

Also, my point wasn't really to make the ending less sad, it was to make the events of Demo Reel feel less pointless for any character who wasn't the Nostalgia Critic.

** OP here: I didn't say that Donnie was eager to return, and certainly not to leave his friends behind, but neither of them really had a choice. Donnie/Critic had to leave purgatory and go back to the real world, and his friends had to pass on. But they seem to be aware of who Donnie was, and who he is going to become. And since the Critic FINALLY seems to have started enjoying his job again (, if the ending and his conversations with Doug is any indication,) they know that he is going to a good place (at least for the moment).

** Except Donnie didn't want to go back, and wanted to stay with the only people who had ever actually loved him.