Tremontaine Season 3, Episodes 10 and 11, by Tessa Gratton and Karen Lord

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We've reached the part of a season of Tremontaine where plot elements start to spiral very actively. A few of them are bureaucratic, but most of them are very action--violence abounds in these two episodes, and even its avoidance is active and specific. At this point in the series, getting all the regular characters appearances while the plot moves in the ways it needs to is quite a feat, but Gratton and Lord are both skilled enough with ensemble casts that it doesn't feel contrived--even though as a writer I looked at some of what needed to happen in fairly short space and took some deep cleansing breaths. Personal favorites like Micah and her math are not getting a lot of attention here, but that's understandable--there's a lot to do for the plot to get to fruition.

This is basically the bit where everyone is running ahead of the rolling boulder and trying not to get crushed. Some of them are, in fact, getting crushed.

We're also back to chocolate, so that's a relief.