#A lot of times the theme has been sharks and we ended up extending shark week for another week just because we had too many shark movies
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#Zombies#Cannibals#Poll#I finally have polls on mobile but I think my xkit might be blocking them on desktop oops#Me and my coworker try to pick out a movie theme for the day every day#A lot of times the theme has been sharks and we ended up extending shark week for another week just because we had too many shark movies#For one week#And that was just the free movies#We usually try to go for really bad movies in general#Had a lot of clients confused by some of the movie plots lol#He also ended up asking a couple clients to chime in on the are zombies cannibals debate
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Savage Love Chapter 37: Gone
Series: Savage Love
Fandom: The Royal Romance
Pairings: Riley x Liam, Riley x Drake
Rating: R
Warnings: Mature themes, violence, guns
Word Count: 987
A/N: Wow, I can't believe it's been five months since I posted an update for this! I've known since before I started writing it back in December 2021 how it's going to end. This is the downside of having so many ideas.... I can't work on all of them at once.
That said, this is a bit shorter than my regular chapters, but I just needed to see what Drake was doing while Riley was in Hidar in her quest to take down the Via Imperii and Leo was in Rivala getting the shock of his life. The next chapter will bring everyone back together again in Cordonia.
A/N2: I realize it's been a while and readers may be confused with all the OC's in this chapter, so here's a rundown. Nick is Riley's ex-fiance and also another GIA agent. Frederico Sanchez is Nick's informant. Saguaro Laurent is the head of The Gladius Company. Lorenzo is not in this chapter but is mentioned as a loan shark to whom Tariq owed money and who, on Saguaro's orders, leveraged Tariq's gambling debt to get him to abduct Riley (Tariq failed and was murdered for his failure, Lorenzo is in custody at the palace). Rico Mendez is the son of a former mafia don who wants revenge for Riley using him to take down his father's organization.
My other stuff: Master List.
Series Premise: Agent Riley Brooks is undercover on assignment in New York when she has a one-night stand with a handsome, mysterious stranger. Both of them hiding their true identities, names are not exchanged. After one scorching night, they part ways, both returning to the duties they have pledged their lives to. Fast forward several months later and Agent Brooks is assigned a new case: investigate and infiltrate any Via Imperi influences in the small, Mediterranean country of Cordonia. Her cover? Posing as a suitor competing for the hand of the crown prince. Her way in? Civilian contractor and cyber security expert Maxwell Beaumont.
Drake…..
Nick and I arrived at the warehouse where we were meeting his contact in the Liberation Core. The one that had gotten me a meeting with the head of the Gladius Company.
The air in the dimly lit warehouse was thick with tension as we made our way through the maze of crates toward their rendezvous point. The echo of our footsteps ricocheted off the walls, adding to the sense of foreboding that permeated the atmosphere.
Nick's informant, a wiry man named Frederico Sanchez, stood waiting nervously near the entrance. His eyes darted back and forth, scanning for any signs of danger. As we approached, Sanchez straightened up and extended a shaky hand.
"Drake," Sanchez said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Nice to finally meet you. Nick here has told me a lot about you."
I nodded curtly, assessing Sanchez's demeanor. I could see the fear etched into the man's face, evidence of the high stakes involved in the mission. Time was of the essence; we needed to infiltrate The Gladius Company as quickly as possible.
"Likewise," I replied as I returned the man’s handshake. “Now let’s go over the plan before we meet with your guy.”
Being on the same page was crucial. If any of these guys got a whiff that this was a setup, we were both dead. Nick would stay in the surveillance van, ready as backup if necessary. He couldn’t be seen by Saguaro or any of the men he’d brought with him from New York. They’d recognize the GIA agent that had brought down their last organization in an instant.
We poured over the plan twenty times, looking for inconsistencies, committing our cover story to memory, and working out the kinks. When it was time to go, I waved goodbye to Nick and got in a nondescript sedan with Sanchez. A quick check-in with headquarters told me that they had picked up Lorenzo’s contact, but he wasn’t talking.
With any luck, we wouldn’t need him to. I was hoping to set eyes on Rico when I met with Saguaro. If he was there, I was giving the order to breach. I knew what Nick’s objective was, but I didn’t give two shits about arresting Saguaro Laurent. It was Rico I was after. The man that had sent a kidnapper, albeit a bad one, after the woman I love.
The American justice system had failed and released a known mobster, allowing him to slip through their security net. But he wasn’t in America anymore. He was on my turf, and I had a literal license to kill.
Rico Mendez would spend the rest of his life in a Cordonian prison, or he would die, and it didn’t matter much to me which one it was. All I cared about was getting him off the streets and keeping Riley safe.
We arrived at the rendezvous spot, but nothing went according to plan.
I found myself in another damn warehouse. This one was on the waterfront and, if our intel was correct, not far from the empty factory that was serving as headquarters for The Gladius Company.
We arrived first and waited. Saguaro and his men were late, which only served to ramp up the already rapidly percolating anxiety in the man at my side.
Sanchez was too damn twitchy. Saguaro picked up on it instantly. He barely glanced at me before fixing Sanchez with a piercing stare. “What’s the problem, Freddy?”
“What?” Sanchez tried to laugh it off. “Nothing. What do you mean?”
Saguaro’s flinty eyes squinted at him, then flicked to me as his hand went to his waist. I had my gun in my hand before he could pull his. “Don’t do it! I really don’t want to shoot anyone today, but I will if I have to. What’s the problem?”
Saguaro moved his hand away from his piece and put his arms in the air. A flash of metal in my periphery caught my attention. “Get down!” I hit the ground just a shot rang out. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! This wasn’t how it was supposed to go down.
Men scattered everywhere. We were outnumbered, but not for long. I could hear Nick in my earpiece giving the order to breach. Sanchez was hit. I drug him with me out of the line of fire, ducking behind a stack of metal barrels as the rat-a-tat-tat of machine gun fire spattered all around us.
“Hey, Laurent!” I craned my neck to peek around the barricade.
The only answer I got was more gunfire. I retreated back behind the stack of barrels for safety as my team poured into the building.
Now they were outnumbered, and the warehouse was surrounded. Less than fifteen minutes later, Saguaro and his men were cuffed and being loaded into the back of several guard-issue SUVs.
“Johnson, hold up!” I jogged quickly across the asphalt to intercept the lieutenant escorting the head of Gladius Company to one of the waiting vehicles. I grabbed him by his shirt and shoved him roughly up against the car. “Where’s Mendez? Was he with you?”
“Fuck you!” He lurched forward in an attempt to headbutt me, but this wasn’t my first rodeo. I snapped my head sideways, causing him to stumble forward.
I grabbed his shoulders to steady him, then brought my knee up hard into his gut. “I look forward to interrogating you, asshole.”
I beelined for the tactical van. Bursting into the mobile command center, I demanded, “Did we get Mendez?”
“Sorry, man, no,” Nick shook his head. “No sign of him. But the good news is, we got Saguaro and his second in command. There’s a second team sweeping their headquarters now. We successfully took The Gladius Company down!”
He was far too jubilant for what I considered a botched mission. I slammed out of the van with a huff. Goddamn it!
Rico was in the wind.
#savage love#agent riley brooks#captain drake walker#prince liam rys#trr fanfic#trr au#angelasscribbles#trr poly#the royal romance#the royal romance fanfic#trr#choices#liam rys#drake walker#choices fanfiction#playchoices fanfic#choices stories you play#drake walker x mc#liam rys x mc
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Interlude
Before I delve deeper into details, perhaps I should explain my fascination with the concept of adventure. This isn't just some pedantic nit-picking at details, for me it defines the forces that are at work in my life right now.
My good lady wife and I are retired and like most 'Grey Nomads' as they call us, we are active retirees with a drive to live our lives to the fullest, fuelled by forty years of drudgery and the knowledge that our active life has a 'use by date' measured in decades at best. The term 'quality of life' for a senior isn't some abstract term, it's a very real measure that applies to our diminishing options for an active lifestyle. In other words, without getting too moribund...
The clock is ticking.
You can imagine then our frustration when, during the 2021 NSW pandemic lockdown, we were required to stay within our Local Government Area for months on end, at one point having to stay within 10kms of our home. Forget overseas travel, museums, concerts or being in any sort of public place for an unknown but certainly extended period of time.
The sound of the clock's ticking became louder.
We decided that, to get out of the house but stay within our LGA we would start hiking within our local area, and we were quite frankly stunned that we had lived within 10kms of some amazing wilderness areas for 30 years and not known about them! It was like exploring a hidden world with fascinating and beautiful discoveries being made every day!
Ok, so we weren't traversing the sweeping African veldt or hacking through the Amazon jungle but when we left the car behind and pulled out the twenty year old local walking guide by Robert Sloss - bless his little cotton socks! - we felt like we were following in the footsteps of explorers. I really felt like an adventurer and the irony of the fact that we were rarely more than 5kms from a major road, on the outskirts of one of the largest cities on Earth, was not lost on me.
It was a very positive experience and it got me thinking that this sense of adventure that we had accidentally chanced upon was what we had actually been hoping to achieve all along! As I studied the concept more, I realised it wasn't just me! Our friends seemed inordinately impressed with our 'adventures' when in fact it was just a novel, interesting passion with little degree of risk. The more I thought about our reaction and that of our friends, the more I realised it was a definate motivation in everyones life in one form or another.
It was the reason why people went on scary rides at the theme park, or went bungy jumping, sky diving or scuba diving with sharks! It was what people trapped by poverty, responsibility or boring jobs dreamed of. To be free to go on a hero's quest, to explore strange realms or to simply wander without aim through new vistas. It is why entertainment from books, radio, TV and movies through to interactive computer games, role playing games and cosplay has become more immersive over the years.
During my working life, a lot of my creative life was online, from writing and publishing fanzines to producing and acting in audio dramas. Later, as it became more popular in Australia, we started going to costuming events, making friends in real life as well as online. In all this, I was trying to expand my world, taking creative risks to write things and make things, to achieve things, to convince myself that I was more than just another working drone.
I wasn't alone, most people have a hobby or sport that they take up. In some cases it is an active participation, a skill or a craft: woodwork, vintage cars, model trains, slot cars. In other cases it is a passive obsession, collecting stamps, writing, raiding on World of Warcraft. You could say it is an escape but there has to be a challenge to it as well so that, in some small measure, there is an accomplishment to achieving your goals in it.
People who aren't adventurous are either those lucky ones who are content with their lives or the unlucky ones who don't have the opportunity. Sometimes there are identifiable reasons why they can't or won't do the interesting things that they see others doing. It usually comes down to money. As a kid in a struggling, working class home I used to drift off to sleep dreaming of sailing, skiing or scuba diving like Jonny Quest but knowing that 'people like us don't do things like that.' Knowing why you are excluded from a life of adventure isn't the same as accepting it though and I believe it is at least one of the reasons why depression and melancholy can escalate into psychological problems.
The more I thought about the concept of adventure, the more questions it raised. Does lack of opportunity have to mean adventures are impossible? Specifically, can someone who can't travel or has health or economic constraints, be adventurous? Must adventure require life-long commitment, physical prowess and/or a bottomless piggy bank? If we could pin down the mechanics of personal fulfillment, if we could bypass the roadblocks to adventure, it could change the quality of life of anyone with the right mindset.
There in a nutshell is my obsession with adventure seeking. I might not be on the right trail for the meaning of life but y'know what? It doesn't really matter! My journey, my experiences and enlightenment along the way, makes the journey worthwhile.
...and that, o' hypothetical reader, is my adventure!
Picture credit: Mick Tait at Glen Davis, NSW
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No One Needs to Know
Yooha x Reader | kissing-type activities & suggestive themes | 15+
A chance encounter with your nemesis has you craving wine, but drinking with a fox soon has you letting your guard down in your darkened bedroom.
You’re barely able to hold back the tears as you press the combination to the front door with shaking fingers. Three tries later, the door is suddenly opened from the inside, and Yooha stands in the doorway, frowning down at you.
“Master. What’s wrong?”
You open your mouth and your chest feels tight. Instead of answering, you push past him and walk blindly into the silent apartment. If you open your mouth, everyone will see you cry.
Speaking of everyone, the apartment is too silent. You take a deep breath to regain control. “Where are the others?”
Yooha shrugs one broad shoulder, his eyes growing chillier. “Who knows. I’m not their keeper. What’s wrong?”
They must be out enjoying the night. They are night goblins, after all. You remember Lianne’s smirk as people muttered about you. Copying her. Attacking her. It’s so unfair. Thousands of cafes in Seoul, and you just happened to bump into her.
Tears tumble down your cheeks.
Yooha steps forward, but if he touches you, you really will crumble.
“I’m fine. Goodnight.” You hurry to your bedroom and slam the door behind you.
Yooha knocks and calls through the door. “Master? Something happened, didn’t it? Let me in.”
You sit on your bed and hug a cushion, trying as hard as you can not to sob. You never used to be this weak, did you? Is it the stress of the challenge, or is it Yooha and the others breaking down your defences and making you need them, when you were so, so careful never to need anyone for years and years?
Needing people is dangerous.
Yooha keeps knocking and calling. You stand up to shout at him to go away but you can’t summon up the anger.
He’s not Lianne. He’s not your enemy. He only wants to protect you and make sure that you’re okay. If he really does mean that he belongs to you, that means he’s safe, right? He won’t leave you like you’re afraid they all might?
Taking a shuddering breath instead, you whisper, “Yooha.”
Instantly, there’s a shower of sparkles and a rush of heat. Yooha’s warm, strong arms enfold you from behind, and his cheek presses against your tearstained one.
“Master. What are you doing shutting me out like that?”
His soft, melodic voice melts through you, and you relax against his strong chest, something you’ve never allowed yourself to do before. You’ve sensed that every time you let your guard down around him and invite him closer, it inspires him to try gaining a little more ground over your body, and then a little more.
It’s made you wonder how far he'll go.
“Yooha?” you ask, your voice trembling, “will you do me a favour?”
He folds you tighter in his arms. “Anything. Just ask me.”
“Will you drink wine with me? A lot of wine? I want to get drunk and forget about everything that happened today.”
“If that’s what you want.” He releases you and goes out into the living room, and a moment later he’s back with a bottle of wine and two glasses, closing the door behind him.
You both sit on the carpet by your bed and you watch him open the wine. Such long, clever fingers he has. The silver chain around his neck glints in the dim light from your bedside lamp. Apart from that and the moonlight glinting through the window, the room is dark.
“Here.” Yooha holds out a glass with a generous measure of wine.
‘Thanks.” You take it and drain every drop in several long swallows.
Yooha blinks his grey eyes surprise, and then his face relaxes into a smile. “You meant that about getting drunk.”
“Every word,” you say, licking your lips.
“Why?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
He leans back on one elbow and extends and crosses his long legs at the ankles. He looks good like this, all limbs and broad shoulders. Your mouth waters as your gaze slips down his body.
It must be the taste of wine.
Wordlessly, he refills your glass and then sips his wine in silence, his gaze moving around the room and then back to you several times.
His lack of words is making the room feel so silent it’s awkward. “You’re not going to keep asking me what upset me until I tell you? Tahee would.”
Yooha gives a huff and his eyes drift up to the ceiling, not quite an eyeroll but very nearly.
You bite your lip, regretting comparing Yooha and Tahee out loud. “Never mind. I’d like you two to be friends, you know.”
Yooha gazes at you with heavy lidded eyes. “We can’t always get what we want, master.”
“For someone who calls me master, you’re not very obedient.”
He laughs. “Tahee and I can’t be friends while there’s unresolved matters in the apartment. But there’s an easy solution to those.”
You look at him in surprise.
His tails materialise behind them, luminous in the moonlight. They sway back and forth hypnotically like they’re moving underwater. “Tell him that you’re mine.”
Yooha smiles, and you see the fox in his face. Canines too pointed. Eyes fiercely intelligent. A sleek, confident hunter, teeth set, ready to bite.
You feel your cheeks heat. When he looks at you like that, when he shows off those tails of his and purrs in his deep voice, you feel a dangerous urge to give him whatever he asks for.
“I don’t know. Might be kind of weird, dating a fox. Humans aren’t supposed to get involved with animals.” You keep your tone light and joking, and then drain your glass again to hide your confusion.
Yooha smirks. “I’ll be whatever you want me to be, master.”
Your stomach plunges with excitement and trepidation. Tahee and Yooha have been circling you like sharks for weeks and it hasn’t helped the stress you feel over the challenge. You haven’t even given them any encouragement.
Well, barely any encouragement.
Not on purpose.
Things sort of just get…out of hand. They’re both so pushy. You let them hold you. You let them comfort you and say things like you’re my goblin bride and I belong to you…and you don’t stop them because it feels too good to push them away.
Either of them.
Goddammit. You don’t want to think about this right now. You hold out your glass to Yooha so he can refill it.
“No. You’re drinking all my wine.” He tosses you a can of iced tea instead, and his tails fade away to invisibility.
You pout, but crack the can open and take a sip. Persimmon flavour. You wonder where he found it, as you’ve never seen persimmon iced tea before.
You take some mouthfuls but mainly look at the carpet, sunk in worry.
Suddenly, the can is plucked from your fingers and you realize Yooha has come so close that his nose is almost touching yours. You move back in surprise, but he follows.
“If you’re not going to stop looking so miserable, master, I’ll have to make you.”
You breath faster, looking at his mouth. Only Yooha could make a kiss sound like a threat. He smiles, as if pleased to see that you understand his intentions.
“Tahee wouldn’t try to kiss me while I’m drunk,” you whisper.
He comes closer until you’re laying flat on the floor, his hands braced either side of your head. “The good doctor doesn’t know how to have any fun.”
He lowers his mouth toward yours, his eyes drifting closed. You feel a strong urge to tilt your mouth up to his, to hug his hips with your knees and finally feel what it’s like to be kissed by someone you crave.
“It’s too complicated, Yooha,” you say desperately. “I don’t know how to make sense of any of this when we’re all living under the same roof.”
He stops and frowns at your mouth. You’re certain he’s seconds away from sighing and sitting back.
You’re wrong.
Instead, his gaze slips lower and mischief sparks in his eyes. He hooks a finger into the neckline of your top and draws it down below your collarbone.
“All right. No kissing, master.”
First, he bites, pinching your flesh lightly with his teeth. Then he sucks. His mouth sends hot sensations chasing through you. Marking his territory. A fox who’s staking a claim.
Moaning, your arms slip around him and trace the hard muscles of his back.
“If you ever need me, all you have to do is call,” Yooha whispers, planting kisses along your collarbone and up your throat to your ear. “Wherever you are. It doesn’t matter to me. In the shower. In your bed late at night. Just say my name.”
Your eyes open wide as you realise what he’s saying. You could summon him to you secretly, in the dark. In the night. When the two of you can be alone and there’s no need to talk.
His teeth graze your ear and his fiery words cascade through you. “It doesn’t have to be complicated. No one needs to know.”
Your fingers flex on his muscular shoulders and your body arches against his, as if you’re already imagining doing what he’s asking for.
“I should get some sleep,” you finally whisper. “Thank you for the wine.”
You worry he’s going to be annoyed with you for sending him away, but he just smiles and helps you up to sitting again. “Of course, master. I’ll drink with you anytime.”
Moonlight from the open window is falling across his face, making him look even more silvery and beautiful than he usually does. You crave to pull him down on top of you again and take the kiss that your lips are tingling for.
You push a hand through your hair and take a few deep breaths. “Thank you for making me feel better, too.”
Yooha’s gaze touches your lips, your throat, and then back up to your eyes. “Of course, master. I’ll make you feel good any way you want me to.”
With one last smile, he stands up smoothly, slips out the door and closes it behind him, leaving you alone with all the ideas he’s put into your head, and wondering whether you dare indulge in any.
Because you could, after all.
No one needs to know.
Thank you for reading! You can send requests for fics to my ask box. At the moment I’m writing for Wannabe Challenge and LoveUnholyc. Find all my finished fics here.
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THE PHILADELPHIA ANGLE (or Noah’s t-shirt theory part 2)
AMC recently posted a teaser to the Rick Grimes movies, where we see a helicopter fly towards a city skyline. It was eventually revealed that the city in question is Philadelphia, indicating that Philly will play a significant part in the films. Of course, we still know almost nothing about this project, but for now I’m gonna assume that Philadelphia will at least make an appearance in the films.
To me, the new teaser and the Philadelphia connection was extremely interesting, because I’ve been spending some time analyzing a scene that incidentally is the only time in the history of the show (that I can remember) that there has been a Philadelphia reference.
The scene in question is the one from 2x8 “Nebraska” where Hershel has started drinking again and disappears from the farm. Glenn and Rick go after him to try to get him to come back with them. They find him in his favorite bar, and while they’re in there trying to convince him to come back with them, two strangers enter the bar. It is revealed that they have traveled from Philadelphia. A fight breaks out, and the two strangers are eventually killed.
I have been working with that scene for a while, because it contains some really interesting symbolism that I’ve previously discussed here:
https://frangipanilove.tumblr.com/post/183736635005/sirius-and-the-north-star-or-pigs-feet-and-frosty
Although I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing the symbolism in the bar scene from “Nebraska”, I’ve been unsure on how it fits into the larger picture, and also on how it is relevant from a TD perspective. I know the scene is significant, but what does it tell us? How is it relevant to Beth?
The newly released teaser for the films offers a new piece of the puzzle, and I’ll try to explain how below.
A few weeks ago I posted my theory on Noah's t-shirt, where I explain my thought process on how Noah's t-shirt ultimately points to episode 10x2 and/or 10x10. Of course we are all aware of how the «Get Well Soon» clock poster from Beth’s room at Grady possibly points towards these two episodes, and we have seen multiple theories on the significance of that clock poster over the years.
My take on all of that is explained here
https://frangipanilove.tumblr.com/post/185522170650/noahs-t-shirt-theory
The interesting thing about the newly released teaser is that it offers a connection to a sort of continuation of Noah's t-shirt theory, because in the bar scene from 2x8, one of the Philly guys is also wearing a very interesting t-shirt:
Where Noah's t-shirt had the words «one one recording studio» written on it, the Philly dude’s shirt has a picture of a shark as well as the number 11 on it. Apparently the text and the shark refers to a 11-U baseball team from Manahawkin, NJ, and the number 11on the back of the t-shirt is written, well…»one one».
Like, you know…
...like the text on Noah's t-shirt.
What a tremendous coincidence!
Two t-shirts, several seasons apart, both with an animal image as well as the number 11 (or “one one”, if you will).
It’s almost as if there is a theme..
The shark t-shirt refers to a baseball team. This is a huge point, and something I will have to adress in a separate post. But for now, keep in mind all the baseball references around Beth, such as the bat seen by the train tracks from 4x10 “Innmates”, and Glenn picking up a bat while literally saying “Beth” in 5x9 “WHAWGO”.
Further, let’s talk about the shark on the t-shirt. Wanna know where else we saw a whole bunch of sharks in the same scene? In Noah's house, in his brother’s room where we saw Tyreese get bit, causing him to hallucinate. And as we all know, Beth was a part of this hallucination.
Beth, as well as a bunch of sharks.
There’s a picture of a shark on the wall behind Beth, along with a painting of a dog, there’s a shark in the book shelf, there’s a poster of a shark behind Bob, as well as a giant shark’s head coming out of the wall next to him. There’s also a shark-shaped surfboard-like decoration on the wall behind the fabric with polar bears on it. I talked about the polar bear fabric in the Sirius/North Star post that I linked to above. I’ve also talked about the polar bear symbol in several other posts, such as this one
https://frangipanilove.tumblr.com/post/185964198900/fear-the-walking-dead-a-guide-to-understanding
and this one
https://frangipanilove.tumblr.com/post/186222365190/fear-once-again-serves-as-a-guide-to
And next to the polar bear fabric, there’s a clock.
Ah! The clock.
We’ll never tire of talking about clocks, will we? Take a good look at the clock from Tyreese’s hallucination. Beth is staring at this clock in the picture above, so it must be important.
The hands point to the numbers “5″ and “10″. To be fair, one could argue that the hands point to the “5″ and the “9″, which would make sense, as this is episode 5x9 after all. It depends on how literal you want to interpret it. In my opinion, an approximate interpretation is sufficient, and I maintain that the clock could be interpreted as hands pointing to the “5″ and the “10″.
But remember what we’ve talked about (in Noah’s t-shirt theory among other places), that on an analog clock, the number “2″ (which indicates the hour) can also be read as “10″ (indicating minutes). So both of the numbers “2″ and “10″ can be read as “2″ and “10″. Or they can be read 22, whickh is pretty spectacular for reasons I will elaborate on later in this post.
In this particular clock from “WHAWGO”, there’s also a hand (whick probably indicates the set alarm) that points to the “8″. So we have a set of hands that can be interpreted as pointing towards episode 5x10 “Them” which is when the music box woke up.
And we have hands that can be interpreted as pointing to episode 8x2, which is the episode forshadowed by Noah’s t-shirt theory (link above), the episode when we saw the “Blue Heron” painting behing Rick.
But guess which episode in also points to!
If you swich around the numbers “8″ and “2″, you simply get 2x8!
Episode 2x8 “Nebraska”.
Which is none other than the episode I mentioned above, where we have the Piladelphia dude in the shark t-shirt, with the number “11″ (one one) written on the back. Can you see how this all creates a pattern? It’s a complex pattern, but a pattern none the less.
Further, 5x9 “WHAWGO” is the episode following 5x8 «Coda». The clock has hands pointing to both the number “5″ and the number “8″, which of course means it can be interpreted as pointing to episode 5x8 “Coda”, when Beth “died”.
Gimple ensured us of the importance of the clocks. This is what he meant.
As I explained in my Sirius/North Star post (link above), sharks were referred to as «dog-fish» back in the olden days. So that’s another tremendous coincidence, don’t you think? Shark references doubles as dog references, “shark” and “dog” references can be used interchangebly. It certainly puts the dog painting and the shark pic on the wall behind Beth in the above pic in a different perspective.
The Philly dude’s shirt had a picture of a shark on it. Noah's t-shirt had a stylized version of the «Blue Heron» painting seen behind Beth in «Still», and later behind Rick in 8x2 «The Damned».
Also, as I’ve repeated several times, I believe “beer” and “bear” are in reality the same symbol. We get a confirmation of that here, where there is a polar bear directly above where the word “beer” is written on the fridge behind the bar. I’ve also argued that the “bear” symbol is a reference to the star constellation Ursa Minor, or Lesser Bear. In North America, this constellation is usually referred to as the Little Dipper, and as we know, the North Star (Polaris) is at the end of the Little Dipper. The polar bear on top of the fridge confirms this connection (polar bear points to Polaris, the North Star). And the North Star is a major Beth symbol due to her picking up the DC spoon in “Still”.
The heron incident in 8x2 “The Dammned” was foreshadowed all the way back in season 5 (again, see Noah’s t-shirt theory) and while confirmation bias will sometimes play tricks on your brain, causing you to interpret «evidence» in a way that favors or confirms your pre-existing beliefs, that was not the case with the Blue Heron painting from 8x2. I had worked out the theory on it years before 8x2 aired, and I sat down to watch the episode, prepeared to see something related to «resurrection». In the «Noah's t-shirt» post I explain in more detail how I reached the conclusion that led me to anticipate major «resurrection» symbols in 8x2. There was, in addition to Noah's t-shirt, in 5x15 “Try”, the presence of a digital clock showing 06.30. If we interpret that as a reference to episode 6x3 “Thank You”, it’s significant that in 6x3 we witnessed the infamous «dumpster gate», tptb wanted us to believe that Glenn was dead. You know, when in fact, he wasn’t. Much like they want us to believe that Beth is dead, when in fact, she’s not.
In other words, 6x3 was the episode when Glenn DIDN’T die. It was the episode when he simply continued to stay alive.
(Also, if you read 06.30 on an analog clock, you’d find both hands pointing to “6″, perhaps referencing 6x6 “Always Accountable”, an episode full of Beth references, but that’s a post for a different day)
Other notable resurrection-themed incidents of 8x2 «The Damned» includes the «resurrection» of Morales, a character not seen or heard from in 7 seasons, and finally Morgan's little death fake out moment, where he pretended to be dead, when in fact, he wasn’t. Much like…yeah, you know.
Of course, what none of us could have known back when 8x2 aired, was that Andrew Lincoln was planning to exit the show. I’ll admit that I was confused as to the meaning of the reappearence of the “Blue Heron” painting in 8x2. However, as soon as it became known that Rick was to exit the show while still staying alive within the extended TWD universe, things became clearer. The heron is thought to be the bird from the original phoenix myth. It appeared behind Rick. He survived, although the characters believe he’s dead. The Blue Heron painting appeared behind Beth while she said “we made it”, and that is some fine symbolical evidence of both Beth and Rick being alive. The symbolism around them is the exact same.
Back to Rick. He survived only because he was saved by Anne, who arranged for a helicopter to pick him up and give him medical assistance. And by the way, I haven’t posted my “Cat” theory yet, but the main takeaway is that cats are popularily believed to have nine lives. In other words; cats are resurrection symbols. That has been my working theory for the longest time, and it was more or less formed after observing how Carol in season 3 was believed to be dead, but later resurfaced and famously stated she had “nine lives”. After Fear’s Daniel Salazar “rose from the dead” AGAIN, this time with a cat by his side, I concider this theory confirmed. Cats = “nine lives” = resurrection. I’ll definately do a more thorough post on cat symbolism later, but the reason I bring it up here, is because guess what; Anne, who saved Rick’s life, was a bit of an artist, and one of her more well-known works was this spectacular blue Picasso-style cat:
You could in fact argue that Anne’s blue cat symbolized Rick’s resurrection.
And never forget there was a blue helicopter present in Tyreese’s hallucination in 5x10 “WHAWGO”, along with all the sharks. And Beth.
And this is where the movie teaser comes in, because that helicopter that saved his life? It seems like it might have traveled to Philadelphia. I could be wrong, because it's still early and we know almost nothing about the films, but at least at this point, it seems like the helicopter transported Rick to Philly.
To have the same symbolism appear around both Rick and Beth, while knowing for sure that Rick is alive, it certainly indicates that Beth is alive also. And the heron itself is associated with the Phoenix myth, in that an (now) extinct species of heron on the Arabian peninsula is thought to have been the original representation of the Phoenix. Plus, both herons and helicopters are flying creatures. Helicopters are called “birds” in slang terms. And I also want to point out Beth “flipping the bird”, first to Daryl, then later to the burning moonshine shack.
When the Blue Heron painting (which represents resurrection) appeared around both Beth and Rick, and we know for a fact that Rick is alive, it’s logical that the same goes for Beth.
Subsequently, the very same logic would apply in relation to the shark on Philly dude’s T-shirt in 2x8, and the sharks in Noah’s brother’s room in 5x9 «WHAWGO». As I mentioned, sharks were once called “dog-fish”. I meticulously explain my interpretation of the dog symbolism in the Sirius/North Star post that I linked to somewhere above, so I won’t get into that here, but I want to mention that there were at least a couple of dog-paintings/drawings/pictures in Noah's brother’s room in 5x9.
So to try to summarize, the Philadelphia reference in the Rick Grimes movies teaser might prove to be very interesting from a Team Delusional perspective.
But there’s more. The filming of yet another TWD project has recently started up; the third spin off, currently known as “Monument”. It has been described as “TWD for teens”, and they filmed on location at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia this week. Interestingly, this picture from TSDF suggests that it was transformed into “Nebraska State University”. Make of that what you will, but it’s certainly worth mentioning.
Finally, I try not to read too much into it, but I thought it was worth mentioning that the next episode of “Fear” will be called “210 words per minute”. Like I’ve previously mentioned, a lot of the symbolism on TWD seem to point to certain episode number combinations, such as 10x10 (forshadowed by Beth’s Get Well Soon poster from “Slabtown), 8x2 (forshadowed by Noah’s t-shirt theory) and 10x2 (see Noah’s t-shirt theory). In this post I discussed the clock from 5x9, and how it possibly pointed to episode 5x10, among others.
It so happens that the next episode of “Fear” in fact will be season 5 episode 10, or “5x10″. And there is a possible reference to episode 2x10 in the title. 2x10 is when Beth tried to commit suicide. Also, if you switch the numbers around, you get 10x2, which I have talked a lot about in Noah’s t-shirt theory, and ultimately it can (on an analog clock) be read 10x10. Like the “Get Well Soon” clock from “Slabtown”.
So if you watch “Fear”, keep an eye out for interesting symbolism!
#Team Delusional#team defiance#team beth lives#BETH LIVES#bethyl#Beth Greene#daryl x beth#beth x daryl
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SPN 2.20 and SPN 14.10
Rewatched SPN 2.20 What Is and What Should Never Be with SPN 14.10 in mind, because I wanted to look at how the characters have grown and changed, how Dean’s real life has changed, and what has changed in the show’s overall theme. Oh and if you want your heart absolutely shredded, look back at Dean in 2.20.
First let’s talk about this idea of happiness.
Because S14 has a major theme about “what do you want” and not just contentment. It’s what do you really want. Can they have they want while still being in the life? White picket fence isn’t presented as the ideal on SPN any more, now it’s more about finding happiness while saving people, hunting things, but different ways to hunt that maybe don’t involve so much letting yourself get torn to shreds, without so much isolation. Happiness can be found within what’s already there. All that is at work in 14.10. Dean’s contentment place was still in the life, Sam and Cas are out hunting, Dean hasn’t totally stopped his hunting ways but he mostly is focusing on his bar. Pamela asks “why do you always want what you can’t have.” But it’s notable that Dean’s contentment space is still connected to the sources of his trauma, the sources of pain he expressed about it back in 2.20. Not a complete opposite to the life he actually leads like the djinn-world of 2.20. Rocky’s Bar instead is a feasible scenario outcome for Dean’s actual life. One reason the djinn-world in 2.20 didn’t hold up for Dean was it was too different from his actual life.
2.20 touchstones several times on the concept of “happiness.”
Dean says in the djinn-world, “It’s like my old life is coming after me...it doesn’t want me to be happy.”
Dean, mimicking John, says “Your happiness, for all those people’s lives, no contest.”
On the subject of relative safety and contentment, Djinn-world Mary tells Dean, trying to persuade him to stay, “it doesn’t matter. It’s still better than anything you’ve had.”
Which connects to Dean in 14.10 saying about Rocky’s Bar that he never had anything this good.
In 2.20, his djinn-world family pleads with him to stay with them, offering safety, peace. Begging him not to go back to the real world.
In 14.10, real Cas pleads with Dean to come back to the real world. “The people in your real life...we need you to come back.” Real Sam drops the code word “Poughkeepsie” which sets off Dean remembering all that’s really happened.
2.20 Dean shakes himself out of the dream by stabbing himself with a knife and that moment coincides with real Sam shouting real Dean’s name. Sam credits Dean with bringing himself out of it, and oh look, it’s the concept of strong Dean that gets repeated many times in 14.10 -- “I’m glad you got yourself out, Dean. Most people wouldn’t have had the strength.” I do wonder if Sam finding real Dean, calling to him, translated to the knife in the djinn-world, that Dean subconsciously heard it and it helped him reject the djinn-world family’s pleas. Or it may have been all Dean and Sam was there for the moment Dean wakes up.
2.20 djinn-world was much more about Dean’s family being happy, mostly Sam being happy, than about Dean finding all he wants, and that is a very season 2 Dean thing to do. He has some of what he, himself wants, in djinn-world but it’s an imperfect life. He doesn’t get along with Sam. John is still dead (but he died peacefully, after a peaceful life). Djinn-world Dean isn’t like our real world Dean, he’s not a horrible person but he emerges as someone a bit selfish, aimless, drinks too much, unreliable, wronged his little brother quite a few times as they grew up. Which is a tragic comment on what maybe Dean thinks he’d be if he didn’t hunt--instead of realizing all the things Dean is on his own merit, outside of hunting. John raised him to believe his only value was to watch after Sam, and be a hunter. And on what Dean thinks his relationship with Sam would be if they weren’t hunters.
By 2.20, Dean never had a chance to think much about what else interested him or pursue it, either in or outside the life. the djinn-world in 2.20 is starkly different than Dean’s actual life. As I pointed out above, this makes Michael more dangerous and more clever than a djinn. Rocky’s Bar is similar to Dean’s life, it’s plausible, while the 2.20 djinn-world is so wildly different it keeps Dean off-balance instead of placated.
Season 14 Dean has had more opportunity to think about who he is and what he wants and understand he isn’t just dad’s “blunt instrument.” S14 Dean more than S2 Dean is maybe developing an awareness he is more than he thinks he is, that he is more than just one thing, more than what John put on him, and that it’s not impossible to integrate some of his wants into the hunting life.
2.20 is, primarily, Dean’s Gesthemane, that is the main A plot point of the ep and there is no room for happiness in order to follow the duty of saving all those lives, and Dean makes the right choice. For one thing, letting himself be a blood juice-box for a djinn isn’t any kind of life, and he chooses to return to the pain rather than life in what’s effectively a drug-haze while his body gets destroyed. For another, yes, he and Sam have saved many lives and they are needed in the real world.
By S14, SPN is looking at a less harsh dichotomy. Is it necessary to completely give up all happiness, and disregard all safety, in order to stay in the life. S14 is showing new ways to hunt. It’s showing less isolation for Sam and Dean. The ideal in SPN is no longer limited to the white picket fence, it’s more about finding happiness within what you have, without rejecting all that you’ve done and who you are. It’s the good and the bad, reconciled. Sam and Dean are still in the life but they don’t live out of seedy hotel rooms. They have a stable home base, they have an expanded family, the concept of Cas as a significant other already right under Dean’s nose continues to thump on the door of its closet demanding to be let out, while Sam and Dean and Cas have adopted a son.
The idea of finding your bliss, of achieving happiness, doesn’t always involve running away or rejecting the life you’ve got and all the people in it. Sometimes in life it does, but not always.
Another thing about 2.20, in the end Sam tells Dean “it hurts like hell, but it’s worth it” and the ep ends on Dean’s troubled face. While leaving Sam behind would be unthinkable, I am struck by the bleakness that surrounds Sam and Dean, together, in 2.20 and the bleakness of what Dean returns to. Dean has Sam...and that’s the only source of comfort he’s got at that point. In 14.10, there’s a lot more sense that Dean is returning to a whole life he’s got there, it’s not just him and Sam clinging to each other in a life-raft surrounded by sharks and they are out of food and water and are down to one flare left. It’s not that they have literally no one else in 2.20. They have Bobby. John’s dead. The Harvelles are out there, but the Harvelles are not integrated, daily, into Sam and Dean’s lives like the extended family with Cas and Jack they have now. S2 just doesn’t have the same kind of arcing about extended family as the show has now. It always mattered, but the landscape now is different.
Relevant here also is Sam’s arc over the past few seasons which has been about his acceptance that this is his life, that he doesn’t need to run from it, and his opportunity to use his own specific skills more fully, to find better methods of hunting, and maybe save more hunter lives and keep his own family safer without it meaning rejecting the hunting life wholesale. Sam ran for a long time. He kept trying to reject it. Dean kept taking it on.
But hunting isn’t what makes Dean happy. It gives him a sense of purpose and I don’t think he wants to stop but it isn’t what makes him happy. Saying hunting makes him happy and so that’s all he should ever do and ever be is a severely limited view of the character and it’s certainly not what canon has been exploring with Dean for 14 seasons now. But within that job, that purpose...S14 era SPN moves things to where Dean can think about what he wants and see about getting it. It’s at least on the table. 2.20...that can never be.
#dean winchester#spn#supernatural#meta#supernatural spoilers#sam winchester#castiel#jack kline#Sam and Dean: a work in progress#tfw 2.0#destiel#dean and cas
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REALLY LONG CHARACTER SURVEY.
I’m not subjecting anyone to this horror. Stolen from @crimsonfluidessence
BASICS.
FULL NAME: Vesevont Nevelaux
NICKNAME: Ves, “Cap”
AGE: 49
BIRTHDAY: 15th Sun of the Second Astral Moon (March 15)
ETHNIC GROUP: Ishgardian Elezen
NATIONALITY: Ishgardian
LANGUAGE(S): Common Eorzean
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual
ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Biromantic
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single
CLASS: Dragoon (OOC only, IC a mere knight)
HOMETOWN / AREA: Coerthas
CURRENT HOME: The Mist
PROFESSION: Ex-knight of Ishgard's House Durendaire. Currently: none
PHYSICAL.
HAIR: Blond
EYES: Amber
NOSE: He has one(1) nose.
FACE: Scarred, eye bags, wrinkly, crow’s feet, a little gaunt, aged
LIPS: Probably dry to be fair.
COMPLEXION: Light or, probably just pale
BLEMISHES: We all have ‘em
SCARS: One over the right eye, one across the left cheek and nose. And others.
TATTOOS: None
HEIGHT: 6′6″
WEIGHT: Average for his height
BUILD: Lean, fit
FEATURES: He’s got pretty big ears?
ALLERGIES: Bananas.
USUAL HAIRSTYLE: Short, blond, shaved on the sides.
USUAL FACE LOOK: Resting bitch face
USUAL CLOTHING: Old knight-attire with green cloak, or his blue outfit later in SB
PSYCHOLOGY.
FEAR(S): Abandonment, his kids or friends getting hurt, Carbuncles, Voidsent
ASPIRATION(S): Being able to settle down with someone
POSITIVE TRAITS: Tenacious, Loyal, Polite, Caring, Merciful
NEGATIVE TRAITS: Reckless, Stubborn, Confrontational, Harsh, Impulsive
ZODIAC: Ironically a Pisces (Thaliak on the Eorzean calender)
TEMPERAMENT: Guarded but usually optimistic
SOUL TYPE(S): He has a soul or he wouldn’t be alive.
ANIMALS: He’d want to be a shark
VICE HABIT(S): Stress-eating, boredom eating, eating
FAITH: Unknown
GHOSTS?: Reluctantly yes
AFTERLIFE?: He hopes so
REINCARNATION?: Maybe
ALIENS?: "Who?”
POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: Probably really liberal
ECONOMIC PREFERENCE: Don’t ask him things like this he doesn’t know.
SOCIO POLITICAL POSITION: Refer to the above
EDUCATION LEVEL: Life experience. (He was a knight. Cannon fodder.)
FAMILY.
FATHER: Yes; Dead
MOTHER: Yes; Dead
SIBLINGS: No
EXTENDED FAMILY: Probably
NAME MEANING(S): Vesevont is the made up version to his OC actual name, Vsevolod, which hilariously means ‘lord of everything/everybody’. It’s also a name that hasn’t been used in centuries so anyone with that name is looked at very weirdly irl.
HISTORICAL CONNECTION?: No.
FAVORITES.
BOOK: Particular towards fiction, because he likes happy endings.
MOVIE: If there were movies, rom-coms.
5 SONGS: He doesn’t really listen to music anymore
DEITY: Not currently
HOLIDAY: Maybe Starlight
MONTH: Doesn’t matter
SEASON: Spring
PLACE: The Ruby Sea
WEATHER: Warm and sunny
SOUND: The ocean, the breaking-the-sound-barrier sound Sihl makes when flying
SCENT(S): Fresh cut flowers
TASTE(S): Savory, spicy, chocolatey
FEEL(S): Warm hands on his icicle hands.
ANIMAL(S): Again, sharks
NUMBER: 13. A baker’s dozen
COLORS: Yellow
EXTRA.
TALENTS: Destroying property, taste-testing, withstanding harsh environments
BAD AT: Acting normal and well integrated into society, social anything
TURN ONS: Intelligence, Kindness, Snappy Wits and Sarcasm, Prim and Proper
TURN OFFS: Cruelty, Unforgiving..ness, All Out Bad
HOBBIES: Flying with Sihl and exploring, sometimes people-watching
TROPES: Anime-Reactions, Dopey Dad, Seems to Survive Everything
AESTHETIC TAGS: Birds, the sky, flying, the sun, dragons happy, uplifting and airy
GPOY QUOTES: "Uh oh.”
FC INFO. (I dont know what ANY of this means.)
MAIN FC(S):
ALT FC(S):
OLDER FC(S):
YOUNGER FC(S):
VOICE CLAIM(S): WS!Cap definitely was lip-syncing Ronan Harris’ voice due to the sheer multitude of VNV songs that were part of his character. But Ves specifically?? I imagine something probably deeper and more rough but I haven’t heard anything I liked in particular yet.
GENDERBENT FC(S):
MUN QUESTIONS.
Q1: IF YOU COULD WRITE YOUR CHARACTER YOUR WAY IN THEIR OWN MOVIE, WHAT WOULD IT BE CALLED, WHAT STYLE WOULD IT BE FILMED IN, AND WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?:
If it were up to me, the movie would be emulating a war movie in style, with muted and often cold colors and much darker themes and tones. Occasionally there’d be bursts of color or uplifting scenes to remind everyone that people are still human and contrast all the darker stuff, so a balance between the two.
That’d be the most important part of it for me personally. Many references to all sorts of symbolism, though not too heavy-handed with it, allegories, metaphors, etc. To explore the spectrum of the ...for lack of better term, human condition.
Q2: WHAT WOULD THEIR SOUNDTRACK / SCORE SOUND LIKE?:
Completely orchestrated, done in a romantic style so that, in case someone weren’t watching the movie itself, they could simply listen to the music and imagine their own scene to it as the composition of said songs would ...in a perfect world, be very specifically tailored to fit certain sequences of emotion and whatnot.
And of course some violin/piano duet pieces sprinkled here and there.
Q3: WHY DID YOU START WRITING THIS CHARACTER?:
Ves is just one version of an old OC I’ve had for a long, long time. Maybe eight or so years. Give or take. He’s got several different iterations thus far.
Q4: WHAT FIRST ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS CHARACTER?:
My love for war movies and such to be honest. Along with my insane fascination and interest in historical narratives and European warfare and the like. Typically, Ves’ character is usually pulling all sorts of things from WW1 from fashion to mannerisms, and his whole world is constructed to emulate that as well (though, not set on Earth.) Not the FFXIV version of course because Ishgard is there, but other versions of him such as WS and his original counterpart.
Q5: DESCRIBE THE BIGGEST THING YOU DISLIKE ABOUT YOUR MUSE:
If I had to pick the largest thing I have against him (and I mean this character in general, not specifically FFXIV,) it’s the need for historical accuracy in most cases. I’m a die-hard for things like that and spend a lot of time doing research (usually just for fun but I get carried away easily.) Considering reference material isn’t always the easiest to find for really specific things from a time period that old, it becomes frustrating VERY quickly when I don’t feel I’m portraying him ‘authentically’ enough.
Elsewise, as far as his personality goes, he’s just like any dad. The need to always be right drives me absolutely insane. The good thing about him though is that he’s fictional and I can make him change and grow and learn. >:) Now that’s what I call sexy.
Q6: WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN COMMON WITH YOUR MUSE?:
We both love to eat and eat way too much too often and yet are like twigs. And we’re too particular about certain things.
I dunno, your characters technically are just facets of you.
Q7: HOW DOES YOUR MUSE FEEL ABOUT YOU?:
He’d be extremely annoyed but I don’t think he’d do anything about it. I am but a CHILDE.
Q8: WHAT CHARACTERS DOES YOUR MUSE HAVE INTERESTING INTERACTIONS WITH?
Thus far? There’s Lowrey who won’t leave him alone and is always trying to wrangle Ves in like a bucking horse, and they’re VERY entertaining to watch with their weird and aggressive banter (on Ves’ part anyway, he can’t stand the guy. Lowrey just rolls with the punches with a big grin and keeps on pushing. Ves is gonna clobber him one of these days for real this time. For REAL this time.)
And then there’s Ves and Caudecus’ very polarizing and almost jarring but still extremely funny interactions with one another. They’re roommates right now so, typical roommate shenanigans, laugh track plays here. There’s something sinister hidden underneath it all and I think Caud may just get a laugh out of stabbing Ves verbally, which is also something I enjoy laying witness to.
And of course, Mei and Ves. He has NO idea who she is, he just kind of met her out there in the wilderness I suspect and thought she was weird, but she’s very fun and loves to go exploring and flying too and that’s something he can relate to. Plus Mei displays a very clear sense of justice and that is something he appreciates VERY much. She’s just whacky and weird and a mystery but he likes it and doesn’t know why. It’s probably all the pink.
Q9: WHAT GIVES YOU INSPIRATION TO WRITE YOUR MUSE?:
Anime stuff probably, war stuff. I dunno, depends on my mood for the day. I don’t need inspiration, my characters are just on a roulette wheel. Which one do I feel like using today.
Q10: HOW LONG DID THIS TAKE YOU TO COMPLETE?:
About an hour, but I had to constantly rephrase things that didn’t make sense.
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Arcade Fire Channels Their Inner Absurdist in “Chemistry” Video
It’s been nearly a year since Arcade Fire released Everything Now, but 2018 seems like the right time to release a visual for the album’s centerpiece track “Chemistry.”
“When times are really crazy and fucked up, you have to be able to rely on the absurd. It’s a valuable response to the insanity,” Win Butler explains over the phone before boarding a plane that will take him and his band to Europe to resume the Everything Now Continued Tour. “I think it’s confusing to people if we make something that’s not super serious. [But] one of the pieces of our catalog is, ‘Don’t take it too serious; it’s really light.’”
That ethos is at the heart of the track, as well as its video. Directed by Ray Tintori—whose filmography includes music videos for MGMT and The Killers—and animated by Starburns Industries (Rick & Morty, Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa, Community), the clip tells the story of an animated cat (played by Tootie Tootz from Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce) and a dog who fall in love under…interesting circumstances.
We chatted with Butler about the visuals, finally working with Tintori, and the band’s ever-evolving partnership with New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band, as well as why they don’t tour as much as other bands of their stature. Watch the “Chemistry” video, check out an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the recording of “Chemistry” in-studio in New Orleans, and read our interview with Butler below.
Your “Chemistry” video expands on the song’s theme of chemical attraction, using a mix of animation and live action. What made you decide to portray the story that way?
In a sense it’s almost just sort of like a Tom & Jerry cartoon—an absurdist version of a Tom & Jerry cartoon.
I wanted to talk about an experience I think many of us have had where it’s just complete mutual attraction. My mom’s from LA and grew up Mormon, and my dad’s from Maine and is sixth-generation Harvard. They were camping in Idaho, saw each other for like ten seconds, wrote letters for five years, and have been together their whole lives. On the surface, it’s absurd why people are attracted to each other—it makes absolutely no sense. I just feel like that’s an experience a lot of people have had and wanted to try to capture that feeling a little bit.
This was your first time working with director Ray Tintori, but you’ve wanted to work with him for years. Can you talk a little bit about your fascination with his work?
“On the surface, it’s absurd why people are attracted to each other—it makes absolutely no sense.” — Win Butler
I remember when he did those MGMT videos. They kind of just came out of nowhere, and you could tell there was so much love put into it. It kind of felt like some sort of collective. We were working with Spike [Jonze] on a short film for The Suburbs at the same time around when that was happening. Spike was good friends with Ray, and we initially were going to make the film in New Orleans—way before we moved there. Ray was going to help, and we were getting everything set up, and then he started working on Beasts of the Southern Wild. We didn’t know anything about it—that was just happening in the background. So we kind of pivoted and ended up making the film in Austin, which was really cool, but it was just sort of this ships in the night moment where we had the instinct to work together.
How did you end up working with him for this video?
A lot of his work is really playful and carefree. We sent him the song and he really liked it. He loves New Orleans [and that’s where we wanted to shoot it]. I had the basic Tom & Jerry idea, and he completely bugged it out with all the robots and sharks [laughs].
The video ends in the middle of Fat Tuesday, which mirrors the playful energy of the song and also pays tribute to New Orleans, where you’ve been living the past few years. In what ways would you say the city has inspired your creativity and music?
You constantly feel like a hack [living here] because there are so many beautiful, amazing musicians. You see twelve-year-olds playing the trombone and you’re just like, “Holy shit, this kid is an embarrassment of riches.” So it’s not in a literal sense, where we’re playing a more New Orlean style of music, but it’s more just being inspired by it.
We hang out at the Preservation Hall, and the saxophone player Charlie Gabriel is like eighty-five and played on most of the Motown records. I met the drummer who played on every Ray Charles record the other night. Some of these dudes—no one knows their name, and they’re kind of forgotten in a sense, but all the shit people are sampling nowadays, they played it with their hands. It’s just really inspiring and makes you want to work harder and work on more music. It kind of gives you this false impression that music is really important and is the center of the universe, which I think is a good deception to have when you’re a musician. Even if it’s not true, it’s good to believe.
You’re about to resume your Everything Now Continued Tour, which sees you traversing Europe and North America for three months and concluding at the Life Is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas. How do you prepare for such extended time on the road?
We’ve done it a lot now, so we kind of like to leave some room for the spirit. We don’t over-practice. We know the songs really well. Our team is really familial—we’ve been working with a lot of the same people for most of our career, and they know how stuff is supposed to sound and we know how stuff’s supposed to go. So when we go home we just try to get back into our lives and get inspired.
“We hang out at the Preservation Hall, and some of these dudes—no one knows their name, but all the shit people are sampling nowadays, they played it with their hands.” — Win Butler
All the touring can really be a slog. Being away from home and all the airports… As we get older, we try to space it out a little more, so when we’re on tour we can really appreciate it and give it our all, instead of feeling bogged down. I think that’s why we tour a lot less than other bands in our position—we probably do half as many dates as a lot of bigger bands, just because we give so much. I don’t ever want to be onstage and going through the motions, and thus far I don’t think that’s ever been the case. When we’re up there, we’re in it.
You’ve been collaborating a lot lately with Preservation Hall. How has your relationship with them evolved?
[Our relationship] was born out of friendship and seeing the world in the same way. We started a Mardi Gras crew with them, and half the money goes to the Preservation Hall Foundation and half of it goes to an organization in Haiti called KANPE to try to make links between Haiti and New Orleans and celebrate the historical connection. It’s a deep partnership, and I think one that will be going for the rest of our lives.
What’s it like performing with them?
It’s very humbling. They’re such amazing, beautiful people and such great players. FL
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Thursday, Nov 22nd, 2018
We woke up and got ready for our day trip to Universal Studios Japan. Then we went our in search of breakfast and were surprisingly unsuccessful until we saw a sign for Viede la France that was on the 11th floor of the station. We got some bread and some nice coffee and then caught the bus to Universal. It was a pretty short bus ride and we arrived right at the site. Well first was a long strip of all of the restaurants and souvenir shops that you can go into free of charge. And we were trying to meet Meda, Kevin, and Therese that were also staying in Oosaka for the weekend so we stood by a Lawson’s for a little while Carson connected to the WiFi and tried to contact them through FB messanger. They actually came to USJ very shortly after us so it didn’t take us long to see them also standing near to Lawson’s.
We walked all together to the studio entrance and when I saw the 7900¥ price my heart hurt a little bit and I was having second thoughts but I bought a ticket anyways. When we got into the park our first stop was the bathroom and then we did some loose planning about what we should do first. Well since we all wanted to go to the Harry Potter world we decided that should be our first adventure. I bought some butter beer for 600¥ which was yet another purchase that made my heart hurt a little. After I bought it, I set it on a ledge nearby while I got out my camera and Meda hit my cup with her elbow and almost knocked it over but luckily most of the drink remained in the cup. The butter beer was delicious which I already knew, having tried it at the Universal Studios in Florida three or four years ago. We walked around for a short while before stopping to take some pictures of the castle. The line for the castle ride was about 110 minutes so we were all like hell no but went into the line anyways. We opted for the castle walk instead of the ride which was no wait and really cool to me because I didn’t go into the castle at US Florida.
Dru, Kevin, and I decided to go check out the other parks while Meda, Therese, and Carson stayed behind to scope around for some souvenirs. Dru, Kevin, and I wandered into Jurassic Park which was kind of a let down because there were no dinosaurs. All three of us were checking out the food options as we walked because even though everything looked good, it was also all ridiculously priced. I was in a sour mood for pretty much the whole day because I didn’t feel the money I had spent was worth the experience. And even though I was trying hard to stay positive, it was difficult for me because I wanted to buy things but couldn’t rationalize spending that kind of money, nor could I rationalize standing in a line with over an hour’s wait just to be on a ride for 1 minute. So that’s why I don’t like theme parks and don’t plan on going back to one for at least another 5 years.
Because Jurassic Park didn’t have much to offer us besides long lines for rides and overpriced food, instead we waited for the rest of our friends for quite a while outside of Jurassic Park. In the meantime, I got crabby brooding over my quickly emptying wallet and my hungry stomach. So I ended up saying to hell with it and got in line to buy a 500¥ churro. While in line I started to doubt whether it was going to be a good purchase, and unfortunately it wasn’t, which made me even more frustrated. It was also at this point that my feet started hurting so I was just not having a very good day. Yeah I guess I should’ve warned you earlier on but this post is basically just full of complaints lol.
Anyways after we had all met up again, we walked over to the area designed for little kids which had Snoopy, Hello-Kitty, and Sesame Street themed parts. We accidentally got split up and then met up again while waiting in line for a Snoopy ride. The ride was one of those ones that has a cart for two people extending from a connection point in the middle. So all of the two-person carts are positioned in a circle but have different attachements to the center so that each cart can independently move up and down vertically as the center point spins clockwise. I think I took a picture of the ride so if my description is lacking that should help give a visual of what I’m talking about. Anyways, even though this ride was designed for kids it totally made my stomach drop a few times as we moved up and then down. It was fun and I was happy we got to finally go on a ride. Then we entered into this large building that was also Snoopy themed and got in line for another ride. This one was a regular rollercoaster and was only a 30 second ride so it was a short distance and really fast but a lot of fun.
Next we walked around and eventually made our way to the minion-themed area. I said I hated minions right before we entered the park but after walking around for a little while they started to grow on me lol. I’ve seen a lot of people dressed up in minion costumes too so they’re really popular and I never really got why until Dru said that she also came to like minions because they’re always happy and just wanna have fun. We then walked to this place where an original short-film about Shark was showing, mainly because Kevin really wanted to see it. We didn’t wait in line for that long but we were ushered inside this small room and had to stand for what seemed like forever while these two ladies just talked in Japanese to kill some time and I about screamed. That seems a little extreme but I just really wanted to sit down because my back and feet were hurting me. Then this weird short clip that I couldn’t understand played as we stood there. I was so happy when some doors opened and we were finally seated in a large theatre. The movie wasn’t very good but it was an interesting experience because the chairs would move along to when the characters were doing things like riding on a horse or jumping and landing on a something. And then water would be sprayed from these mist machines when Donkey spit or someone was splashed by water. And air was released from some openings near our heads and legs when a character was launched into the air. I felt a lot better after sitting down for a while but we left USJ shortly after that anyways.
We got dinner in the free-admission area outside USJ at Mos Burger which is just a fast food place and I was yet again disappointed with another purchase :/ But after that, Dru, Carson, Kevin, and I went into a souvenir shop and I bought a little octopus stuffed animal for 900¥ which was a great purchase in my opinion 😁 He looks exactly like the octopus emoji 🐙 Octopus in Japanese is tako and so I call him Tako-chan or Taquito.
Carson, Dru, and I then returned to our condo and I took a little nap, during which, Mike had left a note on our door telling us to stop by for a chat when we can. We had told Kevin, Meda, and Therese to meet us in Oosaka station at 6:30pm but our talk with Mike and Hitomi ended up making us not leave the apartments until about 6:45. We got to Oosaka station about 30 minutes late but I only Kevin was waiting in the agreed upon spot because navigating around Oosaka station proved to be much harder than expected. We eventually found Therese and Meda, and afterwards we decided to walk around the area and look for a place to get drinks. We went to the same area that Mike had shown Carson, Dru, and I the night before because the alley ways had been lined with bars and karaoke places. We wanted to do karaoke but knew that drinks there would be over priced so we searched for a long time before we could all decide which bar we should go into. We ended up choosing this strange place that had very eccentric employees and games like billiards, darts, Mario kart, one karaoke room, and that golf game where you hit the ball against a screen onto which the course is projected. I was disappointed when I discovered that we had to pay a cover but none of the games were free but why I should have learned by now that nothing in this capitalistic world is free -.- The drinks were also expensive and I was convinced that all of the mixed drinks would not be very strong so after we ordered a round of mystery shots, I ordered myself a glass of straight tequila. I ended up paying like 1700¥ for everything so it might have been better to just get drinks at the karaoke place.
We left the bar after a short while and then went to the convenience store next door to buy some more drinks before we went to the karaoke place. I got an Asahi beer and hid it in my backpack until we were safe in our karaoke room. We sang for an hour and it was a lot of fun! Karaoke should be more popular in the US. I would definitely love to go again but I don’t think I will have the chance to :c After that, Carson, Dru, and I returned to our apartment and Kevin tagged along to see our place. He left after a little bit to catch the last train and then we all had some much needed sleep.
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hello wisconsin!
Okay, I'm garbage and have been putting this off for ages. I finished binging That 70's Show like a month ago and have been building this post for just as long.
I started this post at the beginning of season 6. Read it as such. I'll let you know when the part I wrote at season 6 ends and where I pick it back up in the present. If that makes sense.
I'm starting at season 6 mostly because I'm pretty sure the shark is going to be jumped at some point soon. Just like MASH, which lasted longer than the Korean war, 70's stretches 2 years of high school into 5 seasons. Plus another 3 for some reason.
And that's my first point. New rule: if your TV show appreciates in time and the events in the show don't line up with that, you've fucked up. I just watched 5 seasons of the kids in high school. You're telling me this shit goes on for another 75 fucking episodes?
Look, MASH I can give a pass to because they don't mark specific points in the war to give the watcher any time reference. MASH gives no dates - it's feasible that a 5-year war could span 10+ seasons, if we guess that each season is 6 months long. (That's not how it really works, but you get the point).
70's STARTS THE SHOW at the end of grade 11, and we know this. To a rational person, that means "One season of grade 11, 2 for grade 12, maybe another for summers." Then. They. Graduate. And. Leave.
But that's... not happening. For ANY of the main characters. They just decided to extend a show about high schoolers into their *supposed* college years. Which I wouldn't even have minded much - if ANY of them ACTUALLY WENT TO COLLEGE.
If they hadn't made things so cut-and-dry regarding timeframes, They could've kept being 12th graders for 10 seasons for all I care. But they CHOSE to follow defined timespans. And I think that's what's got me feeling that season 5 might've been the last "good season".
So everything you've read, I wrote before I finished the show. And, well, turns out I was right. This is also from before I finished the show (with a few things I’ve thrown in now):
There's a lot to disect from 70s, but there's one I want to focus on: Red Forman.
Why? Well, these characters are static and uninteresting: Donna, Fes* and Bob. They're pretty useless in terms of character development. These ones have simple character arcs: Hyde, Eric and Kitty. They change and grow, but in pretty predictible ways. In terms of change, Jackie obviously takes the cake, with Kelso at a close second.
*It is actually spelled Fes, because that's not his name. It's an acronym for Foreign Exchange Student.
But there's only one character that never seems to change or grow at all: Red. I said "seems" because he does change and grow, but it's instantaneous and doesn’t come for a looooong time.
It takes place immediately after returning from fishing, after Eric tells him he and Donna are engaged. He reaches a very sound, strong position: he made Eric run the gauntlet on everything he shit his way, but Eric never gave up. So he gives Eric the blessing to marry Donna. (There's another very pivotal change in his character, but that's later.)
I would've called that a nice wrap-up to the series.
But then they had to give him a damn heart attack to keep all the kids here. Why? Fuck if I know. (Jackie's still in high school and Hyde has a job he likes at home, but there is literally no reason for any of these other kids to still be here.)
The stupid heart-attack got Eric to push back college. I was fine with that. Then the whole Casablanca shit with Donna not getting on the bus, well, it kinda pissed me off (like, girl, don't let a fuckin weak ass ferret man determine your future) but it was a pretty sweet, moving moment. Another one that would've been great to end the show on.
But they didn't. So now we have Kelso, future cop; Fes, unemployed illegal immigrant with ZERO CHARACTER TRAITS THAT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT; and Eric “Dog Food” Forman.
Anyway, back to Red. It was that one heartwarming moment when he came back from fishing that made me realize that, while this is obviously fiction, Red is the epitome of a psychologically abusive parent. And THAT'S when I realized that literally not one of the characters HASN'T gone through significant trauma. Red's a vet; Kitty's an alcoholic who lost her father; Eric has an abusive father and alcoholic mother; Donna has a mentally retarded ball of pubic hair as a father and her mother ran out; Hyde's parents split; Jackie's dad's in jail and mom fucked off. I refuse to talk about Fes anymore cuz he's just the stupidest, most irritating "character" on the show, Randy notwithstanding. "He's brown! And has a funny accent! Hahaha" - nobody, ever.
It's when I realized that we NEVER see ANY of Kelso's home life did I realize that he was likely the sanest of the group. And, like him outscoring both Hyde and Eric on the SATs, that's very, very sad.
Back to Red. We know he became traumatized and hardened by serving in two wars. We know he's treated Eric like garbage his entire life... yet Eric is pretty well-adjusted. And that is where, 5000 words in, we get to my point: abuse is played for laughs and it's fine because Eric has a snappy comeback to Red most of the time.
Eric Foreman's a sarcastic wit with great comedic timing. So that, according to the show, cancels out of all the times Red's told Eric he was stupid and degraded him in front of his friends.
Of course, conflict has to come from somewhere, and one's parents is that major source for most teens. But to an extent.
"Red's a hardass," as the kids say regularly. But no, being a hardass is refusing a kid candy till he finishes his broccoli. Not telling him he's worthless over and over and over for 17 years
And I don't care what anyone says: that amount of abuse over a child's life does not a snappy, well-adjusted Eric Forman make.
It makes me. A crumbling, shattered, fragmented person with no sense of self-worth or accomplishment.
And now, we’re caught up. Back in the present, having finished the show.
My point ended up being made.
If the show had ended at season 5 with Donna missing her bus, we would've missed a lot.
Look, I still firmly believe the show itself would've been better if it had ended earlier, but my complaints about the effect of Red's abuse of Eric would've gone unanswered.
I spent the next 3 seasons mildly annoyed that they existed - first, Eric doesn't go to college. Then neither does Donna. Why are they still around? Why do we still care? The whole point of the show was to show us high schoolers graduating and going off to college. To me, it felt like how it would feel if MASH continued after the war ended.
I was absolutely irrate when Eric announced the theme of season 7 would be "I'm taking a year off to eat and watch TV and sleep!" There was a great scene that's often seen on tumblr in gif form: at breakfast, Red asks Eric what he's going to do about: moving out, Donna, his job, and his future. He replies "I 'unno" to each question. Red tells him to have a plan by the end of the day if he wants to eat. And I said "Finally, some good fucking Red Forman." Then, at the end of the day, Eric announces: "Donna? Hanging out. Job? Quit. Future? None. When am I moving out? Make. Me."
To which I said, "THAT'S WHAT YOU DID LAST SEASON BITCH!" Only apparently I was wrong; Eric Forman could and did become even more useless than before.
But at least it gets us to my absolute favorite point in the entire series. Season 7, episode 9, 18 minutes in. (Thanks to Reddit for helping me locate this scene). Red is bitching at Eric for not knowing what to do with his life. Let's go straight to the transcript (with side jokes edited out):
E: Did it ever occur to you guys that I don't know what I'm doing? I'm scared, okay? Look. My whole life, I've been trying to please other people. So I feel like I don't know who I am. Or know what I want to do with my life. I just don't want to wake up in five years and hate my life.
R: That's unavoidable.
E: Okay, I just need more time to think.
R: You know what I got for my 18th birthday? A draft notice and a Malaria vaccine. I never had time to *think.*
E: Yeah, but Dad, don't you think it would've been helpful if you did?
Then the camera zooms in on Red, and no laugh track, no jokes, he thinks for a good 20 seconds. Then he says, "Okay. I'll give you six months."
It's my favourite scene. Even more than the one we get after fishing or the one before leaving for Africa. Because unlike those few heartfelt scenes, this one relies on Red. Being. Wrong. And admitting it.
There's a reason Eric's spent his whole life trying to please others: Red. There's a reason Eric doesn't know who he is: Red.
Throughout the entire series, Red's been a Conservative Republican veteran who, as Kitty puts it, "Thinks the only way to become a man is to DIE." Just 500 words ago, I called him abusive. And, let's be real, he is.
But I also had an abusive father. That's why I picked this direction for this post to go. I saw Scott in Red Forman. But they are NOT the same.
Red Forman will admit to being wrong. And that makes up for a whole goddamn lot. Going through abuse is not something I'd wish on my worst enemy. But if they did and their abuser ADMITTED HE WAS WRONG, that is NOT nothing to the abused. If my dad had admitted he was a dick, my life would be a LOT different.
And Eric is the epitome of that feeling. His eyes light up when Red says he'll give him six months. Because Red knows he's done Eric wrong. He knows he owes him at least this much. At various points throughout the series it's been pointed out that Eric is who he is because of Red. It was inevitable that Red, too, would eventually reach this conclusion.
Anyway. That's that.
I do want to talk about other things than Eric and Red Forman, so let's play all the hits: fuck Jackie and Fes, fuck Randy with a chainsaw, the moment the show jumped the shark was when Eric bailed on the wedding, fuck Randy with a hot curling iron, Fes is the most annoying and useless character on the show, LOVED the episode where they finally Green Out™ and Kelso calls the White House, and FUCK RANDY WITH A CEREMONIAL JAPANESE KATANA.
Look. I can't in good conscience indulge in a 70's review without talking Randy.
But I hate him so much I don't want to waste energy on him so let's get this over with: useless, Gary Stu, want to put his hair through a blender, fuck him for being in the cirle in the theme song.
Okay, but let's play one last one: Tommy Chong.
I was curious as to why he was absent for 3 seasons so I Googled it. Dude was in prison for selling bongs. He said, upon getting out and returning to the show, "I thought they would've made that a part of the show!" I think that says it all about Leo and why he's my favorite character, with Hyde as a close second. But FUCK Danny Masterson and FUCK Scientology. Look it up.
Well, to finish off, an interesting tidbit: at the end of the theme song, it is Hyde who shouts "Hello Wisconsin!". The entire time, for 200 episodes, I would've sworn on my life that it was Kelso.
Stay Greater.
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now it’s just you and me in the dark
Number five. Inspired by “Motel Pool” by Travis Garland. Take a listen while you read. As always, find more of Teyana and Niall here.
It’s been a hell of a week.
Teyana’s been working a string of long shifts at the bookstore for the past several days, and those shifts have seemed to bring in a rainbow of clientele—terribly sweet but indecisive old ladies who she essentially ended up giving a tour of the whole bookstore, irate college students in summer school who wanted to place the blame on her for the texts they’d procrastinated on purchasing and were now out of stock, dudes tapping on the front display window while she was restocking shelves who found it charming to point at her ass and give her a thumbs-up.
She’s been soldiering through, a half hour left in her final shift before a blessed couple of days off (as a thank you from her boss), and then a small child belonging to a parent too engrossed in their cell phone screen to pay attention manages to take down an entire display of Mo Willems books in ten seconds flat.
Teyana wants to scream.
The keyholder position sounded so, so great when it was initially offered to her, she thinks, but now she’s cursing her acceptance as the mother of the child is finally called to attention as the tower of books topples to the floor. She has the nerve to pick up a few copies and place them back haphazardly on the table before taking a few glances around, snatching the child by the hand, and walking away, and Teyana swears that steam shoots out of both of her ears just like in the cartoons.
By the time she and a co-worker have finished reorganizing the display, it’s time to close. Teyana shoots Niall a distress text as she goes about her closing duties, and by lockup time, she checks back to find his reply:
As promised, Niall is waiting outside for her, engine idling in the old red Chevy pickup truck he got a great deal on from some car lot near campus back when he was nineteen, about a month before he and Teyana even met. It’s been a constant in their relationship—he picked her up in it on their first date, it was where they shared their third kiss (the first was on her doorstep, the second was at a gig that Niall and his bandmates had invited her to see), it transported her things and his from their respective dorms over to the apartment they now call home. The truck is very much a part of their relationship, a slightly-rusted little piece of home on wheels. And in it, parked in front of the curb outside the bookstore, is Niall, who reaches across the bench seat to pull the handle and unlatch the door for her.
Teyana climbs in and immediately grins. As promised, there’s ice cream, the evidence of which is melted on Niall’s chin and waiting for her in a dripping sugar cone in his opposite hand.
“Sorry,” he mumbles, when he hands it over to her after she’s clicked her seatbelt in place and cranked the passenger’s side window down all the way. “I tried to pick it up last minute, but…”
“Summer,” Teyana finishes, with a knowing laugh, and she yelps as a stream of melted ice cream goes gliding down her wrist. She moves quickly to catch it, tongue swiping along the rim of the cone while her opposite hand blindly fumbles for the latch of the glove compartment, until she can grasp at a couple of napkins. She cleans up her arm before reaching over to Niall, pulling him towards her by the chin and wiping him clean, too.
“Thanks,” he mumbles, a lovely blush filling up his cheeks.
“You’re welcome,” Teyana replies, kissing him sweetly on the mouth before leaning back against the seat and taking another lick of ice cream. “All right. You proposed a drive?”
Niall blinks, momentarily dazed by her kiss, and then his eyes brighten and he nods before reaching an arm over the seat. He digs around until he pulls up his gym bag by the handle straps, tossing it gently into the space between them on the front seat. “Yeah,” he says, “but you gotta change first.”
“Change?” Teyana asks. With her free hand, she unzips the bag and rifles around, surprised when she feels the familiar material of swimwear slide between her fingers. She pulls it into view to find that Niall has packed her favorite bikini, the coral-colored one she’d bought the previous summer, and a couple of towels from the linen closet that Teyana’s had since her freshman year.
Holding up her bikini top, Teyana quirks an eyebrow, a silent query of “What for?” in her eyes.
Niall just smiles in response. “Trust me.”
So, trust him she does, like always, and they drive for miles and miles, losing track of time and distance as Teyana puts all of her bad days in the rear view. They sing songs at the top of their lungs—Niall, in his typical nature, sounding like he was born for it—and by the time Niall pulls off the road and putters into the parking lot at the back of a little motel, the clock display reads 11:57, and Teyana isn’t sure just how far they’ve traveled.
“Where are we?” she asks him.
Niall shrugs, turning the hand crank of the window, and Teyana follows suit on her side of the truck. “No clue,” he replies, reaching up towards the back of his neck. He pulls his shirt over his head in one smooth motion and tosses it into the backseat, then nods towards the door on his side of the cab. “Come on.”
Teyana knows that in retrospect, they will laugh about this long after this night, genuinely laugh, with the way her eyes widen once she’s realized Niall’s plan, and he has to drag her towards the low-lined fence surrounding the rectangular motel pool. She shakes her head as he gallantly hops the fence, snagging the hem of his swim shorts on the top of the fence as he goes over, and she lets out a panicked laugh as he struggles to get himself unhooked, then beckons her over, pouting his lips until she gives in.
Her hop over the fence is less than graceful, too, but nothing gets caught, surprisingly, the long hem of the t-shirt she pulled over her swimsuit after she changed in the backseat balled up in her fist as she takes the leap to the other side of the fence. Niall gives her a quiet round of applause and holds his hands up, fingers extended in a rating, a solid six of out ten.
She flips him off in return, and he laughs and offers her a grin before motioning towards the pool with his head, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Teyana knows that look and begins to protest, but Niall turns his back to her and with a running start, he cannonballs into the pool.
When he resurfaces, he’s soaked through, and he pushes the hair clinging to his forehead back and smiles. That smile sends a jolt of electricity through Teyana, excitement coursing through her veins, but still she can’t quite stop fretting, logic running laps in her mind.
Technically, they’re trespassing. The last thing either of them needs is to be caught hopping fences and diving into pools after hours at motels where they aren’t paying guests. Still, Niall swims about in the quiet of the night as if he hasn’t a single thought in his mind of getting caught, humming the theme music from Jaws before pinching his nose and dipping below the surface until he’s only visible from the eyes up.
Her little blue-eyed shark in the water.
Worrying at her bottom lip, Teyana lingers back a few feet, near the fence, at war with herself and the thrill of this night. So often, Niall is all impulse, going with what feels good or presents an adventurous opportunity for himself or the two of them. He’s not stupid, never risky to the point of danger, but he feels dangerous sometimes, willing and open to try things they never have, or do things like this, drive a couple hours out of the city to stop off at a random motel just to go for a swim. Just because she’s had a series of bad days that have sent her spirits plummeting.
He’s incredible.
When Niall pops up again, he simply stares, in that way he does that always makes Teyana break out in a full-bodied blush because it’s like he’s never seen anything better than her. Self-conscious under his gaze, she pulls the hair tie from her hair and snaps it around her wrist, fingers loosening up her curls so they fall down towards her shoulders.
“Unfair of you to look so good,” Niall muses, as Teyana tiptoes her way towards the edge of the pool, twisting her fingers up in the fabric at the hem of her shirt. He swallows hard as she pulls it over her head and adds, “Especially when you're all the way up there.”
Tossing her shirt aside, Teyana smiles and tugs the strings securing her bikini top tighter around her neck, fixing the bow as she draws closer to the pool. She gives her bottoms a tug-up as she reaches one leg over the edge, bending the opposite knee until the toes of her extended leg touch the water’s surface. It's cold, and she makes a face, one that pulls a quiet laugh from Niall's mouth.
“It's all right, petal; it's just a little cold.” Niall swims closer, treading water once he's reached her, amusement sparkling in his eyes now.
“A little cold?” Teyana whispers. She huffs and dips her toes in again, the temperature of the pool sending a sharp chill up her spine. “It's the middle of fucking summer; isn't the water supposed to be warm? Y’know, from the sun?”
Niall shrugs. “Suppose so,” he replies, “but it’s probably after midnight now.”
Teyana groans, swirling her toes through the water, willing herself to take the plunge.
Niall, on the other hand, grins. “C’mon, petal, just jump in. I'll catch you, keep you warm.”
There's an arch of his brows that comes with the last bit.
Teyana rolls her eyes.
“Teyana, I’m serious,” Niall says, laughing again. He smiles, genuinely smiles, and her heart gives an unexpectedly hard thump in her chest. The backdrop of the motel’s ‘VACANCY’ sign paints him in neon red, and she almost misses his blond tips now, with the way they’d surely catch the color in the light.
His tone is achingly sweet as he tells her, “Baby, just jump.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, Teyana takes a few steps back, which makes Niall’s brows furrow, mouth settling into a deep frown. His expression changes when she begins to run forward towards the edge and leaps, and then his smile returns, blinding, the last thing she sees before being submerged underwater.
When she breaks the surface, teeth chattering a bit as she slicks her wet hair back out of her eyes, Niall is still smiling and he reaches for her hand, pulls her in close to him. “Now, see, that wasn't so bad.”
Teyana wraps her legs around Niall’s slim waist when he slides both arms around her, to hold her close. They bump noses, and Teyana laughs, eyes fluttering closed when Niall’s lips gently press to hers. His arms loosen their grip, hands sliding down to cup her bottom, and Teyana sighs, thoroughly entranced by his tongue as the kiss deepens.
“Thank you for this,” she breathes, when he pulls back and presses a sweet kiss to her chin. “Thanks for breaking me out.”
“Of course, petal,” he replies. The sincerity in his eyes is overwhelming. “Anything you need. Always.”
This, she thinks, when he leans in to capture her mouth in another kiss, this is exactly what she needs.
They float together like this for a couple of minutes, sharing kisses and quiet laughter, until Niall wiggles his fingers at her side and she breaks into a fit of giggles. He takes the opportunity to pull away once she’s gone squirming out of his grasp, and she squeals and closes her eyes as his arm skims across the water, sending a large splash in her direction. Then, it’s all-out war, splashing and laughing until they hear footsteps and Niall goes immediately quiet, snatching Teyana by the hand and pulling her towards the pool’s edge.
“Niall—” she whispers, but he puts a finger to his lips as he pulls her flush against him and presses his back to the edge, ducking so their heads are out of sight. His stare is enveloping, even with wide, fear-filled eyes that match hers at the possibility of being caught by someone who might care that they’ve snuck onto the property after dark.
They both breathe a sigh of relief at the not-too-distant sound of an ice machine, and once the footsteps drift out of earshot, Niall stretches his neck up to take a look.
“Coast is clear,” he whispers, sinking back down to get eye level with Teyana.
Teyana’s heart is beating hard and fast in her chest. She swallows thickly, and Niall’s eyes search her face before she reaches up to take fistfuls of his wet hair and pulls him close, kisses him hard, making him grunt softly against her mouth before his lips become pliant. She kisses him breathless, until he’s pulling away and panting, “Baby, I...Jesus Christ.”
Pressed this closely to him, Teyana can feel the way he’s going hard in his swim shorts, and it sobers her up just a touch. They can’t, not here, not in this pool where God knows how many other people have done the same. At that thought, she puts some space between them.
“Sorry,” she mumbles,” biting at her bottom lip, which only makes Niall grunt again. He rubs the heel of his hand firmly against his jaw and clears his throat.
“Maybe we should go,” he says, and Teyana can’t help but smile at the flush in his cheeks that’s apparent even in the dark. “It’s late.”
“Right,” Teyana replies, but it’s absent-minded; her brain is still halfway in her pants, and Niall’s as well.
Niall pulls himself up and out of the pool with a strength in his arms that makes Teyana dizzy with lust, the way his muscles ripple with the motion. He’s careful with the way he bends down to extend a hand to her, shielding the bulge in his shorts from her view as if she hasn’t just felt it against her thigh moments before, but Teyana gives him this, lets him be chivalrous as he pulls her up while she shoves off with her other hand to join him.
Niall’s heading towards the fence where they hopped over when Teyana spies, just to their far left, an entry gate. It’s without a lock, a simple lift latch, and she stifles a laugh while Niall visibly debates how he’s going to hoist himself over the fence with a hard-on. Her laughter catches his ear and then she catches his eye as she motions towards the gate.
“I knew that was there,” he mutters, walking over to grab her by the hand as she snatches up her shirt, and he leads her towards the gate.
“Of course you did, baby,” she replies, her tone saccharine.
Niall looks at her over his shoulder, clearly unamused, and he gives her a sarcastic laugh before flipping up the latch on the gate and pulling her through before closing it softly behind them.
They towel off quietly in the parking lot before Niall climbs up into the driver’s seat, reaching over the back for his t-shirt. He’s turned around again and tugging it over his head when Teyana reaches for the lever that pushes the bench seat back and pulls.
Niall lets out a cry of surprise, startled as the seat slides back with a push of Teyana’s hand, his head still inside his shirt. He yanks it down so that the collar is fitted snugly around his neck, his hands still twisted up in the fabric beneath it as he settles wide eyes on Teyana. “Tey, what are you—”
“Shut up,” she breathes, pushing up on tiptoes until she reaches the step. She eases her way into the truck, into Niall’s lap, bottom of the wide steering wheel pressing into her lower back.
Before Niall can utter another word, Teyana presses her mouth to his, and Niall fumbles around as he tries to kiss her back while he fights to free his hands from the confines of his t-shirt so he can grip her waist.
“Fucking hell,” he breathes, eyes still wide, once he’s finally untangled himself, the shirt hanging carelessly around his neck and shoulders as his fingers fumble for her waistline next. Teyana laughs and presses herself to his bare chest and rolls her hips down towards his crotch, and he swears again, eyes falling closed. “You’ll be the death of me, I swear it.”
Teyana manages a shrug before teasing him with another wind of her hips, and Niall’s hands scoop beneath her to palm her ass now, his head dropping to press a searing line of kisses from the curve of her neck up to the spot just behind her ear.
He nuzzles his nose into her cheek, his voice just a hair above a whisper as he asks, “You’re really gonna fuck me here?”
Teyana pulls back, brows furrowed as she studies his expression. Making love in a car is rather tame, in her opinion. She leans forward and kisses the base of his throat. “Why are you surprised?”
“Well,” he groans, swallowing hard, and she feels the bob of his Adam’s apple against her lips, “we’ve never...in my truck. Surprisingly.”
At the “surprisingly,” Teyana leans back again and laughs, because it is surprising, and then she wriggles her hips against his. “Well,” she replies, mimicking the way he’s just said the same word, “I’d say it’s long overdue.”
There are luckily condoms stashed in Teyana’s purse, and she slides off his lap and over to the passenger’s side of the truck cab to dig one out of the back zippered pocket where she keeps the other sensible things she carries (lip balm, bobby pins, ballpoint pens, an extra hair tie or two) while Niall pulls the shirt around his neck off again and tosses it beside him onto the seat.
He wiggles out of his still-damp swim shorts and after he strokes himself fully hard, he rolls on the condom, then pulls at the strings tying Teyana’s bikini bottoms together at her waist. They both give a satisfied sigh as she sinks down onto his cock, and he mumbles “I love you,” against her lips before she lifts her hips and drops down again.
It’s a slow, insatiable grind, the swell of summer heat surrounding them as the air seeps in through the rolled-down windows. Teyana’s hands feel sticky against Niall’s skin, one hand clasped around the back of his neck, the other clutching his side but soon dropping to twist fingers into the pulled-loose threading of the seat, to help her keep her balance. She can feel the sweat rolling down the center of her back, pooling a bit where the strings of her bikini top are still tied, Niall’s right arm encircling her waist while his left cradles her head, kissing her breathless as they work their way towards climax.
With a whimper, Teyana tips over the edge first, and not long after, with his face buried in her neck, Niall moans and follows suit.
The drive back home is long and quiet. Niall’s behind the wheel again, the windows are rolled down, Teyana’s feet are tucked under her as she curls up on her side of the bench seat. The radio is playing tunes so softly that the lyrics are faint, nearly muted by the sound of the wind coming in. She’s pulled the long t-shirt she had covering her suit back on, while Niall’s is folded and tied around her wrist like a bandanna, and she hangs her arm out of the window, lets her hand ride the waves of the wind for a mile or two.
Niall, happily shirtless, has one hand clutching the top of the steering wheel, the other clutching Teyana’s, fingers entwined, their joined hands resting in the space between them. She glances over at him maybe a half hour into their return trip, and he just grins and tugs her closer, pulling her hand up to his mouth so he can kiss the back a couple times. His eyes linger on hers a little while longer than is probably safe, given they should be focused on the road ahead.
He doesn’t say it before he looks away, the ‘I love you’ that Teyana knows is resting on the tip of his tongue, but he doesn’t need to.
She’s seen everything in his eyes.
#1dff#1dffupdates#Niall Horan#Niall Horan fanfiction#One Direction#One Direction fanfiction#1D fanfic#I know it's grossly late so god knows who will even see this at this hour#buuuuut it's here#TG coming through with the inspo like a true homie!!!!#(I love Travis Garland and you definitely should too)#now it's just you and me in the dark#Teyana x Niall#fic: sangria#sangria drabble#my fanfiction#my writing
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Drama vs Logic (or how will this all end for Jon + Dany)
David and Dan don’t seem to have this problem though because I’ve noticed that as bloodthirsty as I am in killing all of these characters, David and Dan are killing some characters who are still alive in the books. Their body count is actually ahead of mine. When they say no one is safe on the series that is literally true. There are characters who are in Book 5 and who are going to be in Book 6 who are dead on the TV Show - GRRM, 2013 ( x )
I think there’s going to be a bittersweet ending. You know I’ve always taken my influence from JRR Tolkien and if you’ve read Lord of the Rings, um, Sauron is defeated and the ring is destroyed in the end but it is not a happy, happy ending. There’s a real sense of things lost too, and I found that very powerful and very moving. So I think my ending will also have a bittersweet tone I hope, if I can bring it off the way I want to bring it off. - GRRM, 2014 ( x )
So part of my thoughts on this subject come from an exchange I got into on social media over Jon and Daenerys’ relationship, where the other person noted that, because of Martin’s style - or what they perceived to be his style - of death and trope-breaking, that had this person saying that Jon and Dany would likely have a Red Wedding type deal for their ending. I took exception to that assessment because another Red Wedding type deal would not only be repetitive, but also because it doesn’t all fit into the idea which Martin specifically says he’s going for wrt the ending he envisions for the series.
George R. R. Martin doesn’t break tropes or kill characters just for the hell of it. Or for shock value . . . or because they can’t get an actor back for long enough to play the part, or for any other conventions that come out of writing for TV and movies. There is always an internal logic to his big character deaths, based on the choices the characters make and/or react to each other or events. Who Ned Star was as a character is what lead him to his death. The choices he mad as an honorable man in a place that did not value honor. So Ned’s death didn’t just break a trope for the sake of breaking one, there was an internal story and character logic that back up the breaking of the trope and had it make sense.
The same goes for The Red Wedding. That event happened because of decisions Catelyn Stark made and Robb Stark made, including breaking his word too many times to Walder Frey, as well as other decisions that lead to him losing half his army and slighting the Boltons, which led to Walder Frey, Roose Bolton and Tywin Lannister to make a pact which is why the betrayal of the Red Wedding even happens. Everything that leads up to that event follows one logical point to the next brought on by character decisions, interactions and motivations, not just for shock value and to break a trope.
Now compare those three death to Barristan Selmy’s death in Season 5 of the show, a character who’s still alive in the books, which was set up and done in nowhere the same way. It was done for basic tv/movie drama reasons - the need for there to be "consequences" for the Sons of the Harpy attack, so Barristan got the death nod; as well as the producers obviously wanting to cut some secondary cast members to free up money for the next season. Which is why his death doesn’t feel as complete as, say, Ned’s death or Catelyn & Robb’s deaths do. The character was placed in the situation he was TO be killed off, unlike Ned, Cat and Robb who, as characters, found themselves where they did because of their own decision and actions they took long before they finally met their ends.
D&D killed Barristan Selmy for DRAMA. GRRM killed Ned, Cat and Robb Stark because he had those characters make choices that made sense for their characters though their story arcs, which led them to their ultimate fates. And all those characters arcs quite neatly fit into a three-act structure, something GRRM, as a former TV writer, likely writes unconsciously in at this point. Barristan Selmy’s character arc in the show, however, doesn’t. In the end, his character death had way more to do with advancing other character’s stories than being a conclusion for his own. Ned and Cat and Robb’s stories, if you notice, didn’t feel that way at all by the time they ended.
While he clearly loves breaking many conventional fantasy tropes, Martin always does it by having things grounded in the logic of the world he’s built. Something like a second Red Wedding happening is thinking how a tv or movie writer would think, not how like Martin would when it comes to his writing for ASOIAF. Because the Red Wedding is now such an iconic and pop culture thing, most tv shows would try and do such a thing again, no matter if it made logical sense or not.
Don’t believe me? Well, you know the phrase "Jump the Shark" right? Used to describe when a TV show has hit it’s peak and starts to decline, and how it came from an episode of Happy Days, where the character of Fonzie literally jumped over a shark on water skis? Well, that whole event was an attempt to recreate a very popular episode of Happy Days that had Fonzie jumping over a bunch of garbage cans on his motorcycle to make a world record or something. So that is why the whole Fonzie jumping a shark thing happened, because the Happy Days producers and writers wanted to recreate a popular episode to get the same kind of reaction and viewership interest they got the first time. Not because it made any type of logical sense.
So if you’re wondering what feels "off" about Season 7, it’s because D&D are pulling more standard tv writing tropes when it comes to things like the wright hunt, or Jamie and Bronn vs Drogon. In terms of the wright hunt, way more main characters should have died than just a bunch of redshirt extras. Jamie and Bronn, if they didn’t drown, should have at least been captured by Dany, NOT swim or have been carried downstream as we found them in EP5. That is exactly what WOULD have happened if Martin had written those two scenarios.
Maybe if D&D hadn’t been so bloodthirsty and consequence-DRAMA-killing happy so early on, there would have been more named characters around at this point that could have been killed off during things like the wright hunt and such, instead of them having to do conventional tv things wrt named characters instead.
And the clear reason for all of this is that D&D are saving everything - and everyone - up for a character death bloodbath in Season 8 - which is really just the second half of Season 7 and not a full season of it own, just like Season 7 hasn’t been. To put it in a more concisely:
GOT Season 7 = Deathly Hallows Part 1. GOT Season 8 = Deathly Hallows Part 2.
The show was really supposed to end this season, but HBO had D&D pretty much split the final season into 2 seasons to extend things . . . just like too many films adapted from book series’ are doing right now as well.
And don’t get me wrong, GRRM isn’t completely without fault when it comes to a lot of this. D&D are clearly just working off outlines and notes now about how the ending is supposed to go, instead of having a full book to adapt from. So a lot of what they’re doing is just connecting the dots when it comes to some plot stuff. It’s sort-of the same problem the Harry Potter movies suffered from when the adaptation of them started before JK Rowling had finished writing the series. At least she was able to finish the book series before the movies could catch up and surpass her, but that still left the movies that were made before she finished (basically the first four films) leaving out some specific information, which lead to movies five, six and parts of seven & eight having to contain a lot of info dumping and exposition dumping, so that Deathly Hallows would make sense.
And, being an anime fan, it’s a problem I’m quite familiar with seeing when animes get adapted from mangas that are nowhere close to being finished when the anime start, and then end up overtaking the mangas. (I’m looking at you Inuyasha and the 2003 version of Fullmetal Alchemist).
As to characters and character arcs, there are some things D&D clearly have more info on and about (Jon and Dany) than they do others. Or, because they strayed so far off the books path with some characters, for tv writing purposes, they now have to get characters back on the same path as the book-counterparts now because of whatever ending they’re supposed to have related to it (Jamie). Or, because the character plays an important role in the climax of the story they have to be brought in now, even though we’re basically in the 11th hour and adding new characters just takes more time away from other established characters (Euron, The Golden Company arriving next season).
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that, for any and all changes made, Game of Thrones is still an adaptation of another person’s work and themes, with D&D still following major templates set down by Martin. Shireen getting burned to death and Hodor/Hold the Door attest to this. Both are things Martin told them WILL happen in the narrative of the books, and so they were made to happen in the show too.
Anyway, as to the end of the show, I kinda expect it to be "bloodier" in some ways than the final books likely will. For one, there are a lot of characters in the books that aren’t even in the show. Just because they were cut out doesn’t mean they actually die, just that their arcs were not integral to the end of the story.
The change in title for the final book from A Time for Wolves to A Dream of Spring is the invocation of Martin working towards that bittersweet ending he envisions. The title A Time for Wolves is something that evoke the harshness of living during winter, where the pack must stay together in order to survive. A Dream of Spring, on the other hand, calls to what fighting and surviving though the winter is all about. That one day, winter will be over and spring will come. Not everyone will live to see that spring, but you keep hoping, keep dreaming that you can and will. That’s what Season 7/8 is an adaptation of, this idea, this dream of spring. And while D&D will likely make it as bloody as they can and kill as many named characters as they can get away with, the overall theme of a sense of loss that you get with LOTR will very likely remain.
So what does that mean for the ending for Jon and Daenerys? Well, I have my own ideas, which I’ll put in the cut below, (because this is already long as-is, and about to get more so), though my idea/theories don’t just focus completely on them.
So, first thing I want to make note of is the Seasons 1-6 recap trailer HBO released before the start of Season 7. In that trailer, five characters were individually highlighted in some propionate way, in this order: Tyrion, Daenerys, Jon, Bran and Arya. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these are the same five characters that GRRM’s original notes said were the key five characters for his story back when he first conceived it. Now, I don’t think that 100% means that every single one of those characters will be alive when the story is over by the last page of the lat book or by the final fade-to-black on the show, but I DO think it means that those five characters will all be alive by the time the final Battle for the Dawn takes place, which will be the climax of the story.
Because see, at the end of the day, GOT/ASOIAF isn't just a story about the battle for power. It's a cautionary tale about how such unimportant infighting can lead people to ruin and almost utter annihilation because they were too busy doing so to work together towards a common goal. I don’t care what D&D said in the BTS video about this, nor Kit and Emilia either. They are NOT going to give away major plots for next season, plus the fact that D&D and Kit are notorious liars when it comes to off-season interviews and info.
Or is everyone forgetting the "we filmed fake scenes to throw off the paparazzi and leakers!" nonsense from before the season began? I wasn’t even watching Game of Thrones at the time Jon was killed at the end of Season 5, but I heard about it of course, and even I knew the "Jon Snow is dead and is not coming back" stuff was a complete lie.
Betcha if there is another leak and paparazzi photos from the filming of Season 8 they pull that same "we filmed fake scenes!" BS again. And some people, just like with Season 7 and the "Jon Snow is dead and not coming back" stuff after Season 5, will buy completely into it.
So no. I’m not at all worried about some Targbowl happening when Jon and Dany learn the truth. Why? Well aside from the fact that it makes zero sense if you actually know and understand Jon and Dany’s characters, it’s because it goes complete against one of the main points of the whole series: which is the fight for the throne does not matter. It has NEVER mattered. "This War of Five Kings means nothing." Doesn't matter if Melisandre has been wrong before, she's not wrong about this. Westeros is about to almost get totally destroyed when the Long Night comes again because the ruling classes were too busy fighting each other over a stupid uncomfortable chair than to properly prepare for winter and gather together to fight The Others/White Walkers. The Long Night IS coming again and while I don't think it'll last as long as the first Long Night did 8000 years ago, (which was for a generation), it'll last long enough and be devastating enough FOR all the petty infighting that came before the Great War TO have meant nothing - except being a contribution to Westeros' near destruction.
So guess what everyone? The fight for the throne is done and over now. It ended the minute The Wall fell and the White Walkers and Army of the Dead began to march into Westeros proper. The only real contenders left are Jon & Dany and Cersei & Euron. From now on, the real fight is all about survival, and those still focused on fighting for the throne - or holding onto it - will end up dead one way or another. Jon isn’t going to suddenly start caring about the Iron Throne when their is an army of dead men to fight, or think he should get it just because of his birthright, something he took issue with Dany trying to do this very season. And Dany will only look back south towards the throne when Cersei/Euron pull their double-cross which will hinder the fight against the White Walkers/Army of the Dead. And then it’ll only be about stopping them from hindering the fight against the dead anymore, not the throne itself.
And when the Great War is over? They’ll likely be next to nothing and no one left TO fight over the throne. With only six episodes left, the fate of the throne will be revealed during the Great War, with the loose ends regarding it tied up during the denouement after the final Battle for the Dawn (which will be the true climax of the story). And I just don’t think it’s a stretch to say that both Cersei and Euron will be dead when the denouement comes. Because, instead of focusing on fighting the real threat and war, they’ll either be focused on holding onto power or gaining more power. Hell, Euron might even get to occupy the throne himself, in his own name and right, for a time before he’s killed. That’s complete possible. However, he won’t hold it. Hell, there’s a small part of me that would relish it if Euron was the last person to ever sit on the Iron Throne at all before it got destroyed completely somehow. Yeah, heavy handed imagery regarding power and "absolute power corrupts" and all that, but I’d still love it. Especially if, as some people theorize, Euron really is the equivalent of, or somehow involved with, the Great Other, the enemy of the Lord of Light. Which yes is very Satan vs God standard trope type thing but, again, I don’t rule it out of happening in some way. Enron was brought into the show pretty freakin’ late as far as a tv show goes, and the fact that he’s still alive and will be in Season 8 shouldn’t be overlooked. Normally, he would have been a one to two episode villain, at most, and been killed off by the heroes before the end of the season. However, he’s still here and still alive with no losses suffered. He must have significant part to play in some way, that Martin told D&D, before he meets his end.
You know why this season feels kinda fast, aside from the fact that D&D have likely been adapting notes and not an even almost finished book? It’s because, at this time, the political machinations are pretty much over by in large. The only political chess moves left are trying to be the ones who survive the Long Night for however long it lasts. Trying to survive an Undead Army invasion doesn’t require a lot of political intrigue and maneuvering really.
As for Jon and Dany, well. I’ve read some theories from some longer-at-this-than-me book readers like @oadara about how the two of them will have to go into the Heart of Winter to end all of this, and I think it’s a good theory. As to how that ties into the end for them itself, I see it going one of five ways for them:
1. They both die during the climax during the Battle for the Dawn within the Heart of Winter. They save the world at the cost of their lives, but they do leave a legacy behind (their child), and a history is written about who they were and what they did.
2. One of them dies during the climax during the Battle for the Dawn within the Heart of Winter, leaving the other to carry on/rebuild/get crowned, etc. The survivor finds little joy as they continue on (maybe the only joy coming from the child made by their union), especially if they are made king/queen, but they do their duty - maybe even finally being able to "break the wheel" as they/the other wanted.
3. They both survive the climax of the Battle for the Dawn within the Heart of Winter, but have to/decide to leave Westeros after doing so. Only some people know for sure that they are alive/survived if they have to leave Westeros (like it magic gets banished complete and, because they are technically magic, they have to leave as well). If they decide on their own to leave, everyone will more or less know they are alive and that, after everything the sacrificed, love was pretty much the "death of duty" for them when it came to ruling the country after saving it. (They have a kid AFTER the Battle for the Dawn in both cases of such a scenario, not before).
4. They both survive the climax of the Battle for the Dawn within the Heart of Winter, stick around and jointly rule Westeros for a time as things are being rebuilt, help put together and implement some new modernizations to how Westeros' government works, and then both voluntarily step down from rulership, and the people/smallfolk start a new tradition of choosing their leaders. (The whole Break the Wheel concept - which is something I understand is show-only at the moment). They go live the rest of their lives together in relative peace.
5. They both survive the climax of the Battle for the Dawn within the Heart of Winter, get married, (if they haven’t already done so before), are crowned King and Queen in a big ceremony and live happily with babies ever after, fade to black.
Number 5 isn’t happening, okay? Let’s all understand that. Part of GRRM’s modus operandi in writing A Song of Ice and Fire was to answer the "what was Aragorn’s tax policy?" question. IF they rule together, we’ll actually see what that means and does to them, not a simple "they won and even though many people they cared for died, they ruled good and justly and lived happily ever after, the end." Even with a short denouement to end it all like I suspect the show will do, it still won’t be this ending.
And I personally don’t see scenario number 2 happening either. Maybe if D&D had made up this story/series completely it might have had more chance to. However, at the end of the day and for all the changes and false DRAMA they do, this whole show is STILL an adaptation of another person’s work. They aren’t changing the fate of two of the main characters of the story from what Martin has envisioned. And given the time and care Martin - and the show - has taken into paralleling Jon and Dany together and how they symbolize balance (yin-yang, ice-fire, death-life), I just don’t see him breaking that symbolism, which killing one of them and leaving them dead would do. Jon represents death already between them given that he already died once before.
And please don’t anyone bring up that Nissa Nissa thing wrt Dany. For one thing, that story has nothing to do with The Prince That Was Promised - it was just a story about what they last hero had to do to make a sword to stop The Others, and The Prince That was Promised is just supposedly a prophecy about him being reborn and how. If, in the show, this is all coming down to a 1 vs 1 fight between Jon and the Night King (and, boringly I think it is - at least on the show), then Jon already has a sword that can do such a thing - Longclaw made of Valyrian Steel. The point of the Azor Ahai-Nissa Nissa thing was that Azor Ahai DIDN’T have such a sword that could destroy The Others, and had to make a great sacrifice in order to do so, not that he just needed a sword that was specifically on fire and needs to kill his wife - or lover - in order to do it. So no, Jon isn’t going to be plunging his sword into Dany’s chest to set it on fire. Beric already shows that can be done without doing such a thing anyway. And BOTH of them have already made great personal sacrifices to get to this point, including a blood sacrifices that was used to wake dragons from stone.
Plus, Dany isn’t dying before she has a child. Jon’s child. The heavy handed foreshadowing makes it clear that she will have a living child by the end. And given that Season 8 is only six episodes (even if each episode is supposed to be at least an hour and a half in length at least) I just don’t see the time for Dany to get pregnant and have a kid before the climax of the story. Not unless the show really is going to do an at least nine month time jump. Though, in fairness, the pace of Season 7 doesn’t rule out the possibility. And if option number 1 is the one that comes to pass? Then they for sure will have a child together before that happens.
That said, option number 1 is also kind of the same ending as Rhaegar and Lyanna. And I just am not sure Martin would repeat himself in that way, even if Dany’s death doesn’t come via childbirth. That said, I still think it has more chance of happening this way than option number 5 or option number 2.
My own personal wish for an ending for them would be option number 3. Let them save the world - with Dany "breaking the wheel" somehow during The Long Night after both Cersei and Euron are dead, leaving in place the beginnings of a new type of Government for Westeros where leaders can be chosen (elected monarchy, parliament governing body, whatever) before she and Jon head off into the final battle. Then, either all magic itself gets banished, meaning they have to leave Westeros for some other - happier - place; or they chose to leave Westeros for some other place in the known world to find some peace, and love can be their "death of duty." I don’t think this ending is impossible or wishful thinking either. In fact, it’s set up perfectly with Maester Aemon - a Targaryen himself, just like Jon and Dany - telling Jon all of this all about love being the death of duty, and what is it compared to the love of a woman, or the feel of a newborn son in your arms.
Before the wright hunt, Jon has always, always chosen duty. He did it when Robb marched off to war, he did it - was planing to do it - the whole time he was with Yigritt. By the time he knocks on Dany’s cabin door however, he’s beginning to chose love. His duty isn’t dead yet, and won’t be until the White Walkers/Army of the Dead is defeated. However, once they are? Yes, I DO think love could and WOULD finally be the death of duty for him. He is not at ALL interested in the skills and politics that comes with actual day to day ruling. Yes, his telling the truth about his pledge to Dany was noble and honest, but it was politically naive, and really did lead to Cersei deciding to double-cross them despite the pledge she made to help.
As for Dany, her whole goal in sitting on the throne in the first place is to have the power to break the system that her family put in place wrt rulership. The minute she feels like she’s accomplished that, and that things won’t immediately revert back to how they were before, she too will feel her "duty" is over IMO. And as I said, that could all happen during the Great War/Long Night itself, depending on what last act Cersei and Euron pull.
However, it could also happen during the ending/epilogue/denouement of the story if scenario number 4 is how this all ends . . . and is the one that most closely matches what GRRM has not only said about wanting to know what "Aragorn’s tax policy" was, but would also fit quite well into the bittersweet tone a la LOTR that he also spoke about in the above quote I noted. They live, just as all the main characters in LOTR did, but there was a true sense of loss, and Frodo was too changed to remain in Middle Earth anymore. Once Dany gets to break her wheel and help set Westeros on a new path, she’ll be quite happy to find that home with a red door she thinks about a lot in the books. Bet before that will come the intricacies of what having to rebuild a society ravaged by an Apocalyptic War would really be like. With on six episodes left, I don’t know if D&D would really set aside time to devote a whole episode to such a concept. The books? Sure. The show? I’m not so sure.
Anyway, those are the five most likely endings as I see it based on the logic not only Martin has laid out, but what the show has shown. And for all D&D love to do standard TV Drama stuff, I think Jon and Dany’s ending will follow one of these five things with, IMO, numbers 3 and 4 most fitting what Martin is looking to do, and the most likely for the show to emulate/adapt.
Sorry for the length of this meta, but I really couldn’t see any real way to cut this into multiple parts. When I begin a thought, I do like to be as thorough as I can with it. If you bothered to read the whole thing and liked it, thanks for taking the time to.
#Jonerys#Jon x Dany#Jon Snow#Daenerys Targaryen#Game of Thrones#Jon x Daenerys#A Song of Ice and Fire#ASOIAF#George R. R. Martin#GRRM#benioff and weiss#tv#film#movies#writing#story and structure#got meta#got theory#theory#meta#long post#like really long#but I didn't want to break this up#and I had a LOT to say#and I wanted it all on record#in one post#so I can reference it later
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27 Toronto Tourist Attractions That You Shouldn’t Miss
These Are Some of the Top Toronto Tourist Attractions!
Want to explore Toronto like a local? Toss TripAdvisor aside, you got a Canadian right here at Penguin and Pia! Eric is from Ontario and grew up north of Toronto. As for us together, we lived in the city for the better part of a whole year and had amazing adventures in Toronto. Let’s just say that there is certainly no shortage of unique things to do in Toronto when you want to play tourist yourself!
We’ve already covered when the best time to visit Canada (and Toronto) is in another post. In short, for Toronto May is great and cooler, July is hot but there are patios, October is beautiful with colours, and January is cold but there’s skating. If you are looking for seasonal activities for the summer for the winter in Toronto, you’ll see below which ones are which!
So, if you are looking for fun activities in Toronto for adults, with the kids, or even today, we’ve got you covered. Let’s play Toronto tourist! Oh, and if you planning an entire Toronto visit or you are looking for other places to visit in Ontario – we’ve got lots more about the city and the province!
First Time in Canada? Important Need to Know like Visas, Currency, and Culture!
Wondering what to Pack? Here’s our Canada Packing List for all Seasons!
Here are 9 of our Favourite Coffee Shops in Toronto!
Find a Place to Stay with this Toronto Neighbourhood and Hotel Guide!
Discover Niagara on the Lake Wineries or Learn How to Rent a Cottage in Ontario!
Getting Around Toronto
Since there is so much to see and do in Toronto, doing it all will take some planning. It’s possible to see Toronto in a day – but it would be a busy one! While the city is basically all flat and walkable – the distances between attractions can be a little daunting.
You can hop on the TTC (Toronto Transit) by using the streetcars, buses, and subway lines to get around. You can consider buying Presto card (the rechargeable card you just tap) and just loading it with money at a machine.
The TTC is actually moving to Presto-only in the near future (early 2019?) so the infrastructure will hopefully be caught up for visitors to easily get their Presto and go. It wasn’t easy in years prior…. trust us.
Toronto Sightseeing City Tours
That being said, there are lots of tours that are organized for you to explore the most without planning anything at all. You can go on the classic bus tour of Toronto and buy a hop-on-hop-off bus Toronto tour ticket. These are good for different lengths of time to suit your trip.
Another popular way to get around Toronto in by bike – and there are lots of great Toronto bike tours that will show you the way! Biking is actually a great way to get around because Toronto downtown core traffic can be an absolute nightmare.
Obviously, bike tours only run in the warmer months but definitely something to consider. You can’t beat a local guide, exercise, and a faster mode of transportation!
Finally, if you just want to say screw it and do it all – you can do an ultimate day tour that includes a boat cruise on Lake Ontario. Being able to see the skyline from the waterfront is something that Eric hasn’t even done!
Toronto Tourist Attractions
But that’s enough tour talk now – let’s dive into the top attractions around Toronto! You’ll notice that they are in no particular geographical order. That said, we did our best to give you the general locations/directions.
CN Tower
The Canadian National Tower (also commonly known as the CN Tower) is like the crown jewel of the Toronto skyline. Built back in the 1970s, the CN Tower was the tallest man-made structure! Standing at 533 metres tall, the views from the top are absolutely incredible. You can see for many miles and even into the United States!
Once you ride one of the speedy elevators to the main deck, there is lots to do up there! There is a famous glass floor for those brave enough to walk on. The view down to the ground is pretty dizzying.
There is a restaurant up there – 360 Restaurant – that is known for serving high-class dishes with local ingredients. The coolest part? The restaurant makes a full rotation every hour so you truly get views of all over the city!
The CN Tower is known for the Edge Walk – a thrill-seeker experience of hanging off the edge of the outside of the building. Lastly, you can take the elevator to the Sky Pod – one level higher for views of the city. Comes at an entry cost, though so plan accordingly! Here is the official website for the CN Tower.
Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada
As a relatively newer attraction to the city’s line-up of awesome things to do, Ripley’s Aquarium has certainly made a splash in a short amount of time. See what we did there? Gotta love our aquarium puns!
The Aquarium is home to the longest underwater glass tunnel in North America – it extends through “Dangerous Lagoon”. This is where you come face-to-face with some scary predators like sharks and eels.
In all, there are 9 different galleries and over 400 species to check out. You are sure to find something you enjoy! The place is so popular – they recommend visiting before 10 am for after 3 pm to beat the crowds.
Pro Tip: If you are planning a visit to Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada and know which day, consider a Ripley’s Aquarium “After Hours” ticket that is valid for a night visit after 7:00 pm. Crowds can be smaller and admission is actually reduced from the daily fare.
The Distillery District
Do you like beer, history, good food, and great photo spots? Great – it sounds like a visit to the Distillery District is for you! Located to the east of downtown, this old industrial area was once the home of many distilleries in the city – hence the name!
These days, the odd distillery still exists and is mixed in among the many shops, restaurants, coffee places, and breweries that have moved in! You can do a Distillery District walking tour to learn about the rich history of the red-bricked factories.
The Distillery District is full of interesting art installations that draw crowds and make great photographs. In the winter, the District is home to amazing light displays and a winter wonderland of Christmas Market stalls.
The District is also home to one of our favourite classic breweries – Mill Street. Known for their Signature Mill Street Organic Beer, you can even sit outside and have a flight of beer for a great price!
Pro Tip: If beer is what you are into, Toronto has a crazy vibrant beer scene. You can check it out on a Beer and History Tour of the city. The good news? You’ll end in the Distillery District!
Kensington Market
You might have heard about this hip and alternative area that you have to walk through? It’s likely Kensington Market – and you should definitely check it out.
Kensington is located to the west of Spadina Avenue, north of downtown, between College and Dundas Streets. It’s close to Chinatown if you want to see that too – we mention it below! This urban jungle of graffiti, cool clothing shops, amazing restaurants, markets, almost certainly has something for everyone.
You don’t even have to be looking for anything – just a wander through to experience the neighbourhood is enough. You can’t miss things like the Garden Car – you’ll know it when you see it. Trust us.
Pro Tip: Kensington is a uniquely old and multicultural neighbourhood with a fascinating immigrant history about it. So, it’s fitting to learn more about the history of Kensington Market through an amazing food tour!
Bata Shoe Museum
Do you like shoes? Like, do you REALLY like shoes? Would a museum full of shoes make you happy? If so, the BATA Shoe Museum might be for you to check out!
Located on Bloor Street just north of downtown, the museum has done an amazing job of collecting and showcasing footwear from all around the world.
We’ve never been but walked by many many times and always thought it looked super interesting. If you want to visit, you can buy a BATA Shoe entrance ticket here.
Woodbine Beach
Ah, Woodbine Beach – what can we say? It’s “home”. The beach is located in the neighbourhood called “The Beaches”. The Beaches are in the city’s east end – and it’s actually exactly where we lived for the better part of 2017 when we lived in Toronto!
Woodbine Beach is a massive (and massively popular) sandy and rocky beach with access to swim in Lake Ontario. There is a boardwalk that runs for kilometres through Ashbridge’s Bay, other walking trails, parks, dog beaches, and wooded areas.
As for things to do, the summertime is busy with paddleboard renters, swimming, sunbathing, a few patios, and beach volleyball. The autumn is great for fall strolls along Lake Ontario.
The neighbourhood area along Queen Street East is full of restaurants, bars, and shops that you should check out. It’s funny – the Beaches is where we worked on Penguin and Pia in the early days! How times have changed!
“The Toronto Sign” at Nathan Phillips Square
Travelling to Toronto and wanting to snap a photo for Instagram? Of course you do! Head north from Lake Ontario to Nathan Phillips Square. Located at Queen Street West just west of Yonge, it’s here that you’ll find Toronto City Hall and the famous “Toronto Sign”.
During the day, the sign of often themed for various festivals or occasions. At night – it’s all lit up! Nathan Phillips Square is quite the gathering spot in the city. At New Year’s, the Square is filled with concert stages and party-goers – Eric has even been a few times.
In the winter, the fountain you see in front of the sign turns into an ice skating rink which is free to use (or costs a few dollars for a skate rental). There are street food trucks and lots of tourist buses park here since it’s a great place to start any Toronto sightseeing adventure.
Fort York
Are you into learning about Toronto’s role in military history? Want to learn about how we beat the United States in the War of 1812? That’s a true story – and you can learn all about it at Fort York.
The grounds are located to the west of downtown – pinched between the Lake and Liberty Village under the Gardiner Expressway. The historic site is actually one of the largest collection of 1812 Wartime buildings.
They even have cannon firings and daily tours that run frequently. Some of the park ground are free to roam through but the exhibits and museums are entered for a fee. To learn more about visiting Fort York and the exhibits, visit the official Fort York website.
St. Lawrence Market
The St. Lawrence Market is definitely a must-see if you are visiting the city. We visited the Market “playing tourist” when Lisa was visiting before she moved to Canada and it was an amazing experience.
The current building where it is located was opened in 1902! Inside, there are two floors – the main floor stretches the length of the main hall and the lower floor is just a portion of the length. You’ll find a selection of fresh produce, fresh meats and seafoods, cheeses, prepared food, wine, trinkets, you name it!
There are samples at various counters and places to grab lunch so you definitely shouldn’t leave hungry. If you are looking for very tourist Canadian souvenirs, there is also a place to buy them here. You can learn more about the Market and the area of Old Toronto on a historic food and Market tour of the area!
Pro Tip: -The Market is located just to the east of downtown on Front Street – and you can check out The Gooderham Building for a great photo. The Gooderham is that historic red-brick flatiron building at the intersection of Wellington Street and Front Street!
Steam Whistle Brewery
All aboard the Steam train… to Steam Whistle Brewery! Located very close to Ripley’s Aquarium, the CN Tower, and the Rogers Centre, Steam Whistle has been a tourist magnet and popular brand in Toronto and Canada for two decades.
Founded back in 1998, Steam Whistle finds its home in the Roundhouse – an old red-brick railway repair depot used back in the day.
These days, you can tour the brewery or just belly up to the bar for a pint of the classic pilsner that has made them one of the most well-known beers in Canada. To check out the Brewery or to book a tour, check out the official website of Steam Whistle.
The Toronto Islands
Looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Toronto? Check out the Toronto Islands – that might help! Located in Lake Ontario just off the shore across from downtown, “the Islands” as they are known are popular for their beaches, walking trails, and the historic Centreville Amusement Park.
The Islands themselves actually have inhabitants – and to get to them there is a ferry that leaves from the Ferry Terminal located on Queens Quay between Yonge and Bay Streets. You can check out the Toronto Island ferry schedule here.
Alternatively, if you want a smaller tour of the harbour and surrounding islands, check out this Toronto Harbour Boat Cruise. You have to get off on the islands so the tour doubles as a water taxi – and amazing photos of the skyline are basically guaranteed!
Casa Loma
It’s a house? It’s a castle? No, it’s Casa Loma! Built in the early 1900s and located in Toronto’s midtown, Casa Loma is a top tourist attraction for so many reasons.
This Gothic dream home was built by a wealthy Toronto businessman – Sir Henry Pellatt. After decades of history, the estate is now owned by the city and revered for its many art pieces and rich history.
Because of the grand size of the estate and gardens, Casa Loma is also the place for many events, festivals, and even weddings throughout the year.
If you are visiting, you can buy a ticket to enter and hop on a guided tour to learn all about one of Toronto’s most famous attractions! Here is the official Casa Loma website!
Hockey Hall of Fame
You can’t go to Canada and not discover the rich history of hockey! So, you should take a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame! Located downtown on Front Street, the Hockey Hall of Fame is a great museum/exhibit with tons to do and lots to learn about.
The coolest part is that you will be able to see the Stanley Cup (the biggest trophy in hockey and one of the oldest sports trophies in organized leagues worldwide).
Eric went as a kid many many times since it was always a great place for a school to plan a field trip to. That said, there is plenty to do for adults as well. Hockey is a huge part of Canadian culture and so a stop by is definitely worth your time! You can learn more at the official Hockey Hall of Fame website.
Dundas Square
If you are looking for the “Times Square” but for Toronto – Dundas Square is it. From the street performers to the lights at night, the corner near Yonge and Dundas is a great place to experience Toronto in full swing in the evening.
Besides malls and restaurant, there isn’t much to do there, but you would certainly pass through to snap a few photos in the evening! It’s probably good to mention that the southwest corner is where you enter the Eaton Centre – a top attraction but not good enough for its own place on the list.
It’s just a very nice mall that is pretty big and features some very popular shops. There are fountains and at Christmas, they have a tree and giant reindeer!
Royal Ontario Museum
The Royal Ontario Museum (the ROM, for short) is located at Bloor Street and Avenue Road and has a history of displaying just a little bit of everything! However, this makes sense – the ROM is the largest (and most visited) museum in Canada and one of the largest in North America.
With around 6 million pieces, the numerous galleries and exhibits feature things from spiders to art, culture to dinosaurs, and Rome!
Eric went as a kid years ago and remembers having an amazing time at the ROM! If you are getting there by subway, you can get off at – you guessed it – Museum Station!
Pro Tip: You can buy a ROM General Admission ticket in advance here if you choose!
Scotiabank Arena – formerly Air Canada Centre
If you are into sports, Toronto is an amazing sports city with very passionate fans across the professional leagues. At the Scotiabank Arena (formerly called the Air Canada Centre) the Toronto Maple Leafs play ice hockey and the Toronto Raptors play basketball. The Arena is located closer to the water, just south of Union Station.
Leafs tickets can be very expensive but are definitely worth the experience of watching professional level hockey in Canada. Raptors tickets can be less expensive if you don’t mind sitting farther up in the stands!
Even watching the game in any of the sports bars nearby is an experience worthy of a visitor to Toronto! Here is the Scotiabank Arena website if you want to check out ticket availability and prices.
Art Gallery of Ontario
The Art Gallery of Ontario (or AGO, for short) is located on Dundas Street West between Spadina and University Avenue and is definitely an art lover’s paradise.
Featuring 95,000 works over 45,000 sq metres of space, this makes the AGO one of the largest galleries in all of North America. The AGO was originally founded in the year 1900. Over the years, it has seen expansions to the current size and number of galleries.
The AGO hosts exhibitions and has many permanent galleries featuring everything from Canadian artwork to African sculptures to Baroque-era paintings. You can learn more here at the official AGO website – keep in mind the AGO is closed on Mondays!
Chinatown
There are many amazing Chinatowns around the world (San Francisco, for example) – and Chinatown in Toronto is no exception! If you want to experience Chinatown in Toronto, head over to Spadina between College Street and Queen Street West.
You’ll find open-air shops with all sorts of goods, amazing restaurants (with really good dim sum), and other places to grab sweet treats.
Chinatown itself is a neat experience and conveniently placed along Spadina. This makes it easy to wander through on the way to another attraction. Toronto is a city that prides itself on its multiculturalism and ethnic diversity so check it out!
Rogers Centre
Still thinking about sports? How about catching a baseball game? The Blue Jays play at the Rogers Centre – located physically at the base of the CN Tower.
The Jays are the only Canadian team playing in Major League Baseball so if you’re in Toronto anytime from April to September, Toronto is your only chance to catch baseball north of the border!
The nice thing about Jays games is that the summer weather means a great time out in the sunshine. The other great thing about tickets at the Rogers Centre is that that they are still relatively inexpensive.
You can go to a game for cheap and enjoy the game from decent seats! Unlike at Scotiabank Arena, you can show up on game day, wait in line, and get tickets! It’s a franchise that isn’t too expensive yet (cough, the Leafs). Here’s the Jays website for tickets.
Queen Street West
Queen Street West is certainly where you can get some shopping done! Located – you guessed it – along Queen Street West west of Yonge Street and extending well past Bathurst Street, Queen Street is also home to many amazing restaurants, hip bars and pubs, and coffee shops.
One of our favourite ramen places in on Queen Street West and Lisa misses it dearly from when we used to go for ramen lunch! Mmmm, noodles.
Harbourfront Centre
If you are looking for things to do down near the waterfront, head to the Harbourfront Centre! The Centre itself is actually an area of the pier described as a “cultural hub”. This means that there are walking paths, performance stages, exhibits, restaurants, coffee shops, and much more.
There is always something going on down at the Harbourfront Centre. You can get great photos down by the lake, and the proximity to Amsterdam Brewhouse is also nice! Learn more about what’s on at the Harbourfront Centre at the official website.
University of Toronto
As one of the oldest universities in all of Canada and the oldest in Ontario, the University of Toronto has a great reputation on the world stage for academics.
Founded in 1827, the main campus (St. George Campus) is often like stepping into a time capsule. This university has a massive main campus that sprawls for blocks and blocks between College Street and Bloor Street.
You can walk through, hop on a campus tour, and you might even find football going on at their Varsity Stadium!
Attractions Located Just Outside of Toronto
While this article is about Toronto tourist attractions that are mainly located downtown or very close by, the reality is there are a handful of awesome attractions that you might be interested in checking out!
So, here are five. We want to make it clear: these are NOT in downtown Toronto. It would be in your best interest to have a rental car to reach these attractions given their distance. That said, you’d definitely consider these on a weekend trip in Ontario if you’re up for it!
Toronto Zoo
Located out in the north end of Scarborough, the Toronto Zoo is renowned for its number of species – over 5,000! The zoo itself is divided into 7 “areas” what showcase all different climates/regions where animal groups exist in the wild.
The Toronto Zoo was originally opened in the 1970 and today enjoys very high visitor numbers because of their commitment to research and ecological sustainability. You can learn more about directions and admission prices at the official website of the Toronto Zoo.
Scarborough Bluffs
If Woodbine Beach and the parks in that area weren’t enough, you could drive out to Scarborough (far east of the city). Along the water’s edge, you’ll find large white cliffs – these are the Scarborough Bluffs.
The cliffs draw in a number of visitors to the nearby parks and beaches in the summer. Notably, you can plan a visit by heading for Scarborough Bluffs Park Beach or Bluffer’s Park Beach.
Canada’s Wonderland
Wonderland is the biggest and best amusement park in the country. Located about 40 minutes north of downtown Toronto, Wonderland features roller coasters that crack numerous top 10 lists in the world for tallness or speed, among other things. Just Google “Leviathan” – it’s the tallest in Canada and the 9th tallest in the world!
Eric grew up about 20 minutes north of Wonderland and so as a kid (and as a teenager, too) he would go to Wonderland on summer evenings when the crowds had died down. You can also go in the spring or fall at reduced hours. These days, the place is busy and expensive – but definitely worth it if you like thrills and decent attractions. Check out the official website for Canada’s Wonderland!
Ontario Science Centre
Want to be entertained and learn a little bit, too? The Ontario Science Centre is where you should go! Located to the northeast of the city along the Don Valley Parkway in North York, the Science Centre is known for the featured exhibits, interactive science displays, and IMAX theatre.
They even have a rainforest area which is climate controlled to help grow different plants to discuss ecology.
All in all, the Science Centre is a great way to kill a few hours or entertain the kids if you want more ideas! Check out the official website for the Ontario Science Centre for directions and prices!
Niagara Falls
Let’s be clear – Niagara Falls shouldn’t be on this list because it’s not “only a 45 minutes drive” from Toronto like the others. Niagara Falls is about 2.5 hours from downtown Toronto, traffic depending.
So, if you want to explore Niagara Falls, you can book a Niagara day trip from Toronto to make things easy if you didn’t plan on heading down on your own.
We’ve written a whole guide on things to do in Niagara Falls, Canada as well as where to stay in Niagara Falls (including hotels for the best “Fallsview”)!
And there you have it – 27 of the best Toronto tourist attractions that are out there! Obviously, there are a few things that we didn’t mention – but those “hidden gems” are for another post. Toronto is an amazing city, a place we also call home, and a welcoming city for people of all backgrounds, colours, and languages! We’re confident that you will have an amazing time exploring Toronto when you visit! Have you been before? What did you get to see or what did you miss? Get in touch and let us know!
As always, Happy Toronto Attraction Waddlin’,
– L&E
The post “ 27 Toronto Tourist Attractions That You Shouldn’t Miss “ was seen first on Penguin and Pia
Dr. Amauri Caversan - Toronto Naturopathic Doctor
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(via Black Sails Episode 303 - XXI)
Black Sails Episode 303 - XXI
WELL-FORMED THOUGHTS
In this episode in particular, Flint is punishing Silver for not being the partner he wants him to be. Twice he lays the guilt on Silver VERY thick; first, by reminding him they are in this mess because Silver allowed the crew to choose to check out Hallendale’s abandoned ship, and second by killing the crewmen and then implying Silver is a burden when he says, “If you’re not strong enough to do what needs to be done, I’ll do it for you.”
Flint is recklessly lonely, and Silver knows the cause. He explicitly remembers that pivotal conversation in 204 when he realized that Flint didn’t want people to think he was a villain, and he intuits that Flint’s death wish is the result of his increased villainous behaviors and therefore, increased self-hatred. But that’s not the most important thing going on here. In 204, during that conversation, Flint wanted Silver to defend his actions and remind him of his goodness. We know this because it is during this episode that he remembers his famously sexy defense of Thomas Hamilton. (I discuss this in my review of 204 here.)
Flint is punishing Silver for not being a good enough partner. Silver makes bad decisions, yes, but more hurtful to Flint is how Silver villainizes Flint for the hard decisions he makes as leader (cutting rations). He wants a partner who will understand the hard things he does and love him anyway (Miranda). Because Silver is not doing this, Flint lashes out and attacks him for less vulnerable reasons (the bad decision-making as evidence that Silver is weak).
In the launch as they investigate the whale, Silver explicitly asks to be Flint’s partner. He offers up the worst and best parts of himself (the cleverness of stealing Flint’s Urca gold, the betrayal of that same thing, the goodness of giving up his share, the vulnerability in admitting it was because he worries he is nothing but a cripple without the Walrus crew), and in this moment, Flint sees the possibility of the partnership he craves. It is still not entirely settled, but in the most beautifully obvious symbolism, when they team up, food and fresh wind is returned to the crew.
FRAGMENTED THOUGHTS
Anne and Max are facilitating the conversion of gold to pearls with the help of the most disgusting, racist man on the show. Max is SO magnanimous to put her professionalism above his “complimentary” racist comments, and I love Anne for pointing out the theme of the show:
“A world where he’s the civilized one and we’re the savages is a world I’m never gonna fucking understand.”
Woodes Rogers wants a peaceful transition of power in Nassau, which sounds really great. Eleanor presses him to consider a show of force, which might take longer but she believes will ultimately be more effective. This leads us to discover that Rogers’ desire for peace is less a moral position (like it was for Thomas) and is actually because he needs the transition to be quick so that he can pay back his creditors and appease Spain.
Twice we get Walrus crew members talking about Flint as though he’s God. My favorite of the two is by a random crew member moaning about how God has abandoned them…until suddenly I realized, wait, is he talking about Flint? It there even a difference between the two to this poor man?
“We’re all dead men. Smote by a storm, the product of his rage. We are dead men. Consigned to a place where we are no longer worthy even of the good lord’s anger and must endure his indifference. We are dead men. Left to suffer, knowing that he no longer hears our cries, because in this place he is absent.”
And of course, we get later get Silver pondering the same kind of thoughts, saying to Billy, “Once again, he is able to conjure the reality he desires just as it was in Charles Town, and just as it was in that storm. There is no denying a man with that kind of power.” At Billy’s incredulity, Silver qualifies his statement by saying it doesn’t matter whether Flint conjured the storm or conjured the men into fighting it. Either way he has a godlike will.
Jack and Vane try to convince the pirates of Nassau to unite in a show of force against the coming Navy fleet. Despite his best efforts to be a leader, no one is giving Jack the time of day. It isn’t until Teach arrives and supplants Flint (“Flint is dead…I’m prepared to step into Captain Flint’s shoes”) that the pirate captains agree to the plan. This is not because he cares about Nassau, but because he cares about Vane.
Teach: I do not seek your partnership because I am too weak to defend myself. I don’t seek it to protect my things or to increase profit.
Vane: Then why do you? You’ve been gone eight years, and suddenly my partnership is this valuable to you? Why?
Teach: Eight years. Nine wives. No sons. There is an instinct to leave behind something made in one’s own image. Nature has denied me the ability, but not the need.
I really like that Vane immediately told Jack his plan to leave with Teach after the defense of Nassau. It says a lot about the trust they have in each other. I also adore Jack’s conversation with Anne, and how she teases him with truth, and he laughs and accepts it.
Jack: It bothers me. Why do you think that is?
Anne: ‘Cause you give a shit what he thinks of you. You always have.
Jack: You think?
Anne: Yeah. You ain’t alone. Plenty of men in this place have done plenty of stupid shit just to hear Charles Vane call him a proper pirate. Though you might be the only one who actually made a career of it.
Billy teaches Silver to be a leader, how sometimes that means you accept the unfairness of greater rations because you need the strength to do your job well.
Max and Anne break up in the most loving way possible. They are the healthy version of Eleanor/Vane – they have fundamentally different goals in life, but they discuss this openly and accept it without trying to change the other person.
We get Max’s backstory, beautifully and heartbreakingly delivered by Jessica Parker Kennedy. I admire her very much for admitting what she wants and admitting that she will accept horrible things in order to get it: “The things it took to make that room possible, they were awful things. But inside that room was peace. That is what home is to me.” This helps me accept her habit of protecting herself and her people without much care for how it will affect the rest of Nassau. Ignorant selfishness is repugnant to me, but self-aware selfishness is something I can understand.
ANNE KISSES MAX’S FOREHEAD which is Jack/Anne code for I Love You So Very Much.
Billy swings wildly between supporting Flint for the good of the crew to saying Flint has gone too far (in this episode and in the show at large). He puts all the responsibility for fixing it on Silver, claiming that he’s next in line after Gates and Miranda to be a person who can reach Flint and change his mind.
Billy: He listened to them, altered his plans when they told him to. It’s possible. The difference is he saw them as his equal. He respected them that way, so he was willing to listen. You need to find a way to do the same.
Silver: Both those people ended up dead.
Billy: *stares at Silver*
Flint’s hallucination of Miranda (discussed in depth in the Runner Up section) ends with her saying, “At its end is where you will find the peace that eludes you, and at its end lies the answer you refuse to see.” As she says this, Flint envisions death standing before him on the Walrus deck. Death is the only peaceful ending that Flint can imagine, but at that very moment, the whale is spotted and the possibility of food is discovered. THIS SHOW and its beautiful symbolism!
Silver and Flint rowing the launch out to the whale, having Very Tense Conversations, and capturing a shark is one of my favorite scenes in the whole series! I could watch and rewatch it forever.
As mentioned earlier, it is no small matter that once Flint and Silver learn to work together as partners, the Walrus escapes the doldrums!
I love Eleanor for how she simultaneously compliments and insults Hornigold in suggesting he be the one to read Rogers’ pardon to the people of Nassau.
“Whatever’s about to happen, there’s no stopping it now.”
At this point in the show, I am emotionally confused. The pardons are extended, many people accept them, and…this seems like a successfully peaceful invasion. Other than the bounty on Charles Vane’s head, it’s hard to figure out why exactly this isn’t a good thing. Then again, going to Peter Ashe in Charles Town seemed like a good partnership with civilization too…
#Black Sails#blacksails#303#s03e03#XXI#shark date#James Flint#John Silver#Billy Bones#Miranda hallucination#Max#Anne Bonny#Jack Rackham#Max/Anne#Charles Vane#Edward Teach#Eleanor Guthrie#Woodes Rogers#Flint and Silver take one step closer to partnership!
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A time-travelling, galaxy-defending archaeologist – Recurring Thing #4
The scent of the future is wafting in. I’ve been breathing it in, choking on it, attempting assimilation.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve enrolled in a business startup program, went to a workshop about speculative design, and thought about where I’ll be in 10 years. But after seeing The LEGO Movie 2, I hope it’s not being a raptor-training archaeologist from space. (I guess you had to be there.)
After taking an extended break from social design work “to get some perspective” (ahem), I find that Everything Now Looks Very Strange Indeed™. This is another one of my updates on restarting a creative practice, with added cultural and design commentary.
(If someone’s forwarded this thing to you in the hope you’ll find it interesting, you can subscribe here to secure my everlasting love. And please, pass it on if you think it might be of interest to anyone.)
“Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”
In Issue #2 I mentioned that I’m starting a small strategic design practice called Studio Thing. To help this along, I recently applied for the Australian Government’s New Enterprise Incentive Scheme and am now enjoying free business training for several months, and ongoing business mentoring for a year. I’m usually sceptical of such government programs, but happy to report that our trainer Jason is hilarious, and that my cohort is vibrant and diverse. It includes one of Australia’s leading forensic investigators, an aerospace startup that's designing hyper-spectral imaging satellites in a suburban Sydney home, and three mental health-related startups.
As you’d expect, the assessable part of the training feels a bit superfluous. The value is instead in the solidarity, support and collective wisdom you get in the room. In this context, formerly snooze-worthy operational details about business become far more alive. Frank feedback still rules, but deviates from the tech-bro/shark-tank consensus; for example, after an exuberant elevator pitch last week by one of the mental health startup founders, the most devastating feedback came from one of the quietest voices in the room, a softly spoken Korean couture designer who lacks confidence in her English:
“You felt like a wall,” she said. “If you want me to come to you for help, I need to see you bend.”
Uncommon wisdom.
No/future
Being in microbusiness school involves a lot of talk about strategy, and one of the contradictions of thinking strategically is that just as we need foresight in order to endure, we must also embrace uncertainty to thrive. We need a supple sensibility to survive our times. In this, I’m sympathetic to both the apocalyptic nowness of the punk phrase “no future” (which is much more than nihilistic rage) and the science-fictional tendency to imagine the future.
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“No future” is one of the most important messages in punk. In a way, contemplating that “there is no future” opens up a new politics, a much more prefigurative politics. It’s no longer a question of waiting and dreaming of utopias, but of doing what we need to do here and now, and in the ways we can and want to. We’re not waiting for further instructions or permissions to get started. We will take ownership of music and spaces. In punk, anyone can pick up a guitar while someone else starts singing, speaking, doing.
— Guiomar Rovira, “No Future: From Punk to Zapatismo and Connected Multitudes”
Urgent and dangerous, disavowing the future forces a sense of possibility to arrive in the vacant spaces of the present. A very different strategy from, say, Star Trek’s optimistic and intricate future history of the 23rd and 24th Centuries.
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How I ridiculously imagine punk and speculative futures working together[/caption]
But despite being an art of extrapolation, science fiction has often been a metaphor for the concerns of the present, or an opening of possibility, rather than simply a literal attempt to predict the future. And its speculations are often untamed and unruly. “Future” and “no future” are thus closer than we might initially suspect. With both turning on the same hinge (of “there must be something more than this”), I’d like to think that together they can contribute a kind of lubricated friction… towards greatness.
Visions
As it happens, the first edition of Visions, a handsome new science fiction magazine, just landed on my desk as I finished typing the previous sentence. It came with a sexy postcard:
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Uncanny! Visions is “a science fiction magazine where writers, designers and researchers of the past and present come together to explore the future.”
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To be totally honest, I really ordered it to experience Marvin Visions, the awesome retrofuturistic typeface that editor Mathieu Triay cut specially for the magazine, but the whole package is obviously compelling and relevant to my Recurring Thing concerns. Back in the early ‘80s, the magnificent Omni magazine mixed fiction and non-fiction about science and technology in a way whose promise has yet to be truly fulfilled, and Visions is a good step in that direction. More later.
Dying stars and fossil fuel archaeology
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When I recently taught a second grade school art class with a theme of “the future”, I primed them with a range of stimuli: a familiar adage, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it” (attributed to everyone from Alan Kay to Abraham Lincoln); a peek at Future Cities, the book my father gave me when I was six years old and which directly inspired the work I now do; plus, many examples of how science fiction has directly inspired contemporary technologies.
I then invited each student to visit the future, travelling to a date of their own choosing. We set our future destinations using the control panel from Back to the Future’s DeLorean, and to the wheezing sound of the TARDIS time rotor (yes), we entered the time vortex.
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Our challenge: to draw what we saw on our arrival. A group of 7-year-old girls who were usually into drawing unicorns and rainbows surprised me by collaborating on an awe-inspiring scenario, set millions of years in our future: the sun becomes a red giant, swallows the Earth and ends human civilisation. But in a hopeful coda, the solar system’s habitable zone shifts to the orbit of Pluto. (Yes, they went into this much detail.)
Some kids imagined a range of consumerist wish-fulfilment utopias, full of crazy gadgets, but an interesting thing happened: debate spontaneously broke out about how desirable some of these really were. Calvin, the shortest kid in the class, sat grumpily at the back of the class and delivered a running commentary on the ecological impact of each scenario. “Where’s the energy coming from? Fossil fuels,” he’d snipe. “More fossil fuels.” And… “FOSSIL FUELS!!! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING???” It led to some interesting discussion. (Later that week, I overheard a child from this class ask, “Mummy, what are ‘fossil fuels’?” Which. Is. The. Best.)
There was a future in which everybody lived forever. “What do you think would happen if this came true?” I asked the class. “That’s scary,” my daughter’s friend Reyna replied, “because if everyone lived forever, it would reduce the capacity of the Earth to nothing.” (Her exact words.) The mind. It boggles.
“Fossil-Fuel” Calvin’s future scenario was a barren, charred wasteland.
Design as a race to dystopia
During the Sydney Design Festival, I had the fortune to attend a Speculative Design workshop run by the indefatigable Tina Fung of Meld Studios. Besides using the same Alan Kay/Abe Lincoln quote (snap!), Tina introduced us to Situation Lab’s game, The Thing From the Future, in which players visualise objects inspired by random cards that suggest its different aspects: its future timeframe (“Arc”), area of society (“Terrain”), general form (“Object”) and emotional charge (“Mood”).
Our group drew these cards:
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The concepts people build around such provocations are usually passing exercises in extrapolation, but to teach us critical foresight, Tina got us to take our ideas a little more seriously, running them through a matrix of potential economic, technological, social and ecological consequences. Things got unnerving.
After my experience with the time-travelling children, I wasn’t surprised that most of us created dystopian scenarios. One group created a food-based social credit system within the last outpost of human civilisation — a space station in orbit above a dead world. While those displaying “optimal” behaviour could eat well, those relegated to the bottom of the system could only eat “Hungry Bread”, which left you feeling more hungry. The perversity generated much, uh, food for discussion.
To relieve human pressure on a future Earth, my team created an authoritarian eugenics program for interstellar colonisation. Those deemed genetically fittest for colonial adventures would be endlessly cloned to form the future interstellar population. Like the Hungry Bread, it was obviously perverse, but more disturbing was that one outspoken designer on our team actually relished the hyper-instrumentalism of this scenario. In the name of human survival, extreme measures could somehow be justified.
Beyond the obvious point that eugenics runs counter to a just society, I suggested that it also disregarded the distinct possibility that societies require diversity and its attendant challenges of cosmopolitanism in order to actually function. Without an ethic of inclusion, a society of Alphas might easily self-destruct in an orgy of atomised cocksureness. He snorted in reply.
“Inclusive design is bullshit,” he bellowed, “because design is exclusive, by its very definition! Tailoring our products to exactly fit the needs of an ideal customer is design excellence.” In his vehemence, his face began to flush. “Allowing rubbish common denominators to dilute excellence isn’t just bad design, it isn’t design.”
I’ll consider the possibility that this guy was trying to get a rise out of me, but remember when I recently expressed my misgivings about how contemporary design’s largely uncritical enthusiasm for highly tailored experiences might align too neatly with the way capitalism feeds social divisions? This guy was a living embodiment of everything I see going wrong with my profession. And yet he was factually correct, in a manner of speaking: in its ultimate distillation, design seeks to optimally shape the world to specific ends, and taken to its logical conclusion, we might end up with our nightmarish Things From the Future.
By throwing spanners into its heart, I want to dedicate my efforts to prevent this future design apocalypse.
This edition was brought to you by Go Home Productions’ classic Sex Pistols/Madonna, mashup, “Ray of Gob”. Watch and listen here.
A sustainable portion of all my love,
Ben
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Plot vs. Theme: There is no BBC’s Sherlock without JohnLock
I’ve seen so many people pointing out how the show just doesn’t make any sense without TJLC, and as tinhatters, we instantly agree, but series four just legitimized that theory. That’s what all the confusion, plot holes, OOC moments, and inconsistencies are ultimately about.
If you think about it, when did the feeling of something’s just not right first happen? Most people would agree that feeling began right after Mary shot Sherlock.
Enter Extended Mind Palace Theory.
(Here are some metas on that, in case you haven’t read up on the theory yet. Original Masterpost by @monikakrasnorada @gosherlocked @the-7-percent-solution, EMP is Alive and Thriving, Comprehensive EMP Analysis, The Three Sherlock’s, TST = TLD+ TAB, The Final Problem: Oh Sherlock, You’re Dreaming by @jenna221b)
In my opinion, EMP is still the only theory that could account for all of the fuckery, but also the only theory that simultaneously makes a concrete statement.
Nothing makes sense without Johnlock. The writers have said over and over again that the point of the show is not the cases. Its John and Sherlock’s relationship.
EMP may be how the writers are choosing to connect dots that are seemingly unable to be connected, but that isn’t the entire story. EMP is the plot or more specifically the plot device, but Johnlock is the theme and NOTHING makes sense without it. Infact, every time we could have gotten canon Johnlock, but we don't, things get even more strange. When the theme is ignored, the plot becomes senseless.
I’m going to break this down into segments of when JohnLock could have gone canon to make this easier to digest.
1.) What happens after Mary shoots Sherlock? He dies. Of course, he remembers his beloved childhood pet first…*cough* There is no Euros *cough*…but then he dies. What brings him back? His true love for John. (Hello, Princess Bride parallel)
Okay, JohnLock on track here…but then what happens? Who does Sherlock wake up to- or more importantly, who does he NOT wake up to?
John. John was not shown at Sherlock’s bedside, which is odd because we know he was there in the hospital and we know he cares for Sherlock. If we had been given a scene with John at his bedside, it would not have been unrealistic to have a canon Johnlock moment there. John crying, Sherlock awakening to a kiss on his forehead, the truth comes out. But that’s not what happens.
We get Sherlock’s fake ex-girlfriend, Janine there instead. It doesn’t make sense. John should be there, but he isn’t. His replacement is. She has, at this point, already been told that Sherlock isn’t really into her, already conducted multiple interviews, and all of the interviews have already gone to print, none of which include a bi-line about Sherlock having been shot. There’s no Johnlock and the scene doesn’t make any sense. When the theme is ignored, the plot is senseless.
Then what do we have?
2.) Watson domestic, where John is very angry and yelling about the entire situation, placing the blame almost entirely on Mary but lashing out at Sherlock too. At first, it feels genuine in a lot ways. John’s anger, Sherlock’s glibness, Mary’s inability to express any kind of emotion. However, that is because the theme of Johnlock is present in the line, “Because you chose her.” We feel the love Sherlock has for John in that moment, and we see the range of emotions that John goes through right afterwards. Its an honest scene up until this point. This is when John could have easily said, “well I’m choosing you now”, or something along those lines, and refused to listen to Mary. Canon Johnlock.
But what happens instead?
Sherlock pushes John back into his wife’s arms because, apparently, he has no reason not to. Mary’s gunshot was “surgery.” It saved his life. She’s just a victim. The innocent wife. The symbol of John’s heterosexuality. Sherlock props up the Watson marriage and then John forgives Mary for shooting Sherlock. He doesn’t read the USB despite his extreme trust issues. He doesn’t burn the correct or the same USB drive that Mary had given him. We are shown that clearly, over and over into the fourth series that he didn’t burn the right copy, but we were never given a resolution to this glaring plot point. When the theme is ignored, the plot is SENSELESS.
3.) Off to Appledore we go.Where John and Sherlock aren’t patted down, Mycroft is well aware that he is being drugged but does nothing to stop it, and CAM tells Sherlock it was very hard to find a pressure point on him, despite having seen a list with seven different pressure points listed when he meets Sherlock in 221 B. Why is it fucky? Because Sherlock and John are risking their lives and reputations to save a women who tried to (and successfully did) kill Sherlock, which doesn’t make a lick of sense.
There are two Johnlock moments within the scenes of Appledore. One very honest moment, which is followed up by very a realistic plot point, and then we have one Johnlock moment that seems very honest until it is tainted by Mary. Then the resolution of the second Johnlock moment seems genuine at first, but then gets fucky as well.
The first moment is when CAM points out that John is Sherlock’s “damsel in distress”, his pressure point- right before he realistically comes to the conclusion that he has been set up. The second moment is when Sherlock stares at John lovingly and then kills CAM. The loving look makes us think he is doing it for John, but then the line, “tell Mary she’s safe now” tells us that he was actually doing it for both The Watsons. At first it looks like we will have a realistic resolution to Sherlock murdering someone in front of a dozen people. He is sent to solitary confinement for a week before being banished, but then, big brother Mycroft comes in to save the day. Murder, Shmurder! & “That’s not how it happened at all” and so on. In short, it doesn’t make sense because Sherlock killed CAM so the Watsons could be happy and in love with each other. When the theme is ignored, the plot is senseless!
4.) The Tarmac is an extremely realistic and heart wrenching scene, where no fuckery (aside from Sherlock’s BFF status with Mary) takes place. Why? Because of the presence of Johnlock. You’ll notice that their entire exchange on the tarmac has no other people in frame. Its just the two of them, so its honest. Its so honest that Sherlock nearly tells John how he feels about him…but it isn’t to be. Mary is right out of frame. Its real, but its not enough. Sherlock doesn’t tell John how he feels, Johnlock still isn’t canon, and what happens? Dead Moriarty hacks the entire country and Sherlock has a drugged out gay Victorian fever dream. VERY REALISTIC GUYS!
At this point, after the Tarmac when we have the biggest aborted love confession in the history of television, NOTHING makes sense. I’ll refer you to this list, because the entirety of series four’s insanity is the result of Johnlock not going canon when it should have in series three. The plot holes, inconsistencies, OOC moments, and down-right falsehoods build on top of each other, each one a result of the failure to have John and Sherlock come together when they should have. All of it is an elaborate way of showing that the story doesn’t work without the theme. Without the point. And the whole point is Sherlock and John’s relationship.
WHEN THE THEME IS IGNORED, THE PLOT IS SENSELESS!
5.) After Mary’s “death” Sherlock went to John to comfort him, but John wouldn’t have him. There’s an opportunity for Johnlock to go canon, but instead, we get a mysterious note we never see or hear of again and more sharks, followed by The Lying detective, which was phenomenal in many respects but still riddled with plot holes and oddities. See aforementioned list. In that episode, we have another opportunity for Johnlock to go canon, probably the most blatant in the entire show aside from the tarmac scene.John and Sherlock share the most beautiful hug in all the land, tears are shed, tender touches are felt and sweet words of comfort are murmured… but no canon JohnLock.
And what happens? Oh, just normal stuff…like..
John is shot in the head by Sherlock's psychopathic genius sister who he repressed and has no memory of. Her name is weird and Greek and happens to be the same name of the monster Mycroft created to scare Sherlock as a child. The Wind Monster apparently likes to shoot people with tranq guns then run away, leaving them to hire clowns to attack Mycroft, who updates his Lady Bracknell impression. Sherlock’s secret sister Jigsaw makes him, John and Mycroft run through a maze of mind and murder games that ultimately lead to Sherlock discovering that little sis happened to kill Sherlock’s dog, Redbeard, who was actually a representation of his best friend, Victor Trevor, whose bones John couldn’t ID as human and who also ate out of dog bowls. John gains the ability to remove his foot at will and Sherlock forgets he has a reflection.
WHEN THE THEME IS IGNORED, THE PLOT IS SENSELESS!!!
Basically, The Final Problem is the most purposefully ridiculous piece of fiction ever put to screen. And why is that? Because at this point in the story, without Johnlock, the plot is completely incomprehensible. You can’t have a sound plot without the theme. The theme of romantic Johnlock is so thoroughly buried in lost opportunities at this point, its barely scratching the surface. Deep waters, indeed.
7.) The ending of TFP is ambiguous though, which tells me that we are not done with our plot device just yet. There has been no resolution to EMP. Something even more fucky is going to happen at the beginning of the lost special (theories about that here, here, and here) something that makes Sherlock break the cycle and do something about his true feelings. This will wake him up, and we will get canon Johnlock at the point that makes the most sense in the timeline.
When Sherlock wakes up in his hospital bed and finds John sitting at his bedside. That’s when things went wrong. That was the first thing that never made sense. And you know why? Because in his head, Sherlock believes John incapable of loving him the way Sherlock wishes him to. Just like the casual audience believes Sherlock and John are incapable of loving each other the way they actually do.
What we’ve seen from Sherlock getting shot until now, is what the show looks like without canon Johnlock. Its nonsense. Nothing makes sense, no dots connect, too many spinning plates, and no satisfying resolutions. But if we go back to that moment, the moment Sherlock opens his eyes and the first person he sees is John? All will finally be well in the world.
When the theme is embraced, the dots will connect. The plot will finally make sense.
@loveismyrevolution @ebaeschnbliah @angatita @welovethebeekeeper @teapotsubtext @graceebooks @gregoryhouse @loudest-subtext-in-tv @yan-yae @jon-lox
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