#another reason 4x02 annoys me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

heartslobbf · 4 years

Text

let’s talk about perfuma. imo, she’s one of the best characters in the show despite being underdeveloped, and i wanna explain why. she could’ve been extremely average, just some lanky flower girl that doesn’t believe in violence and loves everyone, but she is so much more than that (and it pisses me off that y’all reduce her to that).

in her introductory episode, perfuma is clearly in denial about the horde almost destroying plumeria. she doesn’t want to acknowledge the problem, wants someone else to take care of it for her. she’s scared of change, and that is because change makes you vulnerable. if things always stay the same, there’s a whole lot less danger and uncertainty, and therefore you’re safe. secure. perfuma’s kingdom is dying and she can’t bear to accept it because it is unknown to her. it’s putting her in a position where she is no longer secure. this fear of vulnerability can also be seen at the beginning of 1x10 when the princess alliance falls apart and she literally says ‘being together makes us vulnerable.’

the thing is, perfuma isn’t wrong. look at her choice of words. she says that being together makes them vulnerable, not weak. here, she kind of has the words mixed up, but we see that by s5 she has come to understand the difference. that’s what’s so great about perfuma, her motivation to do better, her hunger for self-improvement. it’s why she’s such an important part of catra’s redemption, actually, because she embodies the kind person catra is or wants to be.

let me explain: perfuma is an angry, impatient, short-tempered character. we are shown this again and again with her passive aggression to others and how easily mermista can annoy her with trivial things (sitting in her seat in the war room, for example). catra is also an angry, impatient character, but perfuma works every day to manage those emotions. she knows she needs them, she uses them as a tool (calling catra out, for example, is a time they were practically pivotal for getting her point across) but she also acknowledges they can hurt the people she loves. we know she does a meditation ritual each morning and we see in 4x02 how quickly she can unravel without it. she wants to be better. she puts the work in. that is such a valuable lesson for a character like catra who has always felt she’s just not good enough, she’s always going to be this angry and unlovable and no one can do anything about it.

so, 4x02. it’s a brilliant episode for perfuma’s character, really, and the first proper development we’ve had since 1x04. we see her anger, her impatience, but we also see her self-doubt. her belief that she’s inadequate, ‘just a flower girl.’ this is also when we get introduced to her little mantra that becomes a bit of a motif later on, ‘i can do this.’ we know perfuma doesn’t wholeheartedly believe this, but she says it anyway because she wants to. perfuma wants to be better. she will do whatever she can to be her best self, whether that be actually conquering her gripes with cacti or realising there’s a loophole with the roots (love that conflict resolution by the way, another good deconstruction of hero bs by spop).

this episode is also significant because it comes back to perfuma’s fear of change, of vulnerability. she’s thrown into a situation she doesn’t want to be in, one she feels miserably unprepared for, and she hasn’t done the one thing that puts her at her best beforehand, but she pulls through in the end because she is surrounded by people that support her, that listened to her and consoled her when she was vulnerable. 4x02 teaches perfuma the power of self-worth and the power of true, mutual, unconditional love, which can only come with vulnerability.

and this is where her character gets really interesting, in my humble opinion. ngl, one of the reasons i love perfuma so much is because she’s a pisces and i am too. i’m not gonna go astrology hoe on you rn, i’m just using this to demonstrate the part of her character that teaches others. pisces, if you don’t know, love to play therapist. we like to help the people around us with whatever strifes they may have because we think we’re fucking great at it. perfuma actually is.

you know how i said perfuma learns the importance of self-belief and vulnerability? yeah, she teaches both of those lessons to other characters in s5. like i said, perfuma is a character who values self-betterment and also happens to be a pisces, so when she sees scorpia, riddled with so much self-doubt and such low self-esteem, her immediate response is just i’m gonna teach that bitch how to love herself. and she does!

i’ve seen some people say they don’t like scorfuma because it seemed as though the writers just decided to ‘fix’ all of scorpia’s problems by giving her a girlfriend. that’s very dumb, first of all because they aren’t even together by the end of the show, they’re just interested in one another. second, the whole point of she-ra is that we’re stronger together. scorpia doesn’t go through growth in s5 because a girl likes her, she goes through growth because someone is showing her support and love for the first time in her life and that empowers her. you know, the worth that scorpia finds in herself doesn’t hinge on perfuma, like it did with catra. it’s about her as an individual, and perfuma so clearly makes it about that when her big lesson revolves around singing. scorpia loves singing. perfuma tells her she should do it because she enjoys it, a sentiment you’d never hear in the horde, and when scorpia does sing, she is actively rejecting the people who did make all her self-worth hinge on them catra. she’s doing something for herself, because she enjoys it, because it makes her happy, because she can.

it’s that same mantra: i can do this, i can do this. i really love how this was brought back from 4x02, how perfuma repurposed something that taught her such a valuable lesson for someone else. perfuma and scorpia are great foil characters actually, both constantly underestimated and thought of as weak by their groups, but some of the strongest characters in the show due to their deep value of love and self. i can do this, and i know i can because you believe in me, because i believe in myself. it’s brought back again in 5x10, when the last thing perfuma says before scorpia breaks the beam is ‘i know you can [pull through]’. she tells catra she believes in scorpia. it’s that belief, that support from other people that empowers the self to believe it too. we are stronger together, you know??

anyways, onto vulnerability. return to the fright zone is in my top ten episodes of the whole fucking show and you might think that’s a bit weird but i don’t. 5x10 encompasses so many important themes of spop so well and tells them with scorfuma and spinnetossa, our two side lesbian couples. this is significant since perfuma literally draws a parallel between her and catra at the end of the episode, and catradora and spinnetossa have always been significant to one another. i’m gonna say it, perfuma is the reason catra is finally able to confess to adora in 5x13. i’ve already talked about how important perfuma is to catra’s motivation to improve, but she literally makes catra rethink everything about strength and vulnerability, two words catra has a lot of feelings about.

catra fears vulnerability. we know this. she has such a deep love for those important to her but is never able to articulate it because she worries she’ll be taken advantage of, shot down, laughed at, whatever. all of this stems from the abuse she suffered at shadow weaver’s hands and her attachment issues, and it’s also why catra pretends to hate scorpia’s very open displays of affection and love: she sees it as weak because she has been taught to, but it’s all she ever really wanted to be.

we also know perfuma used to fear vulnerability. she doesn’t any more. the entirety of the episode leading up to her and catra’s heart-to-heart is her being vulnerable, putting herself in a position where she’s in danger but believing it’s worth it. and it is. despite what everyone said to her, perfuma is right: it was worth it. she got through to scorpia, even if it was only for a moment. she literally spells it out to us and catra with one of the best lines in the whole show: it’s hard, keeping your heart open. it makes you vulnerable, but it doesn’t make you weak, and i have to believe it’s worth it.

back in 1x10, perfuma was right: being together makes you vulnerable. horde prime tries to use people’s relationships against them, that’s literally the plot of save the cat, the point of pitting catra and adora against one another. he sees them as weak, just like shadow weaver deems adora’s feelings for catra ‘confusing’, just like light hope insisted adora was a danger to her friends as long as she was around them. they were all wrong. yes, they’re vulnerable. perfuma acknowledges that vulnerability puts you in danger, that it’s difficult to do that, but she knows it doesn’t make you weak. weakness vs strength is a big conflict in 5x10 literally introduced to us with netossa’s theories on everyone’s weaknesses in the first few minutes.

like perfuma says, friendship isn’t a weakness. it’s her greatest strength. her belief in love is literally what saves her and adora’s lives, it’s what saves everyone who got chipped, glimmer, bow. belief in love, both of others and yourself, is what saves adora in her dying moments. perfuma summarises she-ra’s entire fucking message to us repeatedly in 5x10 and she tells it to catra because catra is the one who will do the most with it. that glance at adora, it’s obvious what it means. perfuma is telling catra she should be open with adora about her feelings because you have to believe it’s worth it.

you won’t get anywhere waiting for other people to make the move. she-ra couldn’t heal plumeria’s lands, so plumeria had to fight their own battle alongside her no matter how much they felt unable to. the rebellion couldn’t move mara’s ship, so perfuma had to despite thinking she wasn’t strong enough. the reason they always win in the end is because they have each other, they have love and support and people motivating them to do better. just like perfuma motivates herself to do better.

it’s the mantra. i can do this. i can be vulnerable and still win, because i have love. and it’s hard, it’s so fucking hard to be vulnerable when you’ve feared it all your life and you’re so angry, so hurt, but you have to believe it’s worth it. and it is. it is, it is, it is, love is stronger than anything and being vulnerable for the people you love is the only way you can ever get what you want from them. perfuma as a character embodies that, having learnt it herself, and teaches the lesson to one of the characters who needs it the most.

adora is dying, and catra loves her, and she knows she does, and she just has to believe. adora is dying, and she loves catra, and she knows she does, but she doesn’t believe. not until catra teaches her too, in that moment, to realise they were all wrong, light hope, shadow weaver, horde prime. adora doesn’t need to let go, she needs to hold on and believe she will be pulled back up by the girl she loves. she needs to believe she deserves it. that it’s worth it.

and it is.

#ANYWAYS I FUCKING LOVE PERFUMA THANK U QUEEN FOR BEING THE BEST SIDE CHARACTER #sjdjeksmnf sorry this is long i tried to keep it short #I HAVE SO MUCB TO SAY ABT HER #shut up daisy #spop #perfuma #scorfuma #catra #scorpia #catradora #adora #spop meta

960 notes · View notes

ginjointsintheworld · 3 years

Note

I think 4.04 is the one where Lauren speaks to Iggy about of Leyla is her new addiction or not. I hate that idea but I get why they’d go there, especially since there was such a visceral reaction to Lauren’s own visceral reaction to Leyla potentially leaving, so I’m hoping Iggy gives her good advice. He can be so hit or miss and lately he’s been missing a lot for me. What do you think about that idea, by the way? I don’t think Leyla is an addiction because people just can’t be that, not in the same way drugs are, at least. I think Lauren’s just feeling the rush from being in love for the first time and feeling everything deeply, which is just her personality.

SO TRUE ABOUT IGGY BEING HIT OR MISS AND MISSING LATELY. i wasn't a fan of him trying to lowkey force his way of grieving onto wandy in the last episode because she was right about not being able to feel crushing grief every time a patient has a set back. but it was a learning moment for him so, ya know, hopefully he's back on track for when lauren comes for advice.

i find that people who call leyla lauren's new addiction say it out of an excuse for not liking the ship and have a passing, surface understanding of their story & characters. like you said leyla is a whole ass person with thoughts and feelings and reactions. can a person be emotionally dependent on or unhealthily co-dependent with another person? yeah. but what have we seen in their relationship so far that indicates that? from their meeting to their friendship to their relationship, they've been pretty comfortable doing their own things. whether it was lauren giving leyla a space to move as she pleases to living together with separate jobs. even now, lauren doesn't feel the need to constantly hover over leyla who's literally in arm's reach. she occasionally annoys casey for updates (which i think leyla would put a stop to real quick if she thought he was really being a spy given her 'are you spying on me' reaction) but we've seen lauren leave the ED and the residents to walsh and go deal with other issues within the hospital. LEYLA went to go find LAUREN in 4x02.

frankly i think the basis of this addiction viewpoint came from lauren's closet breakdown + whatever shady happenings she did for the 5th spot. however that was a moment from visceral fear of losing the life she's started to build with someone she whole heartedly loves, maybe for the first time ever. especially considering that lauren knows how hard it is to keep up any kind of relationship with someone from across the country. /Lauren/ picked washington for college because the distance made it easier for her to leave her family. plus even leyla was thinking about how hard it'd be to do a long distance relationship but she was more prepared to accept that and the work and confidence to make it work. because leyla really, really, fucking loves lauren too. that moment and action, while incredibly boneheaded and stupid and wrong, was an extenuating situation, not their norm. we've seen their norm, we're seeing the norm now. lauren and leyla are two independent people with their own lives that they were living before. the difference now is when they go out and experience the world they have someone at home to share the pieces of it with.

also i know we're all used to seeing lauren just relentlessly suffer with only fleeting morsels of happiness and her being consistently happy and feeling safe to be emotionally vulnerable must be jarring but i promise it's not a Red Flag lmaooo. her girlfriend is working nights while she works days and they are undoubtedly bone tired after their shifts and probably only catch each other as one leaves and the other comes home.... it's perfectly reasonable for lauren to miss leyla. she's never really had someone to miss before.

tl;dr leyla isn't an addiction, lauren just has a well rounded life for once.

#anon #asks #whew this got long lol #anyways if iggy doesn't firmly reassure lauren that leyla isn't her new addiction #i will be punching that man in the throat

18 notes · View notes

handonhaven · 3 years

Note

Am I the only one who's annoyed that legacies keeps changing their own lore when it comes to malivore? It can't just be me right. Like malivore is a physical place, it's a solitary prison where each person/creature has their own prison to forever walk in the darkness alone. That much was stated by Clarke back in 2x01. And I get that Hope being there is what cause all the prisons to open so all creatures could see and touch one another because she's the one thing that can kill malivore. But shouldn't it have gone back to individual prisons once she left? But yet they just decided to change that for some reason because malivore can just somehow not only create places there but people and creatures could just walk around take a stop at the ice cream shop and just stay and talk for a bit. Now I was willing to overlook that and overlook the fact malivore could somehow consume Cleo and the necromancer even after it was stated so MANY times that when he was created they made it so he could never harm or comuse witches, vampires, and werewolves. But yet they had him consume two witches. This one I'm not going to be able to overlook bc I just saw the summary for 4x02 and it said Landon and Cleo meet in the malivore dimension. HOW!?

Okay one how can Landon be in malivore if he's being possessed by malivore? That doesn't make any sense. Last time I checked malivore is a physical place not a spiritual place(but I guess it's just another classic case of them changing their lore to fit the story they want to tell. Instead of just writing the story in a way that fits the lore they've already set). So wouldn't it make more sense for Landon to idk be trapped in his own mind? And me being me start it thinking of ways where it makes sense for Landon to be in malivore. This is what I came up with, that maybe it isn't actaully malivores dimension and that it's actaully Landons dimension. Bc it was stated back in s1 that Landon has all of malivores powers. So I'm thinking it's actaully Landons dimension and that's why he can somehow be there(and be seen) bc he's trapped there because malivore is possessing him and since malivore is also possessing him he can also control that dimenstion(I hope that makes sense).

I don't even want to get start it on the whole Landon and Cleo meeting thing. I'm just hoping they dont try and pull a thing where they make them become friends bc no on so many levels. Let it be a thing where they decide to be allies and team up to find a way out/find a way for Landon to get control of his body. And can we just take a second to talk about how the first time we're going to be seeing the real Landon its connected to someone else(And to Cleo no less, I'm sorry but I don't think I can ever forgive her what she did and I'm kind of hoping since her and Landon are gonna meet then I want a scene where Landon finds out what she did and he says something like "so Hope wasn't grieving fast enough for you, so you create a fake me to keep her occupied, just so you can later use her to kill malivore. What is wrong with you?" But you know more Landon like). I mean couldn't the first time we seen the real Landon just be about him and no else? I don't want to get my hopes up but small part of me is wishing that first time we see the real Landon will be in 4x01, it doesn't matter how if I'm being honest. And for that to be just about him.

P.s sorry for the small rant I didn't mean for it to get this long.

Nope! It bugs me too. Yeah, idk if things could go back to normal in Malivore after Hope jumped in and opened those individual prisons. But it’s still a physical space, where only what Malivore consumed should exist there. But yeah, somehow there’s an ice cream shop, and I’m pretty sure Malivore didn’t consume an ice cream shop, so how is that possible? Unless he’s able to create illusions? But the ice cream shop seemed like a literal place that he created to exist there, so it seems unlikely that it was an illusion. And I’ve wondered the same thing about Cleo and the Necromancer. Did they actually say that the Necromancer was a witch? He would’ve had to have been a witch of some kind (even though they broke so many rules with him and his powers if he is), so yeah, you would think Malivore would’ve wanted to spit both him and Cleo out too.

And I talked about Landon and Cleo in Malivore on my Landon blog as well. Ever since 3x16 came out and I saw people saying they thought Cleo was gonna meet Landon in Malivore I thought that made no sense. Yeah, all of that, that’s exactly what I said in my post here x. How can they have Cleo, whose physical body is in Malivore, interacting with Landon’s mind/spirit since his physical body is in the real world? They better have some sort of explanation, because as far as we know, that shouldn’t be possible. I could see it maybe making sense if Landon somehow took control of the dimension, at least partially, if he’s connected to Malivore’s mind and if he does have some of his powers. Idk about it being an entirely new dimension, I wouldn’t think that would be possible? But I guess anything could happen at this point.

I feel the same way about Landon and Cleo, I honestly don’t get why so many fans want them to be friends and have some sort of sibling relationship? When Cleo tried to murder the love of Landon’s life? I don’t think it would be at all in character for Landon to get close to someone who manipulated and hurt and tried to kill Hope. Especially with the state he’s been in, I wouldn’t think he would trust or want to get close to anyone besides Hope at this point. And also just imagine what that would be like for him to find out. He’s been trapped and completely alone all this time and is so traumatized, and possibly the first person he’s gonna see, he’ll find out that she tricked Hope by creating a fake version of him and then tried to murder her? That would freak anyone out, but imagine how scary that would be for Landon after all he’s been through. And then he might be stuck with her and have to work with her when he may not know what’s real or what the truth is or if she can be trusted? Give him a break already, he needs to see Hope. Someone who can truly help him and who he obviously trusts completely, not someone who was previously a threat. So yeah, I don’t want him becoming friends with Cleo either, not right now anyway. I could maybe see it happening in the future, if they choose to develop a friendship between Cleo and Landon/Hope, but I think that should be gradual and happen over time. And only after Cleo has proven that she’s someone they can trust and if Hope and Landon feel comfortable having any sort of friendship with her. Because Hope clearly does not want to be friends since she just walked away when Cleo brought it up in 3x16. (Why no one seems to be considering Hope’s feelings and her mental well-being when it comes to Cleo after Cleo traumatized her, while also prolonging Landon’s suffering, I really don’t understand tbh.) So yeah, hopefully Landon and Cleo will just team up for the time being so that they can defeat Malivore.

And same, I was honestly so disappointed seeing that synopsis because I just wanna see Landon! They need to be focusing on Landon when we finally get his scenes, and I don’t want that focus to be taken away with them bringing another character into them. And I get how you feel about Cleo, I feel the same way. I think they need to show that she’s honest and trustworthy, and show that she can truly be a good friend to Hope and Landon before I can fully be ok with her. But I’d love if they had a scene like that with her and Landon, where we see him reacting to what she did. It would only make sense for him to be very shocked and upset and wary of her. And he’s probably so done at this point, I could definitely see him saying something about it. But yeah, I seriously just wanna see Landon and have the focus be on him. We already know we’re gonna get more of Cleo and her past anyway, so I don’t need more of that in scenes where we should be seeing Landon and learning what happened to him. And I’d love it if we first see Landon in 4x01, without Cleo being involved. I always wanted Hope to be the first one he sees, and because they’re together and their stories are so connected, we know that wouldn’t take away from us learning about what’s going on with Landon. Because that would be Hope’s goal as well, to find out, and it would give us Handon content along with it. And I saw some people getting excited about the idea that Cleo could tell Landon about Hope and what’s been happening and how much she loves him. Which would be great, but also like... they could just have Hope doing all of that herself by going into Landon’s mind? And being able to reach him and let him know how much she loves him and help him fight, which would be infinitely better than just having Cleo tell him? So if we get nothing like that with Hope, that’ll be yet another huge disappointment and missed opportunity. But I really just want lots of focus on Landon and whatever state he’s in after we went an entire season without him.

#answered #landon kirby #malivore #cleo sowande #s4

10 notes · View notes

shh-im-fangirling · 3 years

Text

Small reviews of my rewatch of Season 4

4x01

- Maddie and Chimney 😢

- Family videocall between Athena, Bobby, Michael, David and Harry 🥰

- Eddie: "At least it's not a tsunami."

Buck: "😒" really funny Eddie 😂

- Bobby with that guy 🥺

- The woman's story 😭

- May worried for Athena 😢

4x02

- Buck to Chim: "You're... you're gonna be a great dad." 🥲❤

- Chimney with the pregnant woman 😭

- Athena: "Thankz for coming to get me."

Bobby: "Always." ❤

- Micheal and David ❤

- Carla reading for Chris and Eddie and them falling asleep ❤

- Chimney, Maddie and their mango 😭❤

4x03

- Eddie terrified by technology 😂

- "Give me your gun!" Bobby fed up with the robot 😂

- Hen's storyline is boring 😪

- Buck's therapy 😢 (Oliver is so pretty this season 🥺)

- Maddie 😢

- Buck and Chris pranking Eddie 😂😂😂

- "It's a girl." ❤

4x04

- May learned how to do her job so well 👏🏻

- Buck and Eddie detectives 😂

- Chimney under pressure because of the secret, poor guy 😂

- How cute Albert and Chim trying to lighten the Buckley's visit.

- "United front." 😢

- Poor Buck 😭 (His "Love me anyway." breaks my heart everytime)

4x05

- Buck has always been ignored and underestimated by his parents, "abandoned" by his sister and scared of being left alone. In the 118 he has found the famoly he always wanted 😭❤

- He always puts others first 😭

- The postcards ❤

4x06

- This entire episode 😂

- The lightness with which they overcome the storyline with the Buckley's 😒

- The Helium scene 😂😂😂 what a laugh 😂

- Athena pissed off 😂

- But what does Ana's return do for Eddie's character growth? Nothing, it doesn't give him any benefit! 😒

4x07

- Denny and Nia are so freaking cute 🥺

- Eddie and Buck with the turkey 🦃😂

- Micheal, Bobby and David's chaotic energy 😂😂😂

- Buck's disgust when he sees Albert at Veronica's 😂

- Eddie was not found in this episode 😒

- This episode was a bit useless 👐🏻

4x08

- Eddie and Ana are so boring 😒

- After months without seeing each other qnd the way she treated him Buck is really friendly with Taylor? 😒 Just like Ana to Eddie, she doesn't bring any benefits to Buck!

- Maddie and Athena 🥺

- Taylor didn't actually had a good reason to be angry at Buck for the double date.

-The vaccines scene 🥺

- Buck and Chris 😭❤

4x09

- Maddie and Chimney with the false allarms 😂

- Poor Albert 😢 The way the alterned his rescue with the birthof the baby 😢

- "I love us." ❤

- Chimney with Albert 😭

- Eddie cuddling Chris ❤

- Hen and Karen 😢

- Bobby letting off the steam 😢

- More Uncle Buck in season 5! 🥺

- Jee-Yun, like her grandma 🥺❤

4x10

- Buck showing the tools to the kids 😂

- Denny and Nia 😭

- The dispachers surprising Maddie 🥰

- Season 1 flashbacks 😭

- Grandma Lee 🥺❤

- Athena and May 😢

- Chimney and Maddie exhausted 😂

- Denny with the new forster siblings 🥲

4x11

- Poor Sue 😱😢

- Josh 🥺

- Buck and Taylor as friends are okay. I really don't get why they have to get them in a romantic relationship when they want completly different things! 1000 times better as friends.

- What a genius Josh 👏🏻👏🏻

- Josh and Sue ❤

4x12

- Another useless episode. This season is full of filler episodes.

- Oliver's hair are amazing in this season 😍

- Buck in the sewer, poor him 😂

- Eddie's expressions 😂

- Can anyone explain to me why everyone loves Ravi? We saw him twice.😶

4x13

- Hen's storyline is so boring.

- Carla comes back and dispenses pearls of wisdom ✨

- Maddie 😢

- Bobby not talking with Athena is so annoying 😑 but he is also right since she doesn't talk to him...

- EDDIEEEE 😭😭😭😭😭😭

4x14

- Eddie asking Buck if he is hurt while he is the one bleeding to death 😭

- Buck and Chris 😭❤

- Buck always wants to protect the people he loves - they are the most important thing to him. He considers the risks so no one of his fwmily ends up in danger.

- Taylor wanted Buck onky after he put himself in danger, just like his parents used to do 😒

- Eddie when Buck tells him that it wouod have be better if he was the one shot instead: "😒"

- BOBBYYYY 😭😭😭😭

- Athena to the rescue 💥

- The paraller of Bobby and Athena with 4x02 😭

- Maddie 💔

- Eddie chose the person he trusts most to trust Chris; the person who immediately his son and always protected him ❤

- I love the Grant-Nash family! ❤

(S1 / S2 / S3)

#911 fox #911 on fox #evan buckley #athena grant #bobby nash #eddie diaz #chimney han #hen wilson #maddie buckley #may grant #michael grant #micheal and david

5 notes · View notes

ila9182 · 5 years

Text

Anything For You - A Battlestar Galactica one-shot

Hey everyone! I'm back, this time with a Battlestar Galactica one-shot!

I didn't think I would have been able to write something about the show, but during my rewatch, when I reached episode 4x02 and watched the Roslin/Adama scene that breaks my heart every time, I had to write something.

I hope you will like it! This is my first BSG fic, so I hope it's not too bad.

! TRIGGER WARNING: cancer, hair loss. !

I don't own the show or its characters.

The complete story after the gif or you can read it here!

ANYTHING FOR YOU

Bill knew the moment the words had left his lips that he had fucked up. He knew it, and yet he hadn't seemed able to stop them from coming out of his mouth. When Laura had pointed out to him with her usual pragmatic reasoning his fear of losing the people he cared about and his fear of living alone, he had gotten defensive. The alcohol surely didn't help him to realize what he was about to say.

"And you're afraid to die that way."

He should have stopped there, but somehow the words kept coming out of his mouth and he was making no effort in stopping them. He wasn't thinking straight, it was his frustration, his anger speaking. He was angry, angry with her for thinking that – as always – she knew best, for messing with his head and for trying to reason with him. He was angry at the truth she had spoken, because yes, she was right. Once again. She was right about his fears. Unlike him, she was fully aware she was dying, something that he would never accept. He was angry for the truth she had blurted out in his face, forcing him to confront the thoughts and worries he had always tried to keep at bay.

More than anything Bill was angry with himself. He was angry with himself for not having been able to protect Laura. Kara could have shot her and there wouldn't have been a single thing he could have done to save her.

Bill was angry with himself for letting his feelings cloud his judgment. He, the atheist Admiral – as Laura had called him earlier – was putting the entire fleet at risk for a woman he had come to think of as a daughter, but who could turn out to be a cylon wanting nothing else than destroy humanity. He had never let his feelings take over his – mostly military – decisions, and yet somehow he did this time. The fact that it was Laura who had called him to order had annoyed him even more. It had hurt his pride that he had to be called in order by a woman – yes, she was the President of the Colonies, but still – who knew little, even if she had learned with time, about the military and its decisions.

Bill was also angry with himself for not being able to save her from her inevitable destiny. Watching her waste away with each passing day, the cancer eating her alive and depriving her from her strength was an unbearable sight for him. He felt powerless, useless and he hated that feeling. He hated feeling that, with each passing day, he was getting closer to the moment he would lose her.

Anger and alcohol didn't go well together and Bill knew it by experience. He hadn't even bothered to look at her as he went on, his words as sharp as swords.

"You're afraid that you may not be the dying leader you thought you were…"

Laura was turning her back to him, not allowing him to see her face. The fact that, when he had glanced at her, he hadn't apparently gotten a reaction – a headshake, a sigh, a tremor – from her bothered him. He had been staring at her with a challenging look when he had spat out his coup de grace.

"Or that your death may be as meaningless as everyone else's…"

Bill hadn't waited for a reaction this time. He had cowardly turned his back and walked away, fearing he might see on her face the pain he had caused her. Cowardly was the appropriate word to use in this case. When you drop a bomb, you either have the gut to stay and watch the consequences unfold, or you leave. He, the brave and fearless Admiral, the one who never surrendered in a battle had chosen the easy way out, as he knew he wouldn't have been able to face the consequences. Had he stayed he would have noticed how her brave face had started crumbling down, her lips turning down and her eyes pooling with tears. But he had left, closing the hatch behind him, as if it would protect him from the chaos he had caused.

Bill had royally fucked up. He closed his eyes and sighed. Ten minutes after their harsh conversation, he was still standing outside his quarters, leaning against the door. His mind was preventing him from going anywhere, he felt as if he was glued to the spot. His guilt was gluing him to the spot. Bill could definitely walk away and let his pride win, or he could go back to her and apologize. He could try to make things right again, he knew it would be the best decision. He couldn't grant himself and his pride the luxury of being pissed at her and ignoring her, not when he had no clue for how long she would still be there with him. He couldn't grant himself the luxury of walking away, ignoring the fact that tomorrow might never come and that those hurtful and harsh words could be the very last ones she would hear from him. He couldn't allow this, he knew it.

It took Bill another few seconds before he opened the hatch of his quarters again. It was silent inside. He slowly closed the hatch behind him and was about to walk back to where he had left Laura a couple of minutes ago when a muffled sob froze him to the spot. Bill listened carefully and heard another sob and a couple of small stutter breaths. He followed the sound of crying and found her, still sitting at the table, her shoulders slumped, her back to him. She was shaking uncontrollably, her fragile body racked by sobs. Bill's heart broke at the sight, aching for each stifled sob and shaky breath she let out. He felt sick knowing he had caused her so much additional pain, as if the one she was already carrying in her weakened body and soul wasn't enough.

Bill closed the distance between them and gently held her against him, her head resting against his stomach. He awkwardly hugged Laura, him standing, leaning slightly against her chair while she was sitting. Laura jumped under his touch and he reassuringly started stroking her hair. She didn't react at first. It took her a few second before she jolted and started struggling against him. Laura tried to break his embrace, as she muttered, "Don't touch me."

Bill knew she was angry. Laura had every right to be angry with him after the hurtful words he had blurted out to her, but he wasn't going to let her win this time. He wasn't going to let her push him away. Bill kept stroking her hair when he whispered, "I'm sorry, Laura. It was unfair and…"

"Don't touch me!" Laura yelled this time, trying to move away from him. His arms were strong around her and she went on, her voice raising with each time she repeated, "Don't touch me!" She tried to push him away, frantically struggling against him and looking on the verge of a panic attack.

"Laura, no. Please listen to me." Bill requested, his voice firm but gentle.

"Don't touch me…" Laura's voice trailed off as another sob escaped her lips, "Go away, Bill, please. Don't touch me."

Bill suddenly realized that Laura pushing him away wasn't only because of what he had told her. His soothing touch came to a stop when he felt strands of hair coming away. He stared at the locks in his hand and then noticed another few on the table. His heart twitched, as he understood why she was looking so distressed. Just as much as him, she had her own stubborn pride and she wouldn't allow him to see her that weak, that sick, that fragile. She was losing her femininity, she was starting to see the most obvious effect the treatment had on her. Bill looked down at Laura and was surprised when he found her staring at him, tears silently streaming down her face.

"It's okay…" Bill whispered reassuringly to her, his hand reaching for her cheek, wiping away her tears.

"It's not." Laura replied, her voice abnormally firm despite the tears. "It's starting all over again…" She moved away from his embrace this time and stood from the chair, "But don't worry, I'll go back to Colonial One. Last thing you need is to wake up in a bed full of my hair." She waved a hand in the air before drying her tears, "This way I'll stay not only out of your head, but also out of your quarters." She added coldly, echoing his previous words.

Bill closed his eyes and sighed. He caught her hand before she passed by him and stopped her. "No, you're not going anywhere, Laura. You're staying here, with me."

"I'm pretty sure it was the last thing you wanted about twenty minutes ago." She harshly replied.

"I was angry and you know that alcohol fraks with my mind." Bill admitted. "I'm sorry, I should have never said those things to you. I've been an asshole with you."

"I don't need your pity, Admiral." Laura replied, shaking her head at him.

"You won't have mine, Madam President. Now don't force me to kick your ass to convince you to stay." Bill offered her a faint smile before adding in a serious tone, "You don't have to face it on your own, not anymore. I'm here for you, Laura."

Laura hesitantly looked at him, new tears threatening to fall at any moment. Bill gave her hand a little tug and pulled her against him. She wrapped her arms around him and he secured her fragile body in his arms. His hand soothingly stroked her back and it was all it took for Laura to break down. She cried silently against him, her tears soaking his uniform, as he simply held her and left from time to time kisses on the top of her head.

Laura calmed down after a few minutes. She stroked his chest gently before whispering, "Bill?"

"Yes?" Bill asked, looking down at her.

"Can I ask you something?" Laura went on hesitantly.

"Anything, Laura." Bill replied with a soft smile.

"Cottle told me it's apparently better to shave my head when my hair starts to fall down. He said something about being less traumatic than waiting for all my hair to come away." Laura scoffed sadly, "Less traumatic, yeah let's say so." She paused and tilted her head a little so she could meet his eyes before asking, "Could you help me shave my head when I'm ready?"

"Anything for you, Laura." Bill agreed with a slightly shaking voice. He tried to ignore the lump in his throat, as he dropped a kiss to her forehead. "I'll be here for you."

------------------------------------

Laura was sitting on his rack in her nightgown, her robe wrapped tightly around her. She looked like she was ready to go to sleep and Bill was about to join her when she met his gaze and whispered, "I think it's time."

Only a couple of days went by after Laura asked for Bill's help. He didn't need any further explanation; he already knew what to do. He took her by the hand and gently led her to his bathroom. Laura silently took her robe off and stared at herself in the mirror. She sighed as she ran a hand through her fragile hair. Her hair. She had always been proud of how it looked. Her thick red mane, her soft curls. This would have been the last time she would see herself with hair. She knew it too well.

Laura noticed Bill handing her the hair clippers and she briefly closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "We don't have to do this tonight…" Bill whispered to her, sensing her hesitation.

"Yes, I have to." Laura firmly replied. "I can't bear the fact of new strands of hair falling every day, I can't watch my life slip away with each passing day. I want to be in control, I need to be in control, Bill. The hair must go."

Bill nodded and Laura covered the hair clippers with a hand. She met his gaze and told him, "I want you to do it."

"Laura, I…" Bill hesitantly started.

"I trust you with my life, Bill." Laura cut him short. "And beside, you should be used to that thing, I'm not and I would like to avoid cutting my scalp. Cottle won't be happy if I end up in sickbay before my next appointment." She added with a smirk.

Bill scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Fine, Madam President."

Bill turned on the hair clippers and looked at her reflection in the mirror. He could see she was trying her best not to break down and he waited patiently for her to give him a sign he could go on. Laura met his gaze and forced a faint smile as she nodded, "I'm ready."

Bill nodded and started shaving her head. When her first locks hit the floor, the tears that had pooled in Laura's eyes and threatened to fall during the whole time started escaping her eyelids. A sob racked her body and Bill stopped, worriedly glancing at her in the mirror.

"It's okay, Bill." Laura reassured him with a shaky voice. "Go ahead, please."

Bill soothingly stroked her bare shoulder before dropping a kiss on it. He then kept shaving her head. With every lock that fell to the ground, he left a gentle kiss on her shoulder. A brush of his lips on her skin to let her know that he was feeling her pain and that he wished he could take it all away. A brush of his lips on her skin to let her know that to him she was still the most beautiful woman in the entire universe. A brush of his lips on her skin to let all the love he still hadn't had the gut to confess to her show. A brush of his lips on her skin as a promise that he would always be there for her at the end of the day. No matter what.

Bill turned the hair clippers off and gently swiped away the remaining hair from her bare shoulders. Laura had closed her eyes at some point when the sight of her beautiful locks piling up on the floor had become unbearable. She hadn't seen the final result yet and Bill knew she would need some time on her own to process what had just happened. He delicately stroked her upper arm and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "I'm going to take your pills and your glass of water."

It was the only excuse Bill could come up with and he was fully aware it sounded ridiculous. In a different situation, Laura would have argued that she could do it on her own, but she had sensed he was giving her some time alone. She nodded, still not opening her eyes, nor trusting her voice. Bill dropped a kiss to her temple and it took all of Laura's strength not to break down, not to shatter in millions pieces under his gentle touch. She heard the bathroom door close and let out a shaky breath.

Laura slowly swiped a hand over her bald head, feeling the roughness of the hair that was still there, but shaved. She opened her eyes and noticed her locks of hair piled up on the floor. Tears gathered in her eyes, as she hesitantly lifted her head to look at herself in the mirror. When she saw her reflection, her stomach lurched and a sob escaped her lips. She covered her mouth to muffle it, as she closed her eyes again.

She was bald. This was the image of herself she would see every time she would look at herself in the mirror. This was going to be how she would look like until the day she died. Laura felt sick, nausea coming over her, and she was sure it wasn't one of the many effects of the treatment.

Laura shivered. She put her robe on again and wrapped it tightly around her, but it didn't seem to help. Her head was cold. She realized how sensitive her scalp was. She had spent all her life with long hair and now that she didn't have any left, she was feeling cold. She was feeling as if something important was missing. You bet, Laura, you've lost your hair, she told herself.

Laura had to get used to that new image of her. She felt a familiar feeling take over her. Grief. She scoffed at how ridiculous it sounded. She couldn't possibly feel grief for her hair loss, not when she did have a pretty good taste in her life at how devastating grief was. That feeling had been a life companion for a countless years now. She had lost her mother to cancer. Her father, her sisters, her unborn niece or nephew – she hadn't had the gut to ask the medical examiner about this detail – had been killed by a drunk driver. Elosha had stepped on a mine and died while she was going along with Laura on her prophetic trip on Kobol. Billy had been gunned down after he had been held hostage in a bar. Laura had mourned every person of the fleet they had lost after the attack on Caprica. So yes, Laura knew grief all too well. That was why she couldn't allow herself – she found it utterly ridiculous – to feel grief for something as meaningless as hair.

Tears silently streamed down her face as she stared at her reflection. And yet, she did feel grief. It felt to her that a part of her had died with her hair loss, it felt to her that she was just getting a step closer to her own death. It felt to her as if it was the beginning of the end. Laura took a deep breath in an attempt to stop her tears, but failed. Another sob racked her body and she supported herself against the sink.

"Now, Laura, get a grip for the Gods' sake." She muttered to herself before splashing water over her face. She took the towel to dry her face and looked at herself in the mirror again.

Laura heard the bathroom door open again and she knew Bill had come back. She expected him to come closer to her, but he didn't. He must have been standing on the threshold, silently wondering about what to do next. Laura didn't turn to face him. She wasn't sure she was ready to see him again. She wasn't sure she was ready for him to see her that way. She had lost her femininity, she was nothing more than a worn-out body and she doubted he would ever looked at her the same way. She was different now, her bald head being a constant reminder of her precarious condition. How could he look at her now and not think every damn second that she might slip away at any time? How could he bear looking at her sick body? How could he even still like such a repulsive sight?

"Will it be?" Laura asked, her voice numb and hoarse from the crying. She kept staring at her reflection in the mirror as she specified, "Meaningless, I mean…" She finally slowly turned to face Bill and her sorrowful and reddened eyes met his, "Will it be meaningless, Bill?"

His blood instantly froze in his veins. Bill thought she had understood when he had apologized to her that he didn't mean any of the words he had blurted out to her face. He couldn't believe that she had been keeping this question in her mind for days. He couldn't believe that she was even considering he might have said the truth.

Bill didn't waste another second and crossed the room to stand behind her. He slid his arms around her tiny waist and hugged her from behind. His serious gaze met hers in the mirror as he replied, emphasizing every word, "No. Never." He dropped a kiss to her shoulder, as he added, "Not to me. Not to this fleet." He paused, his thumb delicately stroking the skin of her arm, "If it hadn't been for you, we would have been all dead when the Cylons attacked. You convinced me to leave the Colonies. You gave to all of us the most precious gift in the universe. Life, Laura, you've saved us that day. We will always be grateful to you for that, I will always be grateful to you for that gift."

Laura closed her eyes and took a deep breath. A tear escaped her right eyelid, rolled silently down her cheek and died in the crook of her neck.

"You look great." Bill whispered to her after a few seconds of silence, a faint smile appearing on his face.

Laura scoffed and rolled her eyes before replying, "For someone who's dying."

"No one's dying, Laura." Bill firmly stated, shaking his head.

"Bill…" Laura let out an exhausted sigh. She didn't know for how long he would keep denying the obvious, but she knew for sure that she didn't want to have that conversation again. She didn't want to go there again, memories of their discussion of a few days ago coming to her mind again. She was too tired – both emotionally and physically – to fight with him about this.

Bill ignored her annoyed tone and repeated to her reassuringly, "You are beautiful."

"And you're a liar, Bill." Laura calmly replied, her eyes glued to her reflection. She didn't seem to be able to divert her gaze from her head. Beautiful, she smirked sadly. This was the last word that came to her mind to describe herself right now.

"Now you listen to me, Roslin." Bill ordered her, in a tone half serious, half teasing, as he gently turned her so she could face him. His voice softened as he added, "You are still the beautiful woman I met right after the Cylons' attack. You've lost your hair, yes, but you are way more than your hair, Laura. You're brilliant, smart… you're unbelievably strong…" He paused and a smile crossed his face, as he reached for her cheek and told her, "and you've got the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen." He stroked her cheek and Laura smiled shyly, looking down. "If you think I would think less of you because of all this, you're so damn wrong, Madam President. You're a frakkin fighter and you have all my admiration and respect."

Laura slowly raised her head. When she met Bill's gaze, she read in his eyes nothing else but admiration and respect, and even love – if she dared to think that way. "What did I do to deserve you?" She asked, her voice above a whisper.

"You went through hell and you survived. I'm not sure I did that much to deserve someone as extraordinary as you."

The sincerity in his voice took her by surprise. Once again. Laura shook her head and replied, "This is not a contest about who had the shittiest life, Bill. You deserve to be happy just as much as me. We just have to give happiness a shot before…" Her voice trailed off and she cleared her throat before adding, "…before it is too late."

Bill nodded and offered her a faint smile, his hand still on her cheek. They silently stared at each other for a few seconds before he leaned in. His lips were nearly brushing hers when Laura arched an eyebrow and whispered, "What are you doing?"

Bill smirked and muttered to her, "I'm giving it a shot."

Before Laura had the chance to say something, Bill caught her lips in a gentle, but lingering kiss. When he broke the kiss off, he stared at her and offered her a soft smile. Laura opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again. She smiled at him instead.

"Come with me, I have something for you." Bill told her before she had the chance to find something to say. He took her by the hand, his fingers naturally interlacing with hers, as he walked her out of the bathroom. He gently made her settle in on his rack before sitting next to her. He turned around and grabbed a paper bag from the floor. He handed it to Laura who was staring at him with curiosity. She took the bag and arched an eyebrow at Bill. He nodded to her, encouraging her to take a look inside.

"I know it's not as beautiful as your hair, but…" Bill started, looking down at his fidgeting hands.

"Bill…" Laura whispered, her voice filled with emotion.

"I had Tory looking for it in the fleet and she found a woman who had a shop on Picon and she is still making wigs now." He explained to her.

Laura felt pressure build against her eyelids as she choked back a sob. She held the wig in her hands, delicately running a hand through it and stayed silent.

"I figured…" Bill paused and rectified, "we figured you would be more at ease if you use this in your public appearances… and when you want to feel more comfortable – the woman told Tory it could get a little itchy – well, this could work too." He added with a bright smile as he handed her a neatly folded green silk scarf.

Laura stared at Bill and said nothing. She was at loss for words and felt a lump in her throat. She put the wig down on her knees. Her eyes were filling up with fresh tears as she extended a trembling hand and took the scarf from Bill's hand. She opened it and gazed at it with a smile. She then rubbed her face against the soft fabric, humming contentedly.

"As soon as I saw it, I thought of you. It matches your eyes." Bill told her softly.

This time she wasn't able to hold back a sob. "Oh Bill…" Laura whispered as tears streamed down her cheeks. It took her a few seconds to find her voice back and tell him, "Thank you." She waved a hand in the air and looked up, hoping this would help to blink back the tears. "Thank you so much for all this." She repeated, this time in a more confident and firmer tone. "I can't find the words to tell you how much I appreciate everything you've done and you're doing for me."

"You're welcome, Laura." Bill simply replied, a warm smile on his lips.

Laura stared at the wig on her knees for a while longer and chuckled. When she looked up and found Bill looking at her with an arched eyebrow, she smirked and told him, "It's not blond."

Bill let out a small laugh before replying, "Told you, I couldn't see you as a blonde…" His smile grew wider when he heard her giggle even more. "Moreover I wouldn't risk the President being confused with a Cylon."

And just like that, Laura started laughing. A hearty laugh that lit her face and had her eyes sparkling again. Bill felt his heart fill with joy at the sight. She looked in that brief moment cheerful and it brought back happy memories to his mind. Gods, how much he had missed her infectious laughter. Laura covered her mouth with a hand, trying to suppress another giggle as she replied, "Oh no, you wouldn't… That's the last thing we need right now."

#Battlestar Galactica #Laura Roslin #Bill Adama #roslin x adama #rodama #spaceparents #4x02 Six of One #anything for you #oneshot #fanfiction #ilariawrites

56 notes · View notes

aeon-wolf · 5 years

Text

Legends 4x15

Last episode before the season finale and I think it was a reasonable one all things considered.

I generally do think that Legends has escaped the S4 Arrowverse curse (Supergirl has as well from what I’ve heard). I definitely don’t think it’s their best season as far as pacing and story cohesion is concerned, but I don’t think the season has been bad.

My few gripes with the show are usually compensated for by how much I love Legends in general and I’m very much willing to overlook some things that I might otherwise hate on another show that I wasn’t as invested in.

- I think the whole Gary storyline has been... weird but also it does make sense. And I’m glad that everyone is coming around to realizing that Gary has been kind of abused by the team and the bureau, basically forever. Gary isn’t my favorite character, I kind of find him more annoying than anything, but I think it was an important lesson for the Legends (and Ava) to learn.

- I think Mona has become a much more relatable character in the past few episodes and I hope they continue to improve her character, whilst still keeping her Mona. I will admit I have been rather turned off by her personality, but I thought that it was more a personality clash with my own, rather than disliking her. Like I’m not a huge fan of overly optimistic, love conquers all, bubbly characters in general. Gary is probably a prime of example of that. I tend to relate to and enjoy characters more like Sara or Zari. Or even Mick. But I think her character has been far more relatable and well balanced in the last few episodes than she was early on. And I do hope she stays for S5. It sounds like she probably will since Ramona was saying on Twitter that she’s heard people’s criticisms of her character and will continue to improve or whatever it was.

- The fairy godmother plotline thing... Okay I think it was a cute idea and a good premise, but I also wish that it had been at least teased earlier. I don’t count 4x02 because we didn’t really learn anything about her in regards to how it’s transferred, who she was prior to being a fairy godmother, etc, etc. I did like the small snippet of backstory that Tabitha was just a fairy godmother in 4x02 and I guess time passes differently in the real world and Hell and that she had been there for centuries and Neron saved her. It makes the storyline make a bit more sense than it has imo. Nora being the fairy godmother now is interesting and I’m looking forward to seeing how they rectify that in the finale. I have a suspicion that it’ll be something similar to Aladdin where Gary (or whoever her charge is) might be able to wish her free? Or she might trick Tabitha into taking it back. Or something like that. Who knows at this point. And then I’m not entirely sold that Tabitha and Neron aren’t going to backstab each other at some point.

- The Neron plotline, I kind of hate that it’s the penultimate episode and only now are we really finding out what Neron’s endgame goal is. That he’s collecting souls to become the king of Hell. That was apparently teased earlier in the season, very briefly according to Zari, but I feel like the Neron thing has been so disjointed all season that expecting that to be a satisfactory way to foreshadow this is a bit of an ask. I don’t have anything against the actual plotline. I think it’s kind of cool, but I wish we had known about it earlier as to build more suspense, rather than just accepted confusion on what the fuck was going on in regards to Neron.

- John... I don’t know a lot about John’s backstory since I didn’t watch the solo Constantine show, so I don’t know if those demons he met were cameos or what, but it was interesting to find out a bit more about the workings of hell. I’ve done a bunch of research on demons myself for a fic I’ve been writing and for him to namedrop Satin, Belial and Beezelbub was kind of cool to me. I kind of want to be mad at him for choosing Astra over Ray, but a part of me sort of understands why he did it. Astra has haunted him for a long time, and we got a few snippets of it in the episode. And it was kind of sad (though not surprising) to see that Astra wasn’t the small child he envisioned anymore.

- If they kill off Charlie’s character in the finale I’m going to cut someone. I really do want Charlie to stay for S5. Watching her basically sacrifice herself for all the magical creatures and Mona was a nice character development moment (though I do feel like she’s been neglected in this manner since the mid-season finale). It’ll be interesting to see how her shapeshifting powers will play into the finale.

- And young Zari finding the dragon egg... ooo that’s going to be spicy for the finale. I wonder if because she intervened in her own past, that present-day Zari might have a grown dragon after the timeline settles into the ramifications of leaving it there. It seems that Zari is going to be our ultimate MOTHER OF DRAGONS. I wonder if the reason that Jes was laughing so hard about the mother of dragons thing at Caity during Clexacon was because Caity had expressed her interest in that but they made that Tala’s role instead. I don’t know, but I really do want to hear the rest of that story once the season is over. Someone should ask that at ComicCon.

- Caity and Jes tap dancing was kind of hilarious. I was a tap dancer for a good ten years of my life so it was kind of nostalgic for me. I know Caity has said she dislikes it and thinks she’s not too good at it, but her timesteps and pickups and whatnot were pretty good. Jes’ as well.

Honestly, I’m really hyped for the finale, but at the same time don’t want the season to be over. But then also excited for what the finale will bring us for S5. I do kind of hope they go back to their roots and perhaps tone the magical creature stuff back a bit. Obviously not get rid of all of it because I want Nora and Charlie to stay, but find another reason for anachronisms. I think the idea of meshing time travel with magic was good in theory but ended up being a bit messy in practice.

#legends of tomorrow #4x15 #analysis #thoughts #review

6 notes · View notes

mazqueen · 6 years

Note

I am so tired of Jane and Petra fighting, and it annoys me how it's always Jane getting mad at Petra and Petra being the one to have to always apologize.

This is gonna be long, you’ve been warned.

I agree about Jane and Petra fighting. It’s incredibly tiring to watch and in my opinion completely unnecessary. On the part where Jane is always mad and Petra always has to apologize, I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. That’s only happened once this season, I think? Truthfully, given their personalities, it actually makes sense if 80% of Jane and Petra’s fights are of Petra doing something that pisses Jane off / similar. Because Petra is… Petra and Jane is judgy. It’s bound to happen. And that’s fine. That makes sense. What doesn’t make sense to me is how they seem to fight/disagree, way too much about every single thing.

I get that people fight. I get that people are going to have disagreements. Especially a pair like Jane and Petra, who are just so different from each other — disagreements are to be expected. But I think my main problem with them just constantly fighting is that I’ve reached a point where fighting feels like the ONLY thing they ever do anymore. It’s like, the show keeps establishing that they’re friends and family by having Petra and Jane constantly say it out loud, but we never actually see them being one. I get that they can’t just always write Petra and Jane having a nice time during brunch all the time because it doesn’t move the storyline. But I just feel like there should be other ways to get them to interact without getting them into a fight every single time. We always get a few Jetra-heavy episodes every so often, right? And in my head, it’s just… why not have one where there’s an external conflict they have to deal with, instead of giving us yet another conflict between the two.

Jane and Petra don’t have to be best friends, but the way they portray these two lately, just kind of makes me wonder like… what exactly do they do at brunch? Do they just sit, eat and never talk? I get that they probably also interact beyond what we’re shown onscreen because it’s a show, and you can’t put literally everything and squish it into 40 minutes. But when I watch Jane and Petra interact in the scenes that they do show onscreen recently, it always feels like they barely know each other at all. It’s like their closeness is still at the same level as it was in season two, almost. Or actually, I’d argue it’s worse than season two. Which makes absolutely no sense if they’ve really been spending time together every Saturday for about four years now. Plus, they keep calling each other ‘friend’!!! I mean honestly, unless all they ever do is have disagreements over their weekly brunches… a lot of things just really doesn’t make sense to me in terms of their relationship right now.

Think about it. In season two, Jane and Petra’s friendship was kind of new, but Petra went out of her way to subsidize Jane’s rent so she could live in her dream house. Petra went to yell at Angelique Harper with Jane when they thought she stole Jane’s idea. Jane went out of her way to see Magda in prison just to help Petra out of the Milos situation. Jane helped Petra with the baby stuff and postpartum depression. There’s a lot more that I won’t list down. But again, this is SEASON TWO and they were barely friends at the time, but they certainly acted like they were friends. Then we jump to season three/four, where they’re supposedly friends. Supposedly family. Supposedly spend brunches every week on Saturday.

Expectation: Petra calls in a favor for Jeffrey Mullins the first time Jane asked her to (I think it was 4x04?) because Jane is her friend and she just wants to help.Reality: Petra calls him so that they can move past their fight, making it so that Petra was doing it for selfish reasons.Me: Right.. I’m supposed to believe that Petra in s2 would subsidize Jane’s rent and take no credit for it, but she can’t/won’t call in a simple favor from Jeffrey for Jane now? When they’re supposed to be friends/family. I say bullshit. Also Petra forgetting Jane’s a writer is also bullshit.

Expectation: Jane would be concerned that Anezka and Magda are running around the hotel, knowing what those two are capable of.Reality: There isn’t a single scene or even a casual one liner mention of Jane being concerned, in fact she encourages Raf, the only one helping Petra to stop helping Petra for Raf’s safety, neglecting the issue of Petra’s safety.Me: Right… I’m supposed to believe that Jane in s2 cared enough to protect Petra from abusive Milos but now that they’re actually friends/family she doesn’t care that Petra’s abusers are out to get her. Bullshit. I don’t buy it for a second. And mind you, the whole Magda/Anezka stuff (4x02) happened BEFORE they got into their fight (4x04). So Jane wouldn’t have been upset with her yet at the time and yet nothing. Like I said, I don’t believe it.

The thing about Jane and Petra is that season two already shows us how much potential they have as friends. Season three/four has been slowly ruining that by giving us all these situations that frankly half the time feel unrealistic and make no sense to me. And I 100% blame it on the writers. Most (not all) of the things that have been happening between Jane and Petra is kind of weird for me to process, mostly because I genuinely feel like a lot of stuff should be things they’ve already moved from. It’s almost like, they did a three year time jump with the rest of JTV’s storyline, but they forgot to do the time jump part with Jane and Petra’s relationship because it feels a lot like we’re still right where they left off before the time jump?? I really just… don’t get why they refuse to give Jane and Petra’s friendship the progress it should have had by now. Because it’s not just the fights. Like for example, when Jane’s book was released, I don’t really understand why Petra was either not invited, or Petra opted not to attend the book launch. Petra was literally there and happy for her when she got the call about her book getting published at brunch in 3x11, it seemed like such a nice family moment. So why wasn’t she there? Jane not inviting her makes no sense in my head. Jane inviting her and her not going makes no sense in my head. We don’t exactly know which of the two happened but either way, it’s ???

I keep going back to Saturday brunches. Because while spending that together doesn’t necessarily mean they’d become superduperduper close, it would at least make them a little closer?? Plus the way they talk about brunch like it’s sacred and stuff. And yet they don’t seem to be part of each other’s lives anyway? Not to mention on Jane’s first year of mourning, it would’ve been only Petra and Jane there during brunches. Raf was in prison. And that would’ve also been the same time Petra was going to therapy after getting paralyzed. How is it possible that it feels like they still know nothing about each other?

Like I said. Either they’ve gotten to know each other during those four years worth of brunches and are friends like they say they are, or they don’t ever talk at all during those brunches (or just endlessly disagree on everything) in which case, can the writers stop making them say they’re friends if they’re not actually friends so that we can all stop expecting them to act like it??? Honestly I’m just… legit confused, someone please explain it to me because. I really… I’m just confused.

#petra solano #jane villanueva #jetra #text: jetra #i mean honestly #the writers should hire someone specifically just to read their latest scripts and point out things that don't make sense based on the thin #because there are a lot of inconsistencies #i mean idk if i'm the only one who's viewing it this way?#but i really just dont feel like they're friends in action about 90% of the time #just in words #Anonymous

25 notes · View notes

elizabethrobertajones · 7 years

Note

Ok so if all four of them are gonna be in a *cowboy themed* motel in 13x6 they're gonna have to split up 2 and 2 right??? So I'm really gonna need Dean and Cas to share a room and then have a convo that's reverse of the "Talk to me" one in S8 where instead they talk about how they both did feel suicidal but how they've both overcome it. ~For reasons unknown~

That would be great mirroring, and it’s always good to compare the fun episodes where things seem back to normal to 8x08… However… Sorry, but this is a bummer reply, I’m just not good with leaving off things like this :P

I sort of feel though that neither Dean or Cas got to completely overcome things in their respective paths through dark other worlds… Cas said he’d just keep fighting and even if the standing up was an important part, he acknowledged he was going back with a sense of hopelessness that he’d get what he truly wants - and that’s just how it was in the Empty, while it sounds like he may have forgotten the experience so it’s for now a metaphorical state he passed through and we got to see it vocalised and it probably means roughly where he’s up to. But the despair of resolution, the fact need/want has been called out for US to know it’s a major theme but Cas of course hasn’t actually talked face to face with any Winchester, let alone Dean, to resolve need/want, which is the core of his depression, thematically… He’s come back with levelled up determination and a will to live, which is great, but there’s so much work to do before he feels happy even if he DOES remember the Empty. I’ve written ridiculously long things tracking his arc so I’ll just say that this was a great step forwards for him but in no way actually resolving anything.

For Dean as well, Billie sent him back but it was with the “work to do” order/motivation that’s made Dean and Sam power through a lot of their worst times, and like how in the Empty nothing new was actually said about Cas, it just brought everything up that was troubling him so we’d get a sample of how he feels, that was just repeating the theme for Dean that he started this season on - that at best he’s going to feel like a guy doing his job, because someone more important than him told him he had to and he can’t stop now.

Billie’s words are the sort of advice he got in season 7 after Cas (and then Bobby) died, from Bobby, Frank and Eliot Ness, all of which was a variation of the same sort of nihilism about doing the job because it’s the job and you’re the one who does it. I��m in most agreement with the meta I’ve seen that Dean didn’t go into that whole mess looking for a reason to die, he just was in that state Bobby described:

BOBBY:I want to talk about your new party line.

DEAN:Party? What are you talking about? I don’t even vote.

BOBBY:“The world’s a suicide case. We save it, it just steals more pills”?

DEAN:Bobby, I’m here, okay? I’m on the case. What’s the problem?

BOBBY:I’ve seen a lot of hunters live and die. You’re starting to talk like one of the dead ones, Dean.

DEAN:No, I’m talking the way a person talks when they’ve had it, when they can’t figure out why they used to think all this mattered.

I’m picking on this conversation because it’s the most detailed but also because it’s the one Dean has WITH Bobby so in no way shape or form can it be about Dean losing Bobby, except that of course this episode gave Dean and Sam both a private conversation with Bobby about where they were at, so we could have a good last moment with him each, and also to gauge how they’d react to his death (Dean with this massive depression caused by losing Cas and his betrayal to pile on top of) and Bobby’s last advice apply after as well. His advice being:

BOBBY:Come on, now. You tried to hang it up and be a person with Lisa and Ben. And now here you are with a mean old coot and a van full of guns. That ain’t person behavior, son. You’re a hunter, meaning you’re whatever the job you’re doing today. Now, you get a case of the Anne Sextons, something’s gonna come up behind you and rip your fool head off. Now, you find your reasons to get back in the game. I don’t care if it’s love or spite or a ten-dollar bet. I’ve been to enough funerals. I mean it. You die before me, and I’ll kill you.

Cheery.

But this is essentially what Billie does for Dean. She reads him, sees he wants to die, and he tells her that he doesn’t matter, so she reassures him that he has a job, that he is important, that he’s in this cosmic position of responsibility. It would almost be encouraging, to know you’re not meant to die that day, that there is a reason for you to be alive. But not for Dean in the state he was in then.

Cas coming back is GREAT and of course it’s going to make Dean wildly happy. But he’s been feeling this way about the job a long, long time in ways that aren’t to do with Cas at all but is just his underlying major trauma that you can see coming from a hundred miles off in season 1:

from 2x09:

DEANI’m tired, Sam. I’m tired of this job, this life … this weight on my shoulders, man. I’m tired of it.

[…]

DEANI just think we should take a break from all this. Why do we gotta get stuck with all the responsibility, you know? Why can’t we live life a little bit?

Or this speech from 2x20 I contractually have to quote at least once a month as a card-carrying Dean!girl:

DEAN All of them. Everyone that you saved, everyone Sammy and I saved. They’re all dead. And there’s this woman, that’s haunting me. I don’t know why. I don’t know what the connection is, not yet anyway. It’s like my old life is, is coming after me or something. Like it like it doesn’t want me to be happy. Course I know what you’d say. Well, not the you that played softball but… “So go hunt the Djinn. He put you here, it can put you back. Your happiness for all those people’s lives, no contest. Right?” But why? Why is it my job to save these people? Why do I have to be some kind of hero? What about us, huh? What, Mom’s not supposed to live her life, Sammy’s not supposed to get married? Why do we have to sacrifice everything, Dad? It’s… Yeah…

(And, side note, it really annoys me when people make 2x20 about brotherly wuv, platonically or not, because THAT is why Dean decided to go un-wish this life, not because of anything to do with AU Sam, who he still trusted he could find his Sam in >.> I’ll just keep repeating this until I stop stumbling over the idea… :P)

He’s had similar smaller moments like this but season 2, 7 and now 13 are his grief seasons, so I’m most interested in these parallels. Like, just in general. Specifically in season 2 because he was dealing with John’s order to save Sam or kill him, which of course is a dynamic that Jack could horrifyingly repeat for him if Dean gets attached to a kid with the same horrifying destiny. Specifically in season 7 Dean was dealing with losing Cas and it immediately struck him to the core, that even while Cas was still Godstiel he was having mirrors with his season 2 self after losing John:

DEANSounds good. You got any leads on where the demon is? Making heads or tails of any of Dad’s research? Because I sure ain’t. But you know, if we do finally find it - oh. No, wait, like you said. The Colt’s gone. But I’m sure you’ve figured out another way to kill it. We’ve got nothing, Sam. Nothing, okay? So you know the only thing I can do? Is I can work on the car.

[… five years elapse]

SAM: So, what? Try to talk to him again?

DEAN: Sam.

SAM: Dean, all we can do is talk to the guy.

DEAN: He’s not a guy. He’s God. And he’s pissed. And when God gets righteous, you get the hell out of the way; haven’t you read the Bible?

SAM: I guess…

DEAN: Cas is never coming back. He’s lied to us, he used us, he cracked your gourd like it was nothing. No more talk; we have spent enough on him.

SAM: Okay.

DEAN: Hand me that socket wrench.

Dean didn’t lose the car this time, just had Miriam deface it with “Bitch” on the window and the car was washed and shiny in a couple of episodes. But it’s metaphorically a similar process and I guess all they had time for when 13x01 was about taking time in a very different way, by giving Dean like 10 minutes at the end of the episode all about how he was grieving Cas.

Anyway, I think there’s a lot of thematic overlap in what it means for Dean right now, with Billie’s reminder of his position on the cosmic ladder, to John’s order about Sam, to Dean’s responsibility to deal with Cas and the Leviathans, which eventually crystallises into his mission to kill Dick - and though Dick kills Bobby, finding out who is the head leviathan in 7x09 really just seals the deal of who Dean needs to personally kill to deal with everything, and the Bobby thing was just an extra motivation to fall into a revenge mindset, but it also about what happened with Cas (and when Cas comes back, he has to help kill Dick for the same reason it all happened to him and he was connected to it and responsible).

We really haven’t seen anything yet, but I think getting Cas back is a temporary fix at least to a bigger issue, which is Dean’s burden of the world, which Chuck lumped on him in 11x23 and made me very, very excited that Dean’s duty to save everyone was hopefully going to get some microscopic treatment and maybe one day some sort of resolution. I don’t think Billie’s comment was a pick me up, and it reminds me of how Cas started picking on Dean on Heaven’s behalf in 4x01 - telling him they had work for him. In 4x02 Dean complains a lot about how he hates being singled out and it’s absolutely horrifying that he was saved for unknown reasons. And those reasons turned out to be being Michael’s vessel and one of the 2 grenade pins needed to be pulled on the planet being destroyed.

(Which we have some handy visuals for and reminders of in the AU world right now :P)

I’d hope in the long run Chuck’s orders end up being destroyed as much as John’s were, because the parallel is 1 to 1 except bigger scale, and Chuck telling Dean the world has him to protect it literally in God’s own place is an absolutely horrifying unfair burden than broke him in season 5 and can be directly equated to how season 2 broke him when Sam, who was basically his whole world at the time, was lumped on him with the same burden. In the mean time, Billie’s adding to the weight on Dean, although long run she’s neutral, commenting on it rather than ordering, and seems to have some confidence that he has a purpose and will fulfil it, I can see Dean struggling with it in just the same way he took Cas’s comments in 4x01.

So even if he seems happy to get Cas back, the root problem of his depression, his sense of being worthless, is still truly about how he defines himself as a hunter and the guy who is supposed to save everyone - who will trade himself for a house of random ghosts he feels he LET DOWN by not investigating well enough sooner. Because he has sole responsibility to fix the planet.

The job is killing Dean literally and metaphorically, and the grief of losing all his loved ones as they do it is just an additional awful, awful part of it. Not getting Cas back immediately thanks to Chuck in 13x01 just confirmed how alone Dean is in the world to him, and he directly mentioned the line from 11x23 when reaching out to Chuck… Getting Cas back and Cas returning seemingly on his own steam is going to be a nice turning point, and good for uplifting Dean, but the core problem remains and since 11x23 I’ve been pretty certain that Dean’s endgame is NOT to be a hunter… Billie also now makes me think he has some purpose to fulfil, and ideally, fulfilling it would let him finally get off the cosmic ladder and be who he wants to be without obligation.

About all I can really speculate about that hopeful endgame would be that Sam seems to be lumped in with Dean on this, but Cas is literally outside the system based on how he got himself back from the Empty without Chuck’s interference, OR except for in thematic “rewards” or dramatic irony from just missing him really hard, Dean didn’t actually bring him back by DOING anything, and Jack, who is also outside the system in some ways, did instead. But that’s all a huge mess right now :P Need more data.

So anyway, to go back to Dean and Cas next episode? I think they will have a lot to talk about but it has to be immediate character stuff about their actions and desires. They are both really good for each other and going through very similar emotional territory so I hope they get honest and tell each other how they’re doing, but I don’t think they’ll be talking about overcoming anything. I think if it does mirror 8x08 it MAY be a reversal that Dean admits how bad he was doing without Cas, and Cas is still too uncertain about what happened to him or with a link to make it directly about Dean to reciprocate the sentiment… For all the good communication lately I’m not entirely sure if Dean and Cas can absolutely knock down all the walls.

And I seriously fear dramatic interruptions to their reconciliation just because of the extremely vague episode descriptions we have after 13x06, which seem to be concealing exactly what happens in that episode… I’m really expecting silly cowboys for like the middle half of the episode, with the first quarter for reconciliation and getting onto the job, and the last quarter or five minutes for shit to completely hit the fan in some way, probably about Jack, and probably involving Cas since he’s specifically not mentioned in the episode descriptions *even though they just got him back*.

I’m not worried or wanky about this, I’m just bracing myself for the next round of drama and what its subject will be. If Cas is fine and hanging out with the Winchesters still for 2 episodes and it was redacted spoilers for the sake of 13x05′s last 5 minutes that’s awesome :P But it sounds like time to brace yourself not to expect everything to be fluffy or resolved, either with plot stuff, or emotional arcs. We’re only 5 episodes in so the drama needs to keep on happening, and there’s no way Dean and Cas can or should overcome their arcs about their depression when it’s been set up so interestingly, just because they’re hanging out again.

But it WILL make them feel a lot better in the short term. :D I’m really excited for what they WILL say to each other, I just feel like in some ways we’re really starting to put the cart before the horse on identifying what stories are being told and what moments are being offered to tell them, and assuming the stories are over just because something really dramatic happened. I’m seeing it a lot with all sorts of thematic threads, that just because they’re becoming obvious or surface level or have had a really dramatic moment all about them, they’re being wrapped up as we speak. Instead I think it’s got to all be set up for the rest of the season, where this is all important stuff to know, but the real work hasn’t even begun yet :P

#Asks #they are DEFINITELY changing the emotional landscape of the show and have been for a few seasons #but that doesn't mean that it's all over just because things are turning up positively now :P #13x05 #13x04 #13x06 #season 13 spoilers #season 13 speculation #dean analysis #my stuff

247 notes · View notes

spaceorphan18 · 7 years

Text

Finding Kurt Hummel: Britney 2.0

Masterpost

4x02: Britney 2.0

I’m not sure why we needed another Britney Spears episode. I mean - I understand that it’s a vehicle for Brittany to have a plot line, but out of all the artists they give a tribute to again, Britney Spears would be near the bottom. Probably over disco. Hm.

Anyway - before I start on the very limited Kurt that we get in this episode, let’s take a second and appreciate the fact that Tina, Sam, and Joe (!!) sang a song about threesomes. You’re welcome.

Parallels

Before I get knee deep in complaining about Kurt solving all of Rachel’s emotional issues - I need to mention Brittana. So, I know we all know that Finchel and Klaine are often paralleled, they totally are. But sometimes Klaine and Brittana are paralleled ad well. I can think of a handful of times when we have a Brittana episode, and the next episode will be a Klaine episode (Sexy/Original Song, Sat. Night Gleever/Dance With Somebody, and here/makeover[breakup]). The thing that really stands out to me is that some of these scenes are remarkably similar, too. Brittany skypes Santana, only for her to make excuses and leave without really talking. Brittany also mentions how she misses sex.

The whole thing makes me wonder if Ryan Murphy’s boyfriend cheated on him while they were doing long distance. Because these same themes keep coming up in all the couples. And for some reason long distance really is not allowed in the Glee world.

The Loft

And, here we have our first introduction the the infamous loft that’s only going to be around for two seasons, but man it’ll make a lot of memories. Okay -- so first I have some logistical issues. Kurt says they’re paying $1800/mo for this place. And, while that’s a great price for NYC, how the fuck are these two paying for it? Neither of them have jobs, and I’m hard pressed to believe Rachel got any scholarships as she stalked her way into NYADA. Later, she mentions living off her dads - and I’ll have to believe that. Because, damn, no, Glee, you really don’t understand millennials and financial hardships.

Secondly, these two idiots are living in NYC now and they order Dominoes. I mean, I realize that’s the joke, but c’mon.

Thirdly - look, I love NYC, it’s one of my favorite places. But this show, I think, does it a tad disservice. It’s a) not the epitome of the universe (and I’m kinda glad they have a Sam to state that fact later) and b) NYC is not the easiest place to live. Glee makes NYC look like the easiest place. Even Rachel’s NYADA struggles feel minor, and could take place pretty much anywhere.

I do like a lot of the New York stuff once it gets going, but like season 4 in general, it has a bit of a rough start.

Meanwhile - we have Kurt talking about how Blaine mentions Britney 2.0 week, and they reminisce as if it weren’t a few years ago. I realize things can change a lot for teenagers, but sometimes I think the nostalgia stuff is a little too overplayed. But anyway, the important thing is the nod to talking to Blaine. Because another issue McKinley v New York had was that it was so disconnected all the time, it’s nice to know when there’s contact.

Anyway - Kurt has a plan, reapply to NYADA’s spring semester, and get a job at vogue.com. And, I mean, I love Kurt as a designer - or doing something with fashion. That’s so, so Kurt, and I kind of wish the show had done more with it. I will say, though, just for anyone who’s trying - you can’t just walk in and get a job like that. Glee decides to use some of the same magical snowflake logic on Kurt that it does on Rachel.

[Fun fact: I went to vogue.com to see if I could start a career, just for journalistic purposes and -- um, their career site was down and I couldn’t see how it worked, lol.]

Back to the plot, Rachel complains about Cassie July, and you know - I’ll give them this, as they do just seem like two friends just hanging out and chatting, and it’s not as ‘Kurt’s there for the sake of Rachel’s plot’ as it usually is. But - apparently Rachel does not do her homework, and Kurt does - as he explains that Cassie July is a Youtube failure - before Youtube was even evented. (Lol Glee - you don’t do your homework either.)

And - what is up with Kurt’s bad advice in this scene? Dealing with Cassie by being sexy and not wearing a bra to class is not a solution. Stop, Kurt. Stop!

The Cure for Loneliness is Cake

So, they’re painting the loft (again, did Daddies Berry pay for the paint? This is Glee, why do I even care about this) and Rachel is having a hard time without Finn around. I’m slightly annoyed that Kurt is spouting the writers’ rhetoric of Finn giving her space is a gift. No, Finn giving her space is not ‘giving her freedom’ and shouldn’t be congratulated, wtf Kurt?

And, idk, maybe I feel for Rachel here - who didn’t get a whole lot of agency when Finn decided to choose her future for her. I have to wonder if Kurt’s going to be a little more sympathetic when his own relationship implodes.

You know, Rachel’s been actually acting human and somewhat sympathetic these last few episodes - I think I’m going to chalk her obnoxiousness dialed up because of the makeover in the next episode. I’d blame Kurt - but really it’s the writers. Where’s Santana, she needs to liven this party up!

So - Kurt offers to go get cake, because he needs to conveniently not be in the next scene, but also, unlike Rachel, he seems to want to go out and explore his new environment instead of moping around in the loft and knows there’s an awesome bakery near by.

Brody shows up! And this is probably the only time Kurt will be amused to see him. Sure, you think he’s cute now, lol... Also - there’s that whole beware of people bringing foliage to the loft thing. I mean, nothing happens directly to Kurt this time, but gah, if Brody isn’t going to annoy us all for the next sixteen episodes.

Ah, Kurt’s an awkward and adorable little muffin as he leaves.

And that’s it.

Wait that’s it? That’s all the Kurt?

Yeah, well, welcome to season 4 ;)

#finding kh #kurt hummel

30 notes · View notes

littlespoonevan · 4 years

Note

same anon, i’ve watched teen wolf since i was in middle school, which was 8-9 years ago and i’ve always shipped stydia. i never understood the sterek ship so are you able to explain why you ship it (if you do ship it lol)

welp, you’re in luck, anon! because i actually wrote a 7.5k meta on why i ship sterek back in the day when i was trying to explain it to my friend lmao. i wrote it after 3b so nothing from s4 is included but i figure it’s got all the major stuff! now i absolutely don’t expect you to read all of that (but i’ve linked it if you’re curious) so let me try and write you a more concise explanation right now asjkdfha

for context, i also started watching teen wolf 8 years ago but i guess i’m a little older than you because i was going into my final year of school at the time. i found out about teen wolf from tumblr so naturally, i was Very aware of sterek before starting the show. (i didn’t know all that much though bc from the way people were talking i legit thought they were together but also thought scott was derek for a hot minute there lmao). they’re not the reason why i started watching and within 20 minutes of starting the show i realised they were Not in fact together and that lydia was sort of set up as stiles’ love interest.

i’ve never had problem with stydia at all. like i said, i expected them to end up together and bc i knew sterek wouldn’t become canon - no matter how much i wanted it to - i was actually very capable of multishipping back then lol (for instance, i really liked stiles/erica, stiles/cora and derek/paige, derek/braeden). my reasons for not really shipping stydia romantically mainly lay in the fact that jackson and lydia - fucked up, though they were - absolutely owned my heart and that stiles and lydia’s friendship dynamic that was set up in s3 was so Special to me that i really didn’t want it to change????

but anyway! that’s not why you’re here, i just really wanted to make it clear that i fully Respect your preference for stydia (i actually had a rl friend who shipped stydia but read sterek fic bc she thought it was really well written lmao) and that i don’t disregard the importance of lydia in stiles’ life whatsoever. so with that in mind, here’s some of the reasons why i personally was so taken with sterek over any other ship:

i love that it was an accident. like it truly was the circumstance of the show in s1 that if jackson and lydia had scenes together and scott and allison had scenes together then stiles and derek were sort of thrown together by circumstance and convenience as a result. and y’know, it’s a pretty standard dynamic: comedic foils whose comedy comes from the fact that they’re So polar opposite from the outside and that they’d never interact under normal circumstances. and like, there’s no doubt they annoy the shit out of each other in the beginning ok they truly do but idk if it’s hoech and dylan’s friendship bleeding through or what but there was something so Fun about their scenes always???????? like they always made me smile/laugh without fail from the very first time i watched and i personally feel like they bounce off each other so, so well, i just enjoyed watching them, y’know? and i do think it’s that natural chemistry that initially intrigued people to it as a ship (and the fact that that chemistry sort of came out of nowhere too? like no one was doing stiles/derek chemistry reads in the auditions lol)

they’re always saving each other. look, we all love a good enemies to lovers story and if tw were a fic and not a show, sterek had the perfect potential for that. i’m lifting what i’m about to say straight from that meta i wrote years back but i can’t think of a better way to describe this; they’ve got this actions vs words pattern throughout their development. definitely the first two seasons but also a bit in s3 too. so like, with derek getting shot with wolf’s bane, with derek realising peter’s the alpha and stiles is alone with him, with isaac almost attacking stiles on the full moon, with stiles holding derek up in the pool - they argue in or before all of these scenes. and especially early on they’re p much always threatening each other. but when it comes down to the moment of urgency when one of them might seriously get hurt/die, the other person always steps in and saves them???????? and it’s just So interesting bc it hints at the fact they actually might care for each other more than they’re willing to admit (to quote cora hale @ stiles stilinski: “why do you care?”). or if nothing else, it teaches them to trust each other which is so important for highlighting how their dynamic changes as time goes on? because this sort of leads into that final scene of 3b where derek imagines stiles when kate kidnaps him and a lot of people headcannoned after that that stiles was derek’s anchor or at least acted as his anchor in that particular moment :’)

they understand each other. i said earlier they were foils bc they appeared like opposites and, in a lot of ways, they are but ooooh boy in terms of personal trauma and guilt i feel like they identify with each other A Lot. we know derek blames himself for the fire bc of kate and we also know stiles blames himself for his mother’s death from his hallucination in 2x09 (and then later o,n though it’s not discussed much, he obviously carries guilt for what happened w the nogitsune) and i think that feeling of guilt and just the idea of them both losing family members at all puts them on a really interesting footing where they inherently understand this core aspect of one another bc it’s something they both feel (also catch me screaming at stiles knowing what happened with kate and referencing it to derek in 3x10 but scott not finding out til 4x02 rip)

and look, i could go on and on about the other things i love about them, about how beautifully their dynamic could’ve evolved along the enemies to loves trajectory if given the chance, but i think this is long enough already and i think these are probably my main three reasons :) like i said, if you want something more in depth, feel free to look through the meta i wrote previously (or ask me about a specific ep)! i don’t expect this to make you change your mind and suddenly start shipping them but hopefully it shed s a bit of light on why others do :D <3

#sterek #teen wolf related #teen wolf #i swear to gOD i tried to keep this short skdfhasj sorry anon #long post #Anon #asks #i'd put this under a read more but idk if read mores on asks are still messed up so apologies for the length

22 notes · View notes