#dracula's daughters while the third is his wife | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

saraanzu · 10 months

Text

bsd speculation: what’s up with this girl in bram’s flashback from 107.5, and what can we learn about her from dracula?

(prefacing this with some rambling… actual analysis starts after the readmore)

107.5 came out the same day as the s5 trailer and it was right after an exciting mersault chapter which is the vastly more popular pov and it was a whopping 9 pages - it was bound to be disliked. I won’t pretend a 9-page chapter isn’t disappointing (no idea why recent chapters have been so short - I hope they get a bit longer again when s5 is done airing?) and I think it’s fine to prefer the mersault storyline but I’ve also seen some god-awful takes about this chapter.

aya and bram aren’t side characters! they have been core to bsd’s plot ever since their introductions (in aya’s case, her re-introduction) and you can dislike them all you want but it’s objectively incorrect to claim they aren’t important to the story.

I also don’t agree with the take that 107.5 didn’t further the plot at all - obviously not a lot can happen in, again, 9 pages (that’s 1/3 the length of 107!) but aya deciding to remove bram’s sword and him actually encouraging her to do it even when he doesn’t believe it’s possible and previously told her not to is a huge turning point in the story! 107.5 certainly isn’t a favorite of mine but I will say we’ve had (slightly) longer chapters in recent months that had more exposition and setup with less plot.

I’ve seen some people worry that, because bram pictures someone who looks like aya in what’s presumably a wedding dress, bram and aya’s relationship is going in a creepy direction. I want to make it clear that no matter who this flashback girl is, even if she’s bram’s dead lover and/or aya in a previous life, I highly highly doubt that anything weird is going to happen between bram and aya. their relationship hasn’t been set up like that at all, in fact bram has parallels with aya’s father and he explicitly sees her as a child (more on that later) (look. bsd is not above using some Weird Tropes. in particular, the tanizakis and mori come to mind (and in mori’s case, it doesn’t even really function as a reference to the irl author - vitas sexualis has nothing to do with pedophillia!) but it’s important to mention that, while I wish those tropes weren’t in bsd at all because they’re unnecessary and add nothing of value to the characters, they are ultimately gags and nothing more. they don’t really set a precedent for how weird asagiri is willing to get when it comes to legitimately serious plot points.)

okay! got it all out of my system here’s the actual post

part 1: the dress

personally, when I first read 107.5, I didn’t think this girl was in a wedding dress. my initial assumption was “this must be bram’s daughter, she’s wearing some sort of tiara and bram was a nobleman”. but looking at it again, it does resemble one, and we should consider how bram’s backstory might reference dracula.

“the brides of dracula” are three seductive vampire ladies who live in count dracula’s castle and attempt to feed on jonathan harker early on in the book before being stopped by dracula, who chastises them for trying to eat harker and feeds them a human baby instead.

while they are known as dracula’s brides in pop culture and are often portrayed as such in movie adaptations, they go unnamed in the original novel and their relation to dracula is unclear. from what we see of them they refer to each other as “sisters”, although perhaps not in the literal sense. two of them have dark hair and are described as having similar facial features to dracula while the third is blonde, which may imply the third is dracula’s wife and the other two are his daughters. I imagine they’re pretty vague and mysterious on purpose, they could be dracula’s wives/sisters/daughters, or even just some vampire ladies crashing at his house.

however, I don’t think we should disregard details exclusive to adaptations of dracula and only focus on the original book when thinking about bsd. film adaptations of the book are actually more influential on dracula’s perception in pop-culture than the book itself, so it’s not unlikely that asagiri would reference elements that appeared in adaptations but not the novel.

so, because of “the brides of dracula”, I think it’s quite possible this girl is indeed a bride. she does look a bit young for it, but I’ve seen others say they think she looks older than aya, so I guess that’s subjective (and people would get married younger in bram’s time I suppose).

that doesn’t mean she has to be bram’s bride - again, the “brides” in the original novel have no explicit relation to dracula and could easily be his daughters or sisters, and I really do think her being his daughter instead makes more sense thematically.

part 2: her relation to bram

I believe bram subtly parallels aya’s father in a few ways. aya’s dad is verbally and physically abusive, and he berates aya for not being good at traditionally feminine activities. he doesn’t see her for what she is, a child, and instead expects her to be a perfect traditional woman.

right before we see this flashback, bram is surprised by aya’s age, and comments that she is “too young to even use a spinning wheel” (also a traditionally feminine activity). both of them question aya’s desire/ability to be an ally of justice but for different reasons: aya’s father finds it unladylike while bram finds it too big a task for a little girl (he is also sleepy)

I didn’t understand the point of this scene’s inclusion before, but in retrospect I think it serves as foreshadowing for bram’s flashback and demonstrates how he and aya’s father both associate aya with dead people, but this causes them to treat her differently.

aya will never live up to her father’s expectations because she can’t compete with his idealized memories of the dead. her own accomplishments are irrelevant in his eyes because she isn’t enough like the wife and daughter he lost. I suspect his grief is part of the reason he’s so horrible to her in the first place.

it’s the opposite case with bram. in his eyes aya does compare to someone who he remembers fondly, and the end of 107.5 implies that’s the very reason he’s okay with aya pulling the sword out.

I don’t necessarily see bram as a father figure to aya (to me he’s more of a weird creature who’s sort of grown fond of her after being unwillingly dragged around… but hey, who says that can’t be a dad?) but I do think it’s possible that this mystery girl was bram’s daughter in the past because of how he parallels aya’s father.

(note: she has normal human ears rather than pointy ones, but bram was turned into a vampire by his ability and wasn’t bitten or born as one, so I don’t know if he’d necessarily pass down his vampirism to his children. he also may have developed his ability after becoming a father, or his daughter could even be adopted).

part 3: her relation to aya

the most common idea I’ve seen to explain the resemblance between these two is that aya is a reincarnation of this flashback girl. introducing reincarnation out of nowhere seems a bit random even for bsd, but surprisingly this theory does have some basis.

in the movie bram stoker’s dracula (1992), the character mina harker, jonathan’s fiancé, is a reincarnation of dracula’s long-dead lover, elisabeta. dracula recognizes her as a reincarnation due to their resemblance and mina agrees to assist him, still harboring feelings and memories from her past life. it’s fairly common for dracula adaptations to portray dracula and/or mina as having romantic feelings for each other, but this isn’t really the case in the novel, and elisabeta is entirely an invention of this particular movie.

so, aya being a reincarnation of a girl bram once knew could work as a reference to this. I did say previously that I think it’s possible asagiri will reference adaptations of dracula and not just the novel, but I’m not so sure he would make something specific to one particular adaptation a major part of bram’s backstory.

personally, I’m partial to the idea that aya’s ability will be introduced soon, and her resemblance to this flashback girl may have something to do with it. (the ability idea and reincarnation idea aren’t inherently contradictory, aya’s ability could very well be reincarnation)

this theory by @jo-dieeee suggests that aya’s ability is called mirror, due to the discussion of mirrors in 107.5 and the book above.

mirror: the fiction and essays of koda aya isn’t actually a book written by irl koda, nor is it just a collection of her stories. it was written by ann sherif and discusses koda’s life and works, including some translations of her short stories in the second part. however, the existence of this book and aya emphasizing mirrors in 107.5 is quite an interesting coincidence! whether or not it’s called mirror, I’m fairly confident an ability reveal is coming up.

it’s also worth bringing up that aya’s resemblance to this mystery firl might not have a supernatural explanation at all. it could easily be an artistic choice simply made to indicate that bram is reminiscing about someone who aya reminds him of. I’m not too into the reincarnation idea myself.

#I’m assuming the panel is a flashback and not bram’s imagination of the future because the caption at the end of the chapter says “remember”#hoping to start making meta posts like this more often… it’s difficult for me to put my thoughts like this into words though #I wrote this post over the course of a week hence why it’s two weeks late #bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #aya koda #bram stoker #aya bsd #bram bsd #talk tag #jo’s meta

173 notes · View notes

weclassybouquetfun · 1 month

Text

Next month is the annual exhibitor showcase Cinemacon where movie studios tout their wares for the very anxious theater owners.

It has already been announced that Sony is sitting this year out, so no info on VENOM 3: THE LAST DANCE, to be released October 25, 2024.

While I assume there will be some changes to the lineup, so far it is shaping up to be:

OPENING DAY: International Day features a screening of Universal 80s series remake THE FALL GUY starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Hannah Waddingham and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who has said in a recent interview that it is a small role) ; directed by David Leitch (BULLET TRAIN, DEADPOOL 2)

DAY ONE: WB pulls up with their presentation "The Big Picture". It will be the first Cinemacon for James Gunn in his position as Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DC Studios.

I expect a song and dance from Gunn about how awesome sauce the new DC film universe will be

I'll believe it when I see it.

Sure to tease SUPERMAN LEGACY which stars David Corenswet as the title character, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.

JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX, BEETLEJUICE, BEETLEJUCE

MORE STUDIO OFFERINGS

Also, FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA

, the supernatural horror film THE WATCHERS, directed and written by Ishana Night Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night

, M. Night Shymalan's TRAP starring Josh Hartnett, ALTO KNIGHTS with Robert DeNiro playing a dual role.

Certainly don't expect anything to hear about THE BATMAN sequel other than it won't shoot until 2025. There has been no reason provided, but some say there isn't even a script, others say it was because there were no soundstages available in London to shoot this year.

DAY TWO: ANGEL STUDIOS - The outfit behind SOUND OF FREEDOM.

I suspect they will tease SIGHT starring Greg Kinnear and BONHOEFFER (aka GOD'S SPY) about German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, starring August Diehl, Flula Borg and Clarke Peters.

LIONSGATE: I suspect they will tease Guy Ritchie's THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE starring a pick-a-mix of men for all tastes - Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Henry Golding and Hero Fiennes Tiffins

; the action-thriller BOY KILLS WORLD fronted by Bill Skarsgård and costarring Sharlto Copley, Andrew Koji (who is working like mad), Famke Janssen and Isaiah Mustafa.

Surely, another Bill Skarsgård film THE CROW with fka Twigs

; THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1, which is the third film in the franchise - doing a bit of FAST AND THE FURIOUS mathing. It stars Madelaine Petsch, Froy Guittierez and Gabriel Basso

At long last the BALLERINA has pliete into the spotlight. This JOHN WICK spinoff stars Ana De Armas, with Anjelica Huston reprising her role from JOHN WICK 2. It's direct by Len Wiseman who directed the UNDERWORLD films starring his ex-wife Kate Beckinsale.

BORDERLANDS, an action-comedy based on the game, brought to the screen by Eli Roth. Starring Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Haley Bennett and Édgar Ramírez, amongst others.

and WHITE BIRD, which is in the same universe as the excellent children geared film WONDER. It was due to come out in 2023 but was pushed back due to the actors strike.

UNIVERSAL / FOCUS FEATURES: I suspect teases for Dev Patel's directorial debut MONKEY MAN. The film was originally slated to go to Netflix but Jordan Peele, under his Monkey Paw shingle, bought it and took it to Universal so it could have a theatrical release. *Granted, Netflix does a theatrical release for most of their films in certain markets, but I get Peele's rationale.

Their Monsters Universe theatrical idea didn't work, but Universal has realized there is more than one way to skin a cat. They are creating a Universal Monsters themed area at their parks and their monster/horror film ABIGAIL is a re-imaging of DRACULA'S DAUGHTER. It stars Alisha Weir, Melissa Barrera and Dan Stevens and features Angus Cloud in one of his last roles.

THE FALL GUY most definitely will have a place. Same with THE BIKERIDERS (with Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer, Norman Reedus, Mike Faist, etc.), which was a 20th Century (Disney owned) Film, and even though it was the first major film out the gate ahead of Oscars/Golden Globes' FYC season with a screening and Q&A held in L.A., the studio purposely stalled the engine and towed it off their schedule. It will now be distributed by Focus Features in the U.S., and Universal, internationally.

Other possible teases? DESPICABLE ME 4, TWISTERS, the standalone sequel to the 90s film TWISTERS

, horror film SPEAK NO EVIL starring James McAvoy and Mackenzie Davis

, WICKED: PART ONE and Sir Ridley Scott's GLADIATOR 2 with Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal.

There will also be a surprise screening; studio unknown.

DAY THREE: PARAMOUNT: Expected: the mixed live-action and animated comedy IF starring Ryan Reynolds, written/directed and produced by John Krasinski.

A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE, GLADIATOR 2 (though this is a co-production with Universal, so maybe Uni will tout it), SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3, the unending production that is MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 8,

WALT DISNEY: Possible: THE FIRST OMEN, KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

, MOANA 2, INSIDE OUT 2, DEADPOOL 3, ALIEN: ROMULUS, CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD and SNOW WHITE.

CinemaCon always closes out with their awards (which always ties into an upcoming release. Funny how that works.

So far the honourees are:

Star of the Year - Lupita Nyong'o (A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE)

Breakthrough Performer of the Year - Joseph Quinn (A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE)

CinemaCon Vanguard Award - Amy Poehler (INSIDE OUT 2)

Director of the Year - Shawn Levy (DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE)

12 notes · View notes

hannahlikeso741 · 11 months

Text

Some Hogwarts Legacy OCs

Sharing some Hogwarts Legacy OCs for each house while keeping Victorian values, events and society in mind. I suck at fanart, so you get fancasts instead.

Gryffindor OC - Theodore Wallace

Hufflepuff OC - Penelope Brooke

Slytherin OC - Aurelia Gray

Ravenclaw OC- Benjamin Thatch

More about them here:

Theodore Wallace

Light Brown hair, tan skin with hazel eyes

Wand : Laurel, 14 1/2 inches, Dragonheart string, Flexible

Pure Blood

Face cast : Froy Gutierrez

Character Inspiration : Allan Quatermain (King Solomon's Mines) and Jim Hawkins (Treasure Island)

The only son of the Wallace family, Theodore charges ahead bravely without fear and without thinking, discovering the unknown is what thrills him. His mother and father travels a lot to many British colonies to discover any wild beasts for further documentation, which is now passed down to their son's taste of adventure. Even at his lowest, Theodore's aim is to survive no matter the odds. Upon landing in Hogwarts, he finds it hard to keep still in one location and still gets into trouble exploring the castle grounds or the nearby hamlets. He aims to use magic for good, though he is still questioning where he draws the line. He aims to do more exploring once he leaves Hogwarts, perhaps even beginning work on documenting Beasts and their natural habitats.

(The surname Wallace is taken from Alfred Russell Wallace, British explorer and author of The Malay Archipelago)

Penelope Brooke

Warm Blonde wavy hair, freckled skin with dark brown eyes

Wand : Willow, 9 3/4 inches, Unicorn Hair, Stiff

Half Blood

Face cast : (Unknown stock photo model)

Character Inspiration : Jane Bennet (Pride and Prejudice), Oliver twist

Penelope only sees the good in people, even when things are tough. Born to an alcoholic prostitute in the slums of Whitechapel, Penelope learns to fend for herself at a young age by begging, working or being coaxed into stealing as a means to survive. Upon discovering her magical abilities, she uses it for other people, which led to her wizard father discovering her and taking her under his wing and Penelope never heard from her mother again, as rumours has it she might have been a victim to Jack the Ripper. She continues to try and help other people without judgement as she attends Hogwarts, and hopes to be a healer when she graduates.

Aurelia Gray

Black straight hair, pale skin with light blue eyes

Wand : Yew, 13 1/4 inches, Pheonix Feather, Swishy

Muggle Born

Face cast : Katie McGrath

Character Inspiration : Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice), Catherine Earnshaw (Wuthering Heights), Jane Eyre

Aurelia only knows tragedy. The third daughter of a English Duke and an American heiress, she was sidelined when her younger brother was born, resulting in the death of her mother. Since then, she wanted to be more than just being groomed to be the perfect wife, running around the fields near her house until that one faithful day when she found out she was magical, resulting an accident that caused Queen Victoria to get involved and sort the matter. She views Professor Fig as her father, aiming to continue learning magical theory. She relished in her newfound freedom at Hogwarts while keeping her heritage a secret to prevent another scandal. What she didn't count on was to find a kindred spirit in Sebastian Sallow.

((Her story is written as Drag Me to Despair, link here))

Benjamin Thatch

Dark Brown straight hair, pale skin with dark blue eyes

Wand : Beech, 12 inches, Pheonix Feather, Pliable

Half Blood

Face cast : Tom Sturridge

Character Inspiration : Sherlock Holmes, Abraham Van Helsing (Dracula)

Growing up with a psychologist Muggle father and a magical history researcher mother as parents, Benjamin has been thought to pursue solid evidence and logic above everything else. A bright child that loves learning new things but struggled when it comes to handling social situations. His father slowly coaxed him out of his shell by bringing him to his office to talk to his patients as a form of therapy. It worked, resulting in Benjamin's sharp tongue mixed in with wit. Upon landing in Hogwarts, he aims to build his connections as he aims for a position in the Ministry.

#hphl oc #sebastian x oc #hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy fandom #hphl #hogwarts legacy mc #hogwarts legacy oc #sebastian x mc

11 notes · View notes

maroonghoul · 7 months

Text

Terror Time 2023!: Days 1 thru 6

Alright! Meant to start a few days ago, but got busy. Here we go!

Dracula: Pages from a Virgin Diary Sometimes, I like starting my annual marathon with one of the many adaptations of Dracula. I was considering the Coppola movie from 1992, but the more I thought about how much I don't like the actual story changes from the book in that one, despite the title. (Mostly how it treats the female characters), I switched it with this one. Turns out those themes were here too, but unlike with the other movie, at least it was made by a director who admits he's doing something different with Dracula, and not claiming he's doing the definitive version only to not do so. That was interpretation. This is almost a parody, what with the opening montage nailing the uncomfortable themes of the original, and the Count literally seducing people with all his (stolen) money!

If any horror story lends itself to ballet, Dracula naturally makes the most sense. I'm only surprised to not hear at least a little nod to Swan Lake in there. I don't know if it's a rights thing or it would've been distracting, but oh well.

Telling the story out of order like this is pretty interesting. Introduces the vampirism more gradually and saves Transylvania, arguably the best part of the story, for the middle. Bit of a shock that this version rushes through that, but I guess you couldn't justify dancing while looking over legal documents.

But yeah, surprisingly this does make a better argument for why Dracula might be the real good guy better then Coppola's did. Maybe because the light dialogue leaves a lot more open, but it can be argued what's done with Mina and Lucy is either more consensual or more due to the normal men's biased outlook. They only think their nightmares are over by the end. But history can show it has only begun. Once you've had a taste of Chinese ballet dancing Dracula, you can't really go back.

Body Bags (1993) This theming on this one's a bit weird. Stories one and three are about serial killers, and two and three are about surgical implants gone wrong. You would think that if these themes weren't there, or one was present in all three (besides of course, at least one person has to die to fit the framing device). I mean, at least the nature of the horror is a bit different each one. First one's a slasher, second one is sci-fi with aliens it turns out, and the third is supernatural in the form of possession. But, from what heard is right, these segments really were the only one's from this rejected TV show that worked. the framing device is fun, even though it's surreal to see John Carpenter on screen for once. as for the stories themselves;

The Gas Station these places are scary enough to be at for long amount of times even without the crazed killer. I relate too much to that whole bit with the keys. Last note is slasher settings usually are one of two types; either the character is invading area the slasher is more familiar with or vice versa. Kudos to this one for making us think it's the second one while it's more of the former. Also, yay Sam Raimi cameo!

Hair Easily the least effective, but it at least makes me feel better about losing my own hair. Though that jazz music is really out of place. Just does not work.

Eye I think I saw this remade in the second V/H/S movie. But at least why it's scary is a bit different each time. Also, the inciting incident makes me like to pretend it's Dr. Strange's origin gone even more horribly wrong. I get why it's making him see visions of the dead killer's life, but does it possess by infecting his bloodstream or something? I feel bad for his wife and I also feel bad he ever got to play one last time when he felt like he had hope again. I guess they didn't have enough money to film at an actual baseball stadium.

The Blackcoat's Daughter The slowest burn of a horror movie I think I've ever seen since the Invitation. I didn't have any clue as to what the threat was until she called that nun the c-word. That kinda gave away the whole game, especially funny considering what I rewatched a few days later, as you can see. But yeah, once you see exactly where it's been leading up to, it sticks with you. The second part does too. Like the darkest possible Exorcist sequel you could've gotten without including a demon. Just goes to show rehabilitation and therapy are just as, if not more, crucial to get right as the actual saving.

Night of the Living Dead 1990 I haven't seen the original in about 14 years, so I can't do much to compare the two. Most of what it does different is cool, especially where the first zombie comes from. Other parts were making them more consistent with established zombie lore, but I'll still miss that trowel kill. There's still not as many zombies as most films that came after this one, but these are actually some of the scariest looking zombies I've seen in a while. I would've liked if just a little bit more of it was set at night, though.

How it changes the characters is a bit of a mixed bag. Yes, it's cool to Barbara a lot more competent. And I even liked how her arc to be tougher and less of a "helpless woman" has just led her to a world filled with toxic masculinity. That bit actually aged well. Less so what happened to Ben, though that's not Tony Todd's fault. Mostly how they changed his death. Sure, it meant they shifted his original death to Cooper who deserves it more, but sadly the original still resonates more in our world.

So yeah, an effective update of the story for the 80s/90s. But not too much for now.

The Exorcist I'm still on the fence over whether I'm going to see the new one. Luckily, this anniversary screening can tide me over.

Watching this now, I think a big reason why it's easy to consider this the greatest horror movie of all time (not the scariest movie of all time. That's different), is that most of it's scenes feel like a film rather than a movie. That might seem like a weird distinction, but it's the best to describe it. Friedkin pretty much directed every Regan-less scene so realistically and down to earth, more so then even in the most mature and sophisticated horror films made today. I know that sounds like an insult, but it's because those films go heavy on the atmosphere. Here there is none for the most part. Only character.

Of course, that changes with Pazuzu itself. I get the feeling most films, back and then or today, horror or otherwise, would either make it more ambiguous or more arthouse. This kind of performance you expect to see in more campy horror movies that aim for the cheap seats, but it's here in a movie with very down to earth 1970s filmmaking. Sure, it's laughed at now because we're all familiar at it or we're just in shock. (Or there are actually a lot of non-possessed kids who act like this), but I think that juxtaposition is why it's still leaves as big as an impact as it does.

You do it all subdued, people just look at the film as art. You do it like cheap shockfest, no one but the established horror fans will pay attention to it. But here, the world actually feels normal, and Pazuzu is made as urgent a threat as humanly possible to it. Hell, you can argue Linda Blair's, and Mercedes McCambridge performances being cranked up to 11 compared to everyone else works so well, because it's literally a different species pretty much.

Sure, a lot of horror is about the nasty surprises the world turned out to have had all along. But the first part of that is a clear idea of what we thought the real world is before it's upended like this. A lot of horror movies play like we feel like we're observing theses events from outside. That can be played with brilliantly, but I do feel the best one's are the ones who place as close to the level the characters are when experiencing. The Exorcist is one of the best films to have done that, so that's why I think it has landed as so many lists of the best Horror films of all time.

I leave what it says about faith, demons, and the belief in god to those more knowledgable in such subjects then I am.

Crimes of the Future Not really a horror movie, at least not to the extent The Fly, VideoDrome, or even the Dead Zone is. But it's definitely a Cronenberg movie.

I missed the bioengineered technology, even though no company today would make such things. But outside of that, I was expecting more of this to make me feel sick or at least wince. But most of the gross stuff is biopsies or body piercings taken to the next level. Not exactly Jeff Goldblum losing body parts one at a time, but considering what I think the point of this story is, I think it's intentional.

I relate so much to Saul at the start of this, considering I came down with some really bad acid reflux earlier this year. I'm not sure his solution is right for me, metaphorically speaking. But maybe I need to apply it to something else in me. Cronenberg for so long made films about the worse things that can happen to the human body. Maybe the reason he took a break from that until now, is he got a lot of time and step back, think, reflect, and maybe made peace with a subject that is still very much considered his oeuvre. The moral of the story; learn to get comfortable in your own skin. Or accept what makes it different from what society tells you it should be. Learn to live and make peace, even if it means you won't fit in.

Extra point here; I think I understood why Disney timed it so the Ahsoka season finale came out in October. It's the episode where they're fighting space witches controlling ZOMBIE STORM TROOPERS! Rad!

Until next time...

#Body Bags 1993 #the blackcoat's daughter #Night of the Living Dead 1990 #the exorcist #crimes of the future #Dracula pages from a Virgin Diary

1 note · View note

a-secret-bolton-vampire · 3 years

Text

The Coming War for the North, Part 3: The Battle of the Bastards

To see the previous installments of this series, part 1 and part 2 are available to read here and here, respectively.

The idea that Jon and Ramsay would fight has been around for a while, even before the TV show. There are a lot of signs pointing to a similar confrontation in the books, but how it unfolds might be a little different from the show. In this final section, I'll get right down to business on this final battle for Winterfell, and the purpose and themes this plot line.

Two Snows & Winterfell

Jon and Ramsay are two very different, and somewhat very similar characters. Throughout ADWD Jon has letters sent by Ramsay detailing events transpiring in the North, including the retaking of Moat Cailin, and the marriage of Arya Stark (really Jeyne Poole) to the newly legitimized Ramsay Bolton. Stannis also begins his campaign to take the North, and sends letters to Jon detailing his movements and what he is doing. When confronted by Melisandre, Jon learns that Mance Rayder was actually Rattleshirt in magic disguise, and Rattleshirt is actually Mance in magic disguise, and with Melisandre's nudging, agrees to send Mance and six spearwives to rescue Arya from Winterfell.

Then Ramsay sends the pink letter and tells Jon that he defeated Stannis, has captured Mance, and demands Stannis's family and allies or he will attack the Night's Watch. Don't forget that Jon is the one who started this, not Ramsay. He was the instigator, helping Stannis and taking Arya away from Ramsay. Not to say Ramsay is in the right here morally (quite the opposite), but Jon did break his vows for this to happen, and he wasn't really on Ramsay's radar until this happened. Thus, ADWD has set up a rivalry between the two. However, the two characters have a lot in common to be set up as foils to each other.

Both are bastards of a very prominent noble lord of the North. Both resent their bastard status and yearn for approval to be a trueborn member of their House. And both want Winterfell. Ramsay already has Winterfell and is declared the Lord of Winterfell, while Jon nearly took Stannis's offer to be Lord of Winterfell, before rejecting it to keep his vows to the Night's Watch, while still yearning to have Winterfell. However, from there, they are complete opposites.

Ramsay is a demon in human skin, a sadistic serial killer and rapist who enjoys torture and murder, and has no regard for the laws of men. Meanwhile, Jon, as raised by Ned, is a noble and honourable person who tries his best to keep his oath and honour intact (although he does forsake it at the end of ADWD). In the season 4 DVD extras for Game of Thrones, GRRM himself even talks about this.

The relationship between Roose and Ramsay is, in some ways, a dark counterpoint to the relation between Ned Stark and Jon Snow. In both cases, a noble father with a bastard son. Jon and Ramsay are literally the opposite to each other. Jon is very noble and honorable. And Ramsay is none of those things. Roose himself is a cold and calculating man. A dispassionate man. "I placed far too much trust in you." But their treatment of the bastard son is very different. Ned keeps Jon Snow at Winterfell and he's raised with Robb and Bran. For all practical purposes, he is one of Ned's sons. Ramsay gets nothing from Roose.

Given the fact we have good build up between a rivalry between them, and that they are foils of each other, a confrontation between the two seems very likely. And even more so when you look both at the past history and at ADWD. The Stark-Bolton rivalry is the longest and most prominent feud in the North, supposedly dating back to the Long Night. Numerous wars were fought between the Red Kings from the Dreadfort and the Kings of Winter from Winterfell, some of them ending in Bolton victory. At least twice, two Bolton kings (both named Royce) took and burnt Winterfell (and it happened a third time in ACOK when Ramsay did it). The Boltons also were alleged to have flayed and worn the skins of Stark princes as cloaks.

In a way, this rivalry is a very dark, yet still grounded fantasy version of werwolves and vampires. There are quite a lot of stories including werewolves and vampires that have the two be natural enemies, with feuds that go back centuries sometimes. Of course, both the Starks and Boltons take on very clear roles as werewolves and vampires. Starks have warg blood in them (even if not all of them were wargs), and many of them have dreams at night of being a wolf and rampaging around, which sounds very much like old werewolf legends. The Boltons being vampires, on the other hand, is less magical and more implied.

The Boltons have this unearthly, sinister feel and look to them that makes them appear somewhat inhuman, with pale eyes variously described as dirty chips of ice or pale moons, and a look about themselves that is similar to some descriptions of vampires. Then of course there is the Dreadfort, a spooky old castle ruled by a very spooky and yet somewhat cultured man (Dracula anyone)? Then of course we have all the very creepy images of Boltons flaying people, and Ramsay sometimes writing using human blood as ink.

Basically, what I'm saying is that ASOIAF has done what Twilight did but better.

To go back to the future, it makes thematic and narrative sense for the Starks to retake Winterfell from their ancient nemesis. The rivalry began between a Stark and a Bolton, and will end with a Stark bastard and a Bolton bastard, fighting over dominance of the North and of Winterfell.

The Battle of the Bastards

At first glance, it seems like it's a no brainer for how this battle will unfold. Ramsay is gonna lose a lot of support, and Jon will have all the support and completely demolish Ramsay. However, while I do think it will end in victory for Jon (and not without outside help), I think that both are going to be in rather desperate positions, Jon maybe more so.

After Jon's resurrection, there is no question in my mind that he is going to head south. Those were his last thoughts and actions as he died, similar to how Catelyn killing a Frey and her grief of losing her family was the last action and thought before she died, and Beric protecting the smallfolk from the Mountain was his last act before dying. Given the strong implication he is inside Ghost, coming back, we should expect a darker, different Jon, one who doesn't give a shit, is more violent, and more determined. Of course, if he is to retake Winterfell, he should need support.

Fortunately, right before he died, he got all the free folk to cheer for him and agree to join him. Mix those free folk with the giants and mammoths that were recently let past Eastwatch, and he might have a formidable force. However, of the 4,119 or so free folk that are currently south of the Wall, not all of them are fighters. If we take the estimate for 20,000 warriors and 100,000 free folk in total, then we should expect around 820+ free folk capable of fighting. Not a lot. He will need some outside help. Of course, there is already set up for that in ADWD, when he marries Alys Karstark to Magnar Sigorn of Thenn.

He tells a captive Cregan Karstark to send word to his relatives at Karhold and yield to prevent their deaths, but Cregan stubbornly refuses. Alys believes Karhold will open their gates to her, and Alys is thankful for Jon Snow providing her refuge at the Wall and a marriage to get out of an even worse one she did not want. The strength of Karhold may not be the best, but it seems very likely for Karhold to join Jon and his cause, under the banners of Alys.

As for the other houses of the North, I don't expect much more support. Think about how Jon will look to the Northmen. He is a bastard, and those are already quite condemned throughout the North (and Westeros in general). He broke his vows by leaving the Night's Watch, and since the North takes vows and oaths and honour much more seriously than the rest of Westeros, being an oathbreaker who abandoned the Wall is not going to make him popular. And finally, he is leading a band of wildlings south. The North despises the free folk, thinking of them as savages, thanks to centuries of conflict with them. So the picture of Jon painted as an oathbreaking wildling bastard is going to be a major problem for him. At worst, he would be viewed just as evil and treacherous as Ramsay, the other prominent bastard in the North.

In fact, even if Ramsay loses a lot of support from his own actions (more later), he could use this to his advantage. At best, the northerns who hate Jon will remain neutral in the conflict, but at worst, they might even ally with the Boltons. The clansmen have a deep hatred of House Bolton, but they also have a very deep hatred of the free folk, so they may actually remain neutral. The Umbers are another House that deals frequently with wildlings, and many years prior, Crowfood lost his daughter to wildlings raiding south of the Wall. So instead of Jon's presence invigorating the Umbers to fight against Ramsay, their own vehement hatred of the wildlings might lead them to simply stick with Ramsay.

However, that isn't to say everything will go swimmingly for Ramsay. Their hold on the North is tentative, and if Ramsay kills Roose and Walda and their child, it could become even more unstable. For one, Lady Barbrey Dustin isn't loyal to the Boltons, but instead loyal to Roose. Her sister was the former wife of Roose, and Domeric was her nephew, so Lady Dustin has reason to be on friendly terms with Roose. On the other hand, she despises Ramsay, blaming him for Domeric's death, and not even allowing him to step foot in Barrow Hall because of it. In turn, Ramsay also holds her in contempt.

"It should have been you who threw the feast, to welcome me back," Ramsay complained, "and it should have been in Barrow Hall, not this pisspot of a castle." "Barrow Hall and its kitchens are not mine to dispose of," his father said mildly. "I am only a guest there. The castle and the town belong to Lady Dustin, and she cannot abide you." Ramsay's face darkened. "If I cut off her teats and feed them to my girls, will she abide me then? Will she abide me if I strip off her skin to make myself a pair of boots?" "Unlikely. And those boots would come dear. They would cost us Barrowton, House Dustin, and the Ryswells."

If Roose dies, not only would Lady Dustin probably suspect Ramsay, but she would simply not follow Ramsay. So already, just by becoming Warden of the North and Lord of the Dreadfort, Ramsay would lose the Dustins and the Ryswells. Of course, since Lady Dustin does have a grievance with the Starks because Ned never brought her husband home from Dorne, I think she would probably remain neutral in the conflict.

Other houses might leave Ramsay too. Some might stay simply out of fear of retaliation for betrayal. It will depend on the House, their head, their own needs and goals, etc. As for the actual battle itself, who knows what will happen. However, I do think that Ramsay will likely try to lure Jon into some sort of trap rather than give him a direct face to face confrontation. There is also very interesting foreshadowing and even direct confirmation that the battle is going to be possibly more magical than we might believe it to be. Not only are there giants and mammoths... in the final script GRRM wrote for the show, he put in this note:

[N.B. A note for future reference. A season or two down the line Ramsay’s pack of wolfhounds are going to be sent against the Stark direwolves, so we should build up the dogs as much as possible in this and subsequent episodes.]

So the hounds are going to fight the Stark direwolves... wait, direwoves? Not direwolf? Curious...

The Pack Survives

I purposefully avoided the other factions of the North there, because the heart of the conflict will be Ramsay vs. Jon. But Jon won't be alone, at least not entirely. There is Rickon, who is to be touted as the Lord of Winterfell by the Manderlys so they can support Stannis. He isn't even the only Stark who could join in. Sansa is in the Vale under the guise of Alayne Stone. Arya keeps warging into Nymeria, who leads a massive pack of hundreds of wolves throughout the Riverlands. Bran is training his demigod greenseeing powers beyond the Wall with Bloodraven and is definitely manipulating events far south of the Wall.

So, the plural of direwolves makes me think Ghost won't be the only Stark direwolf fighting against Ramsay. We could get Nymeria's wolf pack joining as well, and Shaggydog, or even Summer (if Bran is in the North at this time that is). In fact, the idea that Ramsay will fight against Rickon is something that is heavily hinted at in ADWD.

The next litter to come out of the Dreadfort's kennels would include a Kyra, Reek did not doubt. "He's trained 'em to kill wolves as well," Ben Bones had confided. Reek said nothing. He knew which wolves the girls were meant to kill, but he had no wish to watch the girls fighting over his severed toe.

And then, more directly...

"Stark's little wolflings are dead," said Ramsay, sloshing some more ale into his cup, "and they'll stay dead. Let them show their ugly faces, and my girls will rip those wolves of theirs to pieces. The sooner they turn up, the sooner I kill them again."

Ramsay may be impulsive and unaware of intricate politics, but he seems prepared for what to do should Bran or Rickon show themselves again. This makes me worried for Rickon, honestly. Will Ramsay capture Rickon and keep him prisoner as hold over Jon Snow? Will he kill Rickon like he did in the show? I really, really hope not, but I'm afraid that's exactly what will happen.

There is a line that Ned spoke in AGOT that George says will eventually be very important, that I think perfectly applies to this situation.

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives."

Ned speaks to Arya about this in King's Landing, to get her to understand that the Starks should not fight one another in times of danger, or be isolated from each other, but look after one another, protect each other. Winter has now come, the snows are falling and the white winds are blowing. Who is the lone wolf in this scenario? While Jon certainly fits the bill (he literally is a lone wolf, it's very clear at the end of ADWD he was prepared to ride to Winterfell all by himself until he got the wildlings to his side), I think Rickon could too.

Rickon is very isolated from everyone else, even when he was at Winterfell. He was only 4 years old, and didn't understand why everyone was leaving him. Given the plan to use Rickon as a pawn to reinstall Stark rule of the North being something we can cheer for and expect to happen, I don't think it will happen. Rickon, the lone wolf, will be used to try to depose Ramsay, but it won't go well, and he will die because of it.

Jon will probably find himself in a bad position in battle too, and very nearly die as the lone wolf... but now that winter is here, and everyone is starting to converge on Winterfell at some point, I think that it won't be Jon who ultimately retakes Winterfell: it will be all the Starks. Sansa may be in the Vale, but Littlefinger plans to use her to take Winterfell back at some point (even if it won't go exactly to plan).

"When Robert dies, Harry the Heir becomes Lord Harrold, Defender of the Vale and Lord of the Eyrie. Jon Arryn's bannermen will never love me, nor our silly, shaking Robert, but they will love their Young Falcon . . . and when they come together for his wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maiden's cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back . . . why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright."

Arya is having a lot of wolf dreams as Nymeria, and GRRM has said that her wolf pack will one day be used as a Chekov's gun. Bran may be far away, but he is getting more powerful and beginning to influence events as far south as Winterfell. The pack comes together to survive in winter, to help Jon and the North by defeating their enemies.

So as Jon fights against the bastard he so deeply despises, it won't just be him. It'll be the Knights of the Vale, led by Sansa. It'll be Nymeria and her wolf pack, piloted by Arya. It'll be Bran, skinchanging into whatever is around. TWOW may end up being the darkest book in the series, and the retaking of Winterfell won't be as glorious as we imagine or even as I spelt it out (Rickon's death and the perception the North has of Jon should play very big roles in making it not entirely happy), but this will be maybe one of our only moment of deserved catharsis we might get from it.

#asoiaf #asoiaf meta #jon snow #ramsay bolton #bran stark #arya stark #sansa stark #rickon stark #winterfell #the winds of winter #the winds of winter predictions

13 notes · View notes

covairecity-promo · 4 years

Photo

~ WANTED CHARACTER! ~

❝ The likes of Juliet, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are the most beautiful women in history - death looked perfect on them. ❞

Name: Fannah Graig

Species: Human

Age: 27

Sexuality: Omnisexual (Vampires, some elysians)

Occupation: Part-time Mortuary assistant in private mortuary

Prisoner

Face Claim: Madelaine Petsch

✒ BACKGROUND: Death. From the day she was born to the time she arrived in Covaire; Fannah was always surrounded by death, but never affected by it directly. Born in 1993 on Dia de los Muertos, Fannah “killed” her mother during labour. But it wasn’t her fault; the doctor had warned her parents that a third pregnancy could be fatal, but her mother had wanted a girl after her two sons, and by God she would have one. And she did, but she only enjoyed her daughter for mere minutes before Death, waiting at her side, claimed her.

And so, life moved on with her two older brothers and her forensic pathologist father. At a young age, she found herself fascinated with her dad’s human anatomy books, asking about them, but never being interested in the living, instead more focused on the autopsies he performed. As she became a teenager, her father would sneak her into the morgue to observe; she was never sickened by the sight of it. Though, it stopped one day, when left alone for a few minutes, her father caught her kissing one of the corpses. She was 15 and was never permitted in a morgue again.

Keep reading for full biography & visit our group!

Her obsession with death continued and her brothers teased her for obsessing over vampire movies, calling her Dracula’s wife. She didn’t listen to them and decided that she would become a mortuary assistant to the dismay of her father.

She found an internship eventually and soon discovered that she was suffering from necrophilia. Though, knowing that she could be barred from working in a morgue ever again or in the field, Fannah made sure to control herself and kept her disturbing attraction to light touches and kisses when she was out of sight.

Fannah had just turned 23 when tragedy and Death knocked at her door again. She had been working a night shift, missing a family dinner at which someone had burst through the back door of her father’s home and killed everyone in sight. She had arrived an hour later, finding not only her brothers and their partners, but also her father in a pool of blood at the table. In shock, Fannah sat with them in the chair kept for her and remained there for hours before finally calling the police, sobbing on the other side of the line until the call had been cut short. When the officer got to the house, she was gone.

When she came back to herself, Fannah had a silver bracelet around her left wrist and was lying down in a luxurious bed.

Over the next months, she learned that her father had been told to lie in an autopsy report, but his refusal to comply had resulted in retaliation and his death, as well as everyone else who was with him. The ones responsible for the tragedy had been employees from Covaire City wanting to retrieve a wolf’s body, but things had become complicated, and now all tracks had been covered or destroyed. She had survived because she’d been young and would make a good profit when sold. She had not lasted a night in the Chateau, and had been taken out while still unconscious. And her grief was compelled out of her.

She discovered that vampires and wolves existed, but paid the latter no attention, too ensnared by the first. Their cold bodies and nature fuelled her necrophilia immensely. As a slave, she was owned by a master and a mistress, both vampires, and was returned only due to their departure from the city.

When slavery was abolished in February 2018, Fannah was left in her cell at the Château, and saddened that she could no longer belonged to a vampire. But things changed in 2020, when prisoners were made claimable.

✒ PERSONALITY: Fannah might look like a fiery angel, but she’s not one. Her obsession with death and by default, vampires, used to set her apart from other slaves and even more now from other prisoners as she is very calm and almost cold at times. She can be sociable with anyone, but when it comes to sex, she’s only interested in vampires; and even pushing it to say vampires who haven’t fed. The colder their skin, the better. And the more detached they are from their emotions, the more they are to her liking as death doesn’t have emotions. Although, she does like elysians and will show interest in some due to their very cold skin. She’s a versatile one and surprisingly quite monogamous, especially when engaged in an exclusive contract.

While sociable when needed, she usually prefers her solitude and could spend hours in a room with someone else without speaking and she would feel right at home.

Her opinion on slavery was impartial only because her obsession was fulfilled in Covaire City. And even to this day, she is now more than likely to stare at someone dying, than help them.

Fannah is intelligent in her field of expertise, patient, polite (even though she can speak her mind) and to a certain degree, loyal. However, she can often have a filthy mouth in the heat of the moment. And while vampires are the ones that turn her on the most - because they embody Death, she does enjoy the company of elysians due to their highly cold skin.

MAIN || PLOT || SPECIES || CHARACTERS || EVENTS || APPLY || MOBILE

#Madelaine Petsch fc #Madelaine Petsch gif #vampire rp #fantasy rp #dark rp

31 notes · View notes

a-random-fandom-friend · 4 years

Text

So, Netflix/BBC Dracula review : Part1, from an adaptation standpoint.

It’s a bad adaptation. I’m just gonna warn you right ahead. I would even say as far as saying it’s not an adaptation.

First of all, the serie only follow the story of about HALF the book. The story ends at the Lucy’s deal. And it’s over, like, big end of the story, it’s not like they are waiting for season 2. At little more than HALF the book. but hey, if it’s well paced, good characters...

Secondly : the episode decision. It makes no sens.

Episode 1 follow Jonathan’s adventure at the castle of Dracula (which is now a maze contructed by a mythical architect which may have had a vampire wife, for whatever reason) and then his recruitement in the Sister’s covenant. In my edition that is 546 pages long, the first takes 77 pages and the latter is only metionned through two letters of 1 page, after it happened.

Episode 2 follows the Demeter, a boat that, in the book, arrived in Lucy’s town with no crew except for a dead captain tied to the wheen by crucifix; a black dog, implied to be Dracula, jumps out of it as soon as it touches land (and all the town search for it becasue they wanna adopt the doggo). A journal is found, that narrates its voyage, with crew memebers dissappearing one after the other with no visible reason or body. That whole story is 15 pages long. again, out of the 546 pages of that book. (fun fact: in the book he spent all the trip in a crate with soil in it, only going out to kill the crew of the boat. Here, Dracula is a passenger, because somehow now there are passengers, and when someone is like “what, you didn’t even hide yourself?” he answered “what, you really think i would spent all this trip in a crate? come on, that’s ridiculous!”. The adaptation calls the book it’s based on... ridiculous? it spends 1h30 on something that specifically didn’t happen? that’s just... bad from an adaptation standpoint.

Episode 3 is... a mess. the first part is pure improvisation, then there’s a “three month later” elipsis and for the second part there’s element of Lucy’s story? which is about 250 pages in the book, so, about half of it ? and they crammed it all into the second half of the third episode.

Thirdly, and most important for me : the characters are not respected.

Character they changed : I get that there is room for interpretation, and more room for adaptation. But Mina is useless and naive, Lucy is a narcissic hedonistic party girl, (btw Mina lives in the 18-something century while Lucy lives in 2019, so they don’t even met) Sister Agatha (yeah, from the covenant) becomes Sister Agatha Van Helsing, Quincey is a fuckboy and Jack is an Nice Guy(TM), Arthur Homswood diseappeared so now she agrees to marry Quincey...

Character they made up : they a modern time relative of Sister Agatha van Helsing called Zoe Van Helsing, and also litterally ALL OF EPISODE 2: On the previously desert demeter, there’s now a captain with ptsd, a cook missing a hand, a south asian doctor and his deaf daughter, a pretty young lady, his dashing fiancé and said fiancé secret boyfriend, a young sailot, an old sailor, an adventourous guy, an old duchess... it’s actually a pretty interesting crew of characters, but NONE OF THEM COME FROM THE BOOK. There’s also Lucy’s gay best friend (who dresses kinda like Bobby from queer eye). Still not in the book.

Dracula has powers he had not in the book (he can read people’s thoughts, and he can absorbes people memory through their blood (including their knowledge of an eintier language), and it becomes such a big plot device), and inversly, some things that worked against him in the book now don’t work at all (garlic isn’t even mentionned, he can see his reflection in mirror) or new things can hurt him (he can’t touch the sunlight, and dead or dying people’s blood is deadly to him...) and all the explanation given is “that’s how vampires work, actually.”

The thing that bother me is that... yes, nowaday if you create a vampire you can decide what power you give them, what you want for your story. The problem is, this story was already written : this particular vampire already had a set of rules. No, Dracula cannot gain the memory of his victim by drinking their blood! No he cannot... walk in the floor of the ocean ! that just doesn’t happen ! I’m mad!

Oh, and also he had big Moffat’s Jekill vibes, is familiar, crack jokes à la nbc Hannibal, uses emojis... not saying those are good of bad, just that they are not Dracula. (He misses the moustache and the hairs in the hand but those are super hand to adapt so i let it slide). And also, i guess he was supposed to be presented in a sympathetic light, cracking joke, missing the sun, kind of a loner bur wisecrack smug dude, but he’s doing horrible things ! he helds a woman at gun point just because he wants her to smile to him ! that’s nightmare scenario ! And it’s the guy that i’m supposed to feel SORRY for ? fuck this guy !

That an adaptation asked me to be sorry for dracula is bad enough, but that i’m supposed to like him... And not even ONCE get a found family group... not even a scooby gang trying to solve a mystery... I’m mad. Lucy and Mina live two centuries apart, Quincey and Stewart hate eachother and Arthur is absent, the first Van Helsing interracted with mina for a grand total of 2 lines and the second is friend with Steward even before the events of the story... No one gets together to be against Dracula. The power of love and friendship and solidarity isn’t even MENTIONNED in this serie. I’m mad.

BAD ADAPTATION. 2/10 FOR THE EFFORT.

Anyway, rant to follow about of it’s a bad original story.

#bbc dracula #netflix dracula #anti bbc dracula #actually there a bbc2 dracula made in 1977 that is the best adaptation ive ever seen #tho it takes away the very few gay moments #and arthur and quincey are still merged into one character named quincey #why you all dont like arthur :c #anti mofftiss

26 notes · View notes

marjanefan · 4 years

Text

Inside No. 9 ‘The Stakeout’ review (includes spoilers)

Spoilers- please only read after watching the Stakeout.

Also includes spoilers for The League of Gentlemen Christmas special, Don’t look now and The Wicker Man

This is a fascinating and thought-provoking episode for several reasons.

It very deliberately plays with and subverts the tropes of police drama Thompson and Varney discuss these tropes as they bond over the episode, particularly around the portrayals of an older more knowledgeable policeman taking a younger ‘rookie’ under his wing (which is apparently the relationship that is being set up in the episode). This helps misdirect the viewer way from the true nature of the story we are watching.

The Cop Buddy genre is regularly used to explore male bonding and friendship and the codes of behaviour between men. It is particularly rare in mainstream media (particularly Hollywood films) to see explorations of men relating to and relying on each other emotionally . The cop buddy genre seems to be one genre where this is not just accepted but expected. Possibly because of this in recent years there has been a move to include knowing jokes about the latently homoerotic nature of these stories and to play up the elements of ‘bromance’ (Hot Fuzz is a good example of this). At the same time these knowing jokes end up actually affirming heteronormativity and disavowing these undercurrents by turning them into something that can be discounted as not serious and something to be laughed at. The heterosexual order is always left in place. However the Stakeout ends with an act of a violence that upends the standard endings of cop buddy movies/shows where the two male police acknowledge their friendship then move on.

The relationships between men (in particular how the power dynamics play out) is a recurrent theme in Inside No. 9 in episodes such as ‘ Tom and Gerri’, ‘The Bill’, ‘The referee’s a wxxxer’ and ‘Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room’ amongst others. Indeed this is along with ‘Bernie Clifton’s dressing room’ almost entirely a two hander between Pemberton and Shearsmith. This episode plays out very differently indeed but in its own way examines how men relate to each other .

We see Varney and Thompson bond over the three nights of the story. The banter between them is beautifully observed with Varney trying to win over Thompson (I particularly like the use of the fortunately/unfortunately game on the first and third nights with their subtle indications of changing dynamics between Thompson and Varney).

It is even more fascinating as a vampire story (or more specifically as Adam Tandy referred to it at the BFI preview as a hidden vampire story). There are only subtle indications during the episode such as Varney’s disgust at the smell of Thompson’s curry and his knocking on the door of the car so Thompson invites him in to indicate his true nature. It is interesting to compare The Stakeout to the recent BBC adaptation of ‘Dracula’ which was co-written by Pemberton and Shearsmith’s League of Gentlemen colleague and friend Mark Gatiss. This adaptation explored and questioned the tropes around vampire stories (such as why do vampires need to be invited in and why they dislike garlic). Varney actually says ‘And I’m not a cliché, I hope’ to the audience at the beginning of the episode, almost expressing Pemberton and Shearsmith’s desire to bring something new to the telling of such stories and to entertain the audience. ‘The Stakeout’ may take an apparently more straightforward approach to these tropes but it does explore their deeper meanings in a subtle manner.

Worth noting here the name Varney was inspired by the character of Varney the vampire who appeared in Victorian ‘penny dreadfuls’. Varney actually introduced several tropes to vampire lore such as fangs and superhuman strength (both of which Varney in The Stakeout has!) but many of the tropes included in the episode came later. Varney’s name deliberate nod to the history of vampires in popular culture and possibly Varney’s use of a Victorian stiletto blade is also another nod to the character.

The viewer if they wish could read ‘The Stakeout’ as a supernatural riff on ‘Line of duty’ with Varney’s vampirism being a metaphor for corruption. Certainly it fits in with current police dramas where other members of the police are as much to be mistrusted and morally comprised as the criminals.

However Pemberton and Shearsmith are very familiar with vampire lore and the tropes of vampire stories, and more significantly with their deeper significance and psychological meanings.

It is of course not the first time Pemberton and Shearsmith have given us a vampire story. One of their most memorable and loved pieces of work is the League of Gentlemen Christmas special from 2000 which includes a vampire story concerning Herr Lipp with it’s eventual revelation that it is Herr Lipp’s wife Lotte, not Lipp himself who is the vampire.( At this point it is worth flagging up that in this story Matthew Parker mistakes Herr Lipp’s sexual interest in him for him being a vampire but Lipp actually saves Matthew from becoming a vampire because of his feeling for him).

Vampires remain a perennial obsession in popular culture, especially over the past twenty-five years. We have seen the success of Buffy the vampire slayer, The Twilight series (both films and novels), True blood (both films and novels) and the Blade series, amongst other vampire franchises in various media. These series portray vampires dealing with life in the modern world. These series portray vampires as complex characters with inner lives who are capable of emotions such as guilt and love. The young human female central figure (Buffy, Bella, Sookie) form romantic relationships with vampires (Angel and later Spike, Edward, Bill) and these stories use male vampires to explore female desire and female fears about the nature of their male lovers. Indeed, vampire stories have long been used to explore both female and male sexual desire and anxieties around sexuality. This is an important point when discussing the episode.

In the South Bank show on Pemberton and Shearsmith which was filmed during the filming of series five Steve Pemberton spoke about why he loves some of his favourite horror films specifically ‘The Wicker Man’ and ‘Don’t look now’. He spoke of how powerful he found the tragic endings of these films and the fact that evil prevails. It is worth discussing The Stakeout in relation to these films. (Please note these are very simple overviews of both films!) In both these stories two decent, if misguided men (Neil Howie in ‘The Wicker Man’, John Baxter in’ Don’t look now’) end up getting killed as a result of misinterpreting and underestimating the forces they are up against. Both men attempt to be logical in an illogical world, but fail to deal with the illogical parts of their own personalities. Both men are destroyed by their failure to address and deal with underlying desires. Howie behaves with open contempt toward the Summerisle residents and their beliefs and practices, while holding his own hard-line religious beliefs (Lord Summerisle taunts he is getting to die a martyrs death which is something that should please him). He also fails to look at his own desires and motivations for wanting to protect Rowan as a symbol of purity. Baxter tries to support his wife Laura through her grief for their daughter Christine and is troubled by her desire to contact Christine beyond the grave. He ignores his own deep grief and desire to have Christine return. Ironically he gets his wish to be reunited with her when he is killed.

Like Baxter in Don’t Look Now, Thompson fails to deal with his grief for his former partner Dobson (Malik Ibheis) in a constructive way. He also fails to properly deal with his feelings of guilt that he was absent from the car (getting food) when his partner was killed. He decides to go on a one man mission to find his killer without informing anyone, not just ignoring the actual surveillance operation he and Varney are supposed to be working on but also putting his job and as it turns out his life at risk. It could be argued Varney kills Thompson because he is the one person who shows any interest in answering questions around Dobson’s death. Thompson is reunited in the most horrendously ironic manner with Dobson in the last moments of the episode. The vampirised Dobson will feed on Thompsons blood just as Thompson’s grief and feelings of guilt have eaten away at his personality. Steve Pemberton manages to convey Thompson’s horror at the situation in his final seconds as Dobson approaches but also conveys almost a sense of acceptance and affection.

It is worth discussing here what the psychoanalyst Ernest Jones wrote about vampires in his 1931 book ‘On the nightmare’ (as an aside this book is available as a free pdf online). He argues that vampire lore speaks to the desire to be reunited with dead loved ones. He also discusses that where there was unconscious guilt associated with the relationship (as Thompson has ) these feelings may get subverted into something darker. As the Wikipedia entry for vampires puts it ‘Jones surmised in this case the original wish of a reunion may be drastically changed: desire is replaced by fear; love is replaced by sadism, and the object or loved one is replaced by an unknown entity’- this certainly fits the description of what occurs to Thompson’.

Jones also wrote about how vampire lore also is informed by sexuality and repressed sexual desires and how repression can ultimately turn them into something cruel (the oral fixation of vampire stories was also commented on by Freud)

It can also be argued that this is a story about Thompson being destroyed by his failure to acknowledge his latent homosexuality. Varney represents both Thompson’s desire for intimacy with other men and his fear of what will occur if he allows himself to become close to another man. Varney is handsome, outgoing and (apparently) courageous – all attractive qualities. Varney finally attacks and feds on Thompson only after they have gotten to know each other and he has won Thompson’s trust by apparently saving him during the shoot-out. We know from what he says early on Varney feds once a month. He could have attacked Thompson the first night of the stakeout. However he waits until the point where Thompson has bonded with him. This seems to indicate that Varney possibly needs to feel a connection to the people he feeds on. But it also is possible further evidence that Varney represents Thompson’s fear of what would happen he allows himself to open up to the possibility of a relationship with another man . Varney is only able to enter the car (symbolic of Thompson’s emotional space) and finally attack Thompson because he was invited to…

We also never discover what exactly what the relationship between Varney and Thompson’s dead partner Dobson was. But it could be assumed there was some bond as Varney chose to turn him into a vampire who will be his companion (It is a well-known trope in vampire stories that vampire chose to turn potential lovers into vampires- however Varney refers to Dobson as ‘my child’). Could it be that they were involved in a relationship? Varney turning Dobson into a vampire represents Thompson’s fear of being imitate with another man as being something unnatural and corrupting. Varney also gets to have the relationship with Dobson Thompson could not bring himself to have. Thompson makes a point of describing Dobson as a married man and father, focussing on him as a model of heterosexuality, possibly disavowing and discounting any feeling he himself had for him. But the fact Thompson is willing to go so far to get justice for Dobson and that he carries his photo around does testify to the depth of his feelings.

Varney, with his interest in veganism, healthy diet, Chai lattes, yoga (a cut scene involved Varney teaching Thompson yoga techniques to help him relax) and openness in discussing feelings represents quite a different model of masculinity to both Thompson and Dobson (Thompson mentions how different he is to Dobson who could apparently be moody). Varney tries to get Thompson to take both his physical and mental health more seriously and tries to show him useful tools to help him with this. However every single one of these suggestions actually turns out just for the purposes of helping Thompson be a better victim /feed in the end . For example as noted in the podcast (although cut from the final episode) Thompson undoes the first button of his shirt exposing his neck as a result of a relaxation technique Varney showed him. Varney’s concern about Thompson’s blood pressure and not giving himself food poisoning is more to do with insuring he will be ready to feed on him at the right time. Could Varney represent Thompson’s anxieties about men who do not necessarily conform to his view of what constitutes masculinity (and how in the end it may make men like him behind )?

The conversations about Thompson and Varney about food also indicate aspects of their character which are worth noting – particularly in light of how psychoanalysis discusses oral fixation in vampire lore. Thompson’s appetite for food which is commented on several times throughout the episode can be said to indicate several things. On one level it is ironic someone who is so concerned with feeding himself becomes food. Also as I pointed out earlier Dobson was killed while Thompson was collecting food, which exacerbates his feelings of guilt. But Thompson’s appetite for food could be said to be a way of connecting to others. He remembers his feasts with Dobson affectionately (including relating a very novel use for an empty pringles tube!) and he offers Varney food (namely his curry) as a way of getting to know him. Thompson could be seen as a comfort eater and as using food as a substitute for affection and bonding with those he cares about. Varney’s repulsion at Thompson’s curry could possibly deeper than a vampire’s dislike of garlic but because he senses it is a symbol of Thompson’s disconnect from his own feelings and desires. When Varney describes himself as a flexitarian who only feeds on meat once a month early on in the episode he is indicating he in control of his appetites and desires but also aware and willing to acknowledge them. This gives him a power which Thompson lacks and why he ultimately gets the upper hand in the relationship. In the final moments of the episode Varney instructs the now vampirised Dobson to feed on Thompson’s blood .Thompson who used food to try and connect to both his dead partner and Varney is finally gets his moment of connection with both in the most ironic way imaginable.

The moment when Varney finally reveals his true nature to Thompson and attacks him has erotic power that it occasioned a question at the BFI preview., and which Pemberton and Shearsmith discussed the homoerotic nature of the moment on their podcast about the episode It could be seen as the point where the relationship between Varney and Thompson’s relationship is finally ’consummated’. It could also be read as a metaphor for a sexual assault.

Just some final observations about the episode…

The episode is beautifully shot (at some considerable expense apparently!) by Mattias Nyberg creating both a dreamlike and disturbing atmosphere. The way both Pemberton’s and Shearsmith’s faces are lit are astonishing. Christian Henson’s (as ever) wonderful score with it’s Hungarian influence and soaring distorted strings further adds to the sense foreboding. The graveyard background is also used in a subtle manner but does help convey an foreboding mood. And of course the direction by Giullem Morales (who has directed several episodes of the show) is as usual excellent but as a director who came from a background in horror this story in particular must have appealed.

The poster for the episode places Varney and Thompson against the backdrop of barren branches which almost become a spiders web (of course we only eventually find out who the spider and fly in the relationship is).

I also have to note Pemberton and Shearsmith wrote this episode in a few days after another script was turned down. This makes the fact this is such a powerful episode with such beautifully observed dialogue and skilful seeding of the final reveal even more impressive.

This is just my own take on the episode. It is enjoyable on many levels- as a police procedural, a vampire story and a brilliantly acted two hander between Pemberton and Shearsmith and is further proof of their enormous gifts as writers and actors and their ability to transcend and enrich genres.

#inside no.9 #guillem morales #christian henson #reece shearsmith #steve pemberton

16 notes · View notes

twitchy-torchic · 5 years

Text

Hotel Transylvania theory

In the Hotel Transylvania universe will zing when they find their soulmate. this little piece of info has left fans scratching their heads since the third movie came out. one common question is why would Drac zing twice when it has been established you can only zing once?

my theory is that Martha Draculas late wife reincarnated into Erica. sound crazy? just stick around and let me explain.

Okay, first things first is the whole process of reincarnation. Reincarnation originated in India where its main principle is: you will be reborn but, the amount of good and bad karma you have will determine how long it will take.

So what is karma? Karma is essentially the consequences of one's actions, for example, a sinner would have a reasonable amount of bad karma stacked against them while thus making it take longer for them to reincarnate, while a saint would have a considerable amount of good karma in their favor thus making the rebirth process shorter.

But where does Martha fit into all of this? if she really didn’t mean anyone harm during her life why would it take so long for her to reincarnate? the answer is in the first movie when Johnathan tells the legend of castle Lubove, at the end of the exposition he comments on how people often feel a strange aura around the ruins as if someone is still trapped in there.

My proposal is that Martha’s spirit was trapped in the ruins of Lubov, as a result, of her sudden death, because of this she genuinely believed that her daughter perished with her leaving her husband alone in his grief. She either stayed in the ruins looking for her daughter or couldn’t bear to pass on knowing her husband was alone. it wouldn’t be until around 40 years ago that she later came to the realization that her daughter was alive and living with her husband in the hotel, because of this she finally found peace and was able to separate from the ruins thus being able to reincarnate as Erica. But one of the known principals of reincarnation is that the spirit will lose all memories of their previous life before rebirth, the topic of whether or not the reincarnated soul will later regain these memories is unclear because of cultural diffusion but, this does explain Erica’s malicious intentions towards Dracula in the first two halves of the 3rd movie.

#hotel Transylvania #theories #erica van helsing #Martha hotel Transylvania

47 notes · View notes

elizascharlesdanceblog · 5 years

Photo

CD - A Remarkable Man

Charles Dance on making Godzilla: 'The catering was sensational!'

Ryan Gilbey

Freed from Game of Thrones and waging eco-terror in the new monster flick, cinema’s go-to bad aristo talks about turning down 007 and paparazzi ambushes.

Charles Dance is 15 minutes late. “London, yer know?” says the 72-year-old actor through a mouthful of pastry. His friends call him “Charlie” and Americans call him “Chuck”, though for his mother there was never any ambiguity. “‘His name’s Charles,’ she’d say. She ’ad a few ideas above ’er station.” The voice is rougher and more gor-blimey than the one to which audiences are accustomed, as well as friendlier and less imposing. His thinning hair, formerly red and now sand-coloured, is swept back, and he is wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt over a white T-shirt. The silver bracelet halfway up his forearm could pass for memorabilia from Game of Thrones, in which he played Tywin Lannister, shot by his own son with a crossbow while on the loo.

Any confusion between the upper-class roles in which Dance has specialised throughout his 35-year film and television career, and the man he really is – the working-class son of a mother who was in service from the age of 13 – was cleared up long ago. But that hasn’t stopped him playing commanders and archbishops, monsignors and monarchs. He will soon be seen in the third series of The Crown as Lord Mountbatten, while in the new blockbuster Godzilla: King of the Monsters he reprises the aristocratic menace routine that has kept him in fancy silver clasps since the days of starring opposite Eddie Murphy in The Golden Child and Arnold Schwarzenegger in Last Action Hero.

Godzilla takes place mostly in darkened rooms or during inclement weather. Major characters drift through the film, their storylines petering out arbitrarily. I couldn’t make head nor scaly tail of it. And Dance? “I had difficulty staying awake,” he jokes, as though imitating an old duffer who’s wandered into a multiplex by mistake. Then he reverts to normal volume: “No, I didn’t say that! I mean, it’s spectacular.” He plays a former British colonel turned eco-terrorist who has a vested interest in facilitating Godzilla’s reign. Before he says a word in the film, he has already shot someone in the head and is thereafter restricted to the odd line and the occasional scowl. Was his performance cut? His laugh is booming and good-natured. “I keep hearing that! ‘I wish there was more of you.’ It’s what was offered. I just like working. Unless it’s complete and utter crap. I’ve got somepride.” There were clear compensations in this case. “The catering was sensational,” he says.

And, as he points out, it has been a while since he did a mega-budget movie. After all, Godzilla couldn’t be more different from Happy New Year, Colin Burstead, Ben Wheatley’s family-get-together film for the BBC in which he played the cross-dressing widower Uncle Bertie without a hint of camp. “Ten days we shot that in. Handheld cameras, communal green room. SAS film-making.” The character’s sartorial preferences were Dance’s idea. “I told Ben: ‘Ever since his wife died, I think Bertie’s worn women’s clothes. He’s been doing it so long, the family accept it.’ He turns up in his modestly heeled shoes and a bit of cashmere, his twin set and pearls.”

I remind him that the role marked his third foray into women’s fashion. “Riiiight,” he says suspiciously. Well, there was Ali G Indahouse, in which he writhed around at Sacha Baron Cohen’s behest in a red rubber micro skirt, thigh-high leather boots, leopardskin crop-top and drop earrings. He rolls his eyes. “Ah yes. The director said: ‘We’ve had an idea for the ending.’ I was kind of forced into that.

”And for one scene in White Mischief, the 1987 drama about the amoral British upper-class in Kenya during the second world war, the toffs interrupt their routine of polo and wife-swapping for a cross-dressing party. “Joss Ackland was there in bombazine and a tiara. I had on a mid-blue chiffon affair. Then Greta Scacchi comes out looking gob-smackingly gorgeous in this jacket with nothing underneath. Joss said, ‘This is all wrong. We should be going to each other’s wardrobe and just putting on whatever fits.’ He stormed off to complain to the director and I went with him. There’s Joss with his handbag on his arm, me standing there in me gear. I thought, ‘Here we are, expecting to be taken seriously …’

”White Mischief was pivotal for him, cementing his image as a sexy but faintly cold-blooded member of the ruling class. The ITV end-of-the-Raj drama The Jewel in the Crown had already made him a sensation three years earlier. The Sun called him “Dishy Dance” and the People claimed he had given up jogging because of the women flinging themselves under his running shoes on Hampstead Heath. Not that he was in danger of having his head turned – he had been “shlepping around the provinces” in theatre for nearly a decade before that big break, which didn’t happen until his late 30s.

And he was married with two children, so the tabloids weren’t interested in his love life until he split from his wife in 2004 and began dating much younger women. (He had a daughter with one of them, Eleanor Boorman, seven years ago.) Getting tailed by photographers in his 50s and 60s was no fun. “I was going to a shrink for a while and I got papped coming out of there. Pain in the arse. Lowest of the low.”

He was more prepared for the fuss over Jewel than he would have been if he had played James Bond, a part he was invited to test for – and refused – in 1986. “I think I’d have fucked it up. It might’ve gone to my head a bit. When Jewel happened, you couldn’t open a paper without reading about me. I was ‘the thinking woman’s crumpet’. But Bond would’ve been much bigger. I might’ve blown it.” He’s been eyeing the names currently in the frame. “Young Richard Madden is pretty good. Or James Norton. I think Daniel’s been fantastic. What he lacks in the wit of Roger Moore he makes up for in a sense of danger.”

Walking on set on his first day, he wore a T-shirt that read: 'I’m Cheaper Than Alan Rickman'

Without the slightest prompting, he identifies White Mischief as the fork in the road: the moment when he could have pushed his career to the next level, but didn’t. It was in 1988 that Michael Caine said: “Charles Dance is the one. Why? Because he wants it.” Caine approached him in a restaurant: “He told me, ‘I’ve got money on you. Don’t let me down.’ I thought: ‘Fucking hell, that’s nice.’” But Dance himself isn’t sure he ever really did want it – whatever “it” was. “Maybe if I’d had more cardinal ambition. I mean, I’m ambitious, but I don’t tread over people. And sometimes I just don’t feel like it. I thought: ‘No, I don’t want to go off to LA and sit in endless bloody meetings. If it’s meant to be, it’ll be.’ I’m a bit like that.

”Then there was the competition. “Jeremy Irons was, and still is, a few feet ahead of me. Who else? Alan Rickman, bless him.” The shallowness of the casting pool was vividly brought home when he received the script for Last Action Hero. “I get to my character’s entrance and it says: ‘The door opens and there stands Alan Rickman.’” Still, he was a good sport about it. Walking on set on his first day, Dance wore a T-shirt that read: “I’m Cheaper Than Alan Rickman.”

It has been a career with obvious highlights: he was the only person to sleep with Ripley in the Alien series (in David Fincher’s Alien 3), played the director DW Griffith for the Taviani brothers in Good Morning, Babylon, and was part of the flawless ensemble in Gosford Park. On the other hand, he was in the medieval stoner romp Your Highness and was recently seen licking Luke Evans with a long, leathery grey tongue in Dracula Untold. He has done Celebrity Antiques Road Trip and Who Do You Think You Are?, where he met the South African great-niece and the three great-great-nephews he never knew he had. He read solemnly from Fifty Shades of Grey and Mel B’s autobiography on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year to much comic effect, and is in the forthcoming Kingsman prequel.

But a significant part of his acting range is currently being neglected. When I asked earlier why he hadn’t yet written an autobiography, his response was humorously gruff: “Who wants to read another book by an actor?” The question of what is missing from the scripts he gets offered prompts an altogether gentler, more ruminative answer. “I’d like to properly front something,” he says softly, his hearty manner replaced by a note of introspection. “If anyone was brave enough to do a remake of Death in Venice, that would be ideal. I notice I tend to be brought in to give a bit of weight to something, you know? Maybe I should be more choosy. I’d just like to be fronting things a bit more than I am.”

source: TheGuardian

#CD #charles dance #a remarkable man #interview #the guardian #30 May #2019

9 notes · View notes

anthonybrxdgerton · 5 years

Text

Shadow of Night reread

A few days ago I re-read Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness. It took me very little time to do it (which was surprising, considering the fact that i re-read the first book for almost 2 months). I will be doing my reactions about episodes as well (as soon as I re-watch them) and comparing the show to the first book.

My reactions, notes and everything under the cut. There are some trivia I forgot about, things i hope to see in season 2 of A Discovery of Witches, some stuff referencing the next & previous books and what not.

BEWARE OF SPOILERS FOR THE BOOKS. IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE BOOKS, DON’T READ THIS POST. Enjoy!

[ a discovery of witches | shadow of night | the book of life | time’s convert ]

the book takes place in 1590 & 1591 (matthew & diana scenes) and 2009 & 2010 (present day scenes) in the span of 7 months

diana's hair change colors when she timewalked into 1590 - they're long, red and curly, and they change - not exactly back - when they return to the present - they're straight, silky strands that were brighter redish gold - just like my mother's hair. it does't say anything about the length though (probably in the next book);

2 of my favorite quotes describing Matthew in this book: The man was as tall as a giraffe. | Bloodred stockings would do more than capture a wandering eye, given that the man who proposed to wear them was a six-foot-three vampire, and most of his height was leg..

“Surely you’ll let me kill him now, de Clermont. I’ve wanted to do so for ages,” Hancock said, cracking his knuckles”. “No. You can’t kill him.” Matthew rubbed a hand over his tired face. “There would be too many questions, and I don’t have the patience to come up with convincing answers at present. - Hancock never liked Kit, I also love Matthew's reasoning lol

- AT THE SIGHT OF PHILIPPE'S LETTER MATTHEW CRIED VAMPIRE TEARS ESPECIALLY THAT THE LAST TIME MATTHEW SAW PHILIPPE HE COULD BARELY HOLD A PEN IN HIS HANDS AND PHILIPPE LOVED WRITING I AM NOT OKAY

“Then who . . . ?” I trailed off. “Ysabeau? Baldwin? Surely not Marcus!” I couldn’t believe that Matthew’s mother, his brother, or his son could be involved [in the Congregation] without someone letting it slip. - oh, diana... Question: did Deb knew it was Baldwin when she was writing it? In A Discovery of Witches Matthew acted like he didn't know who was on the Congregation "And Marcus? Find out who besides Peter Knox and Domenico Michele are members of the Congregation."

- Until I have made peace with the past, I will not set foot in France. - we know Gallowglass showed up in Sept-Tours in 1945 when Philippe was dying. Did he go there before too?

“Explain yourself.” The words were quiet, but they didn't conceal Philippe's fury. - he is nor just mad because Matthew has a wife now. He is furious because he can sense that BOTH Diana and Matthew are from the future - this is what Philippe wants Matthew to explain.

Also, interestingly, reading A Discovery of Witches I've noticed that Baldwin called Philippe "dad" while Matthew calls him "father". Coincidence? But then in the Book of Life Baldwin calls Philippe “father” so... Idk anymore. That being said, verin calls him “Atta”;

“The twelfth century was not good for you, and we allowed you to read entirely too much poetry." - I need to know more now! What exactly did Matthew read in 12th century?

"It is regrettable that you are not going to Florence, then. But it will be a long time before you will be welcomed back to that city, after your latest escapades there." - Matthew, what the heck did you do there? Please tell me you were NOT behind the siege of Florence, i beg you... But then again, Ysabeau did say that Matthew caused wars in Italy when he was bored...

Tamen mea lingua graeca est peior.” “Then we shall not converse in that language either,” murmured Philippe in a pained tone. - HE JUST WANTS TO SPEAK IN GREEK, THAT'S HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE, WHY DOES NOBODY BUT YSABEAU SPEAK IT. BUT that explains why he made sure greeg was still taught in schools later - he wasn’t only looking for Diana, he wanted people to speak his native language too

“Philippe doesn’t seem to think so.” “Then bed him. - lol, if only

"He is my son. I will not fail him.” Philippe’s mouth tightened." PHILIPPE I LOVE YOU NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE SAYS

“For someone wedded to a witch you are quick to judge the passions of others, Matthaios. Louis is your brother.” Goddess bless us, another brother. - Diana is not happy having huge family lol

I had been wrong. Philippe had not been trying to break Matthew, but only his guilt. Philippe had not failed his son after all. - MY FEELS

“I forgive you,” his father repeated, throwing his arms around his son in a fierce embrace. “I forgive you.” - IT KILLS ME EVERY TIME, THEY BETTER KEEP THIS IN THE SHOW

i love how Philippe just makes Diana his blood daughter without a second thought lol

“Think—and stay alive.” Philippe clapped his hands. - one of my favorite quotes

Alcides Leontothymos beseeches you to hold this child Diana in your hand. - i am right to think Philippe is in fact Heracles, right?

Philippe trying his hand at engineering and failing every time will always make me laugh. You may be thousands years old vampire, but some things you will never learn

Philippe, Diana and Matthew's goodbye always kills me SEASON 2 BETTER DO IT JUSTICE

“Anomalies,” Ysabeau murmured. “Philippe was always looking for anomalies in the world. It is why I still read all the newspapers. It became our habit to look through them each morning.” - Phiippe knew he would not be alive by the time Matthew and Diana were together, but he was always hoping he could see her again. he hoped that Diana would be at least born while he was still alive and he always knew that when Diana and Matthew came back to their times, there would be anomalies throughout history. That's why he told Gallowglass and Verin to search for them too, to keep Diana safe.;

“That’s what Philippe says about Granny,” Gallowglass muttered under his breath. “Just before all hell breaks loose.” Give me more Ysabeau and Philippe you cowards;

“Matthew knows the book, for his brother gave it to me.- So Mary Sydney knows Godfrey too. Does she know the rest of his siblings?;

[Marcus] made a muffled oath. “Tell your intuition to take a break, for God’s sake.” I need to see Marcus and Ysabeau interacting in season 2, their banter will be amazing

Every time I read Marcus seeing miniatures for the first time and missing Matthew so much kills me too - the show did them dirty, i need more of them together too;

I forgot how much I ship Marcus & Phoebe;

I wish we could see the requests for magic Diana has received in season 2 and her not being able to do anything about that, i need this conflict SO MUCH. Does she help? What is she doesn’t and her neighbors will out her as a witch? This could be SO GOOD please show, deliver;

Diana’s symbol is rowan tree;

“Baldwin’s never lost a million of anything in his life.” - just throwing this out there because I love Baldwin with all my heart;

917 is the Knight's of Lazarus telephone number. it belonged to Philippe, then to Matthew and now to Marcus. Philippe chose it to honor Ysabeu's birthday (September 17th). What i wanna know - is it her birthday or re-birth. ALTHOUGH it should be 179 - In Europe (and Philippe was Greek after all) we, unlike Americans, write the day first and the month later;

When Gallowglass learned that Baldwin had been called to Sept-Tours at Ysabeau’s behest for some unspecified emergency involving Matthew, the Gael knew it was only a matter of time before the historical anomalies appeared. i think it was when Diana was kidnapped by Satu, right? Just want to be sure;

Gallowglass is smoking, i completely forgot about it;

Rudolph is flirting with Diana so much (ughhhh) because his source in Congregation told him that Matthew only married her to save her life a.k.a. charges of witchcraft;

Matthew helping Jack with his nightmares is the sweetest thing he's done so far;

One of Philippe's names is Ariel, what are the others?;

Abraham (Jewish weaver in Prague) comes from Chełm. Is this why Benjamin moved there?;

I need to KNOW the story about Baldwin and Dracula, Deb. Come on.;

“He did. I swear it. Baldwin ordered him to leave or face the same fate as the Impaler. You should have seen Baldwin’s face. The devil himself wouldn’t have disobeyed your brother.” i want to see it too lol;

apparently, Gerbert told Ysabeau about the prophecy about a witch with the blood of the lion and the wolf. I wonder if this was one more reason she was anti-Diana at the beginning or did she dismiss it as something not important;

And speaking of colleagues: How, after years of buying you Harvard bibs and mittens, did I end up with a daughter who teaches at Yale?” good question lol I WANNA KNOW TOO;

Bennu, Stephen's familiar, is a bird.;

#saveEm2k19;

Matthew nearly had a heart attack when he discovered that his beloved Range Rover was not waiting for him in the underground garage. Instead we found a navy sports car with a soft top. hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha it always cracks me up;

Edward Kelley sent the first page to Rabbi Loew, the second to Hubbard. Who gt the third and who sent it to Diana’s parents?;

Annie stayed with Shakespeare after Matthew and Diana left and Jack was with Hubbard.;

Also, Matthew made Diana a diplomatic passport for easier traveling;

Overall, I loved this book. There were some boring moment that didn’t move the plot forward at all (like most of Prague, especially the hunting or the play, making the philosopher’s stone with Mary Sydney) that I hope the show will cut it out completely or shorten it. Hopefully, they give us at least 2 episodes of Philippe at Sept-Tours - now that they got 10 episodes, they have a chance to do it properly. I also love the magic lessons from Goody Alsop and other witches, though I suspect, season 2 will only give us 1 witch (but I hope we will see Sophie’s ancestor too. My favorite characters are Philippe, Pierre and Jack and I hope we will get plenty of them (please include Pierre, show!)

#all souls #shadow of night #deborah harkness #ysabeau de clermont

30 notes · View notes

erickadracula · 5 years

Text

Uncertainty - Chapter II

They had finished filling the last tube with that liquid that he had trouble ignoring, although it was true that for years he had domesticated his passion for blood, there were times, from time to time since Ericka had arrived, where that sweet essence made him to be curious and have an itching in his throat. He felt very guilty the first few times in which he had apologized to the blonde during a confession in which he felt like the worst of monsters and which she only found funny and also some excitement about those dark thoughts.

"You crave it, right? Don’t deny it." She looked at him mischievously as she withdrew the arm in which they had just injected her.

That joke took him out of those thoughts and he broke with seriousness that scene

"I ... I ... Ericka! why do you say that and in front of the doctor?” He felt slightly embarrassed at that inquisition, his wife knew how to make macabre jokes.

"I would say it's more like a statement, dear." giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek, while trying to calm him down, Drac looked like a mess, his impatience was reflected in his feet that repeatedly hit the ground and the sound of him grinding his teeth.

The doctor gave one of the nurses the tray with the samples, hoping that they would not throw them away with one of her clumsy movements, while preparing to continue with the consultation.

“Countess, there are some routine questions that I want to ask you to make your medical history, luckily you are in good health and had not had the opportunity to attend you.” He approached her with a notebook.

"Excuse me, could I get up while you ask me your questions?, I'm tired of being here and it would be good for me to stand up a little bit." Feeling like a patient in a hospital did not help her at all and it was making her bad.

"I would recommend that you do not, you could suffer dizziness, wait a bit to stabilize." He approached with a chair and started to fill out a pre-designed form.

When she heard him, she remembered how a couple of days ago she'd felt sudden dizziness, but she had considered them insignificant enough to not have mentioned them before, it must have been something that had made her feel bad or some kind of decompensation. She wondered if it was reasonable to say it in front of Drac, who would probably start with a reproach full of exaggeration for not having said it before. The vampire was a being who cared for her continuously and she avoided feeding that behavior.

“I felt dizzy ..." she turned to see him quickly and then returned the look again to his interlocutor "A few days ago"

Gillman did not have to be a genius to guess what that could be about.

"Excuse me Count, but what I'm going to ask your wife is necessary." The doctor could not deny that it really bothered him that Dracula was there, but what could he do, he was used to that behavior every time someone from the family came to consultation.

Ericka saw this situation very strange, the doctor was afraid of Dracula and did not allow him to do his job well and she frankly wanted to finish all this as quickly as possible. So, she should interfere for the poor guy.

"Dear, maybe it's better for you to wait outside and let me talk to him alone." The doctor seemed to thank her for that suggestion deeply.

"But why?" he raised his voice surprised, "If I am the kindest and most attentive husband there is, I have behaved well..." crossing his arms and pouting, he did not understand why he could not be present, he was not doing anything bad, more than worrying about his beloved wife, like any normal husband would do.

"Come on! in return I promise not to work overtime, yes?” Winking at him and hoping that would work, she had played her trump card, which she reserved for special occasions. With this, he could not say no, and it happened. The poor vampire had not realized that he had left Ericka's hand red because of all the nervousness that he had, he had kept it all this time firmly grasped.

He left as if he were a punished child, slowly and with the eyes of a puppy, she felt certain tenderness to see him like that, but now she understood why Mavis and the others disappeared to go to the doctor without telling anyone, surely this was the reason.

She had been sitting in a chair where she could be more comfortable, or at least that she believed so, because she did not deny that getting out of bed had been a very bad idea. Each of her joints had hurt at the time of getting up, but she would not simply recognize it. She did not want to stay in that place, she had never been in a hospital and she hated it.

“Let the formalities outside please.” She tried to break the ice and tried to remove all those formalisms that she detested, even while being a captain and while having an education based on status, titles, rankings and positions, she had never got used to that.

"I'm more comfortable like that, Countess. The series of questions I'm going to ask you will seem intrusive..."

"Go ahead, I know you are just doing your job." She tried crossing her legs but immediately uncrossed them because of the pain.

“Do you and your husband take any kind of precautions?” biting his tongue at that audacity, he thought it would have been a good idea that another doctor had attended her and who would not have been cornered by those fangs. He did not want to be on his skin right now.

“Do you mean that if we are taking care of ourselves with some type of contraceptive? I understand what you are referring to Doctor.” She laughed a little at the shyness of someone who looked professional enough to have all the confidence of the Dracula family.

"Yes, the dizziness and fainting make me believe that you could be..."

"Pregnant? I don’t think so Doctor, Drac and I have talked about that and we have not considered it, it is not within my plans." That was ridiculous for her and for some reason it was making her get the creeps.

“Countess, it is not that you consider it or not, I’ll ask you the question again: Do you and your husband take any kind of precautions, use contraceptives?”

"Are you serious? No, vampires don’t use condoms, it's not like they could use them anyway, you should know." That was starting to irritate her, that possibility was not pleasing her at all and she was starting to feel terrified. “And as for me, I don’t take any kind of pills or hormones."

"Please, keep it only as a possibility, it can also be anemia or something minor, do not get upset." He did not know how to handle things, he would only have to wait for the analysis to be ready so he could not be blamed for anything, that blonde woman also looked dangerous.

Gillman and Ericka were aware of what the statistics on fertility among vampires said, which was much lower than that of humans and also the chances that she could get pregnant drastically decreased because of other factors: like her age. She knew that to at age 35, pregnancies could not only be riskier, they were less frequent and some did not come to an end. She had never cared about this topic, she had not really thought about motherhood and although her great-grandfather had once touched the subject by telling her that it was necessary to marry in order to procreate -- that it was an obligation and her duty to the Legacy, for her it had only been foolish words that had been ignored but that was before meeting Drac. Then, like any couple, they had spoken about it and he had been open to the possibility and had even told her some stories of when his wife was pregnant with Mavis. He sounded very happy with those memories and she could not deny that all this caused a little jealousy, doubts and many insecurities. What if he could never love her in that way? or worse, love their child as he loved her daughter? it hurt to think of those possibilities. He was a model father, she could see that, but she did not think it would be the same in her case, although it was true that Drac had previously joked that he was too old to have children and she was not exactly a young girl.

A few months after having married, just returning from her honeymoon, she had missed a menstrual period, she had felt those nausea, everything pointed to that she could be pregnant. She did not want to say anything to the vampire to avoid any disappointment, she had decided to take a trip to a nearby city. She had entered a pharmacy and had bought with all the embarrassment in the world a pregnancy test. She had gone to the bathroom of a restaurant and having waited for the necessary minutes and with her hands trembling, she saw that result: negative. She decided to go buy two more, it could have been a mistake. She had to be sure that she had not gone there in vain. She tried the second one, she was afraid and when she looked at it she only saw a vertical line, a resounding no again, what if the third one the difference, what if two vertical lines appeared but sadly it was not like that ...

Leaving the bathroom, with her eyes on the ground, on her cheek ran a single tear. Her face reflected sadness, she had murmured hundreds of times on the way there that should not be any hopes up, that it could be a false alarm and that they were not looking for it anyway.

That memory came to Ericka as a whirlwind, suddenly reality hit her. She was sitting there, still in pain listening to the doctor's words, the last thing she understood was that he was recommending vitamins and that their sleep schedules to be more regular.

"Thanks doctor, can I ask you one last thing?"

"Yes of course whatever you like," he said while signing a recipe with some kind of scribbling that could not be distinguished well. “When your results are in, I will contact you.”

She tried to choose her words and rubbed her hands nervously “Don’t tell my husband, I would prefer to tell him myself. Also, we have to see what the results say."

@hellodrerickarulzht3

#drericka #hotel transylvania #hotel transylvania 3 #hellodrerickarulzht3 #fanfic #fanfiction #drac and ericka

18 notes · View notes

mermaidsirennikita · 6 years

Text

May 2018 Book Roundup

I don’t know when I got so into thrillers--but here we are. Of course, I’m not as into the types of thrillers that are about a cop pursuing a killer. It’s more the insidious types of domestic thrillers that catch my attention, about idle suburbanites who secretly harbor paranoid minds and little hatreds. That’s probably why I enjoyed “A Simple Favor” by Darcey Bell and Liv Constantine’s “The Last Mrs. Parrish”, however much they polarized readers. They both feature horrible women, stupid men, unreliable narrators, and endings that don’t neatly tie up loose ends. In other words, they’re perfect summer reads.

The Defiant by Lesley Livingston. 3/5. The second in a series, The Defiant returns to the world of female gladiators and in particular Fallon. Now triumphant and happy in a ludus run by her sister, Sorcha, Fallon expects to have it easier. However, her life is upturned when the women of the ludus are accused of rebelling, and Sorcha goes missing. I rated The Valiant, the first book in this series, four stars so I must have enjoyed it, but I also don’t really remember it, aside from the basic plot and being interested in Sorcha and Fallon’s relationship. I would still say that the sister relationship is the core focus of the plot, which is different (and distracts from a fairly shallow romance between Fallon and Cai, a Roman soldier; there’s an opportunity for something cooler, but the author bypasses that completely). But I think I’m over this series; this book drove home that it skews too young for me to enjoy it. The gladiatrix thing is cool, but there’s so much in this book about how the ludus is home, and like... hasn’t everyone been enslaved by Romans to some degree? Taken from their homelands? Forced into a blood sport to be entertainment? It’s fun, and I won’t say that it isn’t without merits, but this is too shallow for what it takes on.

Fatal Throne by Candace Fleming et. al. 4/5. A collaborative novel from the perspectives of all six of Henry VIII’s queens--and Henry himself. What impressed me about this book was how it wasn’t really straightforward. It seems like it might be at first; Catherine of Aragon’s section kicks it off by detailing the beginning of Catherine’s life in England, up until her marriage is collapsing. Now, don’t think that this makes it a bad story; I quite liked it. Catherine of Aragon is, in this version, for once more than a stereotypical zealot queen, though the author does that thing where a character whose native tongue is Spanish constantly throws random Spanish words into English sentences, which doesn’t feel real. But anyway; many of the other stories are less traditional. All revolve around the queens’ downfalls or deaths; for example, Anne (or Anna, as she’s called here) of Cleves has a story that really centers around her dying days, and the ghosts of her past. There’s a weird, haunting creepiness to everything. Though there are some rather shallow moments--including one bit in the Anne Boleyn story that seemed... pretty off--and there isn’t any reinventing of the wheel, it’s a sad retelling of the wives’ story, where the central villain is undeniably Henry VIII.

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian. 2/5. Theodosia was a child when she was forced to witness the murder of her mother, the queen of Astrea. Since then she’s been beaten and terrorized in the submission by the conquering Kaiser, forced to live as Lady Thora, the Ash Princess. The combination of being forced to commit a terrible act and the reappearance of a childhood friend wakes Thora to the reality of her people’s suffering, and spurs her to action. She’s given a task: seduce the crown prince, and kill him. So yeah, pretty typical fantasy stuff, but that doesn’t mean it has to be bad. What makes it bad is Theo’s flip-flopping as a character and a truly dismal love triangle. Neither romance feels real, and Theo’s constantly between dithering and acting like... Stormborn-lite. Oh, yes. The GoT influence is strong in this one. I just wish it had been more interesting.

Love and Ruin by Paula McLain. 3/5. The turbulent romance between Ernest Hemingway and his third wife, writer Martha Gellhorn, is told from Gellhorn’s perspective. I remember really liking McLain’s version of Hemingway’s first marriage, “The Paris Wife”, but that was so long ago that I can’t remember much of it. And for that matter, that marriage--which occurred during Hemingway’s years as part of the Lost Generation in Paris--was a very different animal from what he shared with Gellhorn. You get the expected beats--Gellhorn and Hemingway meeting, her being initially starstruck while harboring her own ambitions, their work during the Spanish Civil War, the affair that led to a marriage, and that marriage’s destruction because Hemingway was incapable of holding a decent relationship and Gellhorn’s fierce independence kept her from being the idealized wife he wanted--but while the writing is pretty... the expectedness keeps the book from being more than exactly what it is. And though obviously Gellhorn was a good bit younger than Hemingway and obviously her love for him and hero worship of him allowed to overlook shit long enough to up and marry the guy... I just don’t really buy that Martha Gellhorn would speak and act the way McLain seems to think she did. She’s so over the top as a young woman in love. The book is fine, it’s just uninspired.

Trespassing by Brandi Reeds. 4/5. Veronica is at her wit’s end, caring for a toddler while her husband is often gone for work as a pilot, while at the same time pumping herself full of hormones for her fertility treatments in order to have a second child. Still traumatized by the miscarriage she suffered recently, she is shocked when her husband, Micah, doesn’t come home--on the same day that their daughter claims that “Daddy went to God Land”. Swept up in a mess of emotions and falling under suspicion from the police, Veronica flees with her daughter to the Florida Keys, where her husband had a house in her name. But the island life presents even more questions. Who are the children in the photos she finds, and why is Micah with them? This is a solid, engaging thriller that somehow is at its most disturbing when you consider the fact that Veronica’s mind is rattled in part because of what she’s put her body through via fertility treatments. Veronica is sympathetic, and rather than stupidly accepting things like thriller protagonists often do, she’s paranoid, protective, never quite trusting anyone. Why should she? While I won’t say that the reveal in the end is one of the best I’ve read, the story as a whole is very interesting, and I appreciated the fact that Reeds really delved into the mind of a woman with a bit of feminine body horror--like, in a sensitive way. It’s different. The book is as much about Veronica’s identity as anything else.

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine. 4/5. Amber envies the lives of glamorous trophy wives, none of them more than Daphne Parrish. Daphne has it all: a handsome, doting, extraordinarily wealthy husband, two daughters, and all of the possessions she could desire. So she begins her plan: befriend Daphne under the guise of a homely, Pollyanna type and steal her life. But as Amber becomes closer to Daphne, she constantly has to look over her shoulder for ghosts from her past that could disrupt her plan. Little does she know that the real danger could be closer than she thinks. This book was kind of disturbing and definitely does not have the type of ending that will leave you.... feeling morally good. But it’s juicy. It’s Big Little Lies kind of juicy, about vaguely psychotic women with rich and famous lives. Frankly, I would have appreciated more development of the female characters aside from Amber and Daphne, but the two of them were great as is. You spend about half the book in Amber’s mind, and she is HEINOUS. But in an interesting, darkly funny way. The book isn’t going to be for everyone, but I found it extremely entertaining.

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton. 2/5. Marisol has never been to Cuba, the homeland her grandmother, Elisa, fled as a young woman. She returns to scatter Elisa’s ashes after the death of Fidel Castro. However, she didn’t expect to connect with Luis, a historian and dissenter in the current regime--nor did she expect to discover that her grandmother had an affair with a revolutionary. This book has a lot to say about Cuban politics; and I value that. But unfortunately, the political backdrop takes over the story, which is very paint by numbers. Nothing surprising happens. The characters are dry. I wish I loved it, but I just didn’t.

From Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon. 3/5. Teenage Twinkle is an aspiring filmmaker, out of sorts as her relationship with her best friend Maddie--newly popular while Twinkle remains a bit of nerd--deteriorates. She’s surprised when Sahil--the shy twin brother of her crush, Neil--asks her to collaborate on him on a gender-flipped version of Dracula, but it isn’t long before she’s starting to look at Sahil in a very different way. At the same time, however, she’s corresponding via email with her secret admirer, N--who she very much suspects is Neil. What is Twinkle to do? I loved Menon’s debut, When Dimple Met Rishi, and I’m still very excited for the spinoff of that book. It was a perfect little romcom. This was not. This book read much younger--and Twinkle and Sahil are a bit younger than Dimple and Rishi were. But their voices were also VERY immature, and in general it just... missed the mark for me. I think someone younger would love this book. It did touch on several really great threads, especially with Twinkle’s family. But I didn’t feel the same thing I felt with WDMR at all.

Furyborn by Claire Legrand. 4/5. When her best friend Prince Audric finds his life endangered, Rielle saves him--exposing herself as capable of wielding all seven types of elemental magic. There are two people foretold to have this gift; one will be a queen who brings light and salvation, while the other holds blood and destruction. Put to the test in a series of trials, Rielle must prove exactly which one she is. A thousand years later, bounty hunter Eliana is shocked to find her mother kidnapped, with the only person who can help find her being a rebel leader. In joining up with him, Eliana defies the empire she’s worked for--and puts herself in terrible danger. This book is an interesting one; the two narratives you’re following are focused heavily on their respective leads, and neither woman is traditionally “good”. Eliana has the charm of being a tortured rogue, at least--Rielle is more complex, obsessed with adulation and self-centered to the point of callousness. But I enjoyed both of them, with Eliana’s story picking up a few points over Rielle’s towards the end... which was a pleasant surprise, as at first I wasn’t sure if Eliana’s side of things would measure up to Rielle’s. There is a lot amgoing on, so things can get a bit confusing--and this makes the middle drag a bit. But the ending left me dying for more, with the only other complaint I can make being that Legrand could work on her sex scenes a tad. But if you’re looking for a female-centered story with a few guys who are all about that undying devotion thing, plus a sexy villain and moral ambiguity, I recommend this one highly.

One Match Fire by Lissa Linden. 2/5. Twelve years ago, Paul and Amy were camp counselors--and he broke her heart. Now Amy is back to run the camp after Paul quits, though they don’t realize that they’ll be meeting up again until she’s at his door, physically different but emotionally still affected by what happened between them during their teen years. Both frustrated and with few other options, they make a deal: until Paul leaves, they’ll have a purely sexual relationship. But Paul wants to know what really has Amy rattled--and he doesn’t want to leave anymore. I like romance, I like erotica--I wasn’t sure how to categorize this book, as most of it is graphic sex but I don’t know, the erotica bells weren’t quite ringing for me--but I still need stakes. They don’t need to be fantasy stakes. They don’t need to be thriller stakes. It could be that the family business is about to go under; it could be that the leads are dueling lawyers. STAKES. This book has no stakes. I thought that Paul did something super shitty when these (28 year old) people were kids, but like... it was a bit douchey, but tons of people were dicks to me in high school, I was a dick back, and I don’t remember much of it. Certainly, I found Amy’s reaction a bit over the top. At the same time, Paul was--very shortly into this sexual relationship--being like “give yourself to me emotionally Amy” and I was like lmao dude why y’all haven’t spoken there is no reason for you to be so invested in this woman. He was so pushy, it really irked me. The sex scenes were okay. “Will these two people run a camp together” just wasn’t a big enough question to keep me interested.

A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell. 4/5. Widowed, neurotic mommy blogger Stephanie has found the best friend of her dreams in Emily Nelson, a wealthy publicity exec with a handsome husband and beloved son Nicky, who happens to be the best friend of Stephanie’s son Miles. So when Emily asks Stephanie for a “simple favor”--to watch Nicky for a few hours after school--Stephanie doesn’t hesitate to do so. But when Emily doesn’t show to pick Nicky up--when she isn’t even home by the time her husband Sean returns from a business trip--Stephanie goes on red alert. It isn’t long before the police find Emily’s body; and it also isn’t long before Stephanie begins taking her place. As Stephanie begins receiving odd messages, the question is impossible to avoid: what really happened to Emily Nelson? Alternating between Stephanie’s blog posts and the characters’ perspectives, “A Simple Favor” is one of those thrillers that is kind of balls to the wall insane. You can expect to find that Emily wasn’t all that she appeared to be. But Stephanie’s secrets are just as great, if not greater. I’ve seen a common complaint regarding this book regarding the fact that none of the characters are good people. For me, that just made it more delicious. Emily is this enigmatic, alluring figure luring over the entire story, and you just can’t shake her appeal.

#books #book recs #book roundup

9 notes · View notes

wazafam · 3 years

Link

The hit show, Lucifer is coming to a close as the second part of the final episode will premiere on May 28, 2021. The Netflix show has gone through some ups and downs during its time on air. It originally aired on Fox until it was canceled after the third season, but after immense social media support from fans, the show returned on Netflix.

RELATED: Lucifer: 5 Characters Who Got Fitting Endings (& 5 Who Deserved Better)

Lucifer's main cast has been on a miraculous journey for six years and when it was announced that the production had come to an end, Tom Ellis and his co-stars shared heartfelt messages on Instagram. After the final episode of the show, where will the actors go next? Some have already moved on to new projects, while others are still up in the air around what the future holds.

10 Tricia Helfer

Tricia Helfer made her debut on the show as Lucifer's mother and as the character Charlotte Richards. Her storyline had emotional moments for Lucifer, as well as put some characters in danger. While being a part of Lucifer, Helfer also had a role in the SyFy fantasy horror drama, Van Helsing.

She plays the role of Dracula in season four. As the show is set to premiere its fifth and final season, Helfer might make her return as the character following the storyline from the previous season. Fans will also get to see Helfer in a stop motion animated short titled, Save Ralph and her recurring role as Erin in Step Up: High Water is still to be announced.

9 Tom Welling

Tom Welling may have been known for playing one of television's beloved versions of Superman, but he rubbed people the wrong way in Lucifer. He played the role of Cain/Pierce in season three, the new police Lieutenant who starts dating Chloe but soon wants to kill her and Lucifer.

With Lucifer's official ending, it's unclear where Welling will head next. His most recent role was in 2020 in the television program, Professionals. The show centered around a medical satellite that explodes and a billionaire and his fiancée turn to a counterintelligence officer for help. The show had 10 episodes in its first season.

8 Scarlett Estevez

Actor Scarlett Estevez was the most loveable and joyful character on the show. Estevez plays the role of Chloe's daughter, Trixie and she softens the more hardened characters, like Lucifer, and develops a friendship with Maze. From 2019 to 2020, she had a main role as Gwen in Bunk'd.

Estevez is already on her way to a new role after Lucifer. Thanks to the actor's Instagram account, fans got to see Estevez in her new future role in the Disney series, Ultra Violet and Blue Demon. According to Deadline, it's a superhero coming-of-age luchador action-comedy with Estevez in the lead role as Ultra Violet.

7 Aimee Garcia

When it comes to the most joyful, bright, and upbeat character in Lucifer, the title goes to Ella Lopez, played by Aimee Garcia. Ella is the squads' forensic scientist and fans also got a look into her darker past. While still being a part of Lucifer, Garcia took part in a couple of movies - one as Vanessa in El Chicano and another where she voiced the character of Denise in The Addams Family animated reboot.

RELATED: Lucifer: 10 Characters Who Have Changed The Most From Season 1

Moving forward after Lucifer's end, Garcia is also already set to take part in voicing the main role of Jodie in Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. The show is a stop motion adult animated series for Hulu and the storyline involves a supervillain obsessed with taking over the world who hates superheroes. The supervillain soon faces a mid-life crisis with his New Jersey suburban family and his wife, Jodie.

6 Rachael Harris

Fans are first introduced to the character of Dr. Linda Martin, played by Rachael Harris, as Lucifer's psychiatrist and sexual partner. Her storyline quickly evolves into becoming his closest friend, accepting his real identity, and falling in love with Amenadiel.

Harris's last project was in 2020 in the television special, Make It Work! about a group of women helping in the fight against COVID-19. As of late, there are no future roles planned yet for the actor. Instead, she focuses her attention on charity work for United Cerebral Palsy of Central Florida.

5 D.B. Woodside

D.B. Woodside plays the role of Amendiel on Lucifer. The angel is tasked with convincing his brother to return to Hell and from the first season, the character goes through some major storyline changes for the better. In 2019, Woodside had another recurring role in the political drama, Pearson, as Jeff Malone.

The actor gives no hints on what's next after Lucifer comes to end, but fans can only hope that they will get to see more of Woodside on the small screen.

4 Kevin Alejandro

Fans have come to love the character of Daniel "Dan" Espinoza, played by Kevin Alejandro. In the beginning, he wasn't the best, as he took part in a corrupt scheme with another officer. Dan also wasn't fond of Lucifer and his relationship with Chloe, but fans couldn't help but admire his love for pudding.

In 2020, Alejandro took part in a romance movie titled The Lost Husband as a character named Danny. Alejandro is also set to play the role of Greg in a movie short titled, For Every Good Invention. Alejandro also has his own production company, Alejandro Films, so perhaps fans will see more from him via this avenue in the future.

3 Lesley-Ann Brandt

Lesley-Ann Brandt dazzled fans with her tough-as-nails portrayal of her character, Mazikeen, on Lucifer. The demon of Hell soon started to show her vulnerabilities, feelings of loneliness, and her capabilities of being a good and bad friend. It's safe to say that fans started sympathizing for Maze, while also thinking she's a badass.

RELATED: Lesley-Ann Brandt: 10 Movies And TV Shows You Didn't Know She Was In

Brandt was one of the cast members to share a long and heartfelt letter to the show's fans on Instagram after the show wrapped up . It's currently unclear if fans will get to see Brandt in another role on the big or small screen anytime soon, but everyone is crossing their fingers.

2 Lauren German

Lauren German plays the lead role on Lucifer as Detective Chloe Decker, the love interest and partner of Lucifer Morningstar. Chloe, at first, thinks Lucifer is too much of a playboy and nuisance. However, she soon opens up to him, develops feelings for him, and then learns that he really is the Devil. This newfound reality doesn't go so well.

Fans enjoyed the character nonetheless. German has dedicated the past six years to her role of Chloe Decker. There's no news of any upcoming projects, movies, or series for the actor.

1 Tom Ellis

The immaculately dressed Lord of Hell is played by no other than Tom Ellis. Ellis quickly became a fan-favorite character and between the fun witty remarks, the luxurious life, and charisma, Lucifer could tempt anyone. The character also came with deep-rooted scars and family issues.

Fans will be happy to know that they will soon see Ellis in another role - this time, in the Netflix rom-com titled Players. According to Deadline, he will star alongside Gina Rodriguez and Damon Wayans Jr. The movie follows a sportswriter who creates hook-up "plays" with her best friend. However, she didn't expect to fall head over heels for her target and has to reevaluate her game plan.

NEXT: Ratched: 10 Things Fans Want To See In Season 2

After Lucifer: What Will Main Actors Do Next? | ScreenRant from https://ift.tt/31Ndeqh

#Blogger

0 notes