#i have not related to a character onscreen more than in this moment
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guys wait a second can we talk about the fucking heart eyes wylan gives jesper for the whole fucking season?????
like????? If someone looked at me like that I would straight up fucking melt on the spot???? Like, jesper is being all oblivious and mighty as he always is and wylan is just there like 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺 for the whole fucking show????? and the kiss????? if a cute boy kissed me like that id legit dIE?????? I would protect this boy with my life???? I would rain hellfire and whoever touches my boy?????
Anyway y’all I will be rooting for these dorks till the end of my days and I wILL go to war for kit and jack if they ask me to because I couldn’t have dreamt of anyone better for the roles. Peace.
#shadow and bone#shadow and bone season two#wylan#jesper#six of crows#back on my bullshit screaming about them#THEM#the kiss scene was a fucking blessing i tell you that#a fantasy series that mixes magic with adventure AND has well-portrayed gay romance in it?#sign me the fuck in#but seriously have you seen the mannerism#the looks and stares#the utter chemistry???#i have not related to a character onscreen more than in this moment#and tbh i too would get heart-eyed in front of jesper fucking fahey so there's that
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I can’t stop thinking about Eddie Dear y’all.
First off, the probable reason behind what had occurred to him is most likely due to him being scrapped/taken off the script of the show is just both saddening and dreadful on his part. Like he exists within the realm of the Neighborhood, but considering his absence throughout the recent update, aside from him giving the viewers a decoder + clips of him throughout the Home-warming ad compilation, its safe to say that Playfellow Workshop had most likely taken off him of the show, or at the very least, lessening the amount of screen time he receive (in this case being the ads/commercials).
And now onto the actual possible reason why Eddie Dear would be taken off script. Now thinking back to the fact that Eddie & Frank being a couple is canon, it’s also safe to say that because of their connection in the show — even though Playfellow Workshop attempts to have them be distant or lack any sort of significant interaction onscreen — Eddie & Frank’s relationship, or at least Eddie’s love for Frank, could certainly be the reason why the he was taken off script.
After all, if two male characters are shown to be gay for each other in a kids show from the 1970s, chances are Playfellow Workshop would rather scrap the homosexual (derogatory) mailman character than have Welcome Home be taken off the air entirely just because of said mailman character.
Furthermore, what’s more interesting and ironic about Eddie being a prominent character who became intensively aware of his situation is the fact that he first appears to be a character who could be considerably perceived as“insignificant” or “irrelevant.” Of course I don’t actually think he is, but from the way Playfellow Workshop and the Homewarming commercials are framed Eddie, it can be interpreted that Eddie is seen as a rather character of little relevance.
It is partially due to him being taken script, but it’s also the fact that his only thing going on for him is being the mailman for the neighborhood — as well as a bit of a comedic relief. Eddie said himself in the Homewarming video from the secret site — if I’m correct, he feels that nobody appreciates him enough for his work (though correct me if I’m wrong). And that since there’s no one there to ask him to deliver something, or call, or check up on him, he feels as though that — somewhere inside of him — he feels both left out and “irrelevant.”
His one role is to be the neighborhood delivery man, and without that, then what exactly would he be good for?
(this could further be emphasized when Sally told him that they made the deliveries for him to give him a day off — even though no one told him that, and chances are this is perhaps Sally trying to reassure him when in reality, he was just scripted out of Homewarming hence why no one came to talk to him. Getting lil off topic oops—).
Recircling back to the original topic, yada yada yada Eddie just being a mailman and besides that he views himself to be irrelevant so on and so forth.
One thing I would like to mention, relating to Eddie being the probable first of the group to become aware other than Wally, is that I find it surprising that Eddie Dear IS the probable first to become aware like Wally.
To tell y’all the truth, I didn’t think he would play such a significant role in the Narrative (and thus probably doomed by it too). I would have least thought Frank or Julie would have been next to become the more Self Aware.
But Eddie Dear? Our loveable, friendly, and reliable mailman — Eddie Dear? Suddenly depersonalizing right on the spot with a pea plate and becoming aware of both his sentience, the weirdness of his setting overall, and how he could hear Home’s heartbeat? How he knew that the moment he comes to this revelation of self-awareness, he can’t go back? That everything he has ever known is most probably not real and/or all a lie?
It just has me stopping for a second on why and how him, but after thinking about it furthermore, alongside reading analysis posts, it would make sense for him to be next on why he had become Aware.
And I can only assume that from here on out, things are bound to change. And I for one fear these colorful lil puppets — particularly Eddie in this case.
Lets just hope the existential dread doesn’t drive all of them over the edge.
#welcome home#welcome home spoilers#welcome home eddie#eddie welcome home#eddie dear#this lil mailman is jingling in my head like a marble#poor guy :(( i have a feeling smth bads about to happen to him and frank#but at the same time IM EATING THIS SHIT UP
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re: dnp onscreen "personas" lol. i mean yall know what i mean by that but i feel like explaining it anyway just to be thorough. this is related to what ive been calling The Shift.
2011-2012 was around the time where the barrier between real dnp and the people they played was starting to be fortified. and like, part of it is just, with phils channel once he wanted it to be less video journal-y and more weird experimental short films, he still wanted to entertain people while talking abt his life, so maybe he would stretch a tale a bit or act a bit peppier than he is irl. and with dan, he had concepts literally from the start of what to do with his channel, and how it was inspired by a lot of sketch comedy based channels like communitychannel and [REDACTED]. so its not like it wasnt somewhat personas from the start, but 2012 was when it was cemented, and once they became known for being a duo it was just further self-flanderization. a Phanderization even. like intentionally playing into the ornery guy who makes bad puns and the happy go lucky guy who accidentally says innuendos. real tsukkomi and boke moment.
ok im gonna elaborate on why tatinof was a fanfic now :) this is the PEAK of phanderization, to me it's not a surprise that the cracks in the egg PERSONAS were starting to show bc they were just Fully In Character for like a year or so straight. in tatinof, the serious bitter eye-rolling "ugh dont do a song and dance" guy was dan (The Straight Man) (dont laugh thats just what its called) so of course his counterpart was the silly happy just having fun "i wanna burst into song!" guy was phil (The Fool). but when you watch their making of doc, dan says that HE'S the one who wanted to do the song and dance. if youre an Enthusiast abt dnp, you mightve already known that dan was a huge theater kid and loves the book of mormon n shit. phil likes theater too, but dan LOVES IT like not just watching but Performing. BUT to a regular degular in 2015 just casually watching or a huge fan but hasnt watched every liveshow ever or a phannie who just really believes in the Phanon, this may come as a surprise. phil is the happy silly ball of sunshine right? like ok. these aspects of their personality (dans bitterness and phil's positivity) aren't exactly LIES. but like obviously theyre just humans. this is what Interactive Introverts was TRYING to comment on, but imo i think fell short of its attempt bc in the end they were still trapped in their personas for the sake of Giving The People What They Want
ok i kinda tangented so back to the personas, it's not as if today they are Fully Raw And Real with us on screen, that's just kinda inherently never gonna happen, there will always be shit we don't know about them bc like. it's still a screen. BUT now that they are more real with us, we kinda see the energy of the olden days back, ofc less MegaRandomHyper and more gay millennial waffling. but it's them! cuz they really are so similar to the personas, but there's always an underlying layer of This Is A Bit. when dan's annoyed at phil for something we know he's not genuinely angry ESPECIALLY when we see that phil does it on purpose to rile him up. i think something strange is that, it's not like during 2012-2018 we didnt see stuff like this, dan's always been silly and phil's always been sarcastic, but bc so many people had bought into the Personas of danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil, that ended up being cemented into fic.
ok i wanna ramble on more but maybe ill make a new post lmao
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Full book spoiler thoughts ahead. Okay I know some people think Nynaeve didn’t do enough this episode but honestly? I think this was perfect. It’s really setting up her need to break her block, most likely next season. She couldn’t heal her friends when they were terribly injured, this is gonna weigh on her.
Also I love this introduction of Elayne to the group and reunion of the entire EF5. I hope they do more full group reunions than happen in the books. I think we’re still probably getting the stone of tear next season so at least we’ll probably have another convergence point there.
Also!!! I fucking love that Egwene had a ta’veren moment this episode, where the pattern shaped itself around her needs so she could free herself from the a’dam. Great choice. Brilliant finale, great way to top off the themes around stilling and having channelers’ autonomy and lack of control of the one power stolen from them.
Stuff I am especially looking forward to as a result of the foreshadowing in this episode and the whole season:
Mat having been made a hero of the horn between the third age of the books and this turning and how that’s basically gonna kickstart his general arc way early. The fucking rigged up Ashandarei!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If/when we get Rhuidean next season I’m gonna be feral for weeks.
Everything around stilling this season is gonna pay off so fucking well with what is going to happen with the white tower.
Related to that, the stuff with shielding this season was setting up for The Box in ways that are driving me Insane.
Egwene’s entire arc going forward. Holy fucking shit Egwene’s arc was set up so perfectly this season. The show established her stance on the seanchan so well I’m still boggled. Renna’s actress was incredible, I have perhaps never hated a character more. Fuck.
The forsaken. Full stop.
AND THE AIEL. Oh my god the Aiel this season. The Maiden hand talk. Every single moment Aviendha was onscreen. I’m just!!!!!
I found this season to be pretty fucking great, the pacing was way better than season one (though not perfect, they need more episodes), the effects were better, the way the magic system was displayed was better, the acting went incredibly hard (occasionally the dialogue was a bit wonky but the acting was solid basically across the board), the execution on themes was Delightful. Some marked differences from the books but I think most of it really worked in the show’s context. Cannot wait for season three. If Amazon doesn’t increase their episode count I’m going to fight. And they should increase their budget some more.
Literally my only complaint this episode was the fletching thing during the arrow injury scene. Which, it is honestly kind of funny to have the best healer in the world make such a rookie mistake.
Everything else I was down for. Great season finale.
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Finally reading the Invincible comics (I watched the show first), I think I’m gonna liveblog my reactions.
So far I’ve read up to the end of Issue #13, which is where season 1 ends in the animated series. And boy do I have thoughts. Spoilers below the cut.
1. William referring to himself as a “chick magnet” gave me whiplash
2. Eve cancelled for slut-shaming multiple women???
3. Black Samson had a butler?????
4. “I can always produce more offspring” It just doesn’t quite hit the same, does it?
Fascinating to see all the ways they made the show more politically correct. I am enjoying the comics, but I can see what people mean when they say the show has improved on a lot of things (not just representation-wise but also story-wise and narratively). That subway scene? WAY more devastating and impactful in the show than it was in the comics.
Plus, Rex is significantly more obnoxious in the show and I LOVE that for him, please let him shout and be annoying. Let him be a jerk outside of the fact he cheated on Eve. And yet at the same time, the show also makes him way more sympathetic?? Which I’m very much here for. In the comics, it’s just “Hey babe I’m cheating on you now lol”
In the show, we get to see that buildup of Rex’s jealousy and insecurity towards Mark (even though it is hinted at that he had a problem with cheating before Mark came into the picture). We get to see a more human side of Rex, an ugly side but a relatable one nonetheless. You can at least see where he’s coming from, even though he’s in the wrong.
I love that the show explores a deeper connection between Mark and Debbie than in the comics. That conversation between them on the back porch is everything. It adds a lot more weight to that final confrontation.
The one area where I think the show stumbled a bit, is how they handled Cecil. In the comics, he is formally introduced way later than in the show, only after Mark gets beaten into a mountainside by his father. In the show, Cecil is introduced right away, but… he doesn’t really have anything meaningful to do, does he? Like think about it. Nothing he does beyond the comic material really impacts the outcome of that final fight. There is no reason for him to come into the story as early as he does. And I hate to say this because I adore Cecil and his animated adaptation got me feeling some kinda way. I love every single moment that he is onscreen. I just wish, if they were going to make him a more major player throughout the first season, that they would’ve given him a way to impact the plot in a more meaningful way. Because otherwise it makes all his precautions and super-government-spy shenanigans look like so much bluster. Who knows, maybe my opinion on this will change when I read the second volume.
So yeah that’s my unfiltered reaction. Knowing me, I might tack more onto this later because I am prone to forgetting things, also I could write multiple essays about each of these characters.
#invincible comics#invincible#mark grayson#debbie grayson#rex splode#rex sloan#nolan grayson#black samson#cecil stedman#invincible show#invincible amazon#invincible series#reaction#thoughts#rambles#william clockwell#atom eve#samantha wilkins#samantha eve wilkins#invincible comic spoilers#invincible spoilers
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ITSAY/IPYTM thoughts
In three parts because that's how I wrote it.
Oh-aew in a shirt which seems like the most meta English t-shirt text ever in Thai BL(ish) world (and there have been many others) but also seems like something Oh-aew would somehow own.
Part 1
I wasn’t assuming I’d have a ton to say about I Told Sunset About You. I wasn’t even planning on starting it at the particular moment I did, I just had it in mind I’d do so soonish. But wow, this drama hit me like a ton of bricks.
I tend to enjoy it when there’s a small gesture or moment onscreen that brings me back to uncertain romantic moments of young adulthood. Oddly enough, it’s often how someone leans (not kabedon-ish looming fwiw)—make of that what you will. (There’s this one moment in Between Us that hit me with something I can only describe as the world’s hardest pang.) But yikes, having so many... I guess first love feelings come up so hard and fast is really unusual and compelling, but almost too powerful for a sensitive creature such as myself. It’s certainly beautiful in an important way I think art is meant to be beautiful. But it’s less uncomplicatedly enjoyable than some things.
I don’t always have to identify with one character over another, even if one character is positioned as the protagonist of a story. I don’t always identify with anybody, though certain stories will pull me in in that way. But man, ITSAY gives me vertigo. Teh’s paradoxical mixture of obvious feeling and self-conscious reserve might normally make it so I’d be seeing things firmly from his perspective, but instead I whip back and forth between Teh and Oh in a borderline-painful way. I guess I just want so badly for them not to hurt each other.
Billkin’s left eyebrow jiggles like even Teh’s face is fidgeting nervously. At the point I’m currently at in the series, it feels like this kid is going to explode leaving only a fine mist. PP Krit is so still as Oh that it’s at least momentarily tempting to perceive him as solid, confident. But his steadiness is one of watching and waiting SO intently.
I feel like I could write an essay about the blinking alone, much less the overall category of looking. I don’t especially want to write it, but it’s there.
About midway through episode 2 I found myself kind of relieved to confirm there are only five episodes. I wanted to hurry through those most acute push & pull moments. But here I am at the beginning of episode 4 and it feels like it’s been a dang eternity.
Part 2
Back again after ending ITSAY and getting 4 1/2 episodes into IPYTM. I’m not writing about this show because I decided to do so, but because I don’t seem to have a choice. Not that I wouldn’t choose to do so, it’s just moot.
I think I’ve finally put into possibly inadequate words a thing Billkin does a lot as Teh. Sometimes his face just kind of goes... offline. He’s telegraphing despair while his face settles into a stiff mask. I find it a lot more true to life than what many actors do in similar scenes, but also very relatable in a way that’s painful! Again, in an art way. In a way that puts into practice the fact that we don’t only watch and read stories to pass time but because they help us understand ourselves. But part of me is annoyed, like a kid who’s been told to get in the car only to find they’re being taken someplace totally unforeseen and unappealing.
I find myself not wanting to explain what PP Krit is doing as much, but not because what he’s doing is less carefully crafted, certainly not because it’s less affecting. I said earlier that I was bouncing back and forth between identifying with each of them but not long after that first note of mine I stopped being able to identify with Teh very much. It might be a stretch to relate the events of this show too much to an experience of my own, but I was probably the Oh-aew in my first serious relationship, which was a very long one that was completely tied up with my entire college experience and a long first stage of adulthood.
I don’t judge Teh too harshly, but he just seems SO young. Like, younger than I may ever have been. Part of what makes this show good at what it does is that I don’t quite know what’s going on with him a lot of the time. There’s certainly a part of me that wants someone to explain what goes on in his head, but the ambiguity works for this show’s narrative style.
Maybe this will become more apparent, but am I supposed to have a strong conviction as to what Jai’s deal has been? Because that guy seems determined to give some of the most intense mixed signals I’ve ever witnessed. I feel like the director was going okay in this shot you’re in love with Teh. Okay now in this scene you feel like Teh’s kinda gross.
Honestly Teh is super gross! Billkin is a cute kid and Teh has many endearing qualities but he is a MESS. About half the time (well, half the time we see him onscreen, who knows what he does during time-jumps) the kid is barfing feelings like No-face from Spirited Away after he’s eaten nearly everybody who works at the spirit bathhouse.
I strongly suspect these characters and performances would bring up different things for people other than myself. This show is taking my personal buttons and stomping on them; presumably for others it stomps on slightly different or even opposite buttons, and for others it might trigger very little whatsoever of their own personal baggage.
Well, back to it I suppose.
Part 3
I feel less urgency now that I’ve reached the end point of the two series. Which is good for me but it means I have less to say at this point.
I’m very curious as to how a rewatch of these two series would feel to me. At first I thought a rewatch might be great—often that way I can relax and appreciate things more, since I’m not distracted by suspense as much. But I could just as easily wind up dreading certain moments. So many public scenes, yall. So much shame being experienced!
I would like to take a short moment to appreciate Hoon. His mom-pleasing powers may have complicated things for Teh, but it was such a relief to me that he was a sweetheart and a good brother.
I’m glad there’s a happy ending but I’m relieved Oh-aew got several chances to be resentful. (Not that I would have been unhappy with some less-than-happy endings. Too happy an ending would have been odd tonally anyway for this show.) I’m pretty sure I laughed out loud when Oh-aew was like but this time if you have a problem can you tell me and we can talk about it?
I was so glad Tarn got a little cameo at the end. It felt like giving her her due. Recognizing how that moment made me feel makes me realize how much I appreciate Tarn having interiority and agency as a character.
In other news, maybe I’m now one step closer to being able to see Na Naphat onscreen without immediately thinking of him as Tawan from Kinnporsche. And usually saying “f*cking Tawan!” in my head. It hasn’t happened yet, but I hope to get there. I’m sorry Na Naphat, I guess that performance was almost too good.
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#HuntForThePirateHome Watch Party
(crossposted from my twitter)
Hunt for the Wilderpeople reflects a common theme in Taika Waititi's work, and in OFMD, about people's perceived worth/capabilities. It's easy to look at someone from the outside and call them a "bad egg" or an idiot/failure.
But with love, affirmation, and understanding, people are so much more than that. It's funny when Paula sums up all of Ricky's delinquency, but it's also so sad that she's pre-decided his kid's entire future, boxing him in before he's even started.
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I'd forgotten that Oscar Kightley was in this. He was one of my favorite parts of Next Goal Wins!
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In a weird way, Bella is a bit like Stede after his reunion with Ed. She's thrilled to have Ricky there and eager to lavish him with everything he could want, but she's also cognizant of what he's been through and trying to respect his space.
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"I'm so happy we found you, buddy. I'm sorry it took so long." 🥹
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"He's tricky like that, Jesus"--lol, I love it.
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Taika is so good at setting up little visual things that pay off later in the film, creating a great narrative moment without any dialogue. It's such a gut punch when Ricky pulls back his blankets and the hot water bottle isn't there.
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I love this movie. Every element is just wonderfully executed. The acting, dialogue, camera work, music choices, even the chapter titles--they all serve to enhance the story the film is telling.
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"Do you want me to go find help? ...I'd die, wouldn't I?"
Julian Dennison is so great as Ricky. Taika's gift for casting/directing kids is impeccable, he never misses.
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The most heartbreaking thing about Ricky's story about Amber is that we the audience (and Hec) understand what really happened better than he does. Brilliant scene, gaahhhh!
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"'Faulkner is Cauc... Caucasian.' Well they got that wrong, 'cause you're obviously white." Love that line!
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I love Ricky's "he made me do stuff" monologue. It's common to have one character innocently say something that sounds completely wrong to another character, but it's rarely done with such finesse. Nothing Ricky says sounds forced for the sake of the joke.
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I like Ricky and Hec's conversation about "majestical" vs. "majestic." I relate to that feeling of knowing a word isn't "proper" but using it anyway because it feels closer to what I want to say than the real word.
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@netflix is a great platform for Hunt for the Wilderpeople. It would pair wonderfully with Our Flag Means Death, another hilarious, heartfelt story with a unique vision whose amazing cast features some talented Polynesian actors! Won't you #AdoptOurCrew?
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"She wanted to save us poor wretches when no one else wanted us, like rescue dogs"
This is a line that could easily be uncomfortable and patronizing. But we've met Bella, so we know that this is true in the sincerest way possible.
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Paula is a subtle Miss Trunchbull, change my mind.
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Oh god, poor Zag--you were a good dog. 😢
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"I was trying to tell you it was like The Lord of the Rings!"
Ricky Baker has never done a single thing wrong in his life, your honor.
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"Don't even get me started on the national rugby team! They're not human."
Psycho Sam has entered the chat!
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Okay, so Frenchie would absolutely believe the same conspiracies as Psycho Sam, but he'd also be like, "Take it easy, man, alright?"
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It's hard for me to pin down my favorite Taika film, but I think Hunt for the Wilderpeople is his quintessential film. While his onscreen role is small, it's like concentrated Taika Waititi, and it's the one I'd use to introduce people to his work.
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@netflix, Hunt for the Wilderpeople is about finding a place to belong after you've been rejected
Our Flag Means Death, which is also about belonging, was rejected by its former streamer
You could #AdoptOurCrew and give this diverse, critically-acclaimed show a new home!
#hunt for the pirate home#adopt our crew#save ofmd#fallenrocket#hunt for the wilderpeople#our flag means death#taika waititi#once rejected now accepted#it's about belonging to something
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v-force thoughts, a year and a half later
so i've been doing a v-force rewatch with a friend (who hasn't seen it before). we're currently 20 episodes in, here's some thoughts
overall i'm actually enjoying it a lot more than i did on first watchthrough. like i was worried i'd only like it compared to g-rev but no i'm genuinely really liking it
animation still sucks ass though. notable quotes from me and my friend respectively include "half the characters look like they smoked the forever weed" and "i can see the polygons on those beys"
the vibes are really cozy at points. like literally the scenes of just the gang hanging out are SO GOOD, same goes for the saint shields too actually
on a related note, i already knew takao and daichi's arguing in g-rev was unpleasant to watch, but rewatching v-force has REALLY cemented that opinion. like when petty arguments happen in v-force it just feels like that, petty arguments yaknow.
kai is extremely autism and i need to go take screenshots of him sometime. i mean i already remembered him being like that in this season but half the time he's onscreen i feel like i'm going to explode (in a good way)
here's a really good kai moment btw.
also there's this really odd and kinda out of character moment with max when he first shows up. and idk i just felt like pointing it out. at the very least it's another point against the way people commonly portray him ig
lastly, i'm still not quite able to put into words what it is that makes The Yuya Incident work so well despite everything but i think what makes psykick just NOT work is. well okay for starters they are obviously not intimidating (though that does kind of work with the early stuff) but they also just... do not have much of a presence, y'know? like in s1 and g-rev whenever volkov is on screen there's a goddamn AURA to that guy. psykick makes me feel nothing.
speaking of volkov yeah they really forget s1 exists. it's so funny how takao's like "wow hiromi's ideas are so ridiculous" even though the idea of an international crime ring isn't that far-fetched considering borg.
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The latest gamer dudebro opinions that I've found really irritating have been about Dame Aylin (no surprises there I guess), and mainly just about how she's too angry/loud/brash/etc. I've also seen some of them using transphobic slurs to describe her which is just...idk there would be a lot to unpack with why they feel that is okay and it says a lot about their thoughts on women in general (both cis and trans).
I think the thing that annoys me the most about it though is just like...how often this kind of thing reflects their lack of empathy towards women at all. Saying she's too rageful when she's been locked up and repeatedly killed and traumatized for a century and then is immediately confronted by another person who wants to do the same thing. Would you not also be rageful if that happened to you? How is it that there are soooo many games where you play as an angry dude beating the shit out of people/things (and sometimes for no other reason than punching = fun), but when it's a woman who has a legitimate reason to be angry, it's way too far for them? Is it just some level of desensitization to seeing men do it but not women?
Like, yeah, she's brutal. She loses control of it and is aware of that. It's honestly refreshing and cathartic to see. But it feels like this happens any time there is a female character who is abrasive or brash, especially if they're a character who isn't like, sexually available to men. Or even with characters who are I guess (because it reminds me a bit of the outrageous reactions to Abby from TLoU2, which...not going to get into that because I don't feel good now about those games/Neil Druckmann, but I still feel like it was mind-blowing how much these same type of guys hated her despite her having clear motivations for what she did and everything). Idk. Sometimes I think men would actually lose it if they knew how many women hold really intense, deeply-rooted anger from trauma they've experienced, especially trauma that forces a person to feel small or trapped or that’s domestic or sexual in nature (not that Aylin has sexual trauma, but most women have experienced varying degrees of harassment or abuse of that nature).
Speaking on Dame Aylin though, I'm still really not over the scene of freeing the Nightsong and being able to feel all of her desperation and rage. It all felt so tangible and relatable and Idk. I really appreciate these characters who can show that and who also might even be aware of how their anger damages them. It's just nice, you know? Esp when a lot of angry female characters still get turned into some weird sexual stereotype where they’re “dommy mommy step on me” kind of shit. Having a character who can appeal to women's anger without the anger being sexualized or fully villainized in the media itself is, like I said earlier, cathartic. Even if Aylin herself seems to grow quiet after her more brutal actions, she’s still a character who is given room to feel and show that rage onscreen without consequence or having to hide her anger away to appear palatable. Again, idk why acting on anger is normal for male characters but sends people into a frenzy the moment the character is dare written as a woman.
Anyway! That’s all lol.
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not to salt openly on main or anything but instead of playing up a grown adult man's ineptitude to the point where he doesn't even know how to search for the nearest children's hospital on google or recognize food in the refrigerator, they could have instead utilized the part where he tries to give miri cold medicine for adults as a visual metaphor for the fact that she has completely different needs from the two of them; it's all fine and well to be miri's video game buddy until the moment where you have to step up to be the adult in the room, which... really should have been the crux of rei's character arc imo?
rei's stunted development has always been more of an emotional issue--sure, he doesn't take care of his body all that well either, but the real impact of his upbringing is that he doesn't know how to relate to others in a more responsible manner, because he's never been put in that position before. his deal is that he "doesn't know what love is", including self-love, and love here also encompasses the capacity to care properly for others. kazuki wasn't only doing the physical housework, but also bearing the brunt of the emotional work that goes into keeping a child on-schedule and out of danger, which rei had to deal with for the first time while alone with a sick miri. instead we get about a grand total of about 2 minutes of screentime on the kind of internal turmoil this caused him ("i can't do anything...") and exactly zero minutes on the effort that he had to expend in kazuki's absence while miri needed him--all we get is the final shot of him asleep that only implies some of the work. he's not even the one who presumably takes her to hospital! what was the point of having kazuki out of the picture on his little grief journey, if not to show us the development of rei in real time?! kazuki doesn't even come home to a clean house!!!
i think my irritation with ep 7 stems mostly from the inability of the writing to address the (usually very gendered) inequality of housework and emotional load distribution within a household in any cogent or meaningful fashion, instead using it as the vehicle to explore kazuki's backstory and cut in a few comical scenes of rei in distress instead of actually taking the issue as seriously as it could have. kazuki didn't just leave the house bc he was sick of daily life, he was grieving and being devalued in his household while a 4 year-old and a 25 year-old manchild roommate were constantly testing his patience. i was really, really looking forward to some kind of significant emotional reckoning on rei's part that we got to see onscreen, one that was more consistent with his character (he was NOT this helpless before, even in ep 1 before he met miri) and that would actually mean a little more for the plot than.... honestly whatever we got in ep 7.
also, just on a personal note, as a former (and sadly ongoing) rei stan, it's not very cute to watch a grown man flounder around his own fucking house not knowing how to call a cab or fry a single egg. it's not sexy. it doesn't serve. bring back the sexy rei suwa right now or i'll storm the fucking studio with a torch.
#rambles#buddy daddies#negative#sorry. this rant was sitting in my stomach like a stone so i had to excise it like a bezoar
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Look, I read the biographies, I googled ‘em, and I know people say James Dean was a Marlon Brando-copy.
But I just saw On the Waterfront and I didn’t get that at all. I mean. Maybe some of Dean’s line delivery is similar here and there. I noticed Brando holds his side with both hands, which Dean also does in Padlocks and Something For an Empty Briefcase when he’s acting injured. And I think maybe they both interact with objects of meaning, like Jim tugging on Abra’s watch or Terry’s playing with Edie’s glove.
But other than that I was looking for similarities in the way they carry themselves or in their mannerisms and I didn’t see many.
I mean. I’m no expert. Maybe I just can’t tell what’s technique and what’s character-choice. But they seem to approach similar scenes differently, which shouldn’t be the case when the whole point everybody is trying to make is that James Dean copies Brando.
For example, it looks to me like they interact with girl costars very differently. Brando acts very charming and forward, maintaining a flirty gaze as long as his character isn’t avoiding a question.
In Streetcar, when Brando’s character is interacting with a woman he hates but is attracted to, because she’s constantly judging him, you get very forward eye contact.
But even in Rebel, with more confident characters like Jim Stark, Dean plays his romance scenes by avoiding eye contact and only looking when the girl isn’t.
And when it’s an insecure character like Cal? No Brando-ish, flirty, observant looks toward the lady while she’s watching, at all. Just big stares whenever she turns away.
I am not an actor, but I do sometimes draw characters by basing their traits after real people, so to some extent I know what kind of movements and mannerisms I’m looking for to replicate. When a person I’m using for inspiration looks out of the tops of their eyes or does something distinctly memorable, I jot that down and do it later with the characters I’m drawing.
I just don’t see any similarities in mannerisms between them. The most I can figure is that the Method of acting was popularized and introduced to the Silver Screen by Brando, and then when James Dean, also using the Method, got big after Eden, and people heard he liked Brando and owned a motorcycle like Brandos, they went, “‘oh he’s copying Brando.” ‘
And yeah, I guess they both stand out on screen because they both have that “real person” energy that interested me in James Dean in the first place. But in my humble opinion, although Brando is interesting to watch and feels like he’d fit right in onscreen with modern, realistic-acting-charming actors, he isn’t as raw as James Dean when James Dean is at his best.
I think the most powerful acting isn’t acting at all; it’s showing a side of yourself that is intimate and real and genuine, and relating it to the character. James Dean really had issues with his dad and really was insecure and unsure of what people wanted from him, from everything I can tell. So in East of Eden, he is Cal, he doesn’t just act like Cal. Everything from the way he runs with his hands in his pockets to the way he’s a mouth breather to his stares to his hunched shoulders, not just his line delivery, feels like you’re watching live footage of a real, insecure person who didn’t know he was being filmed.
I don’t get that feeling from Terry in On the Waterfront, as great as he is, and I certainly don’t get it from Stanley in Streetcar. They both feel like amazing character portrayals, and they’re easy to believe and watch, but they don’t have raw moments that hit me the way James Dean’s do. Not even the “Stellaaaa” scene or the taxi cab scene.
#James dean#my favorite actor#jimmy dean#marlon brando#classic films#meta#old hollywood#analysis#50s films#actors studio#method acting#brando#a streetcar named desire#east of eden#elia kazan#rebel without a cause#actors#comparison
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'Andrew Scott’s meticulous portrayal of con artist Tom Ripley is already earning rave reviews, but it’s a particular line delivery that has drawn the internet’s attention. In episode two of Netflix’s new Patricia Highsmith adaptation, Ripley and his mark Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) are gallivanting around Naples when a young woman uses Dickie for cab money. In a conversation about the apparent grift, Ripley — one of our most beloved gay-coded villains — says a sentence so awkward that Dickie can’t help but laugh: “I like girls.”
Look, I know not all of us are expert forgers who have traveled to Italy to assume their identity — but basically every queer person has had some equally unconvincing moment of denial, where our mouths say one thing but everything else about us says another.
Apart from the undeniable humor of the line, that relatability could explain why it has already ascended to meme status everywhere from Letterboxd,” where one reviewer wrote: “Tom: I like girls *loud incorrect buzzer*” to Tumblr, where a writer hilariously observed, “Love how Andrew Scott plays Ripley in such a way that you fully believe he’s a successful con man but you absolutely don’t believe him when he says, ‘Sure, I like girls.’”
And then there are the many posts on X, the website formerly known as Twitter...
(Of course, Scott’s perfect delivery also drew the attention of several TV critics, everywhere from Vulture to Empire, but let’s be honest: If a moment has been memed, that’s often more indicative of the success of a show than if us media workers enjoyed it.)
While Highsmith herself never confirmed Ripley’s sexuality – even going so far as to say she didn’t think he was gay — she wrote the character with such strong homerotic subtext that almost every onscreen adaptation has chosen to highlight it, including 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley. Netflix’s new series is no exception to this trend, and Scott, an Irish actor who first stole American hearts as the “hot priest” in Fleabag, is perhaps the perfect actor to embody Ripley’s mix of charisma and obsessiveness.
When the same man who can set hearts aflutter by ordering Fleabag to “kneel” can also say he likes women with such hollowness that no one believes him? That’s called range, baby, and Andrew Scott has it in spades.'
#Andrew Scott#Ripley#Netflix#Twitter#Tumblr#The Talented Mr Ripley#Hot Priest#Fleabag#Letterboxd#Johnny Flynn#Dickie Greenleaf#“I like girls”
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J7, JC, and Data/Geordi for the ship ask?
from the ask game
Janeway/Seven
Ship It
What made you ship it?
What didn't make me ship Janeway/Seven?
The chemistry between Janeway and Seven was electric.
There were a lot of complicated things going on behind the scenes but on screen both Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan were consummate professionals. I also think this is what contributed to their chemistry onscreen.
You (and I certainly didn’t until years later) wouldn’t know they had much more drama later.
The moment Seven stepped on board Voyager the trajectory of Janeway's focus shifted to Seven.
And Seven's anger and willingness to push Janeway when she thinks Janeway is wrong.
Actually, Kate Mulgrew said it better in her own words:
Janeway is given a blessing in the form of a half-human, half-Borg, very beautiful girl, who we call Seven of Nine. So, I am taught vulnerability. I am taught my limitations. I am taught how small I am, in the face of this kind of possible love. Seven of Nine is what brought Janeway to life, as a deeply human woman… and I am deeply grateful for that
- Kate Mulgrew
I think the first time I shipped them (that I remember) was during the Killing Game when Seven was playing the chanteuse Mademoiselle de Neuf and Katrine.
2. What are your favorite things about the ship?
It's the way they constantly challenge each other. Also, doesn't hurt that they look damned good together.
I love that Seven does call Janeway out on things, and challenges Janeway. I know they tried it a bit in the first three seasons-- B'Elenna was the most I think but they quickly kind of folded that in. I think they hadn't figured out how to write for Kate Mulgrew's Janeway yet.
But also, it's not just them pushing each other, I love that they also do like being in each other's company. Otherwise, Janeway wouldn't spend time with Seven in their Philosophical Discussions and their Velocity game.
And I love that they do ask to trust each other, and the trust is given when they didn't know each other.
And that they're also incredibly competitive with each other. And they're willing to do anything for each other.
3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?
I don't think I have an unpopular opinion -- wait, maybe there are fanfic trends I've been seeing that make me uncomfortable.
The way Seven's written in some fic as Born Sexy Yesterday in a way Seven was never in the show. Sure there were some cringe-y moments on Voyager but other than the biosuit, Seven herself was never Born Sexy Yesterday.
And this is not just ship-related but as a character in general -- and I know Kate Mulgrew says it but IMO Seven doesn't think anyone aboard Voyager was a parental figure.
As far as Seven was concerned she had parents and none of them were onboard Voyager. Tuvok is not her dad figure, Janeway is not her mom. She's not looking for a parent or to be parented. She's an adult who has memories of species floating around in her head.
Maybe the closest thing to a parental figure was the Borg Queen, and like her birth parents, Seven also doesn't care for her either.
Janeway/Chakotay
Ship It! I answered this here!
Data/Geordi
Don’t Ship It — or Don’t NOT Ship It.
Why don’t I ship i?
This is a complicated question because I don’t not ship them. I ship them in the conceptual but also I love them as friends. I also love that Geordi kind of draws androids and Borgs to him like catnip.
I can still ship them but they’re not an OTP, I can see them as really great friends.
I’m still mad at Picard S1 for killing Hugh — both for never getting Seven and Hugh on screen once, and because Picard s1 killed Hugh and never even mentioned Geordi. Hugh imprinted on Geordi! Geordi is Hugh’s friend! Like, I get that Hugh is grateful for Picard (for not turning him into a weapon of mass destruction against the Borg, for deciding to let him live and finally see him as a person).
But Geordi is the one Hugh looked for when we see him again when he makes another appearance in TNG. (And then PIC S1 just kill him off.)
Back to the point though— I feel more for their friendship and its one of the reasons why I adore Season 3 of Picard because it restored Data and Geordi’s friendship.
The story remembered that Data’s closest relationship was with Geordi.
But it's not that I don’t ship them I kind of do, but also I love their friendship too.
2. What would have made you like it?
I am really half way there, I just need a push but also sometimes I don’t need a romance because sometimes deep friendship is also great for me.
3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?
I do! A lot! But I think I’m going to go with the recent, after a drought of more than 20 years we finally have a heartfelt scene between Geordi and Data.
But also because now both actors, and especially Levar Burton are more seasoned. And he is finally given better emotional material, I love listening to the commentary and how the TNG cast say they appreciate being given the opportunity to act because people there age hardly given the opportunity to be heroes or hired for TV or movies.
I love how heartfelt this is and I do think it reached Data but the one who is holding the reins within the new positronic body was Lore…
Who seems moved but also, I 100% think this made Lore furious because Geordi was talking to Data and not to him, and no one has ever mourned for Lore, as far as he knew or believed.
I think this is 100% why Lore lashed out after this.
But gosh, I’m so glad Geordi had a chance to say this to Data because in the movies, he wasn’t even given the space or time to speak to Data before and after he died.
#answered#tea-earl-grey#star trek voyager#ship: janeway x seven#data (star trek)#geordi la forge#star trek picard#picard s3#ship ask game#ask game#long post
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Kuaidul Spacetime is the peak of Go Rush's second season for me so far
At the time of writing this, only the first two episodes of the final arc of season 2 are out, and we don't have subtitles for them yet. Just to give people somehow reading this in the future an indication of when it is I wrote this. Anyways, Spacetime was really lit. On rewatch, even the lesser episodes aren't really ones I'd consider bad. They have bad moments don't get me wrong...
...I think the Yuamu vs Manabu and Yuna vs Yuhi episodes take the cake in terms of just insanely awful moments. The pace is also pretty slow overall and it was a bit frustrating and confusing to watch as it came out as it felt like the arc was going on random tangents at times instead of progressing the story. On rewatch though, while the pace is still slow, every episode does have some kind of purpose, whether it's setting up story and lore information, furthering or exploring a character, or both. There's a more clear direction and focus for the whole arc than there was in Galaxy Cup so it's a lot easier to rewatch as a cohesive whole.
And honestly, this arc's slower pace did make a lot of the characters, even ones I didn't previously care for, grow on me a lot. Zaion instantly comes to mind as an example of this. On my first viewing of Galaxy Cup, I disliked him and couldn't care less about this stupid furniture store plotline but one single episode changed that. Zaion's Spacetime episode is my favourite non Kuaidul episode of the arc, and honestly one of my favourites in the entire series and that's because of how Zaion was characterised. Well, Zaion and Yuhi but Zaion's characterisation was what resonated with me personally. It's a big stand out among the admittedly weaker first half of this arc.
Like I said, I wouldn't consider the weaker episodes bad like I used to. I used to really hate the Dinois and Yuna episodes but on rewatch, Dinois vs Zwijo is a good duel with cool foreshadowing even if they take Dinois's annoyingness way too far. And as for Yuna's episode... okay honestly Yuna's unhinged attitude and Zwijo just... being Zwijo kinda just made me laugh. Also... I just relate to having feelings I didn't want to have for someone I cannot ever have who had a profound impact on me. So... that scene after the duel just really work for me.
The weaker episodes this arc all have something major like that which just worked for me. Still, there are enough of those weaker episodes that this probably doesn't top season 1's consistently great final arc. That was Go Rush at its most consistent peak while this one only mainly peaks when Kuaidul is onscreen. That said though, when Kuaidul is onscreen, this arc absolutely tops everything Go Rush has ever had before this point no contest-
Yeah okay, I've gone long enough without talking about him. My self-control is wavering and won't allow me to go another second without talking about Kuaidul.
Kuaidul doesn't appear throughout the majority of this arc but even more so than the last arc, his influence is felt across all of it, like a hawk circling above and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. His plan and motives aren't entirely clear until the final two episodes but the way it manifests is outwardly silly but profoundly terrifying, a perfect reflection of his character. Just like Galaxy Cup, he is once again the best part of this arc. He's consistently hilarious and kooky but his plan is downright diabolical and terrifying, something they somehow manage to keep in tact even when more sympathetic layers are added to his motivation:
That's such a delicate and tricky balancing act to pull off but Kuaidul did so masterfully. His actions are deplorable but I could never once hate him both because of how much life his energy breathed into the show and the genuinely sympathetic qualities he has. Even when he was trying to murder Yudias, it stemmed from the immediately identifiable fear of death. It's not a justification in the slightest and the show never pretends it is. He's sympathetic but his terrible actions still very much put him in the wrong and those kinds of villains, the silly yet competent ones you can sympathize with yet still root against their evil plans, are my favourites in all of fiction.
And honestly, Kuaidul's change of heart is perfect. The way so much of it is just shown through his expressions with very little dialogue is phenomenal. The way he's taken aback when Yudias allows him to take him over:
The way he still tries to cling to his anger as he goes through with the process:
And then the way he finally decides to just... stop clinging to the past, and all its negativity and accept his impending death:
Believe me, it takes a lot for me to declare a scene one of my favourites in all of Yugioh but this... this entire farewell is in the top five. It aches so much but it's such a powerful send off for such a fantastic character. It's definitely my favourite scene to come out Studio Bridge Yugioh from a dramatic perspective.
So as a result of this, and the duelling action just being absolutely top notch, Yudias vs Kuaidul is my favourite rush duel in the franchise. We'll see if it can ever be topped.
Overall, I really loved this arc. It was a joy to watch as it came out and fully cemented my love for the show. This arc being as great as it was drove me to rewatch the entire show and as a result, I've realised that the disdain I had for the show for so long was way overblown and just lingering resentment from the one bad arc. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Kuaidul saved this show for me. Him being as fantastic as he was permanently woke me up from the bored stupor I'd fallen into with the show after the fifth arc. He could still return but until at the very least season 2 is over we won't really know. Whatever happens in the future though, what I know now in the present is that this arc is a banger, and the best one in season 2 so far, thanks to Kuaidul. We'll see what happens with the final arc...
#yugioh go rush spoilers#go rush spoilers#yugioh go rush#ygo go rush#go rush#kuaidul velgear#arc reviews#I need to start tagging those
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I'm curious, what season has your favorite Rose? 1, 2, or 4?
This is a tough question, anon! I wrote a super long ramble so I'm putting it behind a read more for convenience.
It's hard to consider each series independently, as for me, one of the most satisfying elements of Rose's character (and Doctor Who in general) is her development over the course of the show, which happens across all the series she's in! However, if I had to choose a favourite, I would probably say either Series 1 or Series 2, for different reasons.
S1 really gives Rose individually a lot of great moments to shine. Father's Day and Dalek are two of my all time favourite episodes, and both focus on her psyche in a way that explores both the great things about her (empathy for others; deep love for the people around her; courage) and their not-so-great analogues (naiveté; difficulty seeing the bigger picture; rashness and reckless behaviour). I think what's really appealing about Rose in S1 is how relatable she is – she's the audience surrogate through whom we are shown the world of Doctor Who and of course the Doctor himself, and her life and struggles have to be down-to-Earth (no pun intended) in order for that to work.
But while she's largely an audience surrogate in S1, she is also one of the protagonists of the show, and we get to see her through the lenses of other characters, too. Just as the the Doctor falls in love with her over the course of the series, so too should the viewer. Similarly, when Jack first meets her and is smitten (an experience replicated when he meets the Doctor) the audience is also on the receiving end of that charm, and gets to know Rose in a different light.
S2 is very different because one of the central concerns at the heart of that series is the Doctor and Rose's codependent relationship, and the increasing insularity of their little world. More and more, rather than two people coming together and exploring each other, the Doctor and Rose are presented as a united front. A lot of the time they spend apart onscreen is devoted to them trying to find each other again, for which New Earth, The Idiot's Lantern, The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit, and Fear Her all serve as perfect examples. This is something other characters also take note of: it's the driving force behind Mickey's character arc, largely the reason why Torchwood is founded in Tooth and Claw, and is particularly significant in Army of Ghosts, when Jackie calls Rose out on letting go of everything in her life except for the Doctor. Rose in S1 isn't there yet; it's really after Nine's regeneration into Ten that this change occurs.
A lot of people complain about this, but I feel that's kind of missing the point that even within the diegesis, this is explicitly presented as a bad thing, both for the Doctor and for Rose. Their attachment to each other is genuinely dangerous, particularly for the Doctor, who – as is often pointed out – becomes detached and even cruel at times throughout S3, not to mention self-sacrificing to the extreme, and the show acknowledges this. Part of why Rose's (limited) appearance in S4 is so good is because it illustrates that despite how much both of them have evolved, they still emotionally rely on one another. Unfortunately, because the end of S4 sets on so quickly and The Stolen Earth and Journey's End are both so cluttered, I feel that this isn't really afforded enough attention, which is why it's not my favourite Rose series. (Though I will say, Turn Left is probably tied for my favourite episode. I love it so much.)
All of that is to say that I think S2 really develops Rose's relationship to the audience, alienating us from her and – in a certain sense – presenting her as a Doctor-adjacent figure. S4 expands on this very deliberately, from Rose's affect and speech to her outfit, but that transformation is only believable because of the groundwork S2 laid. I think it's a masterwork of character writing, and again is one of the reasons why my love for Rose is so tangled up in her evolution over the course of the show.
Individually, I think she has more "iconic moments" in S1, largely because the audience is still getting to know her, and it was essential in the writing of that series that she make a strong impression on us. However, on the whole I think her writing in S2 is more nuanced, and the development of her relationship with the Doctor over the course of that series is so precisely and lovingly rendered, in all its confusion and uncertainty and tenderness.
Tl;dr: I like all of Rose's seasons for different reasons! Sorry if that's not a satisfying answer – I hope the essay makes up for it :)
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I've seen some people criticize Marcy's sidelining in S3, and think it was a disservice to not have her fight her way free of the Core. What are your thoughts on this, and how do you think Darcy as a concept relates to Marcy's role in the show and what she learns near the end?
I've seen some people say that Marcy being sidelined in S3 hurt her development compared to Anne and Sasha- what are your thoughts on this? Also, what do you think about Darcy as a concept in relation to Marcy's role in the story?
u sent this ask twice slightly differently and im not sure which version to respond to now so i'll just respond to both as if synthesized as one.
first of all, for all intents and purposes, we do see marcy fight her way free of the core. she rejects the offer to live in a perpetual perfect fantasy with her best friends, and acknowledges that it's okay for them to not want what she wants, even though it hurts. she rejects the idea of indulging in this idealized world that the core represents to the fullest and most sinister possible extent, the idea of ignoring the needs of the many to serve the interests of the smartest, most "deserving" members of society, explicitly calls it a twisted fantasy, and is left to suffer the consequences of her brave resistance to their offer. also, not for nothing, sasha being the one to save marcy, getting up even after darcy slices her through her back with a scythe, is extremely lovely and thematically poignant and no other narrative choice would've been nearly as good here tbh (also it's extremely utenacoded so you know i love that).
but more than that, marcy being sidelined in season 3 isn't a "disservice" to her character, it is her character. as we see most clearly in the flashback in "the beginning of the end," but also towards the end of season 2 when all three girls are together, while anne and sasha obviously do love marcy, they are obsessed with each other. which is especially sad for marcy, because she is also obsessed with both of them. but while sasha may feel left out sometimes because she's white deeply insecure, so the thought of them spending time together and having inside jokes that she doesn't know about kills her; or while anne may feel left out sometimes because she relies on them to form her identity around them, whereas it seems to her like they both have everything figured out (even though they clearly don't lmfao); marcy is the one who has different interests, different skillsets, operates on an entirely different wavelength. anne and sasha both tend to treat marcy quite patronizingly, like "oh there she goes again saying her adorable little smart person spiel isn't she cute" and as much as they adore her, there's a disconnect there, like she isn't a full human being with flaws and wants and needs and agency, and it becomes even more pronounced the more it's revealed just how much anne and sasha mean to each other, the way that their whole world revolves around the other. so yeah, marcy is sidelined. by them.
in retrospect, marcy's character is really well set-up in season 2, because we are primed to see her the way anne sees her. while sasha gets her own episodes establishing her outside of anne's pov, and through that we are given the tools to understand why sasha makes the decisions she does, we only ever see marcy in an episode outside of anne's periphery in season 3, once we already know that "oohhhh she's a little fucked up actually." the thing about marcy is that she is so so easy to love. i remember the moment she was introduced in that flashback montage in "marcy at the gates" my brother turned to me and said "okay she's my favorite character." he thought anne was fine, he hated sasha throughout the entire show (bad taste but whatever he's 12), and he loved marcy entirely and immediately and continued to love her and clap and cheer every time she was onscreen. and judging by what i've seen of the fandom online, this is not an uncommon response. i mean, if i knew these girls in real life when i was their age, marcy would 100% be the one i'd be most eager to befriend. she's intelligent and delightful and expresses just the right amount of bitchy smugness. and i remember that before "true colors" aired people were desperately trying to locate her flaws (like actual character flaws, not "clumsiness"). i saw people say that she's a people-pleaser or too impartial, but honestly i don't think that's true; i think she's very opinionated and has absolutely no qualms about expressing her opinion when she has one. and frankly i do think we see some of her flaws on display in those episodes anyway, like how she overestimates her own intelligence and doesn't actually listen to people unless they agree with her (again, because she thinks she's right all the time). but she's so nice, her "flaw" can't be arrogance, it must instead be that she's too nice, right?
of course, once anne learns what marcy did, we as the audience also, finally, learn what marcy's real flaws are. and it's kind of crazy to me that some people used this reveal as an indication to turn on marcy, because learning that she's fucked up actually made me like her so much more. finally, we get to see marcy as she is and not just as she seems. and we see anne and sasha faced with the realization, the fear and disgust and shock, that their perfect little marcy is a human being, as vulnerable and obsessed and toxic and ugly as them. anne's illusion of marcy shatters, and with it, the illusion that she was a good friend to marcy. anne and sasha were both always too busy looking at each other to notice marcy looking at them. but all three of them existed on the lie that marcy is so intelligent anyway that her emotional needs aren't relevant. maybe they can help her not fall headfirst into a trashcan or trip over her own feet, but it's not like they can relate to her in matters of the mind or heart. she's too rational to have emotional problems, not like they do. she is a rock. she is an island. and marcy is the one perpetuating that myth, putting up that front, so you can't even blame them for falling for it. all the warning signs came too late.
anne and sasha and the audience all have their illusions of who marcy is shattered before them, and this stab through the chest could not be more explicitly represented. the metaphorical death of Marcy the Established Character converging with the literal death of marcy, revealed and enacted by andrias. marcy's ego death in "true colors" becomes extremely literal when she is used as a vessel for the core. darcy isn't just the core merging with marcy's traits in a physical sense, but the representation of who marcy is at her worst. darcy is an awkward girl who loves cupcakes and trips over her own feet and calls her friends dumb jocks to their faces and thinks she's utterly invincible due to the power of her own mind. while marcy is a good person who wants to do good for the world, darcy is an entity that wants to do good for itself. if you exacerbate marcy's bad, selfish choices (such as using the box to trap her friends in another world) to an extreme, darcy is what you get. which is why it's important that marcy resists the allure, the fantasy that drew her in initially. and also why it's important that while marcy is expected by adults to "end world hunger" the only thing we do know that she does as an adult is create fiction. through the life lessons she learns during her time amphibia, she ultimately finds a happy middle ground between ego death and selfishness. she finds herself.
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heneroaguilar
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