Nickel and Balloon's arc and why you may be wrong about it, and why you are wrong about Suitcase and Nickel as well.

Nickel didn't trust Balloon because Balloon was a dick on s1 (something that the fandom forgets so fucking much), and of course he wouldn't trust Balloon being a part of the alliance either since Baseball (Nickel's best friend) and Suitcase (Nickel's ally/Baseball's closest friend) were part of it. "But Nickel didn't care about Suitcase-" he did, Adam himself did say he did care for her, but he strongly lacks emotional intelligence to truly get her. So of course, he didn't want to risk it, even if he does believe that Balloon wants to change, he doesn't want Suitcase to get involved with the guy.

Although Nickel doesn't want Balloon near and is an asshole towards the guy, I think that all of you kind of also forget that at one point on s2, Nickel did say that he thought that Balloon wanting to change was something good, but that he still didn't want to be associated with the guy. Which is, yes, shitty on his behalf, but it makes sense character wise. It's a case of "it's great that you want to be a better person, but i don't want to be near you even so", which is something most people felt at one point of their life.

Adding to this behaviour of his, again, it wasn't just because "Nickel is a dick without excuses", protecting his loved ones (his alliance) is. Kind of his whole thing. You know. He cares about them but sucks at showing it (this includes how he treated Baseball, looking at you all), he has the thought that if he's on control of a situation, no one will get hurt. He sucks at communication. Hell, it's even said on the series, he is afraid of change and also about accountability. ACCOUNTABILITY.

So yes, the way he treated Balloon isn't justified, even Nickel says it himself, but he has his reasons as to why he acted like that. But I think that you guys also need to remember some more important stuff as well. Nickel wasn't like this because he fully wanted to, but his behaviour towards Balloon was also constantly justified by Baseball.

And so here's the main question that troubles everybody so fucking much it's stupid.

"Why did Nickel change his mind on Balloon on s3 like that? It doesn't make sense"

Listen.

The reason as to why Nickel actually gave himself a chance to know Balloon properly is because of two very important factors. So I know that some of you might not be familiar with the official II comics, but the first reason is in one of the comics actually.

Especifically on the Letters Comic.

The plot of the comic is Balloon writing letters to those who he wronged/had a bad relationship with, and this includes pretty much all of the S1 cast (excluding the ones that are still on S2). And guess what, Nickel gets a letter as well.

There isn't a canon outcome as to what Nickel did with the letter. We don't know if he threw it away or took a look at it. But to me, I think that he did took a look at it. I will explain why later on in this post.

The second reason as to why Nickel's behaviour with Balloon changed on S3 was because, Baseball wasn't there to try to justify Nickel's hatred towards Balloon. In fact, what he got instead was Box, and we know that Box is like, Nickel's best friend on s3. What Box does is basically telling Nickel to get his shit together, stop holding onto stupid grudges and do it for the team.

And he does! And mind you, that was on the first episode of season 3! He decided to put away his petty feelings so the team could work, which pretty much already tells you that meanwhile early s3 Nickel has as much snark as S2 Nickel does, he actually recognizes when it's time to play on the game and when it's time to be petty. He's more of an nuisance towards Balloon on the first ep all things considered, but it seems that unlike S2, Balloon has grown a lot of confidence as well, and isn't sad at Nickel's comments, but rather calls him out on them. And even IF Nickel didn't exactly like to side with Balloon, as the eps went by, despite Box was the main reason as to why they were hanging out, Nickel was actually experiencing Balloon's change. He didn't want to be involved on s2 because BB told him that his distaste was justified (and that ended up messing everything for the Grand Alliance), but now he's "forced" to accept and know the guy because Box told him it was the best for the team. On early s3 they tease eachother, yes, but their relationship seems to be better than before.

As well, it wasn't out of nowhere either way, since Balloon does imply that both Nickel and him hanged around just to mess with Yinyang back at the Hotel.

That's my main reason as to why I think that Nickel DID read the letter in fact, but still had very complicated feelings towards Balloon, because in his mind, to him, Balloon was the reason as to why Suitcase, someone who Nickel really got attached to (even if you can't believe it), "betrayed" him. But we know that's not true. But at the end of the day they do end up hanging around well.

"But Max, why did they end up having a fall again? Aren't they supposed to be healthy?"

First of all there is a reason, second of all, oh my god conflict won't fucking kill you. You see. Nickel SUCKS at communication. He can't let out his feelings as much as he would like to do so, because he's scared of getting hurt and such. So yes, Nickel and Balloon were good friends there, but the down fall was necessary for them in order to ACTUALLY be a healthy friendship. The problem is that Nickel doesn't get that he fucked up a lot more than he thought and that he is the problem.

He still thinks that Suitcase left his side because of Balloon and of course that hurts- but he feels so bad about the way he treated Suitcase as well, even if he's not fully aware of why he feels like that. So that's why the conflict HAD to exist. You can't just expect them to be okay like nothing without talking about S2 properly, it doesn't work like that. Yes, they both care about eachother, but they STILL had to talk about it.

Now, on the yet, most controversial scene when it comes to Nickel's arc: Clover's therapy.

Some people say that Nickel didn't have to just be talked like that and that they expected more, but dare I say, that's exactly what he needed. To talk properly about his feelings. It's like you guys didn't catch up on that. Nickel's thing is being overprotective over those he loves, and seeing the things that might harm said loved ones or himself as threats that he needs to get rid off in order to be okay, and that he is afraid of change. Nickel knew he messed things up, but he still kept on thinking that Balloon was the one that made Suitcase betray him, when that's not really true.

He needed the talk to realize that it was truly his fault. Please take note at the way he looks to the side once he realizes it. It wasn't just a recent thought, it was always there, but he was scared of it coming true. Clover's talk made him open up properly about it and Clover also says it, "but don't you want to?" and then he says "mhm, maybe", but he really does want to, which is why he changes so much on Ep 16.

So before you say that Nickel didn't regret what he did and that he only did because of Clover: how can you be so wrong about something.

And, oh.

Oh, episode 16.

It treated them so well.

What Nickel says here is that he was scared of falling in Balloon's tricks, he was scared of being manipulated. Again. It wasn't out of nowhere. The way he treated Balloon WASN'T out of nowhere.

Is it justified? No. Does II or Nickel himself ever say that it is? No. The series as a whole is telling you that it was awful of him, characters do call out Nickel on his shit behaviour (even if you think they don't, they do, calling out isn't always strong words, sometimes calling out acts as feedback. as pointing things out. of course he also gets called out in the other way on the series, but PLEASE don't say that he didn't get called out because of his actions, he quite literally died because of them), Nickel HIMSELF recognizes that he was awful to Balloon and he is okay with the possibility of Balloon not wanting to forgive him either way.

But they ended up talking things out in the end. They ended up okay, because Balloon can genuinely see that Nickel wants to change. The walls he put are gone. He can see how genuine the guy wants to be.

"But Balloon shouldn't forgive Nickel, not after all the pain he caused to him"

Listen. Both of them commited mistakes. Balloon recognizes that he wasn't a good person back then and wanted to change things. Nickel finally got that and Nickel also showed Balloon that he does mean well. People that had complicated relationships CAN work things out, crazy I know, and I'm saying this as someone who had beef with their now best friend over similar stuff. We apologized and now we're close. It happens.

Balloon really cares about Nickel. And Nickel really cares about Balloon.

And Nickel is okay with Balloon winning because that's his friend now. Nickel changed for the good. And it makes sese character wise.

Nickel regrets what he did to Suitcase and Balloon as a whole. And Balloon and him are best friends now.

So, no, Balloon and Nickel aren't a toxic relationship, much less a problematic ship given all of the circumnstances, and saying that they are is missing on the whole arc they went through. They were complicated and they both had their reasons at the end of the day. No, Nickel wasn't purposefully an asshole to Suitcase, he was seeking to protect her, but ruined everything on the process. Yes, Baseball and Nickel needed to be separated in order to grow because they weren't healthy to eachother. Yes, the Nickel and Balloon arc had to go as long as it did in order for it to end properly, and it's not even done yet, Baseball and Suitcase are still waiting. Yes, Nickel meant good with the things he did. No, it doesn't justify any of the things he did. And, finally, the Grand Alliance arc is well executed, just because it's complicated it doesn't mean it's bad.

And those are statements that can coexist.

Thank you for reading. :]

About Episodes 7 and 8...MASSIVE SPOILERS!!

Initial thoughts (because if I talk about EVERYTHING right now you'll be here for at least half an hour)...

WHAT THE HELL?!

I mean I loved getting to watch the season finale, don't get me wrong. But I have just as many grievances as things I loved about it and also SO MUCH happened?!?!?!

Charlie: Loved getting to see her be all demon-y, I've been waiting all season. Also loved her and the cannibals (especially Rosie!!!). So glad she got to work w/ Luci to protect the hotel <333 She and Vaggie are adorable too.

Vaggie: I really enjoyed watching her and Carmilla's song, that was cool. Protecting her girlfriend, very cute. I liked seeing her and Lute have that little face-off.

Husk: Sad that we didn't get to see much of him, but I get it. His interactions with the others were sweet (especially Angel). I loved the one line he got to sing on his own in that last song of episode 8. 😍

Angel: Ngl I am very glad he wasn't the one to die. It would've been a fun little "oh crap" moment but I really didn't want to be right. He's still got business down there. His interactions with the others here are everything to me, and he's just grown so much and aaaaaa. It's lovely to see! I love him more and more with every episode.

Niffty: YOU GO, GIRL!!!! Love to see the stabbing. I also really loved the...one line Nifty got. Kimiko Glenn's voice is a gift, I freaked out over getting to hear one line. Anyway. not much else to say other than I definitely thought it was Alastor doing a big "oh look, I'm alive!" thing when Adam got stabbed, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Cherri Bomb/Sir P: I was surprised, to say the least, when Cherri and Sir P had that little moment. Glad they got it before he went and DIED. Cherri is such a good friend to Angel and she's great. Now, onto Sir P...WOW, OKAY. Glad we know Charlie's plan isn't completely stupid. Wonder how Sera's gonna react to him being there now, lol.

The Vees: FIRST OFF, VOX?????? "This is better than sex!" 💀💀💀 Truly was not expecting to see as much of the Vees as we did. Not complaining though. It was...interesting...to say the least, watching Vox get as excited as he did over the prospect of Al dying (still as obsessed as ever, fr). Not at all surprised to see Val and Vox have a thing going, I figured from the interactions we've seen so far. Them dancing together was silly, them practically making out was less so 😃. Also, gotta continue the love for Velvette--putting up with these two idiots must take a lot. Also also, her HAIR! HER HAIR!! EEEEE

Lucifer: I reallllyyyyyy enjoyed seeing Luci make a return to help Charlie, even if it was in one of those "last-minute saves" that I usually hate. Idk, makes sense here I guess because he's probably always watching over Charlie some way. ALSO LUCI AND CHARLIE GOING ALL DEMON-Y TOGETHER WAS <33333333 I really loved him starting off that last song in episode 8, and telling Charlie that he believes in her. It was so sweet. I love Luci sm, hoping he becomes a more integral part of the crew in s2.

Adam/Lute/Lilith: HAHA HOW DOES IT FEEL TO LOSE??? Lute got what she deserved with the whole...arm thing. ALSO WHAT--JUST GONNA CASUALLY DROP LILITH IN HERE NOW? Sure, fine, whatever, totally cool. Not sure how to feel about Lilith atm so moving on. I dunno why I was so shocked upon seeing Adam's face. I guess I expected him to...not look as good as he does? Also so upset that he broke Al's staff. How rude. He sucks.

Rosie: Not how I expected her to sound, but I'm most certainly not disappointed. I don't have much to say other than I loved literally everything about her. No complaints--at least not yet ig, need to go back and rewatch the episodes critically. Her and Alastor is everything to me, and seeing them dance was <333333 I cannot express my excitement over it enough.

Alastor: Saved him for last because yes. If I wasn't limiting myself to a short paragraph for each, I'd be writing a whole essay just about Al, I swear....CANNOT believe what just happened omg. Not only did we get to see silly Al in episode 7, but we got to see scary (and scared) Al in episode 8. He's really freaking out, it's so entertaining! I'm so glad it wasn't him who died, I started getting a bit worried for a minute there....His relationship with Rosie is aaaaa, best of besties fr. Fighting Adam scene was glorious. Making Vox act like an idiot even when not trying was funny to watch (Vox's obsession with this guy is so silly). Him retreating sure was a move, but I'm glad he didn't get all stubborn and end up dying. Him ranting a bit in his section of the final song was so...AAAAAAA. Man is so scared, he looks stressed as can be. I need to see Alastor just have an external breakdown because he honestly feels like he's on the verge of one. 💀

Stopping for now before I go on a bigger rant than I already have. To those who read all this, I'm so sorry pfft. Feel free to leave a comment if there's something you wanna discuss (or, better yet, send one of those ask thingies. I do not have comments figured out yet...)

Anyway, have a good one <3

listen i know the whole “ed did nothing wrong”/“killing and maiming his his coping mechanism uwu” thing is a super silly joke lol and even i found it funny but it’s kinda just pissing me off.

i just hate that they never really properly resolved ed resorting to violence when he’s upset and that he never really takes accountability for his actions onscreen. and when the side of the fandom that takes no issue at all with the way seeason two was presented makes jokes that show they’re like aware of the vibes they just don’t care bc they hold characters they don’t like and characters they do like to entirely different standards. it’s just annoying lol.

like listen. yeah. ed’s my special little babygirl princess haha i love him. but like. i feel like it’s also ignoring the fact that the violence is actually bad for ed’s mental health and we know this and it’s canonically established.

the same people who make “ed did nothing wrong” jokes literally call people who do the same to izzy bad people. not all of them but like the people aligned with that Side of the fandom.

like first of all we know that canonically though ed’s capable of violence it’s not good for him. that’s a huge part of his character, that he doesn’t want to be Blackbeard. so the jokes ur making leave your favourite character unhappy anyway? and if you’re going to talk like that about ed then why is it a CRIME to do the same about izzy?

i think i’m just kinda annoyed bc people act like if you’re critical of the way the writing failed to give ed a great redemption arc it’s because you’re a racist idiot blind with love for izzy, but in fact, you can remove izzy from the equation entirely and it still sucks because it sucks for ed’s character that his arc was so confusing and we left him in such an uncertain place as a character.

listen, i don’t exactly advertise this bc i feel like people won’t understand, but i’ve been through a lot of trauma, and at times in my life when that’s been a lot fresher for me, i’ve had really serious issues with anger and aggression and lashing out. i think that’s why i connected with izzy and i think it’s why i connected with ed so strongly but also found it so hard to watch the first couple episodes of the second season.

and coming from that place, with that perspective, when i talk about ed being abusive towards izzy and the narrative not being resolved, i am NOT hating on ed and cancelling ed and saying ed is an evil person. what i’m saying is that ofmd s2 took on a really, really complex and serious and intense subject matter, and then the writing failed to carry the weight of that. i love ed, and i feel like his character was let down by us not seeing him clearly express that he’s holding himself accountable for his actions on-screen, or even seeing him healing in relation to his violent impulses that come from his trauma. his killing spree in the finale was really odd in terms of his overall arc and is honestly what threw it all off the most for me. like it’s obvious that scenes regarding ed’s apologies and forgiveness from the crew are supposed to have happened and we maybe just didn’t see all of it, because the season was rushed due to the screen time. but a lot of it is also just poor decisions in the writing and the way ed’s storyline is laid out in the final cut.

to me, saying that ed’s arc was beautiful and perfect and it’s wrong to criticise it or to acknowledge the severity of his mistakes and actions isn’t a form of loving ed. it’s a way of saying you’d rather ed actually not take steps towards healing, just because you want to pretend he didn’t do anything wrong in the first place so you can feel like the better person in the conversation. to me, the people who say ed did no wrong are expressing that they actually don’t love ed.

i mean it’s not that deep, it’s all fictional, but i wish people would look beyond their predisposition to condemning criticism of something they like, and see that there’s a lot of heart, and a lot of really personal experience and real-world context behind the arguments people are making, and that other opinions about the writing in s2 are worth listening to even if they make you uncomfortable at first.

Here's MY thoughts on the love island the game's seasons, for no reason other than I want to:

Also because the majority of the people following me are here for OM! & I want to drag more people down into the litg hell with me :)

Season 1: why is everyone so bitchy for no reason????? Talia & Jake are okay but other than that it's meh... don't really like the art style either

Season 2: Immaculate. Chef's kiss. They hit a high they never reached again. Somehow managed to balance the drama & the found family aspect and created a dynamic where you can actually believe everyone is friends and having fun even if sometimes they try to kill each other. Characters are flawed but generally decent people who are allowed to grow throughout the season. You get the option to make MC a bi gym-bro who can devour an entire cake in one sitting and bench press her partner. There's a reason this got two sequels.

Season 3: It's fine ig. Short and kind of boring. Nothing much happens. AJ is so cute though she almost makes up for it.

Season 4: Honestly a close 2nd favourite. We get a lot of character backstory and like s2 it touches on some serious issues. The season with some of the funniest moments/lines of dialogue - multiple moments where I just laughed out loud. I'm still only half way through it but the "villain" is just straight up mean for no reason and doesn't get any character development like the characters in S2 but makes up for it by having some of the funniest interactions with other characters and I was so sad to see her go. Also the season where I desperately wish MC was allowed to be in an open relationship till the very end and finish off the season in a polycule with every other islander who was in the love "triangle"s of the the season because this was the hardest season to pick a LI - Najuma is just all around amazing, Bruno is sweet & funny, Tom is so pathetic* MC & Thabi's friendship is also the best thing? It's great seeing a platonic relationship that is as loving (if not more so) than the romantic relationships. It's literally:

Season 5: Psychological horror. The producers said 'hey wouldn't it be funny if we torture this woman on national tv' and then committed to the bit. My memories are hazy because even though I only played it earlier this year it upset me so much I did my best to block most of it out but also I'm 100% sure there was actual galighting happening. Don't know why MC stuck around till the end because all she's gonna be able to use the money for is to pay for her therapy. Anyway I think MC should have been allowed to brutally murder everyone, she deserved it <3

Season 6: I liked the concept but I think they should have utilised it more. I'm still right at the very beginning (around ep 9) and I KNOW the general consensus from everyone who has reached the last eps seems to be that Amelia sucks MAJOR ass. But look, this is the first time a game has given me a MC with a canon family member who is also part of the game so in my opinion Amelia could commit war crimes and she's still be the most precious little uwu ever because I'm activating MC's insanely overprotective oblivious to all faults ""big"" sister mode

Edit:

*I just played more of S4 and holy shit someone needs to get this man away from his parents and also maybe get him some therapy jfc

Edit 2:

** youcef, mc & valentina helping tom figure out he likes flowers and pink and tie-dye clothes and makeup and being complimented and called pretty and getting hugs is getting to me okay his parents better watch the show and see their adult son finally discovering himself and what he likes instead of what they think he should like and finally being able to let loose and have fun without worrying about what others think of him and finally being happy and they better get some sense knocked into them OR he should go to therapy and realise that no matter how much he loves his parents their love and regard being so conditional to the point that he's hidden his entire personality and is now so extremely self-conscious of it whenever it does manage to peak out, that he nearly cries on national tv after a practical stranger compliments those hidden bits is not good. Also the man has some of the most insane repressed queer vibes???? What do you mean he sees a canon nonbinary person wearing a floppy hat and is reminded of the floppy hat he loved as a child that his father threw away and replaced with a baseball cap and then when he "lost" the baseball cap his father bought him the exact same one again

Edit 3:

*** i was 100% sure i was going to get mc to stick with najuma (dorky mischevious goth who is so so bad at flirting hello!!!?) but i got caught by "sad & shy with serious self-worth issues hidden badly behind an overconfident exterior (who blushes & gets flustered easily because he so rarely receives genuine praise/compliments) experiences postive regard for the first time and loses his shit" for the third fucking time

Edit 4:

Okay but why does Dylan get (rightfully) called out by everyone in S4 for all the bullshit he does to MC from blatantly lying to her to not listening when she says "No" But in S5 when Suresh (admittedly, more subtly) pulls off the same shit no one says anything, even MC's "friends" don't believe her.

In S2 when Luke/Henrik gets a little too forceful after MC says no, he gets called out by MC's partner and immediately apologises

In S4 when Dylan does the whole "stop pretending you don't want me" routine after MC rejects him multiple times, the rest of the islanders band together and basically chase him off the island

In S5 when Suresh pulls literally the same thing from the very first episode itself but none of the other islanders believe MC, and Suresh keeps getting to do this until almost the very end while also managing to constantly play hot & cold with MC and chase away all of MCs other romantic interests

So…I started writing this in the middle of S2, loving the Wee John and Izzy bits and Olu supporting Izzy onto the cursed ship. I really loved season two but it absolutely devastated me and feel like I’ve been swimming in anxiety ever since then? If anyone gets me?? So I guess I’m plunging myself into art so here’s some plotless thing about Wee John and Oluwande taking care of Izzy.

Izzy shuddered, his whole body lighting up with goosebumps. He drew Oluwande’s attention immediately.

“Oh are you okay? The beds not warm enough I think.”

Wee John clicked his tongue, knitting a smidgen quicker. He’s sat on the opposite side of Izzy.

“Hold your horses. I’m moving as fast as I can.”

Izzy just rolled his sore eyes as he held himself tightly, rubbing his back against the wooden wall behind him. After their last dock he had managed to pick up a nasty cold that seemed to sap him of every bit of energy he had. The revenge found herself stuck in a minor storm, so most of the crew was up on deck managing that predicament. But when Izzy was discovered to be ill, he was banished below deck, lest he get worse. So there he was, smushed between Wee John and Oluwande (who were recruited to keep an eye on him) feeling useless and stuffy and a little bit queasy.

The ship gave a confirming lurch that all was still not well, and Izzy clenched his jaw, biting back a wave of nausea. He sniffled wetly, a tickle igniting in his sinuses. This did not go unnoticed.

“You okay? You look real peaked.”

Izzy flinched before he could answer, a hand coming up abruptly to meet his forehead. His temples pounded against the contact. As did his sinuses. He sucked in a raggedy breath before exploding into three sneezes.

“Heh-issh! Hrrush-ah!…aiISHHU!!”

He shivered as the wind howled on the deck above. Izzy became increasingly aware of the heat emanating from Oluwande’s right side and he wanted nothing more than to just lean into him. But he had to quite literally force himself to remember that he was angry to be in this predicament and he did not actually care for the two men he was sandwiched in between.

Except he really did.

Wee John shuffled a bit, making one big loop in his makeshift jumper and began raising it above Izzy’s head. “Here you go. It’s not finished yet but I managed a temporary knot at the end. I’ll get back to it later.”

It was softer than anything he was used to, and Izzy disguised the wetness in his eyes with a deep sniffle.

“S nice,” he muttered, before sucking in a ragged breath. “hh-heHCHUUE! Hahtzhuu!!…guh.”

He rolled his sore eyes back as he thumped the baseboard of the bed with his head. Even without the visual of the sea his vision swam. He felt drunk. His nostrils twitched in anticipation for another fit.

Oluwande reached down and pulled the blanket up to Izzy’s chest that he had kicked away earlier. “I’ve just noticed that you started shivering again. You do need warmth if you want to keep your strength up.” He almost went to comb his hair back but decided against it, not wanting to risk losing a finger. “Just a suggestion really.”

Izzy wanted to tell Olu that the blanket was next to absolutely useless, but part of him wanted to protect him from this knowledge while the other half of him was busy staving off another sneeze. Wee John patted his leg.

“C‘mon love, let it out. No use tying yourself in knots.”

Izzy shook his head, but his breath wavered with his heaving chest. It was coming whether he wanted it or not. His eyelids fluttered shut, collecting moisture there and he relented, nose scrunching up with a gasping breath. And then…

“Ah’heHChzzhuh! Htc-huh! Atch-UUuh!”

Izzy slumped forward, and Wee John caught him with a hand around his chest just in case. He propped him back up, but Izzy felt completely depleted of energy. He let his head loll to the side.

“Better at all?” Wee John probed.

Izzy groaned, shrugging his shoulders. “I ‘spose,” he rasped. It ripped something terrible through his throat. He sighed and then shook himself alert, realizing his eyes were falling shut.

They all could still hear the wind, but the thrashing of the ship seemed to have calmed into a gentle bob. Izzy’s stomach churned slowly in him while Wee John and Oluwande carried on in their own conversation. Izzy found it hard to concentrate due to the low nausea and his ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton. He felt his head move down on its own accord and desperately wished for relief. His head fell on Oluwande’s shoulder, and he honestly meant to yank himself back up, but then the warmth from his leg was seeping through his cheek and chest as well. He waited to be reprimanded, but it never came, so he gave one last sniffle before he sunk into the shoulder and drifted off.

Oluwande and Wee John gave each other a look full of triumph and fondness before returning to their respective activities. Wee John started another knit project and Oluwande took the opportunity this time to fix the hair on top of Izzy’s head. Izzy sighed, and he didn’t look particularly peaceful, but Olu reveled at the softness that shined through. And when Jim and Frenchie arrived to relieve the two of them from their shift, he found it just a trifle hard to pass the baton onto them.

Feeling very violent rn so here's a very controversial opinion:

Everything after season one of Young Justice sucked.

Look, I know I'm obsessed with the show but that doesn't mean it's good, it means that I'm too deep into it at this point to get out. There are good moments within the other seasons but in general? They were not good.

I'm sorry. I understand that they wanted to be creative and have a neat narrative and deep lore and all that. And they do! The narrative and lore is extremely deep.

But the plot? The characters??

Season one was an actual functional show that balanced character development, plot and dialogue with world building, lore and messaging.

The other seasons do not do that.

Season two bounced back and forth between like 16 characters. We got some development for some characters but even that was minimal compared to the character development in S1. And this isn't me complaining that the og group wasn't in S2 enough. That's not my issue. I would've loved to focus on a new group and I think that Jaime, Bart, Ed and Gar would've been super cool to focus on. I loved what character development they did have and I craved more.

But the problem? The problem is when you have 16 fucking characters that you are trying to develop and shove into a coherent plot and have actual meaningful scenes. There just wasn't enough focus on S2. Imo, S2 was meh because the characters got left by the wayside. The plot, dialogue, world building, lore and messaging was fine, there just seemed to be a lack of heart/warmth in the show because of the characters. It's hard to get invested.

Then holy shit. S3 introduced more characters. And the plot got more contrived and 'big picture' to the point that it started to abstract. It felt like nothing mattered. There were no stakes, you were just watching things happen. There was 50 fucking things happening an episode and 80% of it was lore/world building. It felt like I was studying for a fictional history exam.

I'm pretty sure the main character in S3 was earth 16. Just the entire universe. Because goddamn. We checked in on almost every living being and EVERYTHING was a plot point. Most of it wasn't even relevant to anything happening in the season. Man it was.... it was bad.

And at that point it just wasn't enjoyable at all to watch. I probably should've stopped watching but at that point the sunk cost fallacy had already kicked in. I knew it could be good. Maybe it could be good again. And people were constantly praising it as cinematic genius so I was like 'okay well maybe I'm missing the point? Maybe you aren't supposed to enjoy shows? Maybe this is fine?'

But season four broke me.

The creators heard that people were frustrated by the lack of character focus and the episodes following 72 characters and the episodes switching between 50 different subplots every episode and their solution? Their solution was to take allllllll the different unconnected plots and, instead of evenly spreading them throughout the season, jam them all into 'arcs'. So you had a bunch of mini seasons consisting of 3-5 episodes dedicated to a cast of ~5-8 characters (some of them new). And each of these episodes had unconnected a plots, b plots and c plots.

THAT IS NOT A SOLUTION

Holy shit that is not a solution.

Not to mention the overarching plot of the season, in which we had no fucking clue what was happening until the final episodes where everything became a speedrun to wrap everything up. We literally had no idea what the main plot was until it was ending.

Good god it was bad. It's bad writing!

I know people liked it and good for them. You should like what you like and you don't have to justify it. But for me it was insanity. I'm sorry I actually don't want a season long subplot where Beast Boy is depressed and sleeps all day. I would be cool with it if it had anything to do with the larger story but, surprisingly, spending five minutes watching Beast Boy sleep every episode didn't make for compelling storytelling.

I'm still not over how we didn't even know who the main villain was until the end of the season. And then all of a sudden he does a villain monologue to tell everyone his evil plan and his motives. Super cool actually. I love it when I have no idea what the stakes are for the majority of a show. It's incredibly good storytelling when you leave the audience in the dark about a major player in the plot for all of the plot. And then doing an info dump evil monologue in the final episodes to rush through the explanation??? Fucking fantastic and not a sign of terrible pacing at all.

I'm just so frustrated. The show isn't about being a show anymore. The show is an entire cinematic universe shoved into 20 something episodes. It's desperate to tell every single story at once, audience, pacing and good writing be damned.

I'm so tired of the constant praising of Greg. His whole 'i don't write endings because life doesn't have endings' and 'i don't write cliffhangers, I just leave things open ended' thing is pretentious bullshit. I'm tired of pretending it's not. A good story has an ending. Stories are not life! Some of the best shows I've ever watched had planned endings. And oh my god. The cliffhanger thing... that's just semantics my guy. Greg you write cliffhangers. You can insist they aren't but I'm going to call a spade a spade.

It's also.... I'm fine with explaining things, in fact I love it because it's an excuse to talk about the stuff I love, and I have a fairly decent knowledge of comic book lore. So, I could not only understand what was happening in the show but I was also super enthusiastic about explaining it to people. But hey Greg? Hey buddy? If 90% of your audience doesn't know what the fuck is going on and needs to be familiar with super specific obscure comic characters from the 70's then you might have a problem.

I think I realized halfway through s4 that the most enjoyment I got from an episode was when an obscure comic character would cameo in it. But then I realized that a) they generally weren't explained at all and b) 50% of the time they weren't just hanging out in the background and they were vital to the plot. So to understand who the fuck they were and what the fuck was happening you had to be familiar with... well all of DC comics actually.

Anyway this rant is getting long and unhinged and I don't think there's a point so I'm going to cut myself off even though I have so much more to say on the topic. I think my general point is just that I didn't enjoy watching the later seasons and it's chill if you did and we should all respect each other's opinions ✌️

ok, it's star trek update time. tonight we watched ds9's "playing god" and tng's "eye of the beholder."

playing god (ds9):

i'm trying. SO SO SO HARD to get into dax and it's just not working

out of the 3 dax episodes we've had so far this one included two of them have been mid and one of them was just slightly better than average mostly for the questions it prompted in my mind palace, not necessarily the questions asked by the episode itself

in s1 dax had basically no personality, but in s2 when she does have a personality it seems to be a different one every time. like in one episode she was very prissy and in others she's just one of the guys! and then at other times she reverts to this very buttoned up bordering on bland science officer from s1 again

and then every once in awhile she'll be like oh yeah i LOVE sex i LOVE being a super hot woman who everyone wants to FUCK!!! i can get whatever i want with my SEX APPEAL even though my hair is WEIRDLY SHAPED. and look i am so happy for her and she should literally get some but it borders on the kind of misogyny that starts genuinely annoying me. it is kind of like that anime trope where the teen boy gets put into a body with tits and he can't stop messing with them. its like. idk reducing her to a body, or reducing her to jadzia's body, which dax is taking for a ride to feel hot and fuckable?? it's very blurry what's jadzia and what's dax

WHICH is the most fascinating part of dax, which is where the trill ends and the symbiant or however you spell it begins, but we don't get into that quite as much as i'd like

anyway i guess a shifting personality is a natural result of living 7 lifetimes but it doesnt FEEL like thats why theyre doing it, it FEELS like they just cant seem to keep her consistent

that said. while i did not like this episode or this little guy dax was showing around i DID like the implication that curzon was actually a huge fucking asshole. i love that he can be loved by many people but was still an asshole. it's complex. and now one of the people he abused (?) or at least was an asshole to is now. his successor. IT'S COMPLEX!!! what are he and jadzia to each other...imagine meeting curzon dax and then just becoming him. that's wild. so, points for that! genuinely. it just feels like the trill thing is fascinating because of trills and not because of jadzia dax in particular. i'm gonna keep trying to like her. maybe once she starts banging worf things will be different

eye of the beholder (tng):

ohhhh i hated this one so much (suicide cw for this one lol)

firstly, i don't trust tng to handle the subject of suicide any more than i trust them to handle multiple personalities, but they tried to very special episode it anyway. all of them were so shocked at the very THOUGHT of it i guess because they eliminated all mental illness in tos?? but it was so funny in the rage-inducing way like "maybe he needed to think of the obstacles in his life as challenges to overcome!" come on.

also lmao picard like ive never had to report a suicide before...........girl you have literally told 2 people to kill themselves

and then they dropped the very special episode plot halfway through for this psychic mystery...

here's the thing. if everyone had been searching for a REASON someone who seemed to be perfectly happy would do this, and in the end the answer was just "nothing was going on, he was just hiding a lot of pain, even if we don't want to believe that" that would have been a STELLAR gutpunch. but there literally was foul play involved

AND NOT ONLY THAT! BUT THEY FAKED ME OUT WITH WORF E DEANNA

my ONLY consolation was that they were finally kissing and then later fucking but NO!!!! all a dream

i was already conflicted because deanna e worf means a temporary breakup from deanna e riker but i wanted it anyway and i was so happy when they gave it to me and then they KILLED IT? maybe the actors hated it because it fucking sucked

like, no wonder everybody let deanna walk around unsupervised when there was a high suicide danger. she was dreaming. no one in real life would ever allow this

i wish also that creepy men would stop coming to deanna's quarters to be creepy to her

final note: was told the creepy man was in spn. clocked him as alistair almost immediately. faceblind WHO

TOMORROW: ds9's "prophet and loss" and tng's "genesis" (dread).

Five being the founder of the commission is a horrible, horrible writing decision. Everything about it is just terrible.

Oh boy, let's get into this.

I’ve been writing on this on and off for the past month, and this is as clear and structured as I feel I can be. This has become a gigantic 5.5k monstrosity, but I wanted to have all my thoughts somewhere together. It starts off as an ‘actually, the idea here was not that bad’ and turns into ‘but the execution in the show sucked, so let me tell you exactly why this did not work’. Dedicating this to @sohoseance, @sharkneto, @kaleidoscopegirl and @nachtare because it really gave me the final push to finish this to hear that you would be interested in reading it.

First of all, I want to say that I don’t think that Five being the founder of the Commission was the point of that scene, or something that the show really wanted to engage in, from the way the rest of the season plays out. Five has no thoughts on the fact that he founded an organisation that existed to bring about the event that ruined his life; in the same vein, Lila says nothing about the reveal that he was, after all, behind the organisation that ruined her life. What it felt like to me, watching the season, was that the reveal and subsequent “Don’t save the world.”-shtick was there to keep Five away from the plot, and more specifically, Allison’s storyline. Without the detour to the Commission, Five would have had a vested interest in fixing the timeline, and Allison would have had someone working on the same goal, which was not what the writers wanted the storyline to be, so Five had to have something happen to him that kept him from intervening in the main plot (you know, like the shrapnel wound or the paradox psychosis in earlier seasons – same plot devices). Point is, the whole reveal doesn’t seem to have been intended as an actual character exploration and functions more like a badly conceived plot device. They needed Five to not do the thing that he has been established to be doing for the past two seasons, and he’s been written in such a way that the only authority he trusts is himself, so they had to crowbar a version of himself that tells him to do the opposite of what he would naturally do.

Second thing to mention is that even if it was intended to be a genuine character moment, I don’t think it was meant to be completely bad, for the simple reason that Steve Blackman, the showrunner and head writer, genuinely doesn’t think that the Commission is a bad or evil organisation (no, really). Which. Has been obvious since the writing of S2, but that doesn’t erase the writing and establishing of the Commission in S1. Someone get the man someone who checks the implications of his writing ideas, the show is in dire need for that. Why I bring this is up is that it a) explains why neither Five nor Lila really seem to react and realise what ‘Five founded the Commission’ implies, what he would be responsible for, and b) I don’t think that Blackman realised that a lot of viewers would look at how the Commission and Five as a character has been established, see that apparently Five founded the Commission and go ‘yeah, this is not compelling and makes very little sense’. Put a pin in that, we’ll get back to it shortly.

The thing is, theoretically, I don’t think this is a horrible writing decision. It could have genuinely been so interesting, a very compelling character exploration. And then it just was the most underwhelming thing. When I watched S3 for the first time and Five said the word ‘founder’, I immediately clocked what they were doing. I knew exactly who the founder was going to be, I didn’t even need the paradox psychosis mannerisms to clue me in, because I love it when time travel is used in stories to confront a protagonist with an older version of themselves who is an antagonist in the story. When well done, that story beat can be so fun and so interesting. Dark (2017-2020) and Looper (2012) are a show and film respectively that I love that tackle this kind of story. As a kid, I was obsessed with Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox, a book which subverts this story beat in a way that blew my little child mind. Five being the founder could and should have worked. It’s a concept deeply ingrained in what makes this character tick.

The hook of Five being the founder should have been the intrigue of how he ended up becoming the exact opposite of what he stood for so far. That’s the crux of this trope, contrasting the same person at different points in their life, having to confront something you loathe that is something you will become. And it would have been interesting and satisfying, in a way, to see everything time-travel-related lead right back to Five, that it really was only him and his powers that shifted the timeline, something about the full realisation of his potential as the most powerful man in the space-time-continuum. And also as someone who despite all that power failed. How great it would have been if the show actually took the time to explore this. I don’t think the idea of ‘Five founded the Commission’ was doomed from the start, it could have been so very compelling.

Instead, we got an incredibly muddled storyline that was more confusing than intriguing, had no clearly defined stakes and resolved (?) in such an unsatisfactory way that I still don’t know how I really feel about it. In my head, there’s two ways this storyline plays out:

Five did the correct thing. He headed the warning of his old self, did not save the world, and everything got reset, staving off the founding of the Commission and him ever going down the path of becoming the founder. It is badly written and really majorly serves so Five has something to do that does not really impact the plot, but at least it is done with and I won’t have to think about it again, should this show get renewed for S4.

Five did not do the correct thing. The world was saved/reset, and there are many, many opportunities to lose that arm and go down the path to found the Commission in his future. This lame storyline continues into a hypothetical S4 as the ultimate proof that the writers have no idea what to do with him.

Under the cut, I’ll first talk about why the whole ‘Five founded the Commission’-shebang doesn’t work the way it was written into the show, and then I’ll talk about why I have an inkling that it could continue into S4 even though I think it’s a terrible idea. Also, major spoilers for the show Dark (2017-2020), if you have not seen that, do yourself a favour, watch it, come back to this later. It feels like the thing they were trying to do with Five in S3 but actually good. Do check the trigger warnings though, it's a show that can be rough in places.

There’s this show. In it, there is a boy whose father committed suicide for an unknown reason. When the boy is still young, an apocalypse happens, wiping out life as he knows it. He learns how to survive in the apocalyptic wasteland, all the while thinking about how to prevent it. He knows time travel is possible. If only he could harness its power to work in his favour. As he is trying to get to the bottom of how time works, there is interference by a shadowy organisation with assassins that want to manipulate the timestream so that the apocalypse does happen, but the boy, who is now a man, keeps getting in the way of that. One day, he meets the man who founded the shadowy organisation. He is old and withered and time travel has left its mark on him. And the penny drops. The old man is the young man is the boy, and he will turn into him, eventually. The old man who once was the boy needs the apocalypse to happen, because it is the only way to figure out a way to  prevent it, because pinning down the origin of it all is muddled and complicated and marred in personal, familial connections for the man. He is trapped in an endless loop of repeating and alternating time, at a point branching into several different timelines, the apocalypse always happens, and he is always fated to become what he loathes most until he can find a way to break the cycle.

That’s, in the most simplified way possible, a part of the plot of the show Dark (2017-2020). It does this plot a surprising amount of justice, it really explores themes of family and time paradoxes and consequences of one’s actions through the focus on its main character, Jonas Kahnwald. I also think that the above is kind of, sort of the ballpark they were trying to hit with the whole ‘Five is the founder of the Commission’-storyline. That time was going to wear down Five until he decided to take the timestream into his own hands, founding the Commission to get himself out of the apocalyptic wasteland and give himself a chance to save the world. The thing is that it doesn’t work with the way that the Commission has been set up to work in previous seasons.

The thing with Dark’s story is that it is contained to one single town in Germany, and the families that live therein. The entire plot revolves around the time paradox and the apocalypse and how everyone fits into it. TUA does not work like that. The implications are for the whole world and the whole of human history – those are the things the Commission meddles in. Where the shadowy organisation in Dark only has very few people and very little, sometimes backfiring technology, the Commission in TUA has essentially been established to be all-knowing, all-powerful. They can travel through time precisely with the briefcases, and even have the ability to stop time altogether. They can modify bodies to their liking, repair them beyond everything imaginable, extending their employees lives. They have the Infinite Switchboard, a plot device that allows them to see not only what is happening in the timeline, but also in alternative timelines (it is singularly the worst plot device in this show, I hate it beyond words). They have technology to shield themselves from paradoxes, which Five himself built, with the implication that most of the tech at the Commission’s disposal has its origin with Five and his powers.

In Dark, the origin of the time paradox that causes the apocalypse, the thing that needs resolving, is a very complicated, tangled mess that tracks through interpersonal relationships and complicated feelings on family. It is not as easy as just removing one person from the timeline, or even one person at all, but rather a culmination of decisions that created walking paradoxes, which then snowballed to make other situations more complicated. In contrast, in TUA, solving the apocalypse – the first one - is pretty simple. What lead up to it is complex, but in the end, it is Viktor, egged on by Harold Jenkins due to something that is ultimately Reginald’s fault.

The point being is that since Five was the founder of the Commission, he had access to all that technology and knowledge, and he knew exactly how the apocalypse came to be. To prevent it, all he needed to do was travel to outside the prison and knock Harold out the second he stepped out. Or even better, go back and prevent Reginald from ever suppressing Viktor’s powers in the first place. Five has long been established as a smart man, when he founded the Commission, he had everything at his disposal to turn the world around for good with little problem.

Instead, the show tells us he somehow set up an ineffectual, all-powerful bureaucracy that goes fiddling about in the past so that everything happens to lead up to the 2019 apocalypse. There is no reasoning given as to why Founder Five would want the apocalypse to happen. We know nothing about his motivations. He exists to be cryptic to Five, tell him not to save the world, and then he dies. He’s not an antagonist, he’s a plot device, despite standing for the very opposite of what Five stands for. This is part of a larger problem where the Commission actually has no fixed characteristics or ethos, it is just what the show needs it to be, even though all of that keeps contradicting each other and creating a woefully muddled picture that makes trying to understand what is going on a headache and a half.

Because that is another fundamental difference between Dark and TUA is that Dark had one head writer, Jantje Friese, who was fully involved in the writing of every single episode and had a complete three-season-plan of how this show was going to play out. Meanwhile, Steve Blackman is playing it by ear, does not have a throughline or a plan as to where TUA is going, and is adapting and changing established things (like the Commission) depending on what the story needs in the moment, leading to a bigger picture that makes no sense.

The reveal of Five being the Founder doesn’t work because based on everything that has been established before, the power that Five would have had, Five could have and should have done other things. Even if he needed to found the Commission to find other people to help him develop things like the briefcases or the thrice-damned Infinite Switchboard, once he had those, what was his motivation to keep the apocalypse going? What was his motivation to meddle with the past? Why was any of it necessary? In Dark, the old man was backed into a corner, he had exhausted every other possibility. That show gave him motivations and really delved into why he became what he was; he was a character in his own right, the Big Bad of the show that explored why he became that.

TUA, on the other hand, is not interested enough in Founder Five to give us a compelling reason as to why he exists. Founder Five is not a character, he is a plot device masquerading as a character.  Unfortunately, that character is one that the viewers are very familiar with, so of course they would try to connect the Five that is by this point very established and has a reasonably strong characterisation going for him to Founder Five, who is just there, I guess. And people come up empty, because there is not enough to Founder Five to make sense why Five would become him, and the Commission is such a flaming dumpster fire of contradictory writing that it is barely possible to make sense of it, so connecting the two Fives through that is also not really possible.

The thing is, Dark also only gave the viewer the motivations of the old man after he had gotten introduced, the writing fleshed him out afterwards. But what they had done beforehand was built him up as a threat, as a shadowy figure with goals, and he was introduced as a character several episodes before the reveal of who he really was, so the viewers actually already knew him. In contrast, the concept of Founder Five and the character himself get introduced and killed off in the same episode.

And Dark allowed their old man to actually be an antagonist, to be the Big Bad, to really sharpen the difference between him and his young self as an interesting clash of characters. However, due to the inconsistent writing of the Commission (which was the Big Bad in S1 and then got written into a really misguided ‘actually the whole concept of the Commission isn’t bad despite them indiscriminately killing innocent people based on something they think should happen - the end of times – there was just one bad apple, the Handler, the Commission is neat as heck uwu’) and Steve Blackman’s inexplicable idea that the Commission isn’t bad, Founder Five isn’t allowed to be the Big Bad despite that being a much more compelling take. Instead he’s just a guy who’s there to get Five to act a certain way. Cool.

The reason I brough Dark up as a comparison is that it is well-written and well thought-out, and it really takes its time with character exploration so that every version of this one character makes sense to the viewer. Knowing how a similar plot plays out in Dark made my experience watching S3 actively worse, because I had seen how compelling and fun and gut-wrenching this exact take on a character could be. I was genuinely hyped when I realised that Five was the founder, I thought they were going to take the opportunity and meaningfully explore the character, and then Founder Five was not a character, not an antagonist, just a mouthpiece for the writers to get Five to not do the thing he’s been relentlessly doing for two seasons. And TUA’s take on this doesn’t have to be like Dark. It wouldn’t really fit with how the tone of the show has been going (sidenote: it would absolutely have fit S1 though), and just because Dark did it one way doesn’t mean that is the only right way. I’m just saying it was a compelling way, and they did a lot more interesting things with it than TUA did, which could easily have found its own fun and off-the-wall spin on having Five found the Commission, but they didn’t.

Alright. Okay. Founder Five as a character is a dud. So what about him as a plot device? Was the pay-off to the whole ‘don’t save the world’-thing worth the headache of trying to reconcile Five with Founder Five? Not really. I’m still in the dark – pun not intended – about what exactly they were trying to do with Five in the latter part of the season. Intellectually, I know the answer is ‘keep him out of Allison’s storyline so that their motivations don’t align and they don’t team up’ (which is a shame, if Five had kept wanting to save the world, we could have had some really interesting collaboration and fighting with Allison about whether or not to trust Reginald with the reset, but alas it was not to be). Practically? Who knows.

There were three key take-aways from that godforsaken paradox-safe bunker: the words ‘Don’t save the world.’, the tattoo, and the cut-off arm. The first one was an instruction from Founder Five to Five, the other two were markers of Founder Five. Back at Hotel Obsidian, Five puzzles over them, thinking that it might be Founder Five’s attempt to discourage him from becoming him, thinking about how he could try to break the cycle, all of it with – or rather at – Klaus. It’s, I think, the one really good scene coming out of this weird storyline, because we actually get to see Five’s thoughts and that it fucked him up seeing himself die, and the fact that it makes no sense (we all feel you, buddy). And I’ll give praise where it’s due, I think Aidan Gallagher did a great job with the odd material he was given, his acting in the bunker and at the bar with Klaus genuinely is top-notch, I wish they would reward this performance with the writing it deserves.

The talk with Klaus leads him to this season’s most pointless side tangent, the Mothers of Agony. After bringing up the idea of trying to break the cycle and expressing disgust at potentially dying with an old-man-tramp-stamp, any reluctance Five has had is promptly shoved out the window, never to be seen again. He talks to Pogo, gets some plot information because that’s what Five is usually for, and he gets the tattoo that he didn’t want with no discernible reasoning as to why. He talks some about how destiny doesn’t care whether he is sure about getting it or not, which is odd, because Five, as previously established in this show, doesn’t care about destiny (you know how que sera sera is bullshit in any language? That was a key part of his characterisation in S1 and seems to have been forgotten here.). So here he is still following Founder Five’s path for no established reason except that the plot tells him to and it’s supposed to keep us on tenterhooks on whether he will make the right decision. The tattoo, with that, fulfils its plot obligations and is never seen again.

He then helps a tiny bit to save the world real quick, with the whole ‘Christopher imprisons the kugelblitz’-thing that doesn’t stick, so it barely matters except for the fact that it makes him give up. Which I genuinely think is perfectly natural and understandable, he has been at this for a month straight and everything he’s been doing has made things worse, so maybe giving up and giving in doesn’t seem so bad anymore. It’s devastating in his arc, I think, that he finally is at the end of his rope after a lifetime of stubbornly clinging to life, to the belief that he can change things. The show does not particularly indulge that framing though, instead having him be funny drunk for an episode. Woo. Remember when Five’s alcoholism was something genuinely devastating from his time in the apocalypse in S1? Good fucking times. Anyway. He pivots his position from saving the world to not saving it, which is only solidified once Reginald shows up and suddenly he wants to save the world, which Five doesn’t trust him about because he knows he is hiding something from them. He then doubles down on not saving the world with the vote, swinging it so that they don’t go and save the world. Reginald then does some murdering and strong-arms them into a position where they do have to go and save it anyway.

This is where things get really muddled and I don’t understand Five’s thinking anymore. He knows that Reginald is up to no good. He knows that there is information he isn’t privy to that Reginald knows. He knows Reginald is using them, putting their lives on the line, and there was this deal with Allison that Five doesn’t know the terms of. And of course Five figures out where the sigils are. He is observant and aware of his surroundings, this has been well-established.

He gets summarily interrupted by one of the guardians cutting off his arm. So now we have what I think is supposed to be tension but when I watched, I was mostly confused. He has the tattoo, he has lost an arm and gained the knowledge on how to save the world. The pumps are primed for him to go down the path to founding the Commission, it all depends on the choices he makes now.

Inexplicably, he tells Reginald (who, again, he does not trust and does not like) where the sigils are. Is he saving the world here? I genuinely don’t know, but I don’t think it’s meant to be that. Maybe. Again, we are in muddled territory because I am very confused on his decision-making in this last episode.

What I think is supposed to be his pivotal choice is when it comes down between him and Allison to step on the last sigil. There were supposed to only be seven of them, Reginald meant for all of them to be incapacitated when he reset the world, but now there is a choice. And Five, somehow, does what Reginald tells him to and steps on the sigil. He doesn’t know it will incapacitate him, but it does, and so he can’t act anymore. What he can do is talk to Allison, and what he says convinces her to kill Reginald before he can kill her siblings, but only after Reginald has already locked in his new version of the world, his reset, honouring the terms he set with Allison. She pushes the button and resets (saves?) the world, with her conditions intact (she gets back all her siblings, Luther and Klaus included, and Ray and Claire), but because it was a deal with the devil, the siblings are stripped of their powers, and Reginald gets his wife back and more power than he’s ever had. It remains to be seen how this will play out, should this show get a fourth season.

More importantly, and tying this back to Founder Five The Plot Device, is that Five gets his arm back, so does this mean he averted going down the path of becoming the Commission’s founder? I think that’s how the show is set up to be, although I’m not 100% sure, put a pin in it, I’ll get back to it shortly. What I interpret is that Five did make the right choice by taking his spot on the sigil. If he had not and Allison, desperate to save the world and get her family back, had stepped onto the sigil, it would have left Five and Reginald. And Five, who did not have a deal with Reginald and would have seen his beloved siblings in pain, would have had a lot less qualms about putting that axe through Reginald’s brain, but then Reginald would not have had the time to reprogram the world. What I think the implication is is that Five would have ended up with the reconfiguration screen and somehow, I don’t know, used it to, you know, save the world. And he would have fucked it up somehow because that’s what Five tends to do – make things worse – and this would somehow, at some point, led to him founding the Commission to right his mistakes. Maybe. I don’t know. This is the best I can do and I am not certain that’s how I’m supposed to understand the finale in relation to the whole Commission-founding-business.

So, to recap, how did the Founder Five Plot Device work out? It created some kind of tension on whether or not Five was going to turn it around and decide to break the cycle. Kind of. Sort of. It was not particularly well-written and genuinely confused me more than it intrigued me. And I understand that it can’t be clear-cut, it’s supposed to be difficult for both the viewer and Five as a character to see what the right course of action is, I just don’t think it was particularly effective in building tension and I hated the thing the writing did where it would have Five state that he would not do a thing (get the tattoo, work with Reginald) and then he would turn around and do the thing with no real thing happening in-between that convinced him to act otherwise. Like. He volunteered that info on the sigils before he knew that could stop the guardian. And I think a part of the point was that in order to not become Founder Five, Five would have to act against his instincts and do what Reginald says, but it really was not conveyed well and his willingness to help Reginald along after his whole shebang about the deal with Allison was mostly confusing. Was he pressed to extremes? Yes. Was it the last resort the show portrayed it to be? Not really.

I also think this all would have worked better if Allison and Five had had any kind of established relationship beforehand. They barely talked for two seasons and basically only sniped at each other for the third. Maybe there was a point there that despite all the fighting, Five loves her enough to put her over himself, but they barely let them interact despite it having the biggest potential, especially this season, but who knows.

So, to sum up, even disregarding Founder Five as a character, what he brought as a plot device was also mostly muddled and confusing, and even in retrospect I’m still trying to figure out what exactly they were going for. I think it could’ve been made substantially better if there had been more than just the one scene of Five reflecting on what he witnessed in that bunker, but as it is, it just feels unsatisfactory in a way that I can’t really put my finger on. But at least it’s over and done with, Five will not go on to found the Commission, it’s a new day, it’s a new dawn. I think. Maybe. Potentially.

Okay.

The thing is that once I thought about the cliffhanger ending and what world Reginald has created, Five in that position looks to me way, WAY more likely to found the Commission than anything he did before the reset.

For the first time, I think we see a world that he would actively object to. He doesn’t like Reginald, he doesn’t trust Reginald, and with all that has happened, Reginald now seemingly has more power than ever, having shaped the world in the image he deems ideal and having depowered his former children in the process. They are still alive, because no matter how conniving, he upheld his part of the deal with Allison. What I’m saying is, this world is the first world where I could see Five going ‘this should all burn’, the ultimate act of defiance, rather ending the world than let Reginald have it.

But to do that, Five would need his powers, and Five doesn’t have his powers. What he does have is a reasonably good understanding of them, of the math behind them. This seems, to me, like a good set of circumstances for him to reverse-engineer his powers and put them, just as an example, into a briefcase, to use them to stop his father from taking over the world, even if it costs him said world.

He’s gotten his arm back, sure, but he is physically 13 and Founder Five died at a hundred years, there’s a good 87 years for Five to get his arm chopped off again. The only thing that could definitely tell us that Five made the right decision, did not save the world, is the absence of the tattoo, but we haven’t seen that, so the prospect of him actually having saved the world after all and still somehow founding the Commission is not completely discarded.

But by God, do I hope it is. I don’t have much interest in a potential S4 where we see Five pursue that because a) there’s this rule that every season only spans 10 days, and you can’t cram that kind of development into 10 days and b) it’s just. Five is such an interesting character to me. He is so fun and the performance is endlessly entertaining to me, and I don’t want to watch him become a bureaucrat. It’s literally the least interesting thing I can imagine him doing, and comic!Five got into the stock market. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see him reverse-engineer his powers, but not if it leads down to him becoming a non-character.

If you made it this far, 5k in, I congratulate and thank you for keeping with my thoughts for this long. The TL;DR is that Five founding the Commission is not the worst idea ever, theoretically, but this show does not have the writing and continuity necessary to pull it off into an interesting twist. Founder Five was not a character, he mostly felt like a plot device that was barely used to explore Five’s character, and even the plot devised for him was not particularly compelling or well-written and led more to confusion than anything else, exacerbated by the fact that the writing made Five say certain things and then do contradictory things with nothing in-between really indicating why he would have changed his mind. It is not particularly good at creating tension around his decisions and the pay-off, if it can even be called that, is more confusing than satisfactory with the weird decision-making Five has got going on in the season finale. There is the small but hopefully unfounded dread that this ‘Five founded the Commission’-storyline might extend into a potential S4, as the circumstances where the siblings left off at the end of S3 seem to me much more favourable to make Five found the Commission than anything else that came before, but I really, really hope I am wrong, because this show does not have the writing to make this kind of storyline as compelling as it deserves to be. If you want this storyline pulled off in a much better thought-out and satisfactory way, I can warmly recommend Netflix’s Dark (2017-2020).

I've been seeing a lot of mixed emotions and frustration surrounding what we heard today from Samba on Wee John Wondays, regarding the immense amount of deleted scenes, cut material, original episode concepts etc, from season 2. And I just wanted to give my two cents here.

Look, it is absolutely valid to be pissed at HBO Max right now. They slashed OFMD's budget, cut their runtime on a per episode and a season basis. This resulted in plotlines having to be reworked, character & relationship development compressed, and some minutiae & connective scenes omitted. The thought of that sucks! It would have been nice to see the polycule shown more directly onscreen, and to see Ed & Stede dance, have a longer goodbye to Izzy, and maybe work through Ed and Stede's relationship rollercoaster a little more gradually. I'm sure this hurt no one more than David himself, who's had a clear vision of all three seasons from the start - who's now had to deal with not only a truncated s2 but a cancellation soon after to boot.

But I think it does a great disservice to the entire cast and crew who worked immensely hard on season 2 to dwell overlong on what we could or 'should' have gotten. They worked their asses off to bring us something phenomenal! Season 2 was incredible - and your mileage may vary, but all analytics indicate season 2 was even more popular and well-received than season 1 by audiences and critics alike. There was a whole team of writers who worked deftly and skillfully to crunch ten episodes into eight without compromising the core elements, themes, and plotlines they wanted to include to tell this story, plus a talented cast who brought their own improvisation to set every day and gave us some of the season's most iconic moments. Everyone on the OFMD crew is proud of what they made, as they rightly should be. It was beautiful television.

Expressing dissatisfaction with what was cut is fine to an extent, but let's not let it take away from our enjoyment and appreciation of the final product we did get, or give the crew the impression that what they worked so hard to give us wasn't good enough. They want more than anyone to have had those extra scenes in there to show off the hard work of the whole team! I'm seeing this a lot especially with the talk about the early draft of Calypso's birthday (and this info is not new, Samba spoke at length about it during his baking class back in November). Regardless of your opinion on whether you think that would have been a 'better' version of the episode, it was just that - an early draft, that never came close to being filmed. David and the writers revised this concept because, apart from time constraints on the season, ultimately they felt that the concept they ended up going with best served the narrative. Even Samba agreed that he preferred the final version. There's no secret footage of this other version, we didn't 'lose' anything - this is one of the dangers of scripts getting released for any piece of media, because the mind runs astray dreaming of the possibilities of what may have been, when the reality is all shows go through moderate to sometimes heavy editing before the final version, and the audience probably doesn't need to see that process!

The fact that season 2 turned out so beautifully, with some of the most moving and iconic sequences television's seen in quite a while, and a love story that has touched so many, is truly a testament to the passion, dedication, and skill of the entire cast and crew. They have achieved the status of cultural phenomenon, season 2 was the 5th most watched series in the entire world on streaming services, outperforming shows like Loki. They've got several dozen articles with glowing praise from major media outlets, a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, multiple award nominations, and more than anything a loyal fanbase who's in it for the long haul to fight for a season 3. They have succeeded to this level despite all the stumbling blocks HBO Max has thrown in their path. If season 2 was OFMD held back from its full potential, then I think they should be damn fucking proud of what they've made.

Samba pitched an official bts documentary for both season 1 and season 2 and was turned down. This show deserved better than HBO Max was ever going to give them. He's going to try and post deleted scenes and a blooper reel if he can (not all heroes wear capes, folks). And it's very likely none of these things will ever be officially released (though, we can make a stink about it!). Be angry about it, absolutely. But we need to channel that energy into the fight for renewal. Double down on efforts to get the attention of Netflix, Prime, Apple TV, and FX, get more signatures on the petition (87k as of this writing!), and just keep talking positively about the show on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook with our hashtags. We need to show the crew that we're upset for them, but so grateful for the beautiful season we got too.

So let's not bicker and wallow about what was 'stolen' from us - the final canon product is ultimately the final canon product, and any other tidbits are fun but neither owed nor necessary. They trusted that we could put the pieces together, that we'd be able to read between the lines when scenes that would have made things more explicit, or developed them further, had to be shortened or cut. And that trust was well placed! We sussed it out. Celebrate the ofmd fandom for all the excellent meta, art, fic, we've gotten, and celebrate season 2 for its joy, its profoundness, its nuance, its enduring hope and how much it's given to so many. Air your grievances respectfully, and then get back to fighting to give OFMD the well-funded third season it deserves!

Since pip has no parents, I would be interested to know where he lives and some details in general:

- clothing

- accommodation

- money

- medical care

- Toys (he is still a child)

- school supplies

- who looks after him

- his bedroom

And so on

I always assumed he lived at an orphanage and if he wasn't there he was at summer school (s2 ep8 "summer sucks" he says that he can't be left alone so he has to attend summer school every year) so that's what I'm sticking with

• clothing

Possibly his clothes could come from donations to said orphanage or he saves money to buy thrift clothes

• accomodations

I'm not too sure what this means so I'm just going with what Google says: I would say hes not very smart book wise (but then again what 4th grader is) but I would like to think he has a lot of street and common knowledge like he would probably have some difficulty with solving math problems but he knows how to do other stuff pretty well (such as archery, fencing and how to act like a gentlemen)

•money

Ok this one is a bit tricky but I like to think that when he left Britain he was given some money to help him stay on his feet and when that ran out (probably quite fast because knowing children he most likely spent it on stuff he didn't really need like see here) he did some mini day jobs around the neighborhood

He most likely just caved to pier pressure when buying these but he also offered 75$ to buy a starving Marvin for himself

So Its a bit of a mystery to say how he's doing money wise but it looks like he's doing good from what I can tell

•medical care

I would say he was kinda screwed there considering his only kind of healthcare was the school nurse who wasn't very good at her job considering her method for helping a giant open wound on his head was a single bandaid and a shot

He probably had to take a lot of sick days cause really the only thing a school nurse can do is call your parents and tell them to pick you up and pip is an orphan....so that wasn't a option but on the bright side he probably has a very strong immune system

•toys

Kinda the same for the clothes all his toys were most likely donated to the orphanage or he bought them from thrift shops but occasionally he would save up enough money for a brand new toy like for example he has two Chinpokomon figures and I'm assuming that like real life Pokemon merchandise it's pretty expensive

He probably worked random jobs all over town (raking people yards, washing cars etc) to save up for those toys

•school supplies

Growing up being kind of poor we never really could afford School supplies either and usually when the kid or parent can't afford school supplies the school should provide it for you but not all cases are like this, and if that was the case he was on his own

•who looks after him

The teachers at the summer school or the workers at the orphanage I'd assume as he stated he can't be left alone

•his bedroom

Knowing orphanages he probably split a room with like four other kids so not a lot of privacy and he probably just shoved all of his stuff in a bag ethier under or on his bed (if it was on his bed it could've double as pillow as well)

Okay I wanna ramble about the OFMD S2 finale now. This is a fucking ramble and a half but it was do this or continue posting disconnected, inarticulate messages at 5am. Spoilers ahead.

I wanna start this with the things I LIKED this season so I'm not just being a hater. Overall, I'm super happy this show even exists. A historical pirate show with an entire cast of queer characters (and many queer actors/creators) is always a good thing in my book. It's better that these shows succeed and show that it's a viable creative endeavor. Specific things I liked about s2: -Zheng. She's incredible. I loved her the second she revealed who she was and just found her so entertaining whenever she was on screen. I hope Ruibo Qian gets more chances to shine in the future, preferably as a lead.

-All the guest stars gave 110% and I found them delightful. I completely understand why the toxic lesbians took off the way they did on social media when Minnie Driver and Rachel House were so charismatic. -The Innkeeper. This episode made me so hopeful for what the season COULD be because I thought Ed's internal conflict was handled in such a great way. Kind of a shame that they set up this beautiful story of a self-loathing, suicidal person who's wronged the people he loves as worthy of second chances only to fuck that up later BUT WHATEVER THAT'S A FUTURE PROBLEM. -There are plenty of individual moments that made me feel great. That really made me love these characters and came close to capturing what I felt in the first season. But I will add a caveat to this thought in the next bit... Specific things I did not like about OFMD s2: -So, while I did enjoy individual moments when separated from the whole of the series, when trying to think of them in context everything felt so...cobbled together? Instead of feeling like I was watching a cohesive story, it felt more like the writers' room had sat down and said "All right, what scenes would people like to see? What character moments would get people talking?" Which I think was a mistake. -Plot threads were left dangling in the wind. Character conflicts were either wrapped up in a blink or were entirely forgotten. It felt like a season with no consequences (which is WEIRD, considering). I'd had an in-depth conversation with a friend around episode 2 or 3, but I'd said I was excited to see how Izzy and Stede's conflict could develop as the season went on--I specifically wanted an exploration into the idea that regardless of how hard you work to redeem yourself, nobody owes it to you to accept your apology. And that that's OKAY. Instead it felt like everyone looked at Izzy as if his previous behavior was the behavior of a mischievous cat who knocks shit off counters as opposed to a toxic force within the crew.

-I'm not an Izzy hater, I'm not an Izzy fanboy; I'm just someone who likes coherent character arcs. His character arc sucked, guys. Like I'm sorry, I know most of us were delighted with his drag show and casual, friendly bitchiness. But it made no goddamn sense for who he was in the last season, and I feel that the total 180 he did from being the symbol of toxic masculinity to giving heartwarming speeches about pirate life being all about acceptance and family to be...messy. I genuinely thought that Izzy was going to be used as an allegory for Ed having an addiction and needing to withdraw from it over a season, or that the season would at least confront the toxic nature of their relationship in a way that wasn't THREE SECONDS BEFORE IZZY DIED. Also sorry Izzy is coming up in another point but it's because it felt like 70% of this season was Izzy. -The shafting of the side characters. Remember when Ed was like "I'm the fuckin' devil. And these are the kids"? Yeah, that was kind of the vibe the whole damn time, eh? I'll be totally upfront with you, I didn't love the first season because the two Kiwis kissed. I loved the first season for the characters. I was SO intrigued by every one of them, particularly Jim and Olu. This season, every single member of the crew felt more like Polly Pockets who would get pulled out when convenient and then tossed into the sand when the episode grew tired of them. Did any of them actually have character development? Did any of them get an actual moment to shine? Also, god, on the note of the handling of crew relationships. I can't believe this season managed to polybait but here we are. I would love to understand what the reasoning was to break up Olu and Jim. Was it because they couldn't imagine two new characters (Zheng and Archie) existing without a romance? Did amatonormativity strike again? Even removing the romantic development Olu and Jim had for each other, it really felt like they hadn't gone through ANY of the shit they had in the former season. Which I suppose you could say about any of the threads connecting characters because I swear these people acted like they'd just met at a work conference as opposed to having long-standing relationships to one another. -I would like to say for the record that I was never terribly invested in Izzy Hands as a character outside of what he symbolized, but I was initially hopeful he could lead to some fantastic character development for Ed, Stede and himself. Instead, as mentioned before, he had the most rushed character development I have EVER seen and for reasons I still can't really fathom. And maybe this is just a personal thing for me, but I actually really hate showing a suicidal person learning to love life and find new value in allowing themself the opportunity to grow as a person only to fucking murk them for a cheap, rushed emotional moment.

--

Closing thoughts--have you ever seen the special finale episode of Sense8 where the creators knew they'd been screwed by Netflix and so had to scramble to put together a cohesive end for those characters? And the episode we got was messy, it left threads dangling, it wrapped up character conflicts quickly, but it also ultimately seemed to reflect the overall heart of the show? Yeah, this was like that Sense8 finale episode but, at least for me, lacked any of the heart. I've seen people argue that the creators of OFMD wrapped so many conflicts so quickly because they wanted us to have "closure" in case they didn't get a season 3. But, I would argue that I would much rather receive a season that leaves me with questions but feels coherent only to not get answers to those questions than to get the cinematic equivalent of an Uber Eats refund. I'm not satisfied. I'm still hungry. I just have someone telling me I should still be grateful, anyway. I hope they get a season 3, I really do.

ok. we can all agree for various reasons the writing of the steve/nancy/jonathan/murray situation was annoying in s2. and weird, given that they’re teenagers, which we might forget since they all look a bit older. even if you argue it wasn’t a clean and clear breakup between stancy it was done for the narrative. bear with me i know literally everything is for the narrative so that’s redundant. they’d been hinting since s1 that something with steve and nancy wouldn’t click and the Barb of it all just made this worse.

(i also think if my best friend died when i was 15/16 and i felt guilty for that i’d probably be a little weird when it came to the relationship with the guy i was hooking up with when she disappeared, even if i really liked him, because you know, i’d be 15 and my brain is not exactly at its most mature and that’s super traumatic.)

have you people ever watched tv shows where through one couple kind of failing you see how another clicks well? and it sucks that it’s sort of emotional cheating but it just is a way of writing? like. that sort of storytelling is used for grown adults who don’t always handle it well and you want this 16 yr old to be perfect. 16 year olds often have fleeting non-perfect relationships. tell me, quickly, how perfect you wanted this to be given everything else going on in the series? yeah st is a popular show but first thing you learn is you gotta cut shit in a script that isn’t really that integral, so, this was seen as their best way to condense it and get the point across.

anyway, all this to say, i don’t think nancy’s writing is perfect, i don’t like when she’s just a gun girl #feministgirlboss. i don’t like that that’s how they chose to develop her character esp in later seasons. i don’t love anything about the love triangle. but i think if you’re coming up with all these convoluted reasons about how fucked up and manipulative and evil she is and how she just uses and abuses people for her own good and also saying there’s nothing about her family or the barb situation or anything that could be complicating things for her, and you’re saying this without taking even half a second to think through it, and also, you’re like in your 20s talking about this teenage girl, the call is coming from inside the house. sorry. go to therapy? talk about the mean girl bullying you endured in high school and get over yourself…

also. it’s been two seasons. can we shut the fuck up about that. like ever. if people were still talking about all the ways i was annoying in my 16 year old relationship and the times i wasn’t perfect i’d want to kms. it’s time to let it go

AND. one more thing. if it was steve you would. you WOULD be considering all the reasons that he acted the way he did. in fact, you guys love to talk about how steve should be forgiven for calling the byers a bunch of queers and attacking jonathan while his baby brother was missing because he had good development. that’s great. steve and nancy did talk a bit near the end of season2, obviously not for long because will was literally actively possessed and desperately trying to communicate and so their breakup wasn’t the most important thing in the world. she showed she’s not a complete bitch with the sweet snow ball dancing with dustin moment. unrequited love sucks but i’m pretty sure they sorta made up as much as you can in that situation. you literally just hate that she got with steve and u didn’t i’m sorry…

i’m not saying everything you people say is because of misogyny. i’m not saying nancy has never done anything wrong (well sometimes i do 💖). i’m not saying i only like nancy because she is a Woman and she is a Girlboss and she Has Gun and whatever. she is a flawed character but you guys take that to an extreme saying she’s this conniving selfish person. and i think you could do to take a look inward and not constantly point fingers at nancy fans saying we’re superficial idiotic white feminist types who just aren’t smart enough to engage with media the way you do. shut the fuck up <3 for once!

That's so weird because my reaction to S4 finale is it was the moment that convinced me Buddie was going to be endgame. Now two seasons later and we could be heading back to that same ending for the season depending on the events of the finale leaves me doubting things ngl. The only things I'm clinging on to are the couch theory, Eddie saying that relationships with people you meet at a rescue never works, and the fact that we're being introduced to these women so late in the season. It just seems like the writers even know they're giving this the most superficial things so that they can fix what they did in early S7.

To put it bluntly it just sucks that you know if this was gonna be the final 2 episodes that instead of going towards a story they've been telling since S2 they decide to put Buck and Eddie with women we don't even know their last name or anything about them. But they got renewed and will be moving to ABC so they can do the story they wanted to tell and I imagine these women will be kicked to the curb early in S7.

Okay, I'm gonna be real honest with you. I've seen that you've sent asks to a few of my friends, all generally saying the same thing. So to see you send me this ask makes me feel like you don't really want to have a discussion and aren't looking for actual support or positivity, you just want to keep being upset and tell people until someone agrees with you and tells you that your opinion that the writers made a shitty choice etc is valid.

So, to repeat a few things my friends have said:

They have not been doing Buddie since season two. I don't know why people persist on claiming this. Buddie was never the original plan. They did not decide to have Eddie get with Buck in season two. In fact in season two they seemed kinda unsure what to do with Eddie since he wouldn't be with Maddie any longer, but they still wanted the character, and Ryan, on the show. For my money, they started exploring the possibility of Buddie and discussing it seriously in season three, and season four was when they locked that in.

Now, I don't know about you, since you're a stranger on the internet, but to me, as a writer, it is a much, much better choice for them to have taken the risk rather than cram Buddie together, for a few reasons.

One: They cannot walk it back once Buddie is together. You're telling me you wanted them to sacrifice their story's integrity to give us a rushed unsatisfying get-together? Get out of my house. Watching television is, inherently, a gamble because it means you might get your stories unfulfilled. If you can't take that risk, then leave the casino. I am willing to risk it because I want a truly satisfying get-together, not something that was rushed and therefore isn't worthy of the delicious slow burn they're building.

Two: How many times do I have to scream at everyone to consider the behind the scenes issues before people start actually listening to me? Oh, forever? Because everyone is operating in bad faith and nobody wants to actually listen? Good to know. This will be the last I say on the matter.

We do not know what behind the scenes was going on in addition to the cancellation. What if certain Fox executives weren't supportive of Buddie? You're telling me that the writers and cast and crew should have, right when they'll need new jobs, guaranteed that their last employers will talk shit about them for disobeying orders and putting two characters together that they were told not to put together?

This is purely conjecture on my part, but I have seen time after time in fandom certain cast members and certain crew members and certain writers want a ship to become canon, and others not, and I have seen the way that back and forth played out, and guess fucking what? NOBODY WANTS TO LOSE THEIR FUCKING JOB. NOBODY WANTS TO BE PREVENTED FROM HAVING ANOTHER JOB.

Now, again, that's pure conjecture, but Fox really hasn't treated OG well for a while in terms of renewal, marketing, etc. And I have never, EVER, seen a show snapped up by another network so quickly. It's always "we got cancelled!" and then a few days or weeks later it's "we were saved by another network!" ABC was ON it. This gives me hope for a lot of things, like perhaps a 22 episode season. But given Fox's lack of promotion and appreciation for OG, it wouldn't surprise me if the cast and crew wanted Buddie and some people in the network didn't, and that is why we've been delayed on Buddie going canon. And while YOU may cry viva la revolution, it's much easier to have your principles when you've got a belly full, and while it may suck creatively there is no reason to piss off your bosses right when you need them to write you a recommendation for a new job because your show got cancelled - and while I'm sure they were hopeful, given the cast's social media I do not think anyone knew until it was publicly announced that they had, indeed, been saved and gotten another season.

My point is, this is just one theory I'm pulling out of a hat like a rabbit. We do not know what other BTS stuff is going on that made them choose to delay Buddie until season seven.

Three: To go back to point one, I do not think you've seen the reactions when a ship goes canon poorly. I was there, Gandalf. I was there the day that Booth and Bones got together. I was in the trenches. It soured SO many people, including me, on the show. To quote MBMBAM: YOU DIDN'T STICK THE LANDING! YOU JUST FLIPPED IN THE AIR FOR TWENTY MINUTES!!!

Sticking the landing when getting a ship together is possibly the most important moment in the couple's story. You cannot fuck up that landing. The writers chose to take the chance on it never happening in order to stick the landing the way they wanted. If that pisses you off, FINE. But stop coming into our inboxes to say the same thing over and over again about it, because we do not agree and we are never going to agree. We are at an impasse.

Now, to move onto some other points, WHY IS EVERYONE CONVINCED THAT EDDIE WILL STILL BE WITH SOMEONE WHEN THE SEASON ENDS!? WHEN DID WE DECIDE THIS!? He could be! But holy shit he could just go on one date with her that fizzles out! We have no clue! If someone in this fandom can see into the future and knows for sure this is going to happen then give me the winning lotto numbers right this second!!! Give them to me!!!! I need to fund my world domination campaign!!!

And finally, I feel like you've answered your own concerns, here. Given that you have sent similar asks to my friends, I don't think you're actually interested in allaying those concerns, because you keep answering your own questions and repeating yourself ad naseum. I could be wrong. Again, I don't know you. But this sure seems to be the case given that you're saying to me similar stuff you've said to my friends in asks they've already answered.

But to look at your own ask, you just said why we shouldn't be worried. "It seems like the writers even know..." YES. YES, THEY DO KNOW. I would love to know who the hell decided that television shows are made by the Television Fairy who creeps into the studio at night and waves her magic wand to create all the good stuff we see on our screens while the writers sit around with their thumbs up their asses.

Let's imagine you are a showrunner and you are going into the second half of your season, and you learn that it is extremely likely this season is actually your last. You guys start negotiating quietly with other networks to move the show, while hoping against hope this is not, indeed, the end. But this means you now have, what, nine episodes? To put all your characters in a place that is, if not ideal, at least somewhat positive for your audience?

You can't start any too-major arcs. You can't end on too bad of an emotional cliffhanger. This means some things will wrap up faster. Other things will get pushed forward. And some things have to be delayed, because they might never happen, and you can't give people a third or a half of an arc. Which means that you're going to be throwing in some filler for those characters instead, and doing things differently than how you might have wanted.

I do not know how many times I have to explain this, but television is not fanfiction. When I sit down to write a fic, there's not a damn person in the world who can tell me what to do. I write the story that I want, and if someone doesn't like it, they can hit the bricks.

Television is not like that. Television is one of the biggest group projects there is. Picture the worst group project you had to do in school and then times it by ten. Welcome to the television and film industry. The fact that any film or show, even the truly awful ones, gets made is nothing short of a miracle given all the people involved and all the ways the ball can be dropped. As a show runner, you are answering to multiple executives, to the creators, to the executive producers, to your own writers' room, and to the fans. You are trying to balance what everyone tells you to do, what the fans want you to do, and what you and your (hopefully trusted) writing team want and plan to do. I could never be a show runner and while there are quite a few with whom I've got bones to pick, I cannot deny that they all do a job I would never, ever be capable of pulling off. I'd quit on day three.

So, yeah, they gave Buck a temporary girlfriend as filler, to kinda cap off his current arc if this was the end, or to provide more layers to his full arc if they got another season. If you don't like that, then that's okay. Nobody is telling you to like it. When you come into someone's inbox like this, the assumption is that you're looking to be reassured, and so that's why you're getting the responses that you are. The previous people who've answered you have been trying to reassure you and allay the concerns you seem to have.

But it seems to me like you want a more full conversation, and possibly, that you just want to rant and vent. That's fine, but find a friend for that. Join a discord server. Because when you send the same stuff over and over again to different people, all of whom give you basically the same reply, it just makes you look like a very obstinate stick in the mud who wants everyone else to join them in being upset, and people don't much like having the same conversation multiple times, or being pushed into being upset when they're not.

You might just have to agree to disagree, and move on. Find other ways to get this out of your system, because my inbox, and the inboxes of others, is not the place for your venting in circles.

Now, in spite of my firm tone, I hope you will believe me when I say that I hope you're taking care of yourself, and that you are staying safe in this scary world, and that you have a good rest of your day.

another thing is that like. s1 wasn't the most brilliant thing in the whole universe but it did have a slowly progressing community plot. in the first episode, the crew's plotting to kill stede off, in episode 3 jim says he's the worst captain ever, but by episode 9 they've all grown to like him at least a bit, and so they confirm that he absolutely is a real pirate, eligible to use the act of grace, and they even do the talk it through as a crew thing. very cute!

and then s2 just... kindasorta... does... nothing... with that? sure, the crews get separated, they earned some trauma, but it's a comedy series and surely they can get over it and be one crew together again, right? look, half of the crew stays with stede even though they could have just left him -- he has nothing to offer them, after all -- the other half misses the life on the old revenge, then everyone's working with stede to take the revenge back, they're coming back home! they unionize (lol) against stede in ep4 to banish ed because he makes them feel unsafe, then in ep5 to make stede get rid of that awful cursed suit! in ep6, they have a big fun party!

eeeeexcept the swede just leaves without a second thought, and after he's gone no one misses him. buttons gets roach going "did he really turn into a bird or did you kill him", but that's it, no one misses him either and no one really notices they've lost two crew members in a couple of days. when a character is absent because their actor is absent, no one really goes "hey, where's X?", no one really notices that, so we have not one but two annoying examples of "wow, i was doing X and i missed all this stuff!" (lucius+pete and fang). olu, jim and archie are totally up for leaving stede's crew to join zheng yi sao for... no reason whatsoever. i've seen meta that it's because they don't feel comfortable on the ship or don't trust ed anymore, or have enough of stede's 15 minutes of fame, but like, is it text that this is the reason why they're leaving, or just something you as a fan figured out because you actively tried to find an explanation? sure, the crew wasn't a big fan of ed's apology, but did anyone protest very much, aside from lucius? not really. no one tried to get him to leave, no one avoided him during the party, the animosity, if it was there, just wasn't shown.

and now, in episode 8, well. everyone knows what happened in episode 8.

i'm kinda laughing bitterly here, because i made a post about how what izzy's done to the crew wasn't that much worse than what the crew do to each other, and does it mean they're not a good crew and don't care about each other?, no!, it means we're in a workplace comedy and everyone's a bit of an asshole! except. except i was kind of right, because the crew just goes and falls apart and it's barely noticeable, like they weren't a crew in the first place. it's not even sad, it doesn't have a reason, they just scatter around -- whether it's an actor wanting out, or scheduling conflicts, or money issues, i don't know, or the writers needing something that would piss stede off enough to challenge zheng yi sao to a stupid duel. the reviews and reactions to ep 6 were all wow, so moving, so euphoric, a love letter to the queer community, and it's like, a what to what. where. i don't see anything.

i've no idea, maybe djenks really looked at this episode and thought oh yeah, this is a good save point before s3, if we get renewed we can work from here, if we don't it's still a nice ending, but it's literally not in both cases. if it's an ending, it sucks. if it's a middle point, i don't actually want a s3 because the community is not a thing, my favourite little guy was killed off in the stupidest way possible, and the mains got the ending that i thought would never happen since s1, because it's too easy, too utopian, and besides it was obvious that the inn thing was only ed's escapist fantasy and he needs to find himself and what he really wants just like stede. ha. haha. ha.

i don't really care about this show anymore in the form it is now is the thing.

If you don't mind me asking: What's your favorite fic you've written this year? And which was the most fun to write?

Hi friend! Thank you so much for the ask! ❤️

My favorite fic I’ve written this year:

It’s the one that started it all for me: one more river (and that’s the river of jordan), an Ineffable wedding night of sorts (with Wimsey vibes). With French folk songs, John Donne, and Shakespeare!

Equal in the running is Set Me as a Seal Upon Your Heart, in which the Ineffable Husbands make it official (because human belief is a very powerful force). And formal contracts between supernatural entities have a way of becoming particularly real. Contains two chapters of unrepentant romantic fluff, and then two chapters of equally unrepentant romantic smut. Also a wedding night fic!

(Listen, the Ineffables are already married and they just need to get on with it, is my position.)

That first one, I wrote because I had to. I was legitimately distraught about the end of S2. I was crying and mainlining Ineffables-posting on Tumblr until 2 AM.

Then I woke up one morning with the opening lines of the fic fully pre-written in my brain. And after that, it wouldn’t let me go. I couldn’t eat. I got very little work done. I could barely sleep. When I tried to sleep, my brain just wrote sentences in my head and tried to memorize them. It was almost physically painful not to write it.

I do not, actually, recommend feeling like that. It sucked. (There was some Other Shit going on at the time, too.) But it did push me past self-consciousness about writing and posting fanfiction. So for that, I am grateful.

Most fun to write:

This has got to be Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, my first gift fic! My giftee’s prompt sparked a fun idea. And the short turnaround time (one week), combined with having time off for the holiday, made it hit just the right spot for my ADHD brain. There was enough structure for me to focus and not get too wrapped up in my own head, but also enough time to get enjoyably lost in hyperfocus for a few days.

I’m looking forward to having more fun in the new year! I’ve got a couple of WIPs simmering away now, and signed up for another fic exchange that looks like it’ll be tons of fun (the Good Omens Song & Poetry Exchange — the songs & poetry are the prompts!)

In conclusion, fanfiction is the best hobby and y’all are the best people. ❤️

I feel like the series centered Joyce's character around Hopper way too much in these last two seasons, and I've seen other fans also complaining about it. And honestly, I have to say that I tend to agree. Hopper's got himself a whole Russia prison arc, and while Joyce helped him, she was mostly just there to help Hopper's arc take place. I just feel like her character (and Winona's acting) is being wasted. And it honestly is a shame because Winona/Joyce is truly the reason why the serie got so popular in the first place, in S1-S2 her character focus was really great and I wish they did not change it in favor of Hopper's storyline.

It's a complicated problem. I don't think Hopper himself is the problem. Like, we did need a little more substance to him, especially after the mess of season 3. Yes, I'm someone who disliked the season 3 plot with him, it felt like a huge waste of time. (the entirety of season 3 did)

I think the bigger issue is while Joyce and Hopper's time was quite balanced in season 1 and 2, season 3 just completely tipped the scales in Hopper's direction. We started getting less and less of what Joyce was thinking and doing outside of Hopper's shenanigans.

But Joyce is not the only character who suffers from this. Jonathan arguably had it even worse. As each season progressed, more and more of his character was glazed over in favor of Nancy. This is not a knock against Nancy obviously, but you can see how the writers just... can't balance these relationships for some reason.

I'd argue Will also suffers from this. The boy has a lot going on but for two seasons now, it's being boiled down to his conflict with Mike. It's a great way to show how isolated and distant he's become but at the same time, he's got SO much more going on why does it always boil down to their romantic interests?

Mike has this two fold. I've written posts about it before but I have no idea what the hell the writers are doing with his character. I've read a few analysis on what the Duffers are doing with his writing, but it always boils down to, "This is because of El. This is because of Will." I just don't get it.

I know they aren't perfect, but I honestly feel like so far, Lucas and Max has made it out the most unscathed from the writers subpar balancing of character dynamics. They both have their own bad shit going on that culminated into something epic and beautiful. Arguably Lucas still gets a little lost in Max's story line, but I mean... I get WHY. Lucas wasn't about to be mangled beyond recognition with his soul sucked out so I get it.

All that said, I have .01% confidence the writers will fix this for season 5. It could happen. But I'm not getting my hopes up. This issue in the writing runs very deep and affects multiple characters and dynamics. I've been craving Byers platonic content for years, whether it's Joyce focused, Jonathan focused, Will focused, or El focused and my hopes have been dashed time and time again.

I got crumbs in season 4 and that's all I've had to tide me over for a long time. I'm just... so ready for everyone to look at the Byers and be like "Oh shit you guys are f*cked up huh? Lemmie help you." and give them some much needed attention.

I also understand I am completely and utterly biased so nothing I've said is an objective fact. I mean, other than how lopsided the writing has been, that is pretty objective.