#most of the time i hate meta scooby
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i mean i love spike but i’m obsessed with your metas and agree with most of your criticism of him
i see him as a stupid little guy who is shitty about being evil and shitty about being good but someone who doesn’t have those huge expectations that everyone has of buffy in those later seasons.
he’s an idiot who becomes obsessed with women who hate him consistently throughout his life/unlife and loads of spike lovers kinda ignore that this trait is a flaw that he is punished repeatedly
i think your deep understanding of angel actually makes you well equiped to discuss spike cause they’re so connected characterisation wise, like spikes constructed identity is a reflection of angelus you know
anyways, it sucks that people that like spike don’t understand that you’re not attacking him when you critique, literally every character in buffy deserves critical analysis cause they’re all more than what we like about them
WELL SEE I DO LIKE SPIKE IS THE THING! I just think he’s overrated and gets made into someone by fans when he isn’t textually like that. and it’s not even just on here I feel an issue ppl have with me is that I mention fan interpretation and they get stung bc that includes them when I take in consideration what I’ve seen on other sites like youtube. then angel gets flattened which frustrates me as he’s textually so so interesting if you actually look at his character. in fact I’ll see people attribute the positives of angel onto spike, and the negatives of spike onto angel. an example is angel was cursed to be good whereas spike fought to be good. it’s in fact textually SWAPPED as being ensouled does not equate to goodness (see literally any human villains) and angel sought out darla after getting ensouled- he wanted to try to get back to the life he knew but ultimately he couldn’t and was rejected. he had a pessimistic view of humans and did not really associate with them until whistler gave him the chance of having a positive and meaningful purpose of existence through assisting buffy. yes the ensoulment was a punishment but his life afterwards was filled with choices. which the voiceover by whistler in “becoming” emphasize this point. spike on the other hand had a chip implanted in his head that he had to adapt to. he begrudgingly assisted the scoobies because demon fighting helped scratch his itch to fight that was restricted because he couldn’t harm humans unless it caused him a great deal of pain. it’s practically a shock collar. furthermore, he was able to get blood and money from them as he no longer could feed from humans. and obviously this whole chip plotline was a justification for spike being on the show to fill in the space left by angel and cordelia. and then an instance of spike’s flaws being used against angel is I’ve seen people say the line wishverse buffy says to angel about wanting to get in her pants is so true when it’s like…. yeah angel was attracted to buffy but he repeatedly was like “we shouldn’t do this.” though he does goes along with it instead of stopping, they reciprocated their desire and buffy herself would initiate things (such as the first time they have sex in “surprise”, the kisses in “forever” and “end of days”/“chosen”!). and they literally only had sex once (sans “IWRY”) and he leaves her as he knows that they aren’t good for each other. you could argue it I guess bc of the angelus arc and taking her innocence, but to me that was using angel’s soul predicament and the current tropes he fell into and making them into relevant real life analogies (older sweet guy becomes a douche after having sex with you), complicating their dynamic instead of having them as the couple the show was seemingly heading towards and fans wanting- now there’s tragedy and trauma that effects them for the rest of their shows. it also made angel a more interesting character as I see angelus as the worst of humanity and then we see angel trying to be good despite the fact he has these capabilities and desires. whereas spike used buffy and her partners and sex life as a means of goading them (buffy, angel, riley) into getting upset. spike fantasized about buffy and sex to the point he had a sex robot made of her. and when they have their sexual relationship in s6, he further makes her feel dark and wrong for it by mentioning how her friends would be upset with her and insinuating she wanted it even when she would verbally say no (“dead things”). angel has his redemptive journey influenced by buffy, but I don’t think there’s necessarily the need to impress or win her over in the way spike did (like in “crush”). I would argue that’s trying to get into her pants lol
and yes exactly! spike is similar to xander or the trio regarding his approaches to women and really it’s not acknowledged much by spike fans imo he gets very very romanticized when he acts a lot like what we call now an incel but he gets pass because he’s charismatic, attractive, and a bad boy. but he has entitlement and a tendency of propping women he likes onto a pedestal, and blames them for him being rejected without being introspective (until it comes to buffy later on when he realizes that he has to get a soul like angel in order to be actually respected or loved by her). though I do also view spike as a foil of angel so obviously they have different approaches to things. that’s the point. they’re the same but they’re not type of deal.
sorry this message was very long but I appreciate this ask <3 I like to be reminded that people appreciate my takes and think I’m insightful instead of an asshole
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How to do a Better Velma Show
No, I haven't watched HBO's Velma because it sucks ass based on the reviews, and I don't wanna boost its ratings by hate-watching. So, instead, I'm gonna provide a few ideas that I have to make a better show centred around Velma. These are only my ideas but feel free to give your opinions on them.
Make Velma flawed, but likeable and relatable. No character is perfect, but it's fine to include a few flaws in some characters. For her, maybe make her just a little bossy, regarding Shaggy, but not to the point of insufferable, in fact make her learn what being a good leader is, while keeping in touch with her famous characteristics. Make her a bit too quick thinking, but eventually have her learn better critical analysis when it comes to solving mysteries.
Race swaps are fine; include them if you want, but leave out the goddamn stereotypes, e.g. Velma being a pretentious, know-it-all southeast Asian girl. Like, not all Asians are like this!
Cut down on the gore and sex scenes. This is when they were set in HIGH SCHOOL, right??? So, why does it have a scene of some girls showering with their lady parts covered? I mean, come on, I know it's supposed to be for adults, but don't sexualise kids! Or keep bringing up peepee jokes in relation to some kid! (I'm talking about the one with Fred) Plus, as someone who draws gore, gore doesn't equal "mature show". Putting gore in a show for shock value just comes off as lazy. I also recommend either having the murder victims killed off in a "clean" way (no violence like removing their brains, maybe something mysterious) or maybe have them kidnapped or something. Yeah, Mystery Incorporated had a lot of death but didn't go over the top with its violent scenes.
Hire better voice actors. The voice acting in this show is terrible, particularly for those voicing the side characters and Mindy Kaling. :/ The other main characters, I feel they could be better, but the character with the most tolerable voice acting is Norville, voiced by Sam Richardson. He could sound a little goofy like Shaggy, but not too much. Speaking of...
Give my man Shaggy more respect. He doesn't have to get with Velma, but he also doesn't need to be treated this shitty. Like, maybe have her be touched by Shaggy's confession, but politely let him down and apologise for not being able to return those feelings. Also, make him a dog lover, a foodie, and take out the "junkie" jokes. Make him smart yet goofy as well!
Fred could've SERIOUSLY been done better. -_- I don't mind him being written as a rich kid, but maybe have him be a kind guy who's eager to be independent and start his own trap making business. An idea his own dad looks down upon. Have him be fed up hanging around with his douchebag jock friends and start hanging with the Mystery Gang slowly over time. Oh, and a personal choice, make him neurodivergent. :D
Make Velma neurodivergent as well. Just saying. UWU
Take out the godawful meta humour and pop culture references. I don't need to explain why, but I will say that Mindy Kaling should've actually put a lot more effort into her writing.
Have Daphne be only a slight snob, but not a bitch. In fact, have her eventually diss the status quo and go hang with the Mystery Gang and embrace her goofy self like in some other incarnations, e.g. Be Cool, Scooby Doo. Oh, and have her be part of the karate club.
Maybe have Velma's parents be more loving and perhaps diss the "missing mother" subplot. Maybe have them be divorced and Velma missing the time when they used to be together.
Somehow introduce Scooby Doo into this. The gang isn't the same without him.
More convincing platonic and romantic chemistry between characters. Doesn't matter if they're hetero or LGBT, MAKE THEM WORK.
BETTER DEPICTIONS OF PANIC ATTACKS.
Don't hire Mindy Kaling on the team. XD
OK, these are my thoughts on how to make a better Velma show! Feel free to add your own input as well!
#my thoughts#rant#velma dinkley#velma show#fred jones#daphne blake#shaggy rogers#no i will not be watching velma#mindy kaling sucks#she's transphobic too so yeah
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So, I finally watched Velma.
Before I go any further I just want to make something clear, no I’m not defending this show against criticism, nor am I trying to convince you that it’s some sort of hidden gem. I’ve watched all the episodes that have been released at the time of writing, and in all honesty, I think Velma is pretty mediocre.
Not good, but nowhere near as bad as people are making it out to be. So, if you just wanted my honest thoughts about Velma, there you go, you can stop reading now, go back to whatever it is you’re currently doing. As for everyone else, get comfy, because this is gonna be a long post.
I wanna get the positives out of the way first, I genuinely like the show’s artstyle, in an era where every single “adult” cartoon has to look like Rick & Morty, this show stands out from the rest by having its own unique artstyle, that being said, Norville does look weird whenever he’s facing forward. But that’s a minor nitpick.
Kinda wish the quality of the animation was a bit better though, but it’s an animated show made specifically for streaming, so the animation quality was always gonna be so-so.
As for the characters, I didn’t find them as unlikable or annoying as other people did - mostly because I never really had that much of a personal attachment to the Scooby gang to begin with - though if I had to pick a favorite I’d have to go with Norville, I find that his optimism and general good nature is a breath of fresh air, as I’m so sick of every modern adult animated series having every character be an unlikable asshole or a complete dumbass.
Nevertheless I do agree that the “Look at how much of a loser Fred is!” jokes got old real quick, and I’m saying this as someone who doesn’t even like Fred. But those jokes weren’t bad enough to make me want to quit watching.
As for the other jokes, they’re super hit and miss, I do feel like if the first two episodes just toned down the raunchy/”meta” jokes then the backlash wouldn’t have been so bad, because there were some jokes that made me chuckle, like Brenda’s funeral, Norville’s hair brained schemes to win Velma over, the school fighting tournament name being too long etc. But sadly, those types of jokes are few and far between.
Oh, and the hallucination sequences are pretty cool.
Now that we got the positives out the way, let’s talk about the negatives. I really don’t understand why this show needs a recap at the start of each episode. Did the showrunners think people were gonna watch the show out of order? Or did they do that because they were planning on airing the show on Adult Swim in the near future? Either way, it’s super annoying.
Also, I really hate how the show just awkwardly cuts to the end credits. I know Harley Quinn also did this, but it’s way more noticeable here. Almost like the end credits are trying to jump scare you to death.
But I think my biggest issue with the series as a whole is its obsession with trying to be as “meta” as possible, it really got on my nerves, to the point where I legit wanted to yell out “I get it! You’re self aware.”
Thing is, I don’t mind meta humor. Archer and American Dad are two great examples of how to properly implement meta humor into a sitcom narrative, but what makes those two shows work is that they’re not trying to impress the audience by showing how smart they are.
Simply having the characters point out tired old cliches and tropes isn’t clever, it’s taking the easy way out. I honestly wouldn’t have minded this as much if Velma was the only character who was making “meta” references, but every single character does this. To the point where I was expecting someone to look directly at the camera and say “Are these self aware meta jokes doing anything for you?”
Look, I get it, the reason why they’re doing this is because of Rick and Morty, a network executive most likely looked at the meta humor from that show and said “Do that for a Scooby Doo spin off aimed at adults.”
If the show would just tone down the “We’re so meta” gimmick and put more effort into fleshing its characters and story out, then I honestly think it could be pretty decent. But as of this writing, it just feels like it’s struggling to find its own identity.
Who knows, maybe the writing will get better down the line, but as of right now it’s a mess.
Alright, time to talk about the “controversy” surrounding this show - because that’s all anyone wants to talk about - so here goes……
I don’t give a shit about any of this culture war nonsense, nor do I give a shit about these Twitter threads over analyzing every single joke, and I certainly don’t give a shit about Mindy Kaling or her political views, so why am I bringing any of this up? Because the discourse is annoying.
It’s okay to just admit that you don’t like the show, or that you think it’s “cringe” or whatever, but all this discourse has become unbearable. You cannot go anywhere online without running into someone complaining about the show. It’s Ghostbusters 2016 all over again, and I’m just so tired.
I’m tired of the internet latching onto a piece of media and creating never ending discourse about said media, I’m tired of seeing people who genuinely liked working on shows/movies get bullied and harassed. And I’m just tired of people being unwilling to say “Wow, this looks like shit” and moving on with their lives.
Yes, no media should be immune to criticism, but going out of your way to ruin someone’s livelihood because they created or worked on something you hated just makes you an asshole who deserves no sympathy.
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Velma is bad, but...
Look.
The show is not good.
The memes are god tier.
I’m gonna keep watching it.
So here’s my complex opinion on the matter.
I’m not watching it through official means so HBO is not getting any ad or sub revenue from me. I don’t pirate video games, but I do movies/shows/music because it’s easier and less time consuming.
I was never a massive Scooby fan. The original cartoon predates me by an entire 20 years (1969 - I was born in ‘89). I’ve always known about it, it’s been in the peripheral of my media consciousness for my entire life. I think I saw one of the Live Action movies (the 2002 one, I was still in school). I probably caught a few episodes in my cartoon watching days but I’ve never been a puzzle solver and the “whodunnit” angle never grasped me.
So I don’t have the nostalgia that the rest of the world seems to have, but I recognize character assassinations when I see one.
I admit I don’t hate Velma as much as the rest of the internet seems to.
I like the art style, admittedly. However I’ve caught some brief scenes where it looked rushed and less detailed and they just went with it.
I actually quite enjoy the hallucinations, though they got a little less creative in episode 3 and 4 but they were also not a major focal point of the plot in either episode.
Some jokes DO land. Some. Some jokes land, and then they turn around to ruin it. When Fred was taken to trial and the family tried to play up his innocent young boy shtick, they could have milked that for some real humor but instead he got water splashed on him and they went for a pretty low-bar Hitler joke instead. It was so close to a good joke.
I’m not fond of the meta humor. I don’t like it when they made a dig at “adults watching cartoons”. Like bitch, this is a cartoon marketed towards adults. Why is there contempt for your target audience?
And I’m a liberal, a leftist. I can handle some digs in our direction. GTA seems to do it the best, I had a giggle at the in-universe cartoon they had of the hero “Impotent Rage!”, making fun of Democrats ability to never really get anything done. I get the joke, it’s clever, it’s satire.
But when characters in media stop the plot, and turn to the camera to complain about the patriarchy or whatever it irritates me. We all know the patriarchy is a thing. How about you have something clever to say.
Episode 4 is a complete derailment of the plotline just to talk about women’s empowerment through attractiveness. The whole episode is just Velma figuring out that women’s empowerment can take different forms. It’s a fine message, but brought to us in a clunky and frankly, kind of annoying method. Especially since there’s supposed to still be a murder-mystery happening.
Derailment is a thing that happens a lot in episodes 3 and 4. I didn’t hate episode 3 at all on its own. The first half had a lot of jokes I had a giggle at but it was just meandering around the plot to stop and figure out what Velma’s sexuality is (still inconclusive as of episode 4). I don’t mind a slow burn romance but fucking sort your shit out, show.
I am “ehhhh” on Velma.
I kinda like Daphne.
I’m okay with Norville. He seems to be the most consistent source of jokes that don’t turn around on themselves.
But Jesus, what they did to Fred should be a media crime.
It’s just one of these situations where I feel like there’s some potential quality here buried under some really dogshit writing.
I will not argue for a second that this is not a good show and I don’t think there’s anything any future episodes can do to retroactively “fix” the problems already present. I feel like a season 2 might have to do some heavy lifting (because I think I read somewhere that it’s already greenlit?)
I still remain somewhat fascinated by it and I’m more curious to where the plot is going if it can stop stopping itself to turn towards the camera and stop hating on literally every viewer.
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Good Stuff: The New Animaniacs
The Trio are Backy, Shamelessly Wacky
Let it be said that a cartoon can’t not get back a pep in their step after being gone for so long. Mickey Mouse got his revival series, Ducktales reworked its old hat anew, Cuphead brought the more vintage style of hand drawn animation back, and now both Looney Tunes and Animaniacs have refurbished their looks when nobody was looking. Then again, after so long, Animaniacs can’t do the same song and dance nor just be Looney Tunes #2. So with its gaze on getting unique relevance, does this hold up? Well it has a soul, but one of very different breath.
I know this’ll be cheeky, coming from somebody that grew up with the original during Middle and High School, it’s made clear that while the charm is still there, I feel like it’s deep down ashamed of itself for existing. It’s in part by the uhhhhhh clear fact they cut out most of the original skits.
I love the Warners, Pinky, and the Brain much as the next guy but I always found joy in Animaniacs being more than them. It wasn’t all memorable, I fucking hate Mindy, but the variety was still welcome and unpredictably fun. The Warners were still the main act, but the show didn’t revolve around them. It’s kinda like the one Looney Tunes reboot where it was only Bugs Bunny for a season until they decided, “Shit, there are more characters aren’t there?” They acknowledge this change in one episode but that’s it. Outside Scratchansniff and Ralph, nobody else is allowed to truly come back. The show while still enjoyable feels incomplete. Maybe season 2 will introduce more, it’s up in the air. Otherwise, have too much and the welcome will wear. As for it being more topical and meta with these current times, I don’t have much to say beyond the winds are kinda taken out the sails when it’s lucky this is a years later reboot. Just saying, it could’ve gotten rebooted over and over, go the Scooby-Doo route of airing continuous specials or interpreted series, go the Spongebob route of staying longer than desired, or worse above all, suffer the same fate as the Simpsons.
You think it’s something after being gone for 22 years? Imagine being forced to live over 22 years. Doing the same thing, for a company that clearly says death was never an option.
I think my personal takeaway is that while I enjoy it, it isn’t the same after seeing so many other cartoons. I’ve gotten good chaos, good commentary, irreverent fun, good characters elsewhere and where this Animaniacs certainly knows what it’s doing, I’ve seen the original and this is original, but again pretty incomplete with not as many hooks as before outside “They’re Back”. I’m really grateful the show is how it is now, but I’m not rabid with joy over this as I hoped. Maybe I’m the exhausted fool.
But in spite of my hangups, it all is a quality return to form. New look, but doesn’t feel like such a shell of its former self or an attempt to be so modern that it immediately dates itself. It’s still musical, chaotic, energetic, a pretty dignified nostalgia comeback. It’s not outbeating the OG, but that is okay.
3 out of 5, Glad to have it back.
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Do you have like a top 5 fave Buffy characters and what you like about them? :)
tysm!!! god, making a top 5 list of characters is so hard!!!!! since getting into the show there has hardly ever been a point where I’ve been certain about my rankings. I just adore the buffyverse characters so much. but I will try to limit myself to 5
1) buffy summers, probably my most consistent favourite character. I just love how multi faceted she is, in a way that I can’t pinpoint one specific thing I love about her. I struggle to find things I genuinely dislike about her and her arc. she can be sweet and adorable, but also strong and courageous. she’s kind, but she can be mean and bitchy when she needs to. she’s an amazing friend, and I love her dynamic with pretty much everyone on the show, but when she’s alone she still musters her courage independent of her friends! and more than anything she inspires me. she suffers, but she always finds a way to get better and save the day. she’s my ultimate hero
2) dawn summers. I kind of get annoyed with how most discussion surrounding her has to do with defending her from her haters. like yes, I agree that she’s unfairly hated, but she’s so much more than that, you know? she just feels so down to earth and realistic, and in an adorably annoying way. I can’t help but find her completely loveable. also I find her relationship to buffy to be extremely important to how I view them both. seeing buffy cling to someone who represents the childhood she never got is so heartbreaking, and it makes them both seem all the more human. and by buffy loving dawn, I love dawn. it just feels so authentic, and I can’t help but be reminded of my own relationship to my younger sister. yeah she annoys me, but I can get really defensive over her
3) willow rosenberg. ah willow, my original favourite. I have a complicated relationship towards her. I find that my opinion of her is a lot more akin to people who hate her, in that I think she’s not really a good person. I see her clinging to her role in the scoobies not as her entirely wanting to do good, but mainly her wanting to have purpose, to be validated in a way that she never was in high school. willow’s insecurities follow her throughout the entire series, and she’s never truly able to shake them. and it’s this underlying conflict with herself that makes me love her so much. that she’s so desperate to prove her own identity that she doesn’t realize when she’s hurting those she loves, that she’s so relieved whenever she does something for her friends because she’s always scared that she isn’t enough for them. she’s afraid that’s she’s still just a friendless geek who no one will love. it’s scarily relatable sometimes. funnily enough some of the best willow meta I’ve read has been some old meta about her similarities to warren. it’s so fascinating that they can be so outwardly different, but be so similar at their cores
4) cordelia chase. what can I say, I love mean girls. I especially appreciate it when the mean girls are so unapologetic about it. the narrative doesn’t give her an aha moment where she changes her ways. she’s a complicated woman, she’s allowed to be complex and reflect with the main characters, but she’s never shoehorned into the role of a completely good guy. she can be scared, but she can also be brave. she fits into the stereotypical mean girl trope in many ways, but she’s also allowed to be more than that, by being smart, both in terms of book learning and emotions.
5) drusilla. I know I don’t talk about her much, but she really does make me go feral jdhsgsgs. like buffy, I can’t pinpoint one specific trait as being what I love about her. I think it’s just the vibe, you know? juliet landau is amazing, her dialogue is so dreamy and beautiful, and her story is absolutely heartbreaking. I think the only thing keeping me from placing her higher is her lack of screen time. she doesn’t really have a coherent arc outside of her relationships to other characters. but I still have this excitement whenever she appears on screen, and it hasn’t dulled with time
thanks so much for the ask, this was a lot of fun to write! honourable mention to spike, tara, and xander, who I also love. this problematic show is amazing
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Initial reaction 15.14: Last Holiday
Well, friends, here we go. Are you ready?
(I'm not. But here we go anyway.)
THEN: Cuthbert Sinclair. (Really? That's a deep cut.) Abbadon. Larry Ganem. (And S8 Sam, who is fucking gorgeous.) Oh, and God and Jack and all that stuff, in case you forgot.
NOW: Sam's in the library, doing research, and is distracted by some ominous noises. Ominous in a machinery-breaking-down kind of way, not in a monstery kind of way. Enter Dean, wearing an apron. "What's with the apron," asks Sam, "because it's only protecting your jeans, not the Red Shirt of Bad Decisions." At least that's how it sounded in my head. I mean, who only gets dirty from the waist down when they're cooking? (Well, that lends itself to all kinds of double entendres, doesn't it?) Or maybe Sam doesn't say that because he hopes the RSoBD will be destroyed in a tragic burger accident.
Seriously, Dean, that shirt is precious and you need to protect it, no matter what Sam thinks.
Dean complains that the pilot light keeps going out, and the hot water is unsatisfactory (and we know how he feels about his showers), and Sam reminds him that if the bunker was ever state-of-the-art, it was in the 50s. They exposition for us that Jack is hiding in his room. "Can you blame him?" Sam says. "His soul is back. Everything is hitting him. Everything he's done..." And Sam continues, but I'm sorry, I'm stuck here, thinking about re-souled Sam with everything hitting him. {sob} However, neither of the Winchesters seem to be thinking about this, so. Carry on.
The guys remind us that if Jack kills God, he'll have to kill Amara as well. Which I assume means Amara isn't going to get killed? Just saying. As much as I talk about foreshadowing (too much, please stop!) this show teases us with anti-foreshadowing with equal fervor. And Cas is apparently looking for Amara? What does he hope to accomplish? "Excuse me, but we're killing your brother, so you have to die too. Condolences. But if we follow canon - not that there's any reason to assume we will - you have to die at about the same time. So I need you to come with me while we figure out where he is and how to kill him."
There's another ominous noise, and Dean says "Oh, come on. Now the air?" I hope he means the air conditioning, and not the air purifying/exchange/whatever that Ketch shut off when he locked them in the bunker back in... whatever the BMoL season was. Hey, remember when the guys were locked in the bunker and they were running out of air and they wore single layers and goggles and got all sweaty and depressed? Because I've kind of never gotten over it. But I digress.
Sam is surprised that Dean expects them to fix it. "We've fought the devil," Dean says. "I've killed Hitler. I think we can handle a few old pipes." Surely this isn't the first time they've had to do some repairs around the place.
Deep within the bowels of the bunker, Sam reads some ancient instructions and complains that they can't just call a plumber. Dean refers to the bunker as the most "secretive, secure supernatural hideout in the world," which makes me laugh, because remember when Larry Ganem told Sam it was secure against all manner of evil? What a joke. Is there anything or anyone evil who hasn't been able to get into the bunker? My house is more secure against evil than the bunker, and all I have for protection is a circle of termite bait and a couple of ancient dogs.
They locate the "bunker grid control center thing thingy" (oh Sam, I adore you), complete with reset and standby buttons. Standby is glowing. Dean hypothesizes that it will work just like his computer, which needs to be shut down when it gets too many popups (I suspect you need some virus protection, dear boy), and slams down the reset button before Sam can stop him. Everything goes dark, but then starts up again, so Dean considers it a success. He calls himself "Meat Man" again and heads upstairs to finish cooking his burgers.
Time jump. Dean goes into his room, carrying a burger and a beer, and is astonished to find a middle-aged woman there. She's wearing a plaid wool skirt I owned in the 80s and is folding his underwear. "Oh, hello dear!" she says cheerfully. Dean yells for Sam.
Gosh, Dean, it's like this place isn't secretive or secure at all.
The horrified Shaggy and Scooby boxers are ~chef's kiss.~ Well done, someone.
Title card!
Library. The woman tuts at dust and wonders how they've lived in "this filth," which reminds me of an awesome Tumblr post which theorizes that faeries actually keep the bunker clean, and only first-born son Dean can see them. "Lady, who the hell are you," Dean demands, and is chastized for his language. He calls for Sam again, and gives him the story of how he walked into his room and found her "folding my underthings."
She explains that her actual name is indecipherable in "your tongue," but "Mr. Ganem called me _Mrs. Butters."_She's a wood nymph. And she's not in the woods, nymphing (thank you Dean) because she has more important things to do - she lives in the bunker and takes care of the Men of Letters. I.e., "my boys. My family."
Dean invites her to leave, but this is her home, and she's been here since "before the war." And she thinks it's 1958. "Well, I hate to tell you," Dean says, "but it's 2020." YES, DEAN, WE ALL FEEL THAT WAY ABOUT 2020. Mrs. Butters is horrified to learn all her boys are dead. And for some reason Dean tells her they were murdered by a demon instead of saying old age, or they went to a farm upstate, or whatever. She spots a photo of the last group of MoL, which we've never noticed before, and realizes that this is why they never came back from that last ceremony. When they didn't return, she decided to put the bunker - and herself - in standby mode.
But she also realizes that if these boys are like those boys, it's been a while since they had a home-cooked meal or celebrated a holiday. Or washed their clothes, as she makes a face. That's uncalled for, lady. We all know that Sam Winchester smells like rosemary and mint no matter how long it's been since he did laundry. Sam explains that they're not really "holiday people," which rings true coming from the guy who didn't want to celebrate Christmas and hates Halloween. (And only had one real Thanksgiving in his life and his brother still holds that against him but NO I'M NOT BITTER.)
Dean is more interested in what "standby mode" is. Mrs. Butters says the MoL used her magic to give the bunker "extra oomph," and snaps her fingers. Voila, extra oomph! There's some humming noises, the telescope alcove lights up (!), and an alarm sounds. Because the map table is actually a monster radar, and it indicates a nest of vampires 50 miles away. And gives the address. WELL.
{Sidebar: Why didn't the BMoL know the AMoL had this capability? Why was their focus on "you're not as good as us" instead of "you used to be as good as us; what happened?" Discuss.}
Do I care? No. Because look at these precious perplexed faces.
Dean's ready to go (and it earns him another stern warning about his language), but Sam wonders if they can trust her. "Look at her," Dean says. And I agree. She's a dumpy middle aged woman in a brown plaid wool skirt. She's basically me. And who could be more trustworthy, more concerned with the Winchesters' health and safety, than me?
Um. Anyway.
Not to change the subject or anything, but the pretty is strong tonight, y'all.
Dean suggests they give her the benefit of the doubt, and if it turns out she's not what she says she is, "then we deal with it." The music turns ominous. "What about Jack?" Sam asks.
Oh, Jack is actually in this episode? I thought maybe they were explaining his absence earlier, like they always do with Cas. (Because I always cover the guest star credits on first watch. Spoilers.) But it turns out Jack is actually with us tonight. Sitting on his bed, looking depressed. Dean knocks on his door and tells him they're going out, and there's a "probably harmless" guest making snickerdoodles. This sparks Jack's interest. It would work on me, too. I love snickerdoodles.
Impala. Sam's not sure it's a good idea to keep Mrs. Butters around, even if she is legit. He's concerned about Jack, but Dean brushes him off.
He'll be fine. I mean, I've been through worse and look at me. I'm the picture of health.
Ignoring your trauma doesn't make you healthy.
Sure it does.
Oh, Sam. Just listen to yourself. No, I mean, please. Listen to yourself.
Sam feels like Jack is hiding something, and I wish there were someone around who had also done awful things while un-souled, and remembered what it felt like to deal with that afterward. Someone sympathetic and empathetic. With soft puppy dog eyes and beautiful hair. Oh well. I guess Jack will just have to go unburden himself onto whoever he comes across.
Bunker. Mrs. Butters brings Jack a sandwich. He doesn't open the door, but she leaves it for him.
Vampire nest. A couple of vampires are watching Dark Shadows (so meta!) and drinking blood stolen from a blood bank. So, are these, like, maybe not bad vampires? Maybe they don't kill people? We'll never know, because Sam and Dean walk in and cut off their heads. And come home to... Christmas. Lights are strung all over, jazzy Christmas music is playing, there's a huge decorated tree and gifts, and Mrs. Butters has a tray of homemade cookies. "We are so keeping her," Dean says. Sam looks unsure.
Kitchen. Mrs. Butters tells Sam that since he and Dean have been so busy killing monsters, they haven't had a chance to celebrate anything. But I can barely pay attention to a single word that comes out of the woman's mouth because LOOK AT SAM IN THIS T-SHIRT. LOOK AT IT.
Single-layer Sam is something to celebrate.
She insists that Sam "enjoy the world you're fighting for" (which is never gonna happen, lady) and excitedly talks about all the holidays she wants to make up for. Then Jack enters, and her mood changes instantly. Even Jack's adorable little dorky wave doesn't melt her. "What are you?" she asks coldly.
Enter Dean, wearing a real-life version of the purple "sleeping robe" and nightcap he wore in "Scoobynatural." OH MY GAWD. I really hope this was a surprise for the rest of the cast.
And I also hope he's not really going commando underneath... or do I?
Mrs. Butters is distracted enough to decide that if the boys vouch for Jack, he must be okay. She hands Jack a smoothie but tells Dean he must have tomato juice due to his cholesterol. And she pronounces it the Patrick Stewart way, not the Mark Hammil way.
Before Dean can drink his to-mah-toh juice, the monster radar alarm goes off, and the guys rush off to prepare for a hunt. For future reference, when you leave the kitchen, Sam's room is to the right and Dean's is to the left. We next see the guys fully dressed, receiving sack lunches from Mrs. Butters. Dean's sandwich has the crusts cut off. {Sidebar: Sam never had someone to cut the crusts off his sandwich. Hold me. And also, how many reminders am I going to have of "Dark Side of the Moon" tonight?} She tells Sam the monster is a lamia, the blessed knives are in the trunk, and she just waxed the car so Dean needs to take it easy.
As the guys rush off, she turns to Jack and his smoothie mustache. "Well. What shall we do with you?"
NOTHING GOOD, I'M SURE.
As Jack helps wash dishes, he fills her in. Lucifer was his father, Mary was his family and his friend but he killed her. Mrs. Butters is very supportive, telling him "life gives us second chances and it's our obligation to hold onto them." And she presents him with another smoothie.
Montage! Thanksgiving dinner. More hunts. More sack lunches. Halloween (and even Sam seems to enjoy it). Fourth of July. (Yet another "Dark Side of the Moon" shoutout). A hunt requiring the grenade launcher and Thor's hammer from that episode whose title I can't remember! Sam's birthday! By the way, none of these holiday celebrations include Cas.
Mmmm. So worthy.
Time jump. Jack catches Mrs. Butters looking at something in a file cabinet and being very sneaky about it. He requests another smoothie to get her out of the room, and then finds what she was looking at. It's her MoL file, including a reel of film. The film shows Cuthbert Sinclar talking about File 5150 (aw, RIP Eddie Van Halen). The subject was actually recovered from the Thule (aw, "Everybody Hates Hitler") and we learn that wood nymphs "react violently when home or family are threatened." Sinclair says he "conducted a series of experiments designed to show this strange and magical being of our mission" and convinced her to join the MoL family. Huh. Wonder how he did that. Then Mrs. Butters demonstrates her devotion by literally ripping the head off a Thule. "Son of a bitch," says Jack, because he's been spending a lot of time with Dean.
Jack runs into the war room looking for Sam (and yes, I'm petty enough to love that he looks to Sam first), who is off getting ready for a "big date." Huh. Okay. Mrs. Butters offers him soup, but then Sam walks in, giving off some pretty strong Hot Professor Sam vibes (hello again, "Everybody Hates Hitler") with a sweater vest and tie, and I am thrilled with this development.
Thrilled, I tell you.
Mrs. Butters tells him he looks wonderful but offers to trim his hair (back off, lady, I will cut you) and Dean enters in time to make a weak Abercrombie and Bitch joke. Sam tells him Eileen's in town, and he's taking her out to dinner and "some privacy, something."
"Heavy on the something," Dean says, and we're going to talk about that later, I promise. But for now, Mrs. Butters tells Sam to take one of the old cars from the garage. Finally. Can we just make this permanent? Can Sam have his own fucking car, please? She produces a bouquet of roses from nowhere and sends him on his adorably anxious way. Then she tells Dean she found a broken TV in one of the rooms and fixed it. "The Dean Cave?" Dean is off like a shot. I wonder if that's the TV he smashed with a hammer, and if so, how did she fix it? (Also, hello again, "Scoobynatural.")
Jack is still unsettled. He follows her into the dungeon and tells her he saw the film. {Sidebar: The film showed her killing one of their enemies because she's protective of the MoL. Is it really that awful? Discuss.} "And how did that make you feel?" she asks. "You relished his pain, didn't you, Jack?" Oh, turns out that was a setup - she wanted Jack to see the video, so she could confirm that he was a bloodthirsty little monster. And do the Winchesters know how powerful he has become?
They should be scared of you!
I would never hurt them.
You have before, haven't you? Have you ever thought that Sam and Dean keep you in here, closed in, secure, because they're scared you'll do to someone else what you did to their mother?
Well, I mean. Now he has. She flings Jack into the wall. He tries to use the glowy eyes on her, but he finds himself powerless. She snaps the magic handcuffs on him. "You didn't think those smoothies were for your health, did you? Oh, I've learned a few things while I was doing the dusting around here. A little yarrow root, some ground jawbone for texture, and voila! You are as weak as a puppy."
Wait. That's all it took? To power down a nephilim, who is canonically more powerful than his archangel parent? So when the Winchesters were trying to take down Lucifer and AU Michael, all they needed was some yarrow root and ground jawbone? And the answers were all right here in the bunker?
(Sigh. Don't think about it. That way lies madness.)
(Also, canon! Ha ha ha ha.)
She tells Jack she's making the bunker safe again and getting rid of all the monsters. Like you, sweetness. Aw. Sad Jack.
Kitchen. Dean comes in looking for a snack and is immediately presented with some kind of grilled sandwich. She tells him to eat it, because he'll need his strength when they go kill Jack. Aw, that's the sound of a heart breaking.
Dean is disappointed that their good thing has gone "full Nurse Ratchet," and glances longingly at the sandwich he has to leave behind. He takes Mrs. B's knife and suggests they let Jack go and pretend this never happened. The only logical conclusion is that Dean is under Jack's spell, so he gets tossed into the dungeon too. Oh, cool. Does that mean Sam gets to be the hero and save them?
Spoiler alert: Ha ha ha ha no.
Hello, Demon Dean. That's the only other time we've seen this expression, isn't it? {Or is it simply the only one branded onto my brain? Discuss.)
Map table room. Sam comes in and is met by Mrs. B. "Bit past your curfew, Samuel," she says curtly. He's no longer wearing his tie. Hmm. So, let's talk about the Eileen situation. Isn't it weird that (1) Dean didn't know she was in town, and (b) she's not spending the night at the bunker? Wouldn't you think she'd be a house guest? I mean, she's not "in town" for the heck of it. The only thing that would bring her to Lebanon would be Sam. So why isn't she here seeing Sam? Is she just driving through on her way somewhere else? She can't even spend one night in the bunker? And the tie? If Sam removed his tie, doesn't that strongly suggest Dean was right about the "something" going on? Did they do it in the back of the old car? At a hotel? I have questions, friends.
Anyway. Sam asks where Jack and Dean are, since it's late and they should be sitting around the map table waiting for him to come home and not, like, in bed or anything. "Well, I have some good news, and some bad news."
HERE IS SOME GOOD NEWS INDEED.
Honestly, I like this look better without the tie.
Time jump.
So, Jack has taken over Dean's mind. And they're both downstairs, right now, ready to be killed by us.
You were always the smart one, yes.
Sam, who is the smart one, says he's going to go to his room and get his gun, and he'll meet her in the dungeon. "And we can... get to the killing." I LOVE HIM. {Sidebar: I have watched his fake relieved sigh several times and it makes me smile every time.} Once he’s safe in his room, Sam calls Dean and starts to tell him about Mrs. Butters.
Went psycho, we know.
Why didn't you call me?
Well, I mean I, you know, I figured you were "practicing your sign language."
And that's more important than coming to save you?
...
Dean?
It's been a while for you, man, you know?
Aw. Always the supportive big brother. {Sidebar: As long as Sam is doing something Dean thinks Sam should be doing. But I digress.}
{Sidebar: I love Dean, y'all know I do. Warts and all. He'd be boring if he were perfect.}
Dean suggests Sam shoot her, although they don't know if a gun will kill her because neither of them got around to researching it because they were distracted by Christmas and Thanksgiving and breakfast on Boxing Day. That's how you get killed, guys. {Sidebar: How much do I love that Sam calls it Boxing Day? For my Brit friends, that's not really a thing in the U.S., although it's gradually starting to become one. And I love it.}
Dean then suggests that putting the bunker in standby mode might put Mrs. B in suspended animation again. Meanwhile, Jack and Dean are stuck in the dungeon. Jack suggests using his power to remove the cuffs, but Dean points out that the power surge would catch Chuck's attention. But what power surge? Jack already tried to use his power against Mrs. B and it turned out he didn't have any.
Jack suspects there are other reasons Dean doesn't want him to use his power, and suddenly decides it's time for a deep conversation.
Do you still think I'm a monster?
Okay, I'm just gonna say this, okay? Just get it out there. Jack, I'm trying, okay? I really am. But what you did, that's not easy to forget. Now, I was angry with you. For a while. And maybe I still am a little bit, okay? But I'm not gonna let some evil Mary Poppins take you out. You understand?
Okay. Good talk.
Sam shows up in the library looking for Mrs. B, and trying to hide his gun, as if he hadn't told her he was going to his room specifically to retrieve said gun. But Mrs. B realizes he's trying to kill her, and freezes him. She's not mad, she's just disappointed. She tosses him into a chair and keeps him there with the power of her mind, not with rope or anything, in case you were wondering. {Oh, hello, "Funeralia" and "The Trap."} She tells him that when the MoL first found her, she didn't realize how important they were. But Mr. Cuthbert explained it to her. And since Sam is her favorite, she's not going to give up on him. Yet. She's going help Sam the same way Mr. Cuthbert helped her understand. Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all.
He's my favorite too! And I also think he needs to be hurt! See, she's basically me!
Dungeon. Dean is going to try to chop Jack's handcuffs off.
You're sure this is gonna work?
Let's say yes.
Aw. That was a perfect opportunity to bring back "maybe 90% sure." And it doesn't work - Jack is sent flying into a glassed-in cabinet that I've never seen in the dungeon before. Dean says "dang it" before remembering that he can use his big boy words, which is adorable. And then he gets an idea.
Upstairs. Mrs. B tries to convince Sam that Jack is a monster because he's Lucifer's son. Sam, of course, takes the opposite side of this debate. "Now, Mr. Cuthbert taught me that pain can be a wonderful teacher. Let's see if it can't correct your ways."
I SWEAR, Y'ALL, SHE IS ME.
Sam could sneer at her and say "I've been tortured by the devil himself; what can you do to me?" but we don't have that version of Sam any more. Mrs. B, without tools, yanks off one of his fingernails. {Oh, hello "A Very Supernatural Christmas!"}
Meanwhile, downstairs, Dean has a different theory on pain. It's just "weakness leaving the body," he tells Jack. We get a little "on three" bit, where he actually does the thing on one. And the thing is that he tries to cut Jack's handcuffs again, but this time Jack is strategically placed in front of the dungeon door. So when he's thrown back by the blast, he ends up breaking the door down.
Upstairs. Sam's been relieved of even more fingernails.
Downstairs. Dean takes a hammer (!) and smashes the reset button. Why doesn't he just push it with his hand? I mean, sure, we get the hammer, and the red lights and warning klaxon, and all of that turns me into Pavlov's dog {Hello, "Soul Survivor"}. But still. Seems unnecessary.
Upstairs. Mrs. B seems to be gone, and Dean bends over like he's untying Sam's wrist. But Sam's wrists aren't tied to anything, so. I got nothin'.
Downstairs. The runes that seem to hold Mrs. B in stasis light up, but do not stay lit. Well, that can't be good. And then the bunker grid control center thing thingy starts shaking and springs a leak. Ooops. Here she comes, complete with glowy green eyes.
Upstairs. Dean finishes untying Sam from the chair he wasn't tied to, and remarks on how gross his tortured hand is. Mrs. B shows up, yells that they've all been very bad, and flings them across the room. She's sure Sam will thank her someday for killing Jack, because it's so important to kill monsters and keep the MoL safe. It's why she couldn't go back to her forest. Sam explains to her that Mr. Cuthbert tortured her and used her, and Dean tells her Jack is going to save the world. Oh, okay then. The regular lights turn back on and Mrs. B tearfully says she misses the MoL so much.
Aftermath. Mrs. B heals Sam's hand and apologizes and all is immediately forgotten and once again, Sam gets to forgive his torturer and turn the other cheek. Yay! Sam, what was it you said earlier?
Gif stolen from @michaeldean
The guys send Mrs. B back to the woods, but first they have this conversation:
Sadly, without my magic, the bunker will revert to standby mode, so.
Ah well, things were getting too easy anyway, you know? Who needs a monster radar? Or whatever that telescope thing is?
It's an interdimensional geoscope.
It's a what?
I looked in it earlier; I didn't see anything.
Oh. Well that's not good.
Holy crap, you guys. Interdimensional. It let the MoL look at the alternate worlds. And now you can't see anything because all of the alternate worlds have been destroyed. Gotta admit, this is an excellent little twist.
Jack presents Mrs. B with the photo of the MoL. "Oh look," she says. "The man who tortured me and kept me from my home, right here, front and center." Well, no, she doesn't. But I do.
Mrs. Butters gives them some last instruction. "Dean, eat your vegetables. And Sam, cut your hair. And Jack, go save the world." Well, I'm in favor of one or two of those things.
Try to tell me I'm wrong. Just try.
After-aftermath. Jack tells Sam that he doesn't know if he can kill God, since he was sidelined by a wood nymph "because I was stupid." He asks if Sam thinks he can do it.
"Jack, you're the only who can." No pressure.
Dean shows up with a truly awful-looking birthday cake for Jack. "I made it myself. Obviously." But Jack is thrilled because it's from Dean, and it means Dean loves him and has forgiven him, until the plot requires otherwise. He makes a wish and blows out his single candle. Fade to black.
So! There were parts of this that were simply marvelous. There were parts that were kind of dumb. There were parts that would have made me very angry if I weren't so tired and jaded. But the good parts were darn good, and the pretty was dialed up to 11, and we all know I'm a sucker for a pretty episode. And there was NO B PLOT. AT ALL. Thank you baby Jesus.
And let’s just refuse to consider the possibility that these were, in fact, their last holidays. Thanks.
Now I get to see what you thought about it. And, as always, please help me stay unspoiled for future episodes, including episode titles and casting info. {smooches}
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paradise island: a review
A note before we begin: everything above the cut will be spoiler free and will just be my general feelings about the story as a whole, the writing, and if I’d recommend it. Everything below the cut will include spoilers to explain my feelings about the story.
Rating: 3/5 stars
Visiting the North Shore had been a bizarre and unsettling experience, to say the least, but when they got home after vacation was over, he was going to suggest to Colby that they make a video about it.
Hell, no. Even better. Write a book. Videos melted away after a while, but a book? Books and stories solidified on the conscious mind forever. (91-92)
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I generally enjoy stories like this, but there were a few moments throughout the novel where things just fell a bit flat.
While I was reading, I made a few notes, the first being that there was a weird juxtaposition between talking about more adult topics (drinking, women, sex, etc.) but in an odd, almost kid-friendly way. Some of the word choices were interesting, such as constant use of “fancy-pants”, “hottie”, “goofball”, “oddball”, and “doofus”, as well as the one moment where Colby said he hated “dicky” people and the moment where Sam said Colby was about to have an “emo-ruption”. (Though I did laugh a lot longer than I should have at “emo-ruption”.) It felt like they were still trying to make the story appropriate for their younger fans by using more kid-friendly language, while also appealing to their older fans by being like “look!! we drink!! and ooh look, we talked about smoking weed 👀🤪”. I wish they would’ve committed to one or the other, because it added an odd sense of disjointedness to the story that could’ve been easily resolved.
The other big thing I made note of was that there was a lot of “tell, not show” throughout. There’s a heavy focus on dialogue to progress the story rather than seeing into the boys’ inner thoughts and using other means to find out information. (I’m not one to talk, though, since I also focus more on dialogue than description.) It sometimes made it difficult to fully get into the story. I struggled with developing a picture of what the Belle Estate looked like, or what the other characters (beside SNC, Nate, and Alex) looked like. In terms of the boys, it seemed very reliant on us knowing who Sam and Colby are and what they’re all about (which is fair, since probably 99.9% of people who bought the book are fans of them but, if they want success outside of their audience, it could’ve been more descriptive in that regard).
As for the big twist at the end, it was a bit lackluster. I’ll go more in detail on this in the “spoiler section”, but it kind of diminished everything that had happened throughout the story and left me wondering “what was the point?”.
I was excited when I’d heard that the story was told through both Sam and Colby’s POVs, but, I’ll be honest, I saw little difference between Sam’s chapters than Colby’s chapters. The most difference was the almost stereotypical portrayal of Sam being the logical one while Colby being the emotional one. Aside from that, they were almost indistinguishable from me and I often had to flip back to the start of a chapter to remind myself of who’s head I was in.
Since that was all critical, here’s some things I did like:
I feel like, while the inner monologues were a bit lacking, Gaby did make up for it by making the dialogue between the boys really realistic to them. In this regard, she really nailed the portrayal of them.
The depiction of the paranormal things was really great. I feel like those parts were the ones I could get most into the story. The way Gaby wrote them was so interesting and pulled me in. I wish there was more of these moments throughout the story, because I think they really showcased who Gaby is as a writer.
The convo where Colby called Sam “Velma” and then Nate asked if Colby was “Fred”? I really enjoyed that because (a) Scooby is my favorite thing in the whole world and (b) I chose Sam and Colby be Velma and Fred in my moodboards a month ago so just a lil fun moment for me.
Just how meta the book was. Like, the quote I included at the top? I laughed for way too long when I read that.
There was a nice sense of nostalgia throughout, specifically when they brought up their YouTube channel, their Vine days, them being arrested, wining a Teen Choice Award, and Corey and the Shadowman. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and reminded me of how proud I am for how far they’ve come.
*slight spoiler here* Speaking of being arrested, there was a moment where SNC were contemplating escaping to the beach and they had a conversation if it was worth being arrested again. I really loved that, especially with how much fans joke about them inevitably being arrested again.
This is more for the person who designed the cover, but holy shit?? I loved it so much??
I don’t know if I would have picked this book up if it didn’t have Sam and Colby’s name attached to it. I will say, though, I finished the book in one sitting, which is pretty rare for me nowadays, so it was engaging. I think, overall, it was a great story with a great concept but it could’ve been fleshed out more. In some ways, it almost felt like this was a draft rather than a completed novel.
That being said, for SNC’s first book and Gaby’s first time working with the boys, it exceeded my expectations. If they were to continue writing books together, I imagine it will get better and better as they get more used to each other and potentially open up more so that their characters become a more accurate depiction of them.
Overall, the book’s not something you really need to race out to get. I think, if you have a gift card or there’s some sort of deal or you need to spend a little more to get free shipping, it wouldn’t hurt to pick up Paradise Island. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t a great, top-tier novel in my opinion. That being said, if you do pick it up, I think you will enjoy the book.
Spoiler Avenue
The characterization of all four of the boys is a bit 2D. Sam’s logical and wants to keep the peace, Colby’s emotional and more of a wildcard, Nate’s focused on his schoolwork and flexing his vocabulary, and Alex? Well, I couldn’t get a good read on Alex until he sells out SNC at the end of the novel and even then, he didn’t feel so much like his own character, more like someone just present to further the plot.
Speaking of characters, the introduction of Trey was...meh. I wish we could’ve gotten more insight on why Colby was so adamant about not liking Trey and why Nate was so gung ho to ditch their plans to go to the North side of the island for this guy they barely knew. Finding out that Colby didn’t like Trey because he said college was the only way to success was such an odd thing? Like, undoubtedly there’s been many people who would’ve said that, so does Colby also dislike everyone who’s said that or is there a more specific reason he didn’t like Trey? Just...👏🏻 more 👏🏻 inner 👏🏻 thoughts 👏🏻 please 👏🏻 and 👏🏻 thank 👏🏻 you 👏🏻
@golbrocklovely brought this up in her review but Colby’s fixation on the mermaid statue of a 16-year-old was really odd. It probably wouldn’t have been as odd if Amy was aged up a bit to 18, but as a 16-year-old with the descriptions that were given? Yeah...not the vibe.
I also wasn’t a fan of how so many things plot-wise was just...told to the boys. They could’ve found some newspaper clippings or something, anything to make them put in a little bit of detective work. But for so much information to just be handed to them? It got old, and almost lazy.
The big twist being that all of the paranormal stuff they’d encountered being a hallucination? God, that was so fucking annoying (though I did go back afterwards from the moment that they first arrived at the Belle Estate—starting as early as page 36—and it felt incredibly obvious knowing now that it was all drugs, so props to Gaby for dropping that many hints early on). To spend so much time making all of this scary shit happen just to turn around and say “HAHA JK THE BOYS WERE JUST TRIPPING BALLS” was such a cop out. It would’ve been more terrifying for it all to be real, make the boys question their beliefs and the reality of there being something out there that they didn’t quite understand. Though, there is something terrifying about not knowing you’ve been drugged and having hallucinated that vividly, but I feel like it didn’t quite fit in with the story.
Alex betraying the boys? So interesting! This was one of the few things that made sense in terms of them being drugged. But then when he was betrayed when Pauahi (who’s name was misspelled a few different times in the book) escaped? Ugh, amazing. We love instant karma like that.
Going back to the “tell not show” thing, I wish the sacrifice at the end would’ve been more detailed. For all of the paranormal stuff to be written off as a drug-induced hallucination, I would’ve loved if Gaby had leaned more into the horror of being used in a human sacrifice. There was more of a focus on Colby bargaining for his life, which is fair, but I would’ve loved to see more of the pure terror there.
That being said, the way Trey finally snapped out of it? *chef’s kiss* Loved that shit so much. And I loved the fact that Trey stayed behind in the end. It added a nice eeriness to the story that had been lacking since they debunked the paranormal shit as being hallucinations.
Again, going back to my overall, thoughts, I enjoyed the book in general. Some things could’ve been fleshed out a bit more to reach its full potential. I wish they leaned more into the paranormal aspect and had more descriptions to balance out all of the dialogue, but other than that, I did enjoy the book and don’t regret buying it.
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in love with your gifs and metas like how on earth do you keep making god tier content my friend like...but yeah i just finished tua and ... well,,, anyways I love your blog and cause I want this ask to actually have a question for you: thoughts on allison and diegos relationship?
-🌻
I’m kindly re-directing you to these two gifsets, as I actually made two different sets about their relationship for the lead-up to Season 2, because I really adore them together. They are straight-up one of the most underrated sibling dynamics in the show. They bicker so much and they snipe at each other a lot (talking mainly about Season 1 because Season 2 hates me, personally, and only had them interact three times). They are a good fighting team and they clearly care about each other. There is a certain rivalry, a certain ribbing that comes from Diego being the perpetual Number Two and Allison being the golden girl who could ask for anything she wanted and got it, but when it comes pouring down (the Sinnerman fight, taking care of Five when he’s injured, looking for Vanya as the biggest priority, Diego being distraught after his run-in with Cha-Cha and sparing her life, Diego wanting to go save JFK), they have each other’s back, unquestioningly, and I love that about them so much. I wish there had been more of them in Season 2 and many thanks at this spot to Emmy for improvising that cute little sibling-y moment between them at the reunion, because that’s exactly what I adore about them. They have the coolest dynamic, and I want more of them. On a related note, the 235 Scooby Gang part of S1E7 is probably my favourite three-sibling-team-up we’ve seen so far. It had so much: Diego and Allison snarking at each other but being a team at the end of the day and also dragging Five, Five and Allison making jokes and side-eying Diego together, and Diego and Five having their usual son-father-dynamic going on. Good times.
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I have been through this journey before, so I get to be actually frustrated about it.
IUnder a read more because im not subjecting y’all to this. Also: I should caveat I haven’t watched the episode cause I’m waiting till its on Netflix but I have watched way too many other episodes of Supernatural so I have a right to say these things.
TL;DR: I mean you all knew Cas’ confession was fucking bullshit and that SPN is...hm. But I’d like to actually express my genuine frustration, for a moment? I’m going to say things you already know, but I have too much knowledge of this show and too much stupid meta in my brain about a series I haven’t genuinely enjoyed for at least 5 years which makes this not just blandly bad but disgustingly insulting to me not even as a gay just as like. A writer?
Or, even shorter: Cas’ confession is just a Charlie Bradbury Speedrun
So. As some of you may know if, for some reason, you followed me back in 2013 (and till...okay fine 2015), I used to be, uh. Really into SPN. Really, I was into Destiel. Like, as in, I slogged through seasons 1-3 to get to Cas and am also really vulnerable to the Sunk Cost Fallacy and projecting onto characters. (I was in 8th grade in 2013, okay? Get off my back)
Also, because I monopolised use of the TV, I kind of...also got my parents into it? In a “this is silly but fun” kind of way.
Over time, critiques of the show from viewers, learning what queerbaiting is at all, fatigue with how long it was going, and also fatigue from how characters I enjoyed, like Rufus, or Crowley, or Ellen, or Jo, or Kevin, or Charlie, or Cas a few times, kept getting killed off. As time went on, it didn’t escape my notice that, aside from Cas, all of these characters fit one or more of the following criteria:
They were a woman
They were a person of color
Were Queer or Queer-coded in some way (listen Crowley was bad rep but at least Mark Sheppard actually kissed a man on screen)
I also just...generally got tired of the way the show treats women and sidelines people of color.
The final straw really came with Charlie’s death. It got us all excited, because she hadn’t been back in a bit! And it was interesting to see how reuniting with her dark side from Oz had changed her! (yeah remember the fucking Wizard of Oz storyline? The writers sure don’t!) And maybe she’d get developed! Because at this point, Charlie and the fairly good writing of her character was a major upside for the series! Charlie was cool, fun, gay, and morally complex in a way...none of the female characters had been before her, in large part because by definition, her relationship with the boys would always be platonic.
And then. Offscreen. She is violently murdered. For no damn good reason. Like, literally, her being brought back in this episode after fucking off to europe after having returned from fucking off to Oz seems to have filled two purposes in total.
The codex is solved (but Sam doesn’t know till next episode)
Charlie is dead, which means Dean can be angry, specifically at Sam, and kill more people because he’s the big bad this season.
That’s it. Two things. Twooooo whole reasons to do this episode. Whoopee.
But you didn’t come here for this, you came here for me to rip this reveal to shreds. Don’t worry, I’ll get there. What I want in your minds is that Supernatural already had a really good anddynamic queer character. And then they killed her off to make Dean angry. No, it doesn’t matter that they brought her back in season 13 or whatever. They made that decision.
After the rage this incited, I started realizing general flaws in the writing (I had probably already noticed them but now I was angry enough to complain.) Every conflict is born of Sam and Dean not communicating/taking on burdens and Dean being angry at Cas for reasons that ranged from good to ridiculous, but in a way that always went way too fucking long, (which...yes, does make the “you do it for love” gifs fucking hilarious). It didn’t help that seasons 11 and 12 were next, which meant Demon Dean and GOD’S FUCKING SISTER, plus the decision to resurrect Mary, which, while I do like her later scenes, as a season 12 finale it...well I’ll be honest it kinda sucked. It undercut the majority of the Winchester’s’ arcs and their slow and painful journey out of their father’s toxic vengeance quest and knowing Mary as a person when it’s too late to know her was one of the last semi-compelling grounders of the narrative.
By this point it was a hate-watch for my parents and I.
So then, I’m at college, and I’m not watching anymore cause I don’t have the motivation or access to Hulu to continue, and SPN is bad. I watch the Scooby Doo crossover when it comes out and my friend and I make fun of it, and we also continue making jokes about Dean and Cas and queerbaiting because we’re queer, but I don’t keep up. My Dad does though, so when I return, I watch some with the fam and lads. It’s even more tiring without context.
So flash forward to Quarantine, my sister, the only one with taste, has left, and we have run out of netflix to watch. So we return to the well, and seasons 13-14 are. I’m gonna say it. Bad. Really fucking bad. The cycle of bad communication continues, season 14 has like seven antagonists and the way it’s structured makes it so I literally cannot remember the timeline of a season I watched 3 months ago. Oh also, they have a queer coded cannibal snake monster for...well I guess Jack’s snake bud was cool but like. Huh wow it’s almost like these writers don’t handle queers well.
Our one saving grace is Cas, but he’s barely in any episodes, though I did note that his deal with the empty, being happy completely for one moment killing him, that struck me as “this has potential and I know they’re gonna half-ass it somehow.” Also Jack and Mary, but then oh...plot….The most compelling it gets is literally the finale.
But then, 3 days later, the first half of season 15 comes out on Netflix and it’s...actually kind of acceptable. The new character they give Jack’s actor is fun to watch him play until they make him evil. Exploring just how toxic Chuck can be gave the series direction again. The alternate future was genuinely scarring, and Eileen’s return was genuinely moving. Most of all, though, Cas got the opportunity to tell Dean no, that Dean was being unfair to him, had always been unfair to him, and he was sick of it. I had no illusions, I knew Destiel was never gonna happen, and Cas was gonna die, but giving him that bit of agency, letting Cas grow and be self-sufficient, and be angry with Dean not for existential reasons but interpersonal ones, was such a good sign for me, and Dean grew too! Dean fucking apologized for being horrible and Jensen Ackles had a...yknow what, ill give it to him, he had a good acting moment.
But the thing. About. The “I love you.”
Let’s take it in parts.
What was good: I’m gonna admit it, lads, “Wanting what I can’t have” - AS A LINE - is good, and, structurally, there is something to the Empty Deal that could have been an interesting aspect of Cas’ arc when it comes to self actualization and being on even footing with Dean. The problem is, this is Supernatural, and that arc only comes up when I bring it up because character study, even in bad media, is fun for me.
What was bad:
I mean. Like. All of it? All of it.
Okay. Fine. I’ll be specific.
Cas dies immediately when - possibly because- he is revealed as having feelings for Dean. They kill him as they queer him, that’s a Bury Your Gays Speedrun right there.
Like the least they could have done is have him mention it to someone in another scene or something to establish some romantic feelings on the part of canon a full episode beforehand. That would have been the literal bare minimum.
When Cas starts praising Dean, for some reason both the writing and Misha’s acting take a bit of a downswing (from...where it already was). Cas, whose most powerful moment this season was acknowledging that Dean’s anger at him is cruel and unfair, flatly praises him for doing everything out of love and it reads with a misunderstanding of both Dean as a character and Cas’ understanding of Dean. Dean is angry! VERY ANGRY! And it’s a problem he needs to work on and rarely does.
Talking out of my ass, a better speech would have been about how Dean is angry because of his love for Sam, family, and the people around him, how, for better or for worse, he can’t help but be angry on behalf of others, and that his journey of moving that tendency towards the better is what made Cas care so much. Guys this alteration to the metaphor took 2 minutes to write tops I am an Art History student and these are TV WRITERS WITH YEARS OF EXPERIENCE CAN YOU TELL THEYRE NOT TRYING YET?
A better speech would, of course, have come out of a better series. My point: this part was half-assed. Poorly written. Wow it’s almost like the series is also poorly written.
Also, Misha is the better actor of the three(***OF THE THREE), but his choices in that scene are jarringly out of character which. Makes the bad writing worse. It doesn’t help that they cut to the same fucking shot of Dean 3 times. The chemistry in that scene makes it feel so fucking hackneyed. Because it is.
This combines lead me to the point: (wait there was a point to this?)
As someone who does not have the luxury of watching this capsized ship fall into boiling seas from a distance, it is less insulting to me that they did this so last minute and then sent Cas to the Void than it is how they did it. They had ingredients for something that could have been compelling enough to me as a former fan of the show to think that they had put effort into it, that they had decided months, perhaps even years ago to do this, and had crafted a storyline around it. That this was an intentional decision they cared about. It wasn’t. It was barely even pandering, because it’s almost insultingly blatant.
SPN kinda proved to me that it didn’t care about queers when Charlie was killed off. It proved it to me again when Cas, not only died in confessing his love for Dean but did it in the weakest result of what could have been a surprisingly strong story.
#destiel#i don't fucking care im tagging it#bury your gays#queerbaiting#homophobia#also: i should say there are a lot of moments where i refer to aspects of the writing as good#this either means i was 14 when I watched it#or#it's something that i find compelling#that#IN ANOTHER SHOW#OR IN A HYPOTHETICAL WHERE THE WRITING ISNT LADEN WITH HOMOPHOBIA#could be fun to explore#like there are these structural motifs#and themes#which could have made the show good#could have made that confession...passable#but they didn't even write it well by supernatural standards#is my point#My other point is i get to actually be mad about this because I actually watched and put emotional energy towards this show#i shouldnt have but i did#so now I get to write about it#and if you reply we been knew to this post#youre correct#but also#wow do you maybe think I was already aware of that?
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okay supernatural anon here. i’m just gonna talk about those 3 episodes you mentioned in that one ask because goodness it’d be too much to get into the entire show lol
the animated episode (scoobynatural): they come into contact with a cursed tv, which sends them into the show scooby doo (one of dean’s favorite shows). they’re animated obviously, and basically the episode is a classic scooby doo episode which dean knows the plot of. it takes a twist though because people actually start getting like gruesomely murdered and at the end of the day it turns out to be a ghost was controlling the episode or something. then they get out of the tv by defeating the ghost and it’s never mentioned again lol.
breaking the 4th wall (the french mistake): the episode starts with dean and sam running from angels or demons or something (it’s been a while lol) and then this one angel sets up a spell which sends them into an alternate universe. it’s the most meta thing ever because the alternate universe is like our world and people call them jensen and jared (the actors’ names) except everyone is really exaggerated. like they make super dramatic versions of the actors and it’s really funny but at the end they manage to get back to their own world and it’s probably never mentioned again lmao
fanfiction: okay so this one is probably even more wild than the french mistake actually lol. so supernatural exists in supernatural. basically there’s an early season episode where we meet chuck, who at the time is written as a prophet of god and is writing the winchesters’ story. he’s an author, so he publishes his stories but he didn’t know that they were reality until he meets sam and dean, so now there’s this whole supernatural fandom within the show supernatural. (it’s weird and hard to explain; let me know if i just confused you even more) fanfiction is an episode where sam and dean come back into contact with supernatural the book series, when they’re working a case. so this high school is putting on a musical that is based on the supernatural series in the show, and basically the whole episode was made as an homage to fans while also not so subtly making fun of them. (because many supernatural writers hate the fan base.) the episode references destiel, and again sort of shoots in down in text but also has a little bit of supportive subtext so it’s weird. it’s never mentioned again after that
sorry if i confused you even more than before lol
AHAHA thank you anon this is perfect!
its hysterical how those first two eps you mentioned are never mentioned again but i suppose it would be weird as hell to allude to that happening lmao
okay for the fanfic ep that is A LOT going on, am i getting this right: in the universe of supernatural, there is an author who writes a book series about the lives of sam and dean (who is introduced as a prophet but it turns out later that he's god), and there is a fandom for this book series and kids from this fandom put on a musical about it??? that sounds wild but the meta is rly interesting!!!
#I'm cackling that a musical was made about now canonically gay characters like yes kings thats what you deserve!#ty anon :D#asks#spn#not atla#long post#spn anon
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top 5 moments of xander-provided levity
Wow, this is a really cool question. For as many issues that I have with Xander’s character, one of the main attributes of his that I really connect with (and a reason that I have such a love-hate relationship with him) is his desperation for levity in terrifying circumstances, if only to retain a level of calm and allow himself and others to feel at least somewhat grounded. I think that’s something we can all relate to in these apocalyptic times (like a lot of people on this website, I am currently in quarantine), so I really appreciate this ask.
5. “Say hi for me.”
This one’s during Innocence, and Willow’s in the library having a phone call with a panicked Buffy who still hasn’t found Angel, leading to this conversation:
Willow: No. Don’t eve say that! Angel is not dead.
Xander: Say hi for me.
It’s just so random and casual, and for some reason it never fails to make laugh.
4. “Does the council reimburse for that kind of stuff?”
This is from Enemies, an episode that spends most of its runtime trying to trick the audience into believing that Angel’s turned bad again. In that context, the entire scene of Xander describing how he bribed Willy the Snitch is especially delightful. But I love this part in particular, because with this throwaway line, Xander is officially the only character who ever suggests the Council should maybe provide the Scoobies some funding, which might actually make him the most sensible one out of all of them (it also might be telling that he’s the only one to do so given his working class roots, but maybe I’m reading too much into it).
3. “Just think of me as … as your … You know, I’m searching for supportive things, and I’m comin’ up all bras.”We really don’t give season 5 credit for just how depressing it is. Like everyone talks about season 6, but season 6 only exists because season 5 was so traumatic for everyone that they pretty much had to address the aftermath.
So, anyway, Buffy’s just dropped out of college in order to take care of Dawn, and Xander’s offering her his support, which is adorable. He says to Buffy “Welcome to the real world” because out of all of the young characters, he’s the only one with any real, adult career experience (not including Anya because she basically got a job by pestering Giles until he offered her one, which is amazingly on brand, but generally not how it works for people who aren’t Anya). But he doesn’t say it in a mean or superior way. He says that and then immediately tells Buffy that he’ll be there for her no matter what she chooses. He’s offering to help because he knows he can be helpful and it’s really lovely. Plus, it shows some of his own character growth in the confidence he displays about his life and career choices, which is also great to see.
And the line about bras is especially cute because it actually makes Buffy, who is understandably pretty upset at the moment, crack up a little. And you can tell that he says it specifically because he wants to make her laugh, and it’s just really cute and I love it a lot.
2. “If you have to go to the bathroom, it’s to your left. If you don’t have to go to the bathroom, picture what you’re about to face. Better to go now.”This one’s from Chosen and it’s just such a dad thing to say. I love it. It’s also definitely Xander passing on wisdom he’s gained from past experiences which makes it even funnier.
1. Xander proposing to Anya in The Gift
It feels kind of awkward to include this one, much less give it the top spot, since we all know how that entire situation played out. Also, this may not even count, seeing as it’s Xander providing levity in more of a meta way, as opposed to him actively making a joke in order to lighten the mood. But I kind of have to go with this one because of how emotional it made me when I first watched it. Which is funny, because I am by no means a Xander/Anya shipper. Like I don’t hate that ship like a lot of people do, but before Hell’s Bells (an episode that made me so viscerally angry that I’ve never once been able to bring myself to rewatch it), I rarely gave them much thought as a couple.
But I think this moment hit me so hard during The Gift because it’s an episode that really focuses on just how exhausted the Scoobies are. They’ve stopped so many apocalypses (still not sure if that’s the plural) and yet the world seems determined to end, and they don’t know if they can manage to keep their heads above water anymore.
So in that context, having Xander make that cute, funny proposal to Anya is already such a breath of fresh air. But more than that, Xander’s speech is pretty much the only genuine expression of hope in the entire episode. While he may have fucked it up in the end, I truly believe that he believes, in that moment, that the world won’t end, and that he will live a long and silly life, and that he will have a future with Anya. He believes that happiness is possible for them and he wants to pursue that, even under the circumstances. It just gets me that out of all them, he’s the one that manages to hold onto hope. It really makes me believe that he’s the heart of the Scoobies, and it’s also a message that I think we all need to hear every now and again.
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via Barb's Place MAYOR: Open your present. There. That look on your face is my reward.
[The present is a knife with an intricate design.]
FAITH: This is a thing of beauty, boss.
MAYOR: Well, it cost a pretty penny. So, you just take good care of it. And you be careful not to put somebody's eye out with that thing, until I tell you to.
FAITH: Any particular eyes in mind?
~~Choices (Season 3)~~
[Drabbles & Short Fiction]
A Conversation with the Fae (Buffy. Xander, T, Devil May Cry xover) by madimpossibledreamer
Crescendo Nocturne (Buffy/Spike, M) by MissLuci
Something is Wrong with Buffy (Buffy, Giles, T) by we_are_who_we_are
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Imagine: Telling Spike you are bi (Spike/reader, unrated) by randomfandomimagine
The Asgards' New Princess (Cordelia, G, MCU xover) by Buffyworldbuilder (lateVMlover)
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The Perfect Moment (Spike/Reader, unrated) by writings-n-stuff
for the world to become good (Buffy/Faith, M) by rootsmachine
A Series of Unfortunate Events (Giles, T) by IBJoyful
Unused Key (Buffy, Dawn, Willow, T, Charmed xover) by btvsforever
[Chaptered Fiction]
Eyes of Gold Ch. 1-2/2 (COMPLETE) (Buffy, unrated, LotR xover) by ElzaCBoe
The Scoobies in a Marvel World 1-7/25 (Ensemble, G, MCU xover) by Buffyworldbuilder (lateVMlover), lateVMlover
Willow Season One Ch. 1 (Ensemble, T) by PleaseNo1985
Darkness Rising Ch. 8 (Buffy, M, Anita Blake xover) by Deesse
Mommy Dearest Ch 2 (BUffy, M, Harry Potter xover) by Deesse
What do you think you are, a Jedi or something? Ch 51 (Buffy/Faith, M, Star Wars xover) by Blackhat
The Meaning of Strength Ch 1 (Xander, T, DCU xover) by AxelBlade
Honeysuckle Ch. 45 (Spike/OC, T) by Mushroom99
Let the Wrong One In CH. 15 (Buffy, Giles, Spike, OC, T) by Cynder2013
More Grimm Tails, Chapter 20-21 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Twinkles
Distant thunder, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Axell
Prisoners of Love, Blue Skies Above, Chapter 22 (Buffy/Spike, E) by bewildered
Tutor, Chapter 7 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Holly
Summer's Lease, Chapter 11 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Iamblichus
Love & Thunder...& Vampires , Chapter 1-2 (Buffy/Spike, T, MCU xover) by all_choseny
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Love is a Many Splendored Bitch, Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, E) by MissLuci
Sleeping Arrangements, Chapter 14 (Buffy/Spike, T) by ChryshCn
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More Than A Crush, Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, M) by all_choseny
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PUBLICATION: Rewatching Angel – Episode 75 Long Day’s Journey by Confusing Middle
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A very refreshing relationship by Why_not_What
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PODCAST: The Complicated Queerness in Buffy the Vampire Slayer by MATT ST. CLAIR
Fic Search: Post series memory lane by Harvardkid08
[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]
PODCAST: Charisma Carpenter Interview by Shut Up Evan
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Lily Evans is Not a Bad Friend: A Closer Look at the Courtyard Scene
The courtyard conversation in The Prince’s Tale is not a scene I like. I hate the decision to set the Highly Amusing Murder Prank before the Snape’s Worst Memory incident, in my opinion shafting almost every participant’s character arc. I still hate that. That has not changed. But I also, and I am far from alone in this, hated what seemed to be Lily’s atrocious treatment of the boy she called her best friend, taking his bully’s word over his, and blowing off news that he nearly died. Except I’ve just examined it again, prompted by reading several essays and fanfictions based on that same interpretation, written by some of the snazziest people in the fandom – and I think we’re all wrong.
To come to that, from what I’ve seen, nearly universally-accepted conclusion, you have to assume that Lily and Severus have not previously spoken about the Prank, and that the version of events Lily heard came from James Potter. But neither assumption is warranted.
I had previously assumed, as a lot of people do, that this conversation was the first one the friends had had about the Prank since it happened. That doesn’t really hold up, though. It’s been at least a day or two – Lily says it took place “the other night,” not “last night.” Still, it’s possible they haven’t gotten a chance to talk since then. However, if what Lily heard about “what happened the other night” is the first clue she’s gotten that anything happened that night, you’d think she would open the conversation by asking him about it. Instead, she only brings it up when Snape himself mentions the Marauders. It’s not unreasonable that she doesn’t ask if he’s okay or for his side of the story; she already knows he wasn’t hurt, and he’s had his chance to explain. Her reproachful “I heard what happened the other night” is more likely to mean “I found out about that thing you refused to tell me about” than “I just learned something awful happened to you.”
Why wouldn’t Snape give her his own account? I don’t think he could.
In PoA, Lupin’s account of the Prank tells us that, following the incident, Snape was “forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody” about Lupin’s lycanthropy – and possibly about the Prank itself. This could mean that Snape simply made a promise and was expected to keep it or face punishment. Or it could refer to a magical gag order, perhaps something like the Tongue-Tying Curse put on Grimmauld Place by Moody to keep Snape from revealing its location. His incoherence later in the courtyard scene, attributed by the narration to his “bitterness and dislike” could potentially also be related to such a restriction.
If the only thing keeping Snape from telling anybody were his own honor, he would tell Lily. We know this because he is trying to tell Lily. Dropping heavy-handed hints about his werewolf theory is a clear violation of the spirit of Dumbledore’s injunction. If he could say, “Remus Lupin is a werewolf and he nearly killed me,” he would do it, so it seems he cannot.
Now, about that theory…
Lily responds to Snape’s leading questions about Remus as though they’ve been down this road before and she’s sick of it. “I know your theory,” she says. Which is odd. If this established, well-known Werewolf Theory of Snape’s predates the Prank, why would he knowingly go down a tunnel to follow a werewolf who is about to transform? The whole point of the incident was that Sirius knew the danger he was sending Snape into, but Snape didn’t. So, either the theory Lily is talking about is something other than lycanthropy (unlikely) or it’s a very recent development. The Prank happened just “the other night,” but Lily is already weary enough of the topic to call Severus “obsessed.” It seems like Snape has been desperately trying to get around his gag order. He’s probably been answering all questions about “what happened the other night” with werewolf hints. In his mind, he’s trying to explain in the only way he can, but Lily would see it as an attempt to deflect and avoid her questions, the way he really is deflecting and avoiding her concerns about Avery and Mulciber.
So, she gets the story from another source, one she apparently considers reliable enough that she presents their version to Severus as hard fact. Most people assume this story came from James Potter or his friends, either directly or through the gossip mill, and therefore criticize Lily for taking the word of the boy she calls “an arrogant toerag” over that of her best friend. But, again, that assumption doesn’t bear out.
For one thing, are the Marauders really likely to circulate a version of events that includes the fact that there’s a “tunnel by the Whomping Willow” and something “down there” that could kill someone on a full moon night? Sure, Snape’s Worst Memory shows they can be cavalier about discussing secrets where they might be overheard, but they have just been reminded of the dangers of a breach of secrecy. Are they really going to spread around the existence of the Willow tunnel, when that’s exactly the information that nearly got Snape killed? Do they really want people to pay close attention to who and what goes in and out of that tunnel? And do they want to be caught by teachers sharing this secret after what just happened with Sirius?
Additionally, Lily presents the information like it came from a trustworthy source. Considering her view of James Potter, she’s likely to give his accounts of his own accomplishments about the same credence as, say, Gilderoy Lockhart’s. If the tale came directly from him, she wouldn’t state it as unbiased fact. The same thing applies if she heard it through the grapevine. She would begin, “People are saying...” instead of “I heard what happened.”
Even if she were gullible enough to just accept gossip as gospel, her actions suggest the story isn’t common knowledge. She “drop[s] her voice” before introducing this new subject. Why doesn’t she want to be overheard? It can’t be that she doesn’t want people to hear her upbraid Severus, because she’s been doing that the whole conversation. It must be the content she’s worried about, which means it isn’t a story that’s already circulating.
My guess is that she heard it from the faculty, most likely by eavesdropping on teachers’ private conversation, but possibly by asking Slughorn, who has been known to share behind-the-scenes Hogwarts info with his favorite students. Information from a teacher wouldn’t be inherently suspect the way student gossip or Potter’s boasting would, and the story fits with her interpretation of Severus’ behavior. Since she has no reason to think the Werewolf Theory has anything to do with the Tunnel Incident (because why wouldn’t Severus just say so?) it does look ungrateful of him to hide the fact that James saved his life by making up nasty rumors about his sickly friend. She didn’t mention it until Snape forced the issue himself by harping on Lupin, in the same way that she didn’t bring up Petunia’s letter to Dumbledore until Petunia insulted the world she’d been so eager to join. (The similarity of these incidents – she even lowers her voice both times – may be another indication that Lily found out both secrets by snooping.)
So, contrary to popular belief, Lily Evans is not being a bad best friend to Snape in this scene. She’s just fed up with him distracting her with Scooby-Doo mysteries when she’s trying to hold an intervention.
((It’s possible this is old news to the fandom. Apologies if that’s the case. But I’ve literally never once seen this interpretation anywhere, and I’ve read a lot of Snape and Lily fic and meta. People have varying views on whether Lily’s behavior is justified and whether it’s intentional on Rowling’s part, but I’ve always seen it presented as a given that she is condemning her best friend on the word of James Potter, without giving Severus a chance to defend himself. Until one hour ago, I believed that too. So, I’m sharing my revelation.))
#severus snape#lily evans#lily potter#harry potter#harry potter meta#this is a mess#my apologies#(and now back to not being on tumblr)
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Walking into my inbox like...
because of this article. LOL Thanks for all the heads up my friends. I didn’t know it existed. Yes, I read it. Yes, it sounds like I wrote it. No, I did not write it. Some wonderful person named Lynsey Neill did. However, it’s possible we mind melded unbeknownst to us. She uses pretty words like “fully realized superhero” too.
Dear Lynsey,
We should grab a virtual coffee and talk all things L*urel L*nce.
Love,
Me
Put me down for cosigned. This is actually a really positive article on E1 L*urel L*nce. It articulates a lot of the reasons why I loved LL’s character. I don’t agree with all the points made, but the vast majority hits the nail on the head for me. I was invested in this character for many years too.
The L*uriver section is particularly stellar:
Ladies and gentlemen, if your boyfriend cheats on you with your sister and in the process she gets killed (or is presumed dead) would you ever think of them the same? Yeah, in that hypothetical scenario, they swiftly and irrevocably become someone you can’t rely on. They aren’t your person anymore, and probably never were. #TeamLaurel
SAY IT FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!!!
My biggest issue with L*uriver was I never wanted to see L*urel kiss Oliver again. Their relationship reminded me of something I really disliked about Oliver - he cheated. Any time he made a move on L*urel I was instantly reminded of the fact that he banged her sister on the regular for years. YUCK.
However, this section really brings the article home for me.
But they both moved on, Laurel forgave Oliver and they remained friends. For like a season in and a half. A good chunk of season 2 through season 4 they were just indifferent. Sometimes they would get into the occasional screaming match that required popcorn. However, if your relationship with the main character is indifferent, what’s to stop the audience from feeling the same?
Yes, indifference is exactly how I felt about L*urel by the end of Season 4 and Ms. Neil captures why I felt this way perfectly.
As far as Bl*ck S*ren’s redemption this sums it up for me:
All the sane and rational humans maintained that Black Siren was not the Laurel we lost. She was fun and stirred up trouble for our heroes. She had so much potential to just be a character thats unapologetically a bad person. Sure, everyone has their moments, but for the most part we want a ruthless female antagonist who has the face of a dead friend.
The fun of Bl*ck S*ren is she wears the face of their dead friend. All the drama comes from this angle. You run the risk of putting Bl*ck S*ren’s character back to where L*urel L*nce’s character ended by redeeming her: indifference. A character arrives at indifference when the writers A) are no longer invested or B) they’ve run out of story ideas. I think both happened to L*urel’s character.
Oliver is as indifferent to Bl*ck S*ren as he was to L*urel, which automatically puts her character on an uphill battle.
The main character rejects Bl*ck S*ren entirely because she is not his L*urel and never can be. The only real tangible connection these two characters have is when Bl*ck S*ren is wreaking havoc on Star City and Oliver is forced to contend with her. He truly does not give a damn when she plays white hat and any interaction between the two plummets.
So... how is a redeemed Bl*ck S*ren any better than L*urel L*nce? It doesn’t solve the main issue which is the character lacks any real connection to the star of the show.
Bl*ck S*ren playing lawyer and apologizing starts to strip her of the very things that make her interesting. There is no way this character can ever be E1 Laurel. They are simply different people. Any attempt by Bl*ck S*ren feels like an insult to our L*urel. It’s like saying LL is replaceable with a look alike copy cat and the essence of who she was can simply be mimicked. Umm... NO.
Imagine for a moment it was Felicity who was killed off
(I know I know. The horror but just roll with me for a second). Let’s say an evil version of Felicity exists out in the multiverse. (All evidence to the contrary but let’s fake it for the purpose of this hypothetical.)
If an evil Felicity came roaring into town, murdering people and causing general havoc, would we believe for a hot second she is our beloved Felicity? NO.
Would we accept any world in which this evil version is redeemed and therefore a replacement of the character we lost? OF COURSE NOT. That’s like saying Nazi Oliver can be our Oliver.
The only point I disagree with Ms. Neill on is I do believe there is a way to fold Bl*ck S*ren into Team Arrow, without losing all of the drama. If Bl*ck S*ren retains her darker tendencies, sarcasm and biting edge, then she can be to Team Arrow what Spike was to the Scooby Gang (before he got his soul back).
Team Arrow can openly hate on Bl*ck S*ren and shade her all day long.
Source: @ebett
Bl*ck S*ren can rip on Team Arrow while being a constant chaos causing unknown element for the team. Yet, they work together because their goals meld. Say for example Felicity and Bl*ck S*ren teaming up to stop Diaz. This can create A LOT of really fun scenes.
Do I think this packs as much punch as evil Bl*ck S*ren? No. I think the best use for the character is to go all in and make her the Big Bad. She’s a powerful meta human who wears the face of a woman Oliver once loved. She can make Oliver’s life a living hell if the writers embraced all the power this character has.
Unfortunately, they are constantly reeling Bl*ck S*ren in by making her a victim or someone who needs to be saved. It’s ridiculous.
If Bl*ck Siren achieves redemption I have no doubt K*tie C*ssidy will play her in a different way from E1 Laurel or evil Bl*ck S*ren, so the arc itself doesn’t really concern me in any way. It’s more wishing the writers would take the character in another direction I find more interesting.
Do we need a third version of this character on top of Dinah Drake’s BC? No. The cast is pretty bloated as is and we run the risk of these supporting characters taking up space without having anything to do. This is the reason LL was killed off in the first place.
It’s not the first time I’ve disagreed with the writers on the characters KC plays and it’s it probably won’t be the last. Worst case, I’ll end up at indifferent again but my hope is the writers can still make this character interesting whether she’s redeemed or not.
#arrow#arrow spoilers#anti black siren#anti laurel lance#anti laurel lance meta#anti black siren meta#arrow articles
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SPN Did Something Pretty Amazing
One thing I have always liked about Supenatural, is that theyre willing to try things no other shows have done. Most of the time it works, sometimes it doesnt, but theyre not affraid to think outside the box. Things like having a cross-over with Scooby Doo, or episodes like The French Mistake, or Fan Fiction, are great, though theyre doable only because of the premise of the show. In the supernatural world, nothing is impossible. The heros die and come back a lot, old characters come back in various ways, in dreams, time travel, or even as the same character, and this is ok because again, in the supernatural world nothing is impossible. However, this newest amazing thing, at its core, didnt come to pass because of supenatural influence, but because of human actions, and viewer acceptance.
Two brothers and their Angel buddy, adopt an adult orphan son.
Think about that. What show has ever done such a thing? None. In similar cases, like 3 Men and a Baby, Full House, Two and a half Men, there is one defined Father, and then the other men are uncles or support for the one father. But not on SPN, all 3 have been defined as this kid’s father, even though none of them are biologically his father. Even before Luficer died, we saw this beginning. And even stranger still, there were always strong efforts to keep Jack away from his biological father, which is also not a common practice. When dealing with an older child, theres always a “let them chose” clause. But thats never really been the case on SPN, it was always “Keep Lucifer away from this kid” and justifiably so, I might add, but its still strange for TV isnt it? Yet, somehow this all worked.
Now, this isnt a debate on who deserves to be Jacks main father, which would obviously be Sam but to just talk about how the show managed to make this happen and be completely accepted by the viewers.
I work with several SPN fans, though Im the only one who wouldnt really be considered a casual viewer, meaning Im the only obssessed one LOL but the others arent involved in SPN SM on tumblr or twitter, they dont go to conventions and none of them are into shipping. (thats right, it seems most casual viewers dont ship the characters) yet all of them think its cool that Sam, Dean and Cas are Jack’s fathers, none of them think its creepy, incestuous, or gay. One did joke that it sounded like the synopsis of a very bad porno, (2 brothers, and their buddy take in a young adult orphan as their own) but then said that its a very cool concept.
What I think made it work, is everything thats gone down in the last 13 years. I dont care if youre a wincest shipper or not, but theres no closer relationship on the show than Sam and Dean. We know now they are “stuck” with each other, they wont be finding a significant other and building their own family, and even in the end, they’ll be together. Be it on Earth, in Heaven, Hell or the Empty. Also, they have no closer companion than Cas. Whether or not you like the character, canonically, Cas is their best friend that they love as a brother.
Since the show revolves around family dynamics, good ones and bad ones, we’ve seen Sam and Dean in every position. As brothers, sons, cousins, friends, and even as husbands breifly to Lisa and Amelia. we never really got to see them as fathers. The show could have remedied this by having one of their ex girlfriends show up with a kid “Surprize!!” but Im glad they didnt. This would automatically put one brother in the position of Dad, and the other as Uncle and Cas is just that buddy in the trench coat. The way it was done, put all 3 men in a fatherly position that developed over different time lines and circumstances.
Im going to try to break this down in an unbias manner. We can all feel free to disagree with the outcome, but its how the show itself unfolded this little highly unorthodox family.
Cas was the one appointed to be Jack’s father. Kelly gave this duty to him when she decided to allow herself to die to let her son be born, and Cas accepted. So it looked as though Cas would be this boy’s father, but as it was, Cas was dead when Jack was born.
Sam came to the plate next. His relationship developed organically with Jack. Some may not have seen it coming, but Sam was determined long before Jack was born, to NOT kill him, but to try to let him be born without the worry that he would be evil. When it was apparent they couldnt take his grace and make him human, Sam knew it didnt mean Jack HAD to be evil. Sam took the role as mentor right away. Caring for Jack and having genuine compassion for him. We were given the hint Sam felt fatherly when they showed him reading a parenting book. (my god that was the cutest thing)
So the writers flipped the script and gave Sam a head start in the father field. Also, with Sam being first, it added this layer of beauty, because Sam fell in paternal love with the son of his torturer. He wasnt enlisted, or pushed, it just happened, and thats beautiful.
Dean came last, and as a story teller, I can see why they chose this route. It had been established since S1 that Dean is good with kids and naturally paternal. To have him be the first “father” would leave Cas and Sam on unlevel ground through lack of experience. For Dean to follow up second from Cas, would make it too shippy, and Sam would probably never make it out from under the “uncle” title. and wouldnt we always wonder if Sam held a little resentment inside? Jack being the son of Lucifer for starters, and Dean taking him in as a son? Over the seasons, Sam has made it very clear, he never wants to be #2 in Dean’s eyes, and this could bring around some bad brother drama.
Dean starts off hating Jack. Indeed he was way too nasty to him in the beginning. Not even gonna debate that, but for Sam, Dean gives the kid a shot. He discovers that yes, Jack is a good kid and now Deans natural paternal side clicks on. And keep in mind he didnt try to step onSam and take over. Yes they showed Dean and Jack bonding more than they did Sam, but he didnt take over. He made sure taking Jack out was ok with Sam, so did Cas. They both respected that Sam has been Jacks primary care giver since day 1, and Sam isnt selfish or possessive (over anyone/anything else besides Dean) so Sam is happy to share Jack so he can have as much positive influence as he can.
So I give TPTB credit for coming up with this formula, my only complaint being that they didnt need to make Dean as hateful as he was, they could have just made him hessitant and standoffish at first and that would have been enough but it is what it is, and that part is over thank Chuck.
Now, most of us knew the “3 dads” thing was coming because the cast talked about it a lot, but those of us who dont follow the cons and interviews, still were pleasently surprised that this came about. I havent heard anyone complain that its creepy, even though if you tell someone whos never seen the show “On my show, the 2 brothers and their friend adopted an 18 yr old kid” they’d look at you funny.
We complain about the writers all the time because they do screw up a lot, but I like to give them credit when I can. This is one of those situations. They made something that seems creepy on the outside, not only acceptable, but wonderful, simply by how it was written. I feel the same way about how they handled the return of Mary. It didnt pan out as well as it could have, and thats really a whole other meta, but Im glad they didnt take an easy route with her making her a zombie, or Super Mom and put her in a really human position of a mother meeting her adult sons for the first time, but Ill save that for another post :)
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