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sunnywalnut · 16 days

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Finished watching Dead Boy Detectives. Here are my honest thoughts.

-If you're going into it expecting another Good Omens, stop. Our protagonists are all minors. Teenagers. They cuss, they have total dirty mouths and sexual humor, but they are not eternal beings pretending to be middle aged men. They're ghosts. Dead Boys, if you will. Also this might be a stretch, but I'm assuming from the slightly less good CGI that the budget for this series was a LOT less than what it was for GO

-Edwin is kind of a dick in the first episode. But it's okay. Because character growth is swag.

-REALISTIC CHARACTER GROWTH!!! I liked Edwin a LOT more during the second episode BECAUSE of the character growth. And honestly? It's completely natural that bro is more than a little prickly after only being able to trust one guy for an extremely long time. Fair enough my guy. Carry on.

- this show kinda has Nimona vibes. If that makes sense. Witty humor, somewhat sexual dialogue, funny moments during serious times, though geared towards a younger audience. If you like those kinds of things, you will like this, I'm sure of it.

- In the early episodes, the pacing/character relationships feel a little off??? I'm not sure if that was because I was expecting another Good Omens or what. But after 2-3 episodes, the dust quickly settled and we got into the actual storyline. Which was extremely appreciated✨

-these villains are FUCKED up. I'm telling you. They are HORRIFIC. Had me squirming and cringing through their intense scenes. And gosh. That was a TRIP.

-TY TENANT PLAYS THE MAIN GUY EDWIN!!!! And he plays him WELL. I did not realize this going in to the show and thought his face was VERY familiar. Only after I looked it up did I realize why. He's our sassy son of Job. (EDIT: turns out Ty plays the Doom Patrol version. Not the one on Netflix. My bad! They do look pretty similar though, so ykw. Great casting. Also my point still stands. This guy is a pretty fuckin awesome actor. 10/10)

-Cat King is such a wild card holy SHIT.

-Charles is cute as fuck. His backstory HURTS. But also. I love the way his ears look. Like in the pictures that I saw of him they were of when the Cat King impersonated him so I was like oh chill. So he's got pointed ears bc feline but NOPE. He's just like that!! And honestly? Slay. I fuckin love it.

-oh did I mention tragic backstories???? Yeah we got those :D for everyone :D

-Niko is the best and I love her. Also I love how the letters on her desk are written in Japanese. That is a VERY nice touch of character building.

-hot butcher lady with throat tattoo

All in all. A truly delightful series and I genuinely hope it gets another season because I NEED to know what happens next. My little sister LOVED it and the ending had us all staring open mouthed at the TV screen in shock.

This 15yo girl is literally ranting my ear off, having adventures with the Dead Boys in her dreams and chatting with me about it, searching up fanfics and drawing fanart, the whole shabang. And it is DIFFICULT for this girl to get into shows like this. So honestly? This is perfect. Thank you, Neil. For giving us a whole other banger.

That being said. If anybody else has some younger siblings that are around 15-17 and are looking for shows to binge watch together, this is the perfect one. I'm telling you, you will NOT regret it (except maybe emotionally)

Thoroughly recommend.

#dead boy detectives #dead boy detective agency #netflix series #neil gaiman #series recommendation #series review #dead boy detectives review

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drowninginblox · 10 months

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Season one

Season two

Season three

God.. this season… so much in so little time fr. B u t. I am a committed woman, and I will continue what I started.

So. Let’s get into this.

Keith’s heritage

I’m beginning to take back what I said in one of my prior posts about how I want to redo Keith’s heritage. Specifically about it being a secret to everyone on the team. I’m learning to love the way the show reveals that fact about him to the audience. Truly.

But I think he should know. Not everything, just that he's not fully human. And I still stand by the fact that his galra side should be more physical. Fucking love the galra Keith HC so much wE WERE ROBBED MEN-

Growing pains- Heavy spoilers. Watch Voltron already if you haven't bc I will be talking about (arguably) the best arc of the series

This is going to be something.

As of starting the third season, I really like the change. Purely because of how uncomfortable it is for everyone involved. It’s gonna be painful. The best kind though. Because even though we aren’t expecting it, we know that through the context of the show- this could’ve happened at any time, to any of the paladins

Voltron is out here saying actions have consequences, and that is very compelling. Both in concept and in execution.

I think this plot point is fucking amazing.

The question of where tf Shirio is after the season 2 finale is great, the natural progression of the lions is a stark but needed change (love prioritizing the narritive, I hope this keeps happening in the future), hell- the character growth is fucking phamominal (will talk about that after this point)

WE ALSO GET THE JOURNEY FUCK I LOVE THAT EP-

Also- THE INTRO CHANGES WITH THE CHANGING OF LIONS SO YOU DON’T KNOW WHO THE BLACK PALADIN IS- UGGHHH!!!

I fucking love it man. I'm rocking with what season 3 is giving me. But I'm afraid of what season 4 has to offer. I remember how Shiro's missing/dead arc resolves itself (in season 4ish) but i dont fully remember the indetween bits and the stigma of Voltron falling off by that point is blarring through my mind

Looking forward to that Shiro/Keith fight tho!

Now let’s take some time for the characters during this transition

Keith... god what can I say about him that hasn't already been said? probably nothing honestly. His responce to all of this is so natural and realistic. Of course he doesn't want the responciblity of the Black lion. Shiro was qualified to be leader, not him! Just because this is what Shiro wanted, dosent mean it's what he wants for himself. The struggle is delicious!

Lance is really mature about this AND I AM LIVING FOR IT. Its moments like this that reminds me that Lance is a wonderful addition to Voltron. A needed addition even. (I really wanna ramble about the five man band dynamic, but I'll link a video about it when I find it again right here) I want to see more of this!!!! Give me serious Lance for more than just a minute!!

Hunk and Pidge are bystanders. I’m sorry but other than comic relief and voices of reason, they are secondary to Keith, Lance and Allura. Bless them both. They deserve better. I can feel it as soon as the first episode- they are slowly being ushered into the background. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth with hindsight.

Allura is radiating vibes that I can’t describe other than- “o k a y girl I see you.” In all honesty, the more I watch the show the more distain I have for Allura comes out. That bratty privileged princess that acts on impulses rather than thinking things through is grating. Now this could easily be fixed with intervention in the form of someone more mature than her- for the first two seasons, it was Shiro. But now that he’s gone, that aspect of her is showing more and more and no one is actually going against her like Shirio did. When it was at its worst, Shiro was the only one to put himself in danger as a kind of surogate bodyguard while the rest of the group is on standby. But ever since Keith became leader, there’s this mentality of “if the princess is going we’re all going.” And it’s Stupid. Stand your ground man! Be the stuburn dude you are!! Pleasae, ctually think about this for a moment! The worst part is that if anyone brought up Allura's implusivity then it would be amasing character development to the person that dose and to Keith and Allura as well! Keith would have to repremend/ talk to Allura about how dangerous that is to her and the team and Allura would have to learn the consequences of her actions!

Coran, Im so sorry that you are given crumbs my man. I love you so much- You are THE FUCKING FATHER FIGURE WE NEED!!! IM SO SORRY YOU ARE TASKED WITH LORE DUMPING, YOU ARE MORE THAN JUST A PLOT TOOL

Forming voltron

Bitches got this down too quick ngl. More team bonding rather than trauma bonding please

FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK COLOR COORDINATE!!!

Make LANCE RED

MAKE KEITH BLACK

M A K E ALLURA B L UE

It’s fucking irritating

And yes, I think it’s cool that Allura wears pink and pink is a color that Alteans used to honor those who fought for them. That’s cool. But it pisses me off to see Allura with a freaking blue bracer, and in the blue lion wearing pink like it’s Wednesday. Get with the program bitch. There is a uniform.

IF ANYTHING- give these bitches highlights for the lions they used to pilot. For example, give Keith a black uniform with red highlights along the shoulders or arms

Lotor

Mans said reading is fundamental 💅✨

I love his introduction. Manipulating the people into this unification that’s obviously distinct from his fathers but at the same time so traditional. Dude knows what he’s doing and he is going to do it for as long as he can.

This man also having combat prowess is fucking scary. He feels like more of a threat than his dad.

I also love his task force. Having a entourage that is distinctly other from the majority of the population is such a bold choice, whether it be from an audience or in universe point of view, it shows that the prince isn’t like the king. He is willing to make use of what's given to him with little public fuss.

Only critism I have is that I don't know any of these bitches names. Yall have them- please use them?

Allurance

Believe it or not, I can see more groundwork for the ship at the start of this season

With the passing over of the lions in Shiros absence, it’s allowing more neuance given the current plot.

Even though Keith and Lance don’t like it, they have to change because they’re in a time of change. War forces change.

I wish we can see that bleeding over to Coran, considering that his surrogate daughter is now on the front lines. But c’est la vie ig

Im rambling- Allurance

I can see this ship being built up but I don't know how to feel about the foundation yknow? I understand that the lion change would force Lance to mature. I love that shit. Good shit.

The slight role reversal Lance has with Alurra is refeshing. Love serious Lance

But like I said before- I don't like Alurra this season.

It also doesn't help that lance is still on his loverboy shit. Wich is fine! I have nothing against the trademark! I swear! It's just annoying that Lance has a specail place in his heart for Allura but continues on to swoon to/over every pretty girl he sees.

For the love of god- say dedicated Lance!! If you did maybe you'd get the girl!!

“Hole in the sky”

Desusex Machina the episode but I kind of like it

I hope someone made a fanfic out of this episode

The other reality is honestly v compelling it’s such a waste we only see it once

Shiro

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

FUCK THE JOURNEY WAS SO GOOD-!!!

Honest that whole episode makes up for the fact that dDeamworks had a Shirio bias my GOD

That episode was such a good lesson in (mostly) show don’t tell

And it still leaves the question of WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO SHIRO MY GOD

All of this to say, I’m torn.

Part of me wants the finality of Shiros death but the idea of Shiro clones is so good to me

Eh, I’ll figure it out.

So babes, rather than ramble about how long it’s been since I’ve done this I’d like to get an opinion from y’all.

Anyways that’s it. Take care of y’allselves

#voltron #voltron rewrite #voltron season 3 #TW voltron #voltron shiro #Shiro discussion lol

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kisilinramblings · 2 years

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re: that ask about people salting because Adrien's wish in jubilation was regarding romance and not something of his own - but in a way, isn't it right though? The show especially from season 4 has put Adrien in this box of 'Love interest whose existence is mainly dependent on their romance'? Adrien could've been a complex character and they could've explored his grief of his mother's death (because if she'd died a year earlier, no amount of optimism would lead him to be as cheerful - speaking as someone who has had to deal with a loss), but instead put him in this 'supporter' role. While marinette gets to have her own story and ~angst about her guardianship and her ~ trauma Adrien just...stays optimistic despite having much more serious issues and problems in his life ? And people then get mad when we get mad Adrien is being treated so badly by the narrative...Even gabriel gets treated with much more depth and care by the narrative when Adrien is the punching bag for it

Okay, life story! When my father died, I was the quickiest to mourn him. I helped out my older brother with the farm but after 6 months, I couldn't take it anymore of this routine and signed up to an university class in another region to get away and moved on. Why was it so fast for me? Because most of my mourning started when my father was still alive because he was sick (he died from an aneurysm rupture in the end, but at least it was quicker than his untreatable illness which would have been painful for him).

So, yeah, I understand Adrien, who got a sick parent before losing them. So tell me, Anon, am I -- or anyone -- an inhuman person to you because I don't want my father back even though I loved him?! No and neither is Adrien.

Because there is no typical mourning process. It's not a set amount of time then you are done. Some will go through it in a few months. Some will be mourning for several years. And it will be different between each members of the same family (and I speak from experience too).

Heck people can still be missing their dead love ones but still have the right to laugh during the process!

Adrien has done his mourning process and is trying to live his life. And new episode Passion also showed us it was also his mother's wish for him and Gabriel. Because she accepted she was going to die and wanted both of them to still find hapiness.

Unlike Gabriel, Adrien has moved on, but right now, the kid is rather inexperience in life. He is barely starting to define himself because, NEWSFLASH, not only has he lost his mother, but he is an abused child whose parent decided in his place what was best for him for years and were overprotective and didn't allow him the liberty to be himself. Adrien said it himself, as a kid, he wanted to be what his parents wanted him to be and never question what he truly wanted himself until recently (Wishmaker). Adrien has started to affirm himself, make life experiences and slowly gain independance outside the familial cell. Of course he has no clear idea.

So, of course Adrien can feel like a blank canvas at time, he is just starting to figure himself out! But since S1, we do know what he likes and what doesn't. He doesn't like to be a model. He was doing it initially to please his father. He is selfless and likes to please others. He has immense empathy. He loves to have fun. He makes puns. He hates lies. He doesn't want to travel the world. He wants to be with his friends, but above all, he wants an happy life with the person he loves. See? He is not a wax statue. He is a fictional character in a story build around a romance and going through a coming of age.

Finally, there is nothing wrong for Adrien to long for love, warmth and a family of his own in his life, especially after lacking it for a while. Heck, if he were to decide to be a homemaker as his civilian occupation, would that offense you? There are women who despite having all opportunities to take any career choose to stay at home. Not because it is expected out of them, but because they want to be there for their kid. Just like there are people who are satisfied to just have a normal job instead of being a CEO or something.

So, it isn't weird if a fictional character and a male one at that become like this.

#miraculous ladybug #ml season 5 #ml s5 spoilers #ml spoilers #adrien agreste #determination #passion #ml s5ep6 #ml s5ep7

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deaddee-anime-brownfanlady · 7 months

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So I finally finished watching the rest of Captain Lazerhawk and I must say that was a wild and very kickass interesting animated show. I really, seriously enjoyed it a lot honestly, while its far from perfect and does has its flaws to it, I thought the whole series was a pretty good balls to the wall entertaining & fun but still pretty serious at times and having its good emotional moments overall awesome animated action show.

That cliffhanger at the end with little video RPG game Dolph who seems to be alive? In some kind of VR void. And then you had Sarah dad or at least I think it was her dad or perhaps someone else popping up saying " This is where we fight back " Which I'm hoping could lead to a possible Season 2 maybe.

Other aspects and just random thoughts on this final episode.

Seriously was so glad that Dolph finally took out that red ranger asshole because that guy was truly getting on my nerves and man what a cool fight / battle scene at that. I swear the animation to this show is so freaking good especially during action scenes as I said before its really gives me that Studio Trigger vibe from it, also So happy that Bullfrog was spared from being executed because he is truly one of my favorites characters from this show for many reasons including being both badass and cute as HELL.

Also Ray-man or better yet Ramon was also I feel one of the highlight's of this show with seeing his development and him finding out the truth about how super corrupted Eden actually is and him being used as their alien Poster-boy mascot for their propaganda. It was defiantly good to see him kill those Eden higher-ups...but something tells me that they are likely aren't the only ones.

Would so love to see more of this show and were it could possibly go in terms of the worldbuilding and dealing with Eden deep lies / corruption & its shitty treatment of hybrids and its people also Sarah still not freaking Dead! and her proposal to Holloway on changing Eden ( Which I'm very iffy about & still don't trust her ass ).

Again would love to see more of this, but knowing how Netflix is with their long record of mistreating shows, especially animated ones like crap and just cancelling them out of nowhere. So yeah...but either way, Captain Lazhawk was a wild gay action-packed fun crazy ride of an animated show.

#Captain Laserhawk #adult animation #captain lazerhawk spoilers #animation #adult animated shows #adult animated series #Netflix animation #2023 animation #just talking #animated series #animated shows

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cyarsk52-20 · 1 year

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14 Things Said During The 'Vanderpump Rules" Finale That Will Stay With Me For The Rest Of My Days, Including "You're Worth Nothing" Ariana looking Sandoval dead in the eye and whispering, "You're worth nothing. And I want you to feel that, deep in your soul. I want you to hear that. I regret ever loving you."

14 Things Said During The 'Vanderpump Rules" Finale That Will Stay With Me For The Rest Of My Days, Including "You're Worth Nothing"

BuzzFeed Staff

Have any of you recovered yet from the other night's Vanderpump Rules finale???? I woke up yesterday (and maybe today) just wanting to hug Ariana. You too?

Basically, the whole world has been counting down until this week's episode — Season 10, Episode 15, titled "#Scandoval" — to see what exactly happened in the Vanderpump Rules bubble when news broke that Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss were having a seventh-month-long affair.

If you're not up to date on what happened Wednesday night, here's a very helpful — and detailed — recap.

A lot went down, so I decided to do a fun little roundup of quotes from the finale that will live rent-free in my head FOREVER. Here are some of them.

1. In the opening scenes where Ariana was on her couch taking in the Scandoval news, she said to her friend about Tom, "He gives me the ick."

Producers knew what they were doing here because as Ariana said this line, cameras panned to Tom looking at himself in the mirror, truly giving EVERYONE the ick.

2. The now-famous scene where Tom asked Ariana if she wants anything and she casually turns to him and says, "For you to die."

3. During the emotional conversation between Ariana and Tom when she bravely told him off and she said, "'Selfish' is the nicest word you could use" when Tom said his and Raquel's actions were selfish.

4. During this same conversation when Tom said to Ariana, "You put pressure on me to stay in the relationship." I wanted to throw my TV right out the window when I heard this gaslighting.

5. TBH, Ariana was full of great one-liners during this intense conversation with Tom, so another favorite of mine is when she asked him, "Any last words before we never speak again?" MIC DROPPED.

6. Ariana looking Sandoval dead in the eye and whispering, "You're worth nothing. And I want you to feel that, deep in your soul. I want you to hear that. I regret ever loving you." YES, QUEEN. 👑

7. Fast-forward to when Tom Sandoval went over to Tom Schwartz's apartment and the two were digesting the affair. The conversation that took place between these two was on another level. Like, when Sandoval said to Schwartz, "I wanted to tell [Ariana] and every time I wanted to tell her, I got this vibe that she just did not want to fucking know." WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?

8. I can't stop thinking about when Schwartz said to Katie in the midst of a serious convo, "There's man-eating crocodiles in Florida right now." Is he OKAY?!

9. When James was on the phone with Raquel calling her out on her shit, I lost it when he said to her, "All the people you were building friendships with, you literally trashed it for Sandoval's little cocky cock.

10. James continued... "His stinky 40-year-old cock, like seriously Raquel?" JAMES KENNEDY FOR PRESIDENT. 👏

11. Okay, how about that very cringe, awkward scene when Sandoval went over to Raquel's apartment for them to hold each other and cry? 🙄 When talking about his family liking Raquel, he said "they love you" and Raquel responded by saying "I love you too."

12. It really got even worse when Sandoval replied, "I said 'They love you' but I love you too.” I almost FAINTED.

13. When Tom said in his confessional, "When I kissed Raquel, I felt hope." To me, this is a ridiculous cop out and him trying to justify his horrible actions.

14. When former VPR cast member Kristen Doute went over to Ariana's house to counsel her, Ariana was explaining what Tom's camp came out and said to the public. "They said [my and Tom's] relationship was one of companionship and convenience and not love and romance." Talk about a pathetic excuse.

There is a lot to digest here! Tell me all your VPR finale thoughts in the comments below.

Watch the finale episode and more Vanderpump Rules on Peacock!

Read in BuzzFeed: https://apple.news/A8c0k-w_SSgeJfc25GHuI6Q

Shared from Apple News

Sent from my iPhone

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sexc-snail · 1 year

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We have a giant pecan tree in our backyard that sheds nuts every April - I'm talking so many pecans on the grass that it's more brown than green. And for some reason our dogs adore the pecans, whether it's the nuts themselves or the hardened fruit they were in, or the empty shells, they love them. They'll steal them from the grass, squirrel them away inside the house, fight over them (even though there's so many on the grass they don't need to), and most annoyingly, chew them and leave a mess everywhere.

It falls to me to clear the pecans once a year because I'm the most thorough. I go out with two buckets, one for pecans, one for the fruits they were in which have usually hardened by then and any bad pecans just so no dogs can get to them. It takes a serious chunk out of the day but by the end we have a whole bucket filled to the brim with pecan nuts for pesto and a bucket of fire/composting supplies.

My go to method is to pick the pecans off the ground in sections (while avoiding the dogs who always get very excited that I am taking an interest in their hobbies and try to body tackle me with ferocity that does not match their size) and then bring down the low hanging branches to pick the ripe nuts so they don't fall over the freshly pecan-free lawn.

If you have never felt the true simple joy of rooting around on the ground for nuts, fending off dogs that come to investigate, and jumping on or using a dead branch to bring down low hanging branches just to furiously shake them and watch the pecans fly you have not lived. I have been on three different types of antidepressants and never have I felt so whole, at peace, and truly content with life.

Sidenote: one of the dogs that is specifically mine is too lazy to steal the pecans and instead chooses a single pecan as her comfort pecan and just holds it while trailing around behind me because she has attachment issues.

Extra sidenote: we have magpies that regularly perch in the pecan tree and I will always toss them a couple kibbles of dog food or some leftovers with a special whistle that lets them know it's food time. During pecan season I toss them any opened pecans with some of the nut still inside or the fruit from the pecan if it is still relatively green. They must have caught on to this because by the time I was finished with the pecans on the ground I was surprised to find it raining pecans - they were plucking them off the tree and dropping them down to me because they saw I was collecting them! Which is a very nice thought but not so nice when it took hours to clean a lawn that they are effectively littering and you yourself are getting occasionally pelted with flying pecan nuts.

#ah the simple joys in life #magpies #pecan tree #pecans #foraging #cottagecore #story #happiness

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deripmaver · 3 years

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laurent is a good person - book 1 meta

one of the most amazing things about captive prince is how the reveals in book 3 recontextualize all of the scenes leading up to them, including about laurent himself. in book one, all we see is damen pov as he’s being abused and humiliated by this supposedly spoiled, vile ice prince. when the regent comes to damen and subtly (and not so subtly) insults laurent, calling him unfit to rule - well, why would he think anything different? laurent has insulted him, had him whipped within an inch of his life, and even attempted to (and later successfully lmfao) have him raped while drugged out of his mind.

after book 3 we can reread most if not all of book 1 as a very traumatized boy who has finally been confronted with the man who killed his brother, leaving him alone with his abusive uncle, and who he clearly has made into a complete monster in his own mind. damen of course sees him as a complete bitch, but there’s textual/subtextual evidence that laurent is well liked, and that his behavior during book 1 was actually pretty out of character for him. i’d like to provide some examples of that now!!!!

“Laurent had stopped dead the moment he had seen Damen, his face turning white as though in reaction to a slap, or an insult. Damen’s view, half-truncated by the short chain at this neck, had been enough to see that. But Laurent’s expression had shuttered quickly.” Captive Prince, Chapter One

i couldn’t resist adding this one in hehe. laurent recognizes damen!! he’s come down, knowing his uncle has devised another truly horrendous and triggering “gift” and that he’ll lose support if he calls it our for what it truly is, only to find out that it’s fucking damianos of akielos sent to him as a sex slave. a jab at laurent’s trauma about auguste and also a jab at laurent’s frigid sexuality - which ofc is completely the regent’s fault. fuck that guy so much lmfao

“‘It’s so rare to see you at these entertainments, Your Highness,’ said Vannes.” Captive Prince, Chapter Two.

this is right before the fight between govart and damen in the ring, of course. damen sees laurent as depraved and vile as the sexual sadism on display by the veretian court, and considers him to be a willing purveyor of it. this is wrong, of course, as said by vannes here. laurent has only shown up because he wants to humiliate damen lmfao.

“He did remember being supported by two of the guards, here, in this room, while Radel stared athis back in horror. ‘The Prince really . . . did this.’ ‘Who else?’ Damen said. Radel had stepped forward, and slapped Damen across the face; it was a hard slap, and the man wore three rings on each finger. ‘What did you do to him?’ Radel demanded.” Captive Prince, Chapter Four

this scene, to me, was the most telling lmfao. it’s right after damen is whipped. you could argue that radel is just a servant in the employ of the royal household, so is of course going to be loyal to the prince, but he seems genuinely surprised of the prince’s cruelty towards damen. not only that, but he slaps him and immediately assumes damen must have done something. which - i mean, technically he did lmao. not necessarily enough to deserve having the skin flayed from his back, but you know. if laurent was in the habit of torturing pets and slaves, why would the overseer react this way?

“The men guarding him were the Prince’s Guard, and had no affiliation with the Regent whatsoever. It surprised Damen how loyal they were to their Prince, and how diligent in his service, airing none of the grudges and complaints that he might have expected, considering Laurent’s noxious personality. Laurent’s feud with his uncle they took up wholeheartedly; there were deep schisms and rivalries between the Prince’s Guard and the Regent’s Guard, apparently.” Captive Prince, Chapter Four

laurents relationships with his guards are also some of the biggest indicators that he isn’t just a spoiled brat, but can insire a deep loyalty in his men. even if they do all want to fuck him. ah, sexual harassment. it’s also hilarious that damen immediately assumes they’re loyal to him because they want to fuck him - nice projection there, dude. we know a bit more about laurent and his guards thanks to green but for a season, but this little bit here is interesting.

“Laurent was indeed good at talking. He accepted sympathy gracefully. He put his position rationally. He stopped the flow of talk when it became dangerously critical of his uncle. He said nothing that could be taken as an open slight on the Regency. Yet no one who talked to him could have any doubt that his uncle was behaving at best misguidedly and at worst treasonously.” Captive Prince, Chapter Five

idek what to say here. laurent my beloved <3333

“‘When someone doesn’t like you very much, it isn’t a good idea to let them know that you care about something,’ said Laurent. Damen felt himself turn ashen, as the threat sank in. ‘Would it hurt worse than a lashing for me to cut down someone you care for?’ said Laurent.” Captive Prince, Chapter Seven

this isn’t really relevant to my thesis lmfao i just love this exchange bc it gives SO MUCH information about laurent and his uncle in just three lines of dialogue. what has the regent done, who did he cut down just to hurt laurent? when and how did laurent learn that? p a i n

“Laurent’s fussy horse began acting out again, and he leaned forward in the saddle, murmuring something as he stroked her neck in an uncharacteristically gentle gesture to quiet her.” Captive Prince, Chapter Nine.

HORSEY NO- lmfao this scene just hurts so badly on the reread. especially later on, in book 3 i think, where laurent says something like “i provoked my uncle.” he’s really blaming himself for his uncle KILLING HIS HORSE, his horse that his murdered brother trained, one of the only living connections to auguste... all because his uncle could not let a single miniscule plan laurent had set go through without some kind of repercussion. literally all laurent did was do something to stop an innocent group of people from being abused, nothing to undermine his uncle’s rule, but because the regent is VILE he could not let laurent have even this. he’s so good with her, too. he must have known by this point and also known that there was no way to stop this. P A I N

“‘I know that you have somehow arranged this,’ said Erasmus. He was incapable of hiding what he felt, and just seemed to radiate embarrassed happiness. ‘You kept your promise. You and your master. I told you he was kind,’ Erasmus said. ‘You did,’ said Damen. He was pleased to see Erasmus happy. Whatever Erasmus believed about Laurent, Damen wasn’t going to dissuade him. ‘He’s even nicer in person. Did you know he came and talked to me?’ said Erasmus. ‘—He did?’ said Damen. It was something he couldn’t imagine. ‘He asked about . . . what happened in the gardens. Then he warned me. About last night.’ ‘He warned you,’ said Damen. ‘He said that Nicaise would make me perform before the court and it would be awful, but that if I was brave, something good might come at the end of it.’ Erasmus looked up at Damen curiously. ‘Why do you look surprised?’ ‘I don’t know. I shouldn’t be. He likes to plan things in advance,’ said Damen.” Captive Prince, Chapter 9.

this is the first in-text confirmation we have that laurent has a good heart beneath his layers and layers of trauma-induced lashing out. book one often skeeves people out because of its graphic and, honestly, yes, kind of sexualized depiction of rape, slavery, and depravity, but beneath it all you meet these two protagonists who are going to have all of their most deeply held views about each other challenged. laurent from very early on is shaken to his core when damen refuses to rape nicaise in the ring - it cracks the very foundations of the person he’d built up in his head as this horrible monster who killed his brother in cold blood. and damen keeps defying laurents expectations by being a good person through and through. on the other hand, laurent spends the first part of the book taking out years of anger on damen, but here for the first time we see him do something just because its the kind thing to do. yes, torveld is an ally against his uncle, but laurent has clearly been scheming with him for a while now, and he’s now overlooking his hatred of damen and working with him just because none of the slaves deserve whats happened to them. it’s such a sweet moment.

“One of the other men, eyeing them, approached a moment later. ‘Don’t mind Jean. He’s in a foul mood. He was the one had to stick a sword through the mare’s throat and put her down. The Prince tore strips off him for not doing it fast enough.’” Captive Prince, Chapter Nine.

HORSEY NO- pt 2. this is just another really sweet and sad detail - laurent being so upset that the horse’s death could have been more painless. it must have hurt so much to see her in pain, and to know that the only way for that pain to end was being put down as quickly as possible. i wuv him. im sad

that’s it, though there are still a few more chapters left in the book. this isn’t providing any new information, of course, the path of the three books is to show that laurent isnt the man we meet in book one, that he’s actually sweet, and earnest, and he’s been fighting his own battle practically alone against his abuser since he was fifteen years old. also, the reveal that laurent knew who damianos was from the start makes it clear imo that all of his violence in book 1 was supposed vengence, not... him being evil. he apologizes explicitly in-text, and also, all of the acts of violence he commits cause serious problems for him in terms of his future alliance which he then needs to fix. i just love how layered these books are, how there’s so much information in them that makes rereading almost more fun than reading them for the very first time!

#Captive Prince #captive prince meta #damen x laurent #Laurent of Vere #Damianos of Akielos

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calliopecalling · 2 years

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QOTS Rewatch - 3x10 - La Muerte

Wellllll, from here on out the season is pretty dismal. I'm already depressed 😂 This is why season 3 can't be my fave: because after 3x09 I just want to pretend the rest never happened. There are some really great episodes here, there's some great Teresa character stuff, great James character stuff, very satisfying closure to the Camila/Cortez stuff... and I enjoy a lot of it. But in my heart of hearts, my favorite things about the show are Jeresa and Teresa's individual journey, and since the absence of Jeresa makes Teresa's individual journey darker and sadder... I find the show from this point until James's return a lot harder to watch. This episode in particular, I remember watching it live and just being soooo fucking depressed as soon as I realized the episode was opening with her waking up injured in a pile of rubble. Like just... noooooooooo 😩 The amount of trauma this poor woman has had to endure and we can't let her just.... chill for an episode after taking out Mayo and the rest of the Comisi��n?? I get it, that wouldn't be great TV, so let's just pretend there were several happy weeks between the end of 3x09 and Teresa's trip to Bolivia in 3x10. But still. Even with that allowance. It's fucking exhausting to watch her suffer soooo much, and then for the consequence of that suffering to be that she damages the happiness she might've had. Still... there are some beautiful things about this episode too, things that I clung to during the nearly three years between when the episode originally aired and season 5 premiered.

It's actually next episode that gets truly depressing with Teresa spending most of it putting up serious walls between herself and James when she thinks he's the mole. This episode is depressing because of the hardship Teresa goes through:

El Santo's little angel shows up to instruct Teresa to go to Bolivia at sundown the next morning, alone, or forever forfeit his product.

Teresa and James have that so sweet, so soft 'come back to us' conversation, leaving us with just the most meager glimpse of how their post-3x09 domestic life may have felt.

Teresa takes a shower... *by herself* which very much ought to have been a joint shower with James.... (sorry).

Kelly Anne tries to basically convince Teresa to quit the business and leave this life behind; she's an emotional wreck and I don't know how I didn't figure out the first time I watched this that she was the obvious mole. I can't remember what I thought would happen, but I was definitely freaked out that the show writers might've actually turned James, which was my number one most-hated plot device in the entire show lol.

Teresa makes it to Bolivia where a buuuuunch of weird shit happens; it seems to be at El Santo's villa in the jungle and all his distributors are there and he's trying to figure out which one of them is responsible for his shipments being held up in Ireland. The others all end up throwing Teresa under the bus but Devon's raid saves her just in time (but kills all the others, except for El Santo himself and his baby, who he cuts out of the presumably dead mother).

She takes poison and hides in the mud to evade the drones hunting them down and she hallucinates slash visits an unsettling afterlife where she and Guero have a daughter together and he tries to convince her to stay there with him.

But she sees James in her vision and something in her clicks and she knows she doesn't want to remain in the land of the dead. James represents life. Something to live for.

But when she wakes up she realizes that Devon was able to find El Santo's compound because of a tracker on Guero's necklace that she'd worn down there, and the episode ends with her sinking feeling (encouraged by Pote) that maybe it was James that put it there.

So it's that vision of hers that I want to talk about because I think it's a pretty big freaking deal. She essentially dies (El Santo told her that there's no guarantee of resurrection if she swallows this poison) and finds herself in an afterlife. The one she always wanted--with Guero. She's pregnant and domestic, he's his smooth sweet self with her. Then she blinks and she's a mother now, with a daughter, and Guero still by her side. A few episodes ago in her grief she almost seemed ready to die just to be able to hold onto the dream of that life, but even then, she knew it was a dream that had already died, and this vision here, in this episode, cements that. Here she's given a final choice: she can stay here. With Guero. With their daughter. She can have peace; she can get away from the violence and trauma of the drug world.

But she knows it's not right. It feels off. She doesn't feel connected to Guero, or her child. And then she sees James. He's out of place here. In a hoodie, hovering in the corner, and then he turns towards her, and you can see the recognition in her eyes. Guero is next to her, he's still talking to her, trying to convince her to stay, but her eyes are glued to James.

She knows. I think this is the moment she knows she loves him. It's the moment she finally, unequivocally chooses James over Guero.

And actually I think this is really powerful and is directly related to why she immediately turned around and put their entire relationship in jeopardy.

Teresa is a master of compartmentalization. Since that phone rang in Guero's house, she's been fighting for her life, having to shove down her emotions in order to be able to get up every morning. If she tried to actually unpack her emotional trauma in the life she's living, I think it would potentially immobilize her. Kelly Anne asks her in this episode, before she leaves for Bolivia, why she doesn't just curl into a little ball sometimes. Teresa says, because I never had that choice. We see that as strength, but the truth is, curling into a little ball is actually a really powerful and important way that our bodies process and move through trauma. Animals do this too--they process trauma physically, in their bodies, by going off by themselves and shaking it out. But if they're still in danger, they can't do that. They don't go shake off the trauma until they're physically safe from harm.

So Teresa hasn't done this and she can't do it because it would leave her vulnerable. She's in a life where she has to constantly be on guard. She lets down her guard to process her trauma and she's at risk of being killed. I think that actually is literally true, given the story we see unfolding on our screens--the relentlessness of what she deals with, day in and day out... it's exhausting. So yeah, she's become a master of letting her emotions play out largely beneath the surface.

Of course, this then means that all emotions are playing out beneath the surface. She's not necessarily turning totally away from them and she does have a pretty good degree of self-awareness (like her ability to tell James that she has a hard time trusting people, for example) but she just can't go too deep with them. I think this is why she comes across as colder towards James than he is towards her and why she seems almost unfairly slow to warm up to him.

But her subconscious is different. Both times we visit her subconscious, we get such a different perspective on her emotions. In the first one, she is vulnerable, she is scared, and she needs comfort and reassurance; she hallucinates James embracing her, calming her, petting her hair, holding her face, kissing her. This is not the self-possessed, self-protective, private Teresa of her waking life, the one who gives James very little to work with and certainly never acts like she needs him. And the outcome of that vision for her is that she almost pulls back from him even more once they get back from Bolivia. Episodes 207, 208, in contrast to 203, 204... it's like she's scared of what she learned about herself from her visions so she's retreating from James even more. She doesn't want to need him. The thought of depending on someone else emotionally again terrifies her.

And I think the same thing happens here. She realizes, in this 3x10 hallucination, that she loves James. Not just a basic kind of love, like the way you love a friend, or even like a deeper familial bond, but I think she recognizes in this moment of looking at him across the pool that there's a soul connection there. Obviously by now she's slept with him at least a few times (I mean, we can agree that it's canon that they've by now had a bunch more sex off-screen right?? lol), and they've talked to each other, at least a little bit, about feelings-related stuff (e.g., in 3x08), so she's perfectly aware she has feelings for him and she's not trying to pretend she doesn't, she's not playing games. But I don't think she's allowed herself, in her waking life, to really unpack them, to put those feelings in her hands and examine them and really give them a lot of breathing room.

This vision does that for her. While her body is physically incapacitated, her mind is granted the space to process her emotions. And this is what comes up.

So again -- as she did before -- she wakes up and now has to reckon with that realization. But before she's really able to, she finds that necklace with its damn tracker in it and, following in her established pattern, she immediately retreats from the revelation of the unnervingly deep feelings she has into someplace a little bit safer: mistrust. It's ironic because you'd obviously think that doubting James would feel like a far less safe place to be, mentally--I mean, it can't feel good to be suspicious that someone you love is betraying you. But I think that defaulting back to her place of forced independence is in some ways a relief. If James maybe betrayed her, then she doesn't have to look at what it means to be in love with him. She doesn't have to contend with being emotionally vulnerable to him. She's far more practiced at this point with the bodily vulnerability she has to deal with every single day in this business than with the emotional vulnerability that being in love with someone entails. Trusting someone with your heart is far more vulnerable than trusting them with your physical safety (hence why Pote isn't complicated in the same way James is).

Obviously her distrust won't last long--by the end of next episode she already knows she's wrong and will regret it, profoundly. But I think even though the next episode is sooo painful, and so frustrating, this episode does something really beautiful for Teresa and for her relationship with James. She knows now that she loves him. It's a terrifying truth and it's one that she's going to try to hide from before learning the hard way that hiding from it causes more pain (to everyone) in the long run. But at least now she knows.

#queen of the south #qots #qots s3 #3x10 #2021 rewatch #txt post #qots reaction post #qots meta #also #rewatching this episode reminded me exactly how much I resent Kelly Anne for this betrayal #and exactly how perplexing it is to me that Teresa ever let her back in #this episode and next episode both just reinforce how much I don't think I can forgive her and Pote for how badly they mess up here #in their different ways #anyway I might need help lol #I have so much compassion for Teresa but then with KA and Pote I'm like #EFFFFF YOU GUYS GO TO HELL lol #also gotta call out queenpin's appearance here #and her subtle nudge towards James #Teresa's all eyeballing James in his hoodie and queenpin's like that's right mama you only have one life to live go get it #appreciate her for that 🙏🏼

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blorbosondeck · 3 years

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fic rec masterlist

canon divergent/finale fix its

Anamnesis

THIS! FIC! this fic lives in my head rent FREE it is so good and it makes so much sense in the narrative that the shitty finale concocted, as to why they wouldn't mention cas or anyone else and its just. so good and they write chuck in the most villainous way that i love!!!

"Chuck is depowered, Jack is the new god, and the world is free. Dean and Sam get into the Impala and chase down the miles on an endless highway, and their story is finally, finally their own to follow. At least, that's what Dean tells himself. But the diners and motels and painted interstate lines are blurring together and the smallest details keep catching at his brain like tiny fishhooks and he can't quite shake the feeling that not everything is exactly as it should be. Fix-it/alternate series finale. Canon-compliant through the end of 15.19."

Sunset Sound: Stairway to Heaven by @adhdeancas

GOD FUCKING CHRIST this is so good and sweet and im such a sucker for team ups and reunions!!! its 3:30 am rn and i just finished it and i love it SO much it made me laugh a lot and the last few chapters i had the stupidest grin just plastered to my face

The Closer the Star, the Greater the Parallax by @rocksalts

repressed bastard dean submits to the mortifying ordeal of being known and receives the rewards of being loved but only after some miscommunication i LOVE this i read it last night and it’s a fast favorite. my interests have overlapped and i am INTO it

“When Dean sits down to watch some bullcrap Discovery Channel episode with Cas, he doesn’t expect to actually learn anything. Except, with Cas explaining, he makes an effort to connect the dots.”

Don't We All Deserve To Be Happy?

VERY sweet and a VERY good pick me up. all around feel good fic!!!

"Post-canon fix-it, divergent from 15x19 where Jack stays and Dean doesn't die and Cas comes back and everyone is happy. Take a shot every time I'm salty about the finale."

Keep Your Love Alive

okay. okay okay okay this may be my favorite finale fix it just because of how well reasoned it is. like this feels what should have happened i love it SO much

"Dean gets to spend eternity sharing beers with Bobby on the Roadhouse porch and riding around in his Baby with Sam. He’s at peace… or he feels like he should be. But a few things nag at him: Where is Cas, and everybody else Dean had been hoping to see in Heaven? Why does he feel like he’s stuck in a loop, reliving the same memories over and over again? And who are the strangers wearing Sam’s and Bobby’s faces?"

The GoldenRod Revisions by @aethylas

this is one of the most well written things ive ever read. the script format DID make it feel more real and honestly? this is better writing than this show deserves. the finale that could have been ♥️

“A rewrite of Supernatural’s final two episodes, expanded into a five episode arc - in which Chuck needs to be defeated, Castiel deserves to be saved, and the characters in this story get a very different ending.“

Ascend by @wanderingcas

THEE finale fix it fic!!! written by the AMAZINGLY skilled and talented @wanderingcas !!! it’s 50k of angst and hurt/comfort and pure bliss

“Something in the world is wrong.

Demon activity is rising where mysterious black substance oozes and unusual ecological events are shaking the world. Dean, grief hanging on his shoulders, restlessly searches for answers that might lead him to the Empty… and to Cas.

But what Chuck wrote can’t be undone. The narrative thread pulls Dean along, forcing him to comply. Because once a story already has an ending, it can’t be rewritten.

Or can it?”

Things Happen (They Do, And They Do, And They Do) by THEE @sobsicles

i KNOW everyone has already recommended this and likely you’ve all already read it. but it has to go here bc REPRESSIOOOOOOOOON i LOVE this so much it is one of the most perfect things i’ve read. are you bisexual? did you have a kind of weird relationship with your best friend and not realize that how you felt about them wasn’t necessarily how other people felt about them and you were maybe a little bit in love with them but were too repressed to realize it? you’ll feel seen. maybe a little too seen

Closer (isn't close enough)

are you a sweet and sappy yet horny bastard? do you like cas exploding light bulbs? you will like this.

“the one where they finally talk about what cas said before the empty took him”

You and Your Husband

it is exTRMELY sweet!!! repression dean strikes again <3

"Five times Dean corrects someone about his relationship with Cas, and one time he realizes he doesn't need to."

Tall Grass

miscommunication and a slowburn! despite being written in 2017 and finished in 2018, it feels like a fix it. ft. plant obsessed cas <3

Invictus

a LOVELY and short (relatively) finale fix it

“They saved the world. They're free. It's done.

Except it's not, and carrying on is the last thing any of them are thinking about.

They still have someone they need to save.”

Unchained Link

post finale- it’s a great case fic and i am compelled i want more!!!

"It's after the end of things. Life continues on while Dean is "livin it up" in heaven. But it's never that simple, is it? A freak occurrence sends Dean into another time stranded back on Earth. And he thought his hunting days were over. But, no worries. His knight in shining armor comes to the rescue. Hijinks, therefore, ensue."

fun and time unspecified

Ladies and Gentlemen, This is Love Potion No. 5

very funny and sweet! miscommunication at its finest ♥️

"Cas gets drenched with a mystery potion from the ‘love spell’ shelf and... Dean has a sneaking suspicion, angel or no— the spell may have taken effect. And Cas might be in love with Sam."

The Way We Were

Y'all. It is so good its a great mix of funny and serious- extremely fun to see dean as like a base bisexual

"Dean and Castiel pose as a couple to gain access to a gated community known as 'The Glen', a pleasant if secretive location that the boys believe might be linked to several dead bodies showing up over the years bearing signs of ritualistic sacrifice. All seems well until Dean's memory is affected from an incident during a solo exploration, leaving Dean convinced that their cover story is true. Castiel is left trying to resolve their case without taking advantage of an increasingly enthusiastic Dean"

While You Were Sleeping

this is basically just the movie but replacing sandra bullock with cas. this is my comfort movie and imo, one of the most perfect rom coms. the fic isn’t finished but i still have the tab open on my phone and i will straight up go back and re read it when i need a pick me up.

aus/rewrites

The Harvelle Gospels: Offscript

i know everyone ever ( @jewishcharliebradbury ) has recommended this fic. and for good reason go fucking read it

“The Apocalypse is averted, the angels are in Heaven, and Jo is free from the threat of possession. Somehow it couldn't be farther from a happy ending.“

absolute riots

An Ineffably Profound Bond

i honestly would have put this in the finale fix it section! look. i know. i know you've been burned by crossover fics before. but this is Thee good omens/spn fic you want. its funny as hell and immensely satisfying. im weak for everyone working together tropes and that is this

"After Chuck sets 'The End' in motion, the remaining members of TFW make a miraculous escape. Not willing to waste any time, Castiel comes up with a plan to travel to one of the other worlds to try and get help from the angels there, but after a fight with Dean, it's the hunter who gets sent into an alternate universe,with seemingly no hope of return.

When a mysterious human with a heavenly weapon shows up in Aziraphale's shop, he and Crowley learn that their world is not the only one. Now it is up to them to decide whether or not they want to join forces with the human and help him save his world or simply find a way to send him home."

Somebody Up There Likes Me by @lafilleredige

cas is hit with a spell that turns his vessel into a woman, hijinks and sexuality crises ensue etc etc sam is a supportive and bitchy little brother and its all SO fucking funny and also. horny as hell i love it i love it i LOVE it

“’Dean doesn’t want to talk about your breasts, it’s making him uncomfortable because he hasn’t acknowledged the complex fluidity of human sexuality.’“

Stray Cat Strut

a long crack fic that IS one of the funniest things i’ve ever read and i can’t explain why. it’s so ooc but its so funny that i don’t care. if you need a laugh you gotta read this

"Sam and Cas are immediately in love with the adorable kitty they find outside the bunker door, and occupy their time planning how to convince Dean--who they believe is off sulking after a botched hunt--to let them keep their cat. Along the way, Dean learns to use a litter box and hears some confessions he maybe wasn’t supposed to hear, all while realizing just how much he loves Castiel.

Now all Dean has to do is convince Cas and Sam their new pet cat is actually him before they do something crazy--like neuter him!"

canon compliant or slight canon divergence

Give

by @doublestuffedimpala post season 7 episode 7, kind of ambiguous ending but truly a cas is happy to bleed for the winchesters fic

Punch Like Bones

short, post 5x04 homoerotic moment that i wish we’d gotten

#lmao please interact with this i spent so much time on it #i had to go onto desktop for this #ill keep adding on to it #my fic recs #fic rec #spn fic rec #deancas fic recs #charlie.txt

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mistandshcdow · 2 years

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firstly, i’m a massive tenth doctor fan.

my sister and i are rewatching his seasons, as we got the boxed set for christmas, and just finished season three (one of my favourite finale’s ever).

as a kid, ten’s determination to forgive the master came across as noble, heroic and well, awesome. (as well as extremely gay) but when i watched it now, it comes across as what it truly is: pathetic.

not in a bad way, but a neutral way. he is being pathetic, desperate to keep the only last time lord alive, so much so that he forgives him before he even committed the most serious crime: universal genocide. ten has been unforgiving and angry in previous episodes, such as his treatment of the family of blood, but the master gets special forgiveness.

i used to think the doctor had the right to forgive him. i no longer think so. martha’s family, jack, lucy, they all had the right to want him dead, to desire to kill him personally, and they all express this desire. the doctor was hurt during the year that never was, but not nearly on the same scale as martha’s family, jack and lucy, who were all repeatedly physically and mentally tortured.

the doctor forgiving him and stopping anyone from hurting him is not a heroic scene, it’s a selfish scene, it’s showing his hypocrisy and desperation to not be alone. lucy’s killing of the master is one of my favourite parts of the season, because she absolutely had the right. the doctor did not.

#doctor who #david tennant #tenth doctor #martha jones #jack harkness #the master

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lovecolibri · 2 years

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SaL anon here friend and wow, that episode was A LOT. I'm glad we got to see TayKay in her true form, though also glad we didn't see the final break-up this episode since the focus deserved to be on the incredible Hen & Chim friendship. They are the foundation of the 118 and while they've had bits (read: not enough) of their individual stories told this season, I'm really happy to see an episode so focused on their bond (though not gonna lie, that scene with them and Jonah at the end left me

feeling nauseous). Speaking of Jonah, love that the actor had a truly stand out performance while AK continues to "meh" audiences. Anyway also in focus us what feels like nearly the end of Eddie's healing arc, which again was beautiful to see. All the little tidbits we got from his childhood made me 😭😭😭, but the joy of seeing him say he was going to be better for himself was such a fantastic moment. Eddie really has come so far (also Ryan's performance has been amazing) and in a good position to support his future husband next season when Buck has his breakdown era. Other notable things this episode include the welcome lack of L and Bobby punching Jonah. I'm going to predict during his spiral next episode we see Eddie returning the advice Frank gave him when they talked about Afghanistan, particularly about blaming themselves on not seeing the danger when they were focused on healing others. Anyway if there are any complaints i want to mention it is not with the episode itself but with the fact that the entire TayKay and triangle storyline has been such a waste of time. TayKay never changed, we didn't need to know anything else about her for the breakup to work. Why have her crappy "truth is everything" plot, the vague attempt to give her a sympathetic backstory, the dumb cheating plot with her inconsistent characterisation when original recipe TayKay was enough to end BT? At least the event itself looks to be glorious!

Bestie, I am thriving today, though I have to admit to being a little surprised that a lot of people were less than pleased with the episode. I was just too caught up in the euphoria of Hen/Chim bestieism, tay kay’s true self being shown, almost NO L, and Eddie facing generational trauma and walking out of it with him and his dad wanting to do better, to be too concerned about anything else. I’ve got some issues today but nothing that makes this not still one of the most enjoyable viewing experiences I’ve had in 5b. 🤷🏻‍♀️ So lets talk about it!!

Hen and Chim were literally at their BEST all episode! Aisha and Kenny are criminally underused and it’s been particularly glaring in this season with them choosing to write Kenny out while JLH was out, and the pacing this season being a mess so the mains did fuck all most of the time. But this episode had some BANGER moments for them! We got serious talk besties, we got joking besties, we got investigation besties (Chim being nervous about getting caught, PLEASE I want to kiss Kenny on the mouth for every single choice he made this episode), we got absolutely panicked Hen and Chim to the rescue even half dead (twice dead? twice revived?), and my favorite moment (aside from the juice pouch because GOD Kenny is adorable and perfect) was Chim calling himself the comic relief (which people often think he is and forget what an amazing and layered character Chim is) and Hen shutting that down and reminding him (and the audience) that he’s so much more than that. It was SO GOOD to have them back on my screen for most of the episode. Also, not for nothing, but the contrast to their best friend moments and the way they look at each other vs Buddie was...very loud.

As for the Jonah of it all, I was not expecting it to go as far as it did, but by that point I was just *vibrating* with Hen/Chim love and we knew they would be okay, so I made it through okay, but it being SO dark, SO quickly was unusual for the show in general but knowing KR had a hand it in and she was the one pushing the Jeffrey stuff I can’t say I’m too surprised 🤷🏻‍♀️ But I’ll take this storyline ANY DAY over that other one. I have also seen lots of people pointing out the pacing of the episode was weird which I can agree with, it just didn’t take me out of the joy of watching nearly like every second L is on my screen pulls me out and makes scenes nearly unwatchable 🤷🏻‍♀️ I do think if they were going to go that hard at the end, that we maybe should have had more scenes of him leading up to this episode. Not a lot, but maybe just a little bit more than what we got. I’m going to talk about pacing a little more later but I’m with you and also cackling about Bryce being basically ignored (though likely part of the “misdirect” but still. It was way more shady saying nothing about him and then just having him still around for some reason) while the hyped character and storyline has been SO BAD it was almost entirely cut 🤭

Bryce came out and delivered an incredible performance in this episode but also throughout 5b, being in the background and mostly likable before really letting Jonah’s true self shine, but I continue to be baffled at what both AK and MW are doing with their faces 90% of the time. I’ve never seen either of them in anything else so IDK if it’s just this show, but AK’s line delivery is SO WEIRD and she only had like 2 brief scenes this episode and both times I messaged someone specifically to ask what she was doing with her face in those brief moments because it was just so noticeably off. The blessed lack of L was nice, though both moments of hers still weren’t even needed because some rando who has never worked A shift asking Ravi what’s going on with Hen and Chim (who have to be a bit notorious even within the 118 if even other houses know about them) and Ravi saying it’s better not to ask would have made more sense than someone who has been working with them constantly for months 🙄 But it was far less than what I was bracing for. I’m still pissed about her presence taking me out of the joy and feeling of May Day, so I was happy to be spared here, and I refuse to think about the finale just yet.

And then we have MW and her delivery which is...glaringly bad when you see it in gifsets with other characters from this episode. Her “serial killer” and “I can do something” lines were just so bad, but BOY is it nice to get back to the show acknowledging through other characters, especially Buck, how deeply awful she is! I have only half-watched most of her scenes since 4x14 because I was so sick of what they were trying (and failing) to do with her, but this felt so much like 2x06 that I was just eating it up with a spoon. Go girl! Be the Huge Wrench in your own relationship! But I’m with you, this makes the whole L thing look even MORE pointless which I thought wasn’t possible! We knew it always needed to come down to this, that she’s a terrible person and Buck should never have been with her, but did we need to drag it out this long only to be told that she hasn’t really changed and this has all just been a waste of time? Several people have pointed out that this feels like a storyline that was supposed to be in 5a but got pushed and I could buy that. They had to change her personality every 5 minutes and drag Buck down with her just to keep this relationship on life support long enough to make it to the end of the season, only to end with zero outside influence or interference either from L or Buck “spiraling” because his family is missing. At least it looks like we’ll be getting the breakup Buck deserves to have, so fingers crossed they follow through on that! (also “ original recipe TayKay “ please I am crying! 🤣🤣🤣)

Okay this is already entirely too long BUT as much as the pacing was weird and Eddie’s storyline didn’t really fit in this particular episode tone-wise (this would have been a good 2-parter) it was SO GOOD and pretty much exactly what I expected it to be. I love how 911 addresses generational trauma, and Eddie may have stirred stuff up, but he didn’t shut down! He not only let those angry feelings out, but he let himself be vulnerable and at least start talking it out with his dad. And surprise! He found out his dad felt a lot of the same things he himself felt about missing out on time with their kids and they both want to do better! I LOVE this for him. Adult parent/child relationships are almost always complicated because you still feel those childhood wounds and hurt, but you’ve lived enough to know that they’re just people! No two situations are exactly alike and not every parent/child relationship can or should be salvaged, but I like the direction they took with Eddie’s story. It’s not all fixed or all better, but Eddie is really taking what he learned in therapy to heart and it’s helping him so much. Look at him! He looks SO MUCH better and freer already!

This really is too long but quick miscellaneous things

It was weird not seeing Chris but it was likely episode contract related, and we at least knew where he was at all times

Very weird there was no Madney scene at the hospital but JLH just had a baby and the show working around her schedule as a new mom is a good thing!

SHIRTLESS CHIM!,

Bobby decking Jonah, and Athena having to act like she wasn’t about to do the same thing, and sweetly icing his hand for him

Karen being the smartest person in the room as always

Uncle!Buck, ADHD!Buck (the dinosaur! 😭😭😭 I want to smoosh his little cheeks), Hoodie!Buck, Husband!Buck just hanging around watching Eddie pack so Eddie has a sounding board for his worries, Angry!Buck (I am having impure thoughts) just...BUCK.

“I need a hero” being THE music choice of the episode

#my sweet nonnie friends #sleeping at last anon #911 #911 spoilers #hen x chim bestieism era DELIVERED #the usual suspects #anti taylor kelly #anti lucy donato #anti bucktaylor #anti bucklucy #IDC what anyone says this was the most fun i've had watching an episode in a WHILE #5b has had some standout moments #but for me the tay kay/L drama and buck spending most of his time dealing with that #really drug everything down and made it not so fun to watch #especially because we weren't getting a lot for anyone else either aside from eddie #chim has barely been in this season and him getting to shine AND have fun was delightful #kenny and aisha had BLAST and you could tell #yeah the pacing was off but the pacing for the whole damn season has been off #so naturally it's still affecting everything because the season as a whole was poorly planned and structured #and outside the arcs set up season 4 with eddie and maddie everyone has just kinda been...there all season #but we got to see them DOING things this episode and that was a win for me!

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fucktheroyals · 4 years

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You know after reading and reading and reading peoples theories and the meta from before the spn finale aired and the meta writers reactions to the finale I think I have a theory of my own. We don't have any answers tho, so this is pure speculation. If you wanna add something to support or discredit any of this that's cool but there's too many things floating around. Know I dont have proof for this conclusion at all. A lot of what I say is just guesses based on previous facts.

This all came together in my head when I realized how much this finale REEKS of the original producers and who the show was originally for. It REEKS of Robert Singer. Like if the execs started saying they didn't want it, Robert Singer was the one pushing that the story was about the brothers. That kinda thing.

Then, I was thinking of the problems in this episode and it struck me these are all of Supernatural biggest issues and to be honest all of it feels completely deliberate.

Take the sexism for example, Supernatural in it's later seasons largely out grew this, we have Jody, Rowena, Donna, Charlie, Mary, Claire (and even a wayward sisters pilot with MORE women/girls) all making regular appearances. They're mainly good characters and mostly aren't there to hurt our boys. Rowena, of course, is the one outlier being very about herself but it's clear she still cares for them, I mean its part of her development. But they're all real, with character flaws just like everyone else. (And we have Death too and she was POC 😭 THANK GOD)

Now look at the earlier half of Spn, we have Ellen and Jo, who's appearances were far in between. There's Bela in season 3, recurring for quite a bit (5 eps), but she is a character that is only there for herself, definitely not found family (unlike Ellen & Jo), and she's got more episodes in season 3 than Ellen and Jo in season 2 who aren't seen again til season 5. The "fans" send in hate mail after hate mail to try to get these characters off, and eventually they are. Then there's Ruby who's character stayed for a whole two seasons and was a largely recurring character. Why does she get to say so long? She's a plot device. She's supposed to be there to betray Sam. She has to stay (plus Jared obviously likes her). But she's not just a character the writers like writing about. Same with Lilith. Obviously not as recurring but still a plot device. Did they get hate mail tho? You can bet on it. Why? because tHeY'rE gOnNa PuSh ThE bOyS (Dean and Sam) aPaRt ThE sHoW iS aBoUt ThE bOyS oNlY. Without even thinking about the hate mail, just notice how large the difference is from how women are seen in the earlier seasons to the later seasons. Misha got tons of hate mail too for being a character that could split up the boys (probably only being allowed to say because he a man, thanks sexist producers and execs).

Only after Castiel was killed off and then Castiel fans successfully (thank you guys) got him back on the show did the hate mail largely simmer, which means female character's were allowed to stay! Which has lead us to a show with a good amount of female characters. But can you imagine having to kill characters off time and time again because people keep complaining that the show is "only about the boys." Fun times really.

So now we get to this final and we see sexism. But it wasn't just the plain old regular sexism you find in the earlier days of spn. Because now, there ARE women to talk about, talk to. But this episode was DESOLATE women wise, unless they were used for plot (which is also sexist!). Small scenes, they're barely there. Women gets her tongue cut out. Random women from s1 gets killed. Sam doesn't SPEAK of Eileen. Nothing. No mention of any female characters from the boys mouths unless they were from/in this episode itself. That's WIERD. I know we've all said it. But that goes beyond forgetting about characters. I mean its SAM'S GIRLFRIEND for Christ's sake. There is NO REASON they couldn't have said Eileen's name. Notice how Sam's wife is just... faceless. This is literally an age old sexist trope. Like... one of the things about bringing Mary back to life for s12+ is that it takes this trope... of basically a generic mother, and gives her life and feelings, whether you like them or not, they're real feelings. They said Mary isn't just a mom she's a person. Mary's existence in the later half of spn is to fix this kind of female tropes that fall upon her character, to not let these her stay a 2 dimensional character. They said we should know she's more than just the mom who tried to save her kid. Do that is the exact opposite of Sam getting a nameless, faceless wife. The sexism of the old spn wasn't just brought back, it was completely amplified. It wasn't just accidental or some exec "fixing" the story it was DELIBRATE. Whoever wrote that, didn't do ALL OF THAT by accident. Because an exec or a producer who doesn't see the flaws in old supernatural isn't going to write it that deliberately.

Let's bring it back to s10 when Charlie was killed (singer was mainly to blame). Dead in the bathtub, age old classic of burying ur gays. If you were here you know people never let Supernatural live that down. THEY KNOW what bury ur gays means. Hell, Robbie Thompson left because of Charlie's death and you think the writers don't know what it means? I mean both Bobo Berens (especially) and Steve Yockey's careers are centered around LGBT+ storytelling and you think they don't know? They know. They know.

And Dean wasn't just apart of the bury your gays trope, it is so far BEYOND that. Dean being killed on a rusty nail/screw, the tongues ripped out, things that seemed to be meant for other people. Jensen's acting in the last two episodes was giving us "DEAN RECIPROCATES" but no one ever actually saying it. I think it's clear that Dean was killed for being Bi. They didn't address it for a reason, they just silenced him. His narrative was supposed to be about letting him be HIM for the first time, to say what his feelings are instead of having them miscommunicated, and instead of doing that, they just silenced him. And the more we look at this scene the more horrific it gets. The more it's a complete slap in the face and it's supposed to be. Some guy who knows nothing about the LGBT can't write a scene this horrific.

Some guy who knows nothing about Dean couldn't write a scene that deconstructs all of Dean's character development and gives Dean his worst nightmare. I MEAN DEAN WANTED TO LIVE HIS LIFE! THEY DIDNT HIDE THAT JOB APPLICATION (or whatever job related thing that was) IN THERE FOR SHITS AND GIGGLES THEY WANT YOU TO KNOW THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST SITUATION. Dean isn't Barney from HIMYM. If you watched HIMYM then you'll know Barney went from being a stereotypical ladies man and treating women terribly to being in love with a women and treating her right and working hard for it. The last episode of HIMYM (why its so bad) Barney's character development is thrown out and he's back to being a stereotypical ladies man. You don't need to know Barney's character very much to do that.

To kill Dean during a hunt his father never finished, to not have anyone at his funeral, to have Dean die young like his life didn't matter. Those are Dean's worst fears and you'd only truly know that if you watched the gin episode in s3, where they are basically laid out for you. You HAVE to know Dean's character to tear him apart like this.

This episode took all the core elements of the show and did a complete 180° the name of the episode itself is "Carry on" and Dean and Sam very much did not carry on. Sam grieving his entire life so that he good get to heaven and see Dean again. Dean being ready to live his life, despite the enormous pitfalls and learning to love himself only to be killed. "Family don't end with blood." Um.... it did in that episode either literally with Dean's death or you know BECAUSE NONE OF THEIR FOUND FAMILY WAS THERE. Not Jack, Not Cas, Not Eileen, Not Donna, Not Charlie, Not Jody, Not Claire... on and on we go. No one was there, nobody was even mentioned. Dean's funeral, no one even called that we know of. It was just Sam and Dean. Sam and Dean. And Bobby. Don't forget Bobby. But yeah Sam and Dean.

That's what the show is about right, the brothers.

Except it's not anymore. It hasn't been for years.

Cas not being there was deafening but it brought us to a major point. Becky. Becky's telling us about the terrible ending.

And many of us are wondering why would they literally tell us this is the worst ending and then... make it the ending.

Now before we move on, it very apparent many of you think Dabb doesn't ship Deancas. And Dabb doesn't care about the characters.

Say what you will about any plot holes in his writing, the point he is VERY GOOD at writing the characters, and giving us good ones.

Why do we know Dabb ships Deancas? (ill say when its cowrote, other wise its not) cowrote ep 8.02 - purgatory "I prayed to you, Cas, every night" "Cas, Buddy, I need you." "I have a price on my head, and I've been trying to stay one step ahead of them, to – to keep them away from you." 8.08 Hunteri Heroici - Cas helps them hunt! 😊❤ Dean & Cas have a serious convo about why Cas doesn't want to see/go to heaven. 8.22 Dean's mad at Cas. Sam's explanation of why Dean should be easy on Cas: "It's Cas." Dean then points out how he'd knife anybody else if they did what Cas did. 9.10 - Cas comforts Dean when Dean can't take seeing Sam (Gadreel) being tortured anymore. Also tons of Cas. 9.20 (bloodlines) - Canonical couple parallel "I was there, where were you" 9.22 The angels make Cas choose between them and killing Dean and he "gave up an entire army for one guy" 10.09 Claire's reintroduction. Cas heavy ep. DeanCas date. 10.22 THE PRISONER - u know the ep where Dean beats the shit out of Cas but loves him enough to not kill him.

We COULD keep going but I think I've made my point. If Robert Singer is the guy that is like "the show is about Sam and Dean only" Andrew Dabb is the DeanCas shipper. And you could even say a Cas stan.

Notice! How in s13 for SEVEN episodes we have a story that revolves around Dean's grief about losing Cas. Notice! How often the stories in all these seasons have a focus on their relationship. THAT is Andrew Dabb. If it weren't for him doing that, we wouldn't be able to easily say after Dean's lack of a response to Cas' confession, that Dean reciprocates.

To me, when I was (binge) watching s12 for the first time, I thought damn this is really got a lot of DeanCas. So I went to look at who was in charge, who was writing. I saw Andrew Dabb, associated him with Deancas episodes, saw all the new writers, Bobo, and then I saw that Yockey is known for same sex stories and it clicked. Dabb assembled a team to give us Destiel. THAT WAS IN SEASON 12!!!!!!!!

The amount of people saying he's homophobic flabbergast me. Open your eyes! That isn't what's going on.

Imagine making a show and trying to right all the wrongs of Supernatural. Imagine trying to write the greatest love story ever told and you have the entire season planned out for it to end off beautifully, it may possibly be your greatest achievement when it's done and then boom. someone comes in and tells you you aren't allowed to make Dean bi or make destiel endgame, after he was most probably already given the go ahead.

Sure. You could imply he's bi or into cas still in a way. Still make nice-ish ending. just give everyone what the kinda want.

Or you could scrap the last season, nothing close to a canonical bisexual Dean Winchester or Deancas endgame in site. People can be done with it be happy with the show, continue to live their lives in ignorance as to how close they were to Canon destiel.

OR you can lead everyone to the very closest you can get them to what you were aiming for and then show everyone the ugly truth and reality. Light it all on fire. Burn the show to the ground in your wake. Try your darnedest to making these people's (the people saying no) pockets suffer. Show us, the audience, what happened. Show us what this show really is.

I've seen people talk about the ending being changed during covid but I dont think that happened. I think what happened was Dabb already had this season planned out before it even started. Obviously the details were wobbly but it was all lead up to this ending. Destiel endgame, Canon Bisexual Dean, whatever it was. They were ready to write the greatest love story ever told and then someone shut it down.

Imagine the pain that must have caused them to be told no when they already said yes. They must have been so excited to give this to us.

I think someone (some producers) told him what this show is "really" about. The brothers. Can you imagine, after being told no, some kinda bullshit like this is said to you: "Why aren't you bringing it back to the brothers, Andrew? that's what the shows about. What with all this homosexual stuff, you know the audience won't like that. Not really." Imagine the original producers pushing this kind of view on you. "You know when we started it was Sam and Dean. It should end with Sam and Dean." That kinda sounds like someone huh? huh.

So why give us a nice acceptable finale, when you can take every problem Supernatural's had either up front or behind the scenes and create a finale so incredibly bad that people don't want to watch it anymore.

Someone made a good point about how Sam was originally supposed to be the main focus (this isn't to put any hate on Sam or Jared). Dean and Sam are the main characters but Sam was supposed to be the focus and for Dean to have become the focus, must have annoyed the producers because... well here we are. They wouldn't listen to Jensen. The producers liked this ending. Jensen's opinion didn't matter to them.

In some ways, if this is really what happened, it can be seen as childish from Dabb. To hurt all of us like that. Yes, he's hurting the producers, the execs, the cw. But to hurt us? Yeah it stings.

But in other ways, if this is really what happened, this is Dabb showing us the muck and gunk under the shiny surface. The hate for Misha. The hidden hate for Jensen. The underlying sexism. The underlying homophobia. The people REALLY in charge don't care about us, they just want our money. He needed to open our eyes and free us, at least free the people that he was writing for. The people he sees that care about this show.

This is the ending the powers that be wanted and its a big fuck you for a reason. I dont think this is Dabb spitting in our faces for loving this show, I think this is him trying to get revenge for us.

But from here, you can see it how u want it. If this is really what happened, I'm not in charge of your emotions, if you wanna be mad be mad if you wanna be grateful be grateful. And you don't have to believe me either I said this is speculation.

Also, as for all of the rumors like there being shots to the confession scene that we didn't see, which Jensen himself implied, I think that might have been a last ditch effort to canonized DeanCas but obviously it was cut. Like the name change was pretty clear. As for Misha possibly having shot some stuff for 20 I dont know what to tell you. If it's true I dont know where the blame would lie.

I do think however, that if all this was the case, the writers were prepared to become villians here. I mean they told us the writers were villians with Chuck right? So. Who knows what went down so they could give us such a vile ending. It could've been the producers or the writers, who truly knows. I do think tho that people we "trust" did some pretty shitty things to push the narrative in certain directions so now one would see this as the actual ending that was coming.

So again do with my SPECULATION what you will. This was in no way meant to put Dabb on a pedestal or anything. Just meant to give a bit of perspective.

(Also Jensen didn't unfollow Dabb recently he was already unfollowed for years)

#15x20 wank #spn finale wank #spn finale meta #15x20 meta #Andrew Dabb #spn #supernatural #castiel #dean winchester #destiel #deancas #misha collins #jensen ackles #long post #sorry im on mobile #this is the longest post i have ever writen

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salmonthestoryteller · 3 years

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Against All Odds

Roswell New Mexico Coda 03x03

Isobel sighed - half in relief and half in frustration - as she parked her car by Michael’s truck. Her brother was unsurprisingly sitting by his fire pit, but he seemed calmer than he had at the drive in.

Michael rolled his eyes when she got out of the car and approached him. “I’m pretty sure I’m safe here, Iz.”

“There was a fire at the church.” Isobel took a seat by him. “We’re back to square one.”

Michael groaned, hanging his head over the back of his chair. “Well, the sunflowers are from me, I guess. So it’s someone I’d be willing to pay respects to.”

“I thought you were convinced it was you.”

“…”. Michael sat up, keeping his gaze on the fire. “Well, Alex doesn’t think so.”

“You talked to Alex?” Isobel asked. Michael shrugged. “So you run away from Max and me - twice I might add-“

“I didn’t run-“”

“You never come to us for help, and trying to help you in anyway is a sure way to start an argument-“

“I don’t need charity-“

“But you will go straight to Alex Manes and tell him everything?”

“…if I was gonna kick it, I kinda wanted to see him at least once.” Michael explained.

Isobel frowned. The giddy feelings Michael had allowed to seep through their shared connection before Alex returned had been absent. She thought perhaps he’d simply been too busy helping her save Max to say anything about their reunion but this didn’t really sound like that at all. “What happened?”

“Alex says if I was the one dead he’d… react differently.” A small flicker of hope again, but nowhere near as substantial.

“So, Alex said your death would affect him deeply. Sounds like a pretty enormous declaration to me.”

“…yeah.”

“So why aren’t you with him? Oh, shit, is he here?” She glanced towards his trailer.

“What? No!”

“Well, I don’t get it. What happened to all those “I think it’s our time” vibes-”

“He’s seeing someone else.” Michael snapped.

Isobel froze at his words. “Oh…”

Michael sighed. “Yeah, so not our time. Okay?”

“But I mean, if he’s saying you dying would affect him so much, how serious could he be about the other guy?” She couldn’t help but point out. Honestly, she may have to do a little digging herself. She wasn’t above being a manipulative bitch if either of her brothers’ happiness was on the line.

“I don’t know. I didn’t exactly interrupt their reunion kiss to ask how serious their relationship was.” Michael responded sarcastically.

Isobel winced. She imagined that hadn’t been a great thing to witness. “Maybe it’s not that serious?”

“Serious enough to let him know when he’d be back in town.”

“Yeah, but he also told you when he’d be back in town.”

“Alex has better options than a junkyard mechanic in Roswell with a criminal record. I can’t exactly fault him for choosing them.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you were going to date Alex Manes, not a member of my Mom’s yoga club.” Isobel quipped. “Is he really that interested in boyfriend bragging rights?”

“He’s a decorated war hero. Can’t exactly go on dates with a criminal.”

“Didn’t seem to have a problem asking you to use your criminal talents to break into a top secret alien facility though.” Isobel crossed her arms. “Wait, is this why you cleaned up your act this past year? For Alex Manes?”

“Look, don’t we have a murder to solve? My non-existent relationship can wait.”

“That’s not a no.”

“There were a lot of reasons, Iz. Knowing about our moms. Sanders. Having you, me and Max back to how we used to be. And, yeah, maybe some small piece of me thought it might impress Alex. Most of which has all been turned on its head, so… can we please focus on the murder now?”

“Do I at least get a name?”

“Isn’t the point that we don’t know the name?”

“I mean the name of who Alex Manes is seeing that you apparently think he can brag about to his yoga club?”

“He doesn’t do yoga.”

“Irrelevant.”

“If I tell you, will you finally drop the subject?”

“Deal.”

“Forrest Long.”

“A Long? Are you serious?”

“Dropping the subject, remember?”

“Come on, you can’t expect me to not say something about that.”

“As much as it pains me to say it, Forrest isn’t a bad guy. Black sheep of his family. Guess he and Alex have that in common.”

If she was already concocting a list of all the gossip mongers in town she knew who might know something about Forrest Long, Michael need never be the wiser. “Gregory isn’t so bad.”

“Please tell me you two never-“

“No. Just an observation.”

“Uh-huh. So are you still seeing the bartender?”

“We aren’t serious. I don’t think I can be serious about someone who doesn’t know about us. Our collective history on that isn’t so good.” Isobel let her eyes rest on the fire - she didn’t like thinking about how that applied to her own past. To Noah and how he’d never truly been unaware. How their entire relationship had been nothing but lies.

“I hate the idea we cover another murder. Thought we were done with lies…”

Isobel frowned, watching the flames. “What if I’m not crying cuz of who it is, but how they died?”

“Meaning?”

“What if it’s cuz we’re to blame? What if it’s like Noah and Rosa and-”

“Hey, that’s not gonna happen.” Michael cut her off. “The only potential evil alien around here is in a cage in the desert and he’s staying there. Nobody’s making us do anything ever again, okay?”

“Promise?” Her smile felt shaky even to herself.

“Promise.” Michael didn’t hesitate.

End

Author’s Notes: *sideeyes Jones* If you dare make Isobel go through that again…

I don’t think they’ll actually do mind control again. Though it is one possible explanation for bringing up Noah at the funeral in the vision.

Mostly this was an excuse for Isobel and Michael interaction. Cuz Isobel may live to torment her brothers, but their happiness really is important to her. There is a touch of classism with the way every character who is not named Liz Ortecho treats Michael during the course of the series, some more than others. Isobel, however, has definitely gotten better about it since the first season. So I can definitely hear her reacting to the notion that Michael wasn’t “good enough” boyfriend material defensively. Because despite her own “stepford housewife” Roswell persona, she never allowed it to interfere with having Michael in her life - even when his behavior was at its worst. And I can totally see her social media stalking poor Forrest and being like - yeah, no. My brother is way better. (Sorry, Forrest.)

While I’m pretty sure Alex has long forgotten the words that started the communication errors between Michael and him, I think a part of Michael is still very hooked on that “I want to be with you, but not if you’re wasting your life.” He still feels at some level that who he is isn’t “good enough” and that’s probably why he was willing to take such a huge step back when he realized Alex was interested in Forrest. He needed to prove he could be “good enough” first. And I need Alex to smack him over the head with the fact that he stopped caring about that shit somewhere around Caulfield.

Also, the fact that the only person Michael feels safe going to when things are bad is Alex? That says things. He’s had moments with other characters but in each instance they’ve come to him. The only person Michael willingly goes to is Alex. He’s the only person he feels truly safe asking things out of. The only one he allows himself to shed that “but if I owe them, that’s dangerous” mindset with. And thinking about that is truly heartrending.

#roswell new mexico #rnm fic #michael guerin #isobel evans

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kelluinox · 3 years

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Well, I read snk 139. And regret it.

1) Soooo right off the bat we have Armin and his condescending patronizing. Why am I not surprised. Sure, let's blame Eren for being fucking idiots and demand that he apologize to a girl who molested his corpse. Eren should've kicked Armin more.

2) FINALLY Armin gets it. FINALLY. Intelligent character you say? Judging by how long it took him to realize what Eren was doing - I think not.

3) God I don't like this narrative of keeping your humanity. I really don't. Season 1 conveyed a completely different idea.

4) ........ Well there goes any respect I had for Isayama. Ymir was in love with Karl Fritz?!? Stockholm syndrome much?!? That is not a pure emotion!! What the fuck?!? There are so many things wrong with this, I can't even—

5) Wait does this confirm that Eren didn't know about that disgusting kiss?!? Now I feel even more sick. And seriously, seeing Mikasa force herself on a disembodied head convinced Ymir to abandon Fritz and cured her of her Stockholm Syndrome??? How???

6) So Eren did send Dina after his mom to put himself on a certain path to save Paradis? Damn, that's brutal and heartbreaking at the same time. Imagine having to sacrifice your own mother in order to save your people. My heart...

7) Okay, I will seriously fight Armin now. MIKASA ISN'T OWED SHIT AND NEITHER ARE YOU AFTER THE WAY YOU'VE TREATED EREN FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THIS MANGA. And just because Mikasa risked her life to save Eren's (although he never asked her to) he is under no obligation to return her feelings so fuck off. I swear to God Armin has to be one of the most hypocritical and unlikeable characters in SNK by now.

8) ......... Please tell me I'm hallucinating. Isayama don't do this to me. Don't ruin Eren this way, I'm begging you. Making him a lovesick possessive idiot?! Are you serious?!

9) IT'S FUCKING GRISHA! I KNEW IT! But I also can't feel happy because I'm hating this conversation so much. So thanks.

10) Finally Eren gets some fucking gratitude. But Armin will let this conversation go to waste. That much has already been shown.

11) Well, 138 was fucking pointless. Thanks for nothing, Isayama.

12) This is so cheesy and stupid I just can't help but laugh, oh my god. Who wrote these dialogues?? Everybody fucking crying and praising Eren? "What a man you are" PFFFFFT. This is so stupid it has become comedic.

13) And the promotion of unhealthy relationships continues as Annie embraces the man who abused her her entire life.

14) And here we have the survivors talking to the dead in a happy ending. Can this get any more cliche? Someone please kill me now. End my suffering.

15) Fuck Karina. She doesn't get to apologize or demand Reiner to stay with her. I know several abusive mothers and they all deserved to have their asses abandoned by their children. All of them. I've supported several friends with mother issues, I know what I'm talking about.

16) Can Mikasa stop touching Eren's head? If anyone has to carry him, let it be Armin. Stalker kasa is giving me the heebie-jeebies. I feel like I need to wash my hands every time I see her, I feel so dirty and disgusted.

17) And Marley are pointing their guns again. Siiigh. Why did the Alliance save these guys again?

18) What does it fucking matter?!?! Wasn't the entire point of your speech before the Alliance arrived that you were all equal?!?! Why the hell are you asking whether they're humans or titans, thus showcasing your continued racism?!?!

19) Like hell you did Armin. Although I suppose it does make sense that he would protect his psychotic friend by claiming her 'achievement' of killing Eren as his own. God knows, her mental health is bad already. If she gets attention for killing Eren she just might go on a beheading spree, kissing everyone she kills on the way.

20) Okay, Historia and her child are so cute. Gaaaah. Even though I so far hate everything about this, I'm saving this panel of Historia holding her little girl. I'm not made of stone. But also thanks for officially making Historia irrelevant after setting up so much.

21) Great. The Rumbling is pointless. Eldia is forming a military now. The survivors of the world probably will too. Nobody learned their fucking lesson and this endless fighting will continue. Just peachy.

22) My god everyone is a parody of themselves now. Tell me this entire chapter is a late April Fools' joke. Reiner lusting after Historia... Sure, he did that in Season 1, but it wasn't funny then and it isn't funny now.

23) Historia putting people who betrayed her country under protection... Wow. That's definitely what a good leader does. I guess if my country ever gets betrayed during a war, it should definitely forgive and protect the traitors that could've brought about its destruction. Totally.

24) Can Mikasa please get some medication already? Her psychosis is getting worse.

25) Eren is now a bird? Or at least controlling it from 'beyond the grave'? Symbolism has always flown over my head, I'll admit. And yes, I realize that this is also a callback to his promise after Hannes' death. But I guess this is confirmation that Mikasa will now live with that scarf around her neck, dreaming about Eren to the end of her days and never truly moving on. What a great character arc that is.

Maybe I'll rant about this chapter more later on, but these are my thoughts so far. I didn't expect anything good, but I'm somehow disappointed anyway, so I guess Isayama can consider that an achievement on his part.

#I'm sad now #thanks for nothing #snk 139 #anti mikasa #anti armin #snk spoilers

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gellavonhamster · 3 years

Text

in the bleak midwinter*: an asoue/atwq peaky blinders au concept

...also known as the idea that’s been living in my brain for what must be a couple of years now; I have reconciled myself with the fact that I will never write this fic because I simply do not have enough patience to think it out and write it down in the way that would give it justice, so here’s a plot bunny or something.

This is basically the Sugar Bowl Generation of VFD (still young, before kids and all) meets All The Wrong Questions (some of the events + some of the kid characters of ATWQ as adults) meets season one of Peaky Blinders, but I guess it could be read and understood without the knowledge of the latter simply as an organized crime AU.

It’s the beginning of the interwar period, and VFD is a gang. Which, yes, would require a certain amount of OOC of the characters, though I imagine their intimidation tactics would still avoid too much bloodshed. They deal with bookmaking, contraband, and sometimes art forgery because even this version of VFD has to have something sophisticated about it. There’s a number of places, such as bars and clubs, that pay them for protection, and there’s also a number of places they own, such as the Hotel Denouement with the Denouement brothers in charge and the nightclub ran by Ramona Browning**, alias the Duchess (her father was some kind of aristocracy, see, too aristocratic to ever truly acknowledge her). They use their influence to become the informal rulers of their part of the City. They claim to strive for power to make the City a better place, and these are not just words - they do donate money to schools and libraries, for example - but it’s not like they don’t enjoy being in power, and their rule is still based on crime, those who threaten it being eliminated swiftly.

The Snickets are the Shelby family of this AU, of course. Lemony is Tommy - the mastermind, already a legend of sorts despite being the youngest, plagued by the horrors of war - but still hoping for the best, strange as it seems, because he’s still Lemony. Jacques is Arthur, the fighter suffering from PTSD. Kit is Ada, but she’s also Aunt Polly - she’s the one who ran the business while the boys were in the army.

Now, season one introduced Grace Burgess as an undercover police informant spying on the Peaky Blinders.

Enter Ellington Feint.

Ellington’s father, the only family she has left, has been kidnapped by a gang called the Inhumane Society, and she’d do anything and everything to save him. So she agrees to infiltrate VFD, their rival gang, to find out the whereabouts of a shipment of weapons that was meant for the Society but was accidentally stolen by VFD. Apart from machine guns and shells, the shipment includes some “statue of a sea beast”, and no one cares to provide more explanations to Ellington about it, but apparently it is the most important part of that cargo. So Ellington takes on the position of a barmaid in The Black Cat Bar, one of the places that pay VFD for protection and the one frequented by its key members, and starts listening and watching.

Ellington needs to get close to the Snickets, because if anyone knows where the weapons are, it’s them. Steward Mitchum, the corrupt cop on the Society’s payroll whom she is to meet from time to time at the Natural History Museum (which she used to attend with her father) to pass on the information, suggests she should seduce one of the Snicket brothers. The problem is, Ellington has a chance to learn very soon that Jacques doesn’t know much about the stolen cargo, and Lemony is too taken with his girlfriend, the music hall singer Beatrice Baudelaire, to even look at any other woman. There’s no getting between them, even though it seems Beatrice also has something going on with VFD’s bookkeeper Bertrand Markson, and Lemony seems aware of it.

So Ellington decides to approach Kit instead. Kit, who seems so lonely - Ellington doesn’t know the details, but there was some serious falling-out between her and her ex-boyfriend, who has since left the City (and won’t appear in this story. Olaf is the problem for the hypothetical season two of this imaginary show). Ellington doesn’t plan on anything other than a very close friendship - yet, the closer they become, the more she understands that she is attracted to Kit.

(There certainly is a variant of the “I warn you, I’ll break your heart” - “Already broken” scene in which Ellington sings to Kit)

Anyway. Things progress, and they fall in love. Well, Kit seems to have fallen in love, and Ellington keeps trying to persuade herself that she hasn’t, because Kit has to remain nothing but a task for her.

The location of the stolen weapons, however, still remains a mystery, even though Ellington once hears Kit and Lemony discuss it. Whatever the statue is, Lemony seems to believe it has great powers, and Kit seems to believe it’s nothing but folklore. Lemony tells her of the stories of a mysterious sea animal (or spirit, or whatever it may be) he heard from other soldiers during the war, about what Widdershins heard during his time in the navy. Kit tells him that everyone is a believer in a foxhole, and that she loves W like her own kin but he’s a bragging idiot. There was nothing on the sea other than enemy ships.

Elllington’s mission is complicated by Lemony clearly not trusting her. He tells her it’s because his sister has been hurt before, but she suspects it’s more than that. He even admits that he had his people make enquiries in Paltryville, the town she claims to have come from, and found out that no Ellington Feint ever lived there. When he suggests her secrecy is due to a child born out of marriage, she is eager to confirm that. (Cue him asking her if she’s read Les Misérables - yeah, even this version of VFD would be literature nerds, how can it be otherwise - because this whole situation reminds him of Fantine, and her lying that she hasn’t and thinking that she’s more of a Javert at the barricade, really).

Then there’s a masquerade party at the Duchess’s club, and Kit takes Ellington there as her date. (Which is okay, because if there’s any place in the City where a woman dancing with another woman or a man dancing with another man would not be looked at askance, it’s the Duchess’s club. If I was actually writing a fic, there would definitely be a scene in which Ellington observes Beatrice asking Bertrand to dance with her and Bertrand trying to decline by telling her that, since he didn’t have time to procure a mask, he shouldn’t be on the dancefloor at all, and then Lemony approaches him with a spare mask in hand and encourages him to dance with Beatrice and puts the mask on Bertrand himself and it somehow looks so intimate as if he’s undressing him and Ellington’s like “Oh, so it’s like that with them. This is probably of no use to me but still, good to know”).

When Kit disappears at some point, Ellington follows her quietly and eavesdrops on her conversation with one of the Denouements. He tells her that his brother is all right and sends his regards. Later at the party, however, Ellington sees two Denouements. Why would one of them send the other’s regards to Kit if they’re all in the same room? A couple of drinks with the already tipsy Olivia (officially a fortune-teller, but who knows what purposes VFD really uses her salon for?), and Ellington learns that there used to be three Denouements, actually. But the third brother, Dewey, had a conflict with one of rival gangs which nearly resulted in a war, had not Lemony agreed to dispose of Dewey. To stop that gang from going against VFD, he killed Dewey with his own hands.

Except he didn’t, Ellington thinks. Lemony must have staged Dewey’s execution, and now he’s out there very much alive. Perhaps this knowledge will come in handy.

Meanwhile, the Inhumane Society, who have other beef with VFD apart from the stolen weapons, are getting impatient. There’s a gun-fight which results in Ike Anwhistle dying and his grieving widow, Josephine, telling Lemony it is all his fault and leaving the city. (I know I said this is based on s1 only, but they’re the John and Esme Shelby of this story). And Bertrand is severely wounded. VFD needs another bookkeeper while he’s recovering, and Kit, who knows from The Black Cat’s owner Dashiell Qwerty that Ellington has also been keeping the books of the bar lately and doing it well, offers this position to her. This gives Ellington an opportunity to learn more about the asserts and resources of VFD - and a chance to discover some interesting notes scribbled next to the name of Dewey Denouement. Dewey Denouement, who is only officially dead, but still has a grave at the cemetery.

Ellington tells Stew she has an idea where the weapons and/or the statue might be hidden.

When she meets some of the members of the Inhumane Society to take them to the tomb, she is surprised to see Hangfire himself among them. She’s only seen him in passing before, this mysterious man with his face covered in bandages. They say he’s been horribly disfigured during the war. They also say he came back mad. When they’ve done some digging and unearthed, instead of a coffin, several crates of guns - and opened one of them to find a small statue of what seems like a very scary seahorse - Mitchum and Flammarion are suddenly shot down, and Lemony Snicket steps from behind a gravestone.

He’s been following them.

Of course he didn’t believe that all Miss Feint is hiding is an illegitimate child, Lemony tells them as he’s holding Hangfire at gunpoint. He’s been doing research. In fact, the man whose grave they’ve unearthed is presently in a unique position allowing him to make research away from the City. He’s found out that Ellington Feint is the daughter of a renowned naturalist Armstrong Feint, who’s recently gone missing. And then they managed to discover something more.

This is when Hangfire grabs a gun and points it at Lemony, and Lemony aims at Ellington instead, which for some reason stops Hangfire from shooting.

This is also when it turns out that Lemony has also been followed, and Kit Snicket steps from behind another gravestone, pointing a gun at her brother. He keeps aiming at Ellington, wearily telling Kit she isn’t really going to shoot him.

Kit tells him that unless he drops the gun, he’ll find out.

(When Ellington tries to speak to Kit, she just tells her to shut up. And it hurts, because Kit has stopped being just a mission a long time ago. And now she knows that Ellington’s been lying to her from the start. And she may not want Ellington to die, but she would also hardly ever forgive her. And that would be fair).

And then Hangfire tries to shoot Kit, and Ellington screams, and Kit manages to spring back, and Lemony fires at the man who tried to kill his sister, and suddenly Hangfire is bleeding out on the ground and calling out to Ellington in her father’s voice.

That is what they’ve also found out about Hangfire, Lemony tells her as she’s kneeling beside the body, unable to bring herself to uncover his face. He sounds genuinely surprised; he thought she knew.

Kit makes him let Ellington go and tells her she doesn’t want to see her ever again. And Ellington leaves. She takes a train to some seaside town she’s never heard of before and leaves. Her job is ended. Her father is dead. Her love affair that never should have happened is in the past. She still doesn’t know why her father lied to her when he could have just asked and she would’ve done anything, why he kept up this double life, what was the significance of the statue and what it might become in the hands of someone like Lemony Snicket. She is too tired and sick of it all to try to find out.

She manages to build a life in Stain’d-by-the-Sea. She works in a coffee shop and sings there in the evenings. She never sings the song she sang to Kit again. She marries a man she doesn’t have any truly strong feelings for.

Then, a year or so later, there’s a phone call, and the voice of the woman she loved and betrayed tells her she still can’t stop thinking of her.

*This phrase used by the Peaky Blinders upon the death of one of them is replaced by “The world is quiet here”. Obviously.

**My Last Duchess, referenced in ASOUE in connection with R, is written by Robert Browning.

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