#she discovered it in the fourth episode of the show
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I Still Love You
Valeria Garza x fem!Reader
Link to Pt.1
Note: I’m not even going to tell u the excuse for why this took so long, terribly sorry for that, more stuff is coming I love y’all 🫶
Summary: How can you expect to get the woman you’ve loved for such a long time out of your mind?
Warnings: small mention of blood, someone threatens someone w a knife
Word count: 1463
A familiar scene was spread across the prison floors, the deep crimson that Valeria knew all too well along with its pungent metallic smell and the unmoving bodies of prison guards. Carnage.
Valeria could be a philosopher with how often she thought poetic thoughts of carnage. It followed her around— or rather, she created it— how could it not take president in her mind? Be it guilt, or justification of her actions, or even past traumatic events she had witnessed, carnage was always there. But during her time behind bars, the time it seemed the most fitting to reflect, she found that something else took up her every waking thought.
This led her not to one of her many safe houses, as she had planned in the event of her capture and prompt escape, but to an apartment she’d only narrowly been able to discover through research she had her lawyer conduct. Fourth floor, number eleven. She repeated it over and over, until it may as well have been etched into the tough bone of her skull. Y/n’s place. All she wanted was y/n.
At night, in her cell, it wasn’t the stiff mattress, or the freezing cold air which was barely combatted by the all-too-thin blanket that kept her awake. No. It was the constant replay of y/n walking away from her that had her staring at the concrete ceiling. She could still feel her lips, as if they had only just parted despite the months they spent apart. You can never just forget the woman who ran through your mind rent free for years, especially not when she makes an exit like that after you see her for the first time since you left the army to start a cartel.
So she followed her gut, followed it all the way to the fourth floor, and all the way to number eleven.
The room was dark, but cozy, sleepiness seeped from every pore in y/n’s body as she sat nearly fused to the couch, yet despite that, she continued to raise the tv remote and click “play next episode” on the series she had been watching on Netflix. It was mindless, truly, she hated it. The show was lame with it’s bland plot lines mashed between mediocre sex scenes, but y/n would not dare consider the alternative. Sleeping ever since she had left Valeria in that shipping container was not an option. When she tried, all she was met with was a gut wrenching guilt which left her staring at the ceiling like her eyelids were stapled open.
She wondered what Valeria was up to. If she was getting any sleep in prison, y/n guessed not so she rationalized her own insomnia by saying she did not deserve sleep as long as Valeria could not. In the beginning, she almost hoped Valeria would break out. It was wrong, sure, but y/n couldn’t force herself to want the woman to rot in prison. Now, though, as the months dragged on, her hope seemed to dissipate and what had happened felt all too real. Valeria was stuck in a cell now, all because of her. The guilt ate away at her spirit like acid.
So, yeah, maybe she did really need sleep, but no she would not turn off the trashy Netflix series because it was the only thing keeping her mind off of it all. Until her attention was caught by a slight noise in the kitchen. Nothing loud, in fact it would have gone undetected to the untrained ear, but y/n was anything but. She left the tv on, so as not to alert any possible intruder to the fact that she knew they were there. Ever so carefully, she crept into the kitchen, grabbing a pocket knife she left on the coffee table after opening a package earlier in the day.
A figure stood in front of the window which led to the fire escape outside, closing it quietly. Y/n let it close all the way before shoving them into the wall, knife pressed against their neck. The lack of fight that the opposing party put up was a shock, that is until y/n got a good look into their deep brown eyes.
“Valeria?” Shocked, y/n pulled away. She dropped the knife on the dinner table, in favor of walking a few paces backwards away from the woman.
“Did you miss me?” She smirked, that same smirk y/n had seen time and time again.
Y/n scrunched her brows in disbelief, “Christ, what are you doing here? And why did you come through the window?”
“I thought you would be asleep, and isn’t it obvious why I’m here?” Valeria stretched out a hand.
Y/n shook her head and turned away, furious, attempting to walk away. Maybe she could just crawl back under her blanket on the couch and everything would all just go away. But that couldn’t happen with Valeria chasing after her, grabbing onto her shoulder and spinning her around.
“I told you this couldn’t happen again.” Y/n fumed.
“Yeah, well, we both know you didn’t mean that.”
Valeria pushed y/n up against the wall of her apartment, breaking the tension without hesitation by kissing her. Where the prior kiss had been tender and loving, this one was rough. Fast paced and dirty, with Valeria digging her teeth into y/n’s bottom lip. The girl let out a yelp from the pain, only giving Valeria further access to her mouth.
The kiss was reciprocated, as y/n threw all coherent thought and caution to the wind, grabbing onto Valeria’s shirt and pulling her closer.
All at once it was like she was taken back to years ago when all she knew was her love for the spitfire lieutenant who saved her like she were nothing more than a damsel in distress.
She stood in her own apartment and yet the walls seemed to morph into the one Valeria used to own. She felt younger, as though her sergeant patches and all of her ribbons had been ripped off in exchange for her old private ones. Years of separation and the passion had not changed.
They parted for air, y/n still clutching Valeria’s shirt. She stepped forward, closing the space between them as she wrapped her arms around Valeria and buried her face in her neck, inhaling the scent that was so uniquely hers.
“As much as I don’t want to admit it, it’s so good to see you.” Y/n whispered.
Valeria pushed away, only so that she could stare at y/n’s face, “what, didn’t think I’d come back?”
Y/n shook her head, scratching the nape of her neck awkwardly, “I didn’t know if you wanted to.”
“Do you want me here?”
The abrupt silence that followed was overwhelming. The answer was yes, god, yes y/n wanted her there, but how could she ever admit that?
She worked hard to get to where she was, trained tirelessly, and fought tooth and nail for her rank. It was not an easy feat, not from how she had started, and especially not from the major set back Valeria’s disappearance had caused her. But she persevered through it all, reigning victorious, claiming the rank she proudly wore against her chest every day; with no help from the woman who stood before her, mind you.
So how could she cave in that moment? How could she give it all up for someone who was not even there for support? Neither without great internal struggle.
“I shouldn’t.” Y/n muttered, beginning to pace around, “fuck, I really shouldn’t, everyone- everyone would be so mad at me but, damn it, I can’t help it.”
Valeria made her way closer and closer, until y/n was up against the wall again, unable to focus on anything but her. No more pacing, no more fighting with herself, just Valeria. Valeria pressed the palm of her hand to the side of y/n’s face, running her thumb over the girl’s lips, mesmerized, “no one else is here. Just you and me.”
“Just- just you ‘n me.” Y/n whispered, “you gonna leave me again?”
Valeria shook her head, “never meant to the first time.”
Y/n nodded and tilted her head so she could press a kiss to the heel of Valeria’s hand, content with her answer, allowing herself a moment of respite in her old flame’s grasp.
“‘M tired, and I bet you are too. Come to bed with me?”
Valeria agreed, following her into her bed and shortly thereafter into a deep sleep. It wasn’t much, it certainly wasn’t perfect, but they were right where they belonged: together.
#valeria garza x fem!reader#valeria garza#valeria garza x reader#valeria x reader#valeria cod#valeria garza cod#call of duty valeria#valeria x fem!reader#call of duty x reader#call of duty fanfic
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A guide for reading The Sandman: Part 1
People will discover the television series and want to read “The Sandman”, the original comic books.
Some people are already reading “The Sandman” and are getting a bit confused about where to go with oh-so-many titles, extensions and expansions.
And some people already think they read all of the Sandman until they discover a new issue they never heard of.
Well this guide is here for you! A small guide to explain the reading order of The Sandman, what to expect and where to go!
Part 1 will be dedicated to the original Sandman series, aka the “main story”, the “main series”, the original numbered issues going from Sandman 1 to Sandman 75 ; the original series running from 1988 to 1996.
This series is divided into “volumes” (of course, those didn’t exist originally as the series was published issue after issue, the volumes were collected afterward - but each volume corresponds to an “arc”, a “step”, an “episode” in the wider story). The volumes in The Sandman actually alternate between volumes that contain a full story (basically “arc volumes”), a neat and clear story with a beginning and an end that together form the main story of Sandman ; and volumes that I would be tempted to call “expansion” volumes or “illustration” volumes - volumes that do not contain one overall story but rather a series of small stories, scenes, vignettes, “anthology” volumes whose role is to expand the world of the Sandman, and make the reader learn more about aspects or backgrounds of several characters, elements or details of the “arc stories”.
Volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes (arc-volume)
Contains issues 1 to 8. Preludes and Nocturnes is the start of The Sandman series, and what corresponds to the first half of the first season of the TV show. It is the story of how Dream of the Endless was imprisoned by a human wizard, the damage this imprisonment caused, and Dream’s quest to find back his items of power: his pouch of sand, his helmet and his ruby. Preludes and Nocturnes is quite noticeable, in comparison with the rest of The Sandman, as being HEAVILY relient on the DC Comics universe, with a lot of references to the DC Universe, its super-heroes and super-villains (something the television series massively avoided in order to be easier to access to newcomers).
Volume 2: The Doll’s House (arc-volume)
Contains issues 9 to 16. Corresponds to the second half of the first season of the TV show. Another “arc volume”, this story is the one of Rose Walker, the discovery of her past and her quest to find back her missing little brother ; but it is also the story of Dream hunting down missing dreams and nightmares that left his realm to dwell into the world of humans ; and it is also the story of the mysterious “dream vortex” and of the disasters it can cause - three stories that in truth are mingled together in one mystery.
Volume 3: Dream Country (anthology-volume)
Contains issues 17 to 20. The first “anthology volume” contains four separate and different stories. Three of them are related to Dream: they each explore a different facet of him (Dream the lover, Dream the deal-maker, Dream the world-changer), and they each talk of the different powers of dreaming in itself (inspiration as a blessing and culture, Dream’s influence on culture and reality...), plus expand the world of The Sandman to other “levels of existence” (such as animals and fairies). The fourth story is around Death, and is basically exploring an obscure DC heroine (well, she had become obscure at the time of the publishing. It was something Neil Gaiman did a lot with “The Sandman”, and it was what made the comic book famous: he kept searching and hunting for the coolest, and yet most obscure and forgotten characters, heroes and villains of the DC Universe and “resurrected” them here to give them decent role and proper storylines).
Volume 4: Season of Mists (arc-volume)
Contains issues 21 to 28. The story of how Dream of the Endless, after a meeting with the rest of his family, decides to save Nada his former lover from Hell ; but a story which also leads to (SPOILERS AHEAD SPOILERS AHEAD) Lucifer retiring from his position as ruler of Hell, and giving the Key of Hell to Dream. The story then covers the chaos, manipulations and conflicts that ensue.
Volume 5: A Game of You (arc-volume)
Contains issues 32-37. This story is centered around Barbie (a character that appeared in “The Doll’s House”). As Barbie discovers the fantasy world she dreamed and played in as a child is real, and ends up back into it, friends of Barbie are caught in supernatural conflict between a mysterious “cuckoo” that can send body-stealing birds in the human world, and a grumpy neighbor who turns out to be an immortal (and bloody) witch from Ancient Greece... This is one pretty weird story, I have to admit I always was very confused by this story and never fully got it - but it introduces key characters of The Sandman, and had some of the most iconic moments of the whole series.
The bizarre case of Volume 6: Fables and Reflections (anthology volume)
You might notice I skipped a few issues above. Well it is because when the sixth volume was created, Fables and Reflections, it was a compilation of several stories taken from across the series. As a result it kinds of break the chronology of the series, as it contains issues 29 to 31, issues 38 to 40, issue 50 and two “special” story. In fact, when I read The Sandman series, I never had this volume because I read the series in order (and the French “volumes” and compilations are quite different).
Originally there were two “sub-volumes” or “small volumes”. The first one is “Distant Mirrors”, containing issues 29 to 31 plus issue 50 (which was conceived as a continuation of the original trio) : this anthology of four stories is linked by the theme of “rulers and their relationship to their realm”, and the stories are recognizable due to being named after “times” (Thermidor ; August ; Three Septembers and a January ; Ramadan). The second “volume” was “Convergence”, the compilation of issues 38 to 40, three issues united together by the fact that they are “stories-within-a-story”, and fit the theme of “meeting and encounters”.
But when the big volumes were created, it was decided to unite “Distant Mirrors” and “Convergence” as one big volume, alongside a third block made of “special” stories not included in the numbered series : one taken from the “Vertigo Previews” comics, and one story that was originally published on its own as “The Sandman Special”. The result of this union was “Fables and Reflections.”
Volume 7: Brief Lives (arc-volume)
Contains issues 41 to 49. This volume tells the story of the quest Delirium and Dream end up undergoing (at Delirium’s request) to find back their missing brother, the “Prodigal” Endless.
Volume 8: Worlds’ End (anthology-volume)
Contains issues 51 to 56. Several travellers from different parts of the multiverse are trapped at the “Inn at the end of the world” due to a gigantic “reality storm”. Across the issues, each of the travellers tell their own story, each wildly different as they come from very different universes. While being an “anthology volume”, its ending is actually an introduction/a mystery set-up for the next volume.
Volume 9: The Kindly Ones (arc-volume)
Issues 57-69. All the plots and elements laid out in the previous arcs converge. The biggest threat the Dreaming ever faced arrives, and Dream has to fight it.
Volume 10: The Wake (arc-volume)
Issues 70 to 75. The consequences of “The Kindly Ones” and the ending of The Sandman.
This is the full list of Sandman “volumes” when it comes to the main, numbered series. This is the full story as originally conceived by Neil Gaiman. From beginning to end.
Or... almost everything. Because I haven’t covered the... “specials” yet. But that will be for part 2.
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I just had and epiphany, the only narrative function that Fizz working for Mammon had was giving the audience a reason to dislike Mammon. allow me to explain.
Mam is written in a way relatively similar to Blitz, especially season 1 Blitz, but Viv knew that since most of her viewers are far-left enough that they'd turn on the show if she showed greed as anything but pure evil, so she had to make him "hateable".
From the perspective of Fizz's arc, Mammon's involvement is completely pointless, we already have a villain in Cash and a way for Fizz to end up with Ozzie. Have Ozzie see Fizz at some performance, want to hire him, discover what happened to Fizz in the fire and make his prosthetics, then have them naturally bond from equals and business partners to actual partners.
To make Mammon seem worse, he was introduced in an episode staring an established character he's very toxic to, and we know this is the case because all of Mam's shittyness towards people other than Fizz is played up as endearingly asshole-ish in the classic HB manner.
And the best part? It didn't even work, Mam instantly became a fan favorite, with even hardcore Fizz fans saying "What Mammon did to Fizz was awful, BUT he's amazing and I can't help but adore him."
I can just imagine Viv seeing the community's reaction to the episode and silently fuming, like a preteen bitter that no one wants to sit with her at lunchtime.
Mammon is completely perfect as a villain you love to hate, and like you said he is both evil AND cute. Viv was trying to do a self insert moment here with Fizz, so this theory definitely has some truth.
BUT—
Everyone collectively saw this episode and realised 😅😅😅 holy shit Mammon is just like Stolas and he’s just like Vivziepop!! Mammon broke the fourth wall in the most meta way I’ve ever seen. And he introduced a much needed new meme culture for HBoss that anybody can enjoy.
I guess you can say you either die a Fizzarolli or live long enough to see yourself become a Mammon.
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If ATLA had a fourth season, what do you think would have been the plotline of Book 4 and what would likely have been the good and bad parts of it?
If we keep the original three then I think it would have gone into Book Four: Air. Likely seeing Aang work to restore the Air Nation and searching for traces of any survivors. Perhaps he sees that culturally they are dead but their are still people who can bend air. Now Aang’s role in the previous three seasons is flipped upside down, he is no longer the student but the master.
We also probably see Zuko, Azula and the gaang search for Ursa. It would serve primarily as Azula’s redemption and growth arc. Let her heal and find love with Zuko and Ursa, maybe even forgiveness by the gaang. Zuko’s story focusing more on his growth as a leader and facing the problems that beset his people that it’s his job to fix. Not just punching the lone corrupt official but making actual changes to his government.
I think to keep it on theme we would see Sokka and Katara try to find parts of their culture stolen. Perhaps even look for water benders like Hama who still know the southern tradition. Though I see this being the most likely to be cut.
The best part of the season would be its emotional beats. Focusing on healing, coming together and love. It would nail down the hope Aang always inspires. Show him and Zuko leading everyone into that new world of peace and harmony they promise.
I think something like this would struggle to keep everyone together. All of these character naturally want to do their own thing now. So why Zuko and Azula need to search with the gaang would be in question. Why aren’t Katara and Sokka going home to heal their tribe? Shouldn’t Aang be heading off on his own now?
That’s what I think is most likely.
Though I personally think if the show knew they would have a fourth season it would have been better to split season three into two. Season one takes place up until the day of black sun. Have it take place in the colonies. Focus more on Ozai and his role leading the war and the struggles Zuko and Azula face at home. Show him as a villain by showing how two of our previous villains who love him still fear him. The gaang runs into a lot more stories like the headband and Hama. Show the oppression of the colonies and how the Fire Nation exploits the land.
Then with the season four show Zuko earning his way with the gaang as they hide in the Fire Nation Islands (not colonies but Fire Nation proper). Show him slowly earning their trust. But most importantly let him interact with the Fire Nation and learning what has to change about his nation. But I think he needs to also serve as a supporting character in several episodes. Where he’s not the focus, but rather holds up or steps out of the spot light for Katara, Sokka, Toph and Aang to shine.
Aang could also be discovering energy bending or another Ozai solution. Make the reveal of energy bending at the end feel like an earned discovery and not a deus ex machina.
During this fourth season Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee take the secondary story plots. Show the fracture of the friend group. How Azula is struggling under Ozai expectations and how it forces her to act contrary to a teenager with her friends. Give her breakdown time to fester and grow. But also show a girl who is deserving of redemption. Who quite simply currently does not feel or does not see any way out or can fully see what is wrong. Her side story can pair with Zuko’s. When Zuko finds a problem and fixes it give it to Azula and show how constrained she is.
And most importantly show Ozai being the villain beyond Azula and Zuko. Let him personally hurt and burn people. Maybe even give an episode where the gaang nearly runs into him and show how he can take them. Make him a terrifying enemy before the final fight.
#Wiskey answers#anon#atla#avatar the last airbender#hypothetical season four#zuko#Azula#Aang#Sokka#Katara#never really mentioned toph did I#probably can have a few episodes showing her maturing#maybe develop her anti war ideology
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4 Years HHAtranslated
It's 15 April 2024, which means HHAtranslated turns 4 years old today 🫶🏼🥹
When I thought of starting this account pre-covid, I never expected it would turn into this. During lockdown, I had so much time and the nostalgia and my love for Anubis helped me through so much over the years.
So many accounts on Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter talk about this universe and it makes me so happy!
As there are four series and this is the fourth anniversary, I'd like to express my gratitude for each show.
Het Huis Anubis:
* HHA raised me as a kid and helped me through my struggles as a teen and now in my twenties
* Seeing the cast IRL in December was a dream come true and I still can't believe it happened 🥹
* I can't wait to see the EMDV vodcast of Anjali and Iris! They're teasing the date of the first episode online atm. I can't wait to unravel new truths 🤩
The Five of the Magical Sword:
* Such an overhated and underrated show in Belgium and the Netherlands, that I was scared to sub it. I'm glad I did, because international fans took Sterre, Pim, Marcel, Raphael and Anastacia into their hearts and didn't let them go 🫶🏼
* I also learned to appreciate the show a lot more
* I hope they've a reunion too
House of Anubis:
* HHA and HOA fans often butt heads and it's not necessary at all!
* Both shows are absolutely amazing
* HOA took the key elements of HHA and made it their own and I adore what they did with it. Some characters might have a different arc, but it makes them their own person and I love discovering the differences
* I need to rewatch the masterpiece that's season 3!
Das Haus Anubis:
* For some reason, DHA makes me hella nostalgic while I only discovered it in 2019
* The same sets and scripts make for fun comparisons and while DHA is a lower budget show, it's so much fun
* I love to watch DHA episode/day wise and I've rewatched it like that already often
* The cast is so involved still and it makes me very happy!
The future of HHAtranslated:
* Once I find an editing programme again, I'd love to sub the S100 Singalong Anubis concert, BTS of HHA/The Five and the discography
* I'd love to sub Das Haus Anubis someday🫶🏼
Now:
My main project for 2024 is the 9 Het Huis Anubis novels, based on the TV series and the movies.
The books are in third person, but follow Nienke's pov, throughout her stay at Anubis House. Some scenes are way more graphic than in the series, like Nienke and Noa's kidnapping.
The romance is also more present and we get new scenes which make Nienke's decisions more logical, like how she ended up in Anubis house with the grail mid-season 2.
I'm starting of with book 1: The Secret Club of the Old Willow
I'll try to upload frequently. I've less time as I work fulltime and live with my boyfriend, compared to university and living at my parents' years ago. A new blogpost will be created on my website, with links to the chapters, published in a Google Drive doc.
English isn't my first language so there will be mistakes. However, I hope to do the books justice like I hope I did the show.
Teasers to the books and chapter 1 will be posted soon. Stay tuned ❤️
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The narrative importance of the Ragnarök Connection
Charles zi Britannia believes that humans are liars. His ideology is based on the fact that the suffering of the world comes from deceptions and, for this reason, the Ragnarök Connection consists of destroying the set of masks that people use in front of others to force the people to be themselves. This isn't a hive mind nor the literal destruction of the world. It's about, in Jungian terms, destroying the Persona archetype (the face we decide to show to others, not the one we truly are). This way people wouldn't have to lie, they could understand each other and conflicts would end. Sounds good, in theory. The problem is that the emperor's plan involves eliminating free will and individuality, which reflects Lelouch's parents' rejection of human nature. Charles' view of humanity is quite simplistic, binary and dismissive. That's why Charles appears painted red and blue on a background of the world in the opening.
Lelouch and Suzaku reject this vision and this plan. Lelouch says that people still lie for good reasons (a purpose) and Suzaku agrees, claiming that they may lie to protect others like Euphemia and Shirley who kept Lelouch's secret. Lelouch understands that masks are necessary and are part of people's identity. He proves it in the last interaction he has with his father. Nunnally's smile is a mask, but that doesn't make it fake. It's her way of accepting her unfortunate fate and being grateful that she is still alive and is with her loved ones. Lelouch is aware of this and accepts her mask.
The Ragnarök Connection involves the elimination of the effort that humans must make to learn and empathize with them. Consequently, no new experiences are forged and nothing evolves. And, if nothing changes, life loses total meaning and becomes empty. An empty life is a life without a future or hope or purpose. That's what Lelouch explains to CC and Rolo.
Lelouch tells CC in the seventh episode of the first season: "Until I met you I was dead. An empty corpse existing behind a false guise of life, a life in which I did nothing real. Day to day, I merely went through the emotions of living as if I were a zombie. And I always had the feeling that I was gradually dying. If I’m condemned to go back to that, then I’d rather…"
And then he tells Rolo in the fourth episode of R2: Rolo, what is the future? The future is hope. Without hope, your life is on hold, empty, waiting. And you have no hope beyond your mission, Rolo. If you capture C.C., what sort of future will it open for you? Things will just go on as they are, and nothing will change.
Code Geass often uses Lelouch to emphasize the importance of having a purpose in life, even if all the characters demonstrate it in one way or another. It is one of the main themes. For Lelouch, Zero/the Rebellion was always that future. However, in this episode everything is questioned because Lelouch discovers that one of the reasons for his revenge is false because his mother is alive and, furthermore, his rebellion was part of his parents' plan (and CC to a lesser extent). Given this, he reaffirms his individuality and his will.
God/C's world is the human will, which means that it is a collection of the wills of all the people who have ever existed, including Lelouch's. He activated his Geass, not to use it on God, but to influence it. At that moment his will was so powerful that he not only convinced God to stop his parents, he also increased the power of Geass and unlocked it in his other eyeIt's important to note that he made a wish, instead of using Geass, because that differentiates him from his father. While the Emperor intended to bend the C's world to his will, Lelouch doesn't want to do so. He saw himself reflected in his father. They both suffered in the past and wanted to change the world for the better. The thing is Charles was trying to impose peace and although he had good intentions, it was an evil and selfish act. Lelouch realized he was doing the same thing with Zero, technically.
In this way, Lelouch understands that the end doesn't justify the means since his parents sacrificed everything for their ends and, as a result, lost themselves and their motivations. Humanity's sake or, what is the same, "reunion with those from whom we are separated" was the lie that Marianne and Charles used to convince themselves that they were right and were the scapegoat to justify all the sins they committed and allowed to be committed. Lelouch reveals their hypocrisy by pointing out the unconsciousness of their statements. Although Charles and Marianne took Lelouch and Nunnally away to protect them, they didn't seek justice for the crime committed, instead, they became VV's accomplices by using Charles' Geass on Nunnally and then they did not stop the war between Japan and Britannia because they wanted to get the Thought Elevator on Kaminejima Island for their plan. In the same way "Nunnally" was the scapegoat and the lie for Lelouch in his rebellion, however, Lelouch is honest with himself and recognizes that his true motivation was to protect the people he loved. This sincere display is what persuades Suzaku to work with him once again.
One of the main unknowns of the series is "do the ends justify the means?" Suzaku says, "No, the means determine the ends and that's why I will follow the right path by trying to change the unjust regime from the inside while keeping my integrity intact." Lelouch says, "Yes and I can be this manipulative, control-freak leader over these 'pawns' if it means stopping Britannia/saving Nunally." The series answers that neither is completely correct and that both have their advantages and disadvantages. Lelouch and Suzaku end up realizing it here. Suzaku says, "If you want to achieve that end, you must act." And Lelouch says, "Yes, the means to that end requires me to reject something." That is, both must sacrifice something to achieve their goal.
In short, the narrative objective of this scene is to show us that Lelouch and Suzaku understand what humanity wants and establish themselves as defenders of free will, as well as accepting the virtues and defects of the human condition. It's in the nature of men to lie and be confrontational, but they also dream of a tomorrow. Ultimately, the Ragnarök Connection is the final stage for Lelouch and Suzaku's evolution. Thanks to this plan, they perfect their ideals, manage to unite and are able to save the world. It's an important moment that solidifies all the themes of the series and sets the foundation for Lelouch and Suzaku's final plan: Zero Requiem.
PS: If you think this analysis blew your mind, hope you see it from the perspective of Joseph Campbell's monomyth :P
#code geass#code geass: hangyaku no lelouch#code geass: lelouch of the rebellion#lelouch lamperouge#lelouch vi britannia#lelouch#suzaku kururugi#suzaku#charles zi britannia#marianne vi britannia#nunnally vi britannia#nunnally lamperouge
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Whatever Means Necessary Masterlist - Wandanat x Daughter!Reader KateBishop x Maximoff!Reader
Summery: When Wanda arrives back after being snapped, she discovers that you, her daughter, sacrificed yourself in order to obtain the soul stone so that your mother’s girlfriend, Natasha, wouldn’t have to. Wanda’s devastated and lost, and so is Nat. A few months after her and Natasha call it quits and Wanda takes a trip to Westview, the small town she had planned on moving to with your eleven-year-old self when she retired. Wanda just wants you back, she’s willing to do whatever is necessary.
Notes: Reader is eleven when Thanos snaps and sixteen when she dies.
Requests: Open
The Westview Anomaly:
Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience - A mother and her daughter move to the sleepy town of Westview, and they both struggle to conceal their powers form Y/N’s new friend, Kate and Kate’s grandparents when they come for dinner.
Don’t Touch that Dial - Y/N and Wanda struggle to fit in, the mother of the duo decides to volunteer the two of them for the communities talent show.
Now in Colour - It’s that time of year where Y/N’s birthday party has rolled around! Wanda invites some people from the neighbourhood. Kate brings a gift.
We Interrupt this Programme: The Avengers are confused as to why the small town of Westview is getting the newly formed S.W.O.R.D so worried, so they decide to check it out for themselves. Natasha can’t believe her eyes when she sees her former daughter figure on the old fashioned TV, but her heartbreaks even more when she sees her former lover, Wanda Maximoff.
On a Very Special Episode - Wanda addresses Y/N’s worries when she grows suspicious of the neighbour’s strange behaviour. Kate realises the dept of her feelings.
All-New Halloween Spooktacular! - On Halloween Y/N decides to visit the outskirts of Westview. She doesn’t understand what she finds. But Wanda does. And it angers her.
Breaking the Fourth Wall - Y/N start to finally piece everything together. And she makes unusual alliances
Previously On - Wanda embarks on a troubling journey revisiting her past for insight to her presence and future. Y/N on the other hand take a deep dive into hers and find out what exactly happened before Westview. Kate remembers, also.
The Series Final - Wanda and Kate actually gets to say goodbye this time, but Wanda promises Y/N that it’s not the end.
Multiverse of Madness:
Chapter One:
Chapter Two:
Chapter Three:
Oneshots:
Requests are open
COMMENT TO BE ADDED TO THIS FIC’S TAGLIST
Taglist:
@wackymcstupid @battleg03 @griffin-girl-r @natashasnoodle @tynix @violetromanova @blackwidow-3 @simp-erformarvelwomen @mythixmagic @coollemonsaresour @mskitkatbubbles @evanswife1918 @lizlil @katethewriter @milanator @g-athenaathens @wandanotsosure
#wanda maximoff daughter#wandanat x daughter#mama!wanda#wanda maximoff x child!reader#wanda maximoff x daughter!reader#wandanat daughter#wanda maximov#wanda maximoff#wanda maximoff x teen!reader#wandas daughter#wanda daughter#y/n maximoff#avengers x child!reader#avengers x teen!reader#vormir#mcu fic#westview#wandanat#wandanat x daughter!reader#natasha romanoff#mama!nat#Mama!Natasha#mama nat x teen reader#mama!natasharomanoff#natasha romanoff x teen!reader#kate bishop x y/n#kate bishop x female reader#kate bishop x reader#kate bishop x you
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I was watching "Jane Eyre" 2006 version starring Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens and there's something on it that got me thinking. One of the scenes I remembered is that there are some dragonflies showed up on screen and it happens whenever Jane and Mr. Rochester are together outside Thornfield Hall. In the first episode, Mr. Rochester calls Jane that he discovered a dragonfly near the river and then he asked her to look at it closely with him. He explained to Jane that the dragonflies like the one they found usually live in the West Indies, the place would foreshadow Mr. Rochester's secret. It happenes again in the second episode after they talked about the Reed sisters and Mr. Rochester's future marriage plans. After that, the scene changes into first person view indicating that somebody is watching them from the top of the house, again foreshadowing the secret.
Then in the fourth episode, when the River sisters mentioned about Jane's skills in recognizing wild plants and animals while they're walking on the moors, Jane saw a dragonfly then she suddenly had a small flashback scene from the previous episode where she and Mr. Rochester discovered it.
Of all the insects, why this version used dragonfly and what does that signify in Jane and Mr. Rochester's relationship? Why they didn't use moths or any other insect mentioned in the novel? According to some websites I read about dragonflies, they have been a symbol for happiness, new beginnings and luck in several cultures. It also means hope and love. Though their bodies are small and frail, they emerge as messengers of rebirth and renewal. During their lifespan, dragonflies first grow in water before taking the air and learn to fly. From being unseen to spreading their wings to show their beauty (does this reminds you of Mr. Rochester's story about the firebird?), dragonflies symbolize new beginnings ahead. This perhaps are some of the reasons why Mr. Rochester is eager to look for some and he wants Jane to share his discovery with her. He wants to have a new life and happiness with Jane on his side.
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Video 📹 from YouTube photo shoot BTS forJuly 2018 Irish Tatler
Instagram cover and contents video 📹
Facebook Watch fun Q&A video 📹
Outlander-Online Instagram Story screenshot 📸
Screenshots: Caitríona Balfe Fan
time for more
Caitríona Balfe talks to Shauna O'Halloran about time-travel, wedding plans and why women have had enough of Hollywood's shitty behaviour (her words, not ours).
A pair of stonewashed Levi's 501s, flat white converse and a little white T-shirt are all that Caitríona Balfe needs to rock up to a day's shooting in North London, and still have a full crew comment on how beautiful she is in real life. It's never something I like to lead with in interviews - we're here to discover the person, after all - but I do feel that to not mention it would be a shame, because she is quite stunning, even when off-duty. It's not that much of a surprise of course. The Monaghan native was once one of the most sought after runway models in the world, having been spotted by a Ford Models scout in Dublin. At 18, she was opening and closing shows in Paris for Chanel, Moschino, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton, to name a few. And this humble glossy is just one of many she's graced the cover of - with Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Elle magazines all having starred Caitriona over the years. So no wonder there was literally not one bad shot to be found in the photographer's edit.
Today however, Caitríona Balfe is known best to most of the world as Claire Beauchamp Randall - Outlander's time travelling 1950s nurse who falls for a dashing highland warrior by the name of Jamie Fraser, played by her costar Sam Heughan. The show, now on series four, is based on a series of novels by Diana Gabaldon and to say it has mega fandom is an understatement. Having taken up acting after her modelling career, Outlander was Caitriona's first major role and has propelled her into a stratosphere with over five million viewers per episode. How, I wonder, is that?
"It's been such a wild ride!" She tells me as we sit down to interview. She's back filming in Scotland for her fourth season and we already know that seasons five and six are a go, so Claire is going to be part of Caitriona's life for some time to come. "I was cast late into the proceedings. I got cast on the 11th of September and I was in Scotland [for fittings and filming] on the 15th of September 2013. I guess I knew about two days before they announced it!" She says of the whirlwind entry into Outlander. It didn't take long, however, for Caitríona to realise the scope her new role was going to have.
"After we filmed about four episodes Sam and I were taken to LA and we did a fan event. Nobody had seen anything and there was over two thousand people at this fan event...having not seen one minute of footage. We came out on stage and everyone was just screaming!"
The core fan base has stuck with them as the seasons have gone on and Outlander has won multiple awards. Caitríona, too, has been widely recognised for her role with 20 plus nominations and a host of Best Actress wins from institutions like the People's Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, the Saturn Awards, IFTA and BAFTA.
One of the notable points of the drama series is the sparky on-screen chemistry between her and Heughan during their many steamy scenes together. So much so that people have had a hard time believing that they're not a couple in real life. No matter how much the actors insist.
"It's nice that people kind of see something in that, but you know, we've always just been friends. And I said it from the beginning but people didn't want to hear it!"
Even so, it must be hard after four years of filming sexy scenes with someone to not get embroiled in a romance of some description.
"We went for a walk," Caitríona explains on how the deal was cut early on. "Both of us had to go to London right before we had to start filming, I was getting my second perm of the week and he was getting his hair dyed, probably for the 15th time that month and we met down in Kensington and went on a big long walk in the park. I was there with my poodle perm and he was there with some kind of terrible ginger-red version of his hair and we were like, You know what, who knows what this is going to be but we're going to be in this together and we gotta have each other's backs.' And from that time on we always have." A sweet moment that has led to a lasting friendship and has probably been key to Outlander's success.
"The shows that have been successful - I think you always see that they stick together. The minute you let ego or your pride or all of that kind of stuff get in the way, I think that it can really sour things," she says with honesty. It has to be said, there is no ego about Caitríona Balfe and as the lead role in the show, it's easy to imagine that she sets the tone for all involved.
The atmosphere on set, she says is supportive and tight, although she's painfully aware that not all hit shows and Hollywood sets are so lucky.
"Our work is really tough and we're in tough conditions, like when you're out in the pissing rain or sideways snow, which happens! To have people be supportive of each other and care about each other, that makes such a huge difference.
"I know somebody who worked on a show as the lead male and he and the lead female never spoke, literally didn't speak to each other unless they were in a scene. I can't imagine ever wanting to be in a situation like that, I can't imagine waking up in the morning and feeling like I have to go to work with someone who won't even speak to me. That's horrible."
But the stories are rife; even before #MeToo broke, celebrities and bad behaviour on set seemed to go hand in hand. And it makes for great, salacious tabloid fodder. And women, notoriously, seem to get the raw end of the deal, in everything from respect standards to salaries.
"I think everybody's waking up to the fact that they can't get away with that stuff," Caitríona chips in. "I obviously came to this point of my life a bit later so I've always felt very comfortable about standing up for myself or speaking up for myself but there can be a bit of a double standard. But I don't think, I mean I will stress this, it's not always men enforcing that. We've had male directors or male producers who are so much more sensitive and supportive than sometimes the females can be. I don't necessarily think that it's a split line down the middle about sex; it's not all women supporting women because that's not my experience. I think it's really about people." And does it hurt more, when it's a woman being the unsupportive one?
"Yeah, I think you expect better. And I think sometimes they think because they're women they don't think they're being discriminatory, but if what you're asking is completely out of line..."
In the hierarchical worlds of modelling and acting, people entering the careers at the bottom rungs are more vulnerable to mistreatment.
Caitríona notes that she did experience it in particular as a young model and her first career left her with some healing to do.
"I remember one of my first ever photoshoots in Dublin. I was so young and I remember coming back from it and my sister was like 'Where have you been all day?' I was just being sent off with a strange photographer who was older and with no kind of knowledge about where I was going, what was expected, just sort of thrown out to the wolves at 18."
It was that age that she first began travelling too, to Paris and Milan, and with little to no support structure. "It's just incredible when I look back now at how I navigated all of that because you literally are just sent off on your own, traipsing around strange cities where you don't know the language. You are just expected to fend for yourself.
"It was the wild west and you were lucky if you had a job. There was a discrepancy of power - the agency was really supposed to be there protecting you, but it was almost like you needed to please them to get the jobs.
"I think that's why so many girls who have gone through that experience are as tough as nails," she adds, also referring to herself, although that toughness hasn't come without cost.
"When I left the business, I moved to LA and I am so grateful that I was able to take a year...a lot of that was just dismantling a lot of the mental issues I had taken from the business because your confidence and your self-esteem is in the toilet after you've been in that business for so long. Most models I know have terrible self-esteem which is the most crazy thing."
Thankfully, in both modelling and acting, the industries are changing.
As someone who is in the Hollywood stratosphere and has been in the company of the likes of Weinstein and more, Caitríona has first-hand experience of being with the people at the very centre of the #MeToo storm.
"A lot of my year in LA was just dismantling a lot of the mental issues I had taken from the business"
"A lot of the names that have come forward, it's strange because you kind of go 'Oh yeah, that's not surprising.' With someone like Morgan Freeman; I grew up watching him and he's been that voice that calms everyone. But I had previously heard rumours. Nobody is above the law and what I do hope is that all of these things go through a process because I think the worst thing is that we get into this situation where there is like a mob mentality and we start being judge, jury and executioner on social media because that's never the right way of doing things.
"But I think there has been a real shift and I think people aren't going to put up with shitty behaviour anymore. And they shouldn't."
The one thing that high profile and influence does afford people is the ability to shine a light on situations that deserve more attention. It's something that Caitríona’s very aware of and since her Outlander fans have always asked 'who can we support on your behalf', she went out of her way to discover a charity that she could be an ambassador for. As a result, she is now a patron of Wold Child Cancer and travelled to Ghana last year to see two of the hospitals the charity works at. "It's very humbling when you see the different kinds of care you can expect if anything ever goes wrong in your life just because of where you are born," she says of the experience but is equally quick to downplay her role as a patron versus that of the people working on the ground, despite using her own time and profile to raise awareness and funds for the charity. "I feel so grateful that I can, the people in the trenches are the people who do work day-to-day and it's super impressive because they don't get a lot of credit for it."
Check Caitríona’s Twitter and you'll see how impassioned she is about this, as well as being a big supporter of other issues: she was vocal on repeal, supports ethical fashion choices and promotes a meat and dairy-free lifestyle.
"I believe that no matter what you do you should be a responsible citizen of the world," she says, "I think a lot of my social media is promoting issues I believe in and causes that I believe in.
“As for my more private life, frankly I'm not interesting so I don't like doing selfies, my partner is super private so he isn't on any social media and doesn't want to be so nothing is said about him. So yeah, that's naturally how I am!"
It's clear as the conversation goes on how grounded Caitríona is. She's fiercely proud of her Irishness and uses it as a conversation starter worldwide (*We command goodwill - people genuinely like us!") and while she laments how badly her name gets 'butchered' she misses the fada which she dropped for ease some years ago. "I'm devastated about it!" she says, before also confessing that technology had some part to play in its demise.
"In the early days of computers I didn't know how to put it on! I just learnt a couple of months ago, like ohhh it's that button there. So I might bring the fada back."
And she hasn't ruled out an upcoming wedding in Ireland - the actress is recently engaged to intensely private music producer Tony McGill, but plans for the nuptials are still undecided. Would she consider coming back to Ireland to tie the knot?
"If you put a sun lamp over it, yeah I'd love to!" She laughs. Wedding planning is not really her thing however, and doesn't garner giddy chats and wishlists.
"I would just love to have all of my friends and family and have a great party," she clarifies when coming across as less than enthusiastic about planning her perfect day. "I think the production side of it is just too much like work!"
And finding time that suits both their schedules is also proving challenging, with Caitríona lined up to film in LA with Matt Damon and Christian Bale. It's a biopic of mechanic and driver Ken Miles (Bale) and the conflict between Ford and Ferrari during the 1960s. "I play Christian Bale's wife and James Mangold [Walk the Line, Logan, The Wolverine) is directing. It's set in the sixties, it's all about Le Mans, the 24-hour race so it's a lot of fast cars, hot men and me!" She laughs. "I've been watching loads of documentaries on Le Mans which is really cool."
And this is Caitríona: totally unfazed, seemingly, by the prospect of working with some of Hollywood's most famous actors and directors and yet, nerdily researching so she can be prepared on the day. Oh, and consciously enjoying it too. With more projects in the pipeline, that demand is only going to get higher, but of one thing I can be sure: to her own self, Caitríona Balfe will always be true.
Remember… we command goodwill - people genuinely like us! ☘️ — Caitríona Balfe
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SPOILERS FOR "WHAT IF?" season 2
Ok but like can we just talk about how Nat and Peggy are totally in love in season 2 episode 5 of "What If?"
I mean damn talk about having some fucking chemistry.
Like I had shipped them in season 1 after seeing them interact, but damn season 2 just fucking solidified my belief that the two of them are totally in love with one another.
First of all, the way they were totally like borderline flirting within the first few minutes of the episode when they were fighting Loki and his army. And the way that Peggy literally saved Nat's life and the way they were showing off their moves to one another had me fan-girling and shipping so fucking hard.
Second, the way Nat would look at Peggy almost with like a longing, sad look on her face whenever she mentioned Steve.
Third, when Peggy picked Natasha up in the car Natasha originally used to pick Steve up in TWS, she teases Nat (and the audience) about how she wouldn't run in circles and she literally greets Nat by saying "Hey there, lovely." Like girl be fucking fr. I dare you to tell me that isn't something someone would say to their partner or someone they fancy. I DARE YOU!!
Fourth, the entire conversation between Peggy and Nat while they were waiting for Steve to wake up just like gave me romantic vibes. Then, when he woke up, Natasha almost looked sad that Peggy was giving attention to Steve. Now it could be because she felt like Peggy didn't trust her because she wasn't listening to her about Steve not being who he was, but to me it felt like more than that.
Fifth, just like the little one-liners between them and the jabs they threw at one another. Like Nat saying she's "a sucker for a great love story" and Peggy telling Nat "we're going to unpack that later" after she found out Melina was Nat's mom(ish).
And this isn't even mentioning the fact that when Peggy confronted Fury about Steve and found out Natasha knew, Natasha retorts by saying "I didn't want to break your heart a second time" or whatever. LIKE BRUH YOU CANNOT TELL ME THAT AIN'T THE TYPE OF THING SOMEONE WHO IS HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE WOULD SAY TO THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHER. Also the way Nat was freaking the fuck out after Peggy disappeared into the portal (side note: I'm so fucking happy they managed to get Elizabeth Olsen to voice Wanda/Scarlet Witch. I miss her sm and I cannot wait to discover her story in the series!) because she'd literally just agreed to go on a road trip to help Peggy find Steve and try to reverse the brainwashing the Red Room had done to him.
Anyways, I think that's all I've got for now. This was all off the top of my head after I've just finished watching the episode. I'm excited to see more of the series and I'm especially exited to see Wanda again!!!
#marvel#what if season 2#what if spoilers#what if#captain carter#natasha romanoff#peggy carter#black widow#steve rogers#natasha x peggy#peggy x natasha#your honour i love them#your honor they are in love#without a doubt#they are literally so cute#they are silly#they are in love#marvel universe#marvel mcu#mcu#let them be gay#let them kiss#my thoughts#my opinion#i want them to be together#so bad#they're badass#and they deserve it#i love steve but it's peggy and natasha in what if for me#sorry not sorry
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Christina Hendricks
The star of Good Girls discusses Mad Men, sexual harassment and squaring her glamorous reputation with her ‘weird, goofy’ personality
Christina Hendricks appears on our video call with the most dramatic backdrop. Art deco gold peacocks bedeck a black wall, making her look, as she has so often in her career, a bit too good to be human. Perfectly poised, perfectly framed, perfectly lit, she is more like a dreamy vision of what humans look like. “I, erm, like your wall,” I say, pointlessly. She flashes a smile, as if to say: “Obviously.”
We are here primarily to discuss the comedy-drama series Good Girls, the fourth season of which will resume in the US this month after a midseason break. The elevator pitch would be Breaking Bad for girls: three suburban women, each hovering on the edge of bankruptcy, unite to embark on a life of cack-handed crime, only to discover they are good at it. The ensemble – Hendricks, Mae Whitman, who plays her sister, and Retta, their friend – works strikingly well, their pacey comic rapport instilling a sense of perpetual motion. You just can’t imagine Good Girls ending. Every time a plot line seems to be reaching its climax, something worse – and funnier – happens.
“It’s funny you say that, because originally, when I read the pilot script, I thought: ‘I love this, but I can’t imagine this being more than one episode,’” says Hendricks. “It felt like it finished itself.” She is unsentimental about it. Hendricks wasn’t looking for a new show – “I was happy doing films, taking my time” – but went into it with her eyes open. It is a network drama, for NBC – it is shown on Netflix in the UK – so producers are always aware that “it’s going into every house in the US on a Thursday or a Sunday and a family is watching it. They’re much more careful about numbers and advertisers and people being offended or not getting it. A cable show is much more: ‘We trust this creator – they’re a visionary.’”
It has a conventional tone – however dark the material, it is handled very lightly. Yet you can’t help but notice some hard-boiled social commentary from the off – if it weren’t for the bracingly callous US health system, the generation of wage-stagnation casualties and the patriarchy, none of the characters would have gone anywhere near a supermarket heist. More than Breaking Bad, it reminds me of Roseanne and the golden age of US mainstream comedy, when you could be poor on TV without that being a breach of good taste.
The 48-year-old has been a household name for almost 15 years, thanks to Mad Men. She was born in Tennessee, where her mother was a psychologist and her father worked for the Forest Service, and educated in Oregon and then Idaho. She didn’t have time for formal acting training; by the time she was 18, her modelling career had taken off. Later, when she had a manager, she took acting lessons: “I did that for almost a year and a half and put auditions on ice. Then I was watching a film – I don’t even remember what film it was or who was in it – and I thought: ‘I’m ready. I can do this.’” She has the most insistent work ethic; as she describes her life’s trajectory, she notes diligently the jobs she had while she was at high school, at a hair salon and a menswear shop.
In 2007, she appeared as Joan Holloway in Mad Men. She played the role for the next eight years, her character growing around the depth she brought to it, until by season seven she was almost the central part. In the early 2010s, Hendricks was talked about constantly, although she says the original focal points of obsession were the male characters: “Men started dressing like Don Draper and Roger Sterling. Suits came back in, skinny ties came back in. It took three to four seasons and then all of a sudden people wanted us [the female stars] on magazines. We were like: ‘This is strange – we’ve been doing this for a while.’”
Hendricks, along with January Jones, who played Betty Draper, came to represent so much. There was a great deal of rumination on their physicality, Jones as elegant as an afghan hound, Hendricks like the pin-up painted on the side of a bomber. What did it mean, people asked, that in the middle of the 20th century there were multiple ideals of the female form, whereas in the 21st century there was only one? How did that complicate the perception of gender equality as a steady march towards the light? Thousands of column inches went on that question – but, from the actor’s perspective, it was an annoying distraction. “There certainly was a time when we were very critically acclaimed, and getting a lot of attention for our very good work and our very hard work, and everyone just wanted to ask me about my bra again. There are only two sentences to say about a bra,” she says.
The signal impression the show left was of an ensemble at the peak of its creativity: actors, writers and the creator, Matthew Weiner, working in almost telepathic unison. It won the Emmy for outstanding drama series four times in a row, but the more notable year was 2012, when it was nominated for 17 Emmys (and didn’t win any of them). The take-home was: everyone involved with this is absolutely brilliant.
That harmonious picture was blurred two years after the show ended, when one of the former writers, Kater Gordon, accused Weiner of sexual harassment. Marti Noxon, a consulting producer on Mad Men, concurred that Weiner had created a toxic environment and said that he was an “‘emotional terrorist’ who will badger, seduce and even tantrum in an attempt to get his needs met”.
Hendricks takes this head on, in a considered, straightforward manner. “My relationship with Matt was in no way toxic,” she says. “I don’t discount anyone’s experience if I wasn’t there to see it, but that wasn’t my experience. Was he a perfectionist, was he tough, did he expect a lot? Yes. And he would say that in a second. We were hard on each other.”
It is impossible, from this distance, to adjudicate on Weiner’s character, but Hendricks’s response reveals something of hers. The easiest response in this situation, and the one 90% of actors give, is: “No comment.” Hendricks is always collected, never evasive, doesn’t gabble. She reminds me powerfully of Joan Holloway – and I am sorry to say it, because she insists throughout: “I’m an actress. I am completely not Joan. Not in any way. I wish I was more like Joan.”
I wonder if, while we were all fixating on Joan’s bras and whether or not, in the asinine words of Lynne Featherstone, the UK’s equalities minister in 2010, she represented a “curvy role model”, the audience was responding to Joan’s deeper life lesson – that self-possession is 9/10ths of the law.
What Hendricks emphatically doesn’t do is minimise the existence of sexism and sexual harassment in the industry: “Boy, do you think anyone in the entertainment industry comes out unscathed and not objectified? I don’t know one musician or one model or one actor who has escaped that. I have had moments – not on Mad Men; on other things – where people have tried to take advantage of me, use my body in a way I wasn’t comfortable with, persuade me or coerce me or professionally shame me: ‘If you took your work seriously, you would do this …’
“Maybe it was my modelling background, but I knew to immediately get on the phone and go: ‘Uh oh, trouble,’” she says. “That’s where it’s very much a job. We need to talk to the producers and handle this professionally.”
Yet, at the same time, she is defensive of her industry. “It gets a lot of attention because people know who we are. I’m sure there’s a casting couch at the bank down the street, I’m sure the same thing happens in management consultancy, but people don’t know who the management consultants are.”
Modelling always sounds like a harsh environment – predatory photographers vying with stringent agents to give everyone a complex about their thighs and stop them eating carbs. But that is not how Hendricks describes it at all. Her career sounds like one out of an 80s Judy annual: innocent and hearty, good for pin money and travel opportunities. “I think I was lucky – I didn’t start when I was 14. When I was about 18 or 19, I went to Japan for the first time, I went to Italy. We’d be lots of girls, sharing a house, and I sort of became the den mother. I’d make everyone egg salad sandwiches and Greek salads, going into this mother hen role.”
That is what they say about being taken hostage: if you want to survive, choose someone to look after. “Oh,” she says, coolly. “I wouldn’t consider being a model as being a hostage.”
She was only ever medium-successful, she insists – an “unusual and quirky” hire, rather than the slam-dunk face of everything. About as far as it went was that she never had to get another job to supplement her income. Probably the most famous image of that era in which she was involved was the poster for American Beauty. Two models were in the frame, so they took a photo of the stomach and the hands of each. In the end, they used Hendricks’s hand on the other model’s stomach. It sounds like a clunky metaphor, but it is true.
During this period, she moved to London with a friend, for the hell of it, living in a flat on Gloucester Road, “surviving on cider and hummus”. It is a glimpse of the oddball she says she was growing up, the outsider as whom she is rarely cast. This has been the story of her CV. “Early on in my career, I would get auditions and I would call my manager and say: ‘I would never cast me in this – she’s a cheerleader, she’s a bimbo. Can I audition for the other one, the weird doctor?’ And they’d be like: ‘No, they saw your picture.’ And I started realising that people didn’t see the weird, goofy me that I saw.”
She made the jump from modelling to acting via adverts, with what looks like fairytale ease. In fact, it was “a lot of pounding the pavement and showing up for auditions and getting rejected – and learning, as a young woman, to not take that personally”. By the late 90s, she was the face of ultimate female confidence, the woman who drinks Johnnie Walker and doesn’t need a chauffeur (these are two ads, not one for drink-driving). “I always thought of modelling as freeze-frame acting. It felt like a scene, and I still consider it that way. There are so many technical things that I think people don’t notice. They see you playing dress-up.”
From the commercials, she learned “how to hit a mark, how to memorise a line”, but acting wasn’t novel. She had been doing community theatre since the age of 10, and grew up expecting an alternative life, supplementing an art-house existence any which way. She never amplifies her creative urges. She is much happier talking about professionalism and graft, but that is strategic more than anything else. “I am incredibly emotional and I take things very personally. But I’ve learned to be a little bit of a politician and a little bit of a producer along the way. As a female actor, the easy go-to is: ‘She was emotional, she was hysterical.’ It can be a million other people’s fault, but it’s easy to point your finger at an emotional artist. So, I realised: if I’m going to be taken seriously, I need to have professional perspective and I can cry about it to my friends later.”
Yet she cares deeply about creativity, as is clear when she talks about Mad Men. “It may eclipse anything I ever did. And, if it does, it was a good one and I’m proud of it,” she says. “I got to bring who I was as a woman. I think I learned some of how to be a woman from Joan. No one would give a shit about me if it wasn’t for that show. I’d still be doing good work, but no one would have found me. If that’s the best thing I ever do, it was pretty good.”
Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?
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Steve Harrington x Reader Fics
🍊 orange juice - (Post Season 4 AU) Steve's world changes in the worst way when he loses you. He struggles to move on...but he learns he might not have to when he miraculously gets a second chance with you.
🫀 the great divide - (Sequel to Orange Juice; Post Season 4 AU) After your miraculous return to the land of the living, you aren't doing well. [READ THE WARNINGS!!!]
🔪SuperFreaky - [AU inspired by Freaky (2020); modern body-swap-with-a-slasher AU] The Hawkins Hacker has been terrorizing your town for years now. What happens when he digs his hooks into you is surprising. It's shocking. It's downright superfreaky.
🌸🪻🥀 bloom - (Series; Completed; Post Season 4 AU) In the summer of 1987, you and your mother travel to Hawkins, Indiana to plan the event of the season: the Byers-Hopper wedding. (garden center!steve x wedding planner!reader)
🔥 the view between villages, part one: good bones - (Season 3) Armed with nothing but a GED and a small sum of inheritance money, you move to Hawkins, Indiana in March 1985 for a fresh start. ... It seems that the town has a strange history with science experiments and government cover-ups, but that’s all in the past...right? (this is a choose-your-own adventure fic with about 10 possible storylines.)
💀 the view between villages, part two: haunted - (Season 4) Things in Hawkins are much calmer than they were over the Fourth of July week. ... Wait a minute ... have you been experiencing any strange symptoms? Nightmares, headaches, nosebleeds? (this is a choose-your-own adventure fic.)
🍓 forget-me-not - (Post Season 4) Steve Harrington broke your heart almost a year ago. You think it's only right to still hold a grudge, despite how good he seems.
📼 the video store frame-up of '86 - (Post Season 3, lightly inspired by Romeo & Juliet) You and Steve fall in love, despite working at rival video stores. Things get complicated when the two of you are prime suspects in a Blockbuster video vandalism.
🖤 the end is here - DIRECT FOLLOW-UP OF VIDEO STORE FRAME-UP OF '86 - (Season 4 adjacent) Your boyfriend Steve Harrington is keeping secrets from you, and you aren't sure how much longer you can take it.
🍃 & now i’m covered in you - (Post Season 3, inspired by Taylor Swift's "ivy") Despite having a boyfriend, you find your feelings for your best friend Steve Harrington growing tenfold over Christmas break, 1985.
👻 Worse Than Ghosts (Series; Completed) - Y/N is a producer on YouTube's most popular ghost-hunting show. When she and the Spirit Search team travel to Hawkins, Indiana to film their second season premiere at the Creel House, they discover that some things are worse than ghosts. [Modern Buzzfeed Unsolved AU]
🎶 Elegia (Series; Completed) - (Season 4 AU) You get a call at 6 in the morning from your coworker Steve Harrington, demanding to know your favorite song.
🎲 Remedial Chaos Theory 2.0 (from July 2019) (Series; Completed) - Steve Harrington’s life takes a turn for the weird when Dustin tries to set him up with his babysitter, Y/N.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Epilogue
RCT 2.0 Moodboard
🏀 A Study in Self-Sufficiency (Series; Kind of Completed; Sequel to RCT 2.0) - Steve is tired of his parents deciding everything for him; he and Y/N bond over controlling parents and Y/N shares a secret about her past.
Part 1 / Part 2
Non-x Reader Stories
🍕 Remedial Chaos Theory 1.0 (from 2018) (Completed) - A normal night of D&D turns topsy-turvy when the party has to choose one person to go upstairs and get the pizza. Based on the “Remedial Chaos Theory” episode of NBC’s Community.
Prologue / Lucas / Will / Max / Mike / Dustin / Eleven / Epilogue: Steve and Roxanne
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Doctor Who, but Chronologically 31
Fun fact! The timelines have intersected, almost - if we were watching this show in the normal order, this episode is actually only one out from where we would be. It's 1930! And we all know what that means - it's time for some terrible stereotypical New York accents as we watch Daleks in Manhattan.
Martha's back! Very exciting, Martha put herself into God Tier in the companion rankings with her last episode, and frankly she is very solid in this one as well. She and Tennant arrive in New York, discover it's 1930, and immediately launch themselves into the mystery of working class people going missing during the Great Depression as they live in a Central Park slum in sight of the Empire State Building being built, a tale that is so richly anti-capitalist the only thing they don't do is turn to the camera to break the fourth wall and say "The real monster here, children, is capitalism."
(Also, side note, if you watch in this order, you do feel the devastation of the First World War).
Plot-wise, this is a two-parter! Our second one that is actually intentional. In fact, the plot is fairly basic and simple, meaning the emotional stories and anti-capitalist morals can take centre stage, which is nice - homeless people are vanishing from the slum. They are being turned into pig slaves, by which I mean, humans in fetching brown boiler suits with pig heads who squeal a lot. This is being done by a sort of wannabe mobster who wears stylish spats in the Empire State Building, who insists his workers risk their lives to attach Dalek bumps to the top - because, as the title made clear and the episode wisely chose not to hide from us, the real bosses behind it all are Jeff Bezos inhuman monstrous perversions with no morals or emotions other than hate or racial purity aka Daleks.
Which is exciting! Because you see, while we have SEEN Daleks before, next to the big cube in the second episode, and we got that brief cameo from Rusty... this is actually the first time we get to meet them properly! First Dalek episode, to show us why they're scary!
Except it turns out there are only four of them and they're a cult.
Also the Doctor is proper freaked out by them. We get SO MANY PLOT THREADS HERE
"How are they still alive?" he asks the showgirl who has followed him into a sewer (she is played by Her From Spooks). "How do they always live, while I lose everything?"
Later, Martha, having been kidnapped for experimentation by Daleks and literally shaking with fear, steps up to the Daleks and stares them down.
"I demand to know what's going on," she proclaims (god she's so fucking cool.) "Report."
"Our planet and species were lost in a war," a Dalek says (HOW MANY FUCKING WARS -) "We're the Cult of Skaro. Dalek Sec is hybridising with a human so we can evolve to live outside the shell."
(The other Daleks do not approve. Racial purists. I foresee a mutiny.)
And the merge is complete! The final cliffhanger is that the wannabe mobster now has a single eye and a beard made of penises.
Far be it from me to agree with Daleks, but I also think that's a bad design, actually.
Anyway, other little stories in this episode include Rick Griffin from Holby City playing a man called Solomon, the sort of leader of the slum, who in his first scene resolves a conflict by splitting a loaf of bread in half I-see-what-they-did-there; Her From Spooks playing a showgirl whose boyfriend gets turned into an incomplete pig slave, so he just has the snout and that's it (on being reunited she is very good about it, good for her); and ACTUAL LITERAL SPIDER-MAN IS HERE. That is. Andrew Garfield. Like, THE Andrew Garfield. His name is Frank and he's from Tennessee and he is also about to be experimented on with Martha. And he's played by Andrew Garfield.
The Doctor jokes at one point that he'll let Frank kiss him if he wants, and all I can think about is Andrew "I want to play bisexual Peter Parker" Garfield's eyes lighting up at the line.
But, a nice moment for us watching: the showgirl bonds with Martha (of course) and offers to let her watch the show from the wings.
"Have you ever been on stage?" she asks
"Oh, yeah, a bit," Martha says. "Shakespeare."
WE UNDERSTAND THAT REFERENCE!!!!!
Anyway! New plot threads again!
“She” (an unknown person) is returning (perhaps River returned as Missy. Maybe Me? Maybe Clara???!)
There is something on Donna’s back
An entire planet, Pyrovilia, just… disappeared, somehow. (Maybe because the TARDIS is exploding??? Saturnine was also lost, and that WAS because of the TARDIS exploding. The lion man’s planet was also lost but he was a bit of a knob about it if I’m honest.)
Amy is maybe dead (she’s not)
The Doctor has been cubed (he’s out, but how?)
River is possibly blown up (unless she’s Missy)
The TARDIS has blown up (It’s fine now. Except it’s sort of melting now because it’s corrupted, but it’s fine again)
The universe appears to have ended (the universe is back again)
The Doctor has employed(?) Nardole
(And Nardole was “reassembled???” Nardole had glass nipples and invisible hair?? WHAT THE FUCK IS HE)
There’s a vault in the TARDIS and it contains Missy but we don’t know why (sometimes she knocks for the bants)
What has happened to all these companions and where are the new ones coming from?
There’s an immortal Viking girl now. Her name is Me and she’s now looking after the people the Doctor abandons
What’s With The Silence?
Why was Rory entirely unconcerned by the entire world suddenly going silent when that is Not Normal and should have been, at the very least, extremely disconcerting?
What did the Doctor do to Queen Lizzie One?
Who is Captain Jack Harkness? (Is he the one who gave the companions a warning about the lone cyberman?)
Why is Amy seeing a one-eyed woman in a vanishing window?
What’s with the Doctor’s future involving getting shot by an astronaut?
Is Amy pregnant and why is it inconclusive?
Who is Sarah-Jane Smith?
How is the Doctor Bill’s teacher and why/where does he have an office?
What is going on with the Cyber War and the Cyberium???
Who did the Doctor lose to Cyber Conversion?
What happened with the Other Cyber War?
What happened with the Third War that deleted the void?
Why does Rose seem particularly important?
What’s with the Weeping Angel statues, and why can’t you blink at them?
What order do these Doctors go in? (Eccleston, Tennant, uncertain, Smith, Capaldi, Whittaker)
Which companion just… forgot the Doctor, and how?
Yaz and Vinder are about to die as Mori/Mwri/Muuri
There is a Lupari shield around Earth.
What’s a Time War?
What’s the Rift?
What’s Bad Wolf?
What happened with Amy’s pregnancy?
In which war did the Doctor become a war criminal, and how?
Who is the Master?
Why has Amy forgotten Rory?
Is Rory plastic or not?
Why is the Doctor sulking on a cloud?
How exactly does the Doctor have a cloud?
What exactly happened with Strax to, uh, tame him?
Which friend killed Strax?
Which friend brought Strax back?
Where did this lesbian lizard and human couple come from?
What happened with Clara as Souffle Girl and the Daleks?
How does Clara actually join?
Why so many Claras?
Why is Missy apparently in robo-heaven?
Why is probably!Missy pushing Clara and the Doctor together?
What is Trensilor and what happened there?
Who is Handles?
The Doctor is about to be dissolved by a beautiful geode man
The universe is being crushed by the Flux
Will the Doctor open the fobwatch?
Sontarans are invading Earth again
Who is Kate?
Who is Osgood? Another name of Clara’s again?
The fuck is the deal with the Grand Serpent
Does Martha get to go to an ice cream planet with 12-fingered massage aliens?
How did the Doctor forget Clara?
Who is Bill’s puddle girlfriend Heather?
How did Nardole die?
When does Bill get Cyberman-ed and die?
When does the Doctor shrink and enter a Dalek called Rusty?
Whittaker is falling to her death rn
Was that ring relevant?
Does anyone know the Doctor’s name?
When did Yaz talk to Dan about fancying the Doctor?
When did Dan talk to the Doctor about fancying Yaz?
Who was the Doctor’s wife?
What's happening with the bees?
What happened with Donna's ex and a giant spider?
What war wiped out the Daleks, and is it one of the ones already mentioned?
What did the Doctor mean when he said "The (Daleks) always live, while I lose everything?"
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First off, I don't know how to elagantly word this. Secondly, I'm both Disabled and Non-Binary, so am in the communities I'm talking about.
I just watched the latest Dr. Who episode, loved it, and cried watching it. Spoilers ahead.
The show introduced two new kickass characters, Shirley Anne Bingham, UNITs science officer. And Rose Noble, Donna's biracial trans daughter.
Were there some moments which as a disabled and NB viewer I found a little icky? Yes.
(Examples: the inaccessibility of the structure leading to the rocket meant Shirley wasn't possessed and could then later save everyone. Inaccessibility is not and should never be a good thing. And a few moments regarding Rose's trans identity, one example being the viewer discovering she's trans as she's deadnamed by bullies)
Do I think a big deal should be made out of this? No. Why? Because both characters were portrayed in a very positive and empowering manner. As a western society (UK specifically) We are still nowhere we need to be regarding minority representation. Progress is being slowly made. The people writing us in, for the most part are not in the communities they're trying to give representation to.
If we pick apart every mistake that is being made, the more likely we are to push away those trying to represent us for fear of getting it wrong. No-one gets everything right on the first time. Or the second, third, fourth, etc. It takes time and practise, and patience.
So right now, I'm going to take that Dr. Who episode as a win.
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[WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN]
Before its cancellation, plans for a fourth and potentially final season of Martin Mystery was in the works from Marathon Media and years later, they were eventually leaked out and later confirmed to be true from the creators:
• Season 4 in a change of pace, would've been serialized by having stories that would span multiple episodes and make mini-arcs with them comparing it to the fifth and final season of Totally Spies!, another show of theirs.
• In one of the mini-arcs, we would have saw the return of the Gatekeeper who was last seen in the Season 2 finale which ended on a cliffhanger with him infiltrating the Center with the storyline picking that up with Martin and Billy uncovering it in a conspiracy within the Center itself.
• Others that would've happened were Jenni and returning characters Michelle Dubois, Darla and Kaitlin becoming new agents for the Center, an episode set in Chinatown that would've been an homage to John Carpenter's Big Trouble In Little China, creatures such as the Jersey Devil, mermaids that steal souls and the Ninki Nanka were to be included but in their own different ways, it was going to be revealed that the Center was founded by the first President Of The United States themselves, George Washington himself.
• A new character that would've been introduced and be added to the main cast is Troy — a british gymnast who died of a broken neck back in the 80s but is accidentally brought back to life by Diana and is now a corpse without half of his body and a snapped neck that is has to use duc tape to keep said head up. No, seriously.
• Now one major storyline that would've changed the show and recontextualize it is that while Martin figures it all out by himself, Diana discovers that M.O.M. is in fact her mother and his step-mother. The latter is already on thin ice and working her way to the top with the help of Martin after the Octavia Paine incident but at the end of one of the mini-arcs, Diana discovers this to her shock, disbelief and horror, only be immediately "caught" and kidnapped by M.O.M. who appears right behind her out of the shadows in her room. M.O.M. reveals that she wiped her family's memories of her and has kept them in stasis in order to keep their relationship from interfering with her role as head of the Center, leading to more of M.O.M.'s character being fleshed out which shows her as a strict and morally grey but loving and caring woman who will equally do anything to keep the Center afloat and anything to keep her family safe to which she's called out on by Diana for all of the things that she's been through and all of the things that's happened to her, leading M.O.M. to question herself. To show what kind of drama we're dealing with and were to be dealing with, an episode would've ended with just M.O.M. and Diana driving in a car with the former driving and the latter sitting next to her, Diana apologizes for everything that has just happened and M.O.M. says she know she is and that she's her daughter and nothing will ever change that, she'll always love and care for her no matter what and nothing will ever change that as well but from this point forward to she don't know when, her trust is something Diana is going to have to earn back. Diana hangs her head down in shame as M.O.M. drives off emotionless.
Oh, and M.O.M.'s real name is revealed to be Olivia Lombard.
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Harbor Day.
Hello. Welcome to my fourth post for @taznovembercelebration. The prompt I drew was "fix it" and I knew what I wanted to do but I was procrastinating working on it so I'm just gonna talk about it cause it turns out writing fiction is hard for me.
I love Ethersea. But if I could change one thing, I would add an episode. Just one.
All of the arcs have an Undersea Interlude between them. This allows them to not only deal with game mechanics and leveling characters up, but they also can shop and upgrade the ship. It's pretty handy. And, we get to explore the world in downtime and develop the characters more.
Well. All of the arcs except the Menagerie.
If I could change one thing, it would be to add this episode, taking place after Cambria's Call ends. It's perfectly set up that they could do one. The last episode in the arc literally ends with the Arc fleet showing up and docking and the two civilizations reunite. I would have loved to have seen more of that!
Instead what we got was a return straight to the Bluespan Brokerage to pick up their next job, saying a month had passed since they saved the city.
I would have loved to see that month! What do the PCs do in their free time? What does Harbor Day look like? What are the festivities? How do the characters grow? Would we see Kodira again? How does the return to normal look after a whole deity has been discovered and the whole city transformed? I would give anything for answers to these questions.
I would have liked to see some exploring with why each of the PCs end up acting the way they do for the last two arcs. Or see some side quest antics. Maybe Zoox could have gone diving! Or we could have seen more of the other areas of founders wake! Gone to Kodira's mixer! Found out where Amber used to stay when she wasn't on the ship.
Not to mention that with this extra Harbor Day episode, the total number of main Ethersea episodes would have been 45. Which is the same number of weeks that they had played during a Quiet Year on the shoreside.
It would have been perfect.
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