#4x07. Dude. 4x07

[imminent-danger-came]

do you think mks cosmic backstory conflicts with the previous conflict of his insecurities of being the wrong successor?

Not at all!

When it comes down to it, MK's main flaw is his lack of belief in himself ("Just believe in yourself! Even a smidge makes all the difference")—that's him at his core. He's also identity issues the character ("I'm not the Monkey King okay!" "You're right—you're the Monkie Kid! You have to find your own way to win."), and I think s4 laid into this quite nicely.

Throughout seasons 1 and 2 MK was trying to live up to the legacy of "Monkey King". That's what 1x06 and 1x09 are motivated by—MK is trying to make himself stronger and more like Wukong ("I just wanted to be good enough—like you."). Really 2x05 just worsened a problem MK already had. He was already having doubts about being the Monkie Kid, and SWK leaving in 2x01 was a crack in an already unstable foundation. So then in 2x06 and 2x09 you have MK desperately trying to get stronger, to be a sort of Monkey King stand in ("Pretty soon, Monkey King won't even need to come back!"), and that all comes crashing down in 2x10. And, not only does MK fail, he loses the staff and his powers.

This takes us to 3x01, where MK IMMEDIATELY tries to be Wukong once again:

Sun Wukong: "Kid, why did ya-" MK: "Uh, well yeah, I was trying to do you in the omelet story! Do the weird impulsive Monkey King thing and escape the bad guy."

Sun Wukong: "Well, I mean- Ne Zha ain't really a bad guy but- did you forget about the part where I got really hurt?"

(3x01 On The Run) (Hi MK good guy v bad guy mentality)

-

MK doesn't refer to himself as the Monkie Kid again until after he's able to use gold vision in 3x03, listing off a few of his labels:

"But I, Monkie Kid, delivery boy, somewhat equal to heaven—saw right through your trick." (3x03 Smartie Kid; another label)

Which, MK and his labels are a big deal ("Hero"/"Warrior" in 2x07, Noodle Boy, Successor, the "Plan Man" in 4x12). It's specifically what the curse antagonizes MK with in s4:

Subodhi: “Who or what you are, even I do not know the answer—but of one thing, I am certain: fate has plans for you! Great plans, or foul? Time will tell.” MK: "I- I can't be! I'm just MK!" Subodhi: "The Monkie Kid?" MK: *Gasps*

-

Curse MK: "Tell me, what do you think we are, honestly, cause I have been DYING to hear us say it, out loud." MK: "What kind of a question is that? I'm just- I'm just MK, a noodle delivery guy with the powers of the Monkey King, no biggie."

-

Curse MK: "Seriously? You still think we're just some noodle delivery guy? You can't remember where you came from, and we got ALL this power, and you never once thought, why us? What are we, what is our purpose?" MK: "Of course I thought about it! I mean- maybe, I was gonna thought about it I just- I just want to be me. To be MK!" Curse MK: "Yeah well, we all know exactly where that leads, don't we." Lady Bone Demon Echo: "To pain."

-

Curse MK: "We're just like Wukong, a fraud! A trickster! Why would our legacy be any different?"

-

MK: "No, no you're wrong I'm- I'm not!" Curse MK: "Not what, some Monkey Demon thing destined to bring chaos upon the world? Come on, use your words big brained boy, say it, what are we?"

-

Curse MK: "You can see it, can't you? This is your fate. Your friends will turn on you, seeing you for the monster you will become! They will destroy you, harbinger of chaos."

-

There's all of these different things MK is either trying to be or trying to not be, which all plays back into his identity. It also all plays back to one thing: his lack of belief in himself.

He's either not enough like Wukong or too much like his mentor. He's either not strong enough or too strong, destined to cause nothing but chaos and destruction. He's either not going to be able to protect the people he cares about, or he's going to be the very thing that hurts them. It's the same problem, just on different sides of the spectrum.

The 3x14 "Do you still really think the universe wants anything, from any of us?" to 4x08 "Until I know what I am, what my destiny is? I can't risk hurting the people I care about—the one's I have left" pipeline is both wild and important to note. It's the switch from MK believing he's nothing special, to believing he's the very "harbinger of chaos". It's all about his self-perception.

And honestly, when it comes down to it, he probably still believes he's the wrong successor, just for very different reasons now. You and I both know that there was no other choice for a protégé—who else would have been able to wield the Monkey King's staff and have his powers—but I doubt MK is in a place to come to terms with that. I think that realization is going to be part of his downward spiral next season, along with being one of the things that instigates the SWK V MK fight.

It's very on point that the way MK comforts Wukong at the end of 4x11 is through reaffirming his role as the "Monkey King":

MK: "Monkey King- I'm not ready to not have a mentor. Azure needs to be stopped but- we need you. I need you- to be the Monkey King."

(4x11 A Lifetime of Mistakes)

-

While the way he antagonizes Azure is to threaten his role as a Hero (also referencing his role as an Uncle, and before that his role as a friend):

MK: "Come on! Come on! Come on Unkie Lion, you're the big hero right? Then prove it. Show me!"

(4x13 Rip and Tear)

-

*Gestures financially* IDENTITY

Bonus "What I am" parallels post because it's pretty relevant I feellmk

[mlobsters]

supernatural s4e6 it's the great pumpkin, sam winchester

robert wisdom has been in a ton of well known stuff, but i know him from the wire.

the wire (2002-2008) robert wisdom as bunny colvin

SAM Two words: jail bait. DEAN I would never –

URIEL By a mud monkey. CASTIEL You shouldn’t call them that. URIEL Ah, it’s what they are, savages, just plumbing on two legs.

pretty shot there, while uriel bitches about the uselessness of humanity. smite 'em all.

[therainscene]

It’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, but the Alan Turing poster really tells us so much about Will that I consider it to be a significant piece of foreshadowing for S5.

First, let’s dissuade ourselves of the notion that Will chose Turing for his hero project for nerd reasons -- Will’s preferred flavour of nerdery is escapist fantasy, not computer science. He doesn’t know what an IP address is and the first thing he thinks of when he hears modem noises is a movie he likes.

No, he chose Turing because he admires him for being a gay man who accomplished so much in his short life.

On one hand, that’s pretty heart-warming -- the fact he’s willing to identify with other gay men and look up to them as role models shows us he’s making good progress in accepting his identity. On the other hand, it’s heart-breaking, because Turing’s story is not a happy one -- he was caught having a sexual relationship with a man and forced to choose between jail or chemical castration. He chose castration.

I remind you: Will identifies with this guy.

Will is growing up under the twin specters of AIDS and homophobia and likely assumes he’s destined to die young too. He’s been abused and bullied so much, I imagine he’s heard and internalized it all: that he deserves to die, that he’s disgusting, that he’ll never be fulfilled in life.

So when puberty begins crawling its way inside him and implants those shameful desires that make gay men so worthy of abuse... he chooses castration.

For all the sad pining he does in S4, we never really see Will express desire for Mike -- he never checks him out or shows signs of nervousness when they touch. He behaves with perfect platonic decorum at all times...

...unless we consider That One Scene With The Hose.

Sexual interpretations of this scene are controversial, and I can understand why; we’re so used to seeing Will as this innocent, immature little boy that it's shocking to catch him fantasizing so lustfully, even though these sorts of thoughts are pretty normal for a 15 year-old. But I think that’s the point. We’re supposed to feel uncomfortable about this, because Will feels uncomfortable about it too.

He’s done well in accepting his identity, but he’s an absolute repressed mess when it comes to accepting his sexuality.

So, that’s what the Turing poster tells us about Will. Here’s where the foreshadowing comes in: Will is not the only queer-coded character to have been metaphorically castrated.

Henry’s experience bears striking similarities to Turing’s: he too was caught engaging in a natural but forbidden behaviour and forced by his government to undergo a medical procedure to suppress that behaviour.

His villain speech to El in 4x07, which is ostensibly about his powers, also reads very strongly as a scathing criticism of heteronormativity, and it’s covered in rainbow motifs.

The metaphor here is obvious: Henry’s powers are a manifestation of his homosexuality.

Which implies that Will’s homosexuality can also manifest as powers. They’re repressed because he’s repressed.

It’s not a coincidence that the sexual tension was through the fucking roof in the infamous sauna scene. Every time Will’s supernatural ability to sense the Mind Flayer triggers in S3, Mike is also nearby.

What’s interesting about Mike is that his queer acceptance issues mirror Will’s: Mike has a healthy relationship with his sexuality (he casually checks guys out and plasters his bedroom walls with posters of buff dudes) but he just can’t bring himself to accept what this implies about his identity.

Always with the symmetry, these two. They complement each other perfectly; one’s hang-up is the other’s strength. They have a lot to teach each other about being queer.

And as repressed as they are, I think they want to learn from each other -- Will lets himself get flustered when Mike flirts with him in his bedroom, and Mike hangs on to every word of wisdom Will shares with him in their heart-to-hearts.

Internalized homophobia is a powerful force, but their bond is so strong that it empowers them to fight back.

Henry’s powers symbolize his anger at being mistreated and his desire to take that anger out on the world... but Will’s powers symbolize self-acceptance and love.

So he isn’t just going to defeat Vecna with his powers, and he isn’t just going to get the boy: these two things are one and the same.

[dracox-serdriel]

Only Murders in the Building Season 4 Theories, Part 3

This has spoilers for all episodes of Only Murders in the Building to 4x07 Valley of the Dolls.

To skip this post, please strike the ‘J’ key.

Previous Posts: OMitB Theories Part 1 - OMitB Theories Part 2

The Why - and the Why Now - of This Season

So far we've suspected that Sazz was killed for knowing something about another murder in the building, something that somehow lead to something being wrong with the movie.

But all we actually know is that she wanted to talk to Charles about something "sensitive" before she was shot, and she was retiring from stunt work - more specifically, she was transitioning into a new job. And from Charles' flashbacks this season, we know that her dream was to open a school to train the next generation of stunt folk.

We also know that the plot of land Sazz was planning on using for her school was previously a toxic waste dump that "the government cleaned up" via "Superfund".

I don't believe Sazz was killed because of the movie or the podcast. I believe Sazz was killed (and also Glenn was shot with the intention to kill him) because the toxic waste cleanup wasn't completed - the funds were embezzled, and the embezzler(s) are trying to divert suspicion to a conspiracy in the Arconia, given the murder podcast + movie + everything else going on there.

It seems like Sazz and Glen were relatively close, given how she put another dude in an arm bar until he peed himself because he kept harassing Glen with bad Irish jokes. Sazz asked Charles to keep her dream "under our hats" because the other stunt guys would laugh about it, but I think it's reasonable to think she would be recruiting other stunt people to help setup the institute--and since Glen had recently lost his face (Ben Glenroy), it makes sense that she'd start with someone like him. His "number one" was gone, and he was clearly looking for work because of it. Sazz could've pulled him in as her right hand man (aka her Number Two) for running the school after Glenroy's death left him without a job.

So, after Sazz's death, Glen could've been looking into opening the school in her honor anyway, which is why someone tried to take him out. What's more, the shooter this time tried to take Glen out with a headshot, whereas the shooter shot Sazz in the chest. Of course, Sazz was alone, so even if her death wasn't immediate, it would still take her down. But Glen was in a room full of people - if he was shot in the chest, he might've survived. (Yes, he survived due to a headplate, so we can assume the killer didn't know about it.)

That's right, it's a Murder Podcast about Real Estate!

And there is 100% evidence - critical evidence - related to the land for her institute or something - in the fondue set she got for Charles and Joy's engagement gift.

Reasoning behind this theory:

A major theme of this this season is the enormous impact of a professor/teacher on their students - moreover, there is a huge contrast between the presentation of a "mentor/mentee" as it was in Season 1/Season 2 (Cinda Canon and Becky Butler) and in Season 4, where we see the impact Dudenoff had on not just the Brother Sisters, but also tons of non-artsy students who took classes with Dudenoff

There's a juicy callback to Season 1 (Oliver insisting that nobody wants a murder podcast about real estate)

Sazz's call to Bev Melon could've easily been "dude, you're telling me you DIDN'T CAST BACULA?!" or something of similar level

The other theories around Sazz's death don't really explain the "Why Now?" question - issue with the movie? Knowledge of a previous death/murder? Neither really explains why someone had to shoot Sazz right now, at the beginning of the season.

It could of course be that Sazz knew about Dudenoff's death, assumed it was murder, and was also pulled in on a spying scheme on the podcasters by her agent. But spying on the trio now is just extra - I mean, the movie is based on Season 1, not Season 4 - so losing access to that spying stuff wouldn't kill the movie. But those are all red herrings in her death.

Dudenoff's Death

I am not very certain that Dudenoff wasn't murdered at all. He died of a diabetes-related complications (thus the "fear of sugar" or anti-sugar message in the Desecration of Alice).

But the Westies are definitely red herrings.

Unless one of them has a job in governmental toxic waste clean up - or getting Superfunds to cleanup the waste - then they would for sure be the killer. Wait, what do the members of "the Sauce family" do for a living again!?

[sloppyneedybmxboy]

fav supernatural episodes

3x03 rabbits foot bella episode 3x08 supernatural christmas super wincest so sweet so sad 3x10 dream a little dream of me, bobby i just love you 3x11 mystery spot, like groundhog day with dean dying a lot SO ANGST between sam and dean 3x12 jus in bello, super tense dude they're in a demon siege goood ep 3x13 ghostfacers, so so funny so spoofy

(*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)

4x01 dean comes back from hell whole thing shot like gay porn i love it 4x03 and 02 not my fav episodes ever but incredibly gay destiel scenes at night 4x06 anxious dean 4x07 awesome ep. castiel meets sammie. DESTIEL scenes like the bench scene ZOMG 4x09 just a great ep loads of drama. anna !

4x10 good for drama. anna kisses dean and cas is like :o 4x15 uhh the reapers have been kindapped. castiel and also alistair and pamela. its a fun time (sort of ) 4x16 ON THE HEAD OF A PIN. my favest episode so far, so much drama. dean angst! torturing alistair! bloody cas. cas at deans bedside . i was getting too close to the humans in my charge etc etc 4x18 chuck, good ep ft dean praying to cas for first time

4x20 tense. not the best ep ever but ft jimmy novak aka cas' vessel and funny just for the complete lack of sexual tension between dean and jimmy without cas inside him and dean's confusion

4x21 oop. sam getting demon blood detoxed. angst and greatly enjoyable

4x22 best epppp so good so good. so fun always good to rewatch. much destiel

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

5x02 "i rebelled i did it all for you" destiel speech um also awesome ep war comes to small town etc rufus ellen involved very ethel cain 5x03 dean and cas go on a case together for the first time! very gay¬! 5x04 endverse cas and dean, apocalypse, gayness 5x06 good ep with the kid antichrsit it just pisses me offf 5x07 old dean, so funny, bobby angst, loves it 5x08 changing channels! it truly has it all. gabriel, cas, funny sam dean stuff, dr sexy …. 5x10 cas and jo and ellen and dean and bobby and stuff aaaa my heart. they tracked lucifer down. sexy cas scenes 5x11 a true fever dream of an episode … the boys admit themselves to a mental asylum … I don't know if this deserves to be on this list but it was kinda funny idk. minus points for no cas. 5x13 worth it only for the cas!whump scenes hurtcas ! he sends them back in time to fix things with john and mary 5x14 MY BLOODY VALENTINE! consumehimnatural destiel my beloved 5x16 worth it for the cas losing his faith in his father/god plotline. angst cas 5x17 DRUNK BITCH CAS ep.! always good fun to watch him be mean to sam. dean's like WHAAAA? one of my fav eps 5x18 "last time someone looked at my like that, I got laid" DESTIEL ALLEYWAY FIGHT SCENE, angst!dean, so many good scenes !!! one of my fav eps 5x20 wonderful crowley ep, really funny antagonistic & good gay times 5x21 cas in hospital! cas saves the day! not the best plot wise but plenty of fun and crowley involved too so all the boys :D

(☆▽☆)

6x01 NOT the best episode at ALL but really fun to watch in terms of dean gender studies. dean living normcore life with ben and lisa 6x03 CAS IS ON ONE! "we do have a more profound bond" very funny iconic destiel lines, balthazar included

6x04 BOBBY POV EP! YAY! supa funny silly lighthearted I loves it 6x05 Twilight/vampire. I am hesitant to put this one on the list but it is homoerotic vampires dean gender studies moments so I think it has to be here. minus points for soulless sam and samuel cos they sukk 6x06 ICONIC destiel whiskey pouring scene.Rest of the ep is fairly skippable. I sometimes slow this scene down to x0.25 and watch it because there's so much being said nonverbally thru their body language and eyes so watch careffffully. much to unpack, ripe for analysis. sad!Cas

6x09 dean fight the fairies episode. so much fun 6x10 meg! crowley! cas! the boys! they're all fighting. supa funny cas/crowley bits and cas sexual awakening 6x15 HOLA MISHAMIGOS! meta ep. so funny so silly so light

6x18 this ep truly has it all ONE OF MY FAV OF ALL TIME dean gender silly dress up cowboy, b plot is gay cas and bobby getting angel fisted umm 6x19-22 obvs THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING ARC !!!

7x01 GODSTIEL ARC 7x02 godstiel arc continued. for first 10 mins or something 7x06 -7x12 ok so these are by far not my fav episodes but. there's something to say for them. I thought season 7 was gonna be balls without cas but there's something quite Classic Supernatural going on in these eps which is comforting and/or dean gender studies and/or dean pining for cas which makes them good actually. ft frank & some garth . ALSO bobby being a dad and bobby death sequence eps 9/10 7x17 CAS RETURNS! Emmanual!Cas awesome destiel scenes like the trenchcoat bit ….. 7x18 party on garth. truly an incredible episode. garth-centric 7x20 CHARLIE CHARLIE CHARLIE! 1st charlie ep leviathian heist style plot quite fun and silly 7x21 crazy cas! off his rocker cas! cas and dean play a boardgame! cas is so charmingly aloof and offhand! "when castiel first laid hands on you in hell he was LOST!!!" ft. kevin tran 7x23 weird boy bestfriends behaviour … also "i'd rather have you, cursed or not" destiel scenes ft. the Iconic castiel crowley meg dean love triangle

8x01 unbelievably gay purgatory flashback episode. deranged dean. big gay benny! very queer coded. really fun !!! one of my favs ft kevin 8x02 "too much heart was always castiel's problem" OK? ft kevin tran and his MUM. also pining recently returned from purgatory dean. overall fun ep 8x05 dean x benny ep so Very gay ….. some purg flashback and destiel parallels …. 8x06 garth therapises the Boys! it's always a good time when it's a garth ep ok

[spinelli-gemelli]

A Degrassi Essay Series About Rick Murray

(Part 5)

In the last post we looked at those students who antagonized Rick in their interactions with him. Let's now focus on those who served as his allies in what was otherwise a miserable school environment for him. This will be a fun post to write considering all of the following characters have different reasons for why they're interacting with Rick, yet they all seemed to have left a strong, positive impact on him.

Darcy

I'm starting with little Miss Edwards because she is the most neutral towards Rick out of everyone on the list. She agreed to kiss Rick for five dollars, Toby being the one to pay her. Because she's a freshman, or as they say in Canada, in Grade 9, she is unaware of who Rick is and why everyone at Degrassi hates his guts. It's her inquiry about Rick's reputation that earns her the five dollars to begin with. We watch this minor scene unfold in "Islands in the Stream" (4x06) as this ninth grader gets Rick's attention while he's walking past her in a hurry and compliments his glasses, causing him to pause and face her. For someone so young, Darcy was very smooth in her delivery. It helps when you don't care about the guy you're being paid to kiss. This prompts Rick to tell Darcy about the "game" he and Toby are playing. Darcy, armed with meta knowledge of the game already, asks what she can do to help him win, and that's when Rick replies with, "A kiss." He tells her he doesn't need a lips or a cheek kiss, but before he can finish his sentence, Darcy stretches up and smooches him on the cheek, and we cut to see Rick grinning from ear to ear afterward. Hell, his face is even a soft shade of pink. After all, he was losing this game in a humiliating (and honestly hilarious) defeat, so that kiss must have felt like heaven to him. It kind of shows us as the audience that Rick wasn't all there since he had the audacity to believe that women would be a fan of his after what he did to Terri and after the ribbon campaign that was launched against him just a few weeks ago. I mean c'mon, dude. I guess he assumed that just because the head organizer of the campaign softened her defenses against him, he believed that every other girl would too. Think again!

Here's a fun fact behind this scene. The actress who auditioned for Darcy (Shenae Grimes) read her Darcy lines while a woman in the audition room, who I'm assuming was Linda Schuyler, read lines for Rick. Grimes' audition was an extension of Darcy's scene with Rick. As Darcy is walking away after having kissed Rick, "Rick" (played by Schuyler) asks for Darcy's name, which she has no problem telling him. When Darcy then asks for his name in return, Rick is awkward and can only respond in verbal pauses. "Uhhh...d-uhhh...". It's as if Rick didn't want her to know who he really was for fear of her hating him too. Darcy closes out the scene with the line. "Guys are so weird." No, Darcy. It's just that guy who's weird. The rest of them are simply stupid (lol, just kidding).

Jimmy

Jimmy started off much like Spinner: he was understandably hostile towards Rick in the beginning, then began using every opportunity he could to meddle Rick at school after the protesting died down. We get the famous foreshadowing scene in "Anywhere I Lay My Head" (4x05) where Rick shows up to the Spirit Squad car wash in his mother's black Volkswagen. Jimmy walks up to the driver's window after he notices Rick talking to his girlfriend, Hazel, and threatens to shoot him with the water hose, telling him to "bounce." As Rick is driving away, Jimmy sprays the water gun at the back of Rick's car. Jimmy is also the one who is with Spinner as they both throw him in the dumpster in "Time Stands Still" (4x07).

Something happens though. By fate, Jimmy is Heather Sinclair's replacement on the Whack-Your-Brain team after she falls ill with mononucleosis. Now that they are forced to work together, Jimmy realizes that Rick isn't the worst person on the planet. Rick even gives Jimmy a compliment, as awkward as his speech mannerisms are. "Futility perfected." Rick says to Jimmy during practice drills the day before the finals. Now that Jimmy notices that Rick these days is just minding his nerdy business, he sticks up for Rick in front of Spinner, Jay and Alex.

What a shame that Rick assumed that Jimmy was the culprit behind the paint and feathers prank based on what Spinner and Jay told him. The scene in which Rick approaches Jimmy in the hallway with every intention of shooting him regardless of what Jimmy said is a mixture of frustration and dread. Jimmy, being the bigger person, decided to set aside his differences with Rick and move forward with the seemingly not bad person he was during the time of "Time Stands Still". He was the biggest supporter to Rick on stage as he answered all of the trivia questions correctly on stage. Maybe they wouldn't have been buddies in an alternate future, but similar to the crew that was featured in "The Breakfast Club Episode" of Degrassi (3x16), they would behave civilly towards each other. They would come to an understanding. Jimmy would defend Rick against the bullies in the halls as he promised to Rick before he decided to shoot him. "...and if those guys give you anymore problems, I got your back." Jimmy Brooks being the classic good guy. Sadly it cost him his legs, though none of it was the cause of his own doing. Rick was quick to believe the lie he had been told since Jimmy did resort to plain old bullying like Spinner and Jay after the protesting died down, and that was the Jimmy Rick had in mind as he approached him slowly, blinded by his incorrectly perceived injustice and rage. To Rick, in that moment, he was a fool to believe that Jimmy would really want to be his friend. He should have known it was too good to be true, and in his mind, it was. Jimmy betrayed him.

Emma

Yes, we're talking about Emma again. After she leads the charge against Rick, puts an end to it, sets the record straight about how she feels about him, Rick and Emma tolerate each other as classmates. After all, they seem to share at least three classes together as both of them are in grade ten. Then something happens in "Islands in the Stream" that changes the tone of their relationship. In a bet where Rick and Toby each try to get a kiss from Emma in order to win, she winds up kissing both of them. There's just a bit of...inconsistency in her behavior here. If you're a girl who learns from the upperclassmen about how Rick Murray beat his ex-girlfriend, organized a campaign to get rid of him with said upperclassmen, would you not be disgusted at the thought of kissing him? Being a woman beater is a major turn off. It's one thing if you buy into Rick's repentance and believe that he is different from last year. It's another if you just put up with the fact that he's around, like Emma originally did.

"Things got out of hand, and I stopped it." Emma tells Rick at the end of episode 4x04. "It doesn't mean I like you, and it doesn't mean we're friends." Then, two episodes later, she has no problem pecking him on the cheek? Maybe this was the moment Rick believed that Emma was into him. If you take away this scene in his character arc, then yes it seems like Rick developed this delusion of Emma flirting with him out of thin air, but the fact that she decides to kiss him suggests at the very least she can't dislike the guy the way she implied at the end of "Mercy Street". To Emma, perhaps her motivation to do so was that she didn't want Toby to believe that she was into him, which is why she discretely kissed him on the cheek. Isaacs then went and blabbed about it to his new friend, so Emma, being annoyed that Toby didn't follow her lead, evens the score by kissing Rick. "This is so you're not lonely." She says to Rick before she leans in to make her move. Her attempt to not show any favor towards either boy had the opposite effect on Rick. He seems to think that the fact that Emma kissed him does mean she likes him. She did make it clear two episodes ago that she wasn't his fan. Maybe he's making the implication in his mind after she pecked his cheek--and we're talking a smooch so light and so fast that if you blink, you'd miss it.

Ironically, he doesn't respond to Darcy's kiss the same way he responds to Emma's. In NotaVampyre's video essay, the uploader points out a small detail at the end of episode 4x06. Toby and Rick are plot B of that episode, and in it they have a little competition to see who can get the most girls to kiss them by the end of the day. We learn that Toby wins, managing to get eleven kisses that day, but Rick only had one, which was Darcy, and even that was only because she was paid to do so. In Rick and Toby's final scene, Rick says that Darcy's kiss has given him all of the confidence he needs before strutting down the hall with his supposed new confidence. When Toby asks "To what?", we see Rick's "confidence" is short-lived as Jay looms over him, successfully intimidating Rick to turn the other direction. Rick never goes into an explanation about what he meant, but NotaVampyre suggests that the confidence he's speaking of was meant for asking Emma to be his girlfriend. This suggests that Emma's affectionate gesture towards Rick meant more to him than it did to her. This explains why Rick thought that Emma being more pleasant towards him during episode 4x07 meant that she returned the same feelings he had for her. It wasn't just that she was being nice to him in this episode, but also because of the kiss she gave him in the previous episode. As I write about this, it sounds as if I'm creating a mountain out of a molehill, but from Rick's perspective, this is exactly the point. Any minute, friendly gesture that Rick receives from the opposite sex is inflated in his mind. Hell, the same is true with members of his same sex as we saw in his interactions with Jimmy.

I think the event that began Rick's crush on Emma was that in the beginning, she was the only person who rushed to his aid as the protesting got out of hand. It is suggested that Rick is into blondes after we see his list of his "Top Twenty" crushes at the school (episode 4x06), with Emma and Ms. Hatzilakos both being in his top three. This puts Emma in an uncomfortable and frustrating situation. She's trying to do the right thing and help support Rick on the Whack-Your-Brain team, but because she's smiling at him and being nice to him, Rick assumes that she's now into him, which encourages him to make the moves on her...if you want to call it that. Most of the viewers watching Rick find his tactics to be cringe, awkward, creepy, and uncomfortable. After Rick is humiliated on stage, Emma famously goes after him in the hallway to console him, but unfortunately, Rick misreads her actions yet again. He decides that this is the time to make his big move--he grabs her face and kisses her on the mouth, which causes Emma to pull away from him, shocked, repulsed, and upset. Rick says to her, "I thought you loved me." It's this simple line that lets us know as the audience that Rick doesn't have it all together upstairs. Emma scoffs at him, telling him to get a clue, that she only felt sorry for him.

Before Rick winds up resenting Emma for not reciprocating his love for her, Emma seems to come full circle in her interactions with Rick. This seemed to be very healthy for him until, of course, he was humiliated on stage, and his delusions of Emma flirting with him were shattered when he was forced to face reality. It makes me wonder what would have happened if Rick hadn't been pranked on stage and was still rejected by Emma. Would it have hurt as much if he got to win the tournament and receive positive feedback from all of his pupils? I'm inclined to believe that while, sure, he would have been hurt, he wouldn't have resorted to a gun. Emma's rejection was simply the straw that broke the camel's back, the icing on the cake of despair.

Toby

Toby's character becomes something of a glorified extra in season three all the way to season seven where he actually becomes a recurring guest role in season six. Sadly in t.v. shows that feature a large ensemble cast, some members get thrust into the shadows. The writers don't do this intentionally; however, it is hard to give equal screen time to multiple characters, especially when you're restricted by a tight budget and twenty-two minutes of showtime. That isn't to say that they don't have any significance. In this case, I'm referring to Toby's friendship with Rick. Toby is also the only character in the whole show who Rick remained friends with all the way to his tragic end. I don't believe Rick ever meant to hurt Toby. He was just unfortunate in being caught with one of Rick's targets: Emma.

I see some people say online that one of Toby's worst offenses was befriending Rick: a known abuser. I disagree. Throughout Toby's time at Degrassi, he and his closest friend, J.T., have been growing apart since the beginning of season 3. It is even mentioned in Google's episode description of "Gangsta Gangsta" (3x06), which reads "...while J.T. leaves Toby behind by spending more time with Paige and the popular kids". In season 4 you see the pair of them, along with Manny and Liberty, hanging out in Liberty's hot tub in her backyard, but it is still suggested that J.T. prefers to spend his leisure time with Danny Van Zandt over Toby, and since the cool kids reject Toby, he sees something of himself in Rick. It has nothing to do with the fact that he put Terri in a coma. Some fans say that Toby should have condemned Rick for what he did to Terri rather than form an allegiance with him, which I think is absurd. He's a teenage boy, for one, and adolescent boys don't make for very good activists of any kind. Again, Isaacs related to Rick being a loner, not an abuser, and Rick has since acknowledged how terribly he treated Terri in the past. They were both nerdy outcasts with shared interests in role playing dice and computers. Toby certainly doesn't condone what Rick did last year, but rather accepts who Rick is in the present day as good enough of a friend as he can get at this time. I think that Toby knew that something was off about him after he visited Rick's house the day of the Whack-Your-Brain finals and heard him inflate the truth about their relationship with Jimmy and Emma. Still: it isn't his duty to be an activist. He's a kid who just needs a friend.

I've seen another voice online saying that people underestimate the impact that Toby's friendship had on Rick, a statement that I agree with. While it was certainly a tragedy what Rick did, who knows how much worse it could have been, how much further he could have spiraled, how many more lives he could have devastated, if not for the presence of Toby. It would be unthinkable to bear the brunt of being bullied completely alone with nothing but your private thoughts to console you. There was a moment in episode 4x06 where Jay slams Rick into a locker, and shortly after he does, Toby is right there to offer Rick a hand. Something as simple as helping someone off of the floor after they've been knocked down can make a huge difference to a bullied victim.

It also tells you something about Toby’s character, someone who is boastful about his victories, that he goes out of his way to make sure Rick isn't humiliated at his own game. In this case, Rick deserved to lose in such a mortifying way. A guy with an abusive history needs to keep his ego in check. Still, Toby has a heart and wants Rick to get some satisfaction out of participating in their silly bet, so he pays Darcy to kiss his friend. He even lets Rick believe that the kiss happened organically as Rick is reminiscing about it the next day. Since Jay is around to witness this ordeal, he decides to punish Toby for it by shoving him into a locker. Fun fact: we get another bit of foreshadowing in this scene. Right before Jay pushes Toby into his own locker, he explains to Jay why he did what he did. "Look. Rick’s my friend. I was just trying to save him from humiliation." How sneaky of the writers to tell us what was going to happen to Rick in the next episode! Sadly, Toby wasn't able to save Rick from humiliation when it counted the most.

Rick has also stood up for Toby. We see this in part one of "Time Stands Still." Jimmy has just joined Whack-Your-Brain and is still at odds with Rick at this time. Jay and Spinner come after Toby in an attempt to find Rick. When Toby refuses to give away his friend's whereabouts, Jay punishes him by slamming his face into the water fountain he is drinking out of. When Toby meets up with Rick, Emma, and Jimmy in the gym, he has a bloodied lip. Both Rick and Jimmy know Toby had been attacked, and Jimmy tries to pry information from Toby. Instead, it is Rick who responds to Jimmy, challenging him to see the error of not only his ways but also the ways of his friends. The most poignant part of the dialogue is when Rick says, "Toby doesn't deserve this. Nobody does." This tells the viewers a couple of things. One, it shows that Spinner, Jay, and Alex are actually bullies at this point in the story since they've reared their aggression towards Toby, a kid who, unlike Rick, has done nothing wrong. Secondly, it shows that Rick is thinking of more than just his own suffering, as he is visibly upset at the fact that his bullies came after his friend. I point this out because people tend to say that Rick's return to Degrassi in search of forgiveness is only for the sake of his ego, arguing that he doesn't take into account anything else except his own problems and his own suffering. This scene with Jimmy proves that he is capable of feeling sorry for more than just himself. Abuser or not, Rick’s display of sympathy for Toby proves that he's not the "psycho" that everyone has branded him. Notice that Rick doesn't say "I don't deserve this," which takes the focus away from himself, but rather says that no one deserves to be tortured by other humans, and he is right. Granted, he does say right before how he has "...been suffering for weeks," which suggests that the viewers should garner empathy for Rick's situation, but nonetheless, Rick has the moral high ground for the first time in the series.

While this essay was dedicated to those who showed kindness towards Rick that most would argue he didn't deserve, it's a tragic irony that two of the people on this list are the ones he targeted at the end of his character arc. I remember watching the "Time Stands Still" two-parter and feeling a mix of emotions from indignation, to anxiety, to sadness. Toby could only watch helplessly as his friend was determined to kill his other friend since seventh grade. Before Rick pulled a gun, Toby tried to convince Rick to stay home after the prank, but Rick insisted that that was the one time he wanted to be at school. Toby tries to talk Rick out of it, but Rick isn't hearing any of it. The cold, malicious glare he gives Emma the entire time Sean tries to deescalate the situation is so unnerving. It's like he doesn't even see Toby standing in the halls with them, or doesn't care. Although Rick felt like he was betrayed by Jimmy, Toby was truly betrayed by Rick. I can't imagine being the person associated with a dead school shooter because I was friends with him. Rick might not have aimed a gun at Toby's face, and Toby might not have wrestled for the gun the way Sean did, but he was just as impacted by the shooting as Emma and Sean.

[winderlylandchime]

Btw, dad’s reports to the chosen episodes are in and unfortunately (actually scratch that, fortunately) his reactions are way more calmer. We finished with our watch because my brother made us sit and watch the episodes all day. Not that I’m complaining but also I swear this is the most I’ve watched qaf in years. So the reports are in: 2x04: he absolutely loved the pride episode. He really loved the ending. He thought that this is where it starts to show even more that Brian cares about him a lot (keep in mind we skipped the 3rd ep so he didnt see the ‘you love him’ scene bc my brother has some flaws).

2x09: my dad was LIVID almost the whole episode. He almost died of second hand embarrassment because of Mikey. He loves Emmett even more. He fucking hated Brian’s mom. Did i mention he was livid? His only comment about the episode was ‘oh this explains a shit ton about Brian’ Highlight tho: the date night opening happens and my brother goes ‘oh…yeah this is sort of awkward for a family night’ for some reason neither of us thought this through. But the best part was my dad going ‘hey, dudes be fuckin’ while doing a shrug towards my brother.

3x08: he was very confused why we skipped so much, he was also confused about them breaking up. He absolutely loved that Justin decided to be a stalker but at least got a little better since the pilot. He really liked their reunion. And then after it was done, my brother went ‘okay now you gotta watch it again so it hits harder’ and then replayed the reunion scene.

3x09: his only reaction was ‘yeah it fucking is’ when Ben called it the most historic reunification since Germany. He is absolutely tired of Mikey though. And he really liked how in the end they have this open relationship that clearly both are aware of how it goes. If only he knew..

3x10: he is very confused over who stockwell is. My brother gave him zero hints cause ‘maybe if you picked up my calls last year, youd know.’ He likes that at the end when they put posters up together, you can tell that Brian has been a big influence on Justin as in he goes for what he wants but Justin is a huge influence on Brian as in ‘he helps him figure out how to get his head out of his ass’

3x11: he really fucking lived that scene in the GLC and he just went ‘oh they planned this shit together.’ He loved the scene with Debbie and Brian but he was also a bit upset about it cause he’s still mad at her from the beginning of S2. And he was absolutely obsessed with the scene where Stockwell finds them with the posters.

3x12: only takeaway: he really enjoyed the scenes with Justin, Brian and Hunter. He likes how Britin has their own little banter and inside jokes that in his opinion Brian doesn’t have with anyone else. When they had that hustler/100$ bit going on, he went ‘Michael would hate this cause he wouldn’t be able to join in on the joke’

3x13: he was so fucking delighted with that scene where Hunter asks Brian if he has a boyfriend. And the you fucked a murderer scene was again a big hit. And his love for Brian grows every episode.

3x14: Brian is now his favorite person alongside Justin. The last scene made my dad cry and my brother cried as well. My dad turned to him teary eyed and went ‘fuck’ and my brother went ‘i know right?’ And he loves Britin more and more.

4x07: he is completely heartbroken over Vic. He’s really sad about Brian’s cancer diagnosis. And he is absolutely horrified with Justin’s haircut. He was so fucking confused when he popped up on screen that he actually screamed. And my brother went ‘oh yeah i forgot, he got a haircut..rude, right?’ When that little office scene where Brian loses it and then comes back to hug Justin came up my dad declared that Brian is deep deep in love.

4x08: completely heartbroken over seen Brian is such a bad shape. He thought it was cute how Brian took him to school cause he missed him even tho he felt like shit. He thinks this is where Brian started to reconsider some stuff cause of cancer. And once again LIVID with Michael.

4x13: confused because where the fuck did Rage the movie come from. Annoyed because Brian and Justin could have little bike trip together. He really likes Brian being a stubborn little shit tho

4x14: he is absolutely obsessed with Brian. He loved that moment where Brian explains why the bike race is important to him and he cheered him on like he was watching a soccer game. And the last moment with Britin made him absolutely love them both so much. He was smiling the whole time and then went ‘it’s nice that he got his head out of his ass and finally allowed himself to be happy and in love’

And then after the episode ended, my brother turned off the tv and went ‘doesn’t it end nicely?’ And my dad goes ‘isnt there some proposal and another season’ and before he could even finish his question, my brother goes ‘absolutely not. It got canceled after season 4 so i guess we’ll never know how they wanted to end it. Sad.’ And then he just left the room. And my dad stared at me and went ‘but your mom said that the finale was’ and he couldn’t even finish before my brother yelled from the bedroom ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO’

I AM DYING at your dad’s reactions to the episodes. I adore that he loves Brian just as much as we all do.

“Dudes be fucking” is going to be my response to any pearl clutching about drag, queers, transes, etc that I see this year.

The Michael would hate this (everyone being in on the joke) observation is so right. Poor Mikey. But not really. Get a sense of humor that isn’t TUMS spelled backwards.

I am also glad that he appropriately appreciated the “fucked a murderer” scene.

He correctly dislikes the Pink Posse haircut. And realizes that Brian is in deep.

ALSO thank you. Someone should believe that the series ends at the end of S4. Brian asks Justin to move in. Period. End of show. “It’s nice he got his head out of his ass and finally allowed himself to be happy and in love” is correct. HAPPY ENDING. Done. Sorted.

[fandom-hoarder]

I'm about to watch walker 4x07... (copypaste from DM with the bestie <3)

The way the jackal notebook looks like John's journal, cordell waking up to that instead of geri has me 👀👀👀👀

Luna is watching hawk's shadow hahhh

God, cassie talking about the double standard for women dating 👀👀 will this be explored

Omg tactical gear and all, on a hunch👀👀👀

Stella so pretty

Witt being awfully pushy istg

Campus security thinking it's just some drunk frat dude, after seeing that video, is willful ignorance lmfao

Lmao I'm over here like, hell no I'm not letting you in my house without a warrant, jfc

I knew they would draw on him for reaching for something but goddamn😬

Lmao Bonham's shade at cordell teaching stella bad technique

Cordell is looooooosing itttttt

"I'm not gonna lose my friend to this" hiiiiii have you looked in a mirrorrrrr

Having cereal for dinner cuz he's solely focused on the case hahhh relatable

See, this is why geri had to leave

He's gotta have no tether at home

Is it too much to hope for an Emily's ghost moment before the end of this case 👀👀👀👀

Corpus Crooner ?? Lolol

Omg

Even good karaoke gives me secondhand embarrassment lol

Lmao that chest shot

The closeups on Luna lol they know what they're doing. I'm always so amused

Lololol is bonham IGNORING Abilene

Ooof stella is like damn

Dtr tho lol

He's not gonna show up to boot camp is he...

"He's a zookeeper" lmfao jfc

ROTTING DOG

[Why are commercials so weirddddd (i know why but good LORD)

Why is kevin hart literally in EVERYTHING]

Oh it's this kind of zoo lololol

Serpentarium lmfao

I FUCKING KNEW IT. HE'S MISSING AUGIE

Gotta be consistent, i guess lmao

Omg that fall sync up

THE FRUIT

Augie!!!

Aaaaaaahhhh head injury!! Lol jared has acting tbi DOWN

Lmao lovey dovey cassie

I love trey and augie so much 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

He's really been an influence in his maturity

"I'll make it up to him" that's a familiar line

Yeah, liam, tell himmmmm

"Dramatic" ooh and that flippant affect 😯😯😯😯😯😯

He is LOSING it losing it 👁👄👁

BLACK GLOVESSSSS???

Oh i see

IS HE WILL GRAHAMING IT???

😱😱😱😱😱😱😱 YOU CAN'T END THERE OMG

Hahhhhh please let this get renewed god

Rewatching the ep immediately lmfao

What difference does a 5pm curfew make if you're not around to enforce it lolol

Eating cereal so you don't have to think about cooking and staring at the thing you're reading...also relatable

Cassie unable to separate work/life on the romantic side parallel to Cordell's inability to work/life balance on the work side 👀

Cordell is like a bomb sniffing dog that alerts for everything

(There's a series of YouTube shorts about a retired bomb sniffer that false alerts everywhere he goes😅 reminds me of that)

It's funny in all that ranch house they don't have somewhere else to put the home gym 😅

Bonham so snotty on the "our ranch" lol. Sounds a little bit "my ranch" sir

Did stella even get a new room or anything? Is she still in the same dorm the guy used a KEY to get in?

Once again, the coming inside to ask questions part makes me sooo 😬😬😬😬😬😬

I am so not letting 4 rangers IN TACTICAL GEAR into my house without a warrant. Don't care HOW innocent i am

You think i warrant that much prep, you can GET a warrant

Serial killer case not enough to excuse it. That's how cases get thrown out, buddy

Goddddddd only augie even knows her dorm was broken into. Like it is just hitting me how they all really don't know what she's going through. Yeah girl, get some self defense from grandpa

I knew augie was gonna help that kid as soon as he failed the trial time lol

Everybody and his literal mama: Cordi, you're letting the case consume you

Cordell: well that's just, like, your opinion, man 😉

Stella's braid is so cute. Lol bonham giving abilene the snub understandable, but stella just staying focused on her punches and also ignoring her😅

Wonder if cordell is going to miss August's high school grad, too 👀👀👀👀👀👀 y'know, to keep it all even lol

Lalala what is a warrant lololol

The visual storytelling on this show is so ON POINT this season. The music, the video syncing with these multiple parallels in the bootcamp/zoo scene, the main plot/secondary plot parallels. They're FOCUSED

AUGUST, PLEASE DON'T JOIN THE ARMY. PRETTY PLEASE.

I'm soooo happy about liam being like "stella is going through it and you in particular should be there for her on this but you're ignoring it"

[queerfables]

911 season 4 liveblog part 4x07 through to the end

4x07

Ok I'm obsessed with this "mother plague" band I want to go to all their shows and maybe hook up with them

Oh boy Buck is not having a good date. Come on lady, be nice. It's not like Buck held you at gunpoint to get you to the table. If you're having a bad time just go home.

Ok seriously you cannot order dessert on a date where you're clearly having a bad time and then continue to be bitchy to the person you're there with. Just go home!

LMFAO THEY'RE NEIGHBOURS

Hen saying "Have either of you ever seen me in a dress?" and the random guy chiming in with "I think you'd look lovely in a dress" lmfao not the correct response my dude

Buck and Eddie facing off against a turkey together amazing

I'm enjoying Michael's Rear Window arc

Crying with laughter. I love that when Athena asks Bobby to check on Michael he immediately gets sucked into Michael's nonsense

Bobby is TERRIBLE at undercover operating

"Michael did help me break into a bank vault once" I really love their team ups

Oh my god Michael just snuck into the guy's house??

Holy fuck is he stealing organs??

Oh this is a nice scene with Hen and her mum

LMFAO LMFAO Buck's bad date is dating Albert now that's hilarious

4x08

Crying with laughter over the bitingly false cheer in this flight attendant's voice as she says "you betcha". Poor friend she's having a terrible time.

Why is everyone acting like she specifically is antagonising them on purpose

Honestly her breakdown is totally warranted everyone on that plane was terrible. No jury would convict her.

Oh the cork embedded in the guy's neck had me gasp out loud at the screen love when this show gets me like that

Aw Buck babysitting Christopher makes me :pleading-eyes:

Buck is such a family guy ugh it's soft. it's been super obvious ever since he met Christopher that he is someone who needs to be around kids and one day have his own (and that he adores Christopher in particular ofc). He and Eddie are so alike. This isn't the only way but it's definitely one that stands out to me, because of course Eddie just completely lights up around his kid.

Man, I rode out the worst of the pandemic in one of the most isolated cities in the world (by total coincidence, we had moved there the year before it hit) so we weren't hit too hard by it. But this season is really driving home how lucky I got.

Omg Taylor and Buck gossiping about Buck's love life is really funny. Maybe they'll hook up again but I would love if she just hung around as his bitchy ex who gets drunk with him and dunks on all his life choices

Chanting for the guy to jump? Classy.

"I've met the people you work with. Your life is nothing but meaningful relationships." Only Taylor could make that sound like an insult. I love her.

Oh Eddie. I know that conversation didn't go the way you hoped but the fact that your kid is able to say the words "I'm mad at you" and walk off to get some space speaks volumes about what an excellent parent you are. It's gonna be ok.

Okay when Taylor knocked on the door I thought she only showed up so she could watch the train wreck but actually she had no idea what she was walking into and in revenge she intends to BE the train wreck? That's hilarious.

oh no Taylor you're showing human emotions and vulnerability stop that immediately before I fall in love with you

Oh my god I'm gonna cry, Eddie panicking over Christopher going missing, answering the call from Buck in a total freak out, but it's all OK and Buck is calling because when Christopher is feeling upset and alone and mad at his dad, the person he trusts to go to is Buck? Gosh that's a lot T_T

Feeling very 🥺 about Taylor & Buck friendship

Oh no, Hen and Karen, that is super rough news. I'm sorry, that aspect of fostering must be so rough.

4x09

Omg this is so familiar. My family had pretty much the same experience when our little one was born. "Today's the day" I'm sorry Maddie, today is not the day.

Oh my god I hate seeing kids in distress this car driving the wrong way down the highway is tough

Oh jeeze this accident is pushing everyone's buttons

Chimney and Maddie are so cute

Oh no Albert!!

He better not die I'll be big mad

Then again if he's anything like his brother he'll be fine

Their music choice is not filling me with confidence

Oh thank God

Oh that is a beautiful baby

Oh Hen. "Nia's damn near crying her eyes out and you act like it happens every day" in fairness, she's a toddler, it probably does happen every day. Put yourself in her mother's shoes for a moment. You experienced first hand the fear of losing your kid, this mother actually experienced it. You don't know what she went through that she had her kid taken and you don't know what she's done to get back to a place where she can look after her again.

"You are nothing like that woman" "I am exactly like that woman" Yeah, he is, and as terrible as the accident she caused is, she's still a person just like Bobby is.

Wow this show really can do Themes when it wants to

4x10

Oh, ouch. I know I was tough on Hen for being angry and trying to fight their foster kid leaving, but I also have a lot of empathy. This sucks, and I'm really sad for their son too.

Oh oof I'm crying

This is too sad

Oh now I'm sad about Hen being happy for Chimney even though she's going through something so painful

Oh that baby is soooo tiny

Ugh I love Ann

Oh no Chimney you put your foot in it a bit there

Athena you really need to learn to react to your kids doing things you don't like with a little more chill

Especially if you want them to tell you things and take your advice and such

This is such an emotional episode

Ugh Chimney calling Ann "Grandma"

Oh no Denny is suuuuch a good kid T_T

A big part of the reason I think this show is aimed at people in a slightly older demographic is that every time they do an episode about kids and parenthood it just completely turns on the waterworks for me lol. and I don't think it would have affected me this way before I was a parent but now that I am, it's just really clear that the people making this show know what they're talking about.

4x11

Aw Athena you're learning! That was a great response to May asking for more independence

Josh backstory! I'm so happy

And Sue backstory too!!

This scene between Hen and Athena about their kids and the missing girl and May wanting to move out is a really lovely scene, I have missed Hen and Athena's interactions.

Also it passes both the Bechdel test and several related tests about race, and I appreciate that that isn't even particularly noteworthy for the show. The only reason I thought about it was because I was trying to figure out how to describe the scene and when I laid it out like "the one where Hen and Athena talk about May" it made me smile

Another thing I like about this show is that it's one of the only shows filmed during the pandemic where full scenes are conducted with masks being worn. Other shows I've seen during that time usually gestured to the use of masks but had the characters take them off as soon as they started talking.

Lmfao love Athena showing up like "don't even think about it Buck"

Aaaah Josh just saved their lives!! Listen I don't find this scenario completely plausible but it's so cool it doesn't matter. Heck yeah I'll suspend my disbelief for this.

I really love Josh. He reminds me of a very old friend of mine whose name was actually also Josh

4x12

Message in a bottle is a fun premise

Lmfao Buck is so sad about missing out on the helicopter

Is ok Buck, my kid loves helicopters too

LOL at this guy whose foot is three times the size it should be being like "no no I can tough it out"

Are Taylor and Buck gonna go looking for this treasure together? Amazing

I love the dispatch betting pool

OMG EDDIE WANTS TO TEAM UP TOO THAT'S SO CUTE

I love Taylor so much (though I stand by my initial impression that she is a terrible person) I'm keen for some Buck/Eddie/Taylor screentime

Omg now a Hen and Chimney team up too? I'm so into this

Oh we are so getting a Bobby and Athena team up too

Come on Athena have some fun

Otherwise he's gonna go team up with Michael and you'll have to arrest them both

LMFAO HE WAS NEVER ACTUALLY DEAD THAT'S GREAT

This guy is an ass it's hilarious

Heeee everyone showing up at the same place to find the treasure, delightful

HEN'S EXPLANATION FOR HOW THEY FOUND IT IS THE BEST ONE

"My wife wrote an algorithm that detects changes in satellite images"

Big "what like it's hard" energy

"What, the unnamed cameraman gets a cut?"

"I'm glad we're friends" honestly I wish Taylor and Buck really could be friends because again I think that would be a great dynamic for them

That said I do actually enjoy their relationship as a romance too

4x13

Alright, Suspicion and then Survivors, you're up! I've been informed these are good Buddie-sodes so I'm keen!

Omg they're spoofing that bride who tried to subject her guests to lie detector tests heh

Oh I am SO charmed by the fact that Bobby and Michael usually team up for family game night. Their friendship is everything to me.

Don't be douchey about allergen free food. "What's it made of, air?" If I had a gluten free cookie for every time I heard that 🙄

CARLA!! Christopher's reaction is mine

Eddie stop flirting with the lady falling through the balcony

(Tbh this supports my low-key gay!Eddie agenda. He's jumping from one woman to the next and his primary criteria seems to be whether or not they'd be a good parent to Christopher. Of course that will feature in his calculations but idk. Carla asking him to think about what he wants too was important)

This kid moves around a lot, always going to different doctors, oh jeeze this is a Munchausen by proxy case isn't it?

Either that or they're fleeing abuse or something because otherwise the first thing you want for a chronically sick kid is continuity of care

Oh Maddie is really struggling huh

I bet Bobby is someone's sponsor! I wonder why he's lying about it though

Oh no Maddie, Chimney isn't talking about you, you are a good parent you're just sick and need support

Ah, that's why he's lying about it

Holy fuck, Bobby, that is a huge wrecking ball of a statement to make.

"Who says this marriage is working" do not pull that shit without thinking it through in the middle of a fight because that is the kind of thing that's hard to take back

Oh holy SHIT

No listen I've seen a million gifs of that moment it's the first thing that put this ship on my radar I've been waiting for it forever

I did NOT expect it to manage to blindside me so completely even so!!!

Holy fuck

Ok what's next I am AMPED

4x14

Wow how have I not seen gifs of Buck dragging him to safety

Eddie's glazed "Are you hurt?" looking at his own blood all over Buck

THAT is what I'm talking about

"Are you ok, Buckley?"

Not even a little bit

Oh my god he even said it

That dead eyed "No."

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Woah, was Eddie the target? I guessed that maybe it was a terrorism thing. Targeting emergency workers seems like a great way to inspire panic

"No comment" ok I'm obsessed with the fact that this is Buck's first instinct when confronted with Taylor under these circumstances. I'm really glad that's not why she's there but I love that he thought it could be. Ah, my cut-throat girlfriend 🥰

"You can't go see his son looking like this" I'm really glad that Taylor is there to tell Buck sensible things like that

Oh it absolutely was targeting firefighters

Aw I'm happy Albert is doing better

Oof this is a ROUGH conversation to have with Christopher. Buck is doing a great job but I wonder if he should really have been the one to do it, only because he's so shaken up himself.

Oh no now he's crying T________T

Jesus he must have thought Eddie was dead

Oh the show is doing Themes again

"As scared as we are, it's going to be worse for the people who love us. They're the ones who have to watch us go to work and worry we might not come home."

"There's that thing people say, 'I don't know what I'd do without you' because losing someone you love is such an alien concept you don't want to imagine what it's like"

"And I was sitting in that engine thinking I was listening to you dying and I didn't need to imagine anything"

Right after Buck was violently confronted with the prospect of losing Eddie

Oof

I'm happy Bobby and Athena are finally talking about this though. They really needed to.

The fact that Buck is staying with Christopher through this T_T

Lmfao fucking Buck of course he's already halfway up the crane

Buck's gonna Buck

Oh fuck that glint of light scared the shit out of me

Man this scene between Bobby and Buck about Buck's apparent death wish was really good

Aw that's a pretty cute Taylor/Buck moment

I gotta be honest I really kind of like them

Aaaaah Eddie's ok

"Still, I think it might have been better for Christopher if I was the one who got shot" Oh Buck you're really in it now

And Eddie's face when he said that

Oh no Bobby!!

Oh I love Chimney taking over the scene since Bobby is trapped inside and can't

Athena walking through fire to save her husband is pretty romantic <3

Oh they got to see Nia again T_T what a lovely coincidence

Oh it's The Scene!!

This is the other one I've been waiting for

Oh holy fuck

yeah

Everything about that was Extremely.

Obsessed with the fact that Eddie did not tell Buck about any of this

Why the hell would you make someone your kid's godparent and not SAY something that's truly unhinged

But Eddie saying no one would fight harder for Christopher than Buck T-T and Eddie saying Buck is not expendable!!!!!!

That is like. The thing that Buck wants to hear the most. And doesn't ever fully believe.

So that is a lot

FIREFIGHTER ALBERT oh I'm emotional

[ramblingdisaster73]

Episode 4x07 “Tommy Dearest” thoughts

-This Owen/Paul scene is great – I love this Owen

Most people planning a wedding are rookies

-That centerpiece is actually really tame compared to what I would have expected from Owen

-This is actually good relationship advice from Owen – If someone lights you up like that – make it happen.

This upside-down thing is nuts & a nightmare situation for me

Dude your wife keeps dying – just say you were having sex when she started dying

I am glad it was a pacemaker thing and not a neurological one  

Why does everyone look so good this episode? (not that they don’t in every episode – but this episode was particularly full of adorable hotness)

That would be a firetruck ride that would be hard to forget

Tommy in particular is trying to kill me with her looks

Tommy and Trevor are cute & their chemistry is amazing

So, is Melody older than Evie & Izzy or are they the same age?

A little lasagna baby – lol

The “What about Julius” was just as hilarious the second time as it was the 1st.

This kid – she is one devious tween

“Inside there lurks a heart of darkness” – man I love Judd Ryder

I figured that the issue Melody had was because of it being the first relationship for her parent’s divorce – I think this is something that is fairly normal for a kid that age – but she is a bit hardcore in her efforts.

I love Mateo – “Oh great the HR lady again.”

Their attempt to blackmail was ridiculous to begin with

Paul has zero chill

I love the way Nancy & TK just pick up on it & Mateo is like “Huh?” “Do HR ladies actually date?”

So many quotable moments in this episode

I agree with Nancy & TK

“You should totally take her out for some nut-free coffee.” Mateo Chavez

I love all the callbacks they make in this show – more than any other show I can think of

I can’t believe that the delivery drivers don’t have to dress in medieval clothing (like the knight & maiden from season 3)

This call is a bit of a callback to 1x08 with 2 calls from the same house.

An online CPR class? I thought you needed some hands on for that.

TNT is far too cute this episode

Mushroom & Fennel?

It’s totally cool you jolted me – I don’t care. I love you anyways

Damn that dress

Like really

Babysitter Grace – who is watching the twins? I am just so confused on why a 12-year-old needs a babysitter.

I think that dress was a great idea

“YOU LIED!” another season 1 callback

This episode has so much humor

But – Asha – not a yearbook from Chicago

Brian really killed this episode – you could feel his feelings

This kid is so hardcore in her efforts to break up her father & Tommy

But Tommy is just as hardcore

That is the most disgusting drink possible – and this kid just takes it (props to her for fully committing to her game)

“You’re a lunatic” Melody Parks

Tommy talking out of her ass about the nasty drink is just so funny

I say all the time that this cast has the best facial expressions – and once again they proved it. Grace’s faces while Melody drinks that thing are hilarious

TK in the sweats & Nancy in the leggings are equally hot

This is the best Owen – the one that is a Captain, a leader. Someone that genuinely cares about his crew/family

I love this storyline for Paul & that they aren’t rushing it. I love that they are giving him a chance to show us what life is like for him – that we are getting more insight to what goes on in his head.

I hadn’t thought about how Asha knew him in the past/had seen behind the doors – but, wow that makes so much sense to why he is struggling.

I love the Judd/Tommy friendship just as much as I do the Grace/Tommy friendship

I mean – I don’t blame her for not wanting another drink from Tommy, but at least she recognizes that she was not playing against a novice

Uncle Julius – I kinda love how this kid manipulates Tommy into admitting about Julius – I knew it would come up again – they like parallels & callbacks way too much not to take advantage of it.

“Why am I picturing a prison yard” Tommy Vega

“Brother-in-law” Tommy Vega yells throughout the firehouse

Grace’s face over the Julius confession

Tommy & Judd both have this way of answering a question without answering a question.

“How was it?” Grace “Kind of mind blowing” Tommy – these two are hilarious

Grace just keeps giving Tommy her very tried and true “what the actual fuck” face when Tommy is telling her about her TikTok blackmail. Just like in the 4x02 surprise double date

Cramps are a bitch

I love how Trevor is trying to piece it all together

“I can’t believe this is going to be the rest of my life” – yeah – it really fucking sucks

“Maybe undump him?”

I love the basketball scene – it was something that Paul needed & something that Owen could give him.

Owen acknowledging his failings during TK’s childhood gives me hope for the conversation between him and TK in 4x08 that Ronen keeps talking about

Do they have a new probie or are they just still referring to Mateo as probie?

I agree with Melody & Trevor about the Mango & Cookies and cream – not a mix for me

I wonder how much of next week will be Marjan or if her stuff will come closer to the end to lead into 4x09 “Road Kill”

THAT FUCKING DRESS

[imminent-danger-came]

Sun Wukong: "In order to have full control of your powers you need self-confidence!" MK: "I got self-confidence!" Sun Wukong: "Nope! You're just loud. The only way to get self confidence is-" MK: "-Fake it till I make it?"

(1x01 Bad Weather)

-

Curse MK: "Nice hero speech bud! But I know better. Deep in you're hearts, you don't believe a word of that." Mei: "Yeah! Well, we're pretty good at fakin' it till we makin' it so you better takin' it son!"

(4x07 Pitiful Creatures)

-

Fakin' it till you make it!

[lovecolibri]

SaL anon here bestie, still in shock that we got a big emotional beat on OG last night!! Yeah it was just the one, and I have some concerns about how the rest went (the Connor visit is not going anywhere good and I'm worried it's going to the absolute worst place), but I'll take that Buddie scene as a win, especially since I was expecting disappointment all around on both weewoo shows this week. Yeah I'm not to excited for LS tonight even though I ALWAYS want the underused characters on it (Paul, Mateo, and Marjan) to have more time. But this arc for Marjan is literally the THIRD unhinged killer plot we've had only half the season has gone by!! Can we please stop and get back to emergencies ffs??!! Or lovely character driven plots like Paul's in 4x07 which might be my favorite episode this season (don't get me started on how well done that was next to Carlos's "arc" which coincidentally also involved an unhinged killer 🙄🙄). Anyway last night turned out better than expected, maybe this will too so good luck to us 🍸🍸🍸!!

Hello friend! It looks like this week putting expectations in the ground went more to "pleasantly surprised" instead of "our expectations were low, but holy fuck" so yay for us! Overall, I enjoyed the episode, though I agree I never want to see Conor or Kameron again and I can't anticipate anything good coming out of this (still manifesting HARD that it ends up not being Buck's baby and we can juat forget this nonsense ever happened.) I do have some issues with how the rehab place was portrayed and the lack of build up for a character they decided to retcon all the way back to season 1 (not to mention him leaving Bobby that voicemail and even doing a flashback in episode to it only to then say Wendall died immediately 🙄), but I get what they were trying to do and the present day Bobby stuff did turn out pretty good! I just...I WANTED to mourn Wendall and feel that loss but by them never mentioning him BEFORE his death it was just...hard to care 🤷🏻‍♀️ Also, not NEARLY enough Chimney. Also, also, 2 weeks without any emergency calls before going on a 2 week break with all the storylines looking mostly wrapped up? Weird choice. I can't wait to talk about the Buddie goodness though!!

LS is, as you pointed out, doing yet another crazed killer (let's not forget we've had a few in previous seasons too like Sadie and that dirty cop dude from the ice storm) and ALSO running light on emergency calls this season which is...a bummer. I AM excited to get more Marjan though, and hopefully the 126 coming to her rescue so we can get *some* kind of emergency call and team feels!

Cheers friend, and let's manifest some good things while we've got all that good Buddie juju flowing!

[be-good-be-safe-be-kind]

"you're not sorry. you're just sick and don't want to admit it."

this was 3x08, like a year before the 4x07 reveal, but hints were there since the pilot and throughout the series. for fuck's sake, the first guy taken down on screen is rohit, and considering the timeline, it didn't have to be, but it was. krista, 'michael,' ollie - literally anyone else who was 'new' to elliot [yes, still calling the mastermind elliot because that's what he calls himself, and they are sorta co-conscious for a while] could've been a potential target, but we open with rohit. it's not a stretch to say that tiny elliot and edward are talking around the abuse, since they're in public and edward's a monster but he's not open about it - that's magda's job, which is also a point in the column of 'magda always knew' - and that this is edward realising it's time to make a deathbed confessional for his own sake.

"i wish i could have been a better father to you," on the surface, after elliot winds up with a broken arm, is a fairly innocuous remark, an "i wish i could have listened to you, to know what drove you to jump out a window." it isn't innocent, though, because he knows exactly what happened, that he triggered elliot's fight or flight, but he can't admit it.

"all i'm asking is that you forgive me," on the surface, seems like a simple request. but he's literally asking the impossible from elliot, framing it in a way that he thinks a child can manage to deal with, a simple yes or no, and expecting a "yes" because elliot never could say "no."

[elliot never could say no, because he never really had a chance, never had a choice in the matter. seen posts that the person saying "no" here is mr. robot or the mastermind or someone else, but see it as elliot realising he has the perfect opportunity to disagree. they're in public, he's got a clearly injured arm, and yeah it was the 90s but an adult raising their voice and/or laying a hand on him wouldn't go unnoticed. that's not to say someone would intervene as much as someone would recognise edward and report back to magda/start neighborhood gossip, and no one wants that.]

"do you think you'll ever be able to do that?" - unlikely, dude, fucking unlikely, even without knowing why. even if all elliot knows at the moment is the broken arm, the yelling, the whole 'keeping the cancer a secret' thing - that's all still a lot of unforgivable shit to put anyone through. much less a kid, much less your kid. and even if the answer is "yes," even if the "yes" is a lie, it's still only for edward's benefit, not elliot's. not to compare trauma, but elliot never forgave magda, either - he thanked her, because what she did made prison bearable (which is a hell of a sentence to unpack on its own), and distanced himself in a way that to darlene, appeared to be tolerance.

edward seems genuinely confused and shocked to hear a "no." not just a silence, or a headshake, but an actual "no," and that might've been what makes him collapse.

the contrast between this flashback scene and the episode's opening is fantastic. elliot muses about deletion, the choices involved in it. elliot gets audibly, visibly angry about what happened, acknowledging his faults. acknowledging that extremes don't keep 'him' away, that there will never be a way to do that because he wanted it. he liked it. [want to point out here that him liking something and someone making him feel special are not the same thing at all, that what happened in the past with edward is not at all the same as what's happening with mr. robot]. darlene says to him what tiny elliot was probably thinking - "you're scaring the shit out of me" - and there's a chance he says what edward might've told him - "i'm not trying to scare you." maybe reading too deeply into imaginary subtext here, but whatever.

and of course elliot's "i just wanna be alone" after, even without knowing the episode title, everything until this point is him going from suicidal ideation to actively starting a plan. and of course, because he's who he is, darlene and flipper take priority once angela's already dismissed, and then the jacket goes because while it's connected to mr. robot, it was edward's jacket. and the drugs are a connection to mobley (and trenton, by extension), so it is ironically a lifeline, a hypothetical, something that might not actually be used, or at least not in full capacity. at least it seemed like that initially, until andy did a body check and started talking, and you don't need to have lived through what elliot did to recoil at the way andy treats him.

"maybe you do have that death wish after all."

and that loops right back around to the start of the episode, right before the first gif. edward coughing, then brushing it aside by saying "it's okay. i'll get it out of my system before the movie." and yeah, edward's referring to his immune system or whatever, and looking again too deeply into this, but i'll get it out of my system. before the movie. being sick in more ways than one. having a sense of responsibility for a kid but it's misplaced and self-centered, until it isn't, at least not with elliot and muhammed. [yeah, there are the 'muhammed wasn't actually there' theories, but those aren't for today]

"yeah. maybe we should leave."

Yeah. Maybe we should leave.

[causewhywouldnti]

My thoughts on season 25 of svu and season 4 of OC:

25x01, I forgot how annoying commercials are, when you watch an episode live. There are some choices here… like what’s up with the blinding light at the end of the tunnel? Tiny Cast. So Benson is just supposed to know when someone is being kidnapped? Please tell me that is not a Standard we are setting up here. So that detective is definitely joining the squad, right?!? We do voiceovers now? So the case will be resolved at the end of the season…

OC 4x01, Stabler called her!!! (Gotta take the little wins, because I doubt that there will be any big ones) Stabler has no survival instinct, but at least Bell is looking out for him. I really don’t want Reyes and Jet to happen. Dude is still married, right?!? That was the softest look from Stabler when he saw Benson on TV.

25x02, I think it's really weird that Benson wears the Maddie Bracelet. On this whole episode: Seriously?!?

OC 4x02, Warner! That hug was so sweet. Stabler with the Baby. I like the Stabler brothers.

25x03, at least Liv is getting therapy. And she held the compass, crumbs that almost make up for a boring episode.

OC 4x03, the Final scene with the Stabler brothers was really sweet.

25x04, well we at least got an Elliot mention. I think this was the best episode of the season so far, which isn't a high bar… so, how does it work with a captain not working as a captain on another force?

OC 4x04, I really, really like OC this season, from the case and overall story, to the Stabler family. To reiterate, I love the Stabler brothers! Lizzie is still the kid that gets no line and no attention, justice for Lizzie. I'm sorry, but that salad has absolutely no dressing on it, no wonder the witness‘ daughter doesn't want to eat it. Stabler is totally gonna blame himself, for whatever is about to happen… that suspension is freaking stupid!

25x05, this Maddie plot line is so weird. At least now we can move on…

OC 4x05, barely into the episode and I already like it more than SVU, I mean we get a call from Benson! No, Elliot does not consider him a part of the team… Jennifer Ehle!!! The team has Stabler’s back! Their disappointment when he tells them not to follow him was funny.

OC 4x06, I’m starting to like Chief Bonner. Not sure how I feel about Stabler burning his necklace. There are a lot of instances of people comparing Elliot to his father this season, I want to know what this leads to.

25x07, I liked the throwback to 911.

OC 4x07, Stabler has warmed up to Vargas so much, he is already taking his clothes. I like the subtle comedy in OC, it’s either intentional or due to me watching this at an unreasonable hour. Stabler really got injured again, this brings back memories. Poor Chief Bonner having to kill her own brother. Cragen! Also call back to the brotherhood. And again, poor Chief Bonner. But man, OC is soooo good this season!

OC 4x08, Cragen! Cragen and Elliot make a great team. “Heart attack?” “I thought it worked” Lol. Bell out here fighting for Stabler, and I am here for it! Must be weird to see, how they’re gonna make it look like you killed yourself, good on Bonner to save herself. After this arc is over, I’d like a spin-off with Bonner. Bonner is a badass!! Just handing out guns. He dead? I did not expect them all to be dead, like expected one to be, but not all of them. Bonner is gonna need a LOT of therapy after this! That was a sweet ending to a great story arc.

25x09, you know what I’d like Benson to do with Noah starting to ask questions about her job? Call Stabler. I’m sure he must have some experience with kids asking those questions. Velasco looked so lost, when Benson told him he had to come with her.

OC 4x09, Elliot refusing to break and enter is kinda funny. The Stabler bros are sooo good! And then Elliot breaks and enters… the ending of the intervention scene was funny, “could have been worse”. Did we finally find out what Elliot’s rank in the marines was?!? Stabler barely arrived and is already beating people up. Jet and Reyes undercover as travel influencers is something I didn't know I needed! Oh Elliot…

25x10, I just want to never hear about Maddie again.

OC 4x10, would have liked Bashir to stay. The way Stabler told the team about Bashir was heartbreaking but so well done. We actually get images of what Stabler went through in the Marines! Did I mention I love this show?!? Stabler pulling up his zipper after “making out” with the ATF girl was funny. I'm starting to really like Vargas. If Joe is responsible for Bashirs death, I don't think Stabler will get over that anytime soon.

OC 4x11, kinda forgot to write anything down. But the episode was good! Especially Stabler saving the FTA agent!

OC 4x12, the team’s look when Jet and Reyes tried to hide arriving together was on point. The Stabler bros kidnapping Joe Jr was fun. Man, Stabler is such a softie! Vargas looks sooo excited being in the field. Randall making Eliott pay for the caretaker is a moment of levity I needed after that server scene. Stabler gonna have to renovate again…

25x13, seriously?!? She gave up the compass?!?? Well, we at least got a phone call…

OC 25x13, Eli Jr really coming after his father. Good on Randall to refuse to tell Elliot the news. I did not expect the FTA agent to go for Vargas. Stabler and Jet are sweet and funny together (in a very non-ship way). Joe is in way over his head. Of course Elliot just new about the pregnancy, dude has enough experience with that.

SVU was just a let-down this season… I wasn't a fan of the Maddie storyline, and didn't much care for any of the other stories. I think the ending of the last season set it (this season) up for a very different story than the one we actually got. Considering it was a landmark season, there wasn't really anything to show for it (except Maria). Here's hope for a BIG improvement next season! (It kinda has to because we can't even watch it for the compass anymore…) OC on the other hand has been on fire! I was really looking forward to each episode. And they actually show the family and relationships of their character, which is something SVU is definitely lacking. I wasn't sure about Vargas at the beginning, but I started to really like him. One thing I will give SVU over OC: I preferred the phone call at the end of the finale over the Cemetery.

Favorite Episodes: the whole season of OC

Favorite Lines:

“What are you doing?” “Being unreliable.” Bell and Stabler OC 4x02 (in regard to the AI meeting)

"Until the age of 25, the male brain is as useful as an electrified meatball." Bruno, 25x04

“Everyone is fighting for you, except you” Cragen to Stabler OC 4x08

“Go peel potatoes.” Stabler OC 4x10

“I feel like I got hit by a truck.” “Close, it was your brother” - Joe Jr. and Randall OC 4x12

“What am I, ten?” “In my mind, you are.” - Joe Jr. and Stabler, that is such an older sibling thing to say OC 4x12

[spuffygifs]

#she is trying her best

[noodle555]

Remember when Mr. Robot first aired and we all thought Elliot’s only problems were an abusive mother, a shitty childhood, drug addiction, social anxiety, clinical depression and a certifiably insane mentor?

NOW I WISH THOSE WERE HIS ONLY PROBLEMS.