#ARC : SEASON 3B.

[livvyofthelake]

i KNOW it was fake and he was an evil flying monkey but “doesn’t this seem a little fast to you? we’ve only been together eight months, i’ve had leftovers in my fridge for longer than that” “i know, i threw them out, might have saved your life” was SO romance….. why couldn’t they have given that exchange to characters who were actually in true love :(

[blazinghotfoggynights]

Can Team Tuck and Team Buddie please agree that both can exist and serve as positive spaces for queer male representation?

I've been thinking. Let me run something by you.

Oliver says he has always felt Buck was a bi-coded character? Right?

Does that mean when TK thought Buck was hitting on him, he was?

If Buck was always bi, but just didn't know it, are we supposed to believe he never flirted with Eddie just because his first kiss was with Tommy?

Was Tommy his bi awakening or was Tommy the embodiment of the attractive traits he has seen in a man he's been falling for over five seasons?

You can like or even love multiple people. Even at the same time! 😮

Believing that Buddie is or should be the endgame does not negate or disrespect Buck's arc with Tommy in any way. I question if Tommy was just a convenient character. He's a safe guy to explore Buck's evolution with. He has a history with members of the 118, but he is not integral to the cast. If it doesn't work out, he is easily explained away. Remember Natalia?

I think it is possible to have a Buck and Tommy centered arc, focused on Buck becoming comfortable with his sexuality and exploring it in a healthy, positive way and still have Buck and Eddie eventually realize they have been each other's person for years. Having both doesn't make the other any less important. How many people have dated others when their eventual life partner was right there? They had no idea they saw that person in that way.

Now that we know Buck is bi, it could lead to different interpretations of scenes:

Buck is looking at Eddie. Tommy is not there and we don't know for sure who Eddie was speaking to.

2. Look at that smile and his eyes at the end. Buck positively beams and bats his eyes when he realizes Eddie is going to look at him. That's how platonic friends look at each other?

3. But we can take it all the way back if we have to. Look at Buck when Eddie compliments him.

3b. Do you know what that reminds me of?

4. If Buck has subconciously been into guys for a long time, then this scene takes on a whole new context.

Moving closer to the other man? Check.

Eye contact? Check?

Smile and shy head duck? Check.

*I'd like to state that I have no doubt Edmundo Diaz knew Buck was into him. Look at the reaction.

5. When I'm into someone, you know what I don't talk about? Someone else.

6. Wow. Look at how Buck looks at Tommy.

6b. We have never seen that before have we?

Buck x Tommy and Buck x Eddie can coexist in harmony. Life stories are long and have jumpscares, plot twists, plot holes, etc.

Buck being genuinely attracted to Tommy doesn't mean that all the scenes from the past five seasons that made us all side-eye Evan Buckley didn't happen.

If we never get Buddie, let's just take the win. ABC said, "There are queer men in the world who are masculine, hot, and relatively stable. Let's show that."

Do we really need to talk about how the LGBTQ community was represented on their former network? I could stand on that soapbox and go off for days. Let's just say I know others who also felt some way about it, whether they were straight, queer, or allies.

I am just going to enjoy what is shaping up to be an amazing season. Moving to ABC breathed new life into 911 and I am excited. (Season six? Can we just not talk about it?)

[dinneratgrannys]

ONCE UPON A TIME APPRECIATION WEEK 2023 Day 1 - Favorite Arc - Season 3B, Oz/The Wicked Witch

[matan4il]

Buddie 613 meta

We now know that the man who risked himself to get Buck out of the line of fire during the shooting arc is Jeshan, which means ‘clear’ (if you’re interested, you can find more name meanings for 911 characters here). So let me just giggle for a second about the fact that 911 had once again reunited Buddie with a character who can be referred to as Captain Clear Me(h)ta. Coincidence? IDK. But I have to admit, it kinda made me reflect back and feel nostalgic. When I first started watching the show, I had no intention of writing meta for 911, but after going ballistic when 309 aired, I knew I would HAVE to use the s3 hiatus to write down all my thoughts about everything Buddie related so far. That’s what I did, I wrote and shared my baby, my first round of Buddie meta. That’s where it was supposed to end, but then people asked and encouraged me to write meta for the eps in 3b as they would air, too. I figured I could try, and that’s how my Buddie weekly meta posts were born. At the time, there was no one else writing proper weekly meta (I don’t mean a summary/review of the ep, or meta posts that stand on their own, but proper analysis on Buck, Eddie and those who matter to them, organized and serialized for each ep as it aired). And now, I’ve been writing them for almost 3.5 seasons. And I feel like they’ve inspired others to do the same. TBH, I can’t actually remember seeing weekly meta posts in other fandoms (maybe they exist and I just haven’t come across them, IDK). So I got all emotional, thinking about how these posts may be love notes to Buddie and the show, but most of all they’re a love letter to the wonderful people who have been supportive and encouraging, who’ve been reblogging the posts, who’ve been commenting on them and telling me that what I do makes a difference for them. Thank you so much, these posts wouldn’t exist without you. You have a much bigger impact on the fandom than you might have realized! So if Captain Mehta is indeed a nod to the meta, it’s a loving, appreciative nod that belongs to all of you. ~~

When Chim shows up to escort Hen to work, he ends up sitting down for a talk with Denny instead, and I really enjoyed this scene, it was lovely, but it also once again emphasized the difference between the firefam kids’ relationship with their parents’ colleagues and the r/s Buck and Chris have. Chim talks to Hen’s son when he happens to come across the kid, but he only sits down for a proper conversation because Denny implies Hen and Karen are up to something intimate, and Chim shouldn’t interrupt them just yet. Consider how different that is to how Buck intentionally looks to spend time with and dedicated to Chris! And then Chim is impressed by how smart Denny is. It’s cute, but it also reveals just how little they interact that this comes as a surprise to Chim. It’s so different to the intimate familiarity of a parent, which is what we know Buck has with Chris (and that Chris has with Buck, which can even be seen in the kid’s teasing, for example regarding the snoring in 414). ~~

You might have seen that, when the promo came out, I momentarily lost my sanity and posted this. I just couldn’t get over the fact that they actually had Eddie correct the chief on the duration of Buck’s death. It was such a spouse thing to do. It was a declaration about the anguish that each single second represented, when Eddie couldn’t breathe because Buck wasn’t. It was a confession of sorts, on how Eddie felt as he desperately NEEDED his husband to live (I’m not even joking when I ascribe him this title, Eddie said with his whole chest, “THAT IS MY IDIOT HUSBAND THAT I HAD TO WATCH DIE FOR THREE MINUTES AND SEVENTEEN SECONDS AND I WILL NEVER FORGET ANY OF THOSE SECONDS, NOR LET ANYONE ELSE DO THAT”). It was a glimpse into how time must have moved differently for him as each second etched itself forever into Eddie’s mind. And yes, it’s a clear parallel to 413, when we witness time slowing down for Eddie. And I mentioned in my post that in both scenarios, Buck is just out of his reach, so close, but simply not close enough. In one case, this forced Eddie to believe he must now accept his own death. In the other, he couldn’t accept the possibility that Buck would die, so he just fought harder, and if he couldn’t save Buck with one course of action, he tried another, Eddie just had to keep going, 'coz the idea of those three minutes and seventeen seconds turning into an eternity? Unacceptable. ~~

But notice in my unhinged post from that day, I used the word ‘counting.’ Eddie counted the seconds, and this is revealed to us at a poker game where Buck is counting the cards. I already noticed that when we saw the promo, but this connection was reinforced in the ep itself when Chief Williams vocalized what Buck was doing. The thing about counting is that it’s reserved for what matters, what’s crucial. Buck is counting the cards in order to win, and he wants to win because it matters to Eddie. Buck wasn’t the one who initiated the search for a poker game where he could use his newfound skills, Eddie was the one to take that initiative. And he could bring Buck along without telling him where they’re going (I would normally scream for a whole separate paragraph just about Eddie telling Buck to dress nice and there being no need for any further explanation or prompting, but we were so well fed, I’ll have to scream about it into my fist for just one sentence) 'coz Eddie was so sure his husband would go along with whatever crazy scheme he’d come up with. And he was right, even though Buck didn’t think it would end well, he still went along with what his husband wanted. Please let me reiterate: Buck’s counting cards because Eddie is so important to him, and Eddie was counting the seconds because Buck’s his vital sign. ~~

Another thing to keep in mind about the poker game is that the only other time we’ve seen Buck playing poker was in 312. In that ep, Eddie was off to meet Christopher’s school teachers (leading to his eventual lackluster r/s with Ana), so having a free evening, Buck spends it with Maddie, Chim and Josh (and is told he unequivocally sucks at Poker). Jokes were made about setting Josh and Buck up, and it was implied whatever Buck’s sexuality was, that was not the reason why Maddie abstained from making the match. What I find interesting is seeing how far our boys have come! In that ep, they were operating separately, and it led them down the wrong paths.

In this ep, Buck and Eddie were inseparable both as a couple (even sharing the winnings from Buck’s new talent, because what don’t these two share? And I was particularly chewing glass when Chief Williams asks Buck how he wanted HIS winnings, but instead of answering her, he looks at his husband. THEY ARE SO FREAKING MARRIED), and as a family unit with Chris (which is maybe a good moment to point out that all of the romantic couples were paired off in 613, and so were Buddie! Now, one could argue that Buck and Eddie were paired off because, well... who else is left for them to hang out with? But 312 is a reminder that when the show wants to, it can push the main cast and minor characters into the same orbit, so it still didn’t HAVE to pair Buck and Eddie off here. It chose to. On top of that, by showing them with Chris as well, 911 reminded us they’re far more bonded than just two best bros hanging out together ‘coz none of their other friends are single). In short, during 312, Buck lost and Eddie was about to be lost on a detour in his romantic journey. In 613, they ARE a family, they work as one throughout the ep, not just in parts of it, and they’re both winning. ~~

Something that gets to me is that when I first shared the BTS pic of Buddie at the poker game, it was clear that Eddie was just bursting with self confidence. He looked like he would be the star of that game. But when we got the promo, we discovered that it was actually going to be Buck who would shine that night. So what makes me slightly froth at the mouth is that all of that sexy confidence we picked up on in the photo? It was real. We weren’t wrong. It just wasn’t confidence that Eddie had in himself, it’s confidence he has in Buck. All of his swagger? Is a reflection of how much he believes and enjoys seeing his husband be a star. I am gonna need 3-6 working weeks at least to recover from knowing this. ~~

Speaking of things that destroyed me forever, everything about the Buckley-Diaz family in this ep falls into that category. I mean, not only did we once again have incredibly domestic scenes, we had one that was very reminiscent of the lasagna one in 601 (Eddie with Chris at the table, Buck fussing around them only to join in once he brings along something to be consumed), reinforcing that this is THEIR NORM, we also had Eddie and Chris being so cute and supportive when it comes to Buck’s new ability (Chris calls him a superhero, Eddie goes along with it, and when Buck’s upset he didn’t get a better superpower, naming some he would have liked to have, Eddie comforts him by saying those other options sound horrible). 

And then to top it all off, we had Buck and Chris cooking together. Bobby’s been explicitly acknowledged as basically being Buck’s dad by both of them, and we know Bobby’s been teaching Buck how to cook. Now we get Buck doing the same with Chris, clearly marking them as father and son, especially since this is done with just the two of them, this special time that’s allocated just to their bond together. Eddie is not needed as a middleman. I know that this isn’t news, but every single time the show reinforces this truth, that Buck is Christopher’s other dad, that their bond is that deep, I gain 10 years, so I have to mention it. ~~

For 613, I made my weekly gifset about Buck and answers, but I’d actually like to elaborate on what you see there. In 602, at the happiness center call, we see Buck looking to Lev in search for his own answers on what his happiness looks like. When he still can’t find any, he turns to Hen, because she always has them. Along this season, that’s been his theme. He’s trying to figure out what he wants in order to be happy, which is connected to the couch theme we’ve all been screaming about since 601 (and especially after he fell asleep on Eddie’s in 612). In 613, Buck suddenly finds that he’s the guy with the answers and he likes it. But has he really got them? Buck says these words to Eddie and Chris, and in addition to that, while he utters them, he’s literally captured in the same frame together with Eddie. But it’s also essential that we heard why Chris can’t just be given the answers. It’s in order to learn, Eddie tells him. That’s exactly what Buck has to do, he has to find his answers in order to learn from the search process. He’s not just there yet, but the framing of the whole scene coupled with the ongoing couch theme is very loud. ~~

What gets me maybe most of all in a whole ep of REALLY GOOD BUDDIE CONTENT, is the way the whole thing wraps up. The storyline on Buck’s new abilities doesn’t end with any commentary on those or on his recovery process. His last scene in this ep is the one with Chris. It follows directly the one with Hen and Karen, a scene which reminds us that we’re never surprised at either woman spending solo time with and caring about Denny, even though neither is biologically related to him, because they ARE BOTH his parents. In the same way, it’s only natural that we see Buck spending alone time with Chris, without Eddie around. It is so meaningful that the last shot of Buck in this ep is not about his story line at all, and neither his abilities, nor having died for several minutes is the point. Instead, the last, and therefore most significant shot of Buck in this very Buddie domestic ep, is him smiling at their son. I feel like that says everything about his trajectory.

~~ (my weekly meta posts) (my Buddie gifs) (all of my content)

~~ My tag list will follow in the reblog, please let me know  if you wanna be added/removed here.

~~ Thank you so much for reading and for any reblog, like, comment or supportive tag! Also, HUGE thank you to @whosoldherout​. On top of real life stuff, she makes her own amazing gifs AND helps make these posts so much better. She’s the one with the real superpowers!

[arkashas]

tbh will not loving hannibal but desiring him and being conflicted about his attraction to him - in every sense of the situation here seems not impossible. After all bedalia was emphasising how hannibal was deep distracted by him but he seems to be more simmering in rage and vengeance for having been seduced and letting his shell of humanity die out

sorry anon, I disagree. and i'm going to get in depth into why i disagree. verrry in depth. first we gotta examine the whole show through a narrative lens.

it's hammered into us the whole show that hannibal and will are mirror images of each other. and that's also true for the respective arcs/journeys they each undergo.

take for example, season 1 and season 2. season 1 is about will allowing hannibal to see him and being manipulated and betrayed by hannibal. season 2 is about hannibal allowing will to see him and then being manipulated and betrayed by will. season 3 is actually two seasons condensed into one, because the show was cancelled and they didn't have the budget to stretch the whole thing into two seasons. that means season 3a and season 3b follow the same formula as season 1 and season 2, with the two seasons being reflections of each other.

season 3a is the season where hannibal tries to live without will, and fails. he absconds with bedelia, then slowly realises his life is empty without will and tries to get him back. but, at the same time, he also realizes how terrifying his love for will is for him, because it causes him to "betray" himself, i.e. lose the control he's always had over his emotions and his life, and this is terrifying to someone like hannibal.

dolce is the episode where both hannibal and will want separation from each other for different reasons. hannibal because as stated, will upended his life and makes him lose control, and will because his magnetic attraction to hannibal makes him feel and act like a murderer, as chiyoh helps him understand.

it's hannibal who almost succeeds in this when he saws open will's head, but he's interrupted by mason verger. later at the verger estate, when alana sets him free, hannibal still has an opportunity to let will die and save his own life. and he doesn't take it. he chooses to save will, mowing down like 13 of mason's associates to get him. he risks getting caught tucking him into bed, and then gives up his freedom for will.

all of this is hannibal making a decisive choice. it's him realising will is more important to him than anything else in his life. remember what he says to dolarhyde about reba?

he's talking from experience. he's no longer worried about feeling love for will, he wants him alive. because will is more important to him than his self control, than his comfort, than his luxuries, than his freedom. everything.

so that was hannibal's attempt at rejecting his feelings for will and then him subsequently giving in to his feelings for will. a self contained arc within the show.

as I mentioned, hannibal and will are on twin journeys, which means will will follow the same arc as hannibal.

just like how hannibal runs off with bedelia, will marries molly, but he's unfulfilled and secretly longs for more. will giving up his perfect life of fishing and dogs and choosing to go back to the "madness" hannibal warns him about in his letter mirrors hannibal getting fed up of his perfect life in florence of art and dinner parties and wrecking it in favour of will's company.

will's attempt at killing hannibal was stopped by chiyoh, just like how hannibal's attempt at killing will was stopped by mason. so will trying to get hannibal killed at dolarhyde's hands is the actual attempt at separation that mirrors hannibal having an opportunity to let will get killed by mason and cordell, and just like hannibal tried to kill will because he makes him "betray himself", will tries to kill hannibal because, once again, he was sucked into hannibal's orbit, and that led to the attack on molly and walter and chilton's immolation. hannibal brings out the "enemy inside" that will tries so hard to repress.

and finally, will saving hannibal from dolarhyde mirrors hannibal saving will from mason and cordell.

WHICH MEANS, in TWOTL, will is now at that stage hannibal arrived at in digestivo. where he's no longer worrying about his love for hannibal, and is choosing to have him alive. when hannibal asks him, "save yourself, kill them all?" he answers with this:

this quote is further put into context by what will says to hannibal in su-zakana:

will doesn't know if he can be saved from being who hannibal perceives him to be - a killer. in a more literal way, he's also saying he doesn't know if he can kill hannibal and dolarhyde to save himself from hannibal's influence and from certain death at dolarhyde's hands. and he says, maybe that's just fine. when he saves hannibal from dolarhyde, kills dolarhyde together with hannibal, and goes over the cliff with hannibal, he's made a choice. it's no longer a maybe. he's accepted he can't live without hannibal and be without him. he's given in. he's given up everything for hannibal just as hannibal did for him.

and when he killed dolarhyde with hannibal, that was the greatest moment of will's life. will finally understand what hannibal wanted to show him all along - and he says it's beautiful. is he mad his humanity died out? well yeah, but he's never felt this fulfilled. it's something worth giving up his humanity for. will also can't really stay mad at hannibal, no matter how hard he tries, and in TWOTL i never got the sense he was simmering with anger and hatred. all i see from him is resignation. and finally, relief and acceptance.

so at the end of season 3, will has realised he can't kill hannibal by proxy - he couldn't watch hannibal get killed by dolarhyde. he can't kill hannibal with his own hands - he tried in dolce, it failed, and the whole reason he co-opted dolarhyde into his plans was because he knew he wouldn't be able to finish the job personally. he couldn't even keep away from hannibal while hannibal was in prison, which was an attempt at separation without having to kill hannibal.

the cliff dive becomes will's last and final attempt at separation, and since it's confirmed they live, he no longer has other choices open to him. all that's left is making peace with his love for hannibal and trying to build a life with him. which is what season 4 would have been about, will diving headlong into his life with hannibal and whatever it entails. and given how fuller and co. have spoken about that season, the plot seems to be about will's mind fracturing and possibly entering alternate realities to deal with the murder husband identity while he's on the run with hannibal. and season 5 is when will is apparently happy, so I think they're somehow going to reconcile will's darker side with his lighter side. somehow!

I think I went off on a tangent here, but this is why will continuing to fight his feelings for hannibal, resenting him and trying to kill him, etc. doesn't make sense to me post season 3. it would be played out. it would be frustrating when we've already seen 3 seasons of will denying hannibal and himself. and lastly and most importantly, it wouldn't fit the narrative arc set up.

remember, hannibal never diverts after he gives in to his feelings for will. he doesn't hurt will again even when will threatens his sense of control (except emotionally) - he sends dolarhyde to the cabin when will isn't home. he agrees to the plan to fake his escape even while expressing doubts to alana about his own safety and telling jack he's aware will will wreak vengeance on him as the lamb of god. he let's will threaten him with getting killed by dolarhyde and doesn't do anything when he's shot until will makes a move himself.

so that's why i don't agree with hugh dancy that will wasn't motivated by being in love with hannibal in season 3, whether he meant that will wasn't aware of the love, whether will wasn't acting on the love, or whether will wasn't accepting of the love. will's own words and actions show he is aware of his feelings for hannibal, at least by TWOTL. will leaving everything in his life behind to bring about hannibal's escape, saving him from dolarhyde, and then embracing him and going over the cliff is him acting on that love and him accepting that love.

you can't say "will was on a personal journey, realising things about himself, and that was more important than his relationship with hannibal" because will's relationship with hannibal is will's relationship with his darkness and desires. you can't separate the two of them.

[outrunningthedark]

regarding ryan clearly stating multiple times that eddie is heterosexual, do you know if that has ever happened before? was he ever this unambiguous? and what about oliver? has he ever talked about buck's sexuality in definite terms? i know he agreed with the view that buck is bisexual but i wonder if he ever said in an interview or somewhere that buck is heterosexual.

This question got me going on a deep dive (and having fun). SO. With the caveat that I ofc have not uncovered every EARLY interview in print, the short answer is: No. But I brought context! Oliver, interestingly, (from what I can find) did not have to deal with much Buddie speculation from journalists in season two and even early season three during the tsunami arc. Here's a TVInsider article about Buck, Actually that calls Buddie a bromance. Oliver says something we heard when he was doing promo in March - supporting Buddie means people care about the characters and the show, so was happy know the fans are so invested in the story. Here are three articles about the tsunami arc that focus on the Buck and Christopher dynamic instead of Buddie. Here's an article previewing the the second half of season 3 in which Buck and Christoper are once again mentioned, and Oliver gave this response that I have NEVER seen mentioned (👀): "I'm just waiting for Buck to be called [Christopher's] godfather." I did find ONE TVInsider interview for the 3B premiere where Oliver said Buddie was a "friendship, bromance, whatever you want to call it" BUT also allowed for the possibility of it being romantic in the future after discussing the Buddie edits he and Ryan find on social media. (He was definitely not looking at his character as fully hetero just from edits/clips because that RS article we've all decided to ignore said season four was when Tim first brought it to Oliver as a possibility.) As for Ryan. Like I said, I can't find anything atm where he *explicitly* refers to his character as straight or heterosexual, but his answers have never offered room for SERIOUS speculation. Interview with Anthem Magazine from spring 2019 in which Ryan first (? I think) brought up two men having emotional ties to each other being a "taboo quality". (And we can see his mind hasn't changed, understandably.) Here's another with TheWrap on Eddie Begins where he says Buck's reaction to thinking he lost Eddie would be the same for anyone who thought they lost a brother. Bonus: This is also the interview where he mentions having assumed Lena was going to be set up as LI and was surprised it didn't happen. Ryan was asked about the Buck/Abby reunion to close season 3, calls Buck Eddie's "wingman". Just for comparison. I'm also gonna include a link to a Hello Mag interview (with the well-known Buddie shipper) where she REALLY took advantage of the Buckley-Diaz story line after the shooting. (And where I *personally* think Buddie started getting out of hand with the media because of the online reaction. If people on instagram and twitter and tumblr didn't know what Buddie was before, they definitely did after 4x14.) I'm still keeping my eyes peeled, so if I spot anything else to add that I think would be of interest, I will be sure to do that. :)

[sugareey-makes-stuff]

Okay, so it looks this is my first Sterek fic of this year?!! That kind of blows my mind (but then again, there are a few WIPs that are hopefully getting posted within the next few months). This little ficlet was written for AShortWalkToDelinquency as part of the Stiles Shipping Central Ficlet Exchange using July's theme "aftermath" with the prompt: (Ship of choice) comforts Stiles in the aftermath of the Nogitsune. I figured I had a really good opportunity to try something a little different, so I threw together the hurt/comfort with some good ol' therapy and self-care. We get glimpses of Derek taking care of Stiles...and honestly, they really deserve all the nice things (like each other). Fulfills the "deep conversation" alternative square for my @sweetspicybingo Hurt/Comfort Bingo card, the "helping the other recover" square for my @hurtcomfort-bingo card and the "lost" square for @twbingo's Situations card 016. Lastly, @tw-anchor-down's 2024 Full Moon Round prompt "hide" was also used for inspo. Happy reading, and enjoy!

Title: With You, I Can Feel Again (<- read on AO3) Ship: Sterek (Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski) Rating: Teen WC: 2k Tags: Post-Nogitsune Arc, Post-Season 3B, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, PTSD, Grief/Mourning, Therapy, Coping, Cooking, Derek Hale Takes Care of Stiles Stilinski, Emotionally Hurt Stiles Stilinski, Talking, Pop Culture, Scent Marking, Pack Cuddles, Anchors, Feelings Realization, Gaming, Confessions, Stiles Stilinski Deserves Nice Things, Stiles Stilinski is Derek Hale's Anchor, Derek Hale-centric, POV Derek Hale

Summary: The fact that Stiles gets it—that they’re both on the same page—is a relief. Derek hasn’t fully thought out how to explain his latest intentions, but Stiles seems to know already. Why Derek cooks so much. Why Derek willingly loaned sacred treasures from his past.

"Thanks," Stiles murmurs. "For sharing all of that with me." For caring is left unsaid, but Derek still hears the words. * [Or: Derek figures out how to reach out to Stiles while also taking care of himself.]

[gingergofastboatsmojito]

S3 last eps fix - 3B predictions

As I anticipated the last eps of the season were the most "shippers", even though they were far from what we woulda wished them to be.

And that is why they were the longest, because the meat of the season was there.

The day of the premiere I skipped straight to ep 10 before watching the whole thing and saw the Funeral dinner which I didn't know was a Funeral service at the time, saw Carmy crying and then Syd's panic attack, then I saw the fucking last scene and was left feeling that it was all about S4, without even knowing S3 part B was a thing.

Now, after having watched S3 fully, done a partial re-watch and multiple analyses of the pivotal scenes, and finding out about 3B, I can safely say that Syd is not going anywhere and will sign The Bear's agreement. We will not see much more of Shapiro going forward although I would love to see Carmy ripping his head off for trying to poach Syd and I'd love Syd to see that and appreciate it for what it is, not just possessiveness, but also love. Anyway, that will not solve our problems in 3B, nor will it ensure a Sydcarmy development right away.

I still feel S4 is Sydcarmy territory, as I always thought but now I can foresee us actually getting "joy" in 3B, just like JAW said in an interview. We will have another under-the-table vibe kinda moment. That's for sure. We will have what they deprived us of, a hopeful cliffhanger.

The reason is that Shapiro is the wild card and S3 was the sleight of hand of the whole arc of the show as Storer told us repeatedly throughout S3.

Not 100% sure yet when 3B will be released, I hope that by March 2025. Anyway, whenever they decide to do it, those were supposed to be the last eps of S3, not the ones we saw that left us feeling so off.

I have no idea why they decided to go about it this way because even if they tried to make it longer, this was not the way. I still have the strong feeling that the main issues were writing and edition this time around, although I don't understand why, as they even had more time to shoot the same amount of eps they usually shoot in 3 months.

The wedding scene was not included in 3A, so we will see that, which is obviously gonna be Tiff's wedding and we will also get a real reconciliation between Carm and Richie, maybe at the wedding or right after...

These events will cement what from now on I will be calling: TEAM SYDCARMY FOR THE GOLD (TSFTG), that is Syd+Carmy+Richie+Nat+Pete+Jimmy

THOSE ARE THE CHARACTERS THAT WILL MAKE THE SYDCARMY PLOT MOVE FORWARD FROM NOW ON.

And the other team that I haven't named yet, is gonna be: Luca+Claire+TheFaks

Donna is a mystery to me, but she's in a redemption arc, so I will wait it out. I'm pretty sure she will not be TSFTG right away but will eventually embrace that endgame. What I can't put my finger on yet is: is she gonna be on the same team as Claire? I hope not, but I wouldn't be surprised. Let's see...

Ultimately what matters is that when we actually get to see those last eps that shoulda belonged to this season we just watched, we will see that Sydcarmy element we feel this one lacked and this bitter aftertaste will go away.

Stay tuned, I'm still working on it but I haven't really dived in some stuff yet, just the main ones.

Looking forward to getting your feedback on these topics, maybe it will help me figure out some more stuff.

[scroogemcducksbastardchild]

i'm not reblogging this directly so as not to derail, but i think this line gets misinterpreted pretty regularly within the fandom and i wanted to go over that + offer my interpretation :3

the original line it's referencing comes from act 3, scene 1 of romeo and juliet, after romeo kills tybalt to avenge mercutio:

tybalt falls benvolio: romeo, away, begone! the citizens are up, and tybalt slain. sound not amazed. the prince will doom thee death if thou art taken. hence, be gone, away. romeo: o, i am fortune's fool!

here, romeo is remarking on his bad luck after being effectively doomed by fate (and more broadly, the narrative). to atone for tybalt's murder, romeo has to leave verona on pain of death, pretty much because he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

the line can also apply to his relationship with juliet. had circumstances been different, she and romeo could have had a happy life together. it was fate that kept them apart, not a lack of love. fortune would have them on opposite sides.

will's arc, however, was set into motion because of hannibal. he was manipulated into killing gjh and then eventually randall tier, although tier's murder was more by will's volition than hannibal's. then in season 3b, after will has found stability with molly, hannibal returns and gets will to kill again.

i think that if will hadn't met hannibal, he would have had a chance at a happy, normal life, or as close to one as he could get. will's relationship with molly was an attempt to reclaim that life from hannibal- to save himself from hannibal's perception of him. but hannibal ultimately came between will and molly, just as fate prevented romeo from finding a sense of stability in juliet.

so is this line romantic? yeah, if you want it to be! hannibal's manipulation of will did come from a place of love ("no one can be fully aware of another human being unless we love them. by that love, we see potential in our beloved. through that love, we allow our beloved to see their potential. expressing that love, our beloved's potential comes true") but it also deprived will of the normalcy that i think on some level, he craved almost as much as he did understanding.

but i don't think this line is a proclamation of love from will as much as it is an announcement of blame. will blames hannibal for the loss of the life he could have had before hannibal or with molly (which parallels romeo's banishment from verona) and it's not until the finale that we actually see him choose hannibal.

tldr: will is saying that he's not a victim of fate, he's a victim of hannibal. here's the original post (op is cool, go check em out!!)

[hughjidiot]

What messes me up is that if the writers didn’t show the Waybrights or Wus to avoid making excuses, why does Anne do that anyway. She has literally zero feelings about the girls betraying her, her reunion with Sasha is all about how terrible Sasha feels and Anne is relegated to being a perfect support piece for Sasha, and not someone who has every right to be upset. Anne isn’t allowed to hold Sasha accountable, instead her character is just flattened for Sasha’s comfort and growth. Anne also vouches for forgiving Marcy, while Sasha doesn’t.

You know what would’ve made way more sense though? Not having Anne meet the Wus and Waybrights, so when she gets back she’s actually, genuinely pissed at Sasha for what happened, for betraying her a second time when she 100% knew better by this point. Let Anne be angry; She still cares about the girls enough to save them, but she also admits that she just can’t see them being friends again after everything. Not for a while at least.

It’d make Marcy’s half-assed arc of accepting consequences at least hit better if we see her acknowledge this. It’d show Sasha’s growth by seeing her accept Anne’s boundaries. It’d actually give focus to how our main character feels about being betrayed, instead of her suffering being used as a prop for her friends’ arcs.

And it would’ve made the epilogue make so much more sense; We’d have actual buildup to the reveal that Anne and Sasha drifted apart for a decade because we had the setup, it was a foregone conclusion. And it makes the girls reuniting after Anne has had enough time to heal feel truly earned. It’d hammer in the idea of accepting change/consequences, only for Anne to mention that sometimes you’ll be surprised what things might find their way back to you!

But idk I guess having Anne and Sasha be cute besties again was more important. None of this would sting so bad if Anne had an actual arc in 3B about anything else, but instead she’s just going through the motions after forgiving Sasha and throwing herself into harm’s way because of how much faith she has that Sasha will save her and be a leader. It’s not until the final battle that Anne actually has a character arc again but it’s… questionable.

That's definitely an interesting what-if. You could argue in canon that Anne still choosing to forgive Sasha and Marcy after all they've done is a sign of her own maturity and character growth, but I see where you're coming from. In any case, I fully agree that season 3 was a major missed opportunity in regards to really exploring the complexities of the girls' relationships.

[fatalism-and-villainy]

While talking to @menciemeer, something came up re: Jack’s motivations for being in Italy in season 3 that I haven’t seen discussed much - and that is that he’s explicitly there not to catch Hannibal, but to save Will. Here’s his dialogue with Pazzi in Secondo:

Jack: If he hasn’t already, Il Mostro will return to Florence. Pazzi: Come back with me. We have a chance to regain our reputations and enjoy the honours of our trade by capturing the monster. Jack: I’m not here for the monster. Not my house, not my fire. I’m here for Will Graham.

This is even more striking in light of the context for his character that the very next episode gives us - his conversation with Chilton in Aperitivo establishes that he’s been forced into retirement with the FBI, but he’s not interested in regaining his standing or reputation. (Very odd in light of the fact that come the Red Dragon plot, he seems to still have his old job in Behavioral Science). Chilton tries to get him to use Will as bait to find Hannibal:

Chilton: Will is going to lead you right to him. Jack: Oh, no, he’s not. Not to me. I’ve let them both go. I’ve let it all go. Chilton: You dangle Will Graham and now you cut bait? You’re letting Hannibal have him hook, line, and sinker. Jack: You’ll excuse me, Dr. Chilton. I like to be home in the evenings when my wife wakes.

What stands out about this exchange is Chilton’s “letting Hannibal have him” phrasing. It foregrounds not subduing Hannibal, but preventing Will from succumbing to his worst impulses, as a central motivation for Jack in 3A. It’s also significant that it’s his need to care for Bella that leads him to defer pursuing anything relating to Hannibal or Will, because her death is framed within the episode as the impetus for his investment in following Will to Europe - as he tells Will in the funeral scene, “you don’t have to die on me, too.”

So much of Jack’s character arc in the first two seasons is juggling his repeated sacrifice of others for the greater good. His guilt over what befalls both Will and Miriam features prominently in season 2, and during Will’s trial, he’s already prepared to put his career and reputation on the line to stand up for Will and atone for what he feels is his role in Will’s downfall. Both the traumatic events of Mizumono and Bella’s death bring about more of a full turnaround in that direction - Jack becomes less invested in apprehending killers in service of public safety, and more invested in saving the specific person who’s been harmed by that project.

I think this motivation doesn’t always stick in people’s minds because these exchanges get eclipsed by Jack beating Hannibal to a bloody pulp a couple episodes later, as well as his inexplicable return to working for the FBI in 3B. But even in the former altercation, his fight with Hannibal feels personal, more about venting anger and grief than actually apprehending Hannibal. In Dolce, when Will asks why Jack didn’t kill Hannibal, Jack responds “maybe I need you to” (in the same exchange, of course, as “you need to cut that part out”). That scene also establishes clearly that Will and Jack are, like Pazzi, “outside the law and alone.” As in Mizumono, they’re effectively vigilantes - and Jack’s mission is not serving justice for the FBI, but in saving Will from Hannibal’s influence.

This is why, despite the fact that Jack is once again embroiled in FBI business in season 3B, I always envision his role post-canon as being a continuation of what haunts him in the first half of the season - less about catching or killing Hannibal than about rescuing Will. It’s a lot more compelling to me, at least, than him simply continuing to be the face of law enforcement.

[honeygrahambitch]

Hey, me and my dad were wondering what order should we watch the movies in, chronological or as they came out? I’ve read the books and seen the show, but he has only seen the show?

I think the books and the movies go like this, chronologically:

1. Hannibal rising

2. The Red Dragon

3. The silence of the lambs

4. Hannibal the movie

The show is basically placed in between Hannibal Rising and The Red Dragon but it also contains elements from all the books and movies (Florence is from the Hannibal movie, the Lithuania arc is basically from Hannibal Rising, season 3b has The Red Dragon elements.) The series would basically give a good background for The Silence of the lambs i suppose? Even if at some point they cannot be connected anymore (there is no Clarice and Hannibal runs away with Will which doesn't lead to The silence of the lambs).

If you both have seen the show I think you should watch them chronologically. I think it makes more sense even if they are canon divergent with the series. You can also watch them randomly (but The Silence of the lambs and Hannibal the movie should be watched in this order.)

I guess there is no right answer for this haha in any case to me, the series is the best work in the Hannibal universe.

[aeshnacyanea2000]

What's a scene you wish the creators of Hannibal NBC had filmed? Like what moment (that we didn't get) would you have wanted to see? It can be from any season, or if you're feeling chatty you could pick one moment from each season 😁

Thank you for this lovely ask!

Unsurprisingly, I have more than one answer for this. 😜 Also unsurprisingly, most of my desired scenes are about Bedelia, or Bedannibal. So, let's start with season 1:

I wish we had gotten to see more of Hannibal's weekly sessions with Bedelia, as well as their little tradition of sharing a glass of wine (or two) afterwards. But the one specific scene I really want is Bedelia's first session with Hannibal after Jack Crawford approached him. Because I just know Hannibal was being a little shit when he told her about that.

I don't really have any other scenes I want for season 1, so on to season 2:

Here, I really want some info about what exactly Bedelia did once she left Baltimore. Where did she go? Some other property she or her family owns? Or somewhere else, somewhere not obviously connected to her. How much effort did she put into running away, into trying to foil any potential pursuer?

Connected to that, I'd love to know when exactly Jack decided to track her down. When did he realize that she had to have known more than she ever told him about Hannibal? Obviously, that would have been after he himself started becoming suspicious about Hannibal, after Jack began to believe that Will Graham might be right with his accusations. But how long after that? And, relatedly, how long did it take Jack or whatever agents he tasked with it to find Bedelia?

Other than that, I would have liked any indication that, no matter how busy Hannibal was with his obsession with Will and everything else, he actually missed Bedelia, as his therapist, and as the friend she denied she was. (That could have been a simple, short scene of him sitting alone in his office, once again drinking a glass of wine by himself, maybe with the bottle of perfume Bedelia left behind for him right there on the table next to the wine.)

As for season 3, there's a lot I of scenes would have loved to see:

First, and most important, more about Bedelia and Hannibal's life in Florence. The scenes we got were great, but for my taste there was far too little about what everyday life for them was like. And specifically, what their relationship was like. It feels like what we got was too focused on either their conflicts, or on Will bloody Graham. I want the Bedannibal domesticity, damn it! (Love, love, love the story you wrote about that!)

Next, I really would have liked a scene that showed what happened with Bedelia in Florence after the others had left town and the corrupt cops had been murdered. I want to know exactly how she successfully wriggled her way out of her entanglement with Hannibal.

I also wish we had gotten to see the aftermath of the events at Muskrat Farm, and Hannibal's trial. I know Freddie Lounds was having a field day with all that, and I want to see it! (And I also want a scene where Bedelia finds out that Hannibal gave himself up to the FBI.)

Going into season 3b, I wish we had gotten something more about Bedelia's motivations and intentions there. I feel like they may have had some idea for a story arc for her, but it fell victim to them cramming so much into that season. The framing of her scenes, the visual parallels etc. are suggestive, but nothing ever came of that.

Finally, instead of the epilogue we got, I want something more Bedannibal-compatible. I'd be happy just with a scene of Bedelia seeing on the news that the body of Will Graham was fished out of the ocean. No trace of Hannibal Lecter, dead or alive, has been found yet. (But I'd be lying if I claimed I wouldn't have loved something that at least hints at a reunion of our beloved couple.)

[kseniaallis]

I just watched tw movie trailer, and it says a lot about my “excitement” that I just watched it. And of course I knew what’s happening because… fandom. But looking at it with my own eyes, book writing experience and participation in teen wolf fandom since I was 14, it just doesn’t make any sense.

I understand why they use Nogitsune as a main villain for the movie - it’s the most popular, loved, if you can say that, plot line of the entire show. Because if you ask fandom “what is your favourite season?” most of them will answer 3b.

What I don’t understand is how they’ll use this storyline without two major characters - Stiles and Kira. The whole reason why Nogitsune appeared in the Beacon Hills was Kira’s family history. And the reason why Nogitsune is so popular - DOB acting. Because I swear to God, if it wasn’t for him, it wouldn’t be just as enjoyable.

I won’t start on Derek’s son that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, that Derek purposefully raised in the town that gave him, his family, friends so many traumas? Make it make sense.

I won’t judge Hikari because I don’t know her plot line, but what I hate and what is heavily implied is that the part of her story is being the love interest. Why won’t you let female character just be in the story, without making them important just because they are someone’s love interest. It's 2023, not 2014 (but we stayed there, ig, and made it worse). And I still don’t like how her being kitsune sounds a lot like Kira’s replacement.

And I hope, hope that even if they pursue Liam and Hikari, please, please don’t let it happen with such a big age difference.

I also have no idea how having a romance with a character that appears just in the movie is a good idea. In all honesty, I don’t give a f about this character because I don’t know her and having this character have a romance with a beloved fandom character just for one movie is ridiculous. Especially, after setting up the whole Thiam heavily implied story line. Because, you see, the only reason why anyone even talk about the movie is fandom. And fandom loves when things they love at least appear, give them breadcrumbs and they’ll be happy. We are not picky.

Mason being a deputy? Okay, perfect. The boy was smart as hell and could go miles away from Beacon Hills to learn science, but no-no. He could have been emissary to the pack and it would work perfectly, but still it’s a no for them.

Malia and Parish's situation is so confusing, like even Lydia and Parish made more sense (age difference is still bad here). And they just decided recycling her relationship with Scott for the sake of Allison's return?

And why does she? Her arc was complete in such a perfect way. It was sad, but it was perfect. It brought reason for the pack to keep fighting, taught them lesson that they weren’t invincible. Bringing her back makes it all go in flames. She died young, saving her friends and it was beautiful in the way, because it brought the whole new meaning to her arc. But no, let’s bring her back and make Argent’s life even more tragic and painful. Let the poor man rest.

And I hope they didn’t kill Theo’s character off screen. But maybe him not being in the movie is a good thing. They can’t fuck up his character after completing his arc perfectly in the tv-show (still surprising, tbh, but I LOVE how they made it).

I remember founding out about the movie. How exciting it felt because I just returned to the fandom, reading all these thiam fics (because fandom recommendations on Tumblr made me, and I was never more grateful to learn about Theo character from the perceptive I have now as an adult. I hated him when I was young and now he is one of my favourites). It felt exciting because it had meaning. And we had hope for it to be at least a decent thing. A continuation of the story that made sense. But now they ruined almost half of the characters and removed the other half for the sake of two hours (how long is it exactly?) movie we won’t even watch.

At this point, I just wait for fix-it fics on ao3 that’ll make more sense than the plot jd came up with his writers.

Thanks for listening to my TED Talk.

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 3B, MATCH 1 OUT OF 2!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Laura Apollodoros Hyginus La Mer:

best precure character since star twinkle ended. carried the tropical rouge season. her arc of trying to decide whether she belongs on land or sea is so good.

Laura's journey from disdaining humans/seeing them as a means to an end is really great! She never loses her selfish/petulant streak, but she does mature around it and start using her qualities for good. While at first only seeing her human friends as a way to make herself heir to the mermaid throne, Laura slowly comes to trust and love them... and ultimately begins yearning to be able to walk with them and join in their land-based activities (especially after briefly switching bodies with them and getting to experience humanity). In an interesting twist, Laura refuses the Witch's offer to make her a human as it would mean betraying her friends - and for this she is rewarded with her own human form from a different source. It's a really great, charming arc for the character!

The little mermaid is a constant in the season, with Laura starting completely appalled that a mermaid would sacrifice herself for a human, not to mention wanting to be one, when she first learned about the story. However, after spending more and more time with her new human friends, she herself starts wishing in secret she could be human so she could join them in more activities although she doesn't want to admit it.

When confronted about it by the Witch of Delays (the villain of the season, who is stealing motivation from people to get an eternity of delays), Laura is offered to be turned into a human in exchange of standing by and letting the witch win. Laura then accepts that she does want to be human, but she will not rely on the witch's powers and will make her dream come true herself instead.

She manages to be able to transform into a human by her own means without losing the ability to go back to her original mermaid form.

So Laura has an Entire Journey over her Little Mermaid Connotations. She starts the show not at all caring for humans or the story of The Little Mermaid. Hearing the story makes her think the story is awful and the mermaid was stupid to give up huge pieces of herself only to turn into seafoam at the end. It takes nearly half the show for Laura to connect to the story; she can only be with her friends in secret and anytime they're having fun trying new things, she's confined to her little marketable pocket dimension or following them through secluded rivers and waterways. She *gets* the mermaid now, but she knows she loves herself and doesn't want to give something of herself up for the risk of what becoming human like the other girls could mean for her. She wants this, but she doesn't want to exchange the other pieces of herself to get it. One of the other girls sees her contemplating and says she always interpreted that aspect of the story to be about how if you want something in life, you have to make some form of exchange. If you want good grades, you have less time and energy to do other things. It's about evaluating well how to get what you want and how far you really want to push yourself to get that. This does not comfort Laura much.

The villain (who is indeed a sea witch) preys on this anxiety when she captures Laura. The themes of the show revolve around being the kind of person who Simply Goes For Things. Who simply says 'Right now, this is what is important to me. And I have to go for what is important to me!' Very Phineas and Ferb levels of Summer Belongs To You energy. When she offers to give Laura everything she wants in exchange for betraying her friends, Laura does not accept this, because the reason she wants to be human is BECAUSE of her friends. She isn't sure how she'll accomplish what she wants, but she's not bartering anything of hers with anyone else to get it. BOTH the pieces of her that are a mermaid and the pieces of her that feel belonging and happiness with her friends are important, and they're important all of the time. Even if she doesn't have a solution to her satisfaction directly in front of her, she refuses to have only half of what she wants just out of a desire for instant gratification. This resolve enrages the Witch of Delays.

Laura does nearly die for her wish to be fully and completely with her friends, to be human, and it is only by the power of her love for them and her resolution to become the biggest bravest version of herself that she gains a magical girl transformation and the ability to switch between her tail and her new legs.

I adore this bright comfy spin on the story, because it essentially takes the base characterization of the mermaid as a character who is singlemindedly after a soul she does not have and the love of another which she cannot make hers, and says 'What if we put an incredibly different character into that same position of desperate yearning? What if it wasn't that she has none of what she truly wants, but that she has conflicting wants? What if it is not the complete lack of companionship that leaves her reaching for ways to be human, but the want to fully and unabashedly participate in the love and companionship she does have?' Then rewards that character for sticking to her guns and being true to herself and her friends.

Also she is so funnie and cute and prebby and I adore her and she is for sure in love with Cure Summer. Thank you hav day♡

Vote Laura, our very own Little Mergremlin! [Click link to see images)

I do not know from Precure but I have seen this one AMV [Click link to access AMV]

Misty:

She dressed as a mermaid once in episode 61 and just looks really really cool

[clareguilty]

I hate that 3A has Cora who is ALIVE and Derek and Peter HATE each other but they both want to be better(Peter... Questionably so) and do better(Again Peter.... Kinda) because this one remaining piece of their family has clawed her way back to them and they have a chance at being Hales (plural) again and then bc this show operates by roulette wheel she just disappears at the end of the arc

And then 3B+ has Malia who is the spiritual successor of the same character and Jeff is finally starting to figure out how to write female characters other than Lydia and she has this super cool thing going on with having been a literal coyote for most her life and it shapes her perception of the world around her but unfortunately i cannot stand the later seasons of the show and also they kinda just forget the coyote thing most of the time

Anyways i wanna be able to write about both of them because theyre SO cool but if you wade too far into the teen wolf canon tar pit you get swallowed whole so its better to just hang back