#Confessionals S8

[lipsyncforyourlife]

[fanficrocks]

I am with you @oeuvrinarydurian. So many questions about this scene which was cut in all probability.

appreciation post for b&w Shaun, inspired by @jessieren post

this entire set in this bus (?) it's so good it lives rent free in my mind

Pics by endeavourneverland

[fanficrocks]

The Sunday Confessional - Endeavour -> Morse

Just for a change, I thought a collection of moments in Endeavour that strongly underscore the move towards the original IM series and character traits would fill in the Sunday nicely 😊.

Let’s start with S8 and the drunk on the bus in Terminus!

And Russell Lewis’ play in words in the penultimate line of dialogue:

“Beginning to thaw.”

Capitalize the “t” and it says it all.

[quickreaver]

Jo Harvelle: was she and mirror, and for whom?

This is a requested repost (and a little update as I'm ruminating) of my response to a thread asserting that Jo Harvelle and Dean were mirrors of each other, and it got me smoke grinding (as one does when one has deadlines, lol.) Starting out, here's a grab of the Dean-Jo comparison in question:

This isn't to say that Jo doesn't have anything in common with Dean (of course she does), and as per usual, Dean relates more easily and charmingly to our other characters in the series (because he's the Han Solo personality), but...

I do appreciate the analogy of Jo = Dean, but imho (and this is just me, as ye olde Sam girl (gn)), Jo is far more an inverted version of Sam than Dean. But as per usual in SPNland, Dean is the character who opens up and “relates” more obviously to those folks he either needs or idolizes or befriends (or crushes on). He’s more overt with his affection and charm. But that doesn’t mean he parallels Jo as neatly as Sam does. Again, just my take! Both Sam and Jo were somewhat sheltered, if you will, and went against their parents’ wishes, but in different directions: Jo wanted to hunt and wasn’t allowed to, Sam wanted to leave hunting and wasn’t allowed to. Sam was the one who was canonically given a gun when he was fearful of monsters under the bed, though we know both boys were trained to hunt. Both boys were also expected to fall in line with the Family Business, but only Sam was the one who actively wanted out. From the pilot:

Sam: You think mom would have wanted this for us? The weapon training and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors.

Dean: So, what are you gonna do? Are you just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?

Sam: No, not normal. Safe.

The one time Dean got out was because Sam asked him to do so, in a sort of deathbed confessional. Finale, S5. And it didn’t stick. It never sticks for either of them…until it does. Sam wanted out consistently through the series. He ran away at 15. He went to college, like many a normal kid aspires to. He tried to get out when Dean was blasted into Purgatory (yeah, yeah, S8 was a tangled mess and I have endless bones to pick with it, but Sam did what he did), and then at the end of all things, Sam did get out out. Dean absolutely assumed he himself would die in a blaze of glory, but I don’t think he envied Jo that. Okay, well, maybe in that it’s “easier” to die than to be the one left to live with grief and loss. But at that time, they were just starting to unwrap what was going on with Heaven and Hell as actual places that existed. It was still scary. I don’t think Dean wanted that. But Dean and Jo would’ve made adorable hunting buddies! Kinda like someone else we know… *cough Sam cough*

[quickreaver]

I appreciate the analogy of Jo = Dean, but imho (and this is just me, as ye olde Sam girl (gn)), Jo is far more an inverted version of Sam than Dean. But as per usual in SPNland, Dean is the character who opens up and "relates" more obviously to those folks he either needs or idolizes or befriends (or crushes on). He's more overt with his affection and charm. But that doesn't mean he parallels Jo as neatly as Sam does. Again, just my take! Both Sam and Jo were somewhat sheltered, if you will, and went against their parents' wishes, but in different directions: Jo wanted to hunt and wasn't allowed to, Sam wanted to leave hunting and wasn't allowed to. Sam was the one who was canonically given a gun when he was fearful of monsters under the bed, though we know both boys were trained to hunt. Both boys were also expected to fall in line with the Family Business, but only Sam was the one who actively wanted out. From the pilot:

Sam: You think mom would have wanted this for us? The weapon training and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors.

Dean: So, what are you gonna do? Are you just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?

Sam: No, not normal. Safe.

The one time Dean got out was because Sam asked him to do so, in a sort of deathbed confessional. Finale, S5. And it didn't stick. It never sticks for either of them...until it does. Sam wanted out consistently through the series. He ran away at 15. He went to college, like many a normal kid aspires to. He tried to get out when Dean was blasted into Purgatory (yeah, yeah, S8 was a tangled mess and I have endless bones to pick with it, but Sam did what he did), and then at the end of all things, Sam did get out out. Dean absolutely assumed he himself would die in a blaze of glory, but I don't think he envied Jo that. Okay, well, maybe in that it's "easier" to die than to be the one left to live with grief and loss. But at that time, they were just starting to unwrap what was going on with Heaven and Hell as actual places that existed. It was still scary. I don't think Dean wanted that. But Dean and Jo would've made adorable hunting buddies! Kinda like someone else we know... *thinky face*

Jo is a Dean mirror, but not in the way people think like their stories being the same, but in a literal sense of the word like bizarro world. Dean lost his mom and was raised (I use that term extremely loosely) by his dad, Jo lost her dad and was raised by her mom. Dean never got to be a kid and was forced to grow up too fast, Jo was always treated like a kid and never allowed to grow up. John brought Dean into hunting, while Ellen kept Jo out of it. Dean was in the hunting life and only wanted a normal life, Jo had a normal life and only wanted to hunt. Etc. They're both twisted but in different directions

[shameless-notashamed]

I was tagged by @gardenerian @milkimick @smokey-mickey & @squidyyy23 to answer some ✨fandom & random questions✨. Thanks to each one of you glorious and magnificent angels! 💖

FANDOM:

When did you start watching Shameless? Since the beginning, in 2011. I actually remember the promos for the show and thinking it looked bat-shit crazy, but I’m so glad I tuned in.

How did you start getting involved in the gallavich fandom? It was due to quarantine, early on in the pandemic. I couldn’t work and needed a diversion (more like an escape, but yeah). I can honestly say being a part of this fandom gave me so much joy during what was such a stressful and difficult time of my life, and it continues to bring me joy daily.

Favorite Shameless character? (other than Ian and Mickey of course): I’d have to say Lip. He’s problematic, sure, but what character on Shameless wasn’t? I wanted so much more for him, but I’m still happy with how it all turned out for him. (Btw, I still headcanon that Lip kept the Gallagher house and him and Tami are raising their two kids there.)

What plotline from the show irked you the most? There were a few, but probably s8 & s9 Fiona, like all of it. For a character I had adored so much, it just got harder and harder to respect her.  Fiona, Ian, and Lip were a big part of what I loved about the show. Seeing her fighting with Ian over the church building and then later when she facilitated Lip’s sponsee falling off the wagon, and how she was being compared to Frank at the end there. I didn’t want to dislike her, but I couldn’t not.

Favorite line from the show? This is so random, but it’s always stuck with me, it’s when Youens tells Lip “We have only two jobs on this earth, the first to learn, the second to cope.”

Fanfic(s) you can’t stop thinking about: Well, this is a tough one, there are so many, but here’s some that come to mind…

Ian Is Not A Vampire Slayer & The Mask Of Insanity by @annatrow

Dancing After Death by @squidyyy23

Cadmium & Carbon & You Can’t Always Get What You Want by @chat-noir12

The Night Was All We Had by @tear-soaked-cheeksdonteverlast

What Happens In Vegas by @ilostmylifeonline

Since We’re Alone by @buffymilkovich & @lethargicmick

Hollywood & Young Blood by @whaticameherefor

Let The Bodies Do The Talkin’ by @captainjowl

That Readhead Babyface/Fuck U-up Duality by WhatTheBodyGraspsNot

Cooperative Gameplay & Like Real People Do by @gallavichy

Hooking Up With Feelings by @peppermintkatie

RANDOM:

The best concert(s) you’ve been to: I’ve been to a couple Lollapaloozas and to Bonaroo once, and those were awesome. But my other favorites were Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The White Stripes, Jason Mraz, The Avett Brothers, Dashboard Confessional, just to name a few.

Comfort movie franchise: Please don’t judge me, but it’d be the Marvel movies. Yeah yeah, lowest common denominator and all that, and they aren’t exactly cinematic gold, but I like them. And I had never experienced movie storytelling like that before where so many movies were linked together and how the characters came into play over and over again.

Piercings/tattoos? Just my ears pierced.

Most rewatched TV show(s): Shameless, The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, The Office, My So-Called Life, Outlander, there’s probably more but I can’t think what they are right now.

Pet peeves: I’m pretty go with the flow, so I don’t think I have many. But I do detest when my sink is full of dishes and I seem to be the only person with the know-how to fill a dishwasher.

Random fact about yourself: I can Tap dance!

I’m tagging: all of those writers mentioned above in the “Fics I can’t stop thinking about” answer (unless you were already tagged, in that case, I’m just over here adoring your brilliance). 💖

[sunforgrace]

I think you're right about S8. I started watching live at the tail end of S9 and even though I absorbed bits and pieces about S8 fandom I think there's a reason I go so insane over S10 and that is because it was the first time I got to experience the week on week insanity. Dean sitting in the confessional, "you're living my life in Reverse", The Prisoner all hit different even though I KNOW S8 did it first and worse but it's because I spent hours looking at that one gif of Dean's hand on Cas' shoulder walking into Claire's motel room and the scene of Crowley saying "Dean Winchester completes me".

exactlyyy. I’m talking to @eurydicecastiel in the dm’s about this but I think truly so much of it is about the Experience, which is why I understand why younger/newer fans don’t experience that same feeling with season 8, and why I think people’s favorite seasons tend to be the one they associate with the most positive viewing experience/when they first started. but season 8 was a bit unique in the fact that it truly did air at a time when tumblr was in its Peak days and the vindication for destiel coming off of season 7 was wiiild

[devilmns]

here’s my thoughts <333

cas had feelings for dean very early like in heaven and hell he definitely was jealous of course and it was in a romantic way but i don’t think he knew what that was that he was feeling necessarily fast forward to s6 -> s9 that’s when it became more clear what these feelings were culminating in the s9 human cas arc (s6 is so obviously romantic to me but i think s8/s9 is where it really comes to a head of him understanding it) and then s9 -> s12 is where the denial really comes in i personally think cas finally had some of a grasp of what he’s feeling THEN we get the s12 botched confession which i think happened because he genuinely thought he was dying (he has the words to describe what he’s feeling but it’s literally last resort for him to actually confess -> denial) and then fast forward to 15.18 and the acceptance comes

dean on the other hand definitely knew what he was feeling first (though as i said i think cas had those feelings first) i personally think this happened in s6 and especially s7 (i could go on FOREVER about dean in s7 regarding cas but i wont 😅) then i think he just kind of kept it to himself/kept it down (as jensen says i love the idea of dean not knowing if cas can feel love as humans do) and in s10 (particularly the confessional) and s11 i think he gets close to accepting it/pursuing it but that gets cut short with amara/marys return/lucifer

[deadmegumi]

How do you think dean would react to cas being Like That. I’m seeing homophobic quips, I’m seeing horrible guilt, something akin to the confessional scene where he says something about getting what he wants in the worst possible way that is left intentionally ambiguous and never brought up again but makes me insane.

Post season six neither of them want to talk about any of it but sometimes dean intentionally microagresses cas for spice

I feel like there's ton of ways that could go... like dean in canon has never interacted with out gay men long-term, least of all one that is openly in love with him, so we don't actually know how he'd react besides guesswork. I think that during the godstiel arc, dean a. shuts down anyone who talks about it, b. makes mildly homophobic remarks the few times godstiel is around, because he's very closeted, and c. because I am a firm believer in evil deancas, would be like uhhh hold on 😳. Obviously an actual relationship isn't possible while cas is Completely Off The Rails, but there's Something happening there and it makes dean intensely guilty. So yeah: getting angry at anyone who mentions it while still being like, well HE'S obviously okay with it so why not. This also operates under a timeline where the godstiel arc is stretched out and cas hasn't scrampled sam's brain yet.

Okay a confessional-esque scene but Evil... I love that yeah. I don't know if it would actually be during the 10x16 scene, bc that's a little far in the future for godstiel angst, but maybe something similar to sam during season 7, between cas dying and them finding emmanuel? Maybe dean's 1 gay friend charlie meets him and cas during s8 and is like "wtf is up with y'all I read the books and know you don't normally act like this" and dean tells her what happened very vaguely and guiltily.

For post s6, I think there's also three routes: a. being very homophobic to cas and pushing him away. I can see this happening at first, especially if dean feels guilty over being with godstiel, but I don't think this is a long term thing bc cas is his best friend and he forgave him for the becoming god thing so why not the gay thing, b. dean comes out and gets with cas! Haha no. If anything this would make dean's internationalized homophobia worse, bc the first relationship (?) He had with a man was an evil man, and he feels guilty for letting his feelings get in the way of stopping cas, and c. dean is like "you didn't mean it, it was a symptom of the god powers now neither of us are gonna talk about it ever again capiche." both of them value their friendship too much to bring it up so they suffer in silence for another 8 years. I'm not completely sure how this would interact with the confession, but I like the hc that both of them know the other is in love with them and silently agreed not to talk about it, it just makes that whole dynamic worse. Maybe dean even outwardly reciprocates last minute, because he has experience with cas confessing his love and is like "hey maybe he means it and I'm not misunderstanding his weird angel feelings!" Which >:) makes it more painful. Okay this got pretty long bye

[romansrace]

Season 13 Sassy Reviews: Episode 02 - Condragulations

Oh mama. This one didn’t do anything to address the strangely - and unnecessarily - tense atmosphere, and instead actively stirred the pot with bizarre remarks from Tina, Kandy and LaLa, and our first (but surely not last) instance of blatant producer favour.

Let’s get into it.

So episode 2 opens with the Porkchop girls being forced to *actually*, no gag, vote off one of their own people based just off of first impressions. Because...what we really needed in 2020/21 was for a group of marginalized people who had had their income and culture taken away for six months to, on first meeting nationwide-reaching colleagues who could become friends and found family, to be instead forced to create divisions between themselves. Really?

So the group votes out the kooky queen and the queen wearing the least feminine clothing, and then when it comes down to a re-vote on just those two...production makes all the queens vote again until a sacrifice is chosen. Seriously unpleasant stuff. Rosé, the queen who objects most virulently to this, is painted as haughty and self-important by the edit for...literally raising valid concerns and trying to stand up for the group. So I guess our hopes of the show moving on from having a vendetta against Jan and any of her friends are crushed just like that.

Then we cut over to the ‘winner’ group of queens. Production-influenced or not, they spend a LOT of the episode crowing and boasting about how brilliant they are, after all, they’ve all made the massive achievement of.... being voted by Ru to win a lipsync in the previous episode, including some VERY questionable performances.

The BIG TWIST that no-one could have seen coming is that... gasp, MAYBE the 7 eliminated queens weren’t actually eliminated on day one of a show that hasn’t had less than 9 competitors ever. And then the queen the losing girls voted out, Elliott with 2 Ts, is introduced to join the winning girls.

As I said in my previous review, it feels really bizarre in the same season that every second word out of Ru’s mouth is chicken soup for the soul about self-love and how actually they’re all winners, to actively go out of your way to split girls into two groups, one of Losers and one of Winners, in which the Winners get smoke blown up their ass about how they are better, and kind of reinforced by the show by focusing on them and only them in episode 2. Especially if they’re going to just proceed to do a split premiere group challenge LIKE THEY DID IN THE LAST SEASON without needing an arbitrary way to justify dividing the girls.

Anyway, the dolls have exactly the same mini and maxi as E1/2 of S12, which... I’m not sure how I feel about. Obviously everyone really enjoyed it in season 12, but a straight redo feels lazy.

Mini-challenge: present two runway looks with a loosely connected theme. Maxi: perform a RuMix with original verses to a new Ru song. Runway theme: a material.

So onto the mini first. All of the queens do broadly as well as each other, with - to my eye - Gottmik being head and shoulders above the group nailing both runways, Olivia Lux’s day look being the second best look on the runway, Tina Burner doing the most impressive bodywork out of the group on her night look, managing to compress her substantial body into a tiny vinyl-latex-esque miniskirt and tube top, and Symone being wildly overpraised for simply having a slim and fit physique that she decorated with material, a la Courtney Act from S6 or Naomi Smalls from S8. Brace yourselves, because this won’t be the first time.

The maxi challenge is a hot mess. The song isn’t great, and the queens take wildly varying approaches in terms of style, genre, and tempo. If you thought Roxxxy Andrews’ random singing on Read U Wrote U was out-of-place... for Condragulations (providing an episode title drop) by my count, three queens give us a rap, two queens sing, one queen gives us spoken word and one queen (Gottmik) gives us literally two bars as an intro.

And onn that note, there’s a bizarre production moment during the rehearsals for the performance in which a moment in which Gottmik experiences gender dysphoria, for including his gender identity in his verse - “I was born a girl” (which, in itself... is that really how a trans person would self-describe rather than e.g. AFAB? I kind of feel like I don’t know how I feel about that line going out to a straight audience) - is represented as Gottmik not having any idea that the other queens would hear his verse. In a group challenge. Where the challenge is to each perform a verse of the same song, as a group, in front of each other. Ok Henny.

The choreography is not great in the challenge, with the best performance of the group going imo to the underrated Elliott, who is, of course, a dancer. Despite the fact that Tina Burner, having lipsynced against her in E1, was well aware of this, Elliott was shut out of the choreography discussion by the other girls - who throughout the episode gave Elliott the cold shoulder & even, bizarrely accused her of being a spy! - for who, QAnon?? Elliott, not wanting to rock the boat, kept quiet, only to go on to NAIL her own performance with a jump split and impressive, confident verse, with dance elements throughout.

So naturally she wasn’t put in the top 2 for the episode, despite everything in the storyline pointing to the ONLY REASON you would separate the queens into winners and losers and then bring back a loser would be for a redemption (RuDemption?) arc. Nope!

The top 2 queens are of course...Olivia Lux, who to be fair, performed her socks off in the challenge and wisely wore an outfit that accentuated her movement, and...Symone. Again. Who wore this.

Whose verse consisted of a walk to the center of the stage and pretty poor lyrics and vocal (”the ebony enchantress...is me” is giving Mariah in all the worst ways). Who looked a little manic during the performance. But who - like Ru - is tall, slim, and statuesque. Anyone else getting S2/S3 flashbacks?

Off the bat let’s make something clear. I don’t dislike Symone. I think she’s a fierce queen, I think she definitely won the top 2 lipsync, I think she’s an excellent lipsync performer, and she has a great body and a great swagger as a drag queen. And I know she can do flips and acrobatics if it calls for it - look for yourself on youtube.

But I think favoritism drags the show down, and ESPECIALLY - as we saw in S12, too - when applied to queens like Symone who are ALREADY among the strongest of the group. Let’s face it, on skill alone, Symone is likely to pick up at least 3 wins of the 11 weeks of this contest. So why stack the deck by giving her an early 4th?

Olivia Lux, the other top 2 queen, performed decently in the lipsync, but was perhaps a bit literal with the lyrics. Her runway gown was highly praised by the judges, but for me was on the simpler side, although she definitely sold it with her walk and attitude. All other queens were given an equal Safe this week which... may or may not have been used to shield the worst performers overall this week, Gottmik and Kandy, who were unsure of themselves during the performance and made a few slips.

I’m ending this week as I ended the last one - wary, but hopeful. After such a focus on how entitled and unpleasant the Winners were in this episode, perhaps the next episode will cast the Losers in a more sympathetic light. My favorite and second-favorite queen, Tamisha, and Denali, are in that group, and I’m hoping to get good confessionals and meme-worthy moments from them if nothing else. And also, I’d hope that this team have bonded and will give a better performance as a group as a result. Although the threat to eliminate one of them next week given by Ru at the end of this one seems like insult to injury in terms of creating division.

Was S12 a fluke? Will S13 be another S11? Will I start genuinely liking any of this? Be here next week to find out~ xoxo

[lipsyncforyourlife]

[jessieren]

I like to think in the third picture he’s reading a print out of tumblr posts 😂😂

“Umm they’re saying what now????”

Happy Sunday to everyone. Let's hope the upcoming week doesn't completely suck hahaha

Smiling/laughing Shaun to keep cleansing the brain from UIKY (will I ever watch it? Who knows!)

Also, tonight will air season eight's first episode of endeavour (of course hahaha) here in Italy. I've already watched it (cannot say how, though 🤫👀) but who am I to not watch it for the umpteenth time??

[neven-ebrez]

The continuing saga of narrative betrayal...

Back when SPN S13 aired I compared it a lot to Star Wars: TLJ. So I was very interested to see specifically how hand holding and touch would correspond to the final Star Wars movie. And OH BOY is the new movie a lot like SPN S15! There’s only one problem. The final Star Wars movie made a HUGE narrative betrayal. I’m on mobile so I can’t put a read more here but STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER SPOILERS BENEATH THIS PARAGRAPH!!

Touch as healing was a very important part of SW:TROS. Touch is about forging connections and mending that which has been broken. Touching, taking someone’s hand, is choosing them and choosing to care for them. We see it when Finn takes Rey’s hand in chapter 7. We see it when Rey doesn’t take Kylo Ren’s hand in chapter 8. And we see it when Rey puts her hand over Ben’s when he heals her near the end of chapter 9. At the heart of this entire series is how students become teachers. The past becomes the present then the present becomes the future. So onto narrative betrayal.

Using the Force to heal was visually introduced this week in The Mandalorian. And we now know why the episode was released early, because this ability would play a key narrative role in the final movie. Rey showcases this ability early in the film. She is rewarded when she does. Then she showcases it again after fighting Kylo Ren. She stabs him fatally then decides to save him. Two things are established: 1.) Healing is good and positive, and 2.) healing does not cost the healer their life. This is important. In typical student becomes the master format, structurally Kylo Ren (as Ben Solo/Skywalker) must then use it to save Rey. In TLJ they each saw a different future for the other. This vision of the future is experienced through the touching of hands. When Rey and Ben reach for each other a profound connection is made.

In TLJ Snoke says he forced their connection, but in TROS we see them maintain it. It’s much of the focus of the final two movies. They find each other with it. This living Force connection is said to have not been seen in a very long time. Rey teaches Kylo everything he needs to save her and then he does. And here is where our narrative betrayal comes and fortunately there’s enough of the ghost narrative here for me to make a solid enough guess why.

I believe when Carrie Fisher passed away unexpectedly that the final movie was forced to rewrite several key structural things. And one of those things is why Ben Solo had to instead die. In Dark Youth/Light Youth tales, the Dark Youth is usually saved by learning something explictly from the Light Youth. The LY is positioned to teach and the DY is positioned to redeem themselves by learning the lesson. This is sadly not what Star Wars executed. Ben touches Rey, heals her, then he kisses her and dies. It’s not *quite* as bad as what VLD did (at least Ben gets a heroic moment and we see him learn) with Lotor and Allura, but it’s the exact same relative betrayal. Ben was supposed to revive Rey in sacrifice, (maybe not kiss Rey, it doesn’t matter there one way or another; saving/redeeming =/= romance), and die temporarily but then get resurrected by all the dead Jedi. Instead we only hear the dead Jedi in one sequence when Rey fights Palpatine.

Since Leia doesn’t disappear until Ben disappears, this structurally links the change in narrative and gives it context. I think the kiss probably wasn’t in there originally but was added after the edits were made. Everything between Finn and Rey also feels edited as a result. The red flag for this is when Finn tells Rey he has something to tell her before they (almost) die in the quick sinking pit. He doesn’t get to tell her in time tho. Then! They survive. Rey prompts Finn to tell her what he was about to say but he says he can’t in front of Poe. This is never bookended. Rose is also sidelined without a real reason why. If originally they planned to continue the Rey/Finn romance on Finn’s part then this would make sense. In TLJ Rose’s structural purpose was to make Finn fight for more than just Rey. He never stops prioritizing her tho. The lack of bookend to Finn’s silenced confessional to Rey in TROS is a dead giveaway something was dropped/altered there tho. I can only guess this fragment of the final film’s ghost narrative remained in due to the fact that filming was likely already complete for this scenes and that suitable redubbing could not be made out of the plot situation they were currently in.

I just finished watching TLJ and we see Rey’s reaction to Finn caring for Rose’s injuries and she gives this a sad smile. I think originally Rose’s affection for Finn was probably more resistance hero worship and that her own arc was about learning to be her own hero. I think the romantic angle there was probably supposed to remain one sided. All this clarification seems to be dropped. Finn’s pursuit of Rey, to mimic Ben’s physical pursuit still shows up in several places tho. With the other ex-stormtrooper, Finn follows Rey across the dangerous water as she fights Ben. I think in the original script this character was likely Finn’s sister. Rey is seen protecting Finn from Ben but otherwise Finn’s physical pursuit of Rey here makes little sense unless we consider that originally it was supposed to emotionally lead into something else. Finn was always gonna be left behind whether he was on the shore or beside her.

Another thing that struck me as odd were the final bows. We see several romantic pairs. Some are unions (first queer onscreen SW kiss) while Poe’s is a story of rejection (bless). Then Poe and Finn are suddenly back in scene together for when Rey approaches. Since Poe was just left with his old flame in the shot before, this union should initially just be between Finn and Rey. Where Poe stopped, Finn kept going. So Poe being there again so quick makes no sense.

Both Finn/Rey and Ben/Rey are the last series’ key structural relationships. Equally important is Poe become a leader, a position he goes onto share with Finn. Of Rey’s two relationships one gets resolved structurally, while the other... does not. And the only good explanation I got for it is that I believe Carrie Fisher’s passing facilitated a rewrite that was unavoidable. In legacy, I believe the series decided to rewrite a good chunk of the final movie in order to focus more on Leia’s overall impact in the series as the past defined it.

For Voltron: Legendary Defender, Lance had a similar arc in the original S8 ghost narrative. Lance pursued Allura, then he was supposed to give her up to let her choose (and save) Lotor. Now. If you ask me if TROS did a better job with their editing than VLD S8 did I’d say YES. By a MILE. That doesn’t change the fact that each of these narratives ended up changing the exact same story now. And like with VLD, traces of the original remain and just couldn’t be removed at key points. If I had to guess, I’d say some Lando and Leia stuff was also removed, likely because filming never made it to that point. The awkwardness of Lando alone talking to the ex-stormtrooper girl feels strange, like some context there is otherwise missing. Earlier Lando tells Finn to give Leia his love and Finn tells Lando to tell her himself. Then he never gets the chance. It’s another missing bookend, dropped. When all the fighters are gathered for the final fight, it seems like maybe originally Leia was supposed to have gathered them through using the force to speak to them and convince them to fight. And Leia was supposed to do this by traveling with Lando.

I think originally Leia was probably supposed to teach Rey the healing, too. There is otherwise a focus on Leia as a fully trained Jedi and also on Leia as teacher. Having to drop and repurpose these plot elements, focusing on a Leia legacy narrative, over a full and complete “dead Jedi come together” narrative is reflected in the movie, again, still retaining both storylines. I think originally more dead Jedi should have appeared alongside Luke at different points. This conclusion comes from looking at the framing of Luke against unaccounted for narrative space.

And I’m going to be rewatching this movie tomorrow so I’ll try to get some photos about what I’m talking about. It’s clearly there tho. Finn being force sensitive is also dropped.

The comparison here to what VLD S8 did is uncanny. Unlike with VLD, I don’t think the narrative betrayal here was malicious. Just unfortunate and sad. Unlike with VLD, I think TROS managed to save most of itself tho. I at least enjoyed it. The trend of not letting the Dark Youth learn and redeem themselves and LIVE is a disturbing one, however. All this is just my theory btw. I knew Carrie Fisher managed to film some of the movie and I was curious going in as to how they were going to keep her in and maintain their original story. Well, obviously they couldn’t. I like all the movies, but I wouldn’t say I have a favorite character tho (except the porgs). So all of my opinion here comes without trying to see things a certain way. I have no shipping lens here. I just have an eye for things that lack narrative symmetry and/or thematic follow through.

Anyway. If you found parts of the movie to be strange or missing in some way, I think my explanation here may help fill in some blanks. And regardless of the reason the storyline exists the way it does, the trend of killing off the character that is supposed to be redeeming themselves isn’t a good look.

[EDIT] As soon as I wrote this I went looking for other opinions on this and found this Polygon article! This explains so much and explains why Leia didn’t have a new look for the movie. Her footage is repurposed from footage from Chapter 7/8. Considering everything, it’s amazing they salvaged as much of the original storyline (Leia as teacher) as they did.

I’m going to rewatch the movie assuming all this should have happened to see how much sense it now makes. This is just what I picked up on by watching one time.

[EDIT2] Okay then there’s this. It confirms what I thought. A person in the thread below this tweet mentions how Finn’s Force connection here could explain why other storm troopers put down their weapons in their respective village raids. Like, they could hear Finn’s distraught inner voice when it was all happening. It’s why Kylo Ren slowly turns and looks at Finn in chapter 7. Finn frees other stormtroopers in other words and the movie drops this off his storyline completely. First Finn runs, then he learns to be a rebel, then he frees his fellow soldiers. I still think Finn’s pursuit of Rey was originally supposed to also be romantic, but more than that she is ultimately his teacher.

I actually think the original script was probably more Finn/Poe friendly, with Finn ready to help Poe (using the Resistance) to free more stormtroopers. Poe learning Finn’s secret: his Force sensitivity, after all, is also cut, against the entire start of the movie showing them as a team. Poe was essential to Finn’s initial escape. They needed each other. Then Poe is essential to Finn’s new mission. They choose each other, completely. I believe that’s the proper bookend we should have gotten there. And it explains Oscar’s PR commentary on Disney company.

I’m.... there’s little they could have done here to salvage what I’ve pieced together of the original script. Not without Carrie. It would have looked great tho. Without her as (continual) teacher to Rey, much of the movie, the original script, sadly fell apart. Seeing how Finn/Poe as a narrative thread didn’t rely much on Carrie I think the editing here is a bit more malicious. I can’t prove that tho. I can only tell some of the outline of what originally should have happened. Finn gives up pursuit of Rey for choosing a mission with Poe. If TROS is to be compared to VLD S8, this feels like the equivalence of editing out Sheith.

[EDIT3] My bow commentary here is off. I remembered things wrong there. I’ve struck several things for my original post. I have a lot of screenshots now tho so I’ll write something more on this later once more time has past. Maybe JJ Abrams will talk about the rewrite process tho. I doubt the Finn/Poe stuff will be discussed, but I also don’t think it was ever intended to be textual, just subtextually coded. The repurposed Leia as teacher stuff tho, that may get discussed publicly. That one Hobbit actor looks to be written in to cover Leia’s intended plot explanations for why certain stuff is happening. Maz’ involvement, along with Rose’s was much regaled to this as well. Whatever their original storylines were, I believe they unfortunately got axed in the rewrite.

[more4gemini]

🍵 how are you feeling about the rumored as5 cast?

OH I am so glad someone brought this up because I am super freaking excited.

SPOILERS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHO MAY BE ON AS5

So apparently Jujubee is on the likely list of queens and I am absolutely ecstatic!! She is one of my favorite queens and deserves SO much more love. I feel like this new younger fandom is going to eat her up, she's gorgeous and funny and shady but not in a mean way. I hope she gets a crazy surge in fans like Manila and Tati did. Ugh I'm so excited to have her back on my television she is gold!

There's actually quite a few older queens that are rumored to be on and I'm super happy about it. I think they all deserve the attention that this fandom gives to the newer queens, and I'm also happy that none of the s11 queens are coming back. I usually prefer when queens take a bit of a break before coming back for AS. Mayhem is another one who is very likely and even though she was on a recent season, she was done so dirty and this fandom does not appreciate the absolute legend that she is in WeHo. I hope she comes back and kills it but I also know that All Stars is pretty much all acting/comedy challenges (for some stupid reason) and I hope she doesn't slip on those.

Derrick is another queen rumored and honestly I want a fan of at first on s8 but she has really grown on me after the show. She can be really messy sometimes and that makes for great TV, plus her drunk haters roast set was absolutely iconic. I'm excited to see how she's grown, I think she'll be one of the queens with a good glo-up.

I'm not a huge Cracker or Blair fan so I'm kinda meh on them. They're both a little bland for my taste, I like queens that make good tv.

And of course Shea is very likely going to be in and I'm already ready for her to take the crown. She is such an amazing queen and needs her redemption. Although it is All Stars so you never know what may happen! Hopefully she doesn't slip and get eliminated because I want to see her right to the end.

Another queen I really want to see is Mariah. She's been doing so much stuff for WoW recently, I feel like it's her time. I don't know how she will do on such a performance-heavy season, but I do know that every single one of her confessionals is already iconic and I'm going to repeat them for the next year.

I'm excited to see who else is speculated, I've also heard rumors about Nina Bonina and Alexis Mateo too. I'm happy they are giving some of the as1 girls another chance, because a lot of them got really fucked over by that format.

[orionsangel86]

Destiel Going Canon? Key themes to look out for...

So I recently answered this ask and mentioned that I have a few key indicators that I am looking out for in the show which for me personally, will confirm the path the writers are taking in relation to endgame Destiel. I wasn’t thinking too much at the time about outlining those indicators, but since both @destielrose and @carasauruswrex asked me to talk about them, as well as getting the below ask from a nonny:

I figured I’d talk about about the kind of indicators I’m looking for. 

Usually I don’t like going on about this stuff too much because there is always a risk that too many people will take my random indicators really seriously and start seriously getting upset with the show if they don’t actually happen, and I don’t want that to be the case. Also because ultimately I have no idea how they are planning to progress this story regarding Bi!Dean and Destiel and anything I say is pure speculation based on my own logical understanding of how to build a decent narrative that would make sense to the audience.

The fact also remains that even if we DO get all the indicators I may mention, it still doesn’t actually mean 100% the writers will go ahead and make destiel an undeniably canon pairing. I can’t predict the future, I just happen to like looking into all this stuff and asking why when certain themes are continuously used in a narrative. So please don’t take this post for gospel. It’s all speculation. 

A while back I wrote a post about “preparing the audience” in which I explained how the show has a way of preparing the audience for anything that may surprise it, by adding in “buffers” which acclimatise the audience to certain concepts such as Cas formerly being in a female vessel. I spoke about how this is a clever way of trying to deal with an audience of extremely mixed opinions, political views, intelligence, tolerance, etc. and trying to please everyone whilst taking baby steps towards their own ultimate goals.

When I talk about key indicators for canon endgame destiel, I am talking about the continuation of using these buffers (some examples of which I outlined in that post). When I wrote that post, 12x19 had only just aired, and I was still reeling with utter disbelief that they would include a scene where Dean gives Cas a mixtape in a supremely intimate moment that made me feel like an intruder to my own TV screen. Never would I have begun to imagine that season 13 could have made it so much worse. 

Starting with where we are currently, it can no longer be denied that Dean and Cas love each other deeply. This has been made textual over and over again in season 13 on Dean’s side and was made pretty damn clear in 12x12 on Cas’s side (also arguably in 13x04 though far more subtle). The audience already knows that whatever these guys have, it goes beyond a standard friendship, and also goes beyond a brotherly bond because of the clear comparisons in Cas’s relationship with Dean and his relationship with Sam.

So what are the main hurdles left in order to establish destiel as a legitimate pairing?

The first and most obvious is sexuality. To a heteronormative audience, they would look at both Dean and Cas and say “they are straight guys”. Therefore the main indicators I would be looking for are to do with sexuality and bringing them both out of the closet.

Now Cas has never shown much interest in sex or sexuality, but he has only canonically been with women, so it’s easy to understand why certain people (heteronormative GA people) would still see him as straight. A key indicator then would be to somehow imply that Cas doesn’t give a shit about sexuality and is not straight.

You might want to interrupt me here and say “but Saz, we already had that in 7x01 and in 10x17″! Why YES we did! That’s right! So the key indicators would be LIKE those moments but stronger. For instance having a man flirt with Cas and Cas showing some interest (bonus points if he looks and is dressed like Dean). or we get another “teachable moments” scene between Cas and the boys and Cas specifically asks them about MEN much to their surprise. Cas getting grumpy about them going on about waitresses and instead asks them what they think of the waiter for example. It doesn’t have to be huge, but another reminder of this would be excellent timing.

For DEAN however any indicator for this category would be huge. I wrote a whole bloody post on his bisexual reveal, and I feel that Dean coming out of the closet would be the biggest indicator of them all that Destiel is going canon. Because well, that’s been the whole debate right? It’s the one thing holding the GA back from even CONSIDERING Destiel. “Dean is Straight!” they say. 

So whilst I am partly hoping for a bisexual reveal within this season (or at least early next season) other key indicators would be more noteworthy moments such as 8x13 Aaron scene. Or the glorious confessional scene in 10x16. Something that imo is substantial meat to the bisexual reading that isn’t easily argued away by an anti. Something that is enough to make the GA go “wait a minute...”

Those are obviously the biggest indicators. Though there are other things I would of course think would be huge moments as well.

Sam Winchester being more and more exasperated as per 12x10.

Sam dropping more hints. Conversations like 11x02 for example. Or in light of his current arc saying something to Dean like “you don’t know what it’s like because YOU have CAS”. 

I also think it will be a HUGE deal if either Sam or Dean ADMITS to Cas what it was actually like when Cas was dead during 13x01 to 13x05. Because Cas has NO IDEA. I would prefer this conversation to come from Sam. Sort of in a situation where Dean has an argument with Cas because Cas wants to go off and be a self sacrificial dumbass again for Jack and Dean isn’t happy about it and storms off, and then Sam just says something like “you need to understand Cas, you don’t know what it was like when you were gone. Your death broke my brother. Please don’t die again. Because I’m frightened if that happens I’ll be burning TWO bodies on a pyre...”

The other moments I would be looking out for are small things such as:

Dean’s bedside table moving back to the other side of the bed the way it was in 9x14, 

A picture of Cas in amongst Dean’s current photo collection, or one of Dean on Cas’s phone. 

The mixtape coming back into play somehow. 

Cas moving into the Bunker permanently and being shown to have his own room (this was an ambiguous topic in 12x19 as it appeared that Dean was running to a room allocated to Cas but it was debated that the room was also used to house Mary at one time so maybe what I’m asking for here is a Bunker room that Cas has personalised somehow.)

Other characters referring to them as a couple again. We used to get this a lot in the earlier seasons, but it hasn’t happened hardly at all recently and I actually consider this quite telling. The change came around the s8 time period which we also consider as the same time that TPTB decided to treat Destiel as a serious narrative in the show. The only times it DID happen after that was in 10x05 which doesn’t really count because it was a celebration of fandom and can be isolated from the actual narrative and also in 10x14 in a deleted scene, and that whole moment seemed less like a joke and more like a serious conversation where BOTH parties involved were admitting their very real and very non platonic love for Dean. It didn’t read the same way as the earlier characters joking about them being boyfriends, it read far too serious (which is why I think it was cut). So to bring this back, to have people like Rowena, Anael, Ketch, even Claire or Alex or someone non threatening, start referring to them as a couple to get a rise out of them would be interesting, because it would also be textually reminding the general audience that this is *a thing* in this show and get them thinking about it again... buffers people. Buffers are important. 

More scenes together/ shots where they are literally together. It has been the case in the later seasons that Dean and Cas have been separated quite a lot due to various plot reasons. I also stand by my own reasoning that if they did keep them together, the scenes between them at this point would be so freaking intimate it would be hard to watch without feeling like an intruder (10x03 and 12x19 are obvious examples of this) so for the writers to start introducing MORE scenes of Dean and Cas TOGETHER (and more specifically together and alone) it would be interesting to see their interactions and if they build on the destiel subplot - because they can hardly avoid it. Just having them interact in intimate ways is the best way now to start getting the audience used to what should in theory hopefully become a canon romantic relationship.

That’s everything I have right now. But like I said above I stress that none of these things would actually MEAN Destiel is going canon (except maybe a coming out episode for Dean) just that they would make me feel more and more convinced of the writers plan if they WERE introduced, whereas if we do just happily plod along in season 13 and NONE of the above happen at all, then I will definitely feel a bit disappointed. At the same time even if they don’t introduce any of the above, they may instead introduce a whole bunch of other stuff that I absolutely couldn’t have predicted (like the MIXTAPE) and throw me totally off guard. 

Ultimately, if we get another run of episodes like 12x10 - 12x12 and 12x19 I will be extremely happily and on cloud 9 about my feelings for destiel. Those episodes alone already raised my hopes and expectations for it as endgame, and season 13 episodes 1-6 solidified that, so really they can only go up from here. It’s just a case of ensuring that the show remains on track towards canon destiel rather than derailing somewhere along the line, but as of this moment this canon train definitely hasn’t derailed.

[sharonsgf]

sharon with the black hair from s8 ep1 on stage with the dog and in the confessional bit is sugar mommy ruthless ceo sharon who goes home after a long day of work to cuddle her spoiled brat lasky ijs

im having a heart attack because of this