#Dealing with Dramedies

[whatsagauntlet]

Hear me out. Tribal Chief Jey and Wise Man Sami. The locker room hates them because they're disgustingly sweet. Oh there they are gazing at each other like the sun shines out their asses. Oh there they go again all over each other like they're trying to achieve fusion. They still meet secretly in the back by all the pallets. The only scheming they do is their next date to Waffle House. In the end it's still wrestling so they beat someone up. It's probably deserved (threats are no joke), or maybe just for funsies if they're feeling feisty

[phantomoftheorpheum]

I can't even begin to count how many complaints I've seen online and from people I personally know about The Bear being categorized as a comedy during awards season, literally hundreds of comments being like, "When did anyone ever laugh during The Bear?" and I'm just over here like... Are we not supposed to be laughing during The Bear?

[thesearchforbluejello]

Not for nothing but between the small town Midwestern/western setting and the boots and the leather jacket and the special gun, Melanie Scrofano is serving some major Wynonna Earp vibes as Batel and I for one love that for us.

[strategicallyignoringmytodolist]

I had heard for some time how good OFMD is, but I didn't watch it until recently because I hate becoming invested in shows that get cancelled before they have a chance to complete their story arcs.

This was totally worth watching. I loved the characters and the time that was devoted to exploring their idiosyncrasies. The central love story between Ed and Stede was also very sweet.

I do wish they had the opportunity to do a season 3. There was some interesting foreshadowing with Mary and Anne in S2 hinting at the struggles a settled relationship between two thrill-seeking people might experience. It was an over-the-top depiction, but I think it could have been fun to see Ed and Stede deal with similar struggles. Not enough media bothers to look at love beyond its beginning stages, and the stories that do are often sad and heavy. Wouldn't it be nice to see a dramedy take on that season of life?

I mostly post stuff here for my own entertainment, but if anyone actually reads this and has viewing suggestions for other series, please do share.

[elamimax]

HELP. PARTNER CAR TROUBLE. BIG ONES. I GIVE GOODS FOR FINANCIAL COMPENSATION. CLICK HERE FOR GOODS.

24 stories.

Some big (10)

Some small (7)

Some in between (guess)

It's most of my best work, and it's all for like, €5 (okay, it's $6, so like, same difference). I promise if you like reading and you've managed to get this far in English, there's gonna be something in here you'll enjoy. Horror, science fiction, fantasy, drama, romance, action, surrealist action romance coming of age eldritch dramedy, you know, the *usual*.

Please enable my AWFUL habit of writing books and support my lexical addiction by giving this bundle a look and maybe just maybe please with cherries on top share and mayhaps give me a penny for it, I ain't askin' for much, please, Miss-Or-Mista'-Or-Perhaps-Neitha'-or-Both, jus' a penny, it ain't much but it'll feed me it will, I promise and thank you for y'r kind heart, thank you and a bloomin' good day to yas

Anyway here's the full list :3

Any Other Name is my version of the Magic School Novel. It's even set in the UK! The biggest difference is that the protagonist, along with friends, are the familiars to a various roster of witches, warlocks and wizards, and the emphasis is on exploring queerness when you're young, so expect some young gays, bisexuals, lesbians and a smorgasbord of trans people. And magic duels.

Witches Loving Werewolves is a bundle of three supernatural novellas that all feature, if you'll be so good as to carefully examine the title, lesbians, be they of the witch, demonic or werewolf varieties. This one is cute and sweet and for all ages and was very much me writing slightly more high concept wish fulfilment.

Mxletoe is a one-shot about making a wish at christmas :)

Principles of Non-Euclidean Romance is what happens when you raise a trans woman on Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams and then ask her to write a romcom. It's about an Eldritch Abomination coming to earth to listen to the Vengaboys. It's about a time loop. It's about finding out you're a lesbian. It's very silly.

Further Principles: On the Dynamics of Interdimensional Emotional Support is what happens when you forget to tell the aforementioned trans woman to stop. It's a sequel, it's a fantasy, and it's about learning to love and accept love when you're a straight trans girl in deep deep deep denial. It's also a little bit about really wanting Senshi Dungeon Meshi to cook for you and tell you everything is going to be okay.

Icing On The Cake: What if you inherited a bakery and the new assistant was tall and hot and you didn't know you were a lesbian yet?

Clear Blue is, all things considered, the best standalone thing I've written. It requires very little preamble and no further context. Here's the core premise: What if you didn't have to be tired all the time? What if you could be loved? What if you could eat good food and dance in the warm evening air? What if you were good enough? And what if, maybe, just a little bit, you could be a mermaid? This one's a love letter to the audience.

Fey Tricks is about making a deal with a fey that doesn't really know what they're doing.

Love In Times Of Corona is short and sweet, about falling in love with your roommate during what is arguably one of the scariest couple of decades: 2020 to 2021.

Horns In The Library is an erotic novella, so that's, like, most of what it's about, but it is also an exploration of healthy sexuality for trans women. But it's mostly the erotica.

We Unmake Ourselves is a cyberpunk detective story with a cyberpunk twist :3

Can We Not Do This Right Now is about breaking up with someone shortly after you've been broken up with. It is exceedingly silly.

Okay. Meat and potatoes time. NEXUS ALPHA is sort of my magnum opus in that it's the one that kind of put me on the map with a very specific community. It's a hyperviolent, hyper-erotic cyberpunk action novel about giant robots, giant women, fighting to the death and having a lot (and I do mean a lot) of lesbian sex in between. It's one of the books that was there at the start of the resurgence of the mechsploitation genre in 2023 and it's still here. This one's got themes coming out of its ears, from consent to autonomy to explorations of late stage capitalism. This one's for the little freaks :)

NEXUS ALPHA 2 is more of the same, with a heavier emphasis on the plot (you know how it goes) though the characters are no less kinky or horny. Things happen. There's references. Lots of brain rot. Even more brain rot.

And then TEETH, which is something of a spiritual sequel. This one is themes first, really. What if, hypothetically, you had been told your whole life that the thing you know you are is a monster? What if someone forced you to be that monster? What if they loved you for it? It's about being trans and it's about female rage and it's about abusive relationships and it's about really wanting to eat someone but it's also a metaphor for sex, kind of. Teeth is a lot.

Penumbra is a superhero story about trans depression. It's a trans drama starring a superhero. It's about what if Eddie Brock was a trans lesbian. It's one of my earlier stories but I have a lot of love for it :)

Penumbra 2, is a sequel with a new protagonist. Where the first one is about depression, this one is about unlearning copaganda and killing the little police dad in your brain. If the last one was "what if venom was trans" this one is "what if spider-man said acab"

Loose Change is a coming of age heist thriller inspired by stuff like Ocean's Eleven and Pulp Fiction. It's silly and queer and exploring gender and sexuality from a very messy perspective. It's very much about the kind of shit we do while figuring ourselves out. It has characters being imperfect and using slurs and trying to understand who they are. It's also about robbing banks :)

Not So Different is a nonlinear cyberpunk action romance set in an infinite city that is also at the basis of a ttrpg i'm working on. It's not really about any deeper themes other than the usual "hey exploring your identity is good lol" but it has a 6'+ woman that's all beef and uses a giant hammer so like, come on, you know what you're about

Among Brighter Stars is a story with queer people but it is less about the queerness and more about trying to write an actual modern star trek but with my spin on it. Think of it as the first 4 episodes of a trek-style reboot :)

Plot Twist: It's Gay is probably my most realistic trans hatching story. Food, love and gender all come together in a novella about, well... read the title lol.

The Flesh Cathedral is a series of short stories that about violation. It's queer horror with the biggest and hardest emphasis on horror I can place. There are stories in this that are likely to make you feel Bad. There's a separate chapter just for CW's. Read at own risk.

And finally Campus Creatures is just a very queer little college coming of age story about various kinds of queer people, the only human beings coming together in a school for monsters. It's very heavy on the romance.

So yeah. Please signal boost and consider picking up the bundle. It'd mean the world, and you'll get a lot of proper books out of it :)

[tryandbehappy]

When depression becomes the third person in a relationship and it’s still love (about season 3 of Ginny & Georgia)

I just finished season 3 of Ginny & Georgia and honestly, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s one of those rare shows that gets deeper and stronger with every season.

On the surface, it may look like a light teenage dramedy, almost shallow but underneath, it tackles some really serious themes:

• depression

• alcoholism

• growing up with a deeply traumatized parent

• self harm

• teenage pregnancy

• and real love, without the fairy tale packaging

What really hit me this season was the relationship between Ginny and Marcus (of course, I’m always inspired by LOVE )

I’ve always liked them, not in a super fangirl way, not enough to rewatch scenes or make an edit — but this season, their story hit different.

What I love most is that there’s no love triangle here.

The writers went deeper. They made the obstacle not another person, but something internal. Depression. And that turned out to be way more powerful, raw, and honest.

(Yes, they introduced Wolfe, the guy Ginny hooked up with but it was clear from the start it wasn’t serious. And honestly, it felt very real: when you truly love someone, you can’t just love someone else the same way. At most, it’s a distraction and you know it.)

Marcus didn’t leave because he stopped loving her. He left because he couldn’t cope with himself. Because he was afraid he’d hurt her. Because he knew he was spiraling and didn’t want to drag her down with him.

He still loves her. But he stays away. And that’s such a painfully true depiction.

For years, media has shown us that men in love stories are supposed to be strong, stable, saving someone all the time. No room for breakdowns, no permission for being lost.

But here Marcus is broken. He’s hurting, not okay. And that doesn’t make him less lovable, it makes him human.

And Ginny… she grew up.

Where she used to lash out or shut down, this season, she chooses acceptance. She says: “I love you. With all your uglies. I don’t need you to be perfect.”

And it’s not codependency. It’s maturity.

Even when he’s in a humiliating, terrifying moment like wetting the bed. Even when he can’t be with her. Even when he pulls away, she’s still there.

Some moments I really loved

• When he tells his sister to stop talking about Ginny behind her back with others

• When he shows up to fix the broken window (wow that was powerful really)

• When he comes to hospital to be there for her and never judges her (it’s like wow, she got pregnant with another guy, he must have been really hurt but he was so soft and supportive with her ♥️)

The whole drama of the season was that he tried to keep his distance and she respected that. But in the end, they both realized: they can’t stay away from each other. No matter the obstacles.

She said it to him straight: “I love you. I still love you. Even if you don’t love me, I love you.” And he said it back. “I love you too. I lied.”

And now I’m really curious to see what’s next for them.

How he’ll go through rehab. How Ginny will deal with the guilt that’s about to hit her, after becoming the monster this season and pushing her little brother to betray his father and throw him under the bus (god, that’s sooo fucked up)

There’s so much emotional weight and complexity ahead. But that’s what makes this story so good.

Also… the poem scene!!!

He’s sitting in the car. Reading her words. Crying.

Because someone still believes in him. Someone reminds him who he used to be and tells him he can come back. That’s what real love looks like.

Not the kind that magically fixes you but the kind that gives you strength to want to fix yourself. That whispers: you’re not alone. That reminds you that there’s someone out there who sees you, even when you can’t.

I really loved this season.

“I’m here. Even if you can’t be here with me. I believe in you. Even if you can’t believe in yourself. I’m not trying to save you but I haven’t left. And I won’t.” Beautiful

Did you watch the season too? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[n-i-m-u-e]

Lucemond bodyswap!AU

This plot was quite popular when I was a teenager (before the dinosaurs), but I've hardly ever seen it in this fandom. And a few days ago I literally had this dream (yes, I resumed taking antidepressants this month and usually when you start taking them, you have very vivid, detailed and interesting dreams at first) I couldn't let go of the idea.

Let's imagine that Rhaenyra and her family stay in KL until Viserys' death to prevent the usurper from taking her throne, and then just stay there because she's now queen. And so, with the help of some bizarre Valyrian magic really don't care the causes, only the effects, Luke and Aemond swap bodies and, according to the classic of the genre, cannot tell anyone about it (although Helaena knows anyway). And of coooourse, they have to work together to get everything back to the way it was.

-----------------------∞----------------------

for me, this is such an inexhaustible endless source of dramedy:

Aemond’s first thought when he looks in the mirror and sees his nephew's reflection is 'What can I do with this horribly messy hair?'

Luke wakes up in Aemond’s chambers and struggles with his new size, bumping into and tripping over everything until he finally reaches the room he’d fallen asleep in the night before, already covered in bruises. There, he sees himself—or is it his body?—turning the room upside down, searching for something. Luke timidly asks what Aemond is looking for, and with a look of wild madness in his eye, Aemond barks: “A comb!”

Luke, on the other hand, doesn't care about Aemond’s hair at all. It annoyed him how long it is, although he's mesmerized by its softness and color. Especially the color, since he’s imagined countless times what it would be like if he’d been born with Targaryen hair. But he can’t deal with the long strands and just ties them into a messy… something. Aemond nearly has a stroke when he sees this vandalism for the first time.

They agree to call a truce until they find out how it happened, but they constantly fight for various reasons. Mostly because Aemond is the one who panics dramatising overreacts about the situation. Luke, as an empathetic child without emotional constipation, even tries to calm him down. But, as expected, only encounters rudeness in return. The uncle says that he has never felt so defective before, even after he had lost an eye. He also says that he is very worried that Luke-in-his-body will now disgrace Aemond with ‘such idiotic expressions’ after Luke-in-his-body cannot hide the obvious resentment on his face.

Their attempts to behave like the other are rather clumsy. Mainly because Lucerys has never really hidden his emotions, while Aemond has never really shown his.

Aemond is shocked to find that in his sister’s family, displays of physical affection without any serious reason are perfectly normal. On the first dinner of being Luke, Aemond reflexively twists Jace’s arm when he tries to ruffle his hair unexpectedly. Later, when Rhaenyra, noticing something is off with "her sweet boy", pulls him close in a gentle hug to figure out what’s wrong, Aemond is beyond errored. And let’s not even talk about how the poor guy feels when Daemon slaps him on the back and asks for his opinion on something. Yes, used to being fairly distant from his own family, Aemond is really stunned by the intensity of the interconnectedness in his older sister's household.

After all this, he goes to complain to Luke, who is also in shock and distressed about 'Aemond's day', but it's more of a ‘Damn Bitch, You Live Like This?’. He hasn't seen any of his uncle's family all day and no one has even looked for him, except for Sir Christon (and it's a pretty enough nightmare). He tells Aemond that maybe understands why he's such a prick - because he hasn't ever been hugged enough.

Aemond, who can't come up with a plausible reason for not training with Jace, decides that he will quickly defeat his older nephew. But he is annoyed to realise that Luke's body is not as strong and trained as he is used to, and he cannot hold a sword of the weight that Aemond is used to. The fact that Jace is only gently encouraging his “brother” irritates him even more.

In the early morning, Aemond forces his nephew to train with him to learn how to use his new body—instead, Aemond cringes as watches Luke struggle to cope with his own. But after a little while, using each other's advice, they have a good sparring. Aemond is very excited about the possibility that having both eyes and the agility of a small body opens up—is triumphant at his victory. Luke look like he doesn't cares (he really doesn't, because he'd rather be in bed at this hour).

But the real hit for Aemond comes when Damon meets him later that morning and tells him that he saw the fight between him and Luke and is really proud of him because he has ‘unexpectedly good technique’. Aemond's fangirl-daddy-issues-emotions run high, and even the warning that ‘needs to be careful with this one-eyed Hightower cunt, because his extreme niceness is too alarming’ doesn't diminish them. By the end of the day, Aemond is mentally running around with the fact that ‘the Rogue Prince praised my fighting skills.’

Luke laughs for a very long time when hears about this conversation. Because ‘Daemon saw me beat you, and according to him, I fight only slightly better than Joff. Joff is six, uncle. Daemon thought "you" went easy on "me".’

They try to find some information on how to get back into their own bodies in Valyrian manuscripts, but Luke discovers just how terrible his uncle’s pronunciation is when he tries reading something aloud. The search is soon forgotten, as their impromptu speaking lesson stretches late into the evening.

The amount of time they’ve been spending together lately doesn’t go unnoticed and starts raising questions. So, the boys decide to split up for a while and conduct their searches separately.

Luke, who is unbearably bored being Aemond and lacking his discipline, decides to find some entertainment. He’d normally call Jace to fly or invite Rhaena for a walk, but obviously, that’s not an option now. So, he heads to see Helaena, who is delighted to have him visit. Luke confirms that his "quirky aunt" is really sweet, but freezes when she declares she’s 'so glad Aemond can see the underside’.

Later, Luke encounters Aegon too, who makes a comment about Aemond-Luke’s hairstyle. And boy, out of habit, reacts in much the same way as he would if something similar happened between him and Jace—he responds with some kind of small joke. Aegon stares at him as if he’s grown a second head—or at least regrown his second eye. Slowly, Lucerys realizes that his stoic, cold uncle is really just wearing a mask. After all, truly coldblooded people don’t flare up at every little remark.

Aemond, who’s genuinely trying to solve the problem, finds a reference to a book that might be in Dragonstone’s library. Without thinking twice, he decides to fly there. Based on who he looks like now, he thinks no one will find it odd if Lucerys Velaryon spends a few hours in the library at his own home. He heads to the dragonpit to ride Lucerys Velaryon dragon.

But dragons are not humans. Arrax is not at all pleased when some suspicious guy—no matter how much he looks like his rider (this no less suspicious point also needs to be clarified)—tries to approach him and decides to take a few bites out of the pretender. Aemond is rescued by Luke, who is on his way to visit his dragon. Unlike his uncle, he did not assume that Arrax could be fooled by appearances.

Luke angrily tells his uncle that he 'tried to steal someone else's dragon again and almost got hurt.' For the first time since they switched bodies, they get into a real fight, almost ending in blows. But when Aemond sweeps Luke off his feet with a well-placed strike from his “blind side” and and falls on top of him, they have some feelings that are… let's say not typical of a fight, which makes Aemond embarrassed and run away. What can you do—they still teenagers🤷‍♀️

And speaking of teenagers. If you wake up with morning wood while in someone else’s body, is jerking off in such a situation still considered masturbation or already sex? Just asking.

Aemond, isolated from his usual routine and still holding a grudge against Luke, decides to “gather some information on the enemy camp,” as he calls it. In reality, he's simply finding out how Luke is treated by his family. And this simultaneously makes him envious and angry on behalf of his nephew. Because he doesn't like the condescending attitude that thrives on Luke. Now it becomes clearer to him why he once thought the boy was weak and foolish, though in recent days, he’s realised that’s not the case at all. But this condescension causes Lucerys’ impostor syndrome to progress. It doesn't allow him to become stronger.

Also, unexpectedly for himself, Aemond finds that he actually likes his cousins, and even little Joffrey is “a decent kid.” Jacerys stops provoking a dull irritation as long as he’s either silent or far enough away that his words can’t be heard.

For a few days, Aemond and Luke avoid each other. But eventually, Luke comes to make peace and finally apologizes to his uncle, not just for the recent incident, but for everything.

They decide to fly to Dragonstone together because Luke knows how to sneak into the castle. After all, he has slipped out countless times with Jace, Rhaena, and on his own.

TO BE CONTINUED...

[livingfandomly]

I keep seeing people online hate on Agatha and, let’s be honest, hating on marvel has become the trend. For a universe that has existed on screen for almost 3 decades now, its output of good quality content is actually commendable. Are some projects completely shit because they’re trying to focus on faux feminism and inclusivity? 100% yes. But it’s like nobody wants to give anything under the “superhero” tag a chance anymore. I understand that audiences need breaks from certain content to want it again but, I will say, this targeted hatred to marvel is very much a consequence of the fact that if something gets too good then it has to turn sour. As a long-time comic book fan I agree that there have been nearly unwatchable projects like She-Hulk and the animated series was unnecessary. But Loki? Amazing show. Moon Knight? Baller. WandaVision? So innovative and unique. Falcon & Winter Soldier? Cute little bromance fuelled action dramedy. And you know what, I’ll come out and say it, Ms. Marvel and The Marvels were only hated on so aggressively because they’re all female led. Were they a little shit? Yes. Did they deserve that much hate???? Fuck no.

But let’s get back to Agatha. It’s a show that has a genuine plot line, the cast is amazing, it’s full of intrigue, the visuals are stunning, they’re not meandering about. They have a well thought out story unfolding. The best part? They’re not being faux about their feminism, or at least it doesn’t feel like that at all. They’ve managed to create a show full of women, all of whom are extremely intriguing characters, it’s so very sapphic and it’s proud about all of that. I fucking love this show. It’s dealing with generational trauma, with how much your upbringing and parents matter and it’s doing all of this while adding to the mcu. Am I confused about Billy? Fuck yes. But you know what, I don’t care about that right now because I’m getting to watch a show I enjoy. It’s really not that hard for people who don’t like it to simply state exactly that and then shut up.

I will never understand the human desire to shit on something that someone else genuinely enjoys…

[aliensupastar]

for a show that has a motto of "every second counts", it sure does love to waste my fucking time

why has it taken two whole seasons for carmy and richie to make up? why was carmy not wanting to do restaurants anymore an idea introduced at the beginning of THIS season instead of built up seasons one, two, and three? sure, back in season one there's a mention of his motivations being tied up in wanting to fix his family, but then we see him gain hope for the restaurant at the end of the episode, and then be inspired in season two and determined to challenge himself and his staff in season three (for better or for worse). it just feels like he's doing the same thing again, running from good things in his life, removing himself under the notion that he'll get in the way of good things happening. that's the same thing donna did, removed herself from the bear because she was afraid she'd get in the way of a good thing! and it's not inherently a bad thing for your main character to run into the same issue over and over again, it's called having a fatal flaw! but that doesn't mean your main character can stagnate in the way that carmy does. in season one, carmy progresses, he learns that he hasn't been abandoned by his family and mikey and that he's not a hopeless cause. in season two, he backslides, avoids responsibility and uses claire as an escape and it ultimately leads to him failing his family, and it's devastating to watch. season three should've spent time with him apologising and then reintegrating himself into the function of the restaurant. have him slide back into the mentor role again (for sydney, tina, and marcus), learn how to collaborate with richie so that the front of house and back of house communicate with each other properly, start learning to be there for natalie like she tells him she wants him to in season fucking one. he calls her to apologise for not coming to see the baby and she still ends up comforting him, and SHE still has to bring the baby to HIM.

and carmy is my favourite, so he's the only person i'm talking about here, but the other main characters also have disappointing arcs. i like richie learning how to deal with frank being in his family; it could've happened in one season instead of two. i like sydney's dilemma between shapiro and the bear a lot, it feels like she's the only character that's been really progressing. i like natalie's baby storyline, i think "ice chips" is the best episode of season three... i think francie fak could've stayed a gag instead of having her appear onscreen for the first time and then have her issue with natalie be resolved in one day, with no actual details of what betrayal took place. there is quite literally nothing for nat to do in season four, and sure she can't be at the restaurant considering she's just had a baby, but y'know, mothers are human beings with a lot of interesting things going on, too, and i don't think having a child means nat should be demoted from main character to recurring character (though i get that it's probably tied up in the fact that abby elliott had a baby in real life and couldn't be on set as much).

but, instead of giving its characters or the pace of the show any sort of momentum, the writers devote way, way too much runtime to the fucking Faks. do any of us give a shit about ted fak telling his new girlfriend kelly that he loves her? i'm serious. this show used to be a genuine dramedy, now it's a melodrama that cuts to its family of comedic relief characters fucking around a few times per episode.

i've been a fan of the bear since it premiered, it is without a doubt, my favourite show of all time; there's no other show out there that means this much to me. and i know tons of people hated season three, but i thought its worst crime was being imperfect when the first two seasons were perfect, and i figured if the showrunners/writers could learn from the criticism of season three, then season four could really turn things around and it would come back better than ever.

i realise now that seasons three and four being filmed at the same time was a bad sign. i think there's still hope for season five, it hasn't been filmed or even confirmed yet, and the show has a tendency to switch up its style, but i am beyond disappointed that we've had two dud seasons. this is still my favourite show ever, and i will be writing more carmy fanfiction ASAP, and continuing to hope that season five is better.

p.s.: i very much stand by all my opinions in this post, but i would love to hear other opinions and have discussions about season four/the show in general!

[toestychonk]

Beeg one

I was thinking about Viv's downward spiral with Helluva and it made me kinda depressed and really frustrated.

Starting out with this fun episodic workplace comedy about imps assassinating humans to work it's way through each episode to this "serialized romantic dramedy" is just.. so frustrating.

And signs were in Loo Loo land which was praised by critics at the time.

There wasn't much of a focus on Stolas until Harvest Moon Festival where it was revealed there was a bounty put on his back by Stella.

Okay so Truth Seekers is when we get the first Stolitz kiss. I think this moment is where the writers started to favor Stolas, but in Ozzies, he was still held accountable. (Being deservingly called out by Ozzie and being turned down by Blitz.)

This all changed when the second season attacked.

The Circus is when the show turned full Stolitz. Not just is it a backstory episode about their childhood friendship, but it's from Stolas's Pov. From this point on, Stolas is cemented as a main character. Sure, there are episodes about Moxxie, Millie, and/or even Loona, but in season 2, there are 7 or (8 if you count oops) Stolitz episodes out of the 12 released.

Sinsmas was a laughable excuse to show why they should be together. And so, so victim blamey.

Cut to LVL UP 2025 where Viv made this big announcement where not just were they more corporate (like a merch conference or something) but she basically ended up asking Amazon for help cuz popularity and money was dwindling. Viv, you don't need to go to Disneyland or Broadway shows dozens of times a year ffs. Like this is kinda your own fault. Like, of course people who were turning out for a vulgar workplace comedy wouldn't want a mean-spirited, horny romantic dramedy. They didn't sign up for that shit.

All because she got bored with the episodic nature and decided she wanted to do what Bojack Horseman did plus a romance without understanding what made that show work and stapled Stolas in cuz I guess she might've wanted to "see all sides" which is just rape apologia. I've heard of the self insert theory and idk.

I think the problems most have with Stolas are that he isn't held accountable to the appropriate degree and Viv insists Blitz be with him just as he is.

The thing is that there's this thing called the moral event horizon. Stolas striking his deal with Blitz, knowingly holding his means of survival over his head in exchange for sex, is considered rape (since the term broadened to include drugging and coercion) and many people consider rape to be one of the few things that crosses the moral event horizon. That's why some want him dead. He is a rapist and to many, rapists should die or at least be away from civilized society be them fictional or not. There are many critics who are rape victims to my knowledge.

If you are a victim, please know that you aren't alone. and while I'm not a victim myself, I'm here and I support your uphill battle. (But please go to a professional if you need to as I'm not a therapist and am not qualified)

[ilikekidsshows]

Let's not forget that he also reuses plot points so often it's not even funny. How long is the butterfly going to be used for evil? How many times is Marinette going to lose to Miracle Box? How many times is there going to be some Super Important Adult (both good and evil) that turns out to be some loser because they need Marinette to be the specialest most important person to ever exist? Wow, Felix is an abused child who lashes out and does some bullshit with the Miraculouses? We definitely haven't seen that in any other blonde teenager with a shitty family and we're def not gonna be getting that exact same story with her sister later in the season despite the fact that we been knew about that shit, it was literally her intro, so idk why they're repeating it again. Ivan's new side story is literally just Adrien's story but also why are we getting it now? We don't keep an official count but considering every episode has "Marinette make a mistake" then every episode should apply in the "Episodes Where Marinette is Upsette and Cries About It Until People are Forced to Comfort Her" counter. Etc. Etc.

Currently they're doing that whole "oh no, this huge secret is something Adrian can't find out because it involves his family and so his parent is """""haunting""""" the narrative" which is just a repeat of basically the whole series except instead of Emilie like in the first five seasons, it's Gabriel. And it was shit with Emilie back then and it's shit with Gabriel now.

---

Yeah, like, I just don’t care about “Adrien can’t know anything about anything ever because the world will end otherwise”, because it’s just a cheap excuse to maintain the status quo. It just brings more attention to the fact that there even is an unshakeable status quo when they give excuses for why the characters willingly maintain it. Seriously, Miraculous is starting to resemble an animated adult dramedy with how much of the status quo is maintained by the protagonist willingly, repeatedly and constantly doing stupid shit and absolutely refusing to self-reflect.

And that status quo is the reason that, even when we get long-awaited plotlines, they get handed to unimportant side characters so that it won’t actually impact anything in the long run. What’s that, you’ve been waiting for Adrien to deal with his dad being a villain and his friend supporting him since the first episode? Fuck that shit, that entire plot is now a single episode dedicated to Ivan! Did you say lovesquare identity reveal? Oh, hell no, we’ll have the two bit parts where one of them has only been essential in two episodes so far confess to each other exactly like you might imagine the lovesquare doing it, which means that, if we do eventually get a lovesquare reveal, it won’t be like that! It’ll probably be god-awful on purpose to “subvert expectations” and make you wish they never did the reveal after all!

We couldn’t possibly have anything actually meaningful happen in this story, because the writers are too lazy to do anything but have the same stuff happen but more and worse to pretend escalation is the same thing as development. It makes me want to punch drywall.

[pandaofsecrets]

People like to heap blame on Derision for making the joke serious, but the joke never worked in the first place because Miraculous wants to be a dramedy. It has had moments of drama and angst from as far back as the first season (Timebreaker, Simon Says, etc.), and those need the audience to empathize with the characters and see them like actual human beings, to put themselves in their shoes and feel for what they're going through. For that reason, the writers can't derive humor from the characters acting in wacky, over-the-top ways unless they have a solid in-universe reason for it (like someone being brainwashed), because we're still dealing with the same characters. If Marinette has to be treated like a person when she has heartfelt dialogue about how she doesn't wanna lie to Cat Noir, she must also be treated like a person when she decides breaking into Adrien's house is a good idea. Instead, every character flip-flops between two different versions of themselves depending on the needs of the scene, which is a nightmare to try to parse as an audience member. This is how we end up with takes like "Marinette is a stalker"; no one says that just to be contrary.

[magicalwarriordiamondheart]

Many people see the trigger warnings at the beginning of Magical Warrior Diamond Heart and wonder if the game is going to be "like DDLC"

And... It depends on what you mean by that.

It's not a horror game, or a meta commentary, so don't go in expecting something along those lines. It's a magical girl romance-dramedy.

They're super-powered heroes saving the world, and the villains are an active threat to their well being. They get into fights and those fights can result in injury. This is just the nature of the specific sub-genre this story is about.

The characters also deal with their personal struggles that become revealed as Valerie becomes closer to them, such as anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts, and abuse.

The story doesn't aim to "deconstruct" or satirize the genre or medium it's in. It's intended as an otherwise straight forward magical girl story about love, friendship, and coming of age.

It just also features a bunch of mentally ill highschoolers lol

[ineffable-opinions]

GMMTV 2025

This year I had discussed two of my greatest peeves with GMMTV:

Lack of BL literacy and harrowing learning curve

Khujin paradox – it is their asset and liability

here & here

Having seen what GMMTV plans to offer in the year 2025, I have to admit that they might be on the right track.

Ticket To Heaven – I didn’t expect this. What percent of Thailand’s population is Christian? (Thailand has significant and influential Christian population.) Many frames and scenes in this one looks they were from the Japanese BL movie from 2007 Boys Love – School Boy Crush. Serendipitously, it is so similar to Jijo Kuriakose’s autobiographical queer film — Velipaadu (വെളിപ്പാട്) which also has seminarian main characters. But since the characters are Orthodox/Jacobite Christians but not Catholics there is additional compulsory heterosexuality.

Memoir of Rati – Most Beautiful Count colorism debacle has tarnished my love for Thai historical setting. This is one series where I really wish GMMTV did not stick to the nenja/wakashu style pairing. Yaoi revolution did not happen all those years ago for this to manifest in 2024-25. These aesthetic choices are something GMMTV and Change 2561 (among others) will learn to overcome. Eventually.

Me and Thee – I am not impressed by the choice of khujin for this role. The comedy is not working for me and I think that's probably because there is not enough gap moe between the actor playing the mafia boss and the mafia boss playing the actor. However, fans of this khujin might enjoy it immensely for the very reason. Love guru set up is underplayed, so I am expecting tonal shift half way through the series where the drama will play into the soap opera it is supposed be parodying. Some kidnapping and bloodshed maybe. Odo (royal road progression) is odo for a reason. Unintended consequence of the series was to remind me of my dearest wish to see unabridged version of Breath, the story of TulHin from Love By Chance 2) with shibari and all.

A Dog and a Plane - feels like a nice mix of Japanese BL Ossan’s Love: LOVE or DEAD and Ossan's Love: In the Sky and Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese. Since I thoroughly enjoyed both, I'm looking forward to this one. It also promises a lot of "wife-chasing" (My Stand-in's influence?) complete with a grand, lives-saving, heart-winning gesture. 

Magic of Prophecy - Fortune telling as a reason for forced proximity in provincial Thailand seems nice but I'm afraid the series is going to go where The Sign went with superstitious local folks (as opposed to rational main characters, except it was a fantasy show hinging on those very local people's faith and festival) and gun violence. BL being a vehicle for Thaification is kind of inevitable but I wish it wasn't so and we would get more provincial shows like Love Poison. For a country that dared to give us Tropical Malady (2004) directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Malila: The Farewell Flower (2017) directed by Anucha Boonyawatana (director of Not Me), their BL needs to do better. 

Boys in Love - honor student x diliquent is a beloved pairing but this neurotypical honor student is not sitting well with me at the moment thanks to Iwashiro from Outsider Communication by Natsume Tsuno overwhelming my brain. But that is a me problem. The other pairs are cool and is in line with the saccharine sweetness GMMTV is known for.

Cat for Cash - this is for that khujin's fans as well as for cat lovers. Surrealist comedy with glittering, sputtering succulents in Love is Like A Poison has raised my tolerance for this brand of romantic dramedy. 

Mu-Te-Luv - I am intrigued because it gives me the kind of feeling that I got when I watched the trailer for Hello Mummy. I wonder how Thai audience will receive this series' take on the non-romantic themes it deals with. So, I'm equally apprehensive and excited. 

Love You Teacher - surprisingly it is Thailand that managed to get this show going. De-aging is a popular trope in BL and fan-fiction. Given the taboo nature of de-aging as a set up it is hard to pull off. But, if anyone can do that it is Thailand. This is resourceful side of khujin - they can't take the jado (evil road) narrative progression. No twisted moe. Yet, it leaves space for deception. Faking or automatic de-aging to cope with repressed stress and anxiety, like selective mutism and amnesia. It will be about character growth and unconditional love. Otherwise, the price GMMTV would have to pay would be too steep.

Melody of Secrets - wow, a dark take on amnesia trope! Seems like GMMTV finally figured out how to tease a jado progression within an odo plot - by employing a (faux)-look-alike so as not to upset khujin fans' worldview while offering them a thrilling experience. But it is clear that GMMTV won't be able top commit to a proper jado plot. That not their brand. It will not help with branding and advertising. There's no helping it. The violin scene reminded me of the Japanese BL with numerous adaptations Fujimi Orchestra. Also, the mind-forgot-but-body-remembers trope?! 

My Romance Scammer - gold digging, getting ONESELF trapped in the love trap that one laid and marry-first-regret-later tied with the friction of getting a divorce. I want it to have first ever remarriage of the same pair in a live action BL.

That Summer - how does Thailand keep getting casting net wrong? At least it is better than diving with the net we're got in love sea. Prince? Who was assaulted?  Found at a Thai beach? Reminds me of princess Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum debacle.

Only Friends: Dream On - I like this set up more than the one for season 1. I wasn't happy about it and thought they could do better. I'm looking forward to this season. And for khujin fans, isn't it a good chance to enjoy netorare and stalking horse tropes since the Love Dodecahedron will anyway resolve into khujin pairings?

Burnout Syndrome - super pretty, shonen ai style art! Look at the nude he drew! Isn't it giving early BL vibes, from before the donkey dicks took over the BL manga scene thanks to Korea? Isn't it a beacon (please forgive the pun) of hope in the strange, new world of uncensored smut scenes in BL manhwa? Khujin's gonna khujin and stalking horse gonna stalking horse. I'm truly intrigued. 

Head 2 Head - fine old wine, new bottle. Let's see if the wine (rivalry to romance, unrequited to required, college campus setting) can be as intoxicating when drunk from the new bottle.

Dare You To Death - Channel V style drama with khujin boarding together for reasons.  Unfortunately, it did not moe for me. Maybe because I'm still trying to get over Zheng Bei x Jiang XiaoHai ship from The First Shot 雪迷宫 that paled in comparison to Zheng Bei x Gu YiRan ship. Honestly, I started watching just to listen to Huang Jingyu say heroin (hailouyin) and accidental got too invested in the cop x kingpin ship. 

I wonder who suggested GMMTV to add so much of occult and fortune-telling in their series. Also, I am a little worried after seeing this post by @guzhufuren and this post by @alwaysthepessimist - there is opposition to BL in East Asian countries led by certain groups of feminists based on the disproportionate benefit accruing to men (especially actors, voice actors, creators and production companies' executives), declining presence of women in entertainment and advertising as well as shifting purchasing power from women to men through consumption of BL.

In this video, BL scholar Kim Hyojin talks about Boys Love in an Era of Feminism: Online Discourse on “Leaving BL” in Late 2010s Korea.

[waitmyturtles]

As I did last week, I have more constructive criticism for Jack & Joker, so, trigger warning again, please fly away if you can't deal with objective criticism of your faves.

What frustrates me about the construction of this show is that it's tripping on its own feet. And I shouldn't use the indefinite article; I should call out director Tee Bundit directly, because we saw him do this in spades in Step By Step. Tee did everything he could to avoid building a real narrative romance between the SBS leads, and the emotional beats that succeeded their late-series intimate breakthrough were not syncopated properly to match the development of a convincing relationship.

The incomplete beats at hand here are not as bad as they were in SBS. What's keeping me going on in Jack & Joker is that, at least, we are getting separate emotional development trajectories for Jack and Joke -- and a nice, hearty head-smack from Ah Mah at the end of the episode, towards Jack and his inclination to shut down and keep his shit internal. Ah Mah is trying to get Jack to know how to act as family, and she did the same with Joke's father earlier in the episode.

Like I said last week, I think this show has some really wonderful family-related thematic gems like the ones I just mentioned for this week's episode. Yin and War are acting these themes out with heart. Jack's in a really tough spot. The robber clowns will get together again next week to try to get him out of his tough spot.

And I know many of us are upset with Joke's dad, as I am, too, he's a real piece of shit, but his scenes with Joke struck me as very real to the experience of an insanely strict Asian dad. I've written about this too many times to count, but the ability of an Asian parent to cut their kids off like that is a concept that majority Western culture hasn't contemplated, except in instances of religion, sexism, bigotry, etc., but anyway -- that kind of cut-off doesn't exist as part of the everyday Western mentality about parenting, whereas in Asian parenting styles, to reject the patriarchal hierarchy could mean permanent separation, as Joke's dad has enacted to Joke. The fact that the motherfucker reconsidered AFTER EATING JOKE'S FOOD struck me as deeply sexist ("the way to a man's" blah blah, UGH), so I'm glad Ah Mah told that bitch off, but I did think those scenes were done well and realistically.

Anyway, where this series is absolutely lagging is in the EDITING. All these rich people games. I think there are many more concise narrative ways that we can be told that the rich play with the lives of the poor, than to give us bloated scene after bloated scene of literal gaming. Forget metaphors! Just give us some well-written, snappy dialogue about how these rich people are total assholes! We'll believe it!

And at the same time, I'm feeling bad for Rose, honestly. She likes Jack! She has no idea her crush on him is caught up in this Boss bullshit. She's gonna be hurt! And they're gonna rob her house now? I mean, I think what Tee is saying (I think?!?!?!) is that what comes to her, she deserves, because she's as scummy as the rest of the other scummy rich people (Ajahn Pichai, was that you?!). But like, this is her dad's shit?! So she gets automatically blamed because she's a nepo baby? I mean, I guess, if you're a reader of New York Magazine, that's reasonable thinking, but like, some of us are moral thinkers here!

This shit is complicated, and for an episode that was ONE HOUR. AND. 21. MINUTES. LONG., we could have a shorter AND clearer episode that could have scrubbed at the grout of these otherwise very interesting moral quandaries. But instead, we got video games from some dusty-ass rich boy who needs a goddamn bath.

I know, I know we haven't gotten the intimacy payoffs for any of the implied couples yet, and maybe this is part of YinWar's intention in having so much control over their script. But I did wonder if I was watching a Series Y/BL, or if I was watching a dramedy instead. I don't really care what genre it's in. But what I would like is for the themes to be crystal-clearly focused so that us, the viewers, can lean into what the cast and showmakers WANT us to care about -- which, thematically, I'm unclear on at this moment.

[statusquoergo]

way too late to be timely but conveniently just after the premiere of "batman returns" (s01e04), i'm finally getting my shit together to write up my impression of suits la and why i have no intention of watching it on the regular.

obviously this review is only reflective of my personal feelings and experience of the show, which, you may have already gathered, is not especially favorable, so if you happen to enjoy or think highly of it, you might want to stop reading. or keep reading, depending on your predilections.

the premiere episode of suits la is a fucking mess.

the vast majority of characters, i.e., basically all of them except for ted (and dylan, victoria justice's character) are shoved onscreen with no introduction whatsoever; their names, their roles, their connection to the firm, their connection to each other, i have no idea what any of it is. the dialogue is a clumsy mix of attempts to recreate the banter of og suits (e.g., between ted (new harvey) and rick (not remotely new mike)) and apparent attempts to address some of the more glaring oversights of og suits (e.g., making it very, very clear that amanda (samantha/jessica pastiche and professional pro bono lawyer (apparently that's a thing now, sorry mike)) doesn't work for ted and therefore is fair game for him to pursue a relationship), and i don't particularly care about any of them. which is fine, because i also don't like any of them. or trust them. at all.

so, hey, remember back in og suits, s06e01, when mike was in prison and all the associates left the firm? remember how mournful and tragic it was to see louis and harvey and jessica walking through the empty office? remember how much that actually mattered for the plot and the characters, and how not-surprising-but-still-surprising and how big of a deal we all immediately knew it was?

this show tries to do that at the beginning of act two. of episode one.

"the merger," which has been vaguely but repeatedly referred to throughout the first act and built up to be some kind of big deal long in the works and finally coming to fruition, was apparently destined for failure, because stuart, up to now portrayed as ted's good friend and co-managing partner, always intended to stab him in the back by cutting him out of it and stealing about half the firm employees and clients in order to do so. and...okay, sure. whatever. bummer for ted, i guess.

other plot shit happens in the episode, but this is the main thing i remember mostly because it's handled so incredibly poorly. also the episode is so cluttered and jumps around so much that i had to keep pausing it and taking notes to keep track of what was going on. literally, i have three and a half pages of notes just to keep track of the plot.

apart from being really needlessly confusing, the show doesn't seem to know quite what tone it's trying to set. the office banter has the potential to be fun and flirty and all the hallmarks of the blue sky era of usa that defined the first few season of og suits, but i don't know or like any of the characters well enough to be invested, and it doesn't counterbalance well with ted's big brooding dramatic flashbacks. also ted is kind of an asshole. and not in the fun harvey specter way, either, he's just a dick.

not to mention, there's no unique hook. it's a legal...dramedy, sort of, but not a very good one. none of the characters have any rare and exploitable traits like mike's eidetic memory, and there aren't any big secrets like mike being a fraud. ted left new york because his brother was killed by the mob due to a case ted was trying, and i'm sure there are some more details to that, but like. that's not a mystery. that's just information pending. it's not fun enough to be og suits, it's not procedural enough to be law & order, it's not dark and mysterious enough to be mr. robot. i suspect part of the problem is due to the fact that it was initially pitched as a show about hollywood agents, but after the "summer of suits" (2023), netflix demanded it be reworked as a suits spinoff, and it suffered some kind of identity crisis. not to say it would've worked the other way, but i guess we'll never know.

as for "batman returns." harvey's appearance has been advertised and plugged and primed as some really big deal for the show, and something definitely worth tuning in for (ratings have been dropping sharply since the pilot). and...all we get are some flashback scenes, showing harvey and ted playing in some prosecutorial baseball league together. and harvey and ted "bantering" about which of them is batman (despite this being, again, 2010, which, again, is before harvey meets mike). and harvey warning ted that someone in his office is feeding information to the mob, i assume to justify harvey's eventual arrival in la as they try to make ted more interesting by exploring his tragic backstory some more.

i know gabriel has said he's doing this to "pass the baton" to the new cast, but this doesn't read that way to me so much as a scrambling attempt to link the new series with the original. he's been very candid that's he's doing this "for the fans," rather than to give harvey any sort of closure he's been missing, which tracks well with his behavior during the original run; when harvey and donna got together in season 9, gabriel said something similar:

"I am all for what the fans want. You've got to give the fans what they want, so that's what we're going to do."

from a production standpoint, this feels more like the first time mike came back to og suits (s09e05): it was heavily promoted, it was an obvious ratings grab, it didn't need to happen or serve any real purpose from a plot perspective, and it backfired pretty badly (viewership was among the lowest of the entire season and the episode wasn't well reviewed). if nothing else, i suppose they are comfortingly consistent.

anyway.

suffice it to say i was not impressed.