#Disney got it right with the MCU

[xxplastic-cubexx]

you open my Super Important Documents and its just pictures of charles xavier

[deanpinterester]

i know we all know this by now but any time you go into the post of a popular post u come to the realization wow. a lot of people get so mad they forget how to read

[heresmyfiddlestick]

The Story and the Engine. I'm so relieved I gave my friends a rundown via PowerPoint presentation of the Doctor Who Is a TV Show Theory before this season began because we just keep winning. when I saw it was Inua Ellams and a barbershop I knew what we were doing - it's about communal storytelling as a means of keeping a community and culture, specifically African and diaspora culture. if you don't know about Ellams' play Barber Shop Chronicles, read up about it

holy shit is it delightful to see 15 in Africa. he is chumming it up in the market, he has a secret handshake with Omo. the Blackness of this episode was refreshing and inspiring. Ellams specifically addresses the differences in attitude the Doctor has experienced having changed his skin tone-- which is a really nice mirror to last year's episode 5, which didn't say it outright but really made you feel it along with him.

i'm really amused by Belinda just hanging back in the TARDIS. what was she planning on doing? she doesn't have a bedroom, and this console room doesn't have chairs. love that the TARDIS is helpful to her, though. she probably has some sympathy for Belinda, and we know she had a thing for the previous nurse passenger...

then of course we've got the whole conceit of the barbershop. we're telling stories to power some nefarious machine. an enigmatic man with a goatee and a weird little handheld doohickey and a pseudonym is holding people hostage. he's the Master. an exceptionally gorgeous but nonetheless mysterious woman walks in and the Doctor can't quite place her... no wait, she's the Master. oh wait, they're talking about gods-- it's another Pantheon thing?

NOPE! and thank god for that, too. it was great that we were able to have so much talk about real-world gods and not get dragged into the multi-season Pantheon arc. good to have the distinction between Doctor Who gods (ineffable and terrifying) and real-world gods (MCU fans)

(speaking of: i watched on Disney+ and that Endgame namecheck really added another layer of meta)

to be honest, the ultimate explanation of what The Barber is up to left me a bit cold. i really love it with my {{esquivalience}} hat on: we are unraveling the relationship between stories and storytellers, between original creators and the work that exists separate from them, between what stories are valued more than others (The Barber doesn't stop Abby while she is braiding the Doctor's hair, even though she is telling a story about why he should). this is all great and juicy and full of the language of rope. but there was just something that felt a bit uneven about it. a bit abstract, maybe. part of why i'm thrown is that... The Barber is an immortal human? and this was not really touched further on. not that we need to stop and explain everything that happens in our sci-fi show...

back to the ramble

how did the Doctor know that story about Belinda? i don't think she will have had a moment to just stop and chat with him about this one shitty shift. maybe he spoke to the woman she saved while he was looking for her? good to see Mrs. Flood get a look-in. mighty sturdy fourth-wall on this show, with the amount of people trying to bust it down

i loved the Fugitive Doctor jumpscare. i love leaving her as unexplained as possible. i love her existing in the back of the Doctor's mind

The Barber's first little beginning of the Nexus... that's a loom, right? that's looms? #loomwatch

oh and one last thing. Nigeria in the real world is where several formerly-lost 60s episodes have been found, notably The Enemy of the World and most of The Web of Fear in 2013. nothing in the story about that, but it is another great echo in the echo chamber of the TV show theory, especially with the recent literal depiction of film being burned this season

great ep. great season.

[kingofthewilderwest]

We need to start questioning the conflation of "maturity" with "increased stakes."

It's not to say higher stakes is always a bad choice. The first half of the How to Train Your Dragon book series has an endearingly whimsical, child-like feel. Hiccup's issues in the first half of book one are an obnoxious, cat-sized Toothless pooping in his helmet. The movie adaptation might have made the book and its counterpart distant cousins, but it was a thoughtful move to alter concepts to the appropriately theatrical: books and movies aren't the same medium. Hiccup riding alone on Toothless, exchanging fire blasts with a mountain-sized dragon, and losing his leg came off as well-done storytelling.

Hiccup staring at a prosthetic never happened in the book. He didn't lose his leg in his encounter with the Green Death. It was, as the creative powers behind the movie said, a result of the increased stakes. They didn't do this just to be more dramatic; they did it because it seemed that, based on how their narrative was going, this made sense. And this was a soft, quiet, shocking, breath-taking scene that instilled how good the movie handled its stakes. It gave us a reflective reaction to consequences that audiences might not have expected. This movie understood timing, pauses, quietness, narrative arc, poignance, reflection, emotion, love, and heart.

We know about the conflation of live action as "more mature" than animation. But a medium doesn't change maturity levels. We all know that's bogus, and many analyses have been given on that. Disney live actions add extraneous gunk, down to Gaston having a past relationship with war (so I've heard, from the people who actually watched the movie), and Disney giving us the sad scoop on why Belle's mom isn't around. Furthermore, lots of times, when I see the conversion of animation to live action, I notice creators feel a need to "raise the stakes" -- in line with the erroneous view of "giving maturity."

But "higher stakes" often means inserting action in place of mindful interaction. I feel today's Hollywood movies, in their treatment of "action," don't let movies pause and breathe anymore - ergo, they don't let us think. Isn't it more juvenile to actively avoid thought in favor of "hey look I made the building go boom"? There may be less "stakes" in introspection and mindful dialogue, but that's what gives it its maturity. That's how we went from Iron Man 1, with its grounded treatment of war and abuse, to the mindless high spectacle MCU is today.

Snappy one-liners or moments that clap at contemporary issues don't substitute for maturity. What can make a story mature is characters grappling with issues in a natural narrative through-line. A snappy one-liner is its own form of speedy spectacle.

We know about the conflation of "gore and sex" with "mature audiences." I believe they're right that graphic sex and gore is designed for adults. But that doesn't make it mature, and that doesn't make it the only way to target a medium for adults.

"Realisticness" isn't maturity. Per above regarding animation: realistic visuals are nothing. And if you think that putting more Debbie Downer material into your adaptation makes it more adult, you have to ask yourself why the themes that spoke to people's souls got muddled in its midst. We weren't mature enough to interact with the most subtle, nuanced, and impacting voice of the story. But hey! Look! There's more corpses, I guess!

It's not the visuals, it's not the events. It's not the "things." It's not the basic insertion of the external. Get past the superficial, get past the top layer of presentation. It's the mind. It's the ability to think. It's the ability to be still. It's the ability to be interested and attentive when something is slow or quotidian, because we can understand why that is important for narrative growth or arcs or themes or commentary on the human condition. It's the ability to know when and when not to include something. It's the ability to make resonant impact. It's the ability to be deep with your emotions or your themes. It's the ability to take what you have and grow it in a way by which we can derive something deeper.

Maturity is critical thought and well-conducted, appropriate responses to content of any kind.

As DeBlois tells Empire, the move to live-action brings a different emphasis to How To Train Your Dragon; a new heft, both physically and emotionally. “It’s so dialed-up in terms of stakes — having a fully credible, photo-real dragon stomping around trying to kill him,” the director says.

And maybe that DeBlois quote is taken out of context. Maybe there's more going on than that one sentence conveys. Maybe Empire is making their own erroneous assumptions. But "so dialed-up in terms of stakes," isn't, on its own, a good appeal. The animated movie already dialed things up - and knew when to include or not include something. A live-action that imitates the visuals of the animated movie exactly, as if no independent thought has been done to its unique adaptation, to the pros and cons of the medium, to what a independently-presented story needs and doesn't need... It has to make you wonder: how many conflations of "maturity" are going on?

How long are we going to keep making our own conflations?

[book-place]

The Avoiding Act

Warnings: unhealthy studying methods, let me know if I missed any :)

Pairings: Avengers x reader platonic

Request: Hey! Can you do MCU x Teen!reader, whose been feeling stressed out lately (I have exams coming up) and she also struggles with mental health. She constantly avoids the team because she knows they'll tell her to sit down and take a break, but one day they forcefully make her sit down and talk to them, and they're all telling her to take it easy and that they believe in her or something, and she's starts tearing up because she's never had anyone tell her reassuring things before she met the team, and one of them (preferably Bucky, Loki, Tony, or Steve) just hugs them? And like they end up watching Disney movies or something, and she falls asleep on Tony or Steve? Thank you!

Requested by: @wolfmoonmusic

*not my gif*

Summary: Your team hasn’t really seen you in over a week, and they start to grow worried

A/N: This isn’t my best work- but I don’t think it’s too bad; also I wrote this forever ago and just forgot to publish it

Please don’t plagiarize my work, you may reblog if you like but I’m asking that you don’t steal my hard work

You practically had it down to a point by now. You had memorized your entire team's schedule in such a way that you could avoid them perfectly.

Steve was using the training levels at exactly 5:05 every morning, being the first one up- besides you. That was easy, just avoid all of the workout rooms. Bucky was sometimes up at that time as well, but he just stayed in his room.

Up next was Nat and Bruce. Nat would start off her day on the balcony of either her room or the one connected to the living room. Bruce would make a beeline for his lab right away and hide in there for a while. So naturally, you just skipped out on all three of those places.

That’s when it got complicated. The late sleepers were Sam, Tony, and Clint. Meaning, their schedules were unpredictable. But that was only in the sense that you didn’t know which time they would get up. All three of them would head straight to the kitchen as soon as they got up though, so all you had to do was make sure that you weren’t in there any later than 10:00.

That left your room, which you never stayed in because then they would be able to find you, and any other of the many empty rooms left in Avengers Tower.

Some might call you paranoid, but you made sure to switch rooms every two hours, that way you weren’t in one place long enough for them to find you there.

The reason you were avoiding your team?

It wasn’t becuase you didn’t want to see them or loved them dearly, it was simply becuase you needed to study.

To outsiders, that would seem like a weird reason to be hiding from your loved ones, but not when it came to you.

When you studied, you studied.

You hardly ever took breaks- not even to eat and sleep.

And if your team knew this, there wasn’t a doubt in your mind that they would try to make you take a break. To take care of yourself.

You couldn’t have that happening, the biggest exam of the year was in three days and taking a break was not an option.

It was a day like any other in the past week, you were in a random conference room on the seventh floor, going on the eighth day without seeing your team for more than five minutes a day.

Like normal, you were hunched over a textbook, eyes sweeping back and forth along the pages as you eagerly tried to take in any bit of knowledge you could come upon.

It was well past dinner- not that you had eaten other than a granola bar early in the morning before the late risers made it to the kitchen- and your team, six floors up, were sitting around one of the many living rooms.

“So you’re telling me that nobody saw Y/N today?” Steve asked, standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed over his chest, eyebrows creased with worry.

Clint and Sam shook their heads in sync from their respective positions on the couch in front of him. Bucky, who was leaning up against a wall with his arms crossed, repeated the gesture.

Nat and Tony both let out identical signs at this, the redhead running a hand through her hair.

“It’s been like this all week,” Bruce spoke up, concern lacing his tone, “I’ve hardly seen her for more than two minutes a day. Whenever I try to find her- she’s not anywhere I’d think she would be.”

“Same,” Natasha piped up, “It’s almost like she’s avoiding us.”

“You don’t think… she’s actually avoiding us, do you?” Sam asked, leaning forward in his seat.

Steve ran a hand down his face and sighed, “Why would she avoid us, though?”

Even Tony had the decency not to interject with one of his normal, snide comments. Instead, he announced, “JARVIS, tell me where she is.”

The team's eyes all widened in sync, clearly none of them had once thought of using the AI system to find you.

Instead of boasting about how he was just smarter than they were like Tony normally would, he just kept his lips in a thin, closed line and awaited the answer.

“Miss. L/N is currently occupying conference room number seventy two, on the sixth floor.” JARVIS’s voice rang out through the room, and everyone was on their feet in an instance.

Within the last week, every one of them had gone out of their way to try and look for you, never knowing where you were or if you were alright.

The door to your study room flew open and you let out a small yelp of surprise, jumping at the unanticipated arrival of every member of your team.

It was silent for a moment after they all pushed and shoved past each other to stumble into the room, as you all just stared at each other.

“O-oh, hey guys,” You stuttered, letting out a small, nervous chuckle, “What’re you doing here?”

“Why’ve you been avoiding us?” Sam blurted out without answering your question.

Multiple people face palmed and let out slight groans at his bluntness. Bucky- who was standing closest to him- slapped him upside the head. With his metal hand.

That had to hurt.

The question immediately made you defensive, and you crossed your arms, visually crawling back into your shell.

“I’m not avoiding you,” The words weren’t as firm as you would’ve liked.

“No?” Tony asked with a singular raised eyebrow, “Then why have we only seen you for five minutes in total this week?”

You shrugged, “I’ve been busy!”

“Busy doing what?” Clint prompted.

That was when you fell silent.

Your team didn’t say anything, though. They just kept staring, awaiting your reply.

The silence dragged and dragged, suffocating the room and everyone in it until you couldn’t take it anymore.

“Studying,” You finally said softly.

Another silence followed, but this one was broken by Bruce, “And how many breaks have you taken to take care of yourself?”

They all knew you so well, they knew what your study habits were like. How unhealthy they were.

You shrugged stiffly, moving your eyes to face anywhere but where they stood.

“N/n,” Nat sighed, moving over to you, “You need to take care of yourself. This isn’t healthy.”

Steve moved up beside her, watching as you still avoided looking at any of them, tears filling your eyes, “We only say this because we care about you.”

His words were what finally made the first tear slip down your face.

“I know,” You whispered.

With a sigh, Steve opened his arms and wrapped them around you in a much needed hug.

Almost instantly, you broke down, relaxing in his arms and crying and crying until there were no tears left.

Someone from around you gently moved a piece of hair out of your face and someone else rubbed your back comfortingly.

When you finally opened your eyes, you were surrounded by your team- the people that cared for you more than anyone- who all wore soft expressions.

“Let’s take a break,” Steve whispered, stopping down to place a kiss on the top of your head, “You deserve it.”

Sniffling slightly, you nodded and allowed your team to lead you away and to one of the living rooms.

Tony had announced that you would all be having a movie night and you would be the one to pick what to watch.

Normally, there would be a lot fighting and bickering about what movie- but nobody said a word this time.

Some went off to get snacks- others getting blankets- as you all spread out around the room comfortably.

You ended up between Steve and Nat on the couch, the ladder absentmindedly running her fingers through your hair whilst you picked what you wanted to watch.

In the end, you settled on an old Disney classic, and we’re able to settle in while the opening music began to play.

“Thank you, guys.” You said softly to the room, truly meaning it.

“No need to thank us, n/n. We’re here for you. No matter what.” Steve said from beside you.

By the time the credits rolled around, you were fast asleep, breathing steadily with your head resting against Steve’s shoulder.

Said man smiled down softly at you, making sure to keep his movements to a minimum as you got some much needed sleep, surrounded by your loved ones.

We are Groot 🤎- @lovanitu @jvdethirlwall @ineedmorefanfics2 @sambucky8 @spidyyparker @irethepotato @femalemarvelself @mukbee @its-hell @ip747 @i-writes-things @popfishjr @mitsuki-murakami @mythixmagic @toecrust69 @etanordoesbullsh1t @wolfmoonmusic @nutellani @hyunzrii @scarthefangirl

[cap-trio]

promised to another | part one

Summary: Things with Steve were perfect, like a never ending honeymoon phase. You ignored all the warnings from friends about how that stage doesn't last long, because you know you and Steve aren't like everyone else. But you should've listened.

Your relationship shifted gradually - fewer date nights, going to bed alone while Steve worked a second job, and feeling like you've been put on the back burner. When he suggests taking a break you feel your world crumble around you.

During that time you run into your ex, Bucky. Your first love, the right person at the wrong time, the one who got away. As you reconnect, old feelings resurface that complicate everything. Do you hope that things with Steve will work out, or do you take a risk and try again with Bucky?

Pairing(s): Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader

Tags: Modern AU, cheating, angst, exes to lovers, fluff, second chance romance, based on a Taylor Swift song (Ivy).

Word count: 2K

Notes: I've had this idea for a while, and Thunderbolts* rekindled my MCU obsession and finally inspired me to write this. I haven't written anything in a while, so any feedback is appreciated! I'm aiming to update once a week, hopefully more if I have time.

series masterlist / read on ao3

part one: grieving for the living

Things with Steve started like a dream.

You met him while taking an art class in college. After arriving late on the first day, you took the only open seat next to him. Your first impression was how handsome he was, like he stepped right out of a Disney movie where he played the prince. Intimidating, but with a softness that drew you in. From day one, you knew you were in trouble.

Things progressed slower than you had hoped. It took until halfway through the semester before your first date, months of flirting and dropping hints before he got the courage to ask. You found it sweet how nervous he was asking you to grab coffee, and how he seemed surprised you said yes. 

Dates became a weekly occurrence; trips to art museums, picnics in the park, and failed attempts to cook dinner for each other were interrupted by setting of the fire alarm. Things felt too good to be true; college guys did not act like Steve. All they wanted to do was “watch” Netflix in their filthy dorm rooms and hook up. Somehow, you hit the jackpot. By the end of the semester, you two were official.

Steve proposed the day after graduation. It was an obvious yes, and the two of you moved into a small Brooklyn apartment. It felt more like a shoebox, but the two of you were so in love that it felt like home from the second you signed the lease. Steve got a job teaching art at a local community college, saving every penny he could for the perfect engagement ring. Within a year and a half, you two were married. It wasn’t anything fancy; you both were too excited to be husband and wife to care too much about how it happened, but it was still perfect. 

People warned that the honeymoon phase would wear off, and you always scoffed at that. The honeymoon phase began at that coffee shop on campus and never faltered, growing stronger with every minute spent together. Sometimes, you were almost annoyed at how you became one of those sickenly sweet couples that you used to make fun of with your friends. But then you knew how it felt to be a part of one, and you regret everything you said about them. You two were in your own little bubble.

But unfortunately, that bubble popped.

The shift didn't happen all at once. It was a gradual thing, a dark shadow slowly creeping in unnoticed, until everything was covered in black. Date nights were canceled when Steve would get stuck at office hours. Texts and phone calls went unanswered because he was busy. No more surprising you with your favorite flowers “just because.” Stress about money turned into him getting a second job. Hardly seeing each other, and when you did, Steve was always exhausted or distracted. Fights about how you felt like he wasn't putting in an effort, only for him to argue that everything he was doing was for you. 

It wore you down. You stopped trying to squeeze dates onto the calendar, sending pictures of random things around the city that reminded you of him, or staying up late hoping to get just a few minutes with him. You gave up, and so did he.

Maybe this is it, you would think to yourself. But you still loved him, and you knew he loved you too. It was just a rough spot, a thunderstorm interrupting sunny days, that would be over before you knew it. 

And then Steve took a needle to your bubble by suggesting a break. 

You were adamantly against it. “How is that the best solution? We already don't see each other, and now, what, you think staying apart is going to help? ” 

“I think it gives us room to think. Reevaluate. See if we’ve grown apart, or if this makes us miss each other,” he’d said. “I already found a place to stay, so you don't need to worry about that.”

If we miss each other. Like you haven't already missed him for months. Like he doesn't miss you, and that he never will. 

“I guess you made my decision for me then, huh? Just like how “everything you're doing is for me”? I think that's a lame excuse to push me away, and congratulations because it worked,” you scoffed. 

Neither of you said a word as he packed his bags. He was already slipping through your fingers, and at some point, you knew you’d have to accept that he’d let go. 

————————————

Almost two months had passed. Steve took a part of you with him that left you hollow, just going through life on autopilot. At first, you would talk a few times a week, even met up for dinner once, but it wasn't enough. Things felt strained and forced, every conversation made you feel worse about the state of your relationship. 

How can I grieve someone who's still alive? 

It was something you asked yourself daily. Your marriage wasn't officially dead, but it might as well have been. Neither one of you was brave enough to admit it, leaving you in a waiting game of who would crack first. 

But then came an unexpected bright spot.

It was a random Tuesday after work. After a rough shift, you decided to stop at your favorite coffee shop as a treat. You were almost out of the door when you spotted him. It had been years since you’d seen him, but you’d recognize him anywhere. Long, dark hair, soft blue eyes, a physique most men dream of. 

Bucky Barnes. AKA, your ex-boyfriend.

Before Steve, there was Bucky. He was your first real love, your first everything . You met him at freshman orientation, and things escalated quickly. At first it scared you, but there was something addictive about Bucky. Most of your friends chalked it up to it being your first taste of freedom after high school, your first college fling, but you knew it was more than that. 

He was there on a baseball scholarship. After a bad arm injury, he was deemed unable to play and couldn’t afford the tuition on his own, so he was forced to move back home and find a job. You were convinced you’d survive long distance, that he could save up and come back, or you’d visit whenever you could. But between him working full time and you being busy with school, things didn’t work out. Bucky didn’t want to get in the way of you enjoying college and tie you down, so he let you go. It crushed both of you, but ultimately, you both knew it was the right decision. Right person, wrong time.

He was there for you during those homesick phases and nights when you weren’t sure college was for you. He brought you out of your shell, introducing you to new people and playing tourist around campus to make it feel special. Whenever you got the inevitable sickness spreading around the dorm, he’d be there with homemade soup and every kind of medicine. 

You tried moving on; hookups that left you empty, dating app conversations that hardly led to a first date, and when they did, you never saw them again. It wasn’t until you met Steve the following year that you felt something real again. But even then, it was different than what you felt for Bucky. 

Bucky would sometimes slip into your mind, and it always made you feel guilty. Steve was great, borderline perfect, yet you couldn’t help but reminisce about what you had with Bucky. Both were life-changing, once-in-a-lifetime relationships in different ways. And now here he was, and all those memories came rushing back.

“Bucky?” You asked to make sure you weren’t imagining things. 

His eyes widened when he saw you. Immediately, he stood up from the table and pulled you in for a hug. “Holy shit,” he laughed. “I can’t believe you’re here!”

“Do you mind if I sit?”

“Of course not.” Always a gentleman, he pulled out your seat for you. “So, how have you been?”

“Uh, I’ve been good,” you flashed your best fake smile. “Remember that internship I was hoping for? They hired me and offered me a job after graduation, so I’ve been there for a few years now. Got a small apartment over in Brooklyn.”

You watch his eyes flick down to your wedding ring. You hadn’t realized you’d been fidgeting with it until he caught you. His face hardens, his jaw tensing for a second before he forces a strained smile.

“Got married too, I see.”

You shift uncomfortably in your seat. “Two years. His name’s Steve.”

“I’m happy for you.” You know he’s being genuine, though you can hear a tinge of regret in his voice. Bucky was never the jealous type, and how could he be after all these years? He just wishes things could’ve been different between you. 

He watches your face fall. “Is everything alright?”

“Can we not talk about him, actually? Sorry, I just…would rather not.”

“Yeah, of course. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” An awkward beat passes. This isn’t how you dreamt running back into Bucky would look. “So, what have you been up to?”

He notices the way you quickly glance down at his hands. No ring , you note, not that it even matters. “I just got promoted to general manager of the bookstore down on Third Street, and I’ve been helping coach the Little League baseball team. Makes me miss playing, but I love helping the kids and seeing how much fun they’re having.”

Picturing him out on the field coaching those kids makes your heart ache in the best way. “Congratulations! I remember you mentioning how much you love that store, and how frustrated you’d get because I refused to pick up a book, so I let you give me a mini book report. And those kids couldn’t have a better coach, they’re lucky to have you.”

Bucky laughs at the memory. “Sorry you had to hear all my ramblings. At least now I get paid for it. And thanks, that means a lot.”

“Don’t apologize, I loved hearing how passionate you were. It’s one of my favorite things about you.”

Shit. Admitting that shifts the vibe of the conversation; there’s no way he doesn’t feel it too. It makes you think of the other things you liked about him, in turn bringing back memories of your relationship. It’s too much, too fast, like a dam bursting open in front of your eyes.

“Really?” He leans forward. “Do tell, what are your other favorite things about me?” He tries to sound serious, but starts laughing almost immediately after. He’s always been good at taking an awkward moment and shifting it around. Something else you like about him.

“So you’ve gotten full of yourself these past couple of years, huh?” You tease. 

“Oh yeah, got a huge ego now. Having the kids tell me I’m the best coach they’ve ever had has really done a number on me.”

“I can see how that would,” you smile.

Another beat passes. “I’m really glad we ran into each other.”

“Me too. I’m sorry I never reached out, it was just…” You trail off.

“Too painful?” He finishes.

You nod. It’s not the best excuse, but at least he understands. “When I moved here, I didn’t know if you were still around, or if you’d even want to see me if you were. I wouldn’t have even known what to say. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he shrugs. “I understand. I thought about calling a few times, but I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything. But now that you’re back, I’d really like to see you again.”

“I’d like that too.”

You exchange numbers and promises that you’ll call soon. For the first time in two months, you feel lighter, like the sun is finally shining after nothing but gray skies.

[sjsmith56]

A Better Man - Complete

Summary: Bucky Barnes, a shy general contractor who also provides services for criminals, falls in love with the single mother of a baby girl. The father works for one of his rivals, and wants nothing to do with the woman or the baby. Can he be the better man for her?

Length: 10 parts

Characters: Bucky Barnes, named OFC, named OCC, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Winnifred Barnes, May Parker, Natasha Romanoff, Brock Rumlow, various Avengers in minor roles.

Warnings: Childhood trauma, angst, cursing, conflicting emotions, criminal behaviour, violence, no smut.

Author notes: This AU started out as a one shot but I got carried away and it just grew. A bit of a slow burn between Bucky (who is a softie) and OFC. There is some humour in this, as the guys of Barnes Contracting are sometimes dumbasses, but with hearts of gold.

All MCU character names are the property of Marvel / Disney. Original characters and the plot are the property of the author and all rights to those aspects are claimed by her. I DO NOT give permission to copying and pasting of any portion of this story into any other app or platform.

Listing of parts titles after the break. 🛠️ 👷‍♂️ 👩‍🍼

Part 1. Preparation

Part 2. Foundation

Part 3. Structure

Part 4. Connections

Part 5. Warmth

Part 6. Transformation

Part 7. Appearances

Part 8. Attachments

Part 9. Clean Up

Part 10. Walkthrough

Short Fiction Masterlist

Please support the author by reblogging.

[ellestra]

Tribute

I laughed almost non-stop watching Deadpool & Wolverine. The crass and gross and the ridiculous are mixed in with just a bit of clever. And then there's the pure joy of watching to almost indestructible dudes killing each other in violent ways (it's a WB cartoon kind of fun).

But as always it's the layer below the humour that really hits. And in a prefect Deadpool way this one worked both in the movie but also on the meta level. It's the story of a failed superhero that the Avengers didn't want and whose girlfriend left. Here trying to save his world to save his friends. He gets a second chance at being who he always wanted to be but the price is abandoning everyone he came up with. MCU and Sacred Timeline is one person deal. But this is where Multiverse pays off. It means he can keep his friends and timeline. He just has to fight cybernocracy that would rather dismantle it instantly first.

And it's a story of a fallen studio which movies lost the audience and couldn't find the right way to tell it's stories (with extra layer of Disney's Marvel being on precipice of that too now). All it's properties buried and replaced for a new shinier thing. We could move on and only acknowledge the pieces that haven't been tarnished. And yet, this movie looks back at it all, and brings back the discarded ridiculed. Including the ones we never even got. Using Void to discard them and Alioth to eat them into oblivion is such a prefect metaphor you'd think it was invented for this Film. It's a prefect integration of MCU ideas for the plot of this one story.

The whole movie is practically a tribute to the early days of Marvel and superhero movies that created the momentum that MCU then built it's 30 billion empire on. This is what makes each cameo count. It isn't there just for a joke or Easter Egg moment but it ties to the theme of the story, We are revisiting the forgotten heroes, the fallen ones, the ones who never got to be. And if we are lucky the ones who still might be (please, please let us keep Daphne Keen).

It's also a reminder of how long both Jackman and Reynolds have been in this. The first X-Men movie came out 24 years ago. Reynolds was in Blade: Trinity 20 years ago. I don't think it's an accident a lot of those cameos went to the beginnings with Pyro and Electra. And even with the MCU actors reminding us they started in Fox as Evans came back as Johnny Storm. Even Jon Favreau cameo as Happy Hogan was a reminder he was once Foggy Nelson in Daredevil. This was reunion movie in more ways than one.

And the behind the scenes of those movies, the whole history of Fox Marvel films really hit you in the end. Even the failures like the last Fantastic Four. Even to the X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the Deadpool abomination there. This is what got us here. This is for all the fun we had over the years with these characters and superheroes in general. This was the start.

Of course, Deadpool wouldn't be Deadpool if they didn't desecrate and made fun of the very thing they were paying tribute too. Both the initial fight and any reference to Fox made sure of that. Reminding us that even the best parts of the past shouldn't be sacred. You should build new stories and not be afraid to change. There will be new Blade. And a new Johnny Storm. And maybe a new Deadpool and Wolverine one day too (long, long time from now apparently 😋).

And new universes give you new opportunities to meet people. Maybe even find a romance like B-15 and Peter. Or become a villain. I'm not sure how I feel about the Doom Announcement but let's see. This movie reminded us it's just one more "same face - different person" case in this multiverse.

[oimoitalaina]

Comparing two interviews about that Thunderbolts ending

I’ve been having a little think based on the two interviews we’ve gotten regarding the ending of Thunderbolts. More recently, Julia Louis-Dreyfus says that the ending, where the Thunderbolts get named the “New Avengers”, had been planned years ago when she first came on for Falcon and the Winter Soldier. She adds that they always knew that this would be a controversial decision, during which she cites the ending montage of in-universe articles having mixed reactions to the announcement. 

Yet we also got an earlier interview with writer Jake Schreier where he also discusses the ending. He says that he was surprised by the test audience’s reaction, they were hesitant to clap or cheer and seemed more confused by the ending. He admitted to expecting an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response. The audience’s reaction led to the addition of the ending montage. So it was, according to the writer, not an intended part of the movie from the beginning.

So these two statements are clearly not lining up, they can’t both be true. This decision to make these characters the “New Avengers” was either planned to spark controversy years ago, or it was supposed to be a unanimously approved decision that turned out to be controversial so they had to slap on a montage to make it look intentional. I think Julia Louis-Dreyfus is telling the truth about this twist being planned years in advance because, while disappointing, it does follow the pattern of the MCU where they plan big moments years ahead of time. But I think overall the story is closer to Shreier’s depiction: the decision to make this team the “New Avengers” may have been planned far in advance, but everyone involved thought it wouldn’t be a controversial ending. So when it didn’t screen well, they had to scramble and add that montage in order to act like it was their intention all along for people to have a mixed response. And interviews like the one with Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a kind of preemptive damage control where she’s basically lying by saying it was the plan all along.

And I do think that damage control is the right word here. Despite the movie getting overwhelmingly positive reviews, it bombed in theaters. And this isn’t some overlooked indie project, it's a Marvel movie. It tanked at the box office for a reason, and as time goes on I think more people will come to realize that it is because the film is rife with issues. It's not a quality product, and more than that it damages long-standing characters, worldbuilding, and themes that many other writers and directors have put hard work into maintaining. This movie has alienated a good portion of the fanbase who are now having to deal with the most vile, racist harassment in recent memory. 

I think that eventually there will be some in-depth criticism of this movie from a popular YouTube channel or review site. Or once it's out on streaming there will be more online criticisms from people who didn’t bother to watch it in theaters, or from people who had a good first impression in theaters but see the flaws more clearly upon rewatching. And when that happens, this more recent interview can be cited to act like this was what they wanted all along. Disney can go “Oh, well we just wanted to spark a conversation!” or some crap. But the evidence is there, the stories do not align, this was not planned from the start. This was a bad decision that threw people and characters under the bus for a creatively bankrupt idea that did not pay off.

[alpaca-clouds]

Reading through a lot of Superman posts here, and I realize that a lot of people here (especially younger folks) do not know the story of how James Gunn got to be the head of DC-movies. Because... Yeah, I saw people calling him apolitical. And the entire thing is, that... he is anything but.

But also this story is wonderul and I love it, because it shows that sometimes Karma really works.

So, you know probably that James Gunn did the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, right? And like many directors that Marvel Studios hired at the time he was not quite a big director at the time. He had done a couple of bigger projects compared to folks like Taika Waititi or Ryan Coogler, given that Gunn was a writer for Dawn of the Dead and the Scooby Doo live action movies, but he had not directed anything outside of Indie stuff. But at the time the MCU was hiring a lot of indie darlings.

Now, the other thing you need to know: James Gunn is one of the rare instances of a white cis guy, who starts out very edgy and often misogynist, and queerphobic, and then realizes this before there is a scandal, rethinks his ways and publically apologizes. Like, early on he was pretty shitty. But he basically had his change of heart around 2012 and ever since had been pretty progressive in his politics.

So, he did the first two Guardians movies, and the people working with him (actors, staffers and so on) loved working with him. Said he was a good director. BUT also Gunn was one of those people who online would not shut up about his political opinions. Which very much included calling out Donald Trump and other rightwing pundits on their BS.

Which lead to some folks losely connected to the GamerGate movement - and big, big Snyder-verse DC fans - planning an attack. Mind you, them being Snyder fans is kinda ironic because Snyder and Gunn are good friends.

But yeah, they were among the kind of people who loved Trump and Snyder's dark and egdy Superman and for them James Gunn with his lighthearted, positive Superhero takes, his criticism of toxic men, and his criticism especially of Trump and his cronies was everything wrong with Hollywood and modern superhero media.

So, just as ComicCon 2018 was getting started they posted stuff online. Mostly a collection of screenshots from tweet Gunn had made before 2012. Aka, before he realized that toxic masculinity was shitty. These tweet (which he had not delected) included rape jokes, including CSA jokes, and jokes about the Holocaust. Again, all things he had apologized for repeatedly and unpromptedly back in 2012 and 2013.

But because it was SDCC, everyone was talking about it now, and media was all over it, the heads at Disney got cold feet and fired him before the con was over.

Which lead to outrage... from the left. Because most more progressive movie fans knew that Gunn had long apologized for this stuff. And the main actors who had worked with him on GotG 1 and 2 basically said: "We will not do GotG 3 without Gunn, even if it means we have to pay millions to Disney, for breaking our contracts." (Judgement is out on whether or not they would have done it, but they definitely threatened it.)

But the board of Disney was a bunch of cowards so they did not say anything. For months.

And during those months the folks at Warner were looking at it and came to Gunn: "Say, if you could just take any DC property and make a comic book movie out of it. What would it be?" And Gunn went: "I would make a good Suicide Squad movie." And Warner was: "Okay, here you go."

Which lead to Gunn making The Suicide Squad. Which was one of the better performing and especially better rated DCU movies.

By the time the movie got released Disney had seen the errors of their ways and rehired Gunn for GotG 3.

Which then got shot. But while it was in production Warner was realizing that right now their DC stuff was not working and struggled to find an audience. So they decided they needed someone to actually properly lead the project. Ideally someone who loved comics, and who people liked working with...

Which led them to decide on Gunn (together with another guy, who also is a director).

So then... Gunn got to make all the DC movies he wanted. Including those that were full of his political opinions. That by now are very much focused on toxic masculinity and how it harms people, on the issues of marginalized groups, and so on.

To sum it up: Some right wing nutjobs tried to get Gunn removed from GotG 3, partially because they wanted all comic book movies to be dark, gritty, and toxically masculine. And it ended with Gunn getting the control over the DC movies, putting his politics, that those right wing nuts hated, into those as well.

Karma is a bitch and I love her. :D

Also, you know what? I do not like Snyder's movies. But by now i have been convinced that despite the way his movies look, he is actually not a rigth wing nut-job. And actually, I kinda would like to see a movie written by someone more Gunn-aligned but directed by Snyder. Again, those two are good friends. So I could totally see that work.

[insanityclause]

Over the past 13 years, Tom Hiddleston has died more times than he can recall. “Let me think about this,” the actor tells us, pausing to count in his head. “I think, officially, there were two big ones.” 

He’s referring to his many exits from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the blockbuster franchise in which he’s played shape-shifting Norse god Loki Laufeyson since Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 film “Thor”—the son of Asgardians Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and Frigga (Rene Russo), and the half-sibling of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the god of thunder. 

The character has since bounced between villain and reluctant antihero across five films, a handful of post-credits scenes, and Michael Waldron’s Disney+ spinoff series “Loki,” which Hiddleston also executive produces. The show wrapped its second—and supposedly final—season last November. The finale presents an end for the character, but not one of the aforementioned “big ones.” 

Hiddleston’s first “official” farewell came in Alan Taylor’s 2013 sequel “Thor: The Dark World,” which saw the god of mischief take a sword to the chest to save his beefy brother. “As written in the first script, it was a true sacrifice,” Hiddleston says. Unfortunately for Marvel’s long-term plans, the actor had done too good a job playing the trickster.

“When Marvel [executives] were testing the movie, they’d given [viewers] questionnaires that said, ‘Is there anything you didn’t understand?’ ” he remembers. “Literally every single audience member said, ‘Well, obviously, Loki’s not really dead.’ ” 

In classic comic-book fashion, the character did return, gallivanting alongside his brother in Taika Waititi’s 2017 follow-up “Thor: Ragnarok.” He died again one year later (“big one” number two) in the Russo brothers’  “Avengers: Infinity War.” There were no smokescreens or questionnaires this time; audiences watched as Loki’s neck was crushed by the purple fist of intergalactic warlord Thanos (Josh Brolin). 

Hiddleston remembers arriving in Atlanta to shoot his final scene and immediately bumping into Brolin. “He came up to me, gave me this huge hug, and said, ‘I’m so sorry, man.’ ” 

He meant it, too; everyone meant it. The sun, it seemed, had actually set on Hiddleston’s MCU journey. “At the end of that scene, I got a big round of applause, and everybody was so sweet and kind and gracious,” he says. “I got notes and emails saying, ‘Tom, you’ve done so much for us—what a journey. Come and see us anytime.’ I really thought that was the end.” 

And it was, for real, right up until it wasn’t—when the time-traveling shenanigans of 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” blasted a younger version of Loki out of the established canon and into his own series. Over two seasons, the multiversal storyline envisions the title character as a figure who exists outside time and space. Across all there is, was, and may come to pass, there will always be a Loki, in some form, wreaking havoc. 

Hiddleston has long since accepted what this means for him as an actor. Maybe “Loki” Season 2 really was his last time in the role; or maybe he’ll play him until the sun burns out. “I’ve realized that, in human consciousness, that’s who Loki is,” he says. “Loki is this ancient, mythic character, who, in our collective mythology, represents the trickster, the transgressor, the boundary-crosser, the shape-shifter—somebody who’s mercurial and spontaneous and unpredictable who will always confound your expectations and wriggle out from underneath your certainties and convictions. Someone who we need and [who] is necessary.”

Hiddleston pauses, getting emotional. “Maybe Loki escaping death a couple of times is sort of an emblem of who he is in our culture,” he says, grinning at his own gusto. The actor has a habit of being self-deprecating about the depth of the character’s lore. “I spend a lot of time thinking about Loki. You can probably tell.”

You can tell, and it’s incredibly endearing. Talking to Hiddleston about Loki feels like discussing Shakespeare’s Richard III with Laurence Olivier or Tennessee Williams’ Blanche DuBois with Jessica Lange. They were actors who put their definitive stamps on those roles by returning to the well and constantly digging deeper. 

In conversation, Hiddleston is equally as likely to reference comic-book arcs as he is the ancient, anonymous Old Norse scribes of the “Poetic Edda” or Richard Wagner’s epic four-cycle opera “Der Ring des Nibelungen.” He speaks reverently of actors who embodied the trickster god before him, like Jim Carrey in Chuck Russell’s 1994 comedy “The Mask” and Alan Cumming in Lawrence Guterman’s 2005 sequel, “Son of the Mask.” He also heaps praise on those who played the part after him, such as his “Loki” costars Sophia Di Martino, Richard E. Grant, Deobia Oparei, and—in one very surreal Season 1 moment—“some alligator they found somewhere.” He cites legendary Marvel creators Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Walter Simonson alongside the likes of English essayist Walter Pater and Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, who once wrote of life as a “splendid torch” to keep burning for those who follow.

“Loki is ‘a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment,’ ” Hiddleston quotes, “and I want to make it burn as brightly as I can before passing it on to future generations.” 

This level of study started before he even landed the role. He recalls the 24 hours leading up to his “Thor” audition, when he was 28 years old. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2005, he quickly earned small-screen and stage acclaim—but he hadn’t yet achieved a major breakthrough. When he received the script for “Thor,” it felt familiar. “I remember thinking, This is almost Shakespearean, this language,” Hiddleston says. “What’s the best example I can [look to] of an actor who managed to humanize and make real this elevated world of myth?” 

He found the answer in Christopher Reeve, who played the title role in Richard Donner’s 1978 blockbuster “Superman.” “He’s masterful in that film,” Hiddleston says. “In a way, it’s a similar premise: He’s a god or he’s a being from a different realm, and it’s not naturalistic in the way that we might expect. He does it so truthfully, and it’s so clear and clean and open and honest. I thought, If I can even approximate or get close to the kind of clarity that Christopher Reeve had in those films, I’ll be lucky.” 

And then, the morning of his “Thor” audition, Hiddleston went for a run, “which is my habit before doing anything unusual,” he explains. 

Running has remained a constant throughout the actor’s MCU tenure. At any given moment over the last decade, the god of mischief was likely doing laps around Marvel’s go-to shooting location, Pinewood Studios (now Trilith Studios) in Atlanta. “Life is movement; I really believe that,” Hiddleston says. 

“I find when I’m running or walking, the repetitive nature of it relaxes the mind and allows ideas and inspiration to come from a deeper place. I see my work as an actor—especially in preparation for a project or a scene—as almost preparing myself to be open and ready to receive ideas, to receive energy from other actors, to receive energy from my imagination.”

Hiddleston found the technique particularly helpful when he was filming a scene for the “Loki” series premiere that he calls “one of the most thrilling challenges I’ve ever had as an actor.” In it, Loki has been poached from the flow of time itself by the temporality-policing Time Variance Authority and forced to watch what is, essentially, a highlight reel of his entire MCU arc. It’s one of the most deeply existential moments you’ll ever find streaming alongside the likes of “Bluey” and the “Cars” movies. Here is a man watching the sum total of his life—his hopes, his dreams, his failures, his own death—play out in a 30-second clip that ends with the cold, clinical words: “End of file.”

“I just kept imagining: If you were afforded the opportunity or forced to watch your own death as a bystander, it would bring about an existential shock and crisis unlike any other,” Hiddleston explains. “It was a scene where I thought, I don’t have a reference for how to play this. I just have to allow shock, disgust, disgrace, shame, disbelief, acceptance, incredulity, and sorrow to exist in the center of me.” 

As an executive producer on the series, Hiddleston had a say as to which of Loki’s many misdeeds would play in the sequence. He chose clips like Frigga’s death in “Thor: The Dark World” and his father’s final words in “Thor: Ragnarok”—moments Hiddleston knew would most fill the character with regret. As production was preparing to shoot the scene, he asked first assistant director Richard Graves for a 20-minute warning.

 “I decided to jog around the stage and internalize as many of those memories of those people, those characters, those actors [as possible]—to try and find the center of my own vulnerability,” Hiddleston says. “Part of the joy of it was just going back to basics, trying to simplify this very complex thing…. Go for a jog, get into your body, allow yourself to be open, and just be there; just feel it.”

One “Loki”-like time jump later, Hiddleston found himself in a similar situation as he was preparing to shoot his final moment of Season 2—a scene that effectively caps Loki’s 13-year arc. Across 12 episodes, the show guided its title character toward a truly heroic end: With all of existence on the verge of collapse, he steps out of time to tie the strands of every reality together. As the credits roll, Loki sits at the center of time, holding in place all that is—alone. 

It’s a lot for any actor to internalize, especially one who’s performing solo in front of a blue screen. With 45 minutes to cameras rolling, episode co-director Aaron Moorhead made a suggestion. “He said to me, ‘Why don’t you go back, if you can bear it, and watch some of your work [over] the last 15 years?’ ” Hiddleston remembers. “ ‘Take it in, see what it means to you, and then carry it when you step out onto the stage.’ ” 

The actor took Moorhead’s advice to heart. And suddenly, without meaning to, he was mirroring the moment that started the series: absorbing the sum total of Loki’s MCU run. But this time, his regret had been replaced with gratitude. Hiddleston watched clips from “Thor,” remembering a time when he and Hemsworth had yet to ascend to the A-list. He recalled working with powerhouses like Hopkins and Russo, and the bonds he forged with the “original six Avengers” in 2011. He thought about how fun it was to film “Thor: Ragnarok” with Tessa Thompson and Jeff Goldblum, and of the more recent friendships he found with his “Loki” castmates Di Martino and Owen Wilson. 

“I thought, What Loki is doing, he is doing for his friends. And so, Tom, why don’t you do it for your friends?” Hiddleston says. “That’s where the two of us met in that moment. And then I was so grateful I had this most amazing crew, and we did it together.”

The actor is, of course, noncommittal as to whether this is actually the end of his MCU run. The franchise is scheduled out until at least 2027, and Hemsworth has mentioned his desire to make another “Thor” film. And if Loki’s past has proven anything, even the most official endings can be undone. 

Either way, it seems to Hiddleston that something significant has ended, even if it’s just Loki’s full-circle arc. “I hope it feels redemptive because his broken soul is partially healed; and you see that this character, who is capable of love, has made a decision from and for love,” he says. The actor cites the “beautiful prologue” of the first “Thor” film, in which Hopkins’ Odin tells his two sons: “Only one of you can ascend to the throne, but both of you were born to be kings.”

“At the end of Season 2, Loki is sitting on a kind of throne; but it’s not arrived in the shape he expected, and there’s no glory in it,” Hiddleston explains. “There’s a kind of burden, and he’s alone. He’s doing it for his friends, but he has to stay there without them. There’s a poetic melancholy there which I found very moving.”

For now, Hiddleston “can’t even conceive” of his life without Loki. He only hopes that he’s lived up to his guiding ethos as an actor, which he sums up with a plea from E.M. Forster’s 1910 novel “Howards End”: “Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height.”

“The feedback loop for actors is that we get to inhabit a fiction,” Hiddleston says. “But hopefully, that fiction bears the shape of a truth that we recognize about life—that what we do reflects the ups and downs, the peaks and troughs, and the breadth and profundity of all of our lives.”

Hiddleston exists in that space between fiction and reality, the work and the resulting art, the prose and the passion. Long after we’ve moved on from our interview and started casually discussing the cherry blossoms blooming in New York, his eyes light up. He’s made another connection, remembered one more thing—just one last thing he’d like to impart about Loki. 

He spends a lot of time thinking about Loki. You can probably tell.

“I’m so aware that the reason I’ve been able to play him for so long is because of the audience’s curiosity and passion,” Hiddleston says. “I’ve been delighted to find that for a character of such stature, he’s remarkably human. Many of the characteristics that people connect to in Loki are deeply human feelings. That’s been the pleasure, is infusing this elevated character with humanity.”

Even then, honestly, it feels as if Hiddleston, like Loki, could go on forever. Unfortunately, outside of the MCU, time moves in only one direction. Once again, he has to run.

This story originally appeared in the June 6 issue of Backstage Magazine. Subscribe to In the Envelope: The Actor's Podcast to hear our full conversation with Hiddleston (out 6/6). 

[yoghurtsgirl]

If I held that wish baby, I would wish that Russell T Davies never returned to Doctor Who

RTD2 has been a colossal mess. Last season was maybe the worst series the show has ever had, with the only truly good episode being Rogue. After The Empire of Death, I thought I was done with the show. Then I killed time by watching Joy to the World on Boxing Day and I thought I was done with the show. But on my quest to show my girlfriend Doctor Who, I thought hey it might be an idea to do the new stuff just so she knows why I don't like it. And guess what we found?

We both really liked this series. The Robot Revolution was a super fun camp introduction to the season, with Belinda instantly being ten times more of a character than Ruby Bloody Sunday was. Lux was creatively unique and even though I wasn't a huge fan of it, it was a big swing which I really enjoyed it taking. The Well was a surprisingly great base-under-siege sequel to Midnight, something I never thought could happen. Lucky Day touched on really interesting themes and emotional beats even if it didn't stick the landing. The Story and the Engine was absolutely fantastic, pure joy and the most original episode in all of Doctor Who. And then we got the Interstellar Song Contest - an episode with incredible production values but god awful internal politics.

And here we are. Wish World, a story has some real interesting meta commentary of conservative power-structures that suppress people who don't fit in with the patriarchal worldview, how the world the right-wing strive to get back never really existed, and they have to ignore literal holes in their philosophy for their fiction to make sense. The production design is superb and it does look lush, with redressings of sets in super clever ways. On a production design and on a commentary level it is better than last year’s first part of the finale, but it left me feeling nothing. It left me feeling very little hope for The Reality War. I've been let down before by this show, and been let down by you, Russell. Surely you won't do that again.

Well Russell, fool me once shame on me, fool me twice? Fuck you.

The Reality War. What a heap of absolute piss. There's something truly incestous about the show now. This god-damn boys club that's had its claws in the show since the 90's is still here, and it refuses to progress. When the show returned in 2005, Russell was on record saying the kids watching the show in twenty years would be running it, they would be Doctor Who. 20 years later the old bugger is still here. And I have to wonder, was it worth it? Is all this worth it?

The MCU-ification of the show - and all media, let's be honest - is a plague. I don't mind the deal with Disney, I don't mind the lil mid-credit scenes I guess. What I do mind is how the show is being made as content and that's it. It's jangly keys tv. It's not a show, it's not made as a production. It's made out of legal obligation. This show is being made for ten year olds who have been watching the show for forty five years. It's made so broadly and yet so fucking niche it's for nobody. I enjoy lil cameos here and there, I enjoy lil references to silly little lore. What I hate is building entire episodes - nay, seasons - off references to decade old plot points that haven't been referenced since 1983. Oh, speaking of which...

Susan Foreman. Hi Susan. I love Susan. Why were you here? Or specifically, why weren't you here? If I had a nickel for each series of Doctor Who which built up the big return of The Doctor's first companion, only for her to not actually appear, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird it not only happened twice, but in back to back seasons no less. Her cameo in Interstellar Song Contest was nice, but it amounted to nothing. Why was she here? Who was she for? The Fugitive Doctor's cameo in Story and the Engine was nice, but amounted to nothing more than jangly keys. The Thirteenth Doctor's cameo here amounted to nothing because she pops in, and it's lovely to see her again, but her whole cameo only existed for one reason - to give me vindication on how good her era actually was and how no one fucking believed me. We had it so good, man

The Rani - why? She's a character that exists only to be The Master-lite. I do like her, but she's often just a less interesting villain archetype. She's camp, she's silly, but that's kinda about it. I'm glad her grand return happened so we can stop with the "oooh the Rani is coming back" speculation every damn year, but god almighty what was this? Mrs Flood is the epitome of making it up as you go along. There's no arc, there's no actual thinking things through. Go back and watch her first appearances in Season One - she's clearly not The Rani. She just exists to be a buzzword so people can make lore videos about. "Ooh, are you not excited this character who hasn't appeared since The Doctor was Scottish five times ago is coming back??"

No. Because I care about writing. I care about plotting. I care about this show. Well, fuck me. Because if I had a nickel for each time a season finale brought back a legacy character who aspired to be a God, reduced his character to just being another boring God, with a CGI body of a dog, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird it's happened twice... two seasons in a row. Why is Omega here and why is he like this? He got Sutekh'd. Holy fuck. How was this allowed to happen.

Why is there no story? Why is it all fluff and waffle. And when there is a story, about the Doctor having a daughter and how if they fix the world she disappears from time, why does it not matter? They pretend it does, but it not only is obviously a reshoot but it clearly lacks all the emotional weight of times long gone. You cannot tell me RTD2 was made to be accessible for new fans, and at the same time mention Looms in the same sentence. Because Looms are canon now. LOOMS. FUCKING LOOMS. The most insane and worst part of 90's Who Lore. Hey, remember that time the Time Lords got cursed by a witch and made them sterile? No? Well that's canon now. Oh, and bi-generation was explained as something Time Lords can do to reproduce, and not actually a one off magical event based on a Time Lord myth. WHAT THE FUCK REASONING IS THAT FOR THAT ALREADY AWFUL IDEA???? The Doctor having children was such a huge part of the show in RTD1, and how he lost them (in the Time War or not) was super impactful. But now he's retconned his own era - the Doctor never had kids because he's sterile but Susan... exists...?

Susan is a real weird part of the show because she existed pre-all this lore about The Doctor and the Time Lords and regeneration came about. He left her on an alien world to live a life of her own, and said he would come back for her. He never did. His granddaughter. But because of all the new lore over the years, her place in the show was left super unclear. Was she a Time Lord? Could she regenerate? Would she age like a human or a Gallifreyan? Well fuck you, because now she's not even the Doctor's grandkid. I don't want those answers to be explored really, because exploring too much of the Doctor's past could be damaging, and damning in Susan's case. But the answer is now no, she's not even his grandkid, is fucking insane to me.

And look, nostalgia is a dangerous thing. Nostalgia is a really powerful tool but it's remembering a past that never truly existed, it's the memories of past events that should stay that. And it's always good to remember. But that same boys club running the show for the past 20+ years refuse to let go of nostalgia. Because Ncuti is gone. And Billie Piper is the next Doctor Who

I fucking mean this, that is the single choice that has forever broken the show. Hey, Doctor Who is Rose Tyler now. Rose Tyler, his ex, who he last saw hundreds and thousands of years ago and six regenerations ago. We've had five Doctor Who's since David Tennant (first) left the TARDIS. And Rose has not been relevant in the show since 2009. Why are we still doing this? Beyond the optics of regenerating into his ex, beyond the nostalgia-baiting, I have to ask. Does anyone even care about Rose Tyler like this anymore? I have no hope for the future of the show, because it refuses to let go of the past.

And poor Ncuti. I feel so bad for him. He was so hard-done by. Two seasons of poor scripts, awful plotting, negative character arc. He came in with nat-20 charisma and I love him for that, and in this season he got to pull back the layers a little more and have him be a more complex character. All for it to come undone here. The best Doctor who deserved better; he's joined that pantheon alongside Colin Baker, Paul McGann, Peter Capaldi, and Jo Martin. The only Dalek appearance in his era was a reused clip from Day of the Daleks (which, by the way, was a clip from the special edition that featured new Dalek voices by Nicholas Briggs, which means the original serial isn't canon but the special edition is? Oh my god, Russell T Davies is the George Lucas of Doctor Who...) The only Cyberman appearance in his era was in a comic strip. No, we're not doing old baddies unless we're turning them into big dogs. No, we have whole new baddies and monsters! Like... a Nazi, a victim of a genocide who is villainised to the extent the Doctor joins the cause to kill him, and a monster made of snot. WOW, SO INCREDIBLE THERE

There is no sauce here. Nothing special. The directing and blocking in this episode was truly awful. The lighting flat as a pancake. Insane uses of characters. Anita from that god awful Christmas special stands there as a doorstop and says nothing for the entire episode. They throw the main companion into a literal fucking box for half the episode and she does nothing. Rose, Donna's transgender daughter is also here. And again, she does nothing (at least this time she did more than only look at a bloody iPad though). Like,,, wow, go girlies!! Give us NOTHING!!! 

Also it's insane that the optics of the story where a fascist creates an alt-timeline where the men go to work and the women stay at homes to look after the babies, only for the resolution of the story to have the main female character stay in the sci-fi cube. Now that's what I call feminism. Reducing a female character to just being a mother. Belinda wanted to get home all this time because she was an independent woman who had a life of her own to lead, with zero set up of her wanting to start a family. She even hated the idea of being Mrs, of being seen as incomplete if she didn’t adhere to a family unit. But no, the Doctor commits suicide to change time and make her a single mother and rewrite her entire life. What the fuck. Also insane that Anita is a pregnant woman, yet her whole function in saving the day is to stay standing for uncomfortably long. It’s not like pregnant women need major physical support or anything. Fuck off. The gender politics of this episode Jesus fucking Christ. 

It’s truly fucked up. Why did no one stop this? Poppy getting erased from time, The Doctor awkwardly giving up his life to save his and Belinda's daughter, only for her to come back and re-write Belinda's entire timestream so she was a single mother. Because in this story, women are just for breeding or something?? Wtf is that about. It's insane that the Doctor died like this even. On paper I love the Doctor giving up his life to save one person. That's so so good and something that has been done before, and even in this era the idea of one person being missing is so heartbreaking and the Doctor would do anything to remedy that. But the emotional and thematic beat of the Doctor finally having a biological child (which is a heap of piss but let's go along with it for a moment) is completely gone because no, he doesn't have a kid. Poppy doesn’t matter because her life got completely rewritten too. We don’t even meet her dad. Fuck you.

This has been a whole ramble of a review, and I have so so many more thoughts on it. This is entirely unstructured, but I'm disappointed. My girlfriend Jane is disappointed. She's a pathological enjoyer of media, she's somebody who will find the good in anything and love it for that (is that why she's dating me, chat?) and she hated it. I hated it. And you should hate this too.

If 1980's Doctor Who was not worth saving, this shit isn't either. I said the same last year, and I'll say it again. I hope Disney pulls out. Doctor Who deserves better than Bad Wolf and Russell T Davies.

Sack Russell T Davies, sack Jane Tranter, sack Phil Collinson, sack Julie Gardner, sack Murray Gold. And then I'll come back to the show...

[scratchpad-sagas]

Thoughts on Thunderbolts*!

On opening weekend, my mom and I went to go see the Thunderbolts* at our local theater. This post will start with a short-ish, spoiler-free review, followed by me gushing about the gory details under the cut! Don't worry though, there <will> be more warnings before the juicy deets.

TL;DR? Thunderbolts* was awesome!! 10/10, definitely recommend!!

I'm gonna make a statement, and I think I can speak for the both of us when I say this: among all the additions to the MCU after Endgame, Thunderbolts* is one of the first movies to really bring back that classic Marvel vibe. It's a nigh-perfect antithesis to all the reasons we stopped going to see Marvel movies in theaters in the first place!

While mom and I typically agree that our standards for the MCU are looser than most, recently, we've felt their projects have been lacking that extra something special. However, the genuine chemistry and organic writing in Thunderbolts* was a breath of fresh air, where previous films stumbled with strained, off-putting scripts. Ant-Man: Quantumania and Thor: Love and Thunder were both filled with flashy, distracting imagery, while Thunderbolts* proves there's more to good comic adaptations than eye-catching CGI and mindless action sequences. When the Doctor Strange sequel came out, I was shocked by how shallow it all seemed! The stomach-turning fights, jaw-dropping, multilayer cameos leading to nowhere, odd narrative twists and poor handling of the characters involved all added up to a tasteless letdown. On the other hand, Thunderbolts* introduces and evolves its stakes smoothly, wielding dialogue and easter eggs as subtly as necessary. Every character got to shine the way they deserved to, except for one, and that is our only critique of the movie (that will be discussed below the cut, in spoiler territory).

The aforementioned flaws with the more recent Marvel films have kept us disappointed in what used to be a greatly anticipated pastime for us. Actually, Thor: Love and Thunder was the last one we decided to see in theaters, choosing instead to watch future films as they released on Disney+. However, with how pleasantly surprised we were with the quality of Thunderbolts*, mom and I are quite excited for the future of the MCU! Let's just this isn't a Spider-Man: No Way Home — a one-off masterpiece amid a series of awkward disasters~🍻

Side note! "Homework" is often a point of discussion among moviegoers in the Marvel field, and Thunderbolts* reminded me of two things I haven't seen yet. I've not watched either the new Captain America film, nor the Falcon and the Winter Soldier series on Disney+. Given that, from my uninformed perspective, I think Thunderbolts* does fantastic to catch the audience up on goings-on from outside the movie. John Walker - aka U.S. Agent - was a character I was totally unfamiliar with, yet I got the gist of him quickly, and I'm very curious to learn more!

<<(👁👁SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT!!! READ ON IF YOU DARE!!!👁👁)>>

On a much less analytical note...

Holy crap, Thunderbolts* was great! Mom and I loved it, and now every time she mentions "Bob", she has to say it in her best imitation of Yelena's accent.

The first time OxCorp was brought up, I totally thought Valentina was saying "OsCorp", and I almost lost my mind. Then the X was enunciated and I breathed a sigh of relief...

Throughout the entire first portion of the movie, all I wanted to do was just... talk to Yelena. Let her lean on me, give her a hug, something! Marvel did SO well depicting her struggle, and while there may not have been a clear cut solution for her, Yelena did end up in a much better place than she started, and that's all I could ask for.

I think I have to agree. The Thunderbolts* aren't quite the same as the Suicide Squad, but I'm not the right person to put their differences into words...

Anyway!

I'm not often a fan of the 1st act of most movies, but the OxCorp compound of secrets became a new favorite of mine! The <whole> thing! When Taskmaster entered the scene, I realized there was something else going on besides what Valentina had tasked Yelena with... then Bob arrived and that cemented the fact that Val was trying to off her special agents. Ugh. People in power, sheesh.

Gotta say, I liked Bob right off the bat! He seemed nice enough, and obviously he must have been relatively important... he was <introduced in the OxCorp compound of secrets>! Clearly, he was a very curious case, and he only got more interesting as time went on. It didn't take long for me to realize that HE was the Void (the only apparent "enemy" from the trailers [again, non-comics reader here]), but that only left me with more questions! Was he just playing them all with a long con? Did something need to be said or done to "activate" him? Is Bob just some poor host body for a cosmic entity? Like a demon possession?

Side tangent: how did NO ONE, between ALL of the Thunderbolts, put that together? Okay, sure, at first y'all might assume he's another enemy or an intruder or something, but once the tension comes down...? Guys, c'mon! He's some random dude who clearly has no ass-kickery skills, wearing a hospital gown, who has no idea how he got there! He says he "woke up" there! In the place that you all figure out is the dump where Valentina's secrets go to die! Really? Did none of them figure that out?

Idk, I feel like something else could have been done there, but I get it. More pressing issues were at hand.

Then!! Ohmygosh, then Bob's powers started affecting the group!! Was it him? Could he control it? Was he being possessed and unable to stop what was going on? What's his deal?! Should I have sympathy? Should we be concerned?

At the time, there was no way to really know, but ohymygosh if all those closeups on Bob's face didn't give me chills!!! All throughout the movie, the shots of Bob alone, of his eyes catching stray glare and lighting up his pupils... those were my favorite shots from the film! Like... half of the shots with him in it were these foreboding, haunting frames and it just worked so well!

Then, as the group escaped the incinerator room and made their way out of the compound, when Bob's powers started affecting them, THAT'S when I knew he was a lot more powerful than he was letting on (intentionally or otherwise). When Bob <physically> showed up in Yelena's first nightmare-vision-thing, all bets were off; If I've learned anything from all my years of watching movies, it's that if something new shows up in your dreams, it's either causing them, or it's powerful enough to influence them. In Bob's case, it was kinda both.

John Walker's vision, oddly enough, was probably my favorite of all the nightmare realms. The scene with him looking down the elevator shaft, having his nightmare, then snapping out of it within seconds of having almost stepped over the edge... that whole thing was awesome. That scene has a masterful subtlety to it! I haven't yet watched The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but my mom has. She tells me that John Walker first appeared in that show, and Thunderbolts* has made me IMMENSELY intrigued in his character. Yeah, I got the gist, he's a knockoff Captain America that just didn't take off as well as Steve did... what was left out leaves a lot to the imagination though! He must have gotten some sort of super serum, 'cause I don't think a normal person could protect civilians from falling skyscraper debris like he did... he certainly has plenty of military experience. Or maybe he doesn't. I don't imagine he's making THAT bit up, though.

Oh man, and then the group escapes the OxCorp compound, flees through Val's armed forces, then Bob goes back to keep them off of Yelena and co's tail and more of his powers are revealed!! Even more questions!! Man, I'd love to talk this out with a fellow moviegoer. Is he like Superman, where he's ALWAYS bulletproof and super strong? Or is he more like Bruce Banner and the Hulk, where those powers activate like a safety mechanism, or on the occasion when he can summon them at will?

Speaking of the Hulk, idk about y'all, but I'm seeing major Bruce/Nat parallels with Bob and Yelena. I always had a soft spot for Nat and Bruce. They deserved more than what they ultimately received. I hope Bob and Yelena get more screentime than they did. Legit, I don't care whether it's purely friendship, or it goes to romance, or what have you, but we need more Bob content <stat>! Bob and Yelena. Yelena and co. They're a good bunch. Found family for the win!

Also! Speaking of Bob and Yelena! I don't think Bob <really> gets how major it is for Yelena to have told him he can't trust her. If I recall correctly, that moment wasn't played off very seriously in the grand scheme of things, but it's still a meaningful gesture. It's an <honest> gesture, coming from a skilled Black Widow assassin, which, among other things, means she not only has the capacity to play dirty, but to do anything necessary to complete her objective. That includes lying, or omitting certain truths from the equation. Of course, there's no way Bob could have known any of that. In fact, I'm sure the reason he trusted Valentina so quickly was because she straight up said "you can trust me", as opposed to Yelena, who did the opposite.

There's something to be said about the amount of layers here, especially given Bob's background. It's actually incredibly relatable. Something about neurodivergency combined with a volatile, unhealthy home life making for a warped outlook on social circumstances. You assume things that aren't, fail to pick up on certain cues, and miss when people with major red flags enter your circle...

Ohh!! One last major thing mom and I both noticed... the Marvel logo intro!!

So, for context, early on, Marvel's logo intro was more of a flipbook style clip of a bunch of different comics pages layering over the Marvel name. Literally, you could HEAR the pages flipping! Nowadays, the intro starts with a few seconds of comic page flips, then it quickly transitions into artsy, glamorous visuals of the MCU all holographically projected through the letters. My mom is a huge fan of the original intro clip, because comics!! That's where Marvel got it's start! Personally, I'm a fan of both. Both logos reflect different stages of the company (although I do admit I'm partial to the original comic flip myself)!

When Thunderbolts* started playing, we noticed that the comic flip portion at the beginning actually lasted much longer than it usually does! Discounting the other change made to the Marvel logo for this movie, we're speculating that the logo might be permanently changed to a comic-only style, which is awesome! But we can't be sure, since we didn't see Captain America: Brave New World, and for Thunderbolts*, there was also the fade-to-black, symbolizing the Void, so it wasn't the usual. Still, it's very exciting!

I think that's all of my major points... actually! Loved everything about Thunderbolts*, except for what happened with Taskmaster. Initially, in the Black Widow movie, I hated Taskmaster like any other villain, but when the twist about her got revealed, I found a new sense of appreciation for her. Killing off Antonia that fast with so little consequence was just a disservice to her character! Thankfully, according to one of the head writers working on the movie, that wasn't always supposed to be the case. I'd have rather her not be in the movie at all, but apparently, that change was a decision from on high, after that writer's work was done.

**P.S., did anyone else catch Yelena's "poser" moment at the very end of the film? When she breaks free of the debris to go be with Bob, she does some crazy parkour around the crap that the Void flings in her way. She leaps over a crevasse in the ground and bam! It's a blink-and-you-miss-it poser shot. She gets back on the move pretty fast, but I noticed, and it was awesome!

***P.S., I'm a little surprised it took Yelena (or any of the Thunderbolts, really) that long to get to that realization and go help Bob. Then again, having an audience's perspective does change things. Maybe for them, it was less obvious that just beating the ever living crap out of the Void wasn't enough to truly "defeat" it...

May 27th, 2025

[bookshelfdreams]

ofmd wasn't "profitable" enough but I didn't even get the feeling hbo wanted to make money off of it. They didn't promote it when s1 dropped, and the promo for s2 was erratic at best. They don't sell merch. Or physical copies. There's no bts documentaries other than what actors (shoutout to Samba ilu) make themselves in their spare time.

It took more than a full year for me to be able to watch s1 legally! I still can't access s2 legally anywhere! It's not that ofmd is unprofitable, it's that hbo refuses to profit off of it, because - well, because profiting off of it would mean investing work and money into it.

And like. Of course, when you compare it to the juggernauts hbo holds rights to, like GoT, ofmd is small fishes. But.

How on earth do these clowns think cult classics happen?

A Game of Thrones was first published in 1996 and didn't make it on the NYT beststeller list until 2011. The first edition of the first Harry Potter book was 500 pieces. And yeah, TV shows are different, but if you look at today's media landscape, would things like Star Trek, or Buffy, or Doctor Who stand the slightest chance? These things take time, is my point. A piece of media doesn't become a massively profitable, beloved classic over night. It takes time and effort to build that kind of franchise.

And the thing is! Nobody who makes these decisions even likes stories. I'm convinced that whoever is in charge at hbo, at amazon prime, even at disney, thinks storytelling is dumb and for idiots. They think it's enough to just slap the name of something people love on whatever garbage they spit out, for it to be profitable. They think it's the brand that sells: Look this has "Lord of the Rings" on it! Look, this one has "Game of Thrones", you like Game of Thrones don't you? Watch my show, boy.

But this isn't how this works. It's not the name that sells (unless, I suppose, you're the MCU, and even there one gets the impression the trick is finally stopping to work), especially not when the product is bad. People aren't idiots.

But it's not about making something good. It's not about making a meaningful piece of art, or telling an engaging story. ofmd served its purpose; it drew in all the subscribers it ever would, so there's no point in letting it go on. Even in the s2 that we did get, this is evident: the penny pinching is palpable, it's clear that the studio didn't want to spend any more money than absolutely necessary on it, and then cut the budget by 40%.

It's not about art. It never has been.

And it's not even about profit, because to be profitable eventually, stories have to be allowed to thrive first. You tell a good story first, and success happens later, often much, much later.

And ofmd was incredibly, astonishingly successful. It was the most in-demand series for weeks after the s1 finale. But even that wasn't enough, it's never enough, ofmd could have made record-setting profits and it still would have been cancelled, because -

Well, I don't know. Because we live in a bad time for art. Because Orwell was right, and stories have become commodities, like shoelaces. Because. Well. It's not about telling a story, is it?

What's the point of a story? What's the point of making something for the joy of making it? What's the point of a piece of art, existing, if it cannot be transferred into numbers for the stockholders?

idk how to end this. I hope David Jenkins finishes the story he wanted to tell, even if just for himself. I hope, against all odds, that weird, fun, heartfelt, beautiful little stories like ofmd continue to happen.

But goddammit.

[luthordamnvers]

I still think I need to watch the entire show again, but I'm gonna try and collect some very scattered thoughts because the ~discourse is appalling, tbh.

Idk who needs to hear this, but every single marvel project has been about the widening of the marvel cinematic universe. And it's fucking insane, that people are reducing this show as "just a way to get Wiccan" when it was so much more, especially for a show that wasn't even supposed to exist. It was a show spearheaded by a showrunner who initially pitched it because she loved Agatha, and Kathryn's portrayal of Agatha. One that happens to be a woman, btw (one that happens to had been at the forefront of both Captain Marvel [Uncredited] and been responsible for the first past of Black Widow [Story by, credits]).

Don't get me wrong, the MCU certainly has misogynistic undertones, the fact that we had to wait to have a woman led movie, or a movie director, as long as we did is a travesty. That without even going into the intersectionality that we are still missing in the wider MCU. And one that's inherent in the comic book world, if we are being honest. But guess what, THIS is the type of show that changes that narrative.

The fact that wandavision is still regarded the best Marvel-Disney+ show. So good that got an spin off focused on "a nanny". Show that delivered on a show being about her, and yet not the entire story, with outstanding narrative, direction and storytelling. And some swats of fandom are diminishing it left and right. The dudebros because it was about a woman, about a middle-aged woman, about a queer middle-aged woman. And others in the fandom because it wasn't as queer as they wanted, or focused on what they wanted.

And let's be honest, I'm amazed the show was as unapologetically and canonically queer as it was. Thanks to the efforts of Jac, Kathryn and the team behind it.

Agatha is based on a character that's been around for 50 years, and has being nothing but a nanny/governess for superpowered kids because she happens to be a witch, until relatively recently. Even when we had had part of her back story for decades, she was never that important, and she isn't even evil. Dare I say, she hasn't been that relevant until her run with the Scarlet Witch, and Kathryn Hanh's interpretation of her.

Agatha All Along, is not only an spin off of Wandavision, but also part 2 of the whole story. OF COURSE, Billy would be a very important part of her story, something that was touched upon in WV, but was also part of her (and I'm using this word very loosely) redemption arc.

She shared a kinship with Billy in WV, because he was magick. She wanted to understand how he worked, because she knew what Wanda did, and she wanted Wanda's powers. The fact that she could identify Billy immediately, even when she hoped it was Nicky, was important, but people were to busy whining about Billy having an episode. One episode that was also relevant to the ending of the show. And the full arc of the saga's mythology.

Is the show perfect? Not at all. Did I enjoy the heck out of it and can appreciate what it actually did? Absolutely yes. Can I appreciate how GOOD it was at storytelling? Hell yes.

It was a show absolutely centered in women. Good women, bad women, women of color, old women, younger women. The one man was a queer, three-year old in the body of a 16 year old. And mind you, this character has been making queer history, since his very recent creation (2005). This show is unapologetically queer, we had a huge ass Trans flag that said Protect trans kid in huge black letters being very prominent in the shots. It's HUGE, and not even by marvel/disney standards. The show had nothing to do with coming out, or acceptance, or people dealing with phobia. It was about queer people existing and being queer. Hell, you could make a case that they were saying "being a witch" is an allegory of being queer.

Every single member of the coven could be queer. They hinted at it with Jen, at the very least.

Let's talk about the rest of the coven. Who for me were the absolute highlight of the show.

Alice, generational trauma, the protection witch. The most tragic to me. She saw her curse, as a lie. As something her mother made to neglect her. And yet she couldn't keep a job, she resented her mother, and she had to be reminded of her every moment because her mom was a famous Rockstar. She goes to the road, she comes to terms with her mom's love for her, how her mom's version of the ballad was a protection spell, as much as Alice hated it, and she manages to defeat her curse. She protects her coven. Only to immediately die. Her dialogue with Death was devastating:

Alice: That's it? That's all the... That's all the time I get? Death: If I had a nickel... Alice: This can't be the end. It has to be the beginning. I finally broke the curse. I mean, I can really do something with my life now. Death: You're a Protection Witch. Alice: Yeah. Death: You died protecting someone. You ready? Alice: No.

Heart wrenching, unjust, and beautiful.

Lilia, who was plagued by the gift/curse of seeing her and others destiny. Ignoring it for over half her life, staying stagnant, because she was reeling from the fact that she saw the death of her family, her entire coven, she told them and it changed nothing. She was chased out of villages because she could see the tragedies coming. Who refused to be with a coven, love a coven because the heartbreak of losing her first was too much. Who decided that cheap tricks, was better than seeing the tragedies coming, and refused her gifts. She hated the appropriation of her culture, but when the time came, she accepted it, and moved on. She goes to the road, and finds her coven. "I needed you, my coven." And she died, going back to the start, because she'd rather relieve it all again, the good, the bad and the ugly, that keep neglenting herself. "I loved being a witch".

That without going into the absolute masterpiece that was episode 7. Pulling a non-linear story, as solidly as they did, is certainly not easy. And they did it, beautifully.

Jennifer, who was magick-bound for over a century, to the point that she doubted her knowledge and herself. And yet she made a name for herself, she was a successful entrepreneur (she cheated a little, but you know capitalism is the true villain here). A black woman who was outstanding at her craft, healing and being a midwife, to the point that she became an inconvenience to the fragile, egomaniacal, white men in the medical field. Where they sought out a way to stop her indefinitely. And yet she kept going, and survived. Even at the end of the road. She looked at the person who bound her, and said: "I deny your power over me. You hold nothing." And she unbounded herself, and got out. Not because of Billy or even Agatha but in spite of her. Jennifer survived, just like she has been doing for however many centuries, and she flew towards the sunset. Because 'She's the path ahead'. The growth she had, from being selfish the first few episodes, because that's how she survived, to screaming for Lilia when she decided to stay behind. Jennifer clawed her way out of the road, the bound. And she deserved it.

As for Billy... he's so much like her mother. He accidentally created the road, because he's equally, if not more, unaware of his powers as Wanda. Wanda at least thought she got powers from Hydra's experimentation. Billy isn't even supposed to exist. Billy who was "10 years old" but, realistically like 2 weeks old. Who got thrown into the body of this guy, who he doesn't know, and who doesn't even knows himself, because he doesn't remembers, with powers he doesn't quite understands and then he starts piercing moments of his life together, because he feels this massive hole in his being. And finds his answers on Agatha. He truly believes the road is real, that can take him to someone who while not have the answers, might feel the same way as him. Who was his other half, he doesn't remembers it, but he feels it.

His magick, is like Wanda's, Chaos magick, it manifests without his real knowledge or intention, but by his feelings. He created the road, with all the knowledge he thought he had, the road follows the rules Agatha and Nicky created when they made the ballad. Even if he doesn't know it.

Is the show about Billy? Not necessarily. Billy is important to Agatha, because Billy is Agatha's son now. Not by blood, not even by magic, but by choice. As much as she denies it, her "calculated risk", had something to do in the way she saw Billy, and how she wanted to protect him, in a way she couldn't protect Nicky.

And finally, Agatha. Agatha who built a reputation of killing all her covens. Starting with her mother's. Because her mother sentenced her to death, because she was born evil. And she took that and ran with it. She connived, and betrayed, but she survived, something she's extremely proud of. Do I wish we had seen more of her past? 100%. I wanted to know how she got the Darkhold, how she actually met Rio, how they fell in love. Does not really knowing diminish her storyline? Not at all. Because what we got was really nuanced, and it's going down the hill with people focusing only in the romantic relationship aspect. If anything, I think this is being reductive of Agatha, not Billy. The fact that she needs the love interest for people to focus on her, regardless if that love interest is a man or a woman.

But even then, what did people think it would happen? Agatha Harkness had a romantic relationship with Death itself. It was never going to be a romance, it was always a tragedy. Death who took her son away, Death who gave her time with her son, but never specify how much time. Who then followed her around, torturing her with its presence, and we know Agatha is resentful and can hold a grudge.

Death who kindly stopped for her.

Rio knew Agatha would always resent her, even when she gave Nicky more time, because at the end of the day, she would always had to take him away. As much as it was a kindness to let him be born, to take him while he and Agatha were asleep. She had to take him anyways, and Agatha would never forgive her.

Agatha letting the witchfolk think that she exchanged her son for the Darkhold, or made a deal with Mephisto, and saying it was because "the truth was much worse" had nothing to do with *our* perception of worse. But hers. A powerful witch who couldn't save her son, a woman who couldn't keep her son alive. A witch who let her lover take her son away. Using her son to lure more witches. Then using the song, that her son lovingly created for themselves, to lure even more witches to their doom, just for her to be more powerful and keep living (and potentially still looking relatively young). A song that was special to them, corrupted, because she wanted more power and killing witches, something she knew Nicky didn't like. Witchfolk thinking Agatha got the Darkhold trading her son, was better than what she thought of herself.

She saw Nicky in Billy, how he didn't like killing witches (as accidentally as Billy did), how he mourned, how he somehow still believed in Agatha, even with his barbs at her.

She sacrificed herself, not necessarily because of Billy. But because of Nicky, her boy she couldn't save. And yet here is another boy she loved, not the same but very similarly, one she could save.

Billy didn't manipulate her, (and even if he were to, Agatha would probably be proud of him for that) he's been consistent in wanting to understand Agatha. He's curious. Hell, he didn't even need to come back for Agatha, he had gotten out (wherever out was for him) but he came back, because he cared about Agatha. And if some people can't see that, because he happens to be a he... well, no matter what had happened in the show, those people wouldn't see it any other way.

Agatha becoming a ghost, and immediately seeking Billy, because she loves him, and she likes the way he sees her, not good or innocent, but knowledgeable, and with the potential to do good. And she sees Nicky in him, and his potential too.

There is so much more analysis, and I might share more thoughts later, but for now, this is it. I still wanted more, Agatha's story with the Darkhold, the Salem seven, more of the coven, yet not necessarily for the show or the episodes to be longer, but I would love to see if they expand on this, on another spinoff.

[castielsprostate]

VENOM 3 SPOILERS AHEAD!!! and veryyyy unorganized thoughts below the cuttt!!!

first of all. OH MY GOD. genuinely this was a beautifully executed storyline, with the most bitter, heartwrenching ending. tom hardy when i fucking GET YOU!!!!!!!!!!

okay. im in actual, real life tears over this movie. venom saved eddie's life within, what? 3 days of knowing him? a week tops? and venom brought eddie back from the fucking dead!!!!!!! DESPITE KNOWING!!!!!!!!! WHAT WOULD HAPPEN!!!!!! despite knowing he would trigger the codex, venom still saved eddie's fucking life! which is especially interesting considering the symbiote in mulligan, which i am assuming was in him for a WHILE, left him to die (fair!) at the end of the second movie! venom saved eddie's life. without a second thought.

also this definitely was a love story between eddie and venom. they literally had their break up arc in the second movie(!) and this tied a beautiful, bitter end to their very tragic story. venom saying, to eddie, what martin said. "until we meet again", genuine tears in my eyes. it showed venom's humanity, everything he learned, from eddie and others. to me, personally, venom is still with eddie. they're living symbiotically, with eddie on one side of the door and venom on the other. nierka(??? i totally butchered that lmao). eddie saying i will never forget you buddy while looking at lady liberty. GOD. eddie isn't alone anymore! eddie won't EVER be alone!!!!!!!!!! despite what everyone told him!!!!!!!!! eddie has venom, maybe not physically right now, but he still has a part of him!!!!!!!! they're both free. they're both. GAH.

also there still is a bit of venom left. in a tiny test tube, at the bottom of area 55. don't think i forgot about that!!!!! he's still there, they never showed us that it actually got destroyed. and EYE believe that venom found eddie, after they blew up. and it somehow, in some marvel magic sparkles way reset the codex. they still have each other, until the end!!!!! TILL DEATH DO THEY PART!!!!!!!!!!!!!

genuinely, the writers cared. tom hardy cared!!!!!!! i don't know how many people he had to keep under gunshot to get this, but he gave us a beautiful trilogy about love and friendship and humanity and finding each other. the queerness of it all, the found family (except the chickens. how DARE eddie give the chickens away. for that alone he should've died).

eddie saying he was born with it [the weird arms] also just. god it added another layer didn't it? also what actually happened to that guy. like. he got his bar destroyed, and then he got fucking tazed lmao??? what did they do to him????? also the WAY that in the "sacred timeline" the bartender looked all cleaned up and put together despite the fucking snap 💀💀💀💀 and how the bar was nicer. the disney filter!!!!!!!!!

that also left a very veryyy clear way for them to bring eddie!venom back but in the MCU, because they didn't show the TVA resetting the timeline! venom saying eddie would've made a great father. well. you had carnage and i think it's best you don't try again huh.

i missed anne, but i think that her not being there was. good? it was good. she and eddie truly loved each other as friends and whilst i hoped they'd at least have a phone call or a singular scene together, i do get why they didn't! she moved on with her life, and it was time for eddie to move on with his. her telling venom to keep him safe at the end of the second movie. and he did! he gave his own life for eddie's, he kept his promise. i just. GOD. venom keeping eddie alive as the symbiotehunters kept coming and coming and coming. keeping eddie from looking back, and healing him one. last. time. HE DIDN'T EVEN NEED TO SAY I LOVE YOU!!!!! EDDIE JUST KNEW!!!!!!! EDDIE!!!!!! KNEW!!!!!!!!!!!

eddie saying "but i need him". it had me bawling. BAWLING. but i need him. oh eddie. EDDIE. 😭😭😭😭😭 anne said he was too afraid of commitment and yet. AND YET. he was willing to DIE for an alien!!!!!! and to then say he needs him. god.

was the movie a bit retconn-y? maybe. did they use this as a segway for more movies with different characters? absolutely lmao. was it an ad for crocs? yes that too. but i think that this was a good end. they won't drag it out, they won't destroy a good comic for more money (for now). the song choices were also OUTSTANDING. the symbiotes coming together to save eddie and venom, because they knew!!!!! THEY KNEW!!!!!!!! eddie nor venom sparing a second look at sexy ladies!!!!!!!!!!! the dancing with mrs chen!!!!!!!! GAH

to me, right now, eddie and venom are sitting on a beach, toes in the sand, finally sipping the bloody mary that venom didn't get to drink at the beginning with miss chen on one side, anne and dan enjoying the ocean, and agent mulligan on the other side. alive, happy, together. and the bartender. he's there too. for funsies.