#Fitz is a confrontational and direct character.

[ahoyimlosingmymind]

sophie is an unreliable narrator, but not intentionally. She's just so insecure that it affects her communication with all of the other characters and her perception of reality.

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[spectrum-color]

The fun thing about spending way too much time thinking about RotE over the past several months is that I can think of so many what ifs that would have changed the series. For better, for worse, or just for different varies, but there were a lot of things that could have gone in another direction in the Fitz books alone. Some I would find interesting:

Chivalry chooses to stay on as heir and let the scandal blow over (this would go very differently based on if he did or did not acknowledge Fitz)

Burrich was not beaten as a child for having the Wit, so he has a more balanced view of the Old Blood and tries to help Fitz handle it

The Piebald Prince was never overthrown in a coup so the “beast magic” taboo doesn’t exist

Verity takes Regals assassination of Kettrickens brother and attempt on his own life much more seriously (tbh it is insane that this was swept under the rug in canon)

Fitz never knocks up Molly (this has implications for him, Molly, and Burrich)

The Skill coteries attacks on Shrewd are discovered before they kill him

Desire dies before she can get Chivalry killed, and he outlived Regal. (Would he want to meet Fitz? More up in the air, would Fitz want to meet him after 15 years of knowing he existed but keeping his distance?)

Fitz remembers Chades lessons and does not take Rosemarys presence for granted, only speaking to Kettricken about their plans when he can verify that they’re alone or with the Fool or only communicating it in Kettrickens native language

Fitz makes the connection sooner about exactly what kind of interest the Fool has in him (crying and saying “when I remember how beautiful you were” and KISSING HIM ON THE MOUTH just goes right over his head)

Fitz doesn’t give his memories of Molly, his birth mother, and the dungeons to Girl on a Dragon, allowing him to process them in a more healthy way and not spending 17 years partially Forged

When Fitz and Nighteyes are traveling the world, they end up in Bingtown at the same time as Amber and join up with Team Paragon

The Six Duchies has a more neutral attitude toward homosexuality (before anyone thinks that’s just boring wish fulfillment, I think Fitzs deep rooted attachment issues are at the real root of his difficulty accepting the Fools love and are a much more interesting character trait than his internalized homophobia)

During the infamous confrontation over the Fools feelings, the two of them are not sick. Alternatively, they have been drinking

When the Fool tells Fitz to leave it and they can just keep going like they always have, Fitz agrees (tbh I think if he didn’t have a Skill hangover he would have given how he prefers to pretend sensitive topics don’t exist)

The Fool chooses not to tell Fitz about his impending death because he fears it will break the fragile peace between them

Fitz undoes Burrichs Skill block and is able to save him (still mad about this; HUGE implications and potential for drama with Fitz, Burrich, the Fool, Molly, and Nettle)

The Fool refuses Prilkops offer to return to Clerres due to his trauma and goes back to Buckkeep instead

The Fool refuses Prilkops offer to return to Clerres and asks Fitz to go to the Rain Wilds with him to continue to track the progress of the dragons

The Fool lets Fitz go with him and Prilkop to Clerres and Fitz becomes the Destroyer as well as the Unexpected Son

Fitz gets the Fools message on Winterfest and goes on a rescue mission, bringing him back in time for Bee to come into the picture

The Fool makes his way to Withywoods before the incident at the market

Lant actually is killed during the attack on Withywoods (how does Chade respond to this?)

Bee kills Vindeliar at the same time as Dwalia, meaning that Fitz is never injected with the Traitors Death

The Fool figures out how to use his Silvered fingers to free Fitz from the pillar. Though this is really only noticeably different if his worm infestation is discovered and destroyed early on by a Skill healing (I am especially curious how Bee would react to the Fools attempts to teach her if Fitz was still alive)

[fandomele]

On top of what I've read, which I completely agree with, I want to add an opinion from the point of view of someone who pretty much only cared about characters' relationship and development in any direction, and who only cared about general plots in terms of how characters were affected:

I feel that having this second SHIELD and, most importantly, having it ATTACK the base (after kidnapping Hunter, who had significant moments with nearly all members of the original team excluding Jemma who, to be fair, was excluded from most bonding moments) should have lead to some long-term in-fighting between everyone else vs Bobbi and Mack (or possibly everyone vs Bobbi, Mack, and whoever sympathized with Bobbi and Mack)

and this is considering that Mack was already there at the beginning of s2, while Jemma was gone for around six months (take this with a grain of salt, I can't find any source to back me up right now so I'm going by memory, could have been four months), but didn't know Jemma so he came in after that, and other SHIELD attacked what, a month or two after the beginning of the season? While Bobbi had been there for that month or two? And maybe it's less? So Bobbi in particular didn't exactly have time to become best friends with anyone considering everything else that was happening.

That said, they literally joined to gather intel, make friends (even if we know it was real friendship, the people living in it don't) and then their SHIELD attacked to seize control LESS THAN ONE YEAR since Hydra did that, to a base full of people who are likely traumatized and cannot handle with grace new betrayals and battling old friends in their own base a second time.

Daisy is someone who may not be vindictive but holds you accountable and will snap at you and call you out if you do something like this, and even if she was busy with her own storyline she should have been a lot more aggressive towards Bobbi and Mack, especially since she almost got shot by their people. Instead with the time-jump at the beginning of s3 we find her being literally bffs with both of them. Honestly I think she should have gotten way closer to Hunter and THEN Hunter could have helped her patch things up with Mack first (since he was there months before Bobbi) and THEN gotten closer to Bobbi too. I could also have seen her call out anyone who forgave them too quickly because she's the one who got into a world of unnecessary trouble because of their doing.

Jemma, the most vindictive person on the show (a super interesting trait if you ask me, which disappeared into her 'be a girlfriend' plot) should have been passive-aggressive for at least a year, ESPECIALLY against Mack, the person who basically took Fitz's side without ever speaking to her and confronted her soon after she came back from being undercover in hydra for months, and she should have used the fact that he was potentially using Fitz, was a liar and a traitor, and whatever else was true from her point of view to finally defend herself AND distrust him and Bobbi for a very long time. Tell me you can't imagine Jemma Simmons making little annoying comments about them every time they give her the chance. Maybe THAT could have also led her to defend himself with FItz and finally resolve their fight ONSCREEN, telling him why she left and all that, instead of leaving it unspoken. Season 3 should have had her still completely cold to both of them (also because she spoke to them like... four times, she was completely isolated, barely knew them) and eventually befriend Bobbi a bit more later

unclear if Fitz should have been as bitter, because he was even forgiving and in disbelief when Ward betrayed him and his first instinct seems to want to believe that people have good intentions and Mack and Bobbi are still fighting bad guys, but he IS traumatized by Ward? But also Mack sorta saved him from an explosion? But the explosion was caused by people from Mack's side who could have easily killed him with it without a second thought? Fitz could have become less of a 'I'll immediately be the new best friend of every new character that appears' and more of a 'I am starting to be more distrusting as a general rule' or the opposite 'I am choosing to be trusting but know that it's a choice made after plenty betrayals', and he shouldn't have been as close to either of them in s3. The plot did lead him to be closer to Coulson and Hunter, so I at least appreciate that in terms of relationship-development, and he made up with Jemma because it was important to put everything aside and escape, so that's good too, but in season 6, from their fight, we find out he still doesn't really know why she left, which was terribly important for his character development, so yeah, definitely not good enough.

All three of them and May were put in the position of believing they were attacked by Hydra (remember when she confronted Bobbi about it?) so they should also be pissed about the fact that they were put in the position of killing SHIELD agents they knew and finding out they weren't there with bad intentions only after the fact

How much they didn't have bad intentions is technically up for discussion, because they did break into the base with explosions and gas, so they could take over. More in fighting also from agents who will NOT take orders from the new group should have been there, and not just because loyal to Coulson but because they don't want to just take orders from whoever seizes power, blindly, like in some weird dictatorship

I guess I can see Hunter and Coulson's reaction as acceptable, Hunter and Bobbi's relationship is super messed up and leads him to be the kind of guy who will forgive Mack only to spite her, and then forgive her really quick when she almost dies for him, and Coulson has several side-plans and doesn't need to be too mad at people who weren't in his team to begin with.

But still, it could have opened a lot more plots about who should trust whom, how to re-earn trust when you make such a bad impression, or hell, bitter plots about 'wow these guys literally betrayed us and you forgave them so easily but when *I* do something you don't like I need to beg on my knees?' which is a situation Daisy and Jemma in particular can complain about, and even have one of those situations in which Mack/Bobbi bond for real with one of them while arguing over this and saving each other's lives. Something to make the return of their friendship earned.

note: I really like Bobbi, the severity of the reactions being especially directed at her is simply because she was there for a VERY LITTLE time, and if my two-months coworker who started working when we were super busy and we barely saw each other betrays me she may never be my friend or have to grovel compared to the 6-ish months coworker who shared a lot with me before the busy time.

hey if you're a shield fan and you see this please reblog or comment with your thoughts on the whole SHIELD, the real SHIELD plotline. cause I think it's super interesting but also misses on the execution in places. plus I know it's a topic of contention in the fan base or all least was in the spaces I used to be active in.

[jamiemackenziefraser]

All That Was Fair

Chapter 11: Busted on All Fronts

(Here’s the original mood board I made but decided to revise. And since I’m here talking but don’t usually put notes for my tumblr readers, I just wanted to say thank you all so so much for your continued support of the story!! It means a lot. Love to you all!)

Chapter Summary: Jamie receives an unwelcome surprise, then an accident sparks new discoveries.

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Read chapter 11 below the cut

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Chapter 11: Busted on All Fronts

***

When they arrived home that night, Jamie thought it likely that he’d end up carrying her inside again. He came around to her side, opened the door, and then gently shook her shoulder. She woke just enough to get out of the car, but the second Claire was on her feet, she was leaning into Jamie and twining her arms around his neck.  

He wrapped his own arms, in turn, around her waist (just to steady her), and pulled her closer with forbidden longing tugging at his heart. 

“Jamie?” she murmured. 

“What is it, a nighean?” 

She was quiet for a long second. 

“Oh… nothing.” 

That unsettled him a bit; he wanted desperately to know what her sleepy confession might have been, but he wouldn’t press her. 

“Want me to take ye up tae bed, lass?” he asked, his heart skipping a beat as he made the suggestion. It was a completely innocent offer to carry her inside, but his mind couldn’t help drifting to the implications…

“That would be nice,” she mumbled against his chest. 

So, not one to refuse his Sassenach any request, he lifted her off her feet and carried her inside. 

Jamie was a stubborn man. He liked to think that meant he adhered to his principles, but Jenny always said it was just that he was hard-heided. Whichever it was, he insisted on putting her in the guest room— despite the evidence to hand that she wouldn’t be inclined to stay there. 

He deposited her gently into bed, watching as she sleepily settled in. She was well and truly conked out, the sweet lass, and Jamie thought she just might be too tired to wake herself up and climb into bed with him. Perhaps tonight would be the night she finally managed to stay in her own room?

And that thought disappointed Jamie more than he cared to admit. 

Flicking off the light and leaving her to her bed, Jamie headed toward his own room. He stopped dead in his tracks when a thought suddenly occurred to him. 

Real life. He’d forgotten nearly everything that day— caught up with Claire as he was. He hadn’t eaten since that morning, nor had he thought about work, which was expecting him the next day. 

But there was no way he’d be leaving Claire tomorrow, no way in hell, so he whipped out his phone. 

This time— not wanting to deal with Ian’s incessant questions (which surely would have only grown with the added day)— he simply shot him a text. 

<<Sorry, brother, I need another day. I trust you can take care of things. Thank you for understanding.>>

That taken care of, he headed downstairs. First order of business: the pile of clothes and things were still in the car (his hands had been a little full of a certain faerie when he’d come in the house), and he groaned before heading outside. He scooped up the heap and then went straight back in, dropping everything carelessly on one chair in the living room. The little book at the very bottom of the pile lay forgotten. 

Next, Jamie headed for some food. 

Adso sat on his lap as he ate at the table, probably feeling a bit neglected. He made sure to give him plenty of attention with indulgent one-handed scritches. Guilt was starting to tug at him as he thought about the responsibilities he’d been shirking ever since he’d stumbled across Claire. The lass made him lose his damn mind when he was around her, and he hoped someday he’d actually get it back and be able to attend to his responsibilities again. The company would do fine without him for a few days, but they did need him. Eventually he’d have to break free of this bubble he was living in and return to his obligations. 

He didn’t want to think about that, though. It was too painful to imagine explaining to Claire that he was leaving her for the day— her big, sad eyes as he walked out the door, leaving her upset and alone in the unfamiliar house… 

Jamie actually shook his head in an attempt to dislodge the disconcerting thoughts. 

*

Once he was properly showered and prepared for bed, he tossed his phone on the dresser face down and collapsed onto the mattress. It was only 10 pm, but he felt as worn out as if he’d been up for three consecutive days. 

Sure enough, only minutes after Jamie settled into bed, Claire came padding into his room, rubbing at bleary eyes. She was like clockwork, his faerie. 

He made no protestations this time. His earlier disappointment at the thought of her no longer wishing to share his bed deliciously ebbed away as she came toward him. Simply opening his arms for her, he rumbled, “come ‘ere, lass,” and Claire laid down beside him, resting her head on his chest and melting against him. 

“Goodnight,” he whispered into her hair. 

But she was already asleep again, breathing evenly, chest rising and falling against his side. 

Jamie followed her shortly, ensconced in the warm contentment of having her, once again, wrapped in his arms. 

Where she belonged. 

*

Jamie woke abruptly the next morning to the incessant ring of his doorbell. Whoever was at the door must have lost their bloody mind, because the ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong was obnoxiously unceasing. 

“Ifrinn,” he cursed under his breath as he shot out of bed. 

Claire, startled into wakefulness by his body leaving hers, jolted upright and looked wildly around the room as if expecting attack. 

“Stay here,” he told her as he darted from the room. 

Stumbling down the stairs, trying to run his fingers through his sleep-mussed hair and blinking away the remnants of unconsciousness, he made his way to the front door. 

“I’m coming, haud yer wheesht!” he called in frustration. 

The ringing stopped just as he reached the door. When he flung it open, he was greeted with the sight of his sister Jenny standing on his porch, her arms crossed and eyes glaring daggers, and Ian lingering just behind her. 

“What the devil are ye doin h—” he started, but Jenny interrupted him. 

“What the devil am I doin? What the devil are ye doin!” 

She shouldered her way past him, barging inside without a shred of social decorum. Her dander was clearly up. Jamie stood rooted in his spot, staring straight ahead, and Ian simply gave him a shrug. Then, his brother-in-law followed his wife inside, and Jamie was left to trail after them into his own house. 

“I dinna recall invitin’ ye in, Janet,” he grumbled as he shut the door behind them. 

Jenny was in no mood. “Four days and no’ a single word from ye? I’ve texted ye countless times, called ye even more, and ye dinna have the decency to let me know ye’re alive!” Her voice was raised in confrontation, and as she laid into him, her face grew redder with the heat of the upcoming battle. 

Jamie tried to maintain his cool in the face of this tirade.

“I told Ian I needed some days off,” he said patiently, “besides. I am no’ a child, Janet. I dinna have tae tell ye where I am at all times.”

Ian chose that moment to jump in, which was probably good timing, because Jenny looked close to exploding at his response. “Where have ye been, Jamie?” 

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Here. At home. Believe it or no’, sometimes people just need a break.”. 

“Oh, is that so?” Jenny hissed, “Then why is Mrs. Fitz callin’ me up to inform me ye were shagging a lassie in her dressin’ room?” 

Jamie threw his hands up in agitation. “Christ! I wasna doin’ anythin’!” 

“But ye were wi’ a lassie?” Jenny demanded. 

“Aye, but—” 

“Christ, Jamie! Is she the reason ye disappeared?” Her roaring tone had fallen into one that was more exasperated and accusatory. 

Jamie didn’t have an answer for her, mind grappling with how best to proceed— he clearly couldn’t tell her the truth about Claire, no way in hell she’d believe him. Jenny took his silence as a confirmation though, and her eyes blazed. He gave her a shrug. 

This insolence was apparently the last straw for Jenny as she threw her hand up to stop him from speaking and averted her face in disgust. 

“Who is she?” she asked in an even, low voice— one that indicated she would not tolerate anything but a straight answer. 

“Jenny, she’s no one,” he said firmly, trying to infuse his voice with enough sincerity that his sister would take his word, “listen. She’s nothin’ but a fling. Somethin’ tae pass the time. I was feelin’ burnt out from work and… I jes’ needed tae blow off a bit of steam, is all.” 

The whole time he was speaking, Jenny had been deflating. Her shoulders lowered from their confrontational set and the fire in her eyes was dying down. Ian, on the other hand, stood there with wide eyes, his jaw fallen open. 

“Jamie,” Ian said, “I have never kent ye tae ‘have a fling,’ as ye say.”

“Well maybe ye dinna ken me as well as ye think,” was the first thing that came to Jamie’s mind to say. “Now, if ye’re quite finished interrogatin’ me about my love life and sticking yer neb where it doesnae belong, will ye please leave me tae have my day off in peace?” 

He thought they were both so taken aback that they just might leave without a fight. His suspicions were proved correct when Ian, face tinted with the heat of shame, took Jenny’s arm and started steering her toward the door. 

“Goodbye, Janet,” Jamie said pointedly as they stepped outside. 

“Goodbye,” his sister said numbly as Ian pushed her in the direction of their car. 

Resisting the urge to slam the door in her nosy face, Jamie closed and locked it. He still fumed from Jenny’s confrontation. The audacity. For her to barge into his house demanding answers, defaming his character…

He was just rounding the corner of the hall to head upstairs when he was stopped dead in his tracks by the sight of Claire, hand braced against the wall, eyes wet and shining with tears. 

She looked up at him when he froze in front of her, and the expression on her face nearly ended him. Heartbreak, betrayal, sorrow— all glittered in those bonny whisky eyes. 

“‘No one?’” she whispered, repeating his earlier words. 

A tear escaped the corner of her eye and trailed slowly down the side of her face. The sight of it was like an arrow to the chest, and his heart leapt to his throat. The precursor to full blown panic. 

For her part, Claire was completely motionless, save the slight heaving of her chest as she tried to keep herself in check.

Jamie reached out for her instinctively, but she shied away from his touch with a sharp step back, and his hand froze midair. 

Oh God, never before had she done that. 

“No,” he breathed, all the air punched out of him, “no, Claire, I didna mean that.” 

“That was your sister, wasn’t it? She asked, her voice tiny but accusatory. More tears were leaking from her brimming eyes now, and Jamie was torn apart with longing to take her into his arms. “You told your sister I was nothing to you?” 

She was angry, Jamie could tell. But it was the kind of anger that was a poor façade covering barely restrained hurt. Although she was standing firm in herself, her voice— and even her demeanor— seemed tiny. It was as if she was angry at him while at the same time wanting desperately for him to fix things.

“But it wasna true, mo chridhe,” he forced out, agonized to see the effect his words had on her, “I jes’ had tae tell her somethin’ t’ get her tae stop askin’ about you.” 

“Because you’re ashamed of me?” 

The breathy question rocked him to his core. 

“No,” he shook his head forcefully, “no, mo nighean donn—” 

“I can’t blame you,” she interrupted, and then her words came faster, “I just fell out of the sky and into your lap and ruined everything for you. Of course you don’t want to tell your family about the poor lost faerie you took pity on and—” 

“‘Ruined everything’?” he repeated numbly, shaking his head again as his brain wrestled with that particular phrase. 

“That is why they were here? You haven’t been seeing them? Or going to… what is it called?” 

“Work,” he answered automatically, “but listen to me—” 

She swiped a hand frustratedly over her face to clear the falling tears. She wasn’t listening to him, and Jamie desperately reached out and took her hand. 

Claire tried to jerk it away, but he held fast. His fingers were insistent but gentle on her soft skin. Every part of him entreated her to just hear the truth and to know the depth of his heart for her. 

“Listen to me, Sorcha,” he said firmly, “you havna ‘ruined’ anything. These past few days wi’ you… they’ve been the best days I’ve had in a long time. Maybe in my life. And I’m not ashamed of you. It’s jes’ that they dinna even believe in the fair folk, so it would be too much for them if I told the truth now. So I lied. Do ye hear me, Claire? I lied to them to stop their questions.” 

She was still, looking up at him with wide, red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained cheeks. She looked desperate to believe him, but was warring inside herself. 

It shattered him to see what the overheard words— his words, ones he’d chosen to say— had done to her. 

He had to make it right. He would. He couldn’t lose her over this. 

“I’m so sorry, mo chridhe. Ye were never meant tae hear that, because it was not true. Ye mean so much tae me. And with time, I promise I will tell my family the truth. Please, Sassenach, believe me.” 

The next few seconds when Claire remained motionless were the longest of Jamie’s life. His heart raced in his chest and the still silence weighed heavy on his bones. 

Finally… finally… she gave a wordless nod. 

Jamie let out the breath he’d been holding. He wanted desperately to reach out and smooth away the sad crease between her brows, to wipe away the tears and hurt and pain from her face. There were so many things he longed to do, but for the moment, he had to be content with having only her hand in his and her acceptance of his apology. 

Claire had finally managed to form words, and looked up at him with her face set. 

“I believe you,” she said quietly. 

That broke all his resolve. 

He bridged the distance between them and took her into his arms, hugging her tightly. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered into her hair, “I’m so sorry.” 

So near he had come to the world dropping out beneath his feet. So close to driving her away with a careless misunderstanding... 

But Jamie’s shattered heart was miraculously healed the moment Claire’s arms wrapped around him in return. 

Forgiveness. 

A sob almost burst from his chest, but he managed to restrain it. Instead, he simply embraced her more tightly, pouring out unspoken promises into the touch. 

I won’t hurt you like this again. I won’t betray your trust. I promise I’ll tell them with time. 

And as she squeezed him tighter in return, he knew she accepted them. 

*

A short while later, Jamie found himself in the kitchen chopping vegetables for his lunch. Claire had asked him if she could take a shower, likely needing a moment to herself, so he’d taken her to the bathroom and turned it on for her before reluctantly leaving her to collect herself. His thoughts were spinning with regret and guilt, but every time he began to berate himself, he grounded his turmoil with the knowledge of her forgiveness. 

He’d heard the shower turn off minutes ago and hoped Claire would be coming to find him soon, but he wouldn’t push her. She needed to come to him. If not, he’d let her have her space. 

All of a sudden, the tip of the knife blade he was wielding sliced into his finger, having missed the edge of the tomato and glided straight into the skin of his forefinger.  

He cursed as pain zinged through him and he dropped the knife. The blood was already beginning to well up, dripping onto the cutting board, and he quickly grabbed the dish towel and wrapped it around the wounded digit. It was nothing too serious, but still hurt like the devil. 

Jamie was cursing under his breath when a voice came from the doorway. “Jamie?” 

He whirled around to see Claire, standing across the room, her eyes wide with concern. 

“Are you alright?” she anxiously asked. 

The faerie had caught sight of the blood on the cutting board and all of a sudden was rushing toward him. Jamie didn’t even have time to tell her not to worry. She just took his wrapped hands in hers— with equal parts desperation and gentleness— and demanded, “what happened?” 

“Dinna fash, it’s no’ but a wee scratch. The bleeding will stop in a minute,” he assured her. 

She was studying his face with concern, eyes darting to the bloody cutting board and then back up to him. 

“Let me see,” she said firmly, leaving no room for argument. 

He hadn’t even given his consent before she started to unwrap the towel. With the loss of pressure, more blood came welling up from the cut. Heedless of the bleeding, though, Claire dropped the towel to the floor and wrapped one hand around his fingers, placing the other on top. 

Jamie would have attributed what happened next to a blood loss hallucination if it wasn’t for the fact that he hadn’t actually lost all that much blood. 

A glow of soft yellow light shone from between Claire’s cupped hands, and then a warm, tingling sensation began in Jamie’s finger. As the light from her palms grew brighter, the pain started to ebb, little by little. Jamie could hardly wrap his head around it, and simply stared down at their hands with wide, disbelieving eyes. After only another second, even the residual sting was gone. The glowing light died away and Claire removed her hands, revealing his finger— completely unblemished, with not a single hint of damaged skin. 

Jamie’s mouth gaped open as he looked at her in astonishment. 

“Ye…” his wits were gone and he had trouble forming the words, “Did ye—? Ye can… heal?” 

 Claire gave an offhanded shrug. “All it takes is a little concentration and energy,” she stated, as if it were the most casual thing in the world. 

Jamie was still dumbfounded. “I— eh… wow! Thank ye, lass,” he finally managed. 

He was so blown away by her that his brain didn’t comprehend when she took his hand in hers and began gently rubbing it. There was no trace of injury left, but she still seemed troubled, and was stroking his hand comfortingly. Her thumb traced several times over the spot where the cut had been. 

His slightly addled brain found her distress over him incredibly endearing. When she stooped down to grab the towel and began to gently wipe away the residual blood, Jamie simply stood still and allowed her to care for him. 

Once she was finished cleaning off his skin, she looked up at him with a startlingly fierce expression on her face. 

“You need to be more careful,” she said, “you had me worried.” 

Jamie couldn’t help but smile. “Really, it was nothin’, lass. Besides, I have you tae patch me up now, it seems.” 

Claire was not smiling. Her face was set in concern, brows furrowed as she gazed up at him. 

“I won’t lose you,” she said softly. 

“Oh, mo nighean donn, ye wilna lose me.” He squeezed her hand reassuringly, demonstrating its capability, “I’ll be careful. I promise.” 

***

Next

[abefitzkaplan]

↳ INTRODUCING ABRAHAM FITZGERALD KAPLAN

abe kaplan has walked on set. they’re a 24 year-old gaffer who’s been working at helter studios for six months. they’re confrontational, you say? i’d like to think they’re more diligent. either way, catch them watching get out (2017)

BASICS

full name: abraham fitzgerald kaplan nicknames: abe, fitz, fitzy birthday: may 13th, 1997 age: twenty-four astrological sign: taurus☼, aries☽, aquarius↑ orientation: heterosexual education: film production degree from vancouver film school  strengths: reliable, loyal, hard working, passionate, independent, trustworthy weaknesses: distant, hard-headed, unpredictable, standoffish, impatient, superiority complex

CHARACTER INSPO

kyle scheible (lady bird) jughead (riverdale) andrew largeman (the garden state) + more to come

TLDR BIOGRAPHY

abe, also known as fitz or fitzy, has always been a lover of movies. he got his degree in film production at vancouver film school and found his niche in the lighting department as a best boy and eventually, a gaffer. abe is a walking stereotype of a guy on a film crew: a bit pretentious, grumpy and short fused. he doesn’t always have the patience to deal with egotistical directors or high maintenance talent, but he’s good at what he does, so people keep him around. 

FULL BIOGRAPHY

abraham fitzgerald kaplan is a first-generation canadian. his parents emigrated from turkey after they got married and ultimately settled in vancouver, where abe and his siblings were born and raised. his parents assimilated to western culture quickly and because of this, abe and his siblings don’t feel strongly connected to where they’re from. abe is the middle child (older sister, younger brother) and the only one who has pursued a career in the entertainment industry. 

he was never the center of attention at home. his sister was the golden child and his younger brother the problem child, so abe was just...abe. he lived somewhere in the middle. he got good grades and got into college, but he never went above and beyond really. on the flip side, he didn’t get into any high stakes trouble, but a detention here and there was never out of the question. 

as a teenager, abe didn’t have a lot of friends. he was a bit of an angry kid as he moved through puberty, but once he mellowed out, he found comfort in solace. he spent most of his time outside of school disappearing into the world of film and books. it was because of this that he decided to pursue a career in entertainment. abe didn’t necessarily think he had anything to say in terms of writing his own scripts or directing his own movies, so he found his niche in the lighting department of film sets as a best boy at first and then eventually, a gaffer.

abe is a creature of habit at is core and he doesn’t want to rock the boat for himself or others. sometimes the big personalities he has to deal with on sets really ruffle his feathers and cause him to lose his temper, but at the end of the day, he’s a good worker and gets the job done on set. 

outside of work, he lives a very normal life that is entirely removed from the glitzy world he works in. he goes to the movies, goes to bars with his close group of friends, has dinner at his parents’ house every sunday, etc. he’s a simple guy who finds pleasure in the simple things.  

before landing a stable gig at helter studios, abe’s freelanced in various crew positions all over the greater vancouver area. it was pretty doable given how often american productions shot in canada.

being a gaffer at helter studios has its pros and cons. pros? it’s consistent, the pay is good, and he digs the content (and the budgets). cons? long hours, insufferable actors, and egotistical directors. so far, abe has been ale to keep his temper in check and coast...but one wrong encounter with a difficult personality and he might be toast.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

the ally at work: this is someone that, when things get heated on set, abe can find comfort in. they bitch and talk shit about the narcissists they have to deal with on the daily and can always count on each other at work. / open + more to come!

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #394

Top Ten West Wing Episodes

So today, as you read this, is the twentieth anniversary of The West Wing, which remains probably my favourite TV show of all time. The combination of supreme technique – the craft and artistry on display in the writing, acting, direction, set design, music – and beautiful, aspirational, uplifting message is what keeps me coming back again and again. It’s the individual moments that make it soar: moments of friendship and camaraderie, of brilliant people making angst-filled decisions against a background of high-stakes international politicking. It imagines a world of flawed people trying to do good for the good of others; an idealised vision of what our elected officials should be. Obviously that idealism runs so strong as to sometimes be a fault; and given that, at its height, it constituted eighty-odd episodes written almost entirely by the same white man, it occasionally suffers from a myopic worldview. But, really, what Aaron Sorkin accomplished here is simply phenomenal; it had never really happened before and I seriously can’t see it happening again. To write almost every episode of a US network TV show for four years is astounding to the point of insanity. That he hit such heights with such regularity – seriously, there is barely a dud episode in the first four seasons – is myth-making in its ridiculousness. Not to diminish the team of writers and researchers he worked with, or the input of people like Thomas Schlamme or John Wells, but Sorkin’s achievement here is probably one of the greatest writing feats of the modern age.

Anyway. I love The West Wing. I love its soaring optimism. I love its wonkish politics. I love its beautifully-shot characters saying elaborate, witty things, very fast, whilst walking around labyrinthine sets. But it comes back to those moments I mentioned before. Scenes, speeches, one-liners; moments that linger long after the credits have rolled. And these moments, generally speaking, are what make whole episodes bounce around my memory. As such, this list – of my favourite episodes – is really a list of episodes in which those moments are either super-transcendent, or in which many moments coalesce to create something truly magical.

And “magical” is the right word, because The West Wing is so good – so, so good – that if I’m picking the cream from the top it is damn fine cream. The very best. As far as I’m concerned, you’d struggle to find any TV as good as what’s on this list.

So, happy birthday, The West Wing. Happy birthday Josh, Toby, Leo, CJ, Donna, Charlie, Sam, and Will. Happy birthday Zoe, Fitz, Ainsley, Mrs. Landingham, Debbie Fidderer, Oliver Babbish, Amy Gardner, Nancy McNally, Vice President Hoynes, and Dr. Abigail Bartlet. And, yes, while we’re at it, happy birthday Santos, Vinnick, Bingo Bob, and Kate Harper. And, of course, happy birthday Mr. President. Let Bartlet be Bartlet.

Game on, boyfriend.

Two Cathedrals (season 2, episode 22, 2001): Bartlet flashbacks, the ghost of Mrs. Landingham, “God, Jed, I don’t even want to know ya”, the speech in Latin, the cigarette, “You get Hoynes”, and the scene in the rain. Never has a journey of one man to church and back felt as epic.

17 People (2.18, 2001): Toby figures things out, the confrontation with the President, but most of all “if you were in an accident I wouldn’t stop for red lights”.

Shibboleth (2.8, 2000): partly the talk of “shibboleths” and the tragic story of the immigrants, but really it’s just the knife. He gave him the knife, people!

Posse Comitatus (3.21, 2002): the tragedy of Simon Donovan played out against the backdrop of The War of the Roses, plus added Josh/Amy angst, the Shareef affair, and – let’s be honest, the golden moment – “Crime, boy, I don’t know”. Out. Standing.

Noel (2.10, 2000): Christmas episodes in West Wing land are often special, and this is perhaps the specialest. Josh is unravelling, suffering from PTSD, culminating with Leo’s beautiful “There’s a guy in a hole” speech. Sad and uplifting.

Twenty Hours in America (4.1/2, 2002): I’m cheating here by including both parts of the two-parter, but the comedy of the Josh/Toby/Donna road trip, Sam staffing the President, interesting discussions of policy and politics, all culminating in the terrorist bombing and “ran into the fire”. Masterfully played by all.

In Excelsis Deo (1.10, 1999): the first Christmas ep and a beautiful, sad insight into Toby’s character. I don’t remember any specific quotes but really the scene that breaks my heart is when the homeless guy insists on giving Toby his cab fare back so he can get home. Really, just a Richard Schiff masterclass. What an actor.

Hartsfield’s Landing (3.14, 2002): a great showcase for Martin Sheen’s acting and Aaron Sorkin’s writing as Bartlet plays a high-stakes international game of chess with the Chinese whilst also playing two actual games of chess with Toby and Sam. Bartlet says he’d vote for Sam! It’s lovely.

In the Shadow of Two Gunmen (2.1/2, 2000): another cheating two-parter, we see Josh bleeding out, the President’s MS complications really begin, there’s the drama of who did the shooting, but most of all it’s the flashbacks. Lots of cute stuff (CJ falls in a pool!) but it’s Bartlet’s touching moment with Josh at the airport that really lingers.

The Long Goodbye (4.13, 2003): an utterly different West Wing experience, as CJ gets out of the office and goes home to deal with her Alzheimer’s-afflicted father. Melancholy and very powerful with great performances (and not written by Sorkin, oddly enough!)

There we are. No room for Bartlet’s debate. No room for We Killed Yamamoto. No room for “Let Bartlet be Bartlet”. And, oddly enough, no room for anything post-Sorkin. I think there are some classics there – Freedonia springs to mind, as does The Debate – but despite the best efforts of all involved there’s definitely a spark that goes out when Sorkin leaves, and it becomes a slightly different show. But it’s still great!

What’s next?

[marvelsagentsofshieldtv]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Clark Gregg Talks Life After Coulson

INTERVIEW Michael Ahr (DEN OF GEEK)

Clark Gregg has been playing Agent Philip J. Coulson for a decade now: five years in various Avengers movies and Marvel One Shots and five years in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. But throughout season 6 on ABC, we’ve come to enjoy Gregg’s performance depicting a new, less scrupulous character named Sarge, whose role has evolved from that of an outright antagonist to an adversary with a common enemy. We spoke to Gregg recently about how he made the transition to his new character on the show.

DEN OF GEEK: So was it difficult to let go of Phil Coulson?

CLARK GREGG: We learned on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D some time ago that everything’s on the table at all times as our nimble writers scour these characters and the greater Marvel universe for going on seven seasons worth of stories to tell. Yet I don’t think I was prepared to basically shed everything but the guy’s skin to play a very different, much darker character whose name is apparently Sarge.

it wasn’t until I got there that day and started to get fitted for the gear that would set up the flaming skull transition that I said, ‘You know, it occurs to me there are implications to the mortality of anyone who plays Ghost Rider.’ And they were like, ‘Yes, there are.’ And I said, ‘Oh, okay, maybe we should talk about that!’ And they really didn’t, and I’m glad they didn’t.

But I was talking to Jeff Bell and Jed Whedon off behind some flats while they got ready to light the scene. They really didn’t give me much because there was this scene where Gabe Luna’s Robbie Reyes character is saying, ‘Do you understand the deal you just made? And more importantly, does your team?’ And I say, ‘Yes, I understand the deal I just made, and I’d appreciate it if you’d let me share this information when I choose.’ And it just felt heavy, and I thought, ‘God, okay, this is going to have longer reaching implications,’ and it wasn’t until the disease that was tearing through him, the waste and the necropathy, that they really said, ‘Yeah, this is your deal with Ghost Rider coming due.’ He basically burned through whatever was left of the revivifying Tahiti stuff.

And now Phil Coulson was really going to die. And I thought that was a bold choice! They don’t mess around; they take bold choices. It was a little startling after, at that point, ten years of playing the guy and having died already once and the grim stuff I went through in season 1 and realizing how I’d been brought back. And yet Phil Coulson’s always been a little uncomfortable with having felt like he was on somebody else’s library card being here. So it was an ambivalent feeling, and then they said, ‘We will have you back for season 6.’ And then they pitched this Sarge setup essentially in a very rough pencil-sketch form, that he would be somebody else from somewhere else who was as surprised as they were when they were recognizing him.

There’s years of gradual evolution of that season 5 iteration of Phil Coulson, through the various movies and then five seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and all those adventures and that family that he evolves. That was a real gradual settling into that skin and character, and suddenly all those bets were off. It was about not knowing this new person. He has a completely different story, and I didn’t know it. And at a certain point it starts to become clear that he has real gaps in his memory and understanding of that character.

So that’s very hard to make sense of, and at the same time he has a lot of emotional entanglements. A moral compass — all of that was gone, and this guy was delightfully free of anything but rabid, fierce dedication to taking on these creatures that we’ve started to meet who seem to be paving the way for some kind of creator to come down. And he seems maniacally bent on destroying them and whoever the creator is.

Before I directed that first episode (because I’d never really done an episode of television with commercials; I’d directed a couple of features) I sat down with those two and also with Billy Gierhart who also directed a number of episodes of our show. They had really done the most compelling episodes for the most part, and I just kind of soaked them for their tips. But also Jed had directed a great episode, and he and Maurissa, the bosses, the showrunners were really generous in terms of giving me the time and the resources I needed. And our producer Garry Brown, I’ve gotten to watch him direct a lot of the action stuff and he was — they were all super supportive.

It’s really about trying to find a way to tell the story in the style of our show and find what’s different about that episode that you’re doing and really do it justice. I’d be remiss in not pointing out that when they gave me the shot to do the premiere episode of season 6, that was a huge episode with a lot of visual effects establishing a whole new chapter and to some extent a world for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D that was more space sci-fi than we had dealt with. And Mark Kolpack, our visual effects genius, really came through on that.

Coulson and Sarge are both understated leaders. Would Coulson have any appreciation for the manner in which Sarge leads his team?

I don’t think so. I think standard issue Phil Coulson would find Sarge’s methods and that way that he is maybe using some of the same quiet notes but really ruling through fear to be antithetical to his leadership style. That would have been a great death match: Sarge versus Coulson. I have to say my money would be on Sarge!

I think by now we’ve started to see that Sarge thinks that this is just a mild, strange piece of information that people seem to recognize him, but as they seem to know to say things to trigger memories and to send weird vibrations through his being and expose how many gaps there are in his own understanding of who he is, he starts to, in a way that’s eerily reminiscent of Phil Coulson season 1, to be on a little bit of a mystery mission himself to find out why this is happening. And at a certain point that puts him in an uncomfortable alliance of sorts with S.H.I.E.L.D, and that’s I think when we start to roll into when season 6 gets really dangerous and interesting.

I feel like Sarge thinks that there’s a lot that S.H.I.E.L.D could learn from him especially when it comes to the truly monumental threat that’s presented by the shrike and the creatures that they take over, these kind of zombie warriors. There’s a couple of species of insects that are able to drop spores into their prey, that take over their brain stem and basically have these zombie mutant prey building a nest for the offspring of those wasps and then basically becoming their food. That’s the level of what these creatures are doing, and I think Sarge has a tough mission ahead of him to make the nature of this threat be understood by May and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.

How do you think Coulson would feel about Deke co-opting all of that S.H.I.E.L.D technology in “Code Yellow”?

[Deke] is a creature of his upbringing as, to a certain extent, we all are. He was raised like a pack rat with nothing in the future fighting for survival, and I think he has some trust issues. So I think Coulson would have a level of compassion for Deke the way that Mack does, but I don’t think he would put up with this grand scale S.H.I.E.L.D technology theft, especially in terms of presenting that technology to the world outside of classified settings.

What other character arcs besides your own are you particularly fond of that you feel fans will really respond to in season 6?

I think that everybody who cares about Fitz-Simmons and, like me, had a lot of problems with keeping all of the water out of my eyes when they got married really wants to see those two once again find their way back to each other. I think there’s a lot of fun coming in terms of Melinda May, who seems far from nostalgic about the appearance of this Coulson person. If anything it just triggers some murderous feelings, so I think the showdown between these two is going to get down and dirty before it gets nice at all. That’s going to be exciting!

And I think the reunion of this person who looks like Coulson but really isn’t with the S.H.I.E.L.D team to confront the most out-there, terrifying threat that I think we’ve ever seen — and that’s saying something at this point in season 6 — I think that’s going to really pay off like something we’ve never seen before.

Notably, Gregg referred to the flying beasts as “shrike” in this interview and teased that Sarge might be on the lookout for who created them in the first place. When Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D returns from its week off this Friday, perhaps he will persuade Melinda May to unite against this mutual danger. The next episode is entitled “The Other Thing,” and it airs on Friday, June 14, 2019

[douxreviews]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - ‘Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson’ Review

"The mission is ladies' night."

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. leaves its usual heavy storytelling aside and delivers one of its most unique episodes. Very Whedonesque and definitely the funniest one they have ever done. What's not to love?

"Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson" is a well crafted episode: written with confidence, produced with style and very well acted. There is one detail I'd like to address first, because it's the only flaw in an otherwise terrific episode: Simmons' behavior and how it doesn't fracture her friendship with Daisy.

See, last season Simmons tried to stop Fitz from ripping the inhibitor from Daisy's brain, but afterwards she sided with Fitz, didn't show one ounce of sympathy towards her friend and acted against her direct orders. We never saw their friendship recover from that. This season Simmons again acted against what everybody had decided, and in this very episode she challenged (!) Daisy of all people. Yes, she is not emotionally well and her unstoppable drive to find Fitz is clouding her judgement, but her inability to understand Davis' and Piper's perspectives, for instance, is jarring, especially when it leads her to call them cowards. How dare she? She is not confronted nearly enough, though, and the episode proceeds to give her validation, for Fitz is right around the corner. It's not that her jump of faith could not have brought her what she was looking for, but more that her selfishness was not addressed as it should have been. So when Daisy and Simmons are high and professing their love for one another, I can only conclude that Daisy is the best, most patient friend ever, and one that Simmons, at this point, does not deserve.

But enough with that issue, because this was such a great episode that it deserves more happy words than I'm giving it so far, and stoned Simmons was a big part of that greatness.

It's boys' night for Fitz and Enoch when they arrive on the planet of Kitson and must gamble for their tickets back to the orbit of Jupiter. Fitz and Enoch are a great duo, and it makes so much sense that a sentient android (or whatever Enoch is) would end up being Fitz's mate. But is he really? When Enoch professes that Fitz has become his best friend, Fitz doesn't return the sentiment immediately. Only later, when Enoch is depressed and in need of a pep talk, does Fitz say Enoch is his best friend also. Was he being honest or just trying to cheer Enoch up? I'm going with the second option, for Fitz wasn't paying attention to their growing bond at all. He is so focused on the mission (it's all about Simmons) that Enoch's attachment to him flew over his head. Or maybe Fitz didn't expect that someone with such a robotic demeanor would have real feelings.

In any case, it's nice that Enoch is being fleshed out as a character. He is genuine and faithful (let's not forget that his previous version sacrificed himself for the team), which makes him someone easy to root for. I mean, how unbelievably cute was he in this episode? Even his brief existential crisis was cute, and it opens new possibilities for the character. Now that his mission as a chronicon is cancelled, he can just become part of the gang. :)

While Enoch and Fitz were the emotional center of the episode, Daisy and Simmons were the comedic one. And OH MY GOD I LOVED IT SO MUCH. Why, oh why, didn't this show try stuff like this before? I know the one-off stories of season one were more miss than hit, and the show became extremely serialized from season two onward, but episodes like this are gold. Gold, I tell you. Okay, I have a weak spot for episodes where characters are high or under a spell and act all goofy. Still, it's nice to see these characters you've grown fond of just having some fun together. And after the doom and gloom of last season, this was a welcomed change of tone.

It's ladies' night for Daisy and Simmons when they arrive on the planet of Kitson and completely lose focus of their mission after they inadvertently get stoned. Chloe Bennet and Elizabeth Henstridge play off each other really well and dive head first into the silliness of the script. You can tell they had lots of fun shooting this episode. I loved several moments, but my absolute favorite one was Simmons directing Daisy's blast and yelling "Fire." That was totally Whedon-y, wasn't it? Daisy narrating the night to herself was another hoot. Daisy, in general, was awesome, and her fight against the hunters was one of the coolest the show has ever done. I mean, she was high and still got the moves. And what about that music score? All hit, no miss.

Skimmons or Death!

Even though this was not the typical arc heavy episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., it was no filler either, as we got some significant arc progression. See, it's completely possible to design an episode as a standalone that anyone can randomly watch whenever they want too just for the fun of it and still make it relevant to the arc story (not that I have anything against purely one-off stories, they have their value too!). We learned that there are several types of chronicons, one of these types are hunters, who are after Fitz for... reasons. The hunter we met said that Daisy and the others are "out of time," as in out of their original timeline. But Fitz isn't, right? The Fitz who was out of time died, and this Fitz actually belongs to this timeline. So why did the hunter take him?

I know many fans were frustrated that Simmons and Fitz were separated yet again, but I loved that they only saw each other for like five seconds and Fitz was taken. At first, the search for Fitz looked like an unnecessary side plot this season, but now it matters and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. And it's not only Jemma who wants to find Fitz. His best friend Enoch will want to get him back too.

Intel and Assets

- After saying "Expecto Patronum," Simmons hallucinated a tiny monkey Fitz. Of course the image of Fitz would appear as her patron.

- I loved that Simmons, even stoned, was able to tell that the sound they were listening to wasn't part of the hallucination. Girl is smart.

- So, is Daisy cool with the use of torture now? I wonder if this will be explored in depth later or if we are just supposed to accept that a year in space has led her to this point.

- The planet of Kitson has only one city, apparently, also called Kitson, and it's ruled by a man named... Kitson. Boy, is he self-centered or what?

- The title of this episode is a reference to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."

- Did the hunters really need to kill the hostess? She seemed so nice.

Quotes

Enoch: "I'm well-versed in over 10,000 intergalactic games of chance, several of which are being played in this casino." Fitz: "And you're only just telling me that now? Which games are you good at?" Enoch: "Approximately none."

Inspector: "The planet Kitson is a nasty place, absent any basic scrap of decency." Piper: "Somebody just described Florida."

Inspector: "'What happens on the planet of Kitson...'" Daisy: "Stays on Kitson?" Inspector: "No. 'Is contagious and burns.'"

Enoch: "There are other ways to earn money." Fitz: "How?" Enoch: "The brothels of Kitson. We are both healthy and not unattractive specimens, and I am well-versed in over one hundred and thirt-" Fitz: "Stop."

Daisy: "Are you feeling okay?" Simmons: "Are you?" Daisy: "I asked you first." Simmons: "I asked you second." Daisy: "On three. One, two, three..." Simmons: "I'm not okay at all." Daisy: "I'm tripping balls."

Daisy: "I don't think it's the atmosphere." Simmons: "No, that was silly. It's clearly psychopharmacological expiali-" Skimmons: "-docious."

Simmons: "You had big hair." Daisy: "You had big... nerd face. What house are you in? Gryffindor?" Simmons: "Ravenclaw, girl, please."

Simmons: "I think my parents are mice." Daisy: "That makes sense."

Enoch: "What are you doing?" Fitz: "I'm rebooting you." Enoch: "I'm not comfortable with this level of intimacy."

Daisy: "If I can't quake it, I'll break it."

Simmons: "I have reason to believe that my future husband is behind that door." Guard: "And what reason is that?" Simmons: "The dolphin told me in a secret signal only I can hear that was meant just for me."

I loved it and I'm grading it according to the amount of fun I had. Four out of four bad little puffies.

--

Lamounier

Note: I'm so, so very sorry for the lateness of this review.

[callmetippytumbles]

☕️ on the ladies of court (Kiara, Hana, Madeleine, Penelope and Olivia)

So, Nonny, I am not sure if you meant my feelings on the characters of the court or how they are written.  Lucky for you my mouth is big, and I have opinions on both. Apparently a lot.  Get snacks.  

Let’s do this.

PenelopeHer Character: So listen, I know that homegirl has all kinds of anxiety, loves poodles, has some funny ass moments…you know, good/relatable things.  Here’s the thing, I am always going to look at her sideways.  Penelope set up the MC for assault.  People are going to say, she didn’t mean to, or she did it to stay in court.  I just hear “blah, excuses, fuckery.”  Her arm wasn’t twisted.  She could have opted out.  The part that really fucks me up about this is twofold.  Firstfold: After Penelope sets you up, she acts as if she did nothing wrong.  Bitch knew she set you up and was all like “congratulations on your dick and crown.”  That is beyond two-faced.  Secondfold has a lot to do with the writing (and I forgot my nonwriting point).

The Writing:  I want to get over the shit that Penelope did, but the writing makes sure that I don’t.  Not because the writers want me to forget, but the way that the plot disproportionately services her character compared to others (Hana and Kiara namely) keeps me from making that journey with them.  Penelope gets all kinds of attention, especially in Book 2 and Book 3.  Again, Penelope is the one who hired and paid for the photographer that took the scandalous photo of your assault.  She was the one who got Tariq in your bedroom as well.  These are actions she took.  Now, look at how Penelope gets treated.  We have to be super duper nice to her to get her to confess to her part in the bullshit.  Later on in the book during the nameless beer garden scene, Penelope along with Kiara thinks the MC is going to be mean to them because Madeleine, A Demon, is ousted.  No mention of her part in a plot that features assault.  I am not gonna let that shit die.  The writers do.  Other than the option at the tea party where you tell poor Penny that you do hold that shit against her (as well as the next generations), this is never brought up again.  

Also, they give Penelope a backstory of having crippling anxiety (which I can appreciate because mental health struggles are no joke), which conveniently comes to the forefront when we are about to learn that she did some fuckshit, and that takes center stage to lessen the blow.  Again I don’t hold Penelope having anxiety against her, I do dislike it being used to redeem or excuse shitty behavior.  Oh and the writers go out of their way to center her in her narrative.  Penelope needs a boyfriend?  Don’t give her Maxwell, he is an LI and for the MC only.  Let’s give Kiara a brother that we never knew existed.  He will love animals, and animal care and Penelope.  She deserves.  

OliviaHer Character: With Olivia, my feelings for her went through stages.  At first, I was like, “fuck you, and everything about you for the rest.”  I would choose all opportunities to be petty because fuck her.  Then around the apple baking scene, I still didn’t like her, but I didn’t hate her.  I think I started to love her Book 2.  When she directed that hatin’ energy to drag Drake and A Demon and not the MC, then I could like her.  Now, Olivia is a gem, and I love her.  I love her shade and that she is not the one to fuck with.  If I was about to go into a fight, I want Olivia on my side.  You know she carries a switchblade and subscribes to STAB HIM™ as a lifestyle.  

The Writing: I enjoy the writing too.  This is a redemptive character arc I can get behind.  Olivia starts off as a bitch, but over the course of the books, you get a lot of chances to sympathize and grow with her.  Over time she sheds her abrasive front and shows that she is fiercely loyal and dedicated, but will still cut a bitch because, again, she subscribes to STAB HIM™.  Also, Olivia’s growth is not at the expense of someone else.  To be fair, a lot of the opportunities for her to be vulnerable and have the reader empathize with her are centered on Liam.  Liam is the first person to stick up for Olivia in the series.  Her motivations for her involvement are focused on her feelings/loyalties to him.  Liam extends a lot of kindness to her.  Olivia’s relationship with Liam as a vehicle for growth is never for the endangerment of Liam.  You don’t look at their relationship as an abusive or potentially abusive.  Can’t say the same for all the ladies.

A DemonIT’s Character: I read TRR before RoE, and even with that in mind, I hate this heifer.  In Book 1, I disliked IT.  Book 2 cemented my hatred though.  A Demon in TRR2 escalated from fucking annoying to, for all intents and purposes, full-on sociopath.  IT plays with the people around her on a psychological level, using her increased access to power for the purposes of manipulation and control.  A Demon makes no bones about it either.  IT doesn’t pretend to act in anyone’s best interest but its own.  This is apparent before IT says what it says about Hana at the bachelorette party.  

For those that have forgotten, after faking a fatal chocolate allergy and publicly debasing Hana at an event she planned for A Demon, IT says to the MC that it intends to psychologically break her.  IT wants to do this.  For fun.  This is why from then on I call it A Demon because that is some fucked up evil shit.  I thought it was a narcissist, but I am now like, “this bitch is a sociopath.”  

While I am sure that A Demon is toxic and awful, I can also acknowledge that sometimes it’s on the receiving end of some shit.  She got dumped twice.  First Leo breaks off his engagement with A Demon to go on a cruise for an American (that may or may not chose him).  Then Liam dumps her for an American (that may or may not want him) after A Demon agrees to a nonmonogamous relationship.  I view her like Mellie from Scandal in a lot of ways.  They both are women who dedicate their lives to men who do not give a fuck about them.  Mostly for power.  Is Mellie from Scandal still terrible?  Yeah.  Does Mellie’s terribleness make Fitz any less of a fuckboy? No.  Liam is not a fuckboy, but he did like drop her out of nowhere.  Leo is kind of a fuckboy.  

The Writing: I feel a way about how Penelope is treated, but it pales in comparison to my feeling about the writing A Demon gets.  Especially this redemptive arc that they just have to do.  We can’t just fucking hate this Demon for the rest and leave it at that.  Nope! Nah! Nuh-Uh!  A Demon needs a multi-chapter narrative to have the reader feel bad and eventually like IT.  The fact that there is dedicated narrative bandwidth for this is terrible enough, but the lengths at which the writers are going to make this happen. [insert long exasperated sound of frustration of your choosing.]  

Look at everything that has to happen for “redemption.”

First, A Demon has to take a job IT does not need or want to force a closer relationship with the MC in an effort for them to bond or whatever.  I guess the idea is that A Demon is supposed to be so fucking good at being the MC’s press secretary that they become besties.  Sure.  Okay.  It’s such a shame that A Demon sucks in this role.  A Demon as a press secretary isn’t all that great.  IT has poor time management.   Who the fuck expects a client to read over 100 index cards or a textbook dossier just before an event?  Also, why put all your energy into such things when they can be rendered useless in a 5-10 minute conversation?  A Demon is also the kind of press secretary that requires you to do damage control for them. Fuck the fuck?  I hire you to spin for me, and I have to apologize for you?  Not to mention IT puts in me in outfits that don’t match the occasion.  Why are my titties kissing the breeze during a daytime luncheon?  Why?  (Also, why didn’t Liam want to kiss my exposed titties?  That bothered me as well.)  A Demon sucks.  Kiara or Justin (before he tried to shoot at me) would have been better choices for this job.  

The other significant effort made to make A Demon’s unsolicited redemption arc happen is a romantic relationship with Hana.  Yep.  The writers hint at this early in the drinking game diamond scene in Fydelia.  It was gross then.  Why?  A Demon has said that IT wants to psychologically break Hana.  For fun.  IT had taken actions to do that before that was uttered.  A Demon calls Hana a dog when commenting on agreeing to have Hana be part of her court.  That same chapter IT points out that if Hana does not get a match, she will be kicked out of court.  This doesn’t happen to Penelope or Kiara.  A Demon then fakes a chocolate allergy and then publicly humiliates Hana.  When confronted in front of Hana later, IT writes it off as hazing.  There is no apology.  It’s treated like whatevs, get over it girl.  So having the idea that Hana is being set up to date someone who once said and did things with the intent of psychologically breaking her is trash.  Setting up Hana for potential abuse is not cute or adorable. It’s troubling.  

Since the writers are really building this relationship to do the heavy lifting of this redemption arch, A Demon and Hana being a thing is brought up again during the Gala.  This time the writers know that we know about the psychological abuse.  So when the MC tells A Demon to stay away from her, A Demon merely says that Hana is over it.  Yeah, that sociopathic threat from the last book, entirely being written off as a non-factor so that this relationship can happen.  Kind of similar to how we are just supposed to be cool that Penelope helped coordinate an assault on the MC.  

Pretending that A Demon did not say that IT wanted to harm Hana and acted on it, does not undo it happening.  When A Demon was a clear antagonist, that line added to her villainy.  It built her up as an adversary to not just the MC but the women of the court in general.  Now that A Demon is not intended to be in opposition to the MC anymore does not make the things that she has said or done less painful.  

During the most recent chapter, this relationship is hinted at AGAIN.  If A Demon comes along for your bachelorette shenanigans, IT asks Hana to dance, after a wholly half-assed apology.  A Demon does not take ownership or responsibility for any of her actions.  Again.  IT says “if” like there is the possibility A Demon is not in the wrong.  (For those of you who need to be told, A Demon is in the wrong.)  The “if” communicates either A Demon either does not see what IT did as wrong or problematic (it was) or that IT knows that it’s wrong but feels ITs actions were in some way justified (they are not).  

So much time is spent trying to have the reader have a change of heart about A Demon it makes the negligence the other characters receive that much more offensive.

KiaraHer Character: Kiara is intelligent, strong, ambitious, and is not afraid to push back against expectations.  She does this a lot in the short amount of time that we see her.  Most recently in Valtoria, if the MC criticizes her and her father’s wishes for not being personal enough, Kiara counters that their wishes are personal to them.  Kiara has the building blocks to be someone fascinating.  She is a WOC in a predominantly white space, who is driven to serve her country despite her country not always seeing it for her.  Not to mention Kiara is a polyglot.  Also, her family is impossibly beautiful.  Especially her mama.  I wish I could say more, but I don’t get to say much else without speculating because she gets so little time.  

The Writing:  I have spoken at length about how the writers have treated Kiara.  I will not regurgitate the whole essay here.  I will say that I wish the writers would put as much effort into Kiara as they do about A Demon and Penelope.  Up until recently, the writers have gone out of their way to not write Kiara.  We have Zeke because Penelope just can’t have Maxwell and the writers did not want to talk about Kiara.  I will say the writers are better about this now.  Still not great.  (I have to watch you guys write romance for a sociopath but Kiara can’t get a hug from Rashad or Drake?  I call bullshit. #LetKiaraGetLove2K18)  The writers did make a point to talk about some of Kiara’s feelings and her trauma post Homecoming Ball and having the MC and Drake hear and validate her concerns.  That was nice.  I wished the writers did not have to be pressured to write about her.  

HanaHer Character:  Hana (like Kiara) is a WOC who is given all of the talents but none of the time.  I will say that some of the growth that we do get to see with Hana makes her that much more endearing.  Especially in Book 3, Hana gets to be funnier than we ever get to see her.  When she drags Drake with that impression of him during the drinking game is still legendary and will forever take me out.  “I would use whiskey for cologne, but I wouldn’t want to waste the whiskey.”  That is just funny.  Fight me.  Hana also has so many aspects to her.  She is a WOC who also identifies as LGBTQ+, she is working through a psychologically damaging upbringing (her parents deliberately sheltered their daughter so that she can be dependent/malleable to their control, which is fucked up) but she still has not let that corrupt her spirit in a way that it would someone else.  Like Kiara, a lot of what sets Hana apart does not get explored and does Hana a considerable disservice.  

The Writing: Woosah x 10^10.  I need all of the calming breaths for this.  If anyone in the TRR is done a disservice in terms of the writing, it’s Hana.  Kiara’s treatment is terrible, but this is amplified in Hana.  The problem is generally the same for both of them.  The times when the narrative should be about Hana, it is not.  Hana has so many opportunities where the focus should be on her, and the writers either half-ass it (at best?) or just drop the baton (at worse?).  Dropping the baton seems light.  They actually do not even extend their hands to receive the baton, let it hit the ground, urinate on it, then quit the race to watch Netflix and eat chips.

@lizzybeth1986 has done extensive writing on the many ways that Hana has been mishandled regarding how the writers treat her.  I really want to focus on the way the writers choose to utilize Hana to uplift or guide other characters that she does not get in return.  I am probably going to repeat a lot of Lizzy’s sentiments, but you asked for me to give my tea, so sit down, get your pinky out because I have some tea for you to sip.

I am going to start with the most frustrating thing about the writing for Hana, she is always positioned to be a tool.  Hana who is a love interest is written in a way that the only reason that we care about her is that she is useful.  

With the MC, the majority of her diamond scenes are about Hana giving the MC a leg up in the next chapter.  I can understand that this is done to get more people to buy her diamond scenes.  Hana is a female LI for a fanbase that is mostly straight women so I can see why the writers do that.  With that said, in Book 1, Hana’s second diamond scene is the Cordonian Waltz.  In that diamond scene, you learned a lot about Hana and got the skill.  Later diamonds scenes tend to lose the learning about Hana over acquiring the skill.  If Hana is your LI, you don’t always get to experience her romantically outside of the diamond scenes that are clearly intended to be sex scenes.  Outside of sex, the diamond scenes with her as your fiancée versus your friend are coded almost exactly the same.  Compared to the apparent difference between other LIs as your fiancée and your friend, it seems lazy.

Hana’s relationship with her parents is framed around usefulness as well.  The last chapter in Valtoria is dedicated to wrapping up the story arc of Hana’s relationship with her parents.  In Book 2, she is not on speaking terms with her parents after firmly rejecting Neville as a suitor.  This is after the build-up of the fact that her parents have trained (yep I said trained and not raised) her for the sole purpose of attracting and maintaining a relationship with a wealthy man.  A wealthy man that would elevate Hana and her family socially and economically.  

Xinghai, her father, makes a point to say that his daughter was not raised to be independent, which carries all kinds of unfortunate implications.  Lorelai and Xinghai have deliberately isolated and created dependency in their child, so she is compelled to obey and would be fearful to leave.  Hana’s parents read like destructive cult leaders.  The Lee household is a doomsday cult of 3.  The doomsday, in this case, isn’t the world ending, it’s Hana dying a spinster.  I kind of feel like I should expand on the crack theory of Hana’s parents raising her using the same techniques as destructive cult leaders.  

Hana’s parents come to Valtoria to make her come home or totally disown her.  The resolution one would think of is that her parents accept that Hana doesn’t have to marry and she is grown, or Hana lets her parents disown her, and she cultivates her own self-worth outside of her parents’ demands.  Hana does not exactly get either.  Hana proves her independence by showing that she can still be useful to her parents by getting Rashad to work with Xinghai’s company (using the flimsiest device, Hana knows the son of the Portera Group’s CEO).  Instead of Hana asserting herself as capable and willing to live without their approval or support, she goes out of her way to reinforce their belief that he is meant to be useful.  This allows Xinghai and Lorelai to continue to view her as an asset and does not challenge the terms of their conditional love.  

Hana’s conflict with her family being resolved in this way, as an afterthought, is unsurprising.  The opportunities to develop Hana outside of struggle or usefulness (like during the Shanghai chapters) are just not taken.  

While the writers do not want to take the time to explore Hana’s experience as a WOC, talk about her sexuality or being in the closet (Hana’s parents exclusively speak about male suitors.), they are willing to use Hana to lay the groundwork for A Demon to come out and complete a redemption arc no one asked for.  This is disturbing.  

Hana has to form a relationship with a woman who wanted to abuse her.  How is this healthy or good, or even acceptable?  Throughout a great deal of Book 2, A Demon continuously berates and humiliates Hana, publicly, as part of a plan to push Hana over the edge mentally.  For her entertainment.  When given the opportunity to take ownership of ITs past actions, and actually show remorse or regret, A Demon does neither.  Instead, the writers are going to put Hana in the position of having to forgive her abuser to redeem her abuser.  This is not something that Hana would do for her own benefit.  

You can’t even say that this is for the power of love.  How does Hana building a romantic relationship with a woman who used to torment her do anything good for her?  That is not even taking into account that Hana is a Chinese woman being put in the position of forgiving a White woman who wronged her.  People of color, particularly women of color are consistently practically required to make public statements of forgiving people (usually white) who have grievously wronged them to position themselves as worthy of someone giving a damn.  You see this again and again.  The most recent that comes to mind is when families of the Charleston Church shooting victims saying that they forgive Dylann Roof.  If any of them showed visible anger for what that man has done, the anger would not be seen as righteous or reasonable it would be seen as stooping to his level.  POC cannot even be angry when they should be because their anger is a threat and reason enough to diminish them.  Hana showing anger would be a threat to A Demon’s attempt to rebrand herself as a romantic option.  Hana has yet to take A Demon to task for the way IT has treated her.  She may not know about the true nature of the threat that A Demon made, but Hana definitely knows about all of the other ways that IT was shitty to her.  The threat was not an idle one.  It still doesn’t matter, Hana will be asked to place her pain to the side where no one but her can see it so that she can outstretch her arms to embrace A Demon, then scissor into the sunset.

Penelope would never be asked to not only make nice with someone who tormented her but initiate a relationship with them.  She had her grievances with A Demon’s treatment of her addressed with the WHOLE GROUP vying to protect her.  Penny got a whole brother out of thin air that wears his durag every night to lay his hair because she deserves nothing less.  If they can make an entire person appear to romance Penelope, why can’t they make a stud, a stemme, or a man to sweep Hana off of her feet?

The part that makes this even shittier, yes that is possible, is that the coming out story that A Demon is likely to get, Hana should have gotten.  Hana’s sexuality in terms of her past or even that much of her present is not explored.  We as the reader are just supposed to believe that Hana is a virgin that has only been set up to be in a relationship with a man, but she somehow knew that she was gay, dealt with and adjusted to that despite a lifetime of isolation.  Makes sense to me!  Her parents as recently as Chapter 15 STILL talk about setting her up with men.  There is nothing to indicate that she is out to them.  I don’t even think if the MC is her fiancée, that the relationship is presented as more than platonic.  

Hana is not even the only Asian Woman in the Choices universe that has dealt with her sexuality and growing into it or questioning.  Kaitlyn has a whole coming out arc that was given time and nuance in The Freshman.  It wasn’t to serve anyone but herself.  Kaitlyn coming out was not a device to explore introspection with Arjun. You as a reader are not entertaining a plot where Kaitlyn says she’s gay and the rest of the time we spend teaching Arjun not to be a homophobe as opposed to Kaitlyn publicly accepting this part of herself.  Yet Hana has to be a part of A Demon’s coming out/redemption story.  Okay.  I see you.

Those are my thoughts  

[sunfrost23]

Agents of S. H. I. E. L. D. Season One Episodes 5-8 Reviews

All right, here we go, we’re trying out our new schedule, so I am reviewing not one, not two, but FOUR whole episodes of Agents of S. H. I. E. L. D. Amazing, right? So we start off with “Girl in the Flower Dress” and in this episode we meet the titular girl in the flower dress, Raina, who will plague our lives for the next couple seasons so get used to her. I’m joking, I don’t mind Raina that much since she’s well acted, but she can be annoying at times. Anyway, in this episode she cons some poor sap with fire powers named Chan Ho Yin, aka Scorch, into being a lab rat for the Centipede project from episode one. He ends up going crazy and the S. H. I. E. L. D. agents are forced to kill him. Along the way, we meet Skye’s boyfriend Miles, another hacker who leaked information about Chan’s location which allowed Raina to find him. Skye gets into trouble for secretly collaborating with them but Miles helps them take down Scorch in the end. Skye then reveals to Coulson that the only reason she joined S. H. I. E. L. D. was to find information about her parents, whom she was separated from as a baby. Phil lets her stay and agrees to help her, but he puts this bracelet thingy on her which keeps her from accessing electronics without permission. I feel like this is another episode I forget about a lot, because outside of it being Raina’s first appearance there isn’t too much that happens. Well, like, there is, but I feel kinda like a lot of it is set-up for the future. Viewed isolated on its own, it’s not terribly interesting. Scorch isn’t a super compelling character, although the special effects for his fire do look pretty cool. Overall, I’d say it’s just average. It’s not a pain to watch, it isn’t boring, it’s just not the first episode I’d recommend to anyone.

Next up is “FZZT” and yes, the name is weird. In this episode the team finds out that some firefighters who were at the Battle of New York picked up a virus from a Chitauri helmet, and it is always fatal. Tragically, three of the firefighters die, but it seems that now that they’ve isolated the source, no one else will catch it and there’s nothing to worry about, right? WRONG!   Simmons was infected when she came close to one of the victim’s bodies, and she’s got about 2 more hours to live unless she and Fitz can come up with a cure. Their efforts seem to be in vain, so Jemma decides to jump off the plane rather than endanger everyone on board, since, upon death, the carriers of the virus set off a huge electrical surge and they would definitely cripple the Bus and send everyone into the ocean. Literally right as she’s jumping off though, Fitz discovers the cure. Ward jumps after her and injects her with it, saving the day at the last moment. Yay! This episode is cool because it’s the first one that focuses on FitzSimmons and their relationship, which is one of the best parts of the entire series. I don’t think it’s my favorite FitzSimmons-centric episode, but it’s still nice, especially since, like I said in my review of episode one, the actor and actress who play them are both really great. There isn’t much more to say really, it’s a solid episode even if the tension isn’t that high because, come on, did anybody really think they were going to kill a main character in the sixth episode?

Now we’re at episode 7, “The Hub,” which is where the team visits the high-level S. H. I. E. L. D. base called… the Hub. Everybody’s all hunky-dory about being there, except for Skye who pretty much feels like a complete fish-out-of-water since she doesn’t really have anything to do other than follow Phil around like a lost puppy. While there, high-ranking agent Victoria Hand gives a mission to Ward and Fitz: travel to Russia and disable a thing called the Overkill Device which can activate weapons from long distances away. They go out and do so, but Skye is suspicious, so she hacks into S. H. I. E. L. D. and discovers that it’s actually a suicide mission; there’s no extraction team involved, but no one told Fitz and Ward that. She confronts Phil about it, and he tells her to trust the system. “Trust the System” could have been an alternate title for this episode, because Coulson goes to Hand and asks why she didn’t tell him either, she tells him the exact same thing. Obviously Ward and Fitz don’t die, because Coulson decides he’s had enough of Hand’s shenanigans and the rest of the team flies in personally with the Bus to rescue them. Oh, and Skye starts to find out some information about her parents along the way too. I enjoy this episode, mostly because of Fitz, who’s always amazing, and there’s some nice bonding with him and Ward, although Ward was a total jerk to just throw away Fitz’s sandwich. Despicable. The sequence where Simmons tries to help Skye hack into the S. H. I. E. L. D. mainframe is pretty funny too. In the end, another episode that’s kind of average, but not bad by any means.

Last but not least, we have “The Well.” Oh, this episode. Some paganist weirdos are looking to find the pieces of an Asgardian artifact called the Berserker Staff, which gives the wielder enhanced strength and extreme rage. Since they’ve already found one piece, Coulson meets with Elliot Randolph, a professor of Norse Mythology, to see if he has any historical clues as to where the other two pieces might be. He directs them to Baffin Island, but the team quickly discovers that this was a misdirection and they instead follow the clue to a crypt where they discover the professor trying to steal the piece of the staff. In trying to stop him, Ward accidentally touches the staff and immediately experiences painful, suppressed memories from his past. His older brother forced him to shove his younger brother down a well, and the memory torments him for the rest of the episode. Coulson arrests Professor Randolph, and they discover that he is actually an Asgardian, the fabled Berserker who originally wielded the staff. He tells them that he hid the last piece of the staff in a church in Ireland, and the team goes there, but the pagans got there first. Ward defeats the pagans with the help of May, who can control the rage she gets from the staff since she already learned how to live with her bad memories. Skye offers to talk with Ward and comfort him, but he decides to turn down emotional conversation for carnal pleasures, and instead joins May in her hotel room. Oh boy. This episode is a tricky one. I actually enjoy it quite a bit, but rewatching it after seeing the whole series is just… mm, you just have to see it for yourself. It reveals a few more tidbits about Ward’s past, and Brett Dalton’s acting is very good at making you sympathize with him. This is also one of the times when the show ties in directly with the broader MCU, which is always nice to see. So overall, a pretty solid episode. This is one that usually sticks out to me from Season One, which is a good thing since some of the other episodes can be kind of forgettable. I don’t know what it is necessarily about this one, but I like it.

All right, that is it for today, ladies and gentlemen, there will be more reviews of Season One next Sunday, so stay tuned for episodes 9-12 then. Have a lovely night, beauties!

[imustgo-on-icantgo-on-illgo-on]

FITZ: I’m just like Ward

I have been thinking a lot of things about Leopold Fitz since the last season, so when last night’s episode aired I realized that the post I was already working on would not be enough. For the purpose of clarity I have decided to split up this meta into two parts. The first part is about Grant Ward. The second is about our beloved Fitz. Last night hurt, but so does life. Now let’s get into it.

Grant Ward’s history of abuse is well documented by the fanbase, and as someone who faced very dissimilar, though not without great overlap, abuse, it was always extremely fascinating to follow Ward as a character. For those less familiar, abuse is about power and control, and because of how people acclimate themselves to the world and their relationships within it through socializing, this can lead people to assume that power and control is what life is about in general, thus prioritizing feelings of strength and squashing weakness. Ward felt weak because his parents tortured him. He felt weak because his brother did the same, and even felt weak being forced into bullying his younger brother, Thomas (The Well). Finally, in a desperate attempt to feel a sense of strength and satisfaction, Ward tried to burn down his home with his parents and older brother inside at the age of 17 (Ragtag, and though I’ve seen a lot of people say it was when he was 15 because the flashbacks say “15 years ago” Thomas says he was 17 in season 3’s Closure, and it makes more sense that his older brother, Christian, tried to have him tried as an adult at 17). Undoubtedly he justified this attempted murder (we all know that he knew who was inside) as a way to free him and his little brother from his more abusive family member’s clutches. However, I can still accept this as a product of environment, and not a grown adult making rational decisions. This didn’t make Ward a villain.

John Garrett was the answer to Grant Ward’s prayers. Of course he went on to constantly gaslight and manipulate him, but Ward didn’t want to let go of his past and seek love, he wanted strength, and here comes a man saying he works for a secret organization, and that Ward impresses him. Thomas, I believe, is the side of the coin we never saw, who did grow up to seek love instead of more hate, but Ward was already being used as a weapon from a young age, so he understood plays of power and control, just not his complicity in the actions he committed. Garrett then kidnaps him, calling it a favor, which is hard to argue with considering how long Grant could have spent in a very adult prison for his actions, but it also unfortunately starts the blame game that abuse is built on. Garrett kidnapped him and demanded thanks. Garrett dragged him to the middle of nowhere, then left him there and called it Grant’s own failure to have not prepared for anything (because why would a kid who follows a man who claims to work for the government NOT be prepared to be abandoned in the middle of nowhere, I type sarcastically). Garrett specifically left a dog with him, not just to help, but with which Ward could bond, and then forced him to kill it while implying that any reservations would be a sign of weakness. Even Ward’s accomplishment of surviving, Garrett can credit himself because he said he thought Ward could do it. That’s what abusers do, they make what they do bad your fault, and what you do well their credit (Like Kylo Ren saying “You’re nothing, but not to me”). Ward believes he owes Garrett everything, including things he did for himself, but also blames himself for what he still does wrong. And after two fat paragraphs, we’ve reached the very beginning of the show, and see in action how Ward’s truest desire was always strength, and how much it clearly burned him that he didn’t know how to love.

When Ward got brought onto the bus, he was on mission for Garrett, but this became a perfect vehicle for the fantasy Ward must have held onto since he was a kid. Ward got to be the hero. Sure he was a milktoast kind of one, but that was just part of his cover. He got to stop Russian superweapons, and jump out of planes to save people (The Hub, FZZT). He got to mentor (The Asset) a woman who looked at him and saw a goodhearted, if defensive and closed off, guy. In short, he got to be a part of a family. Yes, in “Yes Men” he is raped, and they do nothing about that, but nobody knew about that and Ward never told anyone. It’s that same toxic masculinity at work where he thinks he has to ignore pain, assuming that that’s what strength is, so he wasn’t changing yet, but he was (under false pretense) loved. Then HYDRA came out of the shadows, and with his reveal at the end of Turn, Turn, Turn, we began to see how great that desire for strength was, and how much it conflicted with this newfound feeling of being loved. He killed Hand for Garrett, alongside dozens of SHIELD agents, but he killed Koenig for Skye (The Only Light in the Darkness). He killed Koenig, not just to keep his cover, but so she would still see him as a hero. As worthy of love, because he knew all the things he did were wrong. This was his first chance to really confess and own up to who he is, but he killed Koenig instead to continue the fantasy. In fact, the moment he is fighting HYDRA agents in Turn, Turn, Turn even becomes sort of twisted after the reveal, especially the smile he has right before he kills them all. They are a means to him feeling like a hero. Koenig was a cover-up to continue that feeling. And when he discovers she knows who he is, in that diner, he wants to explain himself, and kills two police officers (at least) in order to do that. He doesn’t care about people’s lives, even Skye’s, who he loves. And I believe he does, he just didn’t know how to. I learned a lot of abusive behavior from my own father, and though some of it was directed at me, more was directed at my mom, and it made me not realize what I had picked up until recently. When the only Ex of mine I ever loved would fight with me (not to say they were the cause, just when we would fight) she would often ask for space, and too many times if I had done something wrong I would come visit her and apologize over and over and over, but I wouldn’t leave when she asked because I wanted to show I was sorry. Makes sense right? Except I didn’t care about what she wanted, I just wanted to apologize and “work it out” or really just make myself feel better. I loved her, still do, but I needed to learn that that meant putting her needs ahead of my own desires because duh. Ward is the same, except also, you know, a serial killer. But what finally destroyed his Hero fantasy wasn’t Skye. It was Fitzsimmons. When they manage to disable Garrett and free themselves, they hide in the escape pod, and Ward can’t get in. They did that. All the while, Fitz begged for Ward to realize that they care about him, and he even cares about them. But in that moment, this fully grown man in his 30s, when confronted with a choice between love and strength, opted for the latter. Caring is weakness, to him. Garrett taught him that years ago, and even after months and months with the team, and sharing in their love, love that could have continued, that belief didn’t change. Ward’s hero fantasy was gone, so he had to search for a new feeling of strength, despite the fact that it was actually weakness that lead him to try and kill Fitzsimmons. He tried to search for that strength in Garrett, but the man he knew was already gone before his death, and when asked what he wanted he chose, again, something selfish. Skye. He approaches her with a gun, threatens to rape her, and thus placed her at the center of his desires for self, a hole that had been created by Garrett’s change, and subsequent death. As Coulson asks “Who are you without [Garrett]”.

When the team locked Ward up, Coulson continued to check in on him, giving him another chance to own up to who he is and what he has done. Everyday for three weeks, and Ward refused to say anything unless he could talk to the woman he once kidnapped, locked up, and threatened to rape. That same abusive cycle continuing. Just as he carried out missions for Garrett, he tried to make promises to Skye to prove he was deserving of her, but it was still all about him and not what she wanted (Shadows). He told Fitz that he gave them a fighting to chance to survive, because he didn’t shoot them, but they hid themselves in the escape pod, so there’s no other way Ward could have killed them but dropping them into the ocean (Making Friends and Influencing People). When he escapes we spend an episode being gaslit ourselves as the audience, questioning our own memory of the well when we finally meet the adult Christian Ward, who is a senator no less (A Fractured House). For many people the gaslighting worked so well that they thought that Ward tortured an answer out of Christian when threatening to throw him down the well (The Things We Bury) ignoring that the existence of the well itself proves that Christian is a liar and a gaslighter. But we don’t see Thomas, because he wanted real closure. The kind you can only find within yourself. But Ward wants to lord the power and control he now has over his family now that he’s free, and a highly trained killer. He wants to keep his promise to Skye, introducing her to her father, and then we WATCH HIM FORGIVE HIMSELF (What They Become). He just starts acting like he and Skye are together on a mission or something, despite kidnapping her for a SECOND TIME. When Kara saves him from the gunshots Skye pumped into him, a new relationship is formed, and we see as he continues the cycle of abuse. She asks over and over again in the back half of the season to just run away and leave SHIELD behind, but Ward is obsessed with the idea that it will bring her closure, because really he just wants to torture SHIELD. To make them suffer. As Daisy says in s3, Ward kills because he feels too much (Closure). He tried to be a supporting figure for Kara, but he ends up being a controlling one. He even offers us the line we want to hear in saying that there’s “not enough good” inside him to help her. But it’s all lies, which shouldn’t be a surprise at this point in the series, as he has yet to own up to his actions in a way that isn’t saying the words “I take responsibility for my actions” My father would say over and over again, after he hit me, that he was sorry, but he doesn’t regret it and he’d do it again. That’s what Ward was doing, saying he takes responsibility, but normal serial killers stay in prison their whole lives, and he wanted to be free after a couple months of helping SHIELD. It was this path of blaming and petty emotional power plays that lead to Ward killing Kara with his own hands, proving that if they just left it all behind they could have been happy. Ward, in his constant fleeing from his own actions, always causes what happens to him next. And with Kara gone the only way for him to exert his power over the people in SHELD is to commit to his new role as the head of HYDRA, and give him the feeling of strength he always yearns for.

Brett Dalton does a brilliant job of playing Ward in S3 with the same hungry, smug look in his eyes that he had that moment before killing all the HYDRA assailants in Turn, Turn, Turn. This is his new hero fantasy. The villain. And boy does he do it in style. He makes himself the head of HYDRA and specifically uses his power to control the organization through force. The thing he knows best. Only the literally physically strong survive in his new regime, and when it comes time to take down SHIELD, to take down Coulson, he believes he’ll be fulfilled. Ward swaggers through S3 taking down dozens of men singlehanded (Purpose in the Machine, Many Heads, One Tale) threatening, attacking, and killing people’s loved ones (Devils You Know, Closure, both with Ros, and with Simmons. The Simmons one is especially indicative of Ward because he first tries to take credit for their relationship, back to that blame game of abuse, and then tortures her personally after saying he would never hurt her, because his word only as strong as his patience, which only ever holds for Daisy). The perfect symbol of this is the scene he has with the flight attendant on the airplane he terrorizes, where he flirts with her and gets to feel wanted and sexy, before whispering in her ear the terror of what he is about to do, winking before finally exiting the plane. Ward loved the feeling of strength, but we as an audience know that killing Coulson never would have satisfied him. It isn’t until Malick comes along and tells Ward the full history of HYDRA, praises him for how strong he is, and asks him to lead that things click into place for Ward. He finally gets to fulfill his fantasy. He may not be the hero, but the HYDRA mission makes him important. Ward has been turned into possibly the ultimate human killing machine, and the idea that through adversity, through failure and turmoil and all the bloodshed, he had become the one person who could finally fulfill the mission that HYDRA was founded upon, and he didn’t even know it. He chose the organization for “petty, personal reasons”, but now this path has lead him to do something millenia in the making. I believe Ward believes it when he says that he’s “part of a grand plan” on Maveth, and it’s hard to argue with his pov (check out my meta on destiny in AoS for why I think it’s possible). Many people have argued that Alveus essentially rapes Ward by taking his body, as a corpse cannot consent, but he consents as much as person can while he’s still alive. Ward goes to Maveth to finish the mission, and believes he is the secret super soldier that HYDRA needs to do it, and bring their god back to earth. And he does it. I’m not saying it makes it right, I’m just pointing out that Ward knew, to a degree, what he was getting into. Ward chases the feeling of power all his life, and the only thing it lead him to is a death, and a disregard for his autonomy just as he disregarded other people autonomy. As Daisy said back in season one, Ward is “just weak”(Beginning of the End). He desires strength because he feels weak, and that desire made him self-centered, even in his love for others. That happens to people in life. I agree that it’s tragic, but I don’t agree that it absolves him of anything. Nikolas Cruz had a history of not fitting in, and had a problematic homelife, but does that excuse him killing those children in Parkland? He’s 19, and Ward was in his 30s when we met him. Men in this country, and all over the world, get taught that strength matters more than anything, and at their core it just makes them weak and in search of power. Power over others. Control of things that are beyond their control. And this is how Ward became who he became, and how he continued to change. Hell, it’s why, when we meet him in the framework, he’s already been “saved” by Victoria Hand. Because in real life, he was already lost when we first met him, chasing strength above all. To save him, the team would have had to have known him years ago. It just shows how disturbing abuse can be, and how hard it can be to demonstrate its effect on tv, but the show does a good job of showing what a person who holds onto that abuse looks like (Grant), and what a person who moves on looks like (Thomas)

Now what does all of that have to do with Fitz? Check out my next meta to find out. Sorry this turned out so long, I just love this show (Been watching since it started, watching in my dorm when it began my freshman year) and this fanbase, and these writers. Part two should be out in a day, and should be much more succinct. I promise. Peace, and love, and prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella with a hint of homemade pesto aioli :)

[amandajoyce118]

Agents of SHIELD S5E14 “The Devil Complex” Easter Eggs and References

Not a ton of Easter eggs in this episode since so many of the references actually tied to the plot of the episode, but I’ve listed a few all the same. How heartbreaking was that twist? I’m sure plenty of people are still reeling. And if you haven’t watched yet, there are spoilers below!

The title

We all know now that this is in direct reference to Fitz’s situation, right?

The astronaut

Like most of the products of the Fear Dimension, the astronaut is recognizable and comes from an earlier episode. I think everyone will recognize him from Maveth. The astronaut was a form taken by Hive on Maveth to get to Jemma. I kind of wish the Fear Dimension would have showed off a bunch of smaller fears as well - spiders, lightning strikes, whatever.

Fitz’s finger movements when confronted with Framework-Fitz

I can’t be the only one who noticed the way his fingers began working like he was typing in midair, or working through a problem in his head. That sudden spasm of finger movement has been a hallmark of Fitz in intense situations ever since hypoxia affected his brain in season two. Let it never be said that Iain de Caestecker doesn’t keep track of every single detail of his performance. (Not an Easter egg, but I also have to add just how great his performance was because I think everyone was invested in Fritz being a fear manifestation, but no, the show made good on all those “you haven’t been sleeping” and stressed out Fitz moments to give us Fitz experiencing his version of a psychotic break. So good.)

Just another Russian infiltrating our democracy

I see what you did there, writers. I approve of your political commentary on the state of America. Feel free to keep it coming.

“It’s his head in a jar.”

Just a reminder that the last living part of Anton is his brain, which Aida had, and now, apparently General Hale is keeping in a jar to make sure that she has control of all of his own little LMDs. Also, the show’s nod to MODOK from the comics.

How long have you been seeing him?

I didn’t expect Jemma to actually acknowledge that she knew Fitz used to see her in season two, but I love that the show finally said that Fitz’s conversations with an imaginary Jemma were part of the way his brain was dealing with his injury. Now, the audience knows that she knows about that chapter of his life.

Deke’s speech to Jemma

Pretty much every fandom idea about Fitz’s personality was confirmed here, so I do feel like this speech was more of a shout out to just how deep into the characters the audience gets. There’s things like Fitz being a baby when he’s sick, carrying the weight of the world, Jemma letting him win arguments, etc. Looks like either the fans were really spot on in their assessment of him or the writers know what you think of him.

The Confederacy

So, I’ve long been a believer that Hale and Ruby were connected to the Kree somehow, but the Confederacy is not a Kree thing in the comics, even if we’re seeing the Odiom that Kasius talked about in the earlier part of the season. Instead, there’s the Ariguan Confederacy. The Ariguan were a reptilian race. They were conquerors and slavers, kind of like the Kree we’ve seen in the future. (Kasius also called the Kree coming to Earth his “father’s Confederacy,” which seemed like a throwaway term then.) They also traveled to Earth to destroy the royal bloodline of Sparta, so I suspect they’re out to control Earth with very specific targets in mind, and Hale is a double agent at this point - unless she actually believes the Confederacy is going to save the planet. Her people being the last of Hydra is going to be an… interesting development.

In the comics, one specific member of the confederacy was sent to Earth to kill Peter Quill and his mother (his backstory is very different in the comics than in the MCU). He killed Meredith, but not Peter. Peter, of course, grew up to be Starlord, and as an adult out in the cosmos, killed the Ariguan that killed his mom. So, perhaps this will play into Ruby’s obsession somehow? Or the name choice of Confederacy was all just a coincidence, who knows?

[bluefanguy]

Agents Of SHIELD: Fun & Games: Reaction (Spoilers)

Not everyone has the same definition of “fun.”

For all the crazy Fitz and Jemma’s relationship goes through, we finally have an engagement! Yes, it will be some time before an actual ceremony but it’s a step forward in a happy direction.

Is there some unwritten rule that telepaths in modern superhero media can’t ever get happiness? In some other shows I’ve been watching, telepaths are either evil, have been taken over, or in Ben’s case, killed. Maybe it’s because having a hero telepath would make getting info for the main characters too easy but even then, telepaths have their own challenges, namely learning the harsh and ugly truths of others so easily and the fear that comes from others as a result. At least Ben bravely confronted his death.

I thought it would be May who had the big fight against Sinara but I guess having Daisy go against her is alright. It was surprising to see Sinara be surprised at having to fight to the death. You’d think someone who relishes dispensing out punishment would be less apprehensive towards combat, but I guess it’s easier to stay calm when your targets can’t fight back.

As weird as this sounds, Fitz having been head of Hydra in that Framework was a plus in this situation since I can’t imagine him knowing how to mingle with tyrants and dictators without having had that experience. It’s moments like this that really make you aware of how much characters change from when you first saw them. Much like how Jemma cut Kasius’ with that knife. I guess a doctor’s “do no harm” oath goes out the window once it’s a fight for survival and humanity.

So Flint’s Inhuman power is stone maniuplation, also known as terrakinesis, or some may think earthbending minus the physical movements. An Inhuman getting their powers is crazy enough but now he’s got a kill under his belt, as if he didn’t have enough to deal with. With Grill and Tess’s deaths, the agents can’t afford to be passive especially with the buyers aware of rebellion.

Things will be coming to a head soon and who knows how many Kasius and his brother, Faulnak, will kill to maintain control.

Thanks for reading! Likes, reblogs, comments, questions, and followings are all appreciated. Until next time.

Bluefanguy, out.

[speakpirate]

Why Addison’s Accusation Plot is the Worst

Within the show itself, the word predator / predatory has now been used to describe Ezra Fitz and Emily Fields an equal number of times. 

The show is continuing its really fucked up messaging around this stuff. Remember the scene where Noel gets busted with the answer keys in his locker, and the audience is supposed to feel this big sigh of relief? That sigh is predicated on the idea that no one will believe him now.  (Even though he'd be telling the truth about Ezria!) The idea that even if you tell, no one will believe you is exactly how abusers cow their victims into silence.  

(And false accusation plots, and the promotion thereof, train people to doubt the accuser and give the benefit of any doubt to the possible perpetrator.) 

That sigh of relief is the same one we're supposed to breathe when Paige doesn't believe Addison. Yes, Addison is a cretin (and I hate her name being Addison! Oh, are you trying to signal that she’s a mini-Alison? I had no idea, you were just so subtle!)  But Paige's reaction is based on her personal perception that Emily is a nice / good person. 

When someone says, "This person hurt me," it is never the right thing to counter, "That can not be true, because they never hurt me." That’s not evidence. That's actually the exact attitude that lets men like Ezra and Ian and Wren and Holbrook and Lorenzo and Garrett and every single adult Rosewood man on this show get away with their endless bullshit!

So it's an irresponsible story in general and then it leans hard on homophobia and homosexual panic to do its heavy lifting. It implies that LGBT teachers and coaches are more vulnerable to these accusations because as queermos in a locker room full of same gender people undressing, the possibility always exists that we could be looking at you in an unsavory way! Cue ominous music!

(If this line of reasoning seems familiar, that’s because it’s the older cousin of the trans bathroom panic sweeping Republican legislatures in a state near you!)

It equates Emily's potential guilt with her lesbianism, since  Addison's story relies on the mechanical equivalence where one part is true of the lie is based on the truth (Emily is gay), so the other part is more likely to seem true (she hits on teenage girls). It feeds into the long standing idea that gay people are more likely to be pedophiles. And it doesn't do any work to refute any of that! 

The story goes away because Addison is a liar, and Emily is a good guy. It's tagged as messed up that Addison did that, but it's messed up because she was trying to fuck with Emily, who is a Good Gay Person -- not because of all the ways her story is perpetuating negative ideas about gay people. 

Like, if Addison was the secret kid sister of one of the Liars and the gay coach was a Nefarious Gay Character like Sara Harvey or Shana - I think the show would/could use this exact same plot point, because they're giving no indication that it's inherently bad. All the badness of it revolves around the moral positioning of Emily and Addison.  

Compare that to when Spencer told Coach Fulton about Paige's homophobic comment about the breast stroke. Coach Fulton's response and Spencer's immediate reaction were entirely on the side of homophobia is bad. This plot, it's like lying is bad and doing bad things to Emily is bad, but homophobia is a morally neutral plot device.   

This plot line is like the Trump administration. I hate it so thoroughly, and it's being awful in so many directions it becomes hard to know what to rally against. I choose all of it!!!!

This plot is also the ultimate nail in the coffin of OG Alison DiLaurentis. They defanged her. They had an entire episode full of sex take backsies for her. They took away her plane. They had her make soup for Lorenzo during his terrifying tennis ball elbow injury. They married her off to Rollins and had her sign herself into a mental institution and then topped it off with an unplanned pregnancy. And now, now - she doesn't even have enough of her old mojo to help Emily Fields best a tenth grade wannabe mean girl? SERIOUSLY?!?! 

Also, the show was bending over backwards to push this Addison is the new Alison parallel, but does it really work? Alison was consistently shown using her sexuality and her brains and her instincts to bring down adult men. Yes, she manipulates the other liars, and I'm sure Addison manipulates whatever pseudo liar group she is the leader of, but Alison (back then) had complexity. She did bad things for good reasons. This little twerp appears to have no agenda except being terrible and skipping swim practice to make out with her boyfriend? So making her the stand in for teenage Ali is yet another retcon oversimplification of who Alison was back then.

Finally this whole thing MAKES. NO. SENSE. 

What is Addison's motivation? That she doesn't want to be benched?  Okay. I mean, if swimming is so important to her, why did she skip practice? If she's a top shelf liar, why didn't she come up with a better cover story when Emily asked her about it the first time? If she overheard Paige and Emily talking, which she certainly did, she heard Emily talk about her "intense history" with both Paige and Alison. So why would she even spin that story for Paige? Doesn't it seem like she should have known that Paige wouldn't buy it? Or was she randomly trying to cause trouble for the Paige/Emily/Alison love triangle by activating Paige's jealousy towards Alison? But why? Because Chaos Theory? 

Or is she - this new character who we have never seen prior to the ninth-to-the-last episode - somehow mixed up in the 'A' game, as the possible Jenna text and board game video suggest?  (She was ten years old when the Liars were being messed with before. As Austin Carr would say, "Get that weak stuff outta here!") 

In addition, what on Earth is AD getting out of this? What do they care if this girl is benched from a swim meet?  Why are they trying to help Emily out of trouble? Why didn't Emily take the AD video to Paige instead of confronting Addison? Was AD's big plan to make Emily yell at this girl?  

OOOOOHHH! They've engineered Spencer visiting Toby in the hospital and Emily shouting at a kid! What will this dastardly genius do next?!?!  

Although the "get in touch with your darkness" quote was mildly interesting, but darkness is Spencer fake kidnapping Malcolm. Darkness is Mona draining her own blood every night for months and storing it in a mini-fridge in order to fake her own death. I get that Emily is not generally a dark character, but raising your voice in a heated way at a tenth grader is just not on anywhere near the same level. 

Maybe I wouldn't be as worked up about it if the track record of the show post jump didn't include the deaths of Charlotte and Sara Harvey and Jenna’s involvement putting another queer woman as one of the final villains. 

And now, in the final episodes, we get this story that's a throwback to The Children's Hour. Boo x 1,000,000.

[katrinapavela]

#Scandal Season 6 Poster and Pre-Season Thoughts

This may be a little tardy for the party, but I had to write it anyway.Let’s get into this S6 poster. Most of what grabs me gives me hope. I’m cautiously optimistic. Much like my Fitzgerald, I live on hope (shout out to my grandmother); it’s how I cope with living in this world. I’d like to talk about three aspects of the poster and my general desires for Olivia’s character this season: the hair, the colour white, and the tag line. I’ll also address how I think Fitz fits into all this. 

The Hair

As someone who prefers Liv’s hair with soft waves, her hair is getting out of control in the curl department. Girlfriend’s style-ometer seems firmly stuck between Shirley Temple and Shirley Chisolm.

#DisTewMuch

If the straight hair is going to bring back some sleekness, then praise Jehovah. From recent previews, it seems evident that Liv stays Temple curled up for at least half the season, or so. I don’t know if going back to straight hair is a ‘new year, new me’ attempt, as it seemed to be after Fitz canceled their relationship in season 2 (213). I don’t, necessarily, associate straight hair with anything good. But at this point I don’t know if I can be any more annoyed with Liv’s behaviour and style than I was in 5B. But I would never leave her at her lowest, and by god, 5B saw her in a low way.

The Colour White

Speaking of Liv’s style, boy was I happy to see her cloaked in white. The most white we’ve ever seen on the poster. It is intentionally visible in a way it has not been since the S3 poster. The difference between the two posters is, of course, Olivia’s posture.

Season 3’s poster was branded with the tagline The secret is out. Olivia seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on her back due to the outing of that secret, and the set of events triggered from it. She spent much of the season in stark contrasting colours of black, white, or a mix of the two. Her world could not accommodate the ambiguity of shades of grey and soft neutrals.

This time around, Liv in white seems purposeful, but the slightly sinister smize has me a little shook.

It’s just a feeling. After seeing meme’s of Queen Michele Obama’s face from Trump’s Infrauduration maybe Olivia’s face reflects a fed up Black woman who wants us to know she’s watching her back because there ain’t no stoppin’ her now, she’s on the move. To where? I hope it’s not to the White House with Mellie. If that look of Liv’s is one of self-protection, I get it. That sentiment, paired with a return to white has me like

, Shonda. I need this to be good!

Liv has been a kaleidoscope of colour since leaving Fitz and the White House behind. It’s been a little dizzying to get used to, frankly. I have a fondness for seeing Olivia in marigolds and mustard hues. They complement her golden undertones, and feel sumptuous and soothing my eye. BUT. I am so fucking fed up with seeing her in other primary and jewel tones, especially red. Rowan’s name literally means ‘little red one’. And since 509, Liv has become little Rowan, constantly rolling up to his red door (often wearing the colour red).

Liv has become even more of his daughter (the thing he possesses) since she left the White House. Every time I see her in blood orange, crimson or scarlet, my blood boils. I hate the association because I hate Olivia and Rowan’s relationship. The colour inspires rage, not respect or power. I felt more of Olivia’s rage in 5B than I did her power. The latter, in the back half of last season, were much like her new vibrant clothing: a façade concealing the naked truth beneath.

A return to white coats would mean Liv believes in working on the side of good again. When last we saw her in white, she was trying to help that gay Bandari translator find asylum in the US, while combating undercover fuckery that would tank her Presidential Boo’s peace accord with Bandar.

I haven’t the faintest interest in Olivia Pope as Washington’s White Knight, unless she can erect boundaries to protect the flawed person that she is (and accepts). A superhero isn’t fully human. To me, a return to white would signal that Olivia believes in something again. One of the reason’s I grew to dislike her in 5B was her rudderless navigation system. She had no compass which served to ground her, and, consequently, tripped up over herself and made desperate decisions. Many of those decisions were guided by her pursuit of the most basic ass, narcissistic interpretation of power: proving that she was a winner by propelling herself back into the Oval, by any means necessary. She would not have to contend with ‘weak’ things like love this time.

As much as I loathe them both, Jake and Rowan said two useful things that I apply to Olivia:

Jake: “Dare to be normal, Liv!” (521)

Rowan: “True power is never lost” (504)

True power is never lost because it comes from within, and then gets projected outward. It is not guided by others or the external world. In 5B, the idea of 1600 Pennsylvania avenue and power was forcefully monologued to Olivia. She associates it with access and escape from being ‘normal’, something she told us she wasn’t back in the pilot episode (101). Fear of normal in the Olitz relationship is, partly, what drove Liv from the East Wing.

Liv did no inside work after leaving the White House, opting instead for a peacock wardrobe and a new (stanker) attitude as band-aids over a gaping wound of loss. I understand the impulse. Often when people are hurt, traumatized or afraid, the impulse is to adopt a tough, take-no-prisoners attitude as a warped and basic interpretation of strength. Fear can make people scary and violent, releasing their worst instincts. (Look no further than white people channelling their fear of losing their manufactured sense of superiority by electing Donald Trump as their Hocus Potus.) So, what Olivia became was no surprise. Shonda is not gonna convince me that 5B’s Olivia was a confident woman who had come into her own.

What I saw was a lot of desperation.

However, as predicted, Liv got closer to her father after leaving Fitz. Though she’ll never be in his good grace, I think the attempt was necessary to her journey to self-hood. Olivia spent so much time denying any similarities between the two, insisting since S3 that she was nothing like Rowan (409), and that her mother’s influence had been prominent (305). But the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, poison though it may be (419). As the seasons have progressed we, as an audience, have become painfully aware of the similarities between father and daughter. I don’t think Liv is ruined, as both mother (409) and father (518) have suggested. However, a journey that allows Olivia to accept that Rowan is as much a part of her as her mother is has merit. Even if it’s difficult to watch. By 520, Liv was crying into the arms of Huck because she realized that she’s not better than Rowan after all—the very thing she had prided herself on. She’s not destined to be him either. That’s the place she needs to get to.

The Tagline

This season’s tagline is The balance of power is about to shift. The obvious connection here is the result of the election, and impending change of POTUS in the Scandalverse. Let’s be real, when it comes to Olivia’s character, the balance of power needs to shift. The poor girl has had a lot of knocks, and neglected to give herself the time or care she needs to rebound from all that trauma. What I saw in 5B was a woman who behaved like an addict, using familiar people as substances to manage her pain, instead of confronting it. Let’s look at her circle of influence:

Rowan—the man who has tilted Liv’s balance of power since season 2B. The man responsible for Liv’s pursuit of masculinist power in 5B. The man whose narcissism failed his daughter’s emotional development, and, instead, infected her further with his sickness: “chaos stokes our fire” (512). Narcissists and addicts thrive on chaos for different reasons.  

Jake—A man who, instead of working on his own past and present pain, goes back to Olivia so they can wallow in the muck like two addicts. A man who resumed his role as a psychosexual extension of Olivia’s father, complete with the same gaslighting techniques and disregard for her feelings (514, 518). A man who is dependent on Olivia in a way she can’t resist: perpetual victim.

Mellie—A woman whose envy of patriarchal power that put her on a quest that aligned with the same one Rowan put his daughter on. A woman who claims to be friends with Olivia, but wouldn’t put up $5,000 (from the grip she got from the divorce) toward protecting Liv from Andrew (518). There’s too much to say about their past for me to believe this is a friendship that will outlast their usefulness to each other. From what I see, Kimberlé Crenshaw and Audre Lorde would look at this relationship and just

Olivia isn’t better than any of these people, and they don’t challenge her to be better. All three of them have been too manipulative in the past, actively perpetuating harm against her. I’m sorry, but I can’t see her decision to surround herself with them as a woman coming into her power. I see it as a woman who is afraid to reconcile her desires with emotional barriers that keep her from a life she wants. Or, maybe she’s a woman who doesn’t know what she wants, but knows what she’s good at—no matter how much it harms her.

I want the balance of power to shift in Liv’s direction. Part of that entails her excavating that emotional scar tissue to access the power she needs. She needs and intervention. She needs a therapist. She needs a good friend without a penis, who can be truthful. She needs a black woman. She needs her mama.

A balance of power that sifts to an internally defined sense of power is what Audre Lorde (1984) calls ‘the erotic’. It comes from a deeply feminine place. This would contrast with the more masculinist power we see Liv chase in 5B.

But what about Fitz?

Fitz, for me, has always been a reflection of something inside of Olivia that she seeks. He’s a key part of her journey, not as some male accessory she needs to collect to feel complete as a woman, but as a reflection of herself. In the absence of her mother, he represents a maternal source of love—one that is unconditional, renewable, never ending, compassionate, protective. I left Fitz out of the ‘need’ category because I want Liv to be ready to want Fitz. She thought he was going to make her happy when she ran to him in 422. But she wasn’t ready to do the work, still dependent on drama in their relationship. I have wanted them to cultivate a friendship since S4. I hope to get my wish this season, especially after Fitz leaves the White House. Perhaps after Liv loses the presidential race (I can’t see Mellie winning), perhaps she and Fitz can work together on their shared political ideologies to produce some much needed good in the world. They don’t need to be in the White House for that. Sure is pure fire together, but a big contributor to that heat is how great they work together as a team. I miss that.

Fitz is in a good place. He did the work after the break up in 509. He erected boundaries and listened to criticism. I want Liv to get to that place in a way that serves her well. If Liv cannot deal with the spectre of her past, she can’t truly own her power.

[agl03]

Two things. Firstly, do you think that Fitz' decision was kind of valid since he probably wouldn't do it if he didn't think that something is off about it, since they told him what happens but he still wants to figure it out himself. And secondly do you think they are dragging out the every one gets attached to something theme since May is a LMD and Fitz is going behind Jemma's back.

Hi @fitzsimmonsftw

I am totally for Fitz’s decision to continue on with AIDA and find it 100% in character.  Had he not wanted to keep digging I would have been worried.  He is a scientist and something he built failed in a horrible way, he has guilt about Nathanson’s death, and he doesn’t buy for one second that the Darkhold is Magic or that it “Magically’ made AIDA go against pretty much everything she was programmed to do (and he did a lot of that programming).  

I do think he feels something is up.  He completely shut Radcliffe out of the process and wouldn’t let him have AIDA 1.0 back.  He reached out to Jemma for help, the person he trusts the most.  

I am also very excited to see how it goes and the inevitable confrontation between Fitz and Radcliffe when Fitz finds out what he did.  And I’m excited to see Fitz turn the tables on Radcliffe.

I feel like the “Everyone gets attached to something,” arc is over.  We’re moving into those “attachments”  or relationships playing a more central role to how things play out.  What people will do to protect the ones they love just one aspect I can see coming.  

Philinda for example is being manipulated.  Radcliffe is using their established relationship, blossoming feelings for each other in order to gain access to the Darkhold.  Real May’s dedication and feelings for Coulson clashing with Robo May’s directive to get the Darkhold.

The big relationships or attachments I can see for this arc are.

Philinda

Mama May and her ducklings especially Daisy

Fitzsimmons

Fitz/Radcliffe

Fitz/Radcliffe/AIDA