#I am actually really disappointed that they didn't give us at least a couple episodes of “house and stacy actually have an affair”
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I got really into House and I was perfectly prepared to have a very frustrating experience being queer baited and generally ship baited (even the straight ships never pan out) but I was not prepared to how generally bad season 2 is. The thing with Stacy is not just baiting, it's sloppily done. I kinda liked Stacy because she's somewhere on the Wilson-House morally grey spectrum, but her romance with House just doesn't go anywhere, for no reason. They could have invested a little more in it, you know? And I don't know why they abandoned it so quickly but I suspect it was a mix of stupid reasons like "we don't want to make House have an actual secret affair" and "the audience is not super into this ship")
And then they make House "jokingly" be extra racist for no reason and then they make this episode in which he is incredibly horrible towards an intersex girl (like a much more explicit level of bigotry than usual), and then next episode they start us heavily on the hilson shipping. To the point it seems a bit desperate, like "ok we tried a het ship and it wasn't great, let's invest all we have on this gay ship". It's like this season is throwing everything on the wall to see what sticks, and it sucks. I wish I wasn't so obsessed with this series, because I'm not sure I'm enjoying it. The medical plots are boring (unlike the first season where there were several interesting plots), the work relations are messy, and nothing is given enough spotlight. I'm annoyed.
Does it get any better? I don't think so. Will I keep watching? Probably because I have no self control.
#house md#hate crimes md#i haven't binged a series in years and I think it's addictive#I am actually really disappointed that they didn't give us at least a couple episodes of “house and stacy actually have an affair”#house being all lovey dovey “you have to leave your husband” is kinda trite after he gets her inti cheating#it's not that it doesn't make sense I just find it a boring way to end it#they could also have played hilson against hacy and they didn't and that's dumb#but sure the latest ep I saw ends up with house gazing longingly at a sleeping wilson the queerbaiting is working
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It's so annoying to see people in the tag comparing Byler to other queer ships that didn't happen like no Byler is unique and wasn't made by bad writers. Idk if you were in one of those fandoms but it would be amazing if you could explain to all those people why Byler was written differently because I am tired of the classic: "they are queerbaiting you,deal with it". I am like :" wow they queerbaited the Lgbt+ community and the heterosexuals too then because a huge majority of the GA audiences who see Byler aren't from the Lgbt+ community". They also made the "main" ship do unlikeable that it lost at least 40% of their supporters between season 3 and season 4.
Well, I can see where they're coming from, even if I don't agree.
I have never been involved in a fandom before, but I have been a fan of shows/movies where I thought "so and so would make a good couple" only for nothing to come of it. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, though. This is the first time I've ever thought it was going to happen, and I've felt that way since season 2. Each season since has left me disappointed, as I don't want it to be a final episode "twist" in order to avoid losing fans, but it's still only become more and more obvious to me that it's inevitable.
I think a lot of fans get caught up in headcanons, particularly between seasons. As a result, they end up forgetting what is actually canon, and they create elaborate predictions that just don't fit the reality.
Yes, queerbaiting is a thing. I'm not familiar with many of the fandoms that this is used with, but I'll give the fans the benefit of the doubt on it. If a show hints at a queer couple, that's not enough for it to be queerbaiting. But if they continually build it up, only for it to go nowhere, then it might be. If they actively use it as a means to market the show, then it definitely is.
Without knowing more about specific fandoms, it's hard for me to make any direct comparisons. I suppose, should, somehow, Byler not be endgame, then I'll probably understand a lot better. However, I will also be extremely confused and will have lost considerable respect for the Duffers as writers.
However, Byler is a unique animals, as far as I can tell. It's something that has had seeds planted to it from the very beginning of the show. It's not some response to fans that the producers felt they could then exploit for marketing/merchandising purposes. It may not have been obvious back in season 1, but the clues were there. There was no retconning done to make Byler fit. There was no sly stoking of the flames in the fandom to get fans excited about it. That all happened organically as more and more people caught on.
I don't think the Duffers are dumb. They built a slowburn same-sex romance between main characters over the course of an entire top-tier series. As much as it annoyed me that it's taken this long, it does make the most sense, both in-universe and as a matter of mass appeal. Both the fans and the characters themselves had to come to terms with teen boys falling in love in the 80s. That's not something to be rushed if it's to be taken seriously.
Will, the one we've been told was gay, has come to terms with his feelings, only to come to the conclusion that it's not meant to be.
Mike, the one we've seen to have more-than-friendly feelings for Will, is still not ready, yet.
Season 5 will be the catalyst for Mike to realize what his deep feelings for Will really mean, so he can show Will that love is something for him to experience.
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STAR TREK UPDATE TIME. saturday we did voy's "basics part ii" and "flashback," and last night we did voy's "the chute" and "the swarm." not really last night changed bc i am writing this at fuck o clock its going up tmrw w/o me but w/e
basics part ii:
this one was fine. or rather the a-plot of this was boring, the b-plot fucking ruled
like, what do i care about the surface of this planet? ik there's a whole season that happens after this, nobody important is gonna die. even the critter was no that interesting
also, FUCK the baby not really being chakotay's. i was so fucking devastated. i wanted him to have a little guy sooo bad. they gave it to me and then snatched it away. imagine how he must feel...the whole ship in danger to save the kid that wasn't really his, and two people DIED in the process. the a-plot was terrible.
but ohhh the doctor and lon suder taking on the kazons alone. mwah.
first of all, what a match-up. the doctor can't be killed or harmed, not really, not the way suder used to enjoy hurting people. so that puts them on totally even terms
secondly, the fact that suder FINALLY almost overcame his violent impulses and now he has no choice BUT to give into them for a cause greater than his own needs (to have peace with himself)...that's juicy stuff. his struggle when he came back after killing that one guy was absolutely incredible.
finally, i love that out of any two people who could be stuck on voyager, you get the idea that these two people had the best chance of doing what they did. like the doctor is quite literally PART of the computer that runs the ship, and suder has all the violent impulses of his former life now combined with tuvok's methodical nature and his own hard-earned patience. truly a force to be reckoned with. it doesn't really push your suspension of disbelief when he takes out all those guys at once because part of him has been waiting to do that for a looong time
genuinely i'm only disappointed they killed him...a character like this could have EASILY been a regular. i'll miss him so much
flashback:
I LOVED THIS ONE.......
the undiscovered country was not my favorite tos movie by far (it ranks near the bottom actually) but i wish i had skimmed it at least before watching this. the movie footage being there was so so fun, and JANICE RAND! i'm always so happy to see her turn up, she deserved so much better, even if most of her tos scenes did annoy me to death
anyway, imagine being in a show and 30 years later they are calling you on the phone asking if you would like to do another episode of the show. star trek really is so unique in that regard, very few franchises have that same kind of staying power. m*rvel who? get the fuck out of here.
i looooooved getting more of tuvok's backstory. i think it's really hilarious that spock's parents almost disowned him when he joined starfleet but after that vulcan parents are like pressuring their kids to join to be more like him. poor spock and poor tuvok i wish they could have met onscreen just once
janeway in the old uniform!!!!!!!! she looked amazing
mixed feelings about janeway's speech about how things were different in the tos era and that's why sometimes they didn't do the prime directive. actually, it's funny because i got a little huffy at her "they were quicker to reach for their phasers" comment like GIRL NO THEY WEREN'T and then like the very next day i watched "taste of armageddon" where kirk did immediately start blasting because the disintegration chambers triggered his tarsus iv trauma and had to reluctantly forgive her
that said. spock mention.
the chute:
something lgbt happened on star trek voyager...i don't ship this couple because i'm still kirby with a gun re: tom paris, but i'm incredibly happy for people who do. i think about how i would have been if this had been chakotay and janeway instead (besdie myself) and i just KNOW the harry/tom shippers were eating
i wish harry kim got more to do...he had a little more this time but his solo scenes didn't have much meat to them, it was his scenes w tom paris that really stood out
and like i didn't hate those scenes, but the "shitty hellhole prison" plot itself also kind of bored me, because we just saw a far superior version of this happen to o'brien on ds9 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and to me one half of tom/harry is kinda boring and never gets his chance to shine, and the other is eternally on probation for being too annoying in season 1. so i had a hard time staying invested
that said it was very fun when janeway came down through the hole guns blasting. now who's playing cowboy, captain?
the swarm:
this was another one where the a-plot sucked and the b-plot ruled
i know janeway doesn't wanna add another 15 months, but man, come ON...it was very dumb not to go around. it was even dumber to not go around WHILE YOUR DOCTOR WAS BROKEN. take a few days to fix him and THEN go. also WHAT HAPPENED TO HER IDEALS? the showrunner really needed to keep this shit straight this was wildly out of character for her. that plus constantly brushing off kes...not her finest episode tbqh
the doc losing his memory was great though. kes is SO kind to advocate for him as she does and she and b'elanna were just great in general. kes even gave him a little kissy!! treat him really niceys: the episode
the other doctor hologram was really funny too although his usage of the "it" pronoun made me flash back to my rage when people did that to data during tng
it was actually so true to life how people with dementia act...kes did a great job of keeping him calm until the end :(
and the humming!!! i can't believe they left it there, but i suppose the implication is he gets it all back. and what a breath-taking spot to end it, honestly
TONIGHT: ds9's "apocalypse rising" and voy's "false profits" (i read the summary and good god someone HELP me)
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HotD vs GoT (season 1) ?
I've seen many comparisons between the two and according to some critics (quite a lot of them tbh) HotD is superior or has a potential to be because... reasons. Now, while I do believe that, while comparisons are always odious they sometimes make, but this one is really weird and unjust because a lot of people are still disappointed with how GoT ended (personally, I wasn't happy with how some things played out either, especially in the last two seasons, but I am definitely not that upset four years later and actually remember the show as a whole more or less fondly) and this disappointment together with anti D&D discourse probably clouds the judgement. However, they seem to ignore that GoT had 8 seasons and was mostly well liked and praised until the last two, while HOTD has barely begun and already has many problems writing-wise imho. Will those same people, after HOTD ends (and there is no way that everyone will be satisfied with the ending) retrospectively start to hate everything they are praising right now, I wonder? I do sincerely hope that HotD will improve and that every new season will be better then the previous one, but based strictly on the first seasons (I recently rewatched GoT s1) it's GoT >> HotD.
What do you think?
I didn't like GOT. I didn't watch it properly. I tuned in to see how they did some of the bigger moments like Red Wedding and Purple Wedding, and I watched the last two seasons just for asoiaf closure, and honestly, I liked the GOT ending, more or less.
Not Dany being killed by Jon, or Arya vs Night King, or King Bran, but Dany burning the whole place down. Her arc's sort of going there in the books imo. I'm a simple woman—I'm in this for the dragons and for Drogon burning things. I wanted to see Stoneheart and Young Griff and those storylines, but I will take Drogon burning things.
I truly don't get the pretense that HOTD is better than GOT or that Codal & co are in any way better than D&D. I'm giving them less points actually because they saw how GOT unraveled and they've made zero improvements. D&D at least have an excuse—Martin promised to have the books finished when they started. They signed on to adapt, not finish asoiaf on their own strengths. It's a complicated thing that even the creator is struggling with after a decade. They tried, at least.
Codal and co are already floundering in S1. They've already lost narrative coherence. Even the characters aren't coherent. And yes, you can use a time skip to just wave a "People change" flag at all the inconsistencies but come on.
In their defence tho, "And then all the hyper-intelligent special rare sentient magic dragons killed each other in the stupidest ways ever for no real reason" is not an easy story to tell without an extreme amount of hand-waving.
I don't think F&B should exist. I think Martin should have looked it over a couple of times like "Hot six-year-old? Jumping from one dragon to another? WTF is this? This ain't it. Nope."
Honestly, I think HBO just has a bunch of media people on the payroll hyping them up so they can use the emmys for free advertising. Brian Cox is up for a lead actor Emmy with a grand total of three episodes? It's not TV, just HBO living by HBO rules. If they say it's better then it's better. 🤷🏾♀️
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Judge Dee's Mystery
Last episode! I'm finishing this tonight!!
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She better have a sensible plan because if she is carrying him out in a snowstorm just because she's afraid of ghosts, I'll be mad.
But I'm hoping she's smarter than that.
I think the head librarian or whatever he is is poisoning him, which is why he keeps regressing and having hallucinations. I think she figured out at the end of the last episode that the guy who committed suicide was not spelling "ghost" on the palm of his hand, but his name.
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Did she actually leave him in the snow or is he hallucinating again?
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Oh, thank fuck.
Finally, someone I like and trust.
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Oh, thank goodness she didn't just leave him there to die.
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This drama is so predictable 🙄
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LMAO, they are having a proper Satanic ritual, sacrificing children and all.
You can just tell a European wrote this book.
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Oh, I thought that the one who had killed himself was Xiaobao.
I was under the impression that he had vanished years ago for some reason.
Oh, well. At least I was wrong about something.
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LMAO, those idiots going up against Ma Rong and Qiao Tao 🤣🤣
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So obvious from the start.
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A misogynist in addition to being a psychopath and a creep.
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LMAO, I love them 🤣🤣
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He's the epitome of "a weird hill to die on, but at least you're dead".
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Looks like they won't be breaking up after all.
Meh.
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Nothing is more irritating than a villain who has every opportunity to kill the protagonists, letting them live longer for whatever stupid reason and giving them time to regroup and kill him in turn.
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I approve of this.
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Well, this concludes the first season.
Is this the greatest thing I ever watched? Absolutely not. Will I be watching season 2? Oh, hell, yes!
Zhou Yiwei was fantastic, but honestly, I would watch this man sit and read a phone book at this point, so that says nothing. I do not necessarily recommend this drama to anyone except his fans. There were a couple of really good cases here but most of them were predictable and just not very smart. The romance was underwhelming and extremely poorly written, so anyone going in for that reason will come out disappointed. I did love Hong, Qiao Tao and Ma Rong and am looking forward to seeing more of them next year. The trailer they gave us also looks promising, so I will definitely be back when season 2 airs.
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My thoughts on WOT Prime so far
SPOILERS; WOT PRIME AND EYE OF THE WORLD BOOK
I was sceptical upon my first watch. The pacing is a bit off, and they've cut out a lot of elements I really liked in the first book. The world building too is a little info dumpy, but I guess it's an inevitability.
I feel like Moiraine's introduction in Two Rivers I'd weird. We have already seen her on screen, so why is she getting a grand reveal? It is supposed to evoke a sense of mystery, but we already have met this character, and we know what she wants. It kind of annoyed me that they found out she was Aes Sedai straight away too, as it again takes away this air of mystery. Moiraine at least has a civil conversation in the books with the boys before she is later revealed to be Aes Sedai. Other than that, I thought the performance was amazing. She does have an air of mystery to her, a sense of wisdom and knowledge, whilst being powerful and sure in herself.
Rand, gosh my smol boi. I honestly feel like they are spending less and less time on him because they want to keep the suspense. I felt in the first episode he was pushed to the back, but I guess it's because the entire of Winternight takes place from his point of view. I am a bit upset Tam didn't hand him the blade, and that we didn't see Tam's feverish mutters. Rand's big battle, after the trauma in Winternight, is dealing with the fact that he may not be who he thought he was, beyond being the Dragon Reborn. We don't see much conflict in him, only his reluctance to follow an Aes Sedai (which to be fair was well done).
Mat stole my heart in the first episode. Running out to protect his sisters in the middle of a blood bath? That's a real bloody hero. Do better Rand.
Perrin I do like. His wife I do not. There is conflict. I hate that it's the tragic trope of the dead wife (like John Wick), but then I really like that he kills her. He's in a stupor, and you can see he's doing all he can because he wants to protect the ones he love. He's so zoned out that he ends up striking her instead- blood and ashes. There is the fact that the wife is not developed at all and is just used as a tragic backstory; considering this is a story that has an element of empowerment in it, it's kind of disappointing we see her as nothing more than a prop rather than an actual character. She might have been interesting to actually explore, rather than just have her death part of Perrin's trauma. We don't see them together properly, we don't see them as a couple, so we don't know for sure what Perrin can be feeling. Though in the moment we feel for Perrin, we don't actually feel the pain ourselves.
One thing that kind of annoyed me was Moiraine straight up giving the history of Manetherian to the Emond's fielders just felt weird. It went on for too long and honestly didn't really add much. The song was fine, and if Moiraine needed to give some background, she should've really shortened it or not told it at all. I just felt there could've maybe been more character moments rather than her explaining Two Rivers history.
Moving to more positive things...
I didn't know I needed another reason to have Nynaeve as my favourite character, but episode 3 gave it to me anyhow... Probably my favourite scene so far was her fighting that Trolloc.
Also Lan and Nynaeve are actually brilliant. Knife to the throat trope? Check. Kinda sceptical but into each other? Check. Lan being challenged in his Warder skills? Check. I see what you're doing, Amazon. Though a lil put off by the tying up situation, the rest I approve. Lan looking simultaneously annoyed and attracted is what I needed from this show.
Egwene is great. She and Nynaeve have literally been lifted right from the books and onto screen, because their portrayals are immaculate.
Overall I'm enjoying it. Good fights and decent dialogue. I am hyped for the next episode!!
#wot show#wot tv#wot prime spoilers#wheel of time#rand#rand al'thor#mat cauthon#egwene al'vere#lan mandragoran#moiraine sedai#nynaeve al'meara
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I read what's available of the Shadow Beauty webtoon and while i do think the drama handles the psychological suspense better than the webtoon, i do like the pov changes in the webtoon that really help show how everyone is fucked up in unique and yet universally human ways humanize the main 4 characters.
I do think the drama plot changes, like making haneul and genie online bffs and hoin more weirdly obsessed with aejin really help ramp up the tension. Also, the drama keeping the source of the nightmares secret (as of ep 6) and how that ties into aejin's fraught, secretive relationship with her mom is kind of brilliant. And in the webtoon, haneul didn't call bs on fake genie like that, so i'm interested to see how that plays out.
Spoilers under the cut
I wonder if we'll get to see the author of the book aejin is reading like in the webtoon, or if we'll even see her getting comfort in it at all. While i do like the drama pacing better than the webtoon, the additional shading the webtoon gives to aejin's changing inner monologue/character growth is super interesting.
There's a couple time jumps in the webtoon. One from second/junior year to the end-ish of third/senior year, and another to when they're 25. At the end of senior year, aejin ghosts hoin and because of redacted series of events, haneul and aejin become bff roommates by the time they're 25. Idk how the drama, which only has 7 20-min episodes left, will be able to cover all this territory, or if they'll just stop at hs. And this is only knowledge of the 75 english chapters available. There's another 50 chapters that haven't been translated yet.
Speaking of the time jump, when hoin is reintroduced he's shockingly normal?? And isn't obsessed with the psychology of aejin??? And instead treats haneul like his actual first love???? Who he's still in love with and wants to win back?????? Wtf??????????????? Like...they totally changed him just to give haneul a happier ending or sth i guess (idk, like i said, i haven't read the ending, but i can see where it's going) bc the first time he sees aejin he's just like nah, idc about psychology anymore since i went to college and the army and i'm totally normcore now and am going to a psychologist starting today (and he rly is). Uh???? Psychosis like that doesn't just get cured bc your one friend ghosted you and your gf broke up with you. Also personally, i liked him better when he was fucked up, lol.
Also i guess they changed hoin so aejin could have other viable love interests. One guy is the most boring man in the world, but he tries. And the other one of them is the author of the books she found comfort in (he's like the same age as her, so there's no creepy age gap), except she followed him from her genie account and they've been voice chatting for years. They haven't met up yet (he lives abroad) and every time he comes back to korea, she gets too scared to meet him bc she doesn't want to disappoint him bc she doesn't look like genie. But also in one of his pov eps he says to himself that he wants to eat with aejin?? He knows her real identity??? How does she keep getting these mysterious dudes on the hook who discover her identity, and yet literally no one else, not even her roommate bff (until like ep 75 when she borrows her computer) can piece it together?
Oh, also, back to hs: the fake genie is also a total bully in an even more fucked up way than haneul was. But aejin and hoin outsmart her, but the major players she manipulated in her scheme suffer in unintentional ways (including herself)
Redacted happens to haneul at the same time as the bullying and aejin saves her but hoin freezes in the moment bc he's unsure if maybe haneul deserves this after everything that she put aejin through. Even though he does help aejin break fake genie's ultimate plans, he seems conflicted as to why they're helping haneul. And they want us to believe he wasn't at least a little in love with aejin??? After calling her the most interesting person he's ever met?? And following her around and saying she's pretty enough to be genie on her own and complimenting her strong inner character and telling her to have more confidence in herself bc she's amazing??? Like okay???
Also back in hs, aejin ends up sending a letter with her pic to jinsung, it's one he cherishes so much he keeps it hidden and re-reads it for comfort. But other than him becoming a successful kpop star, he's never in the story again.
As of age 25/chap 75 they haven't revealed what was in jinsung's video yet, but i rly don't believe it was every actually anything raunchy/perverted.
Redacted (this is way too big to spoil) is why aejin creates genie in the first place and why basically she has so much self-loathing. It's rly sad but makes so much sense. Weirdly, this is introduced almost right away in the webtoon, but has only briefly been alluded to in the drama. That pain is also how she ended up connecting with both hoin and haneul on deep friendship levels. Oh, and fucked up expectations from their parents bc it wouldn't me a manhwa w/o fucked up parents, amirite?
#shadow beauty#manhwa#just dumping my thoughts and some key plot points for anyone that wants to spoil themselves#though i left out the two most major plot points bc they'll be revealed in the drama soon
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Parker: "Teach me to like stuff."
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Okay, so. I have some thoughts about The French Connection Job's Parker+Eliot subplot. And I think I wanna approach it separately, scene by scene from each of their perspectives, because we have a couple different things going on here. It's still a little more of a Parker meta than an Eliot meta, but I have enough to talk about on both sides, and they're connected enough not to be in separate metas, that I am going to do it this way.
Also going to put this under a cut because it gets long.
Parker
This whole subplot comes on the heels of the last episode, in which there was a lot of banter throughout about Hardison and Parker's dates, and him wanting to branch out into other things than just bungee jumping or whatever. We have seen hints of this throughout S5 so far, even though we're only a few episodes in at this point. They went on a world tour that was pretty much just jumping off of stuff, Hardison said something about them figuring things out. We saw a cute domestic scene of the aftermath of them watching a movie together, except Parker 'fell asleep again' and missed most of it, and Hardison eventually went off to work on his laptop. Parker tried to comfort him last episode about dust mites and ended up freaking him out instead. She talked about how she liked fire and Hardison complained she was missing the point of his offer for a candlelit picnic. They did end on a very romantic note with her still making the effort to make it happen but getting rained out, and him recognizing her effort and listening to him, and projecting the stars around the dark room then having the picnic inside. They are clearly very happy together and both making the effort to meet in the middle, but there are still some disconnects. Which makes sense this early on anyway, but it's not out of place for Parker to start getting worried about her limited interests here given the context of them contrasting Hardison's more widespread interests.
Starting right off the bat - there's a picture limit so I can't show these early moments, but throughout the first part of the episode we see Parker looking visibly upset/pensive. Hardison notices and asks her what's wrong, but is immediately distracted by his package arriving, and then the team gets into the briefing and he doesn't get to talk to her again. (Sidenote that this is pretty OOC for Hardison, and I have to assume he would at the very least come back to her later, but they were clearly trying to get Parker talking with someone else this episode and apparently couldn't come up with a better way to do it. His writing outside of the kitchen stuff was kinda off this whole episode anyway, what with the whole tip thing.) She was about to open up to him, however, which is important. There's also a scene shortly afterwards where she confides in Nate, again after he notices her being upset and asks what's bothering her. She claims everyone but her has 'a thing', and names a few of them. He asks her what she thinks when she sees Michelangelo's David, and when her answer is an immediate assessment of how it's guarded and what she'd have to do to steal it, he kind of hesitates and then goes right back to running the con. He basically gives up on helping her with this once it becomes clear that a quick sentence or two isn't gonna cut it.
So after those brief, unhelpful conversations, that's when she makes a move. She was responding to others before, but this time she comes up to Eliot, clearly nervous. And she asks him to help her feel something.
(I find it very interesting that she doesn't ask Sophie. Sophie is the person who she would usually go to for something like this, after all. But, aside from this being an Eliot-centric episode and just like them sidelining Hardison's possible assistance earlier the writers want Parker to talk with Eliot not Sophie, I think there are maybe a couple reasons why she might go to him here. First, just distance. Eliot is right downstairs, meanwhile at the moment Sophie is however far across town at her theater. Certainly not saying she wouldn't go to Sophie eventually, but maybe that's why not first. Second, she and Eliot have an understanding, one that's been explicitly acknowledged since the start of S4. They are similar in a way entirely unlike the rest of the crew. So while Sophie may understand emotions best, Eliot is the one most likely to know what Parker is talking about when she says she just isn't feeling anything. Which by the way I'm gonna get more into later on. Thirdly they're in love but that's not actually relevant here since all of the team love one another.)
Eliot
On Eliot's side, she approaches him when he's busy in the kitchen. This whole job is stirring up a lot of old feelings in him right from the start. Toby was someone who 'kept him from falling all the way down', and Eliot is deeply concerned for him. At the same time, the way they are running this con is allowing Eliot to take on the role of teacher. Even though his students aren't anything like the eager students Toby has just had taken away from him, Eliot wants so badly to take advantage of this opportunity to teach them - maybe even all the more because they're resistant. He's being given a very rare opportunity to indulge his belief that food is life and to share it on a larger scale. To use the knife to create, not just destroy. Leverage often walks a line between doing both (taking down the bad guys and helping people) but Eliot doesn't often just straight up get to just do the 'creating' part. (I mean, he loves the destruction too, he genuinely loves beating people up and taking down bad guys, but this is a rarer pleasure.) So he's pretty preoccupied with that at first, and initially dismisses Parker just like the other two guys did.
But when she just looks quietly disappointed at his response, he goes still and watches her. We cut away from them here so we don't see his actual response, but it's immediately clear that he's realizing this is actually something deeply important to Parker, and well worth his time.
On to the next part of this scene below.
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[Eliot sets a dish down in front of Parker]
Parker: "...It's just food."
Eliot: "It's not just food! Alright, some people could look at it and just see food, but not me. I see art. When I'm in the kitchen I'm, I'm creating something outta nothing, you know what I mean? And sometimes I crush it, sometimes it's crap, but either way - it makes me feel something."
Parker: "Feel what?"
Eliot: "Just... feel."
Parker: [murmuring] "Feel... okay." [looks down at the food and hesitates]
Eliot: "You know, I didn't feel anything for a long time. Then Toby taught me how to cook, and after he did, I started to feel stuff again. That's why I share it through my food - this is my art. This is my art, Parker." [Parker nods, looking worried] "It's like lettin' a stranger in your head, just for a second. And you allow them to feel what you're feeling." [pause] "Look again." [he pushes the plate a little closer to her. Parker takes a deep breath and slowly sets her elbows down on the counter as she stares down at the plate. Eliot watches her closely.]
Parker
At this point I want to talk a little about what Parker means when she says "feel something" and talks about "having a thing." Because we've seen her have interests outside of straightforward thievery before. Sure, most of her hobbies revolves around stealing - casing local banks for fun, for example. But she clearly has a deep love for Christmas and for chocolate. So why doesn't she count those kinds of things as 'feeling something'?
I think it comes down to what Eliot's talking about here. It's a sense of art. Not even necessarily making it yourself, although that certainly applies. Parker likes sweet things like chocolate and donuts, but although she really really likes them they don't make her feel any truly deep emotion. It's more tactile than anything else, just a pleasant flavor. Her love of Christmas isn't the same either in her eyes because it's not uniquely hers. It's something she loves to celebrate but she can't do so all year round, and plenty of other people like Christmas too. This one comes a lot closer, because it definitely seems to be tied up more in community and family for her than something like enjoying chocolate and piñatas, but it still doesn't belong to her in the same way that cooking does to Eliot or theater does to Sophie. And while theoretically her love of base jumping and so on could maybe count, it is still so tied up in her thieving that it doesn't feel separate. She's really good at drawing but only thinks of it as a useful skill, not a creative outlet - this is similar to that.
She has been branching out into a lot of new experiences and emotions lately, and while she's struck out deep into uncharted waters with her relationship with Hardison, once there she's only seeing more and more things that she just... doesn't get. She loves spending time with him, and enjoys what they do together, but she doesn't understand all of those things. Not on a deeper level. She wants to feel that sense of connection to something, wants to feel deeply emotionally moved by something.
And honestly? I think she's way up in her head about it. I'm not trying to dismiss her struggle here at all, but I do think she is stressing herself out about having something uniquely her own. About having a huge interest that speaks so strongly to her personally. And those are amazing to have, but it's really not necessary. She doesn't need a strong secondary passion so much as she needs to let go of trying so hard to force herself into something.
And what's happening in this scene in particular is that Parker is trying so so hard to force herself to feel something. It's evident in her face throughout the whole scene, in her body language. And she is so terrified that it's not going to work that honestly, I'm not surprised at all that it doesn't.
Eliot
On Eliot's side of this scene, he feels like he recognizes where Parker is. This entire job has him remembering how it was to feel nothing. Her phrasing got to him deeply. He wants to reach out and teach her to see something more, just like Toby taught him.
He knew a bit about how to cook before Toby. But it was only seeing Toby's passion that struck something in him, that awoke a part of himself he might've never known before. For Eliot specifically, cooking being an art isn't just something he likes. It's something that brings him hope.
Eliot doesn't believe in redemption. But he believes in actions. And what Toby did, by teaching him to cook, was to teach him that his actions can be good. That he can create, not just destroy. That all is not lost - not 'for' him necessarily, so much as 'in' him. There is a deep empty place inside himself that he can enter so so easily. The difficulty is crawling back out again. Cooking was his rope out of there. He still finds it difficult to express his emotions very often, particularly verbally, but when he makes someone a meal he puts a part of himself into it. And yet doing so doesn't take anything from him, it just adds more.
This is all very vague and figurative and may make no sense, but the takeaway I want to have is that Eliot is opening up to Parker on a very deep level here. He feels like he recognizes what she's talking about, and it was a very bad place for him. (Again, I don't think she is quite that badly off at this point in canon, but I digress.) And while making food allows him to feel that he is demonstrating his love for someone, that he is sharing a part of himself with them, he recognizes that she isn't receiving that. What she's getting, is just a plate of food. Tasty food maybe, but nothing more than that. And so Eliot verbalizes everything to her in a way he rarely does.
And then he keeps trying. This scene obviously doesn't end up making her feel something, and we don't get to see the immediate aftermath of that, but we can glean a little about how they feel based on their reactions. And Eliot is deeply determined to help Parker feel something from his food. He insists that she play the food critic; even speaks directly to her and reminds her to consider what they talked about.
.
In the restaurant, we start out with Parker dutifully playing her role but feeling nothing much beyond just the role. Eliot checks in with Parker, she acknowledges that the food is good but doesn't make her feel anything, and he makes improvements based on her feedback. Then something abruptly changes.
Parker: "I can taste garlic, and mushrooms... and something else that makes me feel different."
Hardison: "Wait, was that for me, cause I-I don't get it."
Parker: "No, it's the food. I get it." [smiles] "I feel something."
+
Parker: "Mmm! These black noodles are amazing!
Eliot: "Parker, it's tagliolini nero con gamberi."
Parker: "Mmm." [eats a huge forkful] "Mmm. Mmmm. These are really good."
Parker
What just happened here? Last we saw from Parker, she'd failed to feel something from the meal Eliot made especially for her in the brewpub, and she was clearly disheartened. She felt it as a failure, very much in the sense of a disappointment. She didn't want to try again, didn't think it would work, and tried to protest when Eliot said she would be the food critic. Even once she got to the restaurant, nothing was happening for her.
The difference wasn't in the flavor of the food. The moment Parker started to feel something was right after she said she felt nothing and Eliot, instead of being disappointed or giving up, took it as a challenge. He changed his recipe, he improved it specifically to better reach out to her. He kept trying.
And yeah, maybe the bone broth helped it taste better. But that wasn't the point, not really. The point is that Parker had gotten herself stuck in a hole, trapped herself in this cycle of not understanding how things make you feel and then believing that she just couldn't. She wanted something of her own and she didn't have it and she didn't immediately get anyone else's thing either, and that was it. She just wasn't capable. She was other. This is an old old fear of Parkers, dating back to Archie or even before. Something in her just isn't capable of being like other people. She wasn't worthy of being in Archie's real family, and she's not able to feel passion for anything outside of stealing. (Setting aside the fact that she loves her team, that all she needed was the right family. That you don't have to be a creator to feel passion, and you don't need to be passionate about any particular thing in order to feel deeply and find beauty in the world.) Parker has empathized deeply with people, has felt so intensely before and is constantly trying to learn more and new ways to be. But because she is noticing her teams' passions now, she has this ideal that she wants to reach, and none of that is good enough for her. She doesn't even know exactly what her ideal involves, but she can't get to it.
But when Eliot doesn't give up, that gets to her. If he views his food as sharing himself with others, Parker finally gets what he's been trying to give all along. It's all about him trying again and again, changing his approach to match her better. That's what she feels, that's what she enjoys.
And once she starts, the floodgates open. She loves the black noodles. She is so happy, she is relieved. There was this huge resistance that she couldn't get past before, but Eliot persisting helped her to break past that and now that she is out of her head about it she can enjoy the food in a way she never has before. Because she feels his love for her in it.
Eliot
Eliot is trying so hard to connect to Parker. It's not really different from what I said in the last Eliot section, and basically the same as what I just said in that Parker section, but I want to emphasize a little more just how much this is about love on his end.
Eliot loves Parker. He loves her, and he wants so much to help her. It doesn't honestly matter that he does this with food, except for the fact that food is what matters so deeply to Eliot himself. He can't reach out to her in the same way through any other medium. And we don't get to see his reaction to Parker's moment of realization. But I think it would be such a deep sense of joy. This is as fulfilling for Eliot as it is for Parker. It's exactly what Eliot has been hoping for this whole episode, to teach someone else to see food in the same way he does. It doesn't matter if it only lasts for a moment or a single meal. That's enough. He has been the support Parker needed through this time of self-doubt. And it is all the more meaningful to him because this isn't just a random student, this is Parker.
He told her he loves her through his food, again and again, and she eventually felt it. She understood. That must mean so much to him.
.
I wanna end with one more brief note on Parker. Does she get her own "thing" this episode? No. No she does not, and this scene shows us that. Parker is not suddenly interested in food or cooking. The importance of that meal was purely derived from Eliot on the other end of it, focused on her and trying his best to reach out to her.
And I don't think this is something only Eliot could have done for her either, not really. The difference between him and the others this episode is mostly in persistence. However, it's also about her mentality. Hardison has built/done things for Parker before and she felt them just as deeply - but the context was different. She wasn't looking for a sense of beauty or art in the world at large then, and so even though she felt the love in the gift just as much, it didn't make her feel like she could find that kind of emotion in other things. She just wasn't looking for it. Also, it was made easier for Eliot to reach out because there's that connection Parker has with him, that understanding that they are on the same level somehow. She doesn't feel that with Hardison - and she loves him all the more for him being different from her, but he also I think can intimidate her with how good and open he is, with how much he can feel in so many different directions. It's part of why she got so worried about herself not being able to do so this episode.
Like, the team has scolded Nate for not having a life or interests of his own outside the job not too terribly long ago! And Parker has had her own joys before! But she isn't seeing that this episode, too caught up in this fear about not having her own 'thing', not feeling anything that way. So while anyone could have helped her through this, it was easiest for her to let Eliot do so + for him to understand what she needed from him. (Hardison in particular was rudely robbed the opportunity, but they all love and support her and could have reached her. Not to detract from Eliot doing so, but also I don't wanna sound like no other method of reaching out would've worked.)
But as soon as she feels something once with Eliot's help, that relaxes those fears. And then Parker is free to look in other places. She remembers Nate's comment about art, and maybe even tells him what she plans based on him knowing where she is at the end of the episode. And then she goes to visit this statue. In her own way which means breaking in, but without any goal of taking it. She just goes to look at the art. And she feels something again.
Parker doesn't gain some big passion at the end of this episode. She doesn't need to. She never did. She just learns how to let herself relax from that restrictive frame of mind. To simply be in the moment and enjoy things for the sake of what they are. To feel - not really in any way she was incapable of before, but intentionally now. It's a quiet victory, in the end. It doesn't mean she's going to get a new hobby or change her lifestyle at all really. But she's let go of a fear and is now intentionally seeking out new connections with the world beyond her once-limited parameters.
#leverage#leverage meta#parker#eliot spencer#my meta#ugggggh why did this get so long?! i just wanted to jot down a few thoughts!#hopefully it's coherent#i'm like half-asleep at this point which probably accounts for the length since i ramble on when i'm tired. and also hopefully for anything#that doesn't make sense
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Meant To Be Series || One For Every Billion
Episode 2. Next Time, Make it Up Twice
*Both Written and SMAU parts this episode*
"I'm in love with soba, oh my god!" You're still relishing the meal you just finished as you walk with Toshi and his friends to grab some boba.
Tendou chuckles, "I think you only like it because of that character in your favourite manga."
"ONE of my favourite mangas, thank you. But yes, he's so cute just quietly eating his soba for lunch. Like, I'd definitely love it just for him, but I did actually enjoy it."
Semi smiles at your excitement, "You should try it hot too, it's different."
"Yes, yes. Of course, I will at some point but I'm soo full right now I can't think of more food."
"Do you not want the boba, then?" Toshi looks over at you seriously but you're already smiling and shaking your head.
"Of course I do, that's not food, Toshi!"
"Oh okay. I'll help you pick something light if you want."
"Thank you!"
The door chimes as you walk into the shop but you pause just inside to check your phone when you feel its persistent buzzing. You had updated your twitter and your friends are giving you grief over the picture of your lunch. Yeah, yeah, you wanted to try it because you simp for icy hot boys, so what? It's good to try new things.
You're firing off a reply to their sarcastic (read: jealous) comments when the door chimes again and then you're stumbling because something just knocked into you.
"Ow- shit!" That's not your voice. You don't think you've made a sound but you don't recognize that yet.
What you do register first as you're falling forward is how you're grateful because it's definitely not the hard door that hit your back and head, and you're lucky because you really shouldn't have been standing right there. Then you realize you're about to fall on your face because your hands are frozen clutching your phone. Just as that thought flits through your head faster than your lack of a quick reaction, you strangely find yourself floating before you can face plant on the floor and thank god because, ew, germs. Also, potentially ouch.
You're a little thrown off so it takes you a moment to realize you didn't make like another one of the characters in that particular manga and develop a float quirk. No, there's a toned arm that's caught you around your waist and now you're more than just a little thrown off.
You're sure you're blushing in embarrassment as you're carefully set right side up and turn to apologize to the owner of the savior arm.
"I'm so sorry!" You hear an apology at the exact same time it flies from your own mouth and you pause because you're melting into chocolate eyes that are probably as wide as your own.
Wha- You're looking up into the face of an angel! But no, really, omg it's a seriously cute boy. And why do you want to touch his hair??
He does look like he's genuinely sorry but his face relaxes as both your eyes hold and he smiles (quite charmingly), before calmly responding first "It's my fault, so I really am sorry for knocking you over, pretty girl. I was walking backwards and didn't see you there."
You raise your eyebrows, stuck on that for a second and accidentally blurting, "Who walks through a door backwards??" in genuine curiosity before your eyes widen, "I mean, no, but it's not your fault either! I'm the one that stopped right in front of said door, I really should have just moved up before checking my phone."
His hand reaches up to rub the back of his head in that way that really makes guys look cute when they're a little at a loss for words. At least that's what you think until he says, "Maybe we can make it up to each other, if you haven't ordered yet?"
"Oi!" An irritated voice calls out from behind him, "Can you let the rest of us in before you start flirting?!"
He lets out a light laugh before moving aside and two others cute guys enter. Like, what's with the air in Miyagi?!?
"Sorry Iwa-Chan, but I needed to make sure this angel didn't get hurt falling (for) because of me." He winks at you but you're a little lost in thought because you're thinking about how you like the way he talks. It's a little like he's singing at times and maybe it's because of his melodic voice but either way, it's pretty cute. You're going into overload and you have to consciously stop yourself from holding your hands to your cheeks. You really hope you're not still blushing, ugh.
You meet eyes with the intense one and like, hello, hi, I'm here for this vibe. The guy meets your eyes before quickly flicking his away. But then you swear he makes a conscious effort to bring them back to rest on yours and politely asks, "I hope you're okay?" You're smiling in reassurance when he adds, "This idiot is trouble on legs, so I'm sorry for him."
You burst out laughing and they're looking at you in surprise so you just shake your head and explain, "I think my friends have said the exact same words about me. No, we're all good, I really appreciate it."
And thank you, mother, for your own charming smile because all three boys blush but don't look away.
Point to pretty boy #1 though because he regains his composure the fastest and pouts, "Iwa-chan is so mean to me, angel, please don't listen to him. If I do accidentally cause trouble, I swear I'm good at making it up."
"I don't know if I can say the same?" You smirk but he grins.
"So let me make it up then, and buy you some boba?"
"Oikawa." Ah, there's Toshi, a little late for backup but you guess you did fine without a wingman.
Wait, wait. The pretty boy's smile dims and he's looking over your shoulder at where your cousin's voice came from. He's straightened up and his posture kind of yells belligerent attitude.
"Ushiwaka-chan. Tell me Miyagi isn't really this small." Wow, there's a bite in his words but like, you're liking it. What can you say? You're a fan of hidden depths.
"I am surprised to see you as well. Not as surprised as when I heard you truly chose another school over Shiratorizawa."
Okay, hmm, you're looking over at the friend he called Iwa and he's rolling his eyes, so clearly there's tension.
The pretty guy, who you're guessing is Oikawa, drops his smile completely. "Well, that was fast. Nice chat, but if you'll excuse me, I was in the middle of a conversation with a new friend."
"You know Y/n?" Toshi's at your side now and sounds pretty surprised but it's not as amusing as your new friend's reaction when he looks back and forth between the two of you in a sort of disbelieving realization. What dots is he connecting, exactly? Because, you'd like to know.
"Y/n, huh? I- didn't realize you had a girlfriend..?" He's questioning hesitantly, good boy, no jumping to conclusions. Just get your feet wet, I guess.
"We're cousins." You and Toshi end up talking at the same time like twins or something and it's a little comical.
Oikawa's mouth drops for a split second before pursing his lips and addressing you, "Well, I guess I can't hold family against you. It's not like you chose him as your cousin."
You let out a wry chuckle with an equally dry grin on your face, "But I did."
"What?" He's blinking down at you in confusion so you elaborate just a little.
"Toshi. I did choose him, actually." You're highly amused at this point and you like having the advantage, so you're going to leave it at that.
He does try to push, though, you think it's curiosity since that is a pretty odd statement. "Like, to spend time with him, or acknowledge him or something? I won't hold that against you either, angel. Family first, that's sweet."
"Uh.. no." You just smirk and his eyes narrow as his head tilts. Yeah, he knows you're definitely messing with him now, he's just not sure how.
It's all good though, because Toshi's timing is on point now, "Y/n, I hope you don't mind but I picked you a drink I thought you might like."
You look over to him happily, "Really?"
"Yes.. you said that would be okay previously?"
"Of course, Toshi, I really appreciate it!" You look over at Oikawa with a sweet smile, "It was nice .. having you run into me, I suppose. I didn't get to thank you for - or maybe even take you up on - your offer, but I do appreciate it as well. So.. thank you, pretty boy, but I can't be rude and ignore my friends that I'm here with today."
He follows your gaze over to the table your new Shiratorizawa friends have grabbed for all of you. They're chatting casually but clearly looking over though you don't quite know why.
Oikawa looks a little conflicted and disappointed when you turn back to each other, so you add, "Feel free to run into me again and maybe then we can make it up to each other twice."
You can literally feel your trademark playful smile on your face so you know that's what pulls his own begrudging smile in response. Works like a charm, but it's genuine.
He studies you for a moment, "Then I hope Miyagi really is small, so I can hold you to that."
Then he looks back at Toshi with full force attitude so it's time to step away. As you walk away you hear his friend Iwa say something about telling his mom he swore. And when you hear that musical cadence of his reply but not his specific words, you can't help but look back.
They're up at the counter and his friends are ordering but, oh wow, he's just leaning back against it... looking right at you. Ahh, caught. He smirks at you, but clearly he was looking too, so you just return his smirk with a raise of your eyebrow and make sure you're the first to look away.
Leave 'em wanting more, it's a good motto to live by.
The rest of the afternoon is chill, you rejoin the Shiratorizawa boys and they explain the dynamic between Toshi and Oikawa in the most hilarious way so you're all just teasing him and laughing. You realized at some point during their explanation that you'd heard of this guy from Toshi a couple times and never thought much of it. But now.. he's a real person to you so you're definitely a little more interested beyond your cousin's innate desire to pull together an overpowered team.
Tendou also makes you recount the entire encounter from near face plant to Toshi's interruption before Semi and Soekawa have enough and decide to move on. It's even better, they have you laughing so hard and your sides in stiches from retaliating with funny stories about Tendou and Toshi or Coach Washijo impressions.
If you said you didn't end up glancing over at another group seated several booths down during the time you were there, you'd be lying. If you said you didn't connect with warm brown eyes every time, that would also be a lie. What you really couldn't say is if you enjoyed your boba or not because the butterflies that took residence in your stomach were the only other thing you noticed until you left the shop.
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Masterlist
Behind The Scenes!
-Y/n really gets along with Semi but he reminds her of a certain someone
-She and her friends are night owls which is how they're able to respond to her so fast at even 2am or 3am their time (EST)
-We all know the show referenced right? (If not, I would highly recommend watching Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia)
-The angel/devil theme might be played on a lot, her school is literally Ashwood Devils and her national league is Aurora Angels
-I like to think the characters who make those comments or use those terms in application to Y/n all realize the irony at some point, even if it's not explicitly written out in the story
A/N: I realized I forgot to add the first pic (the twt about all the Shiratorizawa reactions) to the end of the last chapter, which is where it was supposed to go. So, even though, I'll go back and fix that, I'll also add it here for anyone who's already read that chapter. Sorry guys! Once again, thanks for bearing with me while I figure out the social media stuff. Feel free to point out any mistakes to me too! Sometimes I'm creating this stuff when I haven't slept 30+ hours so... there's bound to be things I miss or get wrong :)
I also changed 'Extras' to 'Behind The Scenes'! Same concept for small thoughts that might supplement the story where you're currently at and provide background or additional commentary but renamed to fit the theme a little better, I guess. What do you guys think - does it even matter? Do you guys read any of this or just here for the fic and skip by? Genuinely curious to know (:
Aaand, didn't think I'd need this but you made my day:
Taglist: @delusivist
#haikyuu#haikyuu x reader#haikyuu soulmate au#haikyuu x you#poly relationship#haikyuu suna#haikyuu osamu#haikyuu atsumu#haikyuu kuroo#haikyuu oikawa#haikyuu bokuto#haikyuu fanfic#haikyuu smau#hq smau#haikyuu poly au#hq#haikyuu x y/n#haikyuu x female reader#haikyuu x f!reader#haikyuu fanfiction#haikyuu smau series#haikyuu fic#suna rintarō#miya osamu#miya atsumu#kuroo tetsurō#oikawa torū#bokuto kotaro#suna x reader#osamu x reader
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Hello, Liza! I hope you are doing well. Passing by because I (and everyone else I think) would like to know your thoughts about episode 25. I watch this show trying my best to avoid spoilers but today somehow I ended up seeing everything. Twitter was and still is mad about the episode and I thought I was going to have the same reaction as them. Surprise, surprise, I didn't which left me speechless. I feel like you might have the same reaction as me so I would love to know your thoughts! xo
Hello! I have a lot of asks and rather than flooding my dash, I think I’ll put them all in one place, so this is going to get very long. I have mixed feelings. I didn’t hate it, but it was a hard episode to watch.
I wish I had seen the reaction before I watched, then I would have adjusted my expectations. The whole time I was waiting for a twist at the end that didn’t come. Partly because of my own speculation, but partly because I’d watch the live with Hande and Kerem and from the translations, Kerem said there was a shock at the end and called the ending beautiful. Never trust Kerem! LMAO. Not because he would ever intentionally mislead, but boyfriend never remembers anything that happens in any episode. Though he was right about the shock, just not about it being beautiful. (Prince be crazy!) Anyway I kept hoping for the twist of them working together and fooling everyone and it didn’t come.
So I was disappointed at the end, but with adjusted expectations the episode, taken for what it is, is actually decent and I can definitely get onboard with Eda sacrificing everything to save him. That’s very romantic and they did a great job of setting up how devastated she was and how serious the threat is from Babaanne. Eda did not crumble in the face of a couple of idle threats. No, every moment that Eda waited to break up with him, Babaanne introduced some very real and catastrophic consequence to Serkan or his family. Shit got real and Eda was pushed into a no-win corner and needed to act fast. I’ll talk about that more, but first, I’ll mention a couple of thoughts about the writing and the new writers:
(more under the cut)
Good
Structure - The structure of the episode was a lot better than last week. Scenes actually made sense one after the other, the emotions of the characters were consistent and it all flowed.
Plot - I’m not necessarily praising what happened in the episode, more that there was one. And it’s one that will not be forgotten in the next episode and it feels like this plot could sustain a number of episodes which his necessary if the show is to continue.
Characterizations - The characters felt true to what we’ve watched the last 20+ episodes. As I said above, work went into showing us both Eda and Serkan’s mindset and how that led to the ultimate outcome. It’s impressive that they put together one of the most heartbreaking breakup scenes I’ve seen, and the characters weren’t actually even together.
Not-so-good
Proposal dream - I’m not a big fan of fooling the audience like this, and I’m really not a big fan of putting it in a teaser or promo. That is a bait and switch, and I think it’s a cheap trick for the production company to have featured it in the fragman. Badly done. In next week’s fragman we see Serkan “punching” the Prince, I fear that is not real, possibly Serkan’s fantasy, and I’m really hoping that “fake scenes” are not going to be the go-to for these new writers. We’ve already spent 50+ hours with Eda and Serkan, we don’t need to see imaginary things, we need real scenes. No fake outs at this juncture.
Humor and ‘sparkle’ - I think this is what’s going to be missing from the new writer’s scripts. They tried really hard with the game night at the newlywed’s house and Chef Alexander love triangle, (Team Aydan all the way, Ayfer can fuck off. If she doesn’t care about her niece’s happiness, then she shouldn’t get any herself) but it just didn’t get there comedy wise. Ayse really had a way of pulling together very funny scenarios and making everything sparkle, and I’ll miss that.
Lack of Edser - This is their show, they are the ONLY reason most people watch. You can’t build a plot that separates them. When Serkan broke up with Eda they were able to build a scenario where they were still thrown together all of the time, and kept finding excuses to be with the other. Their screen time didn’t suffer that much. I’m not sure this scenario will allow the same with him being at risk if Babaanne spots them together. However, for this episode I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt as @jan31 brought up to me, Kerem and Hande were very busy last week with rehearsals and then shooting The Voice, so that might have contributed to why there was so much focus on the other characters this ep, they needed to release the leads for other commitments.
hawaiigirl84 said: So I'm on a SCK Facebook group looking at a lot of irate fans. If you haven't seen the episode yet, I think you're going to have to gird your loins for this one.
@hawaiigirl84 Haha. I wish I’d seen this ask so I could have adjusted expectations. I went on twitter last night and then backed away slowly. Lots of dramatic rending of garments and gnashing of teeth. You know the fan reaction is bad when both the producer Asena and Nesliyan (Aydan) tweeted out reassurances about the journey to love and then this morning the production company twitter account released video of Eda kissing Serkan in the jail. Trying to feed the fans who were out for blood, I’d guess.
Anonymous said: Okay so the latest episode of SCK had to be the show creating a very low point for Eda & Serkan in order to build them back up, right? My thought after the episode ended was that things honestly could not get worse. That episode was just disappointing. While I get why Eda did what she did I still absolutely hated it and was pissed the writers could not come up with something better. And how heartbreaking was it to realize the proposal scene was a dream 😭. And now they released a clip showing Eda did kiss Serkan in the jail cell but they decided to cut it out? I get that the show has to create drama but the promotion of the episode as being super romantic was certainly a gut punch. The fragman has me hopefully that Eda & Serkan might finally work together to bring down Grandma or at least Eda will let him in on her plan. I will say even though that episode hurt the actors were absolutely killing it.
Are we the same person?? I think I went through all of these thoughts/emotions since watching, lmao.
And 100% they are taking Eda and Serkan to their low point before building them back up. Also, think about it, after this they will both have a much better understanding of one another. Eda will understand how he could have made the decision to breakup rather than confide in her, and Serkan will understand why doing what he did hurt her so much and why it wasn’t easy for her to get over it. They’ll both have experienced the situation from all sides. Ultimately, this will make them stronger.
Honestly, Eda has a LOT better reason to do what she’s doing than Serkan did. As I said above, Evil!Granny is not playing. She is deadly serious and seems to be capable of anything. In the course of 48 hours she had manufactured charges against Serkan that were serious and landed him in jail, she caused him to lose the tender they’d won which would have huge ripple affects for the business, and she was able to set up Alptekin and get him thrown in jail. At this point I could see her ordering a hit! Eda needed to call her off and get her to stop or who the heck knows would have happened to Serkan, Aydan and the business in the next 24 hours. Eda needed to move fast and she needed to be convincing.
Right now I think Eda is just buying time, so Serkan is safe while she tries to fight her grandmother. No way she’s rolling over. Not Eda. I’m still very hopeful that Serkan will figure out what she’s up to sooner rather than later and they will start to work together.
Also, YES, to the performances. The actors were stellar. Hande and Kerem both brought it. I physically felt their pain.
Anonymous said: I'm completely convinced that the writers' room for this last episode wrote it without any knowledge of ep 24 except for the fact that it ended with Serkan getting arrested on NYE. Like I still wouldn't like it, but if we had gone from ep 23 to ep 25, it would make more sense. But not after ep 24. Did Ayse just say "fuck it" while writing that episode and gave the fans everything she could knowing full well what the other writers' plans were? Talk about some severe whiplash.
I don’t know what the background is on the writer change, but I don’t think this is fair. I got whiplash from the fragman (proposal) to the episode, but not from ep 24 to this one. When watching ep 24 didn’t you think it was just a matter of time before the other shoe dropped? I thought that it was obvious that a dark cloud was gathering, just as Eda was willing to start fresh with him. Babaanne directly threatened Serkan several times to Eda. She told Eda she would destroy Serkan if she found they were together. Episode 24 was Eda being defiant and letting herself be with Serkan and this episode was the consequences of that.
There are things to criticize, but I completely disagree with you that this is one.
Anonymous said: I think Eda didn't say ily at that time because she must have already thought about maybe accepting what her grandmother had asked for. It would have been weird if she told him I love you and then broke up with him right afterwards. It wasn't the right time, I think the writers are saving it for a big confession like in episode 11. At least for now we could hear her say it in her dream.
Agreed on the timing, and you’re right about the dream. While I am annoyed they put it in the trailer, in the narrative it did serve to tell us exactly where Eda’s head is at in regards to their relationship. She loves Serkan, she wants to marry Serkan. So we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that none of her actions are because of any lingering “confusion,” right now she is acting out of pure love for him. That’s beautiful. (maybe that’s what Kerem meant by the ending being beautiful, lmao)
Anonymous said: Eda really breaking him by called what they had a mistake and threwing him the parents death in his face like it was his fault, he doesn’t deserve all this. At least im happy serkan walked away first! although he loves her with all his being, he's fed up with Eda behaviour... if she really wants him, she has to fight for him.
Oh boy.
You understand that Eda didn’t mean anything she said, right? That the only way for her to convince Serkan she was serious was to bring out the big guns, and that she only did it to save him?
Yes, that was hard to watch. My heart absolutely breaks for Serkan. Actually, it breaks for both of them. But it’s supposed to, they are in love, and Babaanne is tearing them apart. Did you watch Eda all episode? She was devastated the entire time. That’s one of the reasons this ep was hard to watch. It’s hard to see a beloved character be at that low of a point for 2 straight hours.
This storyline will be easier for you to watch if you reframe this from applauding Serkan for being “fed up” at Eda, to Eda loving him so much that she is going to do whatever is necessary to save him. She sacrificed and now she’s going to risk it all fighting Babaanne, and all of it is for LOVE.
Anonymous said: The ending is so ridiculous, and let's not even talk about the fragman of the next episode I really don't know if I want to continue watching
Okay, you’ve just hit my pet peeve. DO NOT come into my inbox with flounce threats. I don’t care if you watch or not. If you’re done, fine, move on, no need to announce it on anon or add it to any of my posts. Because why even talk about something you’re not going to watch? If you’re not serious, but just saying that cause you’re throwing a temper tantrum and think that you can bring about change that way or think you’re making a point by threatening to withhold your support, I’m not going to validate you. You’re being manipulative and all you’re doing is trying to make other people feel bad. Anyone else who does this will be blocked.
Anonymous said: The new writers are really destroying the series. Eda blamed serkan for not telling her the truth and now she did exactly the same. They're ruining eda's character by doing that. Eda wouldn’t have ever, nor left herself be defeated like this by babaanne, nor used the words she did with Serkan, it was beyond mean, and unnecessary for this plot, im so upset
Dude, pull yourself together. It’s not that bad. The new writers are definitely evolving the series, if feels like it’s going to be more plot driven, than situational, but I think that had to happen if they were going to continue making episodes. Maybe you believe they should just end it, and that’s a fine opinion to have, but if it’s to continue, and I personally want it to, there needs to be a plot, there needs to be a big obstacle and this is what these writers’ have chosen.
Out of all the thing they could have done, it’s actually a good direction to go. Once again, they’ve chosen to separate them, not because one betrayed the other. Not because of some third-party love interest. Not because one is uncertain about their feelings. Not because one of them made a bad choice that hurt the other. They’re separated because of something that happened when they were children, something completely out of their control. And Eda made the decision she did, because she loves him more than anything.
For drama in a romantic story its about as good as you can hope for. Because despite your knee-jerk, overly emotional take, the reality is there is nothing here that taints either character or their love for one another.
They are NOT ruining Eda’s character. Eda was pushed into a corner and she made a hasty decision to save the man she loves. Babaanne was watching her constantly, she was having her followed. Eda did what was necessary to get Serkan out of jail and then to stop Babaanne’s relentless, and successful, attacks against him. She said what she said, because that’s the only thing that would have convinced him she was for real. Anything else he wouldn’t have believed, and if he didn’t believe it then Babaanne wouldn’t have stopped. Also, Eda hasn’t let herself be defeated. She did what she needed to do, so she can keep Serkan safe while she fights. This is just one battle, Babaanne won’t win the war.
They’ll get to the point when they’re fighting her together, but we’re getting this part first. The part that will give both of them greater insight into the other, and the perspective they both need to truly understand how each felt during the first break up. And it will give us angst and longing and pining and jealousy and all sorts of things.
Also, curious, why is it okay for Serkan to break her heart because he was afraid of her reaction to the truth of the past, but it’s not okay for Eda to break his heart to save him from huge and real threats to his safety, livelihood, freedom and family?
Anonymous said: I am so sad for serkan he doesn't deserve this. Eda ended up abandoning him like everyone else who comes into his life. The worst thing about it is that he knew it was going to happen and he was afraid it would happen and it did happen 😭
It’s definitely gut-wrenching. Serkan doesn’t deserve this, but neither did Eda. And Eda didn’t abandon him because she wanted to, she did it because very bad things were happening and she had to act quickly.
However, think about what you just said: he knew it was going to happen. It’s also not like the consequences of going against Babaanne are unknown to him. He knows he was thrown in jail, he knows his dad is in jail, he knows there were serious threats to his business. So what that means is that it won’t take Serkan long to figure out that Babaanne is behind everything and Eda is 100% acting out of love for him.
He will just need to shake off the sting of her words, and the haze of heartbreak and he’ll see that she did it for him.
#Sen Çal Kapımı#sen cal kapimi#edser#sck episode discussion#edser discussion#sck 1x25#sckask#anonymous#asklizac#alicekepley
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House, M.D. Fanfic (11/?)
Thank you to everyone who has taken time to leave a note on my story. I hope you continue to enjoy my kind of rewrite and/or additions to certain episodes! As always, I don't own House. If I did, Lisa Edelstein would have gotten the respect she deserved contact wise for a season 8.
As stated in previous chapters, the story follows the big picture laid out on the show, but with my own take on things. We have reached extremely bumpy road territory. Buckle up, folks. This one might sting a little.
Thanks to @love-hope-faith-feels-like-a-lie on Tumblr for reading my ideas and providing positive feedback! Anything in the way of feedback is always appreciated! I like to know how you like what I'm doing. Enjoy!
xxxxx
"How long have you been sleeping with Dr. House?" Tritter asked as he took a seat in her office.
Cuddy shook her head, shocked at the question. "Why would you think I'm sleeping with House?"
Tritter got that smug smirk he got when he thought he knew something. "Only reason a smart woman like you would keep a jerk like that around. You're way out of his league."
"The only reason a dean of medicine at a teaching hospital would keep a world renowned diagnostician around is because I'm sleeping with him?"
"You haven't denied it."
"I'm not sleeping with House," she crossed her arms.
"Dr. Cuddy. The guy is an ass. He treats patients like they aren't even human. How much has he cost your hospital over the years? How much has he cost you?" He asked. "I don't understand why you're protecting him."
"Dr. House saves lives... lives that other doctors can't save. If you were dying and no one else could figure out what was wrong with you, you'd want Dr. House to be the one on your case. I'm not sleeping with him. He's just that good," she stated a little more firmly, moving to open her office door to show him out. But his words had hit a nerve, asking what he'd cost her had hit a nerve. It stuck with her.
xxxxx
Later that night, House laid in her bed, one hand folded under his head, his fingers sliding over her bare back. "Heard Barnaby Jones came to talk to you today."
Cuddy breathed deeply, shifting so she could prop her head on her hand and look at him. "Detective Tritter came to accuse me of sleeping with you."
"You are sleeping with me." He turned his head to look at her.
"I lied to him. I told him I wasn't."
"Why?"
"Because sleeping with you would give him a reason to believe my judgement is compromised. It would imply that I'm hiding your drug problem. Or he would accuse me of enabling your habit."
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Has sleeping with me affected your ability to practice medicine?"
"No."
"Has it compromised your ability to make professional calls where my patients or myself are concerned?"
"No, but..."
"Has your judgement been compromised? Have you been writing me scripts? Have I stolen your prescription pad? Have you been enabling my habit?"
"No..."
"Then what's the problem?" He shrugged.
"I lied to the cops!"
"You lied about sleeping with me. We've been lying to everyone else about that for months. Why are you suddenly growing a conscience about it?"
"I don't know, House, maybe because this guy has it out for you! Normally when you piss someone off, they just sue you. This guy actually has the power to get your medical license revoked and send you to jail for a long time!"
"That what you're afraid of? Don't worry, I can still place a bun in your oven. Or are conjugal visits not on your list of approved baby making fantasies?"
She sighed and moved away, turning her back to him. "Whatever you want to tell yourself, House." She was tired of fighting with him.
"You're mad at me."
"Because you're being an ass!"
"No more than usual." He thought for a moment. "This is you being hormonal..."
"I'm not pregnant, House!"
"Did you take another test?"
She sat up and looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Yes! Yes, I took a damn test! I took a damn test every time you accused me of being pregnant, and guess what... still not pregnant! You weren't right!"
"This is you being upset that you're not pregnant..." he said slowly. "Look, it's only been a few months. It doesn't mean anything..."
"6 months, House. 6. It's not happening. It's not meant to happen."
"You're giving up?"
"Yes! I tried, and I failed to get pregnant. I'm done. I'm tired of trying and being disappointed. And this...arrangement..." she gestured between them, "isn't working anymore."
He stared at her for a moment. "You're ending this?"
She was quiet for a few moments. "I guess I am."
"Because I haven't gotten you pregnant? It takes most couples years to get pregnant, and you're giving up in 6 months?"
"Save it, House... you're just trying to protect your regular supply of free sex. Sorry, looks like it's back to hookers. I'm sure you've still got all their numbers."
"I don't care about the sex! I do care about you!" He was a little surprised those feelings had slipped out mid-argument. Judging by the look on her face, so was she. "Why are you so willing to give up on something that you've wanted for a long time just because it's a little hard getting there?"
She sighed softly. "Because you can't always get what you want."
"Yeah, quoting a song lyric... that's a real response," he countered. "And in case you forgot, it ends with 'You get what you need.'"
"Yeah...I'm not getting that either." She was quiet for another moment. "Goodnight, House."
xxxxx
House walked into his friend's office and sat down silently. "I've been sleeping with Cuddy," he said after several minutes.
The revelation caused Wilson to pause his reading, but he didn't look up, clearly not buying it. "House, hallucinations mean you've taken too much Vicodin."
House shook his head. "I'm not hallucinating. Cuddy and I have been having hot monkey sex."
Wilson just stared at him, trying to decide if it was true or not. "How... long has it been going on?"
"Several months. When she started fertility treatments before I was shot."
"Cuddy is taking fertility treatments?"
"Right... I didn't tell you about that either. Oops..." he stood and began to walk the office as he worked everything around in his head.
"You're trying to have a baby with Cuddy?"
He turned to look at Wilson then. "No. Cuddy is trying to have a baby with me. Weren't you listening?"
"It's the same result," Wilson leaned back in his chair then. "You've seriously been sleeping with Cuddy for months and haven't told me?"
"This isn't high school. Some of us keep our private lives private, Jimmy."
Wilson shook his head and stood up, walking over to him. "This isn't high school, but you are still in high school. If this was any other woman, you'd have bragged about it. The sheets were barely cold when you told me about Stacy. This is different. She's different." And then he realized, "You're protecting her."
"There was no protection. She wants a baby. Duh," he deflected with sarcasm.
"You're protecting her from you. You're first instinct would normally be to run and brag about sleeping with her. To use the fact that she's your boss to get your way here. And you haven't. You went against your first instinct in order to protect her. You care about her."
"I don't care about her. I'm only telling you now because it's over. She's giving up the fertility treatments. No fertility drugs, no hope for a baby, no need for the hot monkey sex," he spun his cane as he continued to think.
"You don't want it to be over. Because you care about her. She's probably the only other woman who can stand you, can handle you, and you don't want to lose her."
"Don't be ridiculous. I care about the sex. It's free... and really, really good."
Wilson studied him for a moment. "You fell in love with her, didn't you?" It was really more of a statement. His friend wouldn't be here now if all he cared about was having sex.
House stared out the window silently for several long minutes. "What do I do about it?" He turned to his friend then.
"Well, the obvious response is to tell her."
"I can't tell her I love her."
"Why not?"
"Because she doesn't love me."
"How do you know?"
"I just know!"
"Right, because when a woman wants a baby, her first instinct is to go to the man who's a complete jackass to her and ask him to sleep with her... for months. And you said it was going on before you were shot? So over five months."
"Six, actually," he corrected him. "What can I say, she's got it bad for my genes."
"She's got it bad for you, House." When he didn't respond, Wilson pushed on. "Did you only have sex when she was ovulating?"
"Yes." He answered quickly. Heaving a sigh a moment later, he continued. "At least in the beginning. Somewhere along the way the line blurred." House didn't even have to think about that. It had started that way, but the longer it went on, the more sex they had, whether or not it was time in her monthly cycle. And it wasn't just sex. There were nights when they literally slept together and nothing else.
"Then it's not just about a baby. She has feelings for you."
House sighed again. "She's the one who ended the arrangement."
"Probably because she thinks that's all you wanted and she's trying to keep herself from being hurt anymore than she already is."
"She should know that's not all it is."
"Why? Because you've told her?"
"Yes, okay?! Yes! I told her I didn't care about the sex, that I cared about her! And she still ended things!"
"When did you tell her?"
He sighed, rubbing his thumb across his forehead. "Somewhere between her telling me I would have to go back to hookers for sex and quoting the Rolling Stones 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' to me."
He shook his head with a laugh. "House, you're an idiot! She probably thinks you just said it in the heat of the moment to protect your supply of free sex. You're an addict, you've proven you'll say anything to get what you want in the past," he explained. He paused for a moment before continuing. "House, you don't exactly give off the warm and fuzzy vibe. More like the annoying, jackass vibe. Cuddy may be able to handle your particular brand of charm... she may even like it. But she can't read your mind. And a woman like Cuddy isn't going to make that leap unless she knows you're there to catch her. You've got to talk to her."
"I don't know if I can."
"Do you know if you can lose her? Because that's what's at stake here. You either talk to her, or it's over."
House breathed deeply, thinking it over before he left.
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Ur the only bitch in the house respect. Seriously though, I saw TLJ and liked better than Tfa because I appreciated it more because i like a bold fuck up more than a safe rehash. But then I saw it on netflix and I had the thought, 'does lf not want me to care about the resistance/rebels?' because if they didn't then quite frankly that's how you'd do it, all the 'failures' boil down to either wanting to kill the ppl viewed as space nazis to hard or being 'too compassionate' and even after (cont)
them being reduced to what? a a couple dozen? they’re all standing around chill like they just broke for a meeting break around a water cooler. meanwhile the big bad who’s gonna be that for at least im betting a third of the finale is on his knees crying. i know its supposed to be ‘crime never pays’ or whatever, but seriously, they’re down to a single ship, they’re potential allies said ‘lmao no’ and the biggest source of funding just got blown up. they’re gonna win and we know that but the /narrative doesn’t even pretend otherwise/. and i thought, oh god maybe it is as shit as everyone says. but then you gave me hope but I still have one remaining fly in soup so to speak. There’s gonna be a ST after the ST and we all know it. It may be 20 yrs or whatever but it’s coming. So how do you idk rationalize the idea of integrating the shadow of the empire with the need for there to be an enemy for the war of the warry stars? stormtroopers are ~iconique~ and it was always the biggest stumbling block I had to the stormtrooper revolution. Why would any company worth its stock swap out an instantly recognizable and marketable baddie for idk some other cgi alien army or whatever? love to hear ur thoughts and thanks.
Thanks, anon, those are some really great points!
Yes, I am a bit frustrated with the way the good guys™ of this trilogy are depicted as - as a collective because obviously we felt for Paige Tico - virtually invincible, getting not one but two jedi ex machina to get them out of the problem. Maybe I should mention that while I use the ex machina term quite extensively, I don’t consider it a bad move by default - sometimes a lightning from a clear sky can have its dramatic beauty. What is frustrating is when a situation is clearly not hopeless yet the text insists it is only solvable by supernatural intervention, as, imo is the case with rock lifting Rey. TBH, when the resistance run into the rocks blocking their way, my first thoughts were huh, they can blast their way through, maybe a shot from MF will clear the way, or maybe we’ll get some teamwork scene where all the members will combine their forces to quickly deal with the problem. But no, we got Rey lifting rocks with the force and being amazed at herself lifting rocks and resistance also being amazed by her lifting rocks and Luke crying joyful tears at the thought of her lifting rocks - and in result the only character I actually felt for was the man who was faced with his holy murderous uncle basically praising the girl, to whom he offered a galaxy, for dumping him, as practically everyone else in his life did. This is some very human venom that gets spit in the I’ll destroy her and you and all of it line.
But still, I insist the screenwriter who also came up with the You’re nothing but not to me line which is still being analyzed 8 months later and also manged to give a beautiful and satisfying end to the journey of one of cinema’s icons, isn’t oblivious of the contrast between those two scenes and bordering on emptiness lightness of the political subplot. Just imagine how much satisfying the rock lifting would have been if we have seen Rey simply fail at anything before this scene - for example, if before taking up the ls to train she wasn’t training with her staff only, exactly, trying to put rocks on top of each other - and failed and then picked up the ls in frustration. Then her “apotheosis” at the end would feel much more earned and it’s really basic rules of storytelling I point out, so it’s not a matter of Rian Johnson being Fellini and Antonioni and also my countryman Roman Polański all rolled into one only a good movie making craftsman that he is to figure this out. Of course, there is much symbolism and subext to this scene but again - the subtext and symbolism in the overall movie point out to an ending more complicated than gratuitous dragon slaying.
Ending the whining and turning to the actual question - what about future installments? Well, first of all it is very possible that next trilogies will be perhaps closer to usual action based movies, maybe not completely dropping the deeper psychoanalitical symbolism but also not operating on it like the Skywalker saga has been and should be so till the end. It very often seems to us that once we finish the psychoanlysis all our problems will disappear but that’s really not the case - it may be that they’re only about to commence. TBH, I was fully prepared for this trilogy to drop the jungian elements, since RotJ could technically be the end of individuation - Luke reconciled his father’s self and shadow, as well as understood his own shadow. So when tfa’s opening crawls informed me the new villains are actually old villains revamped I felt almost disappointed - only to be positively surprised by one of the stormtroopers turning out to be trilogy’s hero. Still, after tfa itself I was inclined to think creators were just too lazy to come up with something new and maybe are giving some commentary on neo-bad things springing up across the globe. But tlj and additional materials made me think that they really have something new to say about the conflict. Ex-imperials were exiled rather than reintegrated or even imprisoned, galactic history kept Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader seperate entities, finally Anakin’s denied shadow was directly complicit in his grandson’s fall - all that reeks of repression and the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Because Leia would, and as it turned out did, find it much harder to deal with her father’s memory than Luke, as it wasn’t he who was held still to watch his whole planet get blown up - and yet it was Leia who passed the Darth Anakin genes on, so obviosuly she would have to deal with her father someday.
Tell your sister you were right, the actual last words Anakin has ever spoken, take on a brand new meaning now, don’t they?
But perhaps more importantly, as far as storytelling and marketing are concerned - the real question isn’t why should they drop iconic villains only how long can they actually keep up the same villains without them losing all dramatic value? Aside from the movies repeatedly employing storytelling devices to keep us unworried about the heroes, that’s the main reason why the political conflict in this trilogy is so emptily obvious, or at least, as I hope, seems emptily obvious. Now, of course, you never really expect villains to win in kids’ movies but a new villain is always someone that needs to be introduced, recognised, have his methods and motives exposed - and that iteself makes the story more interesting. A new villain is someone heroes need to learn, adjust to and this is what triggers their own inner journeys as well as tells the audience something new. Rebels and empires are basically angels and demons at this point and how may times can you watch white clad blondes with circles vanquish red-and-black clad brunets with horns as you know there’s no way it won’t end this way? Empires are Star Wars equivalents of Daleks and let’s face it it’s the Weeping Angels that scare us now, Daleks we just want to exterminate our sadness.
also dr Who bases on time travel so linear storytelling doesn’t apply
The only type of villain that can stay the same for who knows how many episodes is the mastermind with a secret organisation who always sneaks away - but no massive political-military organisation. And even they finally become their own parodies.
I should add, Solo very positively surprised me in this aspect - actually I would say it’s the Stories that keep me so optimistic about this trilogy, what with Galen Erso, Saw Guerrera and imperial officials from a Forman movie - with their depiction of crime syndicates. Dryden Vos isn’t your usual chaotic neutral criminal that’s still lesser evil than evil empire - it’s he who used up Enfys’s people resources of coaxium, yes, to sell them to the empire, but it was still he who was responsible. This really makes me think Disney-LF has some wider vision of the GFFA - and there are more potential for conflict there than just angels and demons RRR and Hugo Boss uniforms
And to wrap up, don’t forget our beloved turtle like helmets I can’t be the only one who always thought of turlte shells looking at stormtoopers? technically started as the good guys - so it’s possible we’ll keep their iconicness.
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Oh god I really feel this. Slow burn romance is pretty much the only romance I enjoy in tv or books. So really, majority of the time I just don't care about the romance. My favorites have been Luke/Lorelai in Gilmore Girls, Chloe/Lucifer in Lucifer, Scully/Murder in X-files, so yea, the classics.
So yea. I'm really mourning that long, slow-burn romances are very rare nowdays. I won't get properly interested in 2 short seasons with 20min episodes. And I love going through that "hmm wow maybe they would be good as a couple - oh god they are basically a couple - they really should be a couple by now - will they ever become a couple - WHY WON'T THEY JUST GET TOGETHER" suffering. And when they finally do get together it's just the best, my brain produces so much good stuff at that event.
And it is very sad that pretty much every opposite-sex couple tends to up together in the end, if the chemistry is there, but none of the same-sex couples, it just never happens. I really rooted for Regina/Emma in Once Upon A Time (I mean c'mon they even have a son together! They were the true love!!) And even though the creator of Hannibal has said that Will/Hannibal is basically canon, we didn't see a kiss or other undeniably romantic action, which just honestly doesn't give the same satisfaction (also it's just 3 seasons, but the episodes aren't short, and at least the show is intensive enough). I also don't care if the creator says the romantic feelings exist AFTER THE SHOW IS DONE AND THERE WAS NO DELIVERY. Just reminds me of the good old J.K. Rowling letting us know Dumbledore was gay after years of publishing the last book. What am I supposed to do with that kind of information? Be happy that the creator imagined their characters as queer/queer couple, but didn't bother making it clear enough for the show or put up an actual delivery for the romance?
Supernatural was extra cruel by including Castiel's love confession, which really made me think that we're FINALLY going to get it, this is it, and that really made the disappointment feel so much worse.
I finally figured out why it feels like Supernatural murdered a unicorn (AKA why you need to STOP telling me to watch Black Sails)
I’ll start by saying, everything everyone else has been saying CERTAINLY bothers me:
- the queer-baiting - the bury your queers - the undermining of Dean’s character arc - the wasted opportunity for a certain kind of overall narrative closure - the flat out disrespect to Misha Collins and Jensen Ackles
All of that bothers me tremendously.
But there has been something else rather ineffable about this that has left a horrible taste in my mouth that I couldn’t quite pin down until last night. Bear with me, if you will, because this will require some set-up.
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I've missed your Rebecca theories! Not that there's been anything to salivate over lately. Her sketchiness has died down a bit. I still think she's sketchy but that may be residual bias. But this rebooted Ross connection is suspicious. Did they really need her to be his unsuspecting drug dealer? I'm sure he can steal pills from other people who he didn't sleep with and possibly fathered a child with. Had no idea she even took painkillers.
I’m glad you sent me this, anon, because I have too many thoughts on all of this right now so was planning on making a post anyway haha!
I just want to note first though that I’m actually really enjoying everything with Ross and Rebecca these days - individually and together. I’d always liked them as a pairing (admittedly they were never on the scale of Ross and Donna, but they worked far better together than Dross ever did for me), but I’m genuinely loving this dynamic of these two lost souls supporting each other right now. It feels very natural and I feel invested in both storylines. I think Ross’s storyline has been really strong and moving, and Mike Parr’s been giving some really compelling and heart-wrenching performances. It’s nice to see him be given something proper to get his teeth into again.
And as for Rebecca - theories aside - I’m actually really enjoying / appreciating the direction they’re taking her character in nowadays. (I’m not saying I’m suddenly a Rebecca fan haha, but I’m appreciating her as a character nowadays.) Again I feel invested in her storyline and it’s actually really nice to see Emily get to do more, she’s having to highlight all these different sides to Rebecca’s personality right now and I think she’s doing a really good job. Because you know what they’ve done, anon? By actually taking Rebecca’s character in a direction, rather than just leaving her floating neither here nor there because they just never committed one way or the other, they’ve actually given the character some substance. And that’s why I’m now able to enjoy / appreciate her as a character. Because now she actually feels like one. To me at least. That substance, however, still doesn’t seem to extend to Seb and this brings me to the theories…
So this is where I currently stand on Theory Realm - I kept saying before that I’m not going there because personally I’m enjoying the narrative the way it is and have never wanted a twist for the sake of it. For me, a paternity twist and The Theory always went hand in hand as it was the decision to make Robert cheat in the first place (rather than the presence of the baby) which I found disappointing because I just didn’t feel like that was Robert at that stage (although a couple of days after The Incident, I wrote a mammoth post trying to get into the mindset of the storyliners/writers as they got into the mindset of Robert in order to make sense of why they felt like it was how Robert would handle the situation - yet another post which was never posted but I found it helpful at the time to understand the decision haha.). But I’ve also always maintained that the best way, for me, for The Theory to play out would have been as part of Robert’s breakdown and therefore by Christmas. So personally I’m quite happy for the narrative to continue the way it is now - saying that, I poured so much into the theories they’re always going to have a little piece of my heart and part of me can’t help but still want The Theory as @itwasjustmisplaced and I dedicated so much to it and of all the theories we discussed constantly, it’s the only one not to happen onscreen. So for the sake of myself and Taryn, and our sanity, it would still be quite nice and exciting haha! So that’s where my confliction on Theory Realm lies and why I’ve said I wasn’t going there, but it’s all still been going on in Theory Realm throughout and with each passing episode it feels like the show itself is literally trying to drag me back there… So, here we go, anon…
Rebecca’s relationship with Seb. I said her character feels like it has substance which it was lacking before - which is evident just in her interactions with other characters being far less about plot, but this doesn’t extend to Seb. Apart from her breaking down when she handed Seb over to Robert, we didn’t see any more of that time from her perspective - and we are actually seeing her perspective these days, so why not with Seb? Why not show her struggling without him, particularly as he was the one constant in her routine and structure which would surely be crucial and have a big impact on her symptoms? Instead we got Robert’s perspective and Aaron bonding with Seb, while Rebecca disappeared until she popped up in the pub (wearing that grey jumper) looking for a job (with Charity commenting on her lack of blinking, I hope you all picked up on that haha)… So is this because Seb is staying as a permanent fixture with Robert and Aaron, or because he’s going to be taken away from them and therefore it was necessary to build that bond as a family (which was always part of The Theory and one of the reasons the break-up parting didn’t make sense to me at the time.)..? (Or alternatively was it a simple matter of timing because look at Vanessa - she got suspended but we haven’t seen anything since of how she’s coping with being in a different role, how Paddy and Rhona are coping with the workload without her etc. Sometimes it is just down to screentime and other storylines taking precedence at that point.) Because what we are getting with Rebecca and Seb is Lachlan feeding her the line that Robert would still try to take Seb away from her. Are we due that custody battle that was prematurely speculated about after all..? And if so, will Joe Tate play a role as - sadly - he’s also been a poignant connecting factor in all of this…
The Ross connection. (They had already planted the painkillers seed by the way - when she left Seb on his own it’s because she’d run out of painkillers for her headaches so went to get some from the shop, but forgot when she was there and came home with only a magazine and some chocolate.) Now, on the surface, it kind of looks like they’ve just re-established the connection between Ross and Rebecca but actually their storylines have been connected throughout. Even as far back as January, when Robert was planning on taking Seb, Ross was there (with Moses) buying into the situation with his quips about Adam not being able to run forever… Also note, Ross has actually only been onscreen with Seb once - helping Robert with the pram and his stuff outside the café. That’s it. But actually, the biggest connection is that they’re both going through health storylines right now and these have been intricately linked from the start…
Ross hanging around making jibes shortly before the crash;
The day of Ross’s attack, Rebecca had a turn and fainted;
Which brings me to the first point of the Joe factor - obviously it was Joe who was supposed to be in Ross’s shoes, but instead it was he and Graham who found and helped Ross;
The day Robron reunited - alternatively known as that time Robert left the front door open for a whole night - Ross was alone at home, unable to open his front door and afraid when the pizza delivery guy came knocking, while two (I think) doors down we also had a shot of Robert closing the door, not wanting to open the front door on which Aaron was knocking - except eventually he did, and he left that door wide open (intentionally or not haha)… The door to Rebecca and Seb’s home…;
Point two of the Joe factor - Rebecca went and attacked Joe - who was the one supposed to be on the receiving end of the attack on Ross - and when he discovers the cctv footage of Graham with Simon (aka clues to Ross’s attack) we think this is the footage he’s about to show Graham but instead he plays Rebecca’s attack on himself;
Point three of the Joe factor - Joe had Rebecca arrested to get one over on Robert. Note, Rebecca was wearing her blouse from The Incident night for the first time in a long time and obviously there was quite a big focus on it at the police station… Now, Robert went after Joe for this, as predicted, so does that make the speculated custody battle seem more likely..? Personally I don’t think Joseph Tate is above manipulating an ill and vulnerable Rebecca (with the help of Lachlan’s whisperings of course) to try to take Seb away from Robert and maybe due to the legality side that’s how the paternity test finally comes about to prove Robert’s rights - imagine Joe’s delight if it turned out Seb wasn’t Robert’s son at all…
And then of course Rebecca and Ross finally started sharing scenes together again…
Rebecca and Charity defending Ross against those awful girls - two exes: one, the mother of his son who was revealed to be his as a “Who’s the daddy?” twist and who has proven to be Ross’s anchor and purpose to get him through all of this right now (there’s been such a heavy focus on his relationship with Moses and lines of dialogue like “Am I still your daddy?” which could be read into if you want to go there, but personally I don’t want to detract from the actual story they’re showing with Ross as I’ve found it all heartbreaking.); the other, the mother of a son who could have been his except the question of “Who’s the daddy?” never came…
Their bonding and hanging out together, so supportive of each other, but Ross alluding to something more happening and saying “It’s not like you’d remember it anyway.” Which on its own doesn’t seem like anything more than a Ross quip, but this was while Rebecca was wearing The Incident blouse…
Now, add all of this to the fact that Lachlan used the line the other night about “all of our secrets” - plural, not just the truth of how the crash happened… And remember Rebecca said, “The thing about secrets is you have to be comfortable keeping them.” Well Rebecca isn’t comfortable with that anymore, she no longer has that level of control over the information she reveals… And on that front, isn’t it cruelly ironic that we, the audience, are being treated to a trip down memory lane for Rebecca while she herself is struggling to remember anything? Not just with Ross, but with Debbie (responsible for Ross’s attack and discussing Joe - connections) and also bringing up Vic’s “obsession” with having a baby… If there was to be a twist, they’ve set it up perfectly to allow themselves to be a bit creative with it… Maybe we will get that Memento style flashback we all asked for after all. :P But if that were to happen, why not go a little further and give us an extra big twist? Maybe Rebecca’s initial injuries were sustained much earlier and the crash exacerbated them - perhaps that bonfire night when she was knocked out and Chrissie left her for dead was the start of it all, maybe this is why there has been inconsistencies with her character, maybe this is why she regularly told people different stories, maybe she never slept with Robert at all but like him she just assumed because she couldn’t remember..? And maybe this is why she keeps wearing that black and white coat again which she wore that bonfire night but hadn’t actually been around much last year… I mean, this is just a wild bit of theorising for fun, but with the situation they’ve put her into almost anything is possible haha.
So yeah, I still don’t know how I feel about the prospect of anything happening, anon. Literally all the signs are still there, it’s just how we choose to interpret them. And I’m just not sure at this stage because I’ve moved on with the narrative, but still there’s a niggle. Alas.
#I did forewarn you that I had a lot of thoughts right? :P#haha I hope you were prepared for an essay anon!#but bless you for missing the theories - consider this a collection of all the posts I wasn't around to make :P#discussions on everyone's favourite fictional village#the realms of neverending theories and overanalysis#The Theory speculation
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Review #88: Another Miss Oh (Ep 16-17)
Well, that was anticlimactic. Like, extremely anticlimactic. I can't believe the writer did that. I can't believe the writer built that up for the entire drama and then didn't even follow through properly. Not killing Dokyung is okay. But not in that bland way. That was so... bland. That was so boring. Dokyung should've still been in danger somehow. That's what you're supposed to do in the second to last episode. The tension should be the highest there and the drama should reach another climax before giving the audience the happy ending in the last episode. I can't believe it was that easy to resolve. Yes, we know that Dokyung has been making different choices throughout the drama and his saving of Taejin worked in his favor and turned things around. So I know that Taejin deciding to not kill Dokyung makes sense. However. It was still anticlimactic as heck and - I can't not mention this, Dokyung had a ton of things he could do to avoid being killed (I say this because he seemed to want to avoid it anyway, by the way he was running away). He could've gone back into the building or, when he was running, he totally could have run into the grass/tree area or at least in a zigzag pattern or something. His character isn't as dumb as to run in a straight line in the middle of the damn road.
I expected Dokyung to be hit anyway - maybe Taejin stops and hesitates, but decides to follow through anyway. Or maybe Dokyung finds himself in danger in some other way but whichever way, I honestly thought there would be more to this death lead up. Am I the only one feeling disappointed here? The drama dragged this storyline on and on and used it to make the viewers keep watching despite the fact that the couple got together already. The drama milked it and teased the viewers, saying, 'keep watching because you gotta see whether Dokyung dies or not' and then they present it in the blandest way possible.
A drama that did that well, was While You Were Sleeping. The writer set up the vision of Suzy dying from the very start, kept milking it and showing us the same image, then she really followed through in the end. But of course with a marvelous twist. It was so well done. It was great how Suzy desperately tried to avoid that image from coming true but it happened anyway, even despite the fact that While You Were Sleeping also holds the same aspect of characters making different decisions to change their fate. The writer kept up the tension and amped up the suspense at the climax, made that vision actually happen, then saved Suzy at the last minute while audiences were still holding their breath and at the edge of their seats. Now that was a climax well done, and that was some great use of built-up tension. So yes, I'm still disappointed at how this drama did it.
Also, I'm now wondering if it's Dokyung as a character or if it's Eric's acting. He just looks so TIRED all the time. Was he this robotic and emotionless? There surely are characters who internalize their emotions, but that doesn't mean you act like a man who hasn't had a decent sleep in weeks but still loves his girlfriend. It's like I've forgotten who Dokyung is as a character cause he seems so empty. I don't think facial acting is something Eric is particularly good at. Feelings and thoughts can be internalized but they still inevitably show on your face and in your eyes. The moment Dokyung fully gave himself to love he became boring. I can't even remember the dynamic person he used to be when he wasn't in love with Haeyoung. At least he had some personality back then.
I went back to watch some of the earlier episodes just to see how Dokyung was before he fully gave into Haeyoung, and... maybe that really is just Dokyung as a character. Internalizes thoughts and feelings, doesn't share easily AT ALL (which he mentions himself in a much later episode), doesn't like revealing emotions, he actually pretty sucks at communication. I guess the main difference between before-love Dokyung and after-love Dokyung is that he's much kinder and gentler. He still utters words only when absolutely necessary (lol) but his face is... more relaxed. Maybe that's why I've been feeling that he looks tired all the time?! Wow. His face used to be so tense and angry and he never smiled and after loving Haeyoung his face is more relaxed and soft. That solves my mystery, I guess. I still think Eric could have done a better job at showing subtle emotions through his facial expressions.
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Some assorted thoughts playing through the S2 spotlight episodes so far! Mostly about The Dragon's Reach: Part 1. I will probably have another for Part 2. This got kinda long, so under the cut it goes.
In the Cavern of the Shining Lights, there are some dead Priory asura wrangled by Mordrem vines? I don't remember that being mentioned in dialogue or text, but I thought it was a neat little detail. I'm guessing there may've been a failed Priory expedition to explore at some point.
Is it just me or is Braham shorter in S2 than he is in current story?? I know he's pretty young at this point (late teens/early twenties?), but I think our boy grew a couple inches since we've known him. I say this bc Falx is on the shorter side for a charr, and I'm p sure he's much taller than her in IBS vs the S2 stories.
Also Taimi's so small. Oh god. Absolutely tiny. I know she does grow up and is very much an adult by later story developments, but at the time of meeting her, the commander and co are very much toting around an actual honest to god child into these situations. I will never not get over that. These are Taimi protection hours.
Back to Braham - the attempted bonding with Eir. The backing us up about focusing on Mordremoth in the moment rather than Jormag. All that juicy ground laid for Braham's character development later. It's very good. Til the S3 fallout, Braham really is our bro. (Also we clearly want to stay out of this terribly awkward family reunion.)
Ah, and then poor Rox. Rytlock, stop projecting your terrible upbringing onto this cat. He's one to talk about disobeying orders. She feels she has to live up to his expectations and fears his disappointment. Says she's too soft. Too sentimental. Gee, I wonder where that comes from. That probably didn't help with her dissatisfaction in the Legions one bit.
On that note, I still want more details on what it means to be a 'free agent.' We know Rox is one and doesn't have to adhere to much of standard Legion hierarchy at this point, but gimme the deets. That gives a lot of potential wiggle room for character ideas.
And then there's the disaster man of the hour chasing after his self-worth in the form of a flaming stabby thing. We all know how that went. (Shout out to him being a nerd researching Ascalonian history. Who woulda thought he had a bit of scholarliness in him).
That did give me more Rytlock thoughts though, and I ended up digging around in his Requiem story for the part where Bangar sends him off on the tour of the Legions:
“You will not become a gladium,” Ruinbringer said. “You’re being promoted.”
I was confused, but told him I was honored. That was a mistake, too.
Ruinbringer showed me a heavy parchment, folded, sealed with wax. “You’ll be going on a little tour of the legions,” he continued. “Maybe your—motivational presence will deliver them the same victories you’ve brought us.”
Just execute me. The other legions? They don’t fight like Blood. Iron cowers behind their machines. Ash skulks around in the shadows. But there was no reasoning with him. Ruinbringer enjoyed the thought of me being miserable more than he enjoyed winning.
All my victories, all the blood I’d spilled in my legion’s name—in that moment, it meant nothing.
I never thought I’d feel that impotent again.
There's something beautiful about the fact that Bangar's punishment for Rytlock in a way sowed the seeds for his own downfall later. If he hadn't sent Rytlock off, he never would've been exposed to other races and cultures. Never would've gotten 'soft.'
One more Rytlock thing, why am I like this. Anyhow on the commander asking how he got Sohothin:
Rytlock: A couple hundred years ago, Sohothin was wielded by Rurik, son of King Adelbern. He was killed by a Stone Summit dwarf. It came into my care several years ago.
PC: How did you get it?
Rytlock: Irrelevant. Point is that its partner, Magdaer, is the sword Adelbern used to curse the Ascalonians. I've long suspected that Sohothin is the blade that can break the curse.
Irrelevant indeed. He just ditched his gf for it and left her in a high stakes covert mission, it's fine. Not important.
Back to S2, will we ever see a resolution to the Foefire situation? I certainly hope so. No way they could've stuffed it into IBS, but that would've been the closest to a time for it (so far at least). Hopefully we circle round back to it. Theoretically the Foefire ghosts should be stronger with all that extra magic in the air. (I also need this for Falx Lore. What does all that mean when one is playing host to a gaggle of ghosts? I sense potential EoD character development).
Do you think a charr commander has a Bad Time coming back to Barradin's crypt? Fighting the exact same possessed statue? It's only where nearly their entire warband died, no biggie.
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