#I fucking love the storytelling this season

[emilylawsons]

HI I’M BACK AND I FINISHED SEASON 3 AND I HAVE THOUGHTS™️

Newsreader spoilers under the cut

Okay first: THE NEWSREADER IS ONE OF THE GREATEST TREASURES TO GRACE TELEVISION AND IT DELIVERED ON EVERYTHING

ANYWAY…

The open ending as far as Helen and Dale goes—my shipper heart is a little sad we didn’t get a more explicitly romantic ending for them BUT these two have so much healing to do, and it starts with being exactly where they are. Finding peace and happiness as individuals before they give themselves to any relationship. And I think, no matter what any fan was hoping for, they can take this ending and decide how it goes for them. (Also the loving way Helen spoke to him and looked at him while she was talking to him off air. 🥹) They’re both exactly where they need to be and in their element, and that’s what the audience has been rooting for since day one.

THE PARALLELS AND CONNECTIONS TO THE FIRST EPISODE IN THE LAST ONE. Dale singing Kyrie in the car. Helen taking Dale home and talking care of him and “coming up with a plan.” Fucking brilliant.

Helen’s journey this whole season—getting a diagnosis and coming to grips with it. Being resistant at first but coming around and COMMITTING to getting better even when it’s hard and she hates it—frickin’ facing the place where she was locked up and endured additional trauma. She truly came into her own, and I’m just continuously blown away by Anna Torv and how, in every single project she does, she puts so much care and thoughtfulness into how she portrays her characters and the difficult situations they face. And she’s just a fucking incredible actress. THE SCENE IN 3.03 AFTER SHE GOT HER DIAGNOSIS AND CALLED DALE BROKE ME. I don’t think anyone else could have portrayed Helen. I just don’t. And Helen’s arc was all the more satisfying because the writers/creators decided to trust their talent and make her just as much a part of the creative process.

And Dale…oh my boy Dale. Sam frickin’ Reid the actor you are. Dale’s character arc has to be one of the most intense and challenging I’ve ever seen on TV, and Sam probably had the hardest job. Dale’s breakdown? OH MY GOD. We always knew Dale needed to break. He would have to be driven to the brink to be human again. And, just like with Anna as Helen, there was no one more qualified to bring Dale Jennings to life. Holy shit. Incredible, meaty, deep storytelling happens when you have creatives with a vision and actors they’re on the same page with. Sam got it from day one, and he saw it through to the end.

But Helen and Dale, stars of the show they are, are not the only incredible arcs we got to see. THE SATISFACTION OF WATCHING LINDSAY CUNNINGHAM GET KICKED OUT ON HIS ASS AND DENNIS SITTING IN HIS SEAT. The stuff of legends. And not just Dennis getting his moment (which we absolutely saw coming after he clocked Lindsay last season), but JEAN FUCKING PASCOE yelling at him from across the newsroom. I clapped. I cheered. And you know, I even cheered a bit for Evelyn Walters in all of it. She’s out for herself and still doesn’t get it (and Geoff was far from a victim), but she stood when it counted. She took action on one good thing. And watching them all collectively work together to get Lindsay what he deserved? Delicious.

And then we’ve got my girl Noelene who also went through The Most™️ oh… She’s got so much to figure out about standing up for herself and what she wants, and Rob’s got so much growing to do to be a better husband and father. But she did stand up for herself. She stopped being afraid to tell people how she felt and what she needed. She called Rob out on his racist tendencies and opened up to him about her work/motherhood balance, and she called out Helen for using her like everyone else and overworking her, and they both listened. She has hope ahead of her, and it was beautiful to see.

A few other small notes:

The whole Dale/Kay dynamic was so strange, but it needed to happen. Her constant comparisons of him and Geoff helped fuel his necessary fall. And it served to show what a terrible place Dale was in.

Cheryl got married!!! Good for her 🩷

Fuck Bill, and congrats to Helen for being like “I’m not gonna be punished because I didn’t wanna fuck you”

Tim gets a well deserved love and happy ending!!!

I’m really happy they brought back Linus. What a treasure.

Overall, as sad as I am to see this show go, they delivered on all counts. Everything they said they would be, they were. Every arc, satisfying. Just so beautifully and masterfully done, and with love by everyone involved. 18 episodes of perfection. And if Michael Lucas and Emma Freeman ever produce another show together and hire Anna Torv and/or Sam Reid or any of the wonderful-across-the-board cast? I will get my VPN’s worth as an American and be there for it.

[on-wine-dark-seas]

So what finally convinced you to selfship?

Whew, this might actually net me some disdain, resentment, etc, but...I'm gonna power through this because I have a lot of opinions, and I wanna make it clear why I'm taking on this challenge.

So full disclosure: I don't actually really like Reader fics. It's not that they're not well-written. On the contrary, a majority of them are brilliant, and most of my favorite fics in this fandom are Reader[ish] fic. Now, the reason I don't like this is not because of the second-person perspective. I'm a longtime gamemaster, writing and speaking in second-person doesn't bug me. I've read The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. Second-person can be a rad storytelling element.

What bugs me is the obvious farce of Reader fic.

I know a lot of writers and artists try their best to keep descriptions of the Reader out of their narration, but it almost always manifests and becomes glaringly obvious that the Reader is their OC stripped of name and defining physical characteristics. Even in the art, it's very clear that Y/N is an OC or a generic, skinny, white, feminine body.

Now, here's the issue: I'm a dark skinned Black woman with curly/kinky hair, and I'm not skinny or perceived as delicate [despite my best efforts]. When I see descriptions about my fave supposedly combing their hands through my hair, or my lips being plush and pink, or my CHEEKS TURNING PINK WHEN I BLUSH, I immediately separate myself from the Reader and replace it with what is obviously the writer's OC or self-insert. And there's absolutely no shame in them doing that! I am the CEO of the OC x Canon agenda, and I will always push for people to be fearless in creating OCs.

And so much of the Reader fic is making it painfully obvious that that's what everyone wants to do, and because no one wants to risk losing readers/views/kudos/comments at best, or being labeled the dreaded Mary Sue at worst, we get inundated with a lot of fanfic and fanart that clearly have heavy OC overtones.

I never see myself as the Reader because the writers are never visualizing me when they're writing the Reader. It's not even about the choices Reader makes in a fic, it's the obvious coding of the Reader's appearance, if that makes sense? I'm sure other Black women in fandom can relate.

So, because of this, I can't feel truly immersed in the story as if I'm the protagonist because the Reader is not me.

Does this look like a fragile, delicate, wide-eyed ingenue waiting to be seduced by the big, bad wolf? No. I am a woman of many vibes: I fuck. I fight. I curse. I spit blood and I dance until the sun comes up. I can also be very soft and sweet and affectionate [just ask the polycule], but most importantly: I'm Black as fuck; not just in appearance, but culturally. I come from Nigerian and American parents. I have a very rich cultural background that shapes and influences everything about me. And none of that is ever reflected in the Reader fics I read, and even some of the ones supposedly featuring a Black reader are holding back in significant ways. Yes, even the ones I praise and laud endlessly. Again, it's not about the quality of the writing, it's about the principle at its core.

And how could I ever expect a writer to account for a person like me in their stories? Why would I ever expect them to? Reader fics ring false for me because there's too many unique people out there to settle for generic nondescript details about the literal protagonist. And I have the misfortune of being in a fandom where that is mostly all there is to read. As a result, I have to do some extra mental gymnastics to enjoy reading fic. I would rather be reading about other people's OCs, if we're being honest.

I got tired of reading fic where I still felt like an interloper or outsider in a story that is supposedly about ME. And I decided to take the plunge and write a story that actually features me as the protagonist and love interest. Not the Reader. The Writer. I'm definitely not the first, and I hope I'm not the last. I feel like this is the natural progression for someone who exclusively writes OC x Canon.

On the other side of this, I understand why Reader fic has become so popular in the fandom. It's an easy way for people to get eyes on their work because now the readers feel like they can be invested in the story because the protagonist is them. And for some people, that's enough. But for those of us who are already ostracized, ignored, and even abused in fandom, and treated as Other, this is not always the case. It's not as easy as slipping into a new coat cut exactly to my size, and more like I'm in the writer's closet trying on their clothes and realizing that we're nowhere near the same size for me to be in there at all.

I hope the people who actually rock with me and my writing enjoy The Invitation when I finally release it. It's turning out to be a point of pride for me, and most importantly: the story is about me.

[feelingtheaster99]

“That’s not the type of story this is.” Powerful words, Brennan

[thenationofzaun]

This is about that fuckass Season 2 flashback. Over ten thousand likes...........................

[pulsingvoid]

not negating anybody's experience i know black sails is outstanding regardless of how or when or how quickly you watch it. but also, as a gay person who watched it in real time, you really had to be there. they introduce anne bonny and you know your pirate history so you KNOW she's a girlliker. she has a moment with max but youre not sure where it's gonna go. because it's 2014. you wait over a year for 2x01 and she and max fucking obliterate you with the sword drop kiss scene. all anybody is talking about in the tags is vaneeleanor. a few weeks later 2.05 drops and flint is not only textually gay and kissing a man but he is waging war on england, on all of civilization for taking away his male lover. you find this out after investing fourteen hours on this show that have spanned over a year and a half in your real life. not to mention the miranda stuff and silver's arc and mr scott and madi and the death march that seasons 3 and 4 feel like when you have no inkling of how it's gonna end. but you stick with it regardless because it's good and besides it's 2014-2017 and the only genre show with gay people in it is fucking... the 100? lol anyway. more gay people flock to black sails between seasons and the tag becomes more about the gay shit than vaneeleanor, thank fucking god, finally. you all dread the last season. you brace yourselves for the worst. you thank the stars this show airs weekly because watching even just two episodes together is too overwhelming. 4.08 airs. you cry. 4.09 airs. you cry. 4.10 airs. your life will never be the same. you cry so hard you catch a fever and have to stay in bed all week to recuperate. you know this was a once in a lifetime experience never to be repeated again but you can't help but hold every other show to this impossible standard.

[abitcaughtinthemiddle]

Bridgerton Parallels & Secrets

I’m doing a full series Bridgerton rewatch and I’ve discovered another season 1 parallel in season 3 that I have not seen talked about online.

In S1 E7, Daphne comes home after Marina’s pregnancy is revealed to support Colin and she takes him aside. She tells Colin that he should be lucky he learned of Marina’s secret before his wedding day (obviously this is about her marriage with Simon but it’s interesting how this comes back later).

Jump to season 3 and Colin learns of Penelope’s secret (her identity as Whistledown). And when does he learn of this? Before his wedding day.

In S3 E7, we see Kate offering marriage advice to Colin, saying that everyone has secrets. Here we get confirmation that Colin’s love for Penelope remains even through this conflict. He marries her the next day knowing her secret and accepting her still.

The difference this time with Colin is that his love for Penelope is true and deep, rather than a fleeting fancy. This secret Penelope held from him meant a great deal (due to his love of her and disdain for Whistledown) and yet he still chose to marry her.

And while Colin said he would have married Marina had he known of her pregnancy, the result would have been a loveless marriage and a strained relationship with his family due to their elopement.

Whereas, his marriage with Penelope would still be one of love (their confrontation the night before the wedding confirmed for Colin that Penelope believes she loves him) - regardless of their current conflict.

Furthermore, while Marina would have had Colin (or maybe not even told him) keep her secret, Penelope did have every intention of telling Colin about LW (before her conversation with Eloise in E6). And, once her secret was discovered, Penelope could not allow Colin to keep this secret from his family. Because she loves him.

Colin would have miserable having to keep such a big secret from his family and that is the biggest difference between Marina and Penelope: Marina would not have cared as much about Colin keeping a big Secret from his family but Penelope would. Because she also loves the Bridgertons.

[thediamondswordsman]

I genuinely think that misfits and magic season 2 is one of the best d20 seasons I’ve ever watched

[herenvibing]

cr3 is gonna end and the pc’s still feel like the same people to me :|

(crcritical content in the tags feel free to skip)

[amabeeze3al]

Y'ALL why the FUCK are the Mappa animators showing of the CORPSE of a DEAD FIFTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL like teenage boys show off their Bugattis on tiktok. They got her ass at EVERY angle. They even added an INTERNAL SHOT from inside her popped fuckin' eyesocket PLEASE.

Mappa really dropped this at our feet like a cat brings dead fucking birds. That's the energy this emits. They're so proud of themselves.

If you REALLY want to dig in they even added "that one random item that's here for some reason that has literally nothing to do with cars but why not". Like people will just. Set their cat or a bottle of some expensive fancy brand of alcohol on top of their car and have a shot of it for. . . I don't know? An attention grab or something, EXEPT THE RANDOM ITEM IS JUST HER EYEBALL AFTER IT GOT SUPER SOAKERED OUT OF HER HEAD?? That's VILE man. This shit requires a life sentence MINIMUM. DAMN.

And then they have the AUDACITY to tease us that she might come back. I'VE SEEN THE NEW MANGA CHAPTERS they are NOT bringing her ass back (unless they pull a SIKE at the very end or something but come ON) but he looks so HOPEFUL I'm SICK.

GEGE WHEN I CATCH YOU GEGE GEGE WHEN I CATCH YOU GEGE GEGE WHEN I CATCH YOU-

[acesammy]

huh. crazy how the secrets sam keeps arent about trauma right?

[lesbianralzarek]

shout out to the camterie for investigating every plot hook, and shout out to the minivanarchs for accomplishing 3 tasks over the course of 8 2-hour episodes. i cannot wait to see how they all make use of their shared season 3 screentime. godspeed you funky little fledglings

[simptasia]

the best reminder that LOST is a masterpiece is to watch any other drama series

[feelingtheaster99]

Ooooo the Stepmother’s mini is not at all what I expected but it’s really fucking cool

[whollyjoly]

watching mash s11ep4 the joker is wild for the first time and...boy howdy do i have thoughts on bj's trapper complex

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

Going to a concert tonight!!!!!!!

[aq2003]

hate it so bad when i see takes that make me want to put on armor and defend white man from my dnd show #3 but i truly dont believe anybody can come away from trw thinking it's ruined bc matt is boring unless they go in primed and ready to hate the whole season just bc the critical role man is there