#I hate nothing more than unnecessary flexes of authority

[ong-o]

It is abuse. This is horribly damaging for a child. And what if they can’t control it? What if they’re late more times than not- because you know, their transport depends on the mercy of a whole ass different adult? They literally cannot control when they arrive to school. So now what, the would just be humiliated in the corner every day, isolated from their peers, literally powerless to stop it. That’s gonna permantly fuck up an 8year old this is so stupid

Someone Should Talk To This Principal

[puttingfingerstokeys]

lightning rod

dedicated (as most of these really SHOULD be) to @sxvethelastdance​ 

Post-Aftermath

Ft. Lord Liu Kang and Raiden

Warring Exes (implied)

Broken Timeline leading to Restored Timeline

“Are you certain this must be done, Lord Raiden?” Liu Kang’s eyes, glowing with divinity, are even now filled with uncertainty and trepidation. The involvement of Shang Tsung in the Mortal Kombat tournaments—only recently established by the fire god himself, in absence of elder gods to oppose him—strikes Liu Kang as a foolhardy strategy and an unnecessary risk. Raiden raises a hand and then gestures to the hour glass. Within it, an image swirls of the well of souls—or the place where it might be, but is not yet—and then the face of the greedy sorcerer.

“Yes, I am, Lord Liu Kang,” responds the former thunder deity, an amused smile upon his worn but still handsome face. Warm, dark eyes observe his student of years past, watching the way he has begun to carry himself, with more sureness and authority as befits his position. Still, the mention of Shang Tsung brings a shudder to the man’s stout spine. “Shang Tsung is… a fulcrum in the multiverse. He must always host the tournament. I know of no other place in earthrealm that is more suited—the veil between realms is especially thin there—”

“Which is why he chose it in the first place, for his accursed well of souls!”

“In another time, yes,” responds Raiden, brows knitting, “but it appears that all the Shang Tsung of this timeline can sense is that there is power here. And he must compete in the first tournament. Doing so will cement his interest in the affairs of other realms.”

“And what is to stop him regaining his old ambitions?” Liu Kang’s mouth is drawn in a thin line as he, too, considers the hourglass. Raiden touches his chest where once Shinnok’s hateful amulet had been pinned, in a different life, though for a god it is all the same, even if his waking mind does not recall it.

“I will stop him,” Raiden says simply. Liu Kang stiffens.

“No,” he snaps, then softens almost instantly as he turns to face his old friend. “Raiden… you… you cannot leave me.”

“I ­must, Lord Liu Kang, if not now, to do this thing, then later, upon my death. I am mortal now.”

Liu Kang hates the way his title sounds coming from Raiden’s mouth—Raiden, the mighty god of thunder, protector of earthrealm, fatally fond of his mortal friends, who sacrificed his divinity to avert many crises, to save Liu Kang’s life, to save all of existence. He prefers the mask of aloof, duty-bound sternness. Now there is an open warmth in that face and the grim set of a man with but one task left.

“Why?”

The question rings between them in the roaring silence of the keep at the dawn of time, too full of meaning to fit in the single syllable it occupies, but doing so nevertheless, a super-dense piece of thought that is more akin to the fabled “god particle” of earthrealm physics than anything yet discovered.

“I must atone,” answers the former deity, his dark eyes once more watching the hourglass with interest. Liu Kang’s hand finds Raiden’s shoulder and he squeezes. The question is clear, though unspoken. ‘For what?’

“There is so much I have done… so many choices I have made,” begins Raiden, “the consequences of which no longer exist, but which I will remember for the rest of my days… and he is the greatest among those for which and, my extension, to whom I must make recompense…”

“Shang Tsung?” Liu Kang is shocked, feeling his core, even now, slamming with the anxiety that name naturally produces in anyone who has ever had the extreme misfortune of crossing paths with the snake-like sorcerer. “Surely you joke, Lor—Raiden.”

“Rarely have I been known to jest, Lord Liu Kang, least of all with regards to Shang Tsung,” replies Raiden, shaking his head. “You must know by now that the Great Kung Lao was not Earthrealm’s first champion.”

Liu Kang nods. “Yes, I know—Shang Tsung was the first and he won via deceit and treacherous sorcery.” The words are caustic as they leave the fire god’s lips, his eyes flashing. “And for that, the Elder Gods punished him—Raiden we all know that story. It is why we do not speak of him in the same breath as the Great Kung Lao.”

“And yet…” Raiden gestures in a ‘here we are’ manner and continues. “As protector of Earthrealm, it was my duty to choose the representative champions. That he occupied the mystical island and had made his fortress thereupon it was fortuitous, I thought, in my hubris—”

“A god cannot experience hubris, teacher.”

“You are yet young and you forget how many lifetimes I have not only lived, but also remember… A god can experience hubris, perhaps in more ways than even a mortal might do. But I digress… I chose Shang Tsung for his strength and cunning, knowing that allowing Outworld to gain even the semblance of a hold in Earthrealm would signal the death of peace in that realm. Edenia had already fallen and it was to prevent this happening to your home, Lord Liu Kang, that I made the decision I did.”

“Then it was no mistake for which you need atone!” Liu Kang’s mind, divine as it might now be, is racing about, grasping at anything that might keep the former god at his side. He cannot imagine eternity in this place, alone. He will, he is certain, be able to have congress of some sort with Raiden and his former friends—if they remember him—but in his mind, there is something awful and final about Raiden fully handing the “reins” of the universe over to him. I must consult a former god, he thinks to himself with mirthless humor.

“Shang Tsung did as any viper might do, that which is only in his nature to do… The Elder Gods were punishing me, not Shang Tsung. The irony of their manufacturing the ultimate end… ah, but perhaps they knew that, too.” Raiden’s tone is bitter, making it very clear that he had been privy to very little of the thoughts of those esteemed Elder Gods.

“Why…?” Again, that same question, softer this time. Liu Kang knows Raiden is allowing him much deeper into that old mind of his than anyone else has ever been, or perhaps will ever be.

“My second act of defiance against the Elder Gods,” said Raiden and, before Liu Kang could ask what the first was, he added, “in addition to the affront of refusing to become the Storm god.”

“Fujin,” whispered Liu Kang. “He… and you?” 

“We were to have been one—our offense was to be born twins; my act of rebellion was to fight for our autonomy, nothing more or less. This, they let slide, in their way, though I… sometimes believe they sought to overburden me, that I might see the error of my ways. I did not. I will not.” His laughter is low, like distant thunder, but somehow oddly uplifting in this empty space of pure creation.

“I’m sure Lord Fujin has no complaints about that decision,” Liu Kang supplied, a smile on his face as well. Raiden nods.

“He may have a few, but certainly not about that.”

“But what could you have done that might cause the Elder Gods to curse Shang Tsung, of all people! Surely they knew what would happen!”

“Perhaps they did,” Raiden admits, considering this possibility for the second time in their conversation. It is twice too many. “But my transgression was not so cosmic as refusing to take the autonomy of a fellow god… Or maybe it was more than that. Either way, it was deemed forbidden.”

The quietude is long between them as they both stand, contemplating the beginning of all things, and the end—all the ends—that they have seen. Raiden reaches out and grasps Liu Kang’s upper arm, squeezing it tightly a moment before retracting and folding both hands before him. 

“You… loved him,” guesses Liu Kang, without meeting Raiden’s eyes. The very idea of Lord Raiden, god of thunder and protector of Earthrealm, feeling anything but disgust or contempt for the soul-thieving sorcerer, Shang Tsung, is beyond his comprehension, yet the pause before Raiden’s response tells him all and more.

“I did.” Raiden nods, solemnly. “But he… never knew.”

“And you think that by guiding him in this first tournament, as you chose and guided the Great Kung Lao, and myself, you will… ensure some more positive outcome?” Now Liu Kang is thinking like a god and Raiden cannot be more proud of him. But that is not… QUITE the solution Raiden has in mind.

“I have already done this. It was I, you recall, who chose him. As such, I was something of a… presence in his life, during the time leading up to the tournament.” Raiden pauses, thinking about how best to continue. “I influenced him, as one might expect, but I… it was forbidden, you understand.”

“What of the late Lord Argus of Edenia, and of Rain, his son with a mortal woman?” Liu Kang feels a pang of sadness on behalf of the old thunder god, and more than a bit of rage. The fire wreathing his body flares up. Raiden takes note. 

“Argus’s union was fruitful, Lord Liu Kang.” 

Once more, the silence stretches between them and the rest of eternity. Liu Kang flexes his fingers and balls powerful hands into destructive fists. He knows it is too late to take out his frustration upon the architects of their bereft sadness, but he thinks, perhaps, they are better off without the half-absent Elder Gods, who have never lived as mortals and do not understand how to love as mortals.

“You were always said to be… aloof, Raiden, and… preoccupied with cosmic matters,” says the new god of fire and thunder, turning toward Raiden and grasping his hands. In a flash, he transfers the former thunder god’s sparks back into him in a decision which surprises Raiden, something Liu Kang has not often seen, though it is always the result of an Earthrealmer’s actions.

“I know better,” Liu Kang continues, “and if you believe your returning to Shang Tsung is the proper course of action, you will do so as my emissary and not unarmed.”

“Lord Liu Kang, I cannot accept this gift.”

“It is no gift. This has always been yours and it will remain yours until your mortal life returns it to me.” To punctuate this finality, he pulls his hands away and crosses his arms over his chest to make the point. 

Raiden pauses, then puts one open palm over a closed fist and bows deeply, the hat obscuring his features and most of his upper body. Liu Kang has grown fond of this view, appreciating perhaps more than anyone else the humility it represents. 

“I will not fail.”

“I know you won’t. You never have.”

[unwiltingblossom]

Magicians s4 is garbage and here’s why. Spoilers.

Can we take a moment to appreciate just how bad Magicians s4 was, as a whole? I know, people are mad about the whole ‘going out of their way to hint at Eliot/Q for no reason when they had just as much of a connection as friends, just to upset the people that shipped it more when they killed Q’ but

Honestly, there’s so much more broken garbage about this season than just the one part of how it ended that the writers WANT us to talk about. So yes, let’s take a moment first to appreciate how the writers hate Quin and refused to let him grow as a character ever or give him the moments of success he had in the books, until they pointlessly murdered him instead of letting him finally be happy with the ending he should have gotten. It deserves derision.

But let’s focus on other things, too.

It’s long. It’s ranty. It’s going to rip apart season four and its finale and also touch on season three. It’s already tagged spoilers, but there’s more spoilers in here than out of the cut. Also, yes. We’re gonna talk about how the show pretends that it’s empowering females while it takes away all of their agency and makes them all about their men. And other hypocrisy.

First off. The fake female empowerment crap. And yes, it was so fake. We know it because the show itself utterly undermines and destroys it at the end of the season. Or sometimes literally right after they flex.

First: IT’S OKAY TO CALL MARGOT BY THE GENDER APPROPRIATE TITLE FOR ROYAL MONARCH OF A LAND. I know that by magical technicality she has to be ‘high KING’ (more on that later if I remember, because they actually ignore some of that) but there’s no reason Margot herself and other characters need to insist on ‘king’. Queen Regnant has the same ruling power and authority as a King Regnant. That’s why a non ruling Queen is called Queen Consort. Unless, of course, Magicians and SYFY are implying that Queen Elizabeth I and II are somehow inferior to King Edward and Henry the VIII(s) because they are only queens? Nevermind Elizabeth II has been queen so long her crown would have fossilized on her head by now if she wore it like fictional royalty always did.

Anyway.

Show. You’re not progressive because you have Penny smugly smile and say ‘let go of your cishet white boy bias, the main characters are the women’. You’re just obnoxious. Especially when Penny immediately finds out the cishet white boy he’s talking down to is actually his boss. Oof.

See, if you want us to believe other characters are actually the protagonists? You need to treat them like protagonists. You don’t do that, though. The only reason I remember the blonde librarian’s name is because it’s Zelda.

The episode builds up how important Fen is and how she has her own quest that will do something important, but what happens literally the very next episode? Oh right, Margot steps in and takes control of that, seizing the quest for herself. The only reasons I can presume this is for is #1 - the show writers despise the books and want to undermine everything about them, down to ensuring none of the humans get to rule Fillory even after they wasted multiple episodes democratically handing Margot the crown. Too bad for the talking animals, eh? and #2 to set up the sequel hook in the ending that, while interesting purely because it’s a Prince Caspian set up, was entirely unnecessary and could have been replaced by a series finale ending instead.

It actually makes no sense. Margot doesn’t contribute in any significant way she couldn’t have if she were still High King, because Fen could have done the entire black sand mission herself, because she is married to Eliot, remember, let’s not make fun of her feelings for him just because she’s not the main character (but she is! screeches smug penny!) - could she have seen the fairy? No, but she would have been able to work it out anyway, because it just wanted to help her. And here’s the kicker? The reason West Loria is against Fillory (aside from lol plot) is because OF FEN. Margot wasn’t ruling when Fillory chose the wrong side! Margot hasn’t weighed in at all, so why IN THE WORLD would this woman decide that she absolutely wouldn’t deal with any High King EXCEPT THE ONE WHO DID THE THING SHE DIDN’T LIKE?

Quick, tell me what Margot contributed to the plot from the point she left Fillory that Fen couldn’t have done, or that couldn’t have been accomplished by Margot still in Fillory.

Whoops, you’re out of time! There’s nothing. She did nothing of consequence that Fen couldn’t have done just slightly differently to suit her skills and actually justify the BS Penny spewed about her being a significant protagonist figure. Margot got swapped with Fen primarily because, no matter what self congratulatory subversive crap the show patted itself on the back with, Margot is actually a main character and Fen isn’t, so Margot needed to at least be near the action, and get her own quest, even if it was just taking Fen’s away from her. And also having a weird rushed romance with Josh for some reason. Who knows. I miss the genuine connection Margot and Eliot had for seasons that this season chose to throw away on a boring monster plot. I also miss Margot and Q’s friendship that this season ignored because we needed to focus on romance instead and pretend Margot doesn’t make friends.

Which reminds me, it’s super great how we went from Josh detesting Margot for making him help murder one of his only friends to Josh wanting to be her boyfriend because they share an STD. Really important and believable romance, there.

Kady also did fairly little from the point of that episode onward. They had to bring the Hedgewitches plot in to make her important, and even as the defacto ruler of the HW she still did very little except suggest that they could help the completely improbable ‘let’s just skip over the mechanics of making this work’ collaborative spell. And Alice and Julia already had the contacts to allow that to work anyway

ANYWAY MOVING ON

but not too far, because I need to talk about that awful red sand episode.

First, an aside: just because people liked your two musical episodes over the span of the entire series doesn’t mean you need to start stuffing singing into everywhere because ‘SINGING’

If only the problem with the episode was that the singing didn’t end with dancing Eliot. But no. This episode was PEAK fake female empowerment.

Margot finds a tribe of nomads who inexplicably choose to live in a desert that’s constantly trying to kill them. Every time women have an over the top emotional eruption (the show keeps saying ‘the tiniest bump’ or whatever but that’s a bunch of crap, it’s very clearly only when they have an eruption or tantrum), red sand appears and tries to kill them via possession. Men in the tribe protect them from this by jumping in the way and getting possessed instead, and then  USUALLY DIE because the method of fixing them is to effing stab them with double axes and pull out the spirit, then try to fix them with desert medicine.

Raised knowing that their lives are in constant danger, and that if they fly off the handle about something not only are they in danger but the men around them, whom they purportedly love, may very well die, the women of course are incapable of just controlling themselves and will erupt in rage regularly like some modern city girl even while being actively cautioned to calm down and knowing they’re endangering their entire settlement.

Upon hearing that men consistently risk their lives to protect their insane girlfriends who literally cannot control their emotions on pain of death, Margot concludes ‘wow, this culture is mighty misogynistic. sucks.’

but then, oh no. The sand isn’t trying to HURT them, the sand - for no reason anyone in the show bothers to explain, because world building isn’t important to the writers - it actually just wants the women not to be sad and will grant their any wish if one so much as has a temper tantrum. Trigger scene where Margot beats up all the evil menfolk for oppressing these poor, helpless, weak women who need a sassy foreign girl to save them from themselves and literal fairies to look after their every boo-boo. There’s brief lip service given to the idea that maybe the women themselves DON’T hate all the men around them, but Margot shrugs it off and suggests that now the women of the camp are free to literally murder any man who makes them mad, or ‘just’ force them to slave for them for however long they want.

PATRIARCHY DESTROYED, GUYS. EQUALITY ACHIEVED. MEN ARE NOW ENSLAVED AND KILLED OVER NOTHING!!! LOOK AT THE STRONG WOMEN WHO LITERALLY NEEDED A FOREIGN WHITE CHICK TO SHOW UP AND SAVE THEM SO THAT A WHOLE SPECIES OF FAIRIES COULD CONSTANTLY CODDLE AND LOOK AFTER THEIR EVERY NEED.

SO STRONG.

I’m not even joking, though. They tried to write a “YEAH! WOMEN!” plot but just made the women there look completely inept and incapable of fending for themselves at all without a smart American there to teach them. And that’s without getting into the horror of setting up a slave society where men are objects that can be killed on a whim. eugh.

Anyway, so Margot does all that and spends just...all season insisting WOMEN ARE STRONGER. WOMEN ARE TOUGH. WOMEN ARE STRONNGGG. DON’T NUTSACK OUT ON ME MAN. BE A PUSSY AND TOUGH IT OUT!!!!! OF COURSE THE WOMAN IS THE VIOLENT AND UNSTABLE ONE (wait--)

But where’s that all lead us to?

The season finale.

Before we dive too deep let’s take a brief moment to look at poor Julia through all this season.

#1, in some twist that doesn’t really make sense, the dean hides all of the main cast as alternate personalities under glamors with some heavy witness protection magic as a deal to the Library so they don’t have to die...and so naturally the Library has a dead or alive bounty on them.

huh?

Whatever, let’s not focus too hard on the garbage pail of a plot the monster plot is, because that’s tied into the huge dumpsterfire that season 3′s finale was, and the best to talk about that is how these smart and manipulative people literally couldn’t be bothered to lie to and trick a simple childlike monster into thinking he was their ACTUAL FRIEND no matter how often he looked for validation from them (maybe he wouldn’t have been so keen on clinging to Eliot if he thought you guys liked HIM, not just the body, you nimrods) and who began to get some development and understanding of living life normally without killing everyone right before they imprison him and send him to ultra-hell.

No it’s cool. Just imprison the childlike creature who you didn’t bother to try to teach morality to after it desperately sought some kind of affection and acceptance from literally anyone. Seems like the good guy thing to do. I mean, you showed that mean ol’ child molester by getting him to trust you, using his knowledge, and then literally trying to murder him, so honestly this isn’t out of character at all for our ‘good guys’. 

a n y way. JULIA.

It’s hinted at in season 3 that burning up all your god magic to make keys is actually temporary (but renders you able to be killed, so season 4 literally got it opposite of right, whoops), so obviously Julia really wants to get that back. She’s been motivated and shaped by magic as much as Q. She has been raped, lost her shade, suffered, had people die protecting and helping her, and became a goddess entirely by her own merit. She reasonably wants to get that power back, since she can’t die and isn’t really affected by magic in a normal way so she’s not fully human still.

Julia rescues everyone from the mindwipe by dying literally hundreds, maybe thousands of times and coming back. She gets a Mainaid (who I don’t feel like spelling right) that comes to believe in her and worship her as a goddess, and what happens? Well, first Penny who wants to get his dick wet gets jealous and runs off because he’s not the center of her world for like an hour. Partly because of this, the girl whom she rescued from suicide gets pointlessly murdered protecting her.

But hey, they’ve confirmed Julia is still a deity mostly but just can’t seem to access her powers. So Julia keeps digging and looking for a way to get them back. This leads to discovering an ancient book in the mirror version of the library who confirms that yes, she’s basically a demigod who won’t ever die, but needs to complete the transition either back to full godhood or to full humanity or she’s always be a little wrong, basically like she dislocated her divine limb fixing the keys and it can either be put back in or chopped off.

Now, this book (the Binder) warns her that both options are going to be long and painful and have their downsides, and implies they’ll be permanent, so she’s going to have to be SURE of what she wants. This warning is the ONLY reason Julia doesn’t immediately jump to a decision. And then the Monster shows up and kidnaps her. She calls the Lady Underground, who is unhelpful and just says ‘gotta make a choice yourself girl, no wrong answer’ and then the lady gets herself killed for no reason after Julia is immediately possessed.

Penny ‘rescues’ her by stabbing her in the back to pull the spirit out, and then blah blah her demigodhood doesn’t like that stabby thing, and it won’t let her die but also won’t heal. Solution? Make the choice and go full god or human and it’ll fix. Naturally, even though Julia’s been awake this whole time, she’s now unconscious ‘for the pain’ and Penny who is A POWERFUL TELEPATH can’t be bothered to pop in her head and ask what she wants under those circumstances.

no, he makes her decision FOR her. This is important, we’ll get back to this.

Penny has been chasing Julia(’s tail) around all season now. He’s been a part of her path to godhood this whole time, knows what she’s done to try to get it, so when forced to make a permanent choice for her

THIS

DICKHEAD

CHOOSES TO MAKE HER HUMAN. Against EVERYTHING he’s seen of her up until this point, and against whatever he knew of his Julia. Why? “I was selfish” WELL THANK YOU, MISTER “I JUST WANNA GET LAID” FOR AT LEAST ADMITTING YOU ROBBED A WOMAN OF SOMETHING SO UNBELIEVABLY SIGNIFICANT AND IMPORTANT AND LITERALLY LEFT HER WITHOUT MAGIC BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO STICK IT IN.

That’s right. Fandom’s all mad that Quentin died and they glorified suicide? Yeah, they just stripped away ALL AGENCY from a woman and made a choice for her that he KNEW she didn’t want just because it would be more convenient for him. Just violate the trust and remove the agency of the woman you already raped on screen once, show. Seems smart. Plus, now she does nothing for the rest of the episode and gets unfairly saddled with the guilt of Q’s demise because you just had to hamfist in his death.

ohoho but it doesn’t end there, no.

Penny, a man, takes away everything Julia earned HERSELF and locks away her path back to godhood (despite book Julia staying a goddess and becoming a Dryad) and then leaves her helpless and pointless sitting at home hoping everyone does okay, wrestling with her new existential crisis of being a weak, magicless human after all she did to get magic in the first place...and then Quentin dies, and because she’s so sad about him, suddenly she can do magic again! Weird internal consistency there considering how little is present in s4.

So Julia goes from a self-made woman, whose primary connections outside of her childhood friend are other women, to a woman whose whole life is now dictated by men. Important choices are made for her, she is passive in a crisis about her friends, and then her breakthrough to regain magic is...because of a man.

(BTW Kady also breaks down and decides she’s all about Penny, even though she’s kind of already worked through this last year and had plenty of other stuff to do this season)

And since I’m talking about consistency, let’s glance at THAT can of worms, shall we?

First and foremost: the High King of Fillory shouldn’t be able to leave Fillory. Remember when that was a huge plot point that caused great angst for Eliot in season 2? And how it only stopped because magic went away so the spells involved no longer worked?

Let’s assume Margot was grandfathered out into the normal world, and further assume that an election still makes her High King, not Eliot. As soon as Ember’s Emanation snapped her back into Fillory, she shouldn’t have been able to leave until MAYBE she was ‘overthrown’ (which might have given a REASON for her to be overthrown, if her location on earth mattered)

Yet that’s not a concern at all. Margot also doesn’t really bother to rule much so. sucks. but whatever. Clearly they just wanted King Fen here. (Again, ‘king’, because ‘queen’ is weak somehow. ew girls.)

NEXT

Eliot. How do you mess up Eliot when he’s in like three episodes and barely in two of those? I don’t know but they did it.

Here’s the problem with his ‘darkest memory’ thing. It’s not that Eliot might have feelings for Q, this surprises NO ONE, it’s everything else about it.

First. Puzzle Quentin marries PEACH GIRL. He’s not married to Eliot, they just share an extremely deep bond. It’s pretty much explicitly nonromantic though, given that Quentin marries and breeds with some girl he never mentions nor appears to mourn again. He’s hit with a lifetime of feelings, and instead of thinking “I had a wife...and a child...what happened to my child?” he thinks “Gee, I should hook up with Eliot even though I’m bicurious at best.”

This. This is while he is self-professed to be in love with Alice, around the time of his fling with Poppy, and again, right after finding out he was married, widowed, and a father. This is when the writers decided to stage “Once, Quentin wanted to marry Eliot.” It just makes Quentin look fickle, unfaithful, and frankly some kind of addicted to relationships, like he’s terrified of not being in one.

But it’s also? Not a good look for Eliot. Because this season basically MOCKS his marriage to Fen. He’s shown to be affectionate to her, she is in the trio of the people that he loves (Margot, Quentin, and Fen) who he summons to protect him, but very very very little is spoken or suggested by him to be missing her or wanting to see her again, and more importantly, it doesn’t ring true for him to be ‘afraid of commitment’ or whatever it is he was suggesting by rejecting Q here.

Why? Because he already did this arc. Season 2 is all about him accepting his role of King (which they take away because lol) and more importantly, his marriage to Fen. He has to learn to accept monogamy and actually build feelings for Fen, eventually starting a family with her - that is tragically ripped from him by the Fairies. He then spends s3 with Fen as his wife and with a fake daughter, adventuring and questing and crap, and during the time the scene is set very clearly fine with commitment, as he’s actually in love with Fen at this point and not running away from the marriage. During this time he’s also totally cool with marrying another king for peace because he likes that guy, but I guess we should forget him because...I don’t know? He’s black, maybe?

By the way, he mentions how he ‘has sex with people’s boyfriends’ and shows the scene of his doppel getting it on with someone who has a boyfriend and ignores that he is actively cheating on Fen while he is doing this.

And the show makes fun of Fen mourning the death of her husband, and also implies something like Fen maybe didn’t really love him because she didn’t see herself as a person and was only raised ‘for the high king’ (nevermind she used to be a FU Fighter, they forgot), and that she’s dealt with losing her child TWICE now. Nah, she’s mostly for laughs because DAGGERS.

This is all done just to diminish Eliot/Fen so they can pretend Quentin was in a triangle with Eliot and Alice literally just to make it more sad when he dies unbelievably pointlessly.

Gosh.

Am I forgetting anything? Hm.

The library plot was garbage, but that ties into the dumpsterfire of s3 finale.

Oh yes. Isn’t it great when Marina is just a repeated trope forever? Ah, yes. Me too. I love when characters are super flanderized instead of being allowed to grow and change. All characters in Magicians basically just need to spin their wheels and retrace steps over and over until they die.

Ah yes.

Quentin, thy name is hypocrisy. You’ve been abusive to Alice for three seasons, and then you have the nerve to freak out at her over the keys? Sure it was a dick move, but honestly this only happened because you kept abusing Alice and manipulating her into loving you over and over. Because you’re a dick.

And let’s close out on that, I think, not on a bizarre rendition of Take on Me.

Alice, ex-Niffin, smartest and most talented and most capable mage they know, does not get any say when Quentin stupidly kills himself (by the way he only dies because for reasons known only to the writers he STOPS running and just stands there until he dies). She doesn’t throw the thing in WITH Quentin stopping the crisis before it happens (why were they moving so slowly when there was such a short timeframe? Just LOB EM IN, MAN! Alternatively wtf was the library still forcibly shorting people when there was a universal crisis and Zelda KNEW IT?)

Nope.

Our girl power season ends like this:

Julia loses her agency and has her life defined by the two main men in her life

Alice has no agency in how things play out in the mirror and has her life defined by the two (same) men in her life

Margot is told to ‘go cry outside or something’, and has fallen in love with a random white dude because she banged him once rather than literally let him die. This is character development, because none of the other relationships she’s ever had matter or affected her because they weren’t a romance.

Kady decides to define her life around the (dead) man in her life, until the other man in her life makes her realize he needs her still.

Fen is overthrown by some man offscreen

Zelda refuses to own up to the Library’s problems and try to fix them herself, and instead decides she’s going to pick someone else to do it for her. Also arguably she just sat back and let two men decide how the world would play out.

But it’s okay, guys. The Magicians is very subversive and not like other shows. The white cishet men aren’t main characters, and they proved that because Quentin died, and that’s WAY more subversive than the books, where everyone gets stories and endings that ACTUALLY MAKE SENSE FOR THEM and Quentin actually gets to eventually be happy.

But it’s not a suicide, because Quentin’s friends love him and therefore he had a good thing going, and Quentin has never ever missed or thrown away a good thing before.

Remember guys

it’s really realistic, because ANYONE CAN DIE IN REAL LIFE GUYS

OH MY LORD JUST GIVE US THE EMMY AND TELL US WE’RE PROGRESSIVE, PLEASE. WE’RE ALMOST THERE!

That’s season 4 of Magicians.

It’s bad.

[soyouwannaplaywithmagick]

King of His Satellite Castle Chapter Two

“Satellite In my eyes Like a diamond in the sky How I wonder” -“Satellite” by Dave Matthews Band

“Sherlock, it’s completely reckless and totally unnecessary.”

“You’ll be putting yourself at so much risk. Please. Think about what you’re doing.”

“I know how smart you are. This isn’t the way, can’t you see that?”

“I’ve… I’ve got some… books you can read instead.”

“…Sherlock!” 

“I know you’re brilliant and superior, but I am your doctor, and you will mind me!”

“Do you think I’ve spent the better portion of my entire adult life trying to keep you breathing just to let you do something so… so utterly asinine?!”

It didn’t matter. Whatever John said to the boy, Sherlock’s face and resolve remained exactly the same. He had made up his mind, and after almost an hour of trying to change it, nothing could have been more irritating. Especially the fact that he expected John to just somehow “figure out” how to help him avoid dying, even though he was choosing to do something that, by all accounts, assured he would. It was a stupid risk, and Sherlock was undoubtedly going to put himself in the utmost danger because of it.

Finally, John said the only thing he could think of, the only thing that hadn’t already passed from his brain to his mouth without a filter.

“I mean, who’ve you even got in mind? It’s not like you’ve got anyone of your own.”

At this, Sherlock’s brow furrowed furiously, and he stood, turned away from John, and marched off into his room. Before John could even call his apology, he heard Sherlock’s bedroom door slam.

Right. Yeah. That was a bad one on me.

~*~*~*~*~*~

John went home that night and cited paperwork as the reason he needed to retreat into his study for the better part of the evening. He and Mary didn’t usually eat together anymore anyway, just like they didn’t talk much. Whenever they did, it always turned into a fight.

Pouring himself a glass of Glenfiddich, John sat down at his computer (an old, woodburning thing) and thought about everything he already knew. He didn’t need to log on in order to get the information of which he was already painfully aware. Besides, he could just imagine what he’d find if he did search.

Yahoo! Answers

Question: Hi- I have a disease that makes my immune system basically nonexistent and causes me to experience allergic reactions to almost everything. I live in a house by myself, never go outside, and only ever see my doctor. My question is this: should I have sex?

Best Answer: No idiot. U would die.

No, John was a good enough doctor to know better, but his heart was big enough (and he’d known Sherlock long enough) to imagine that there might be a possibility for the boy to get what he wanted. You know, if he went against all his medical knowledge and allowed for his patient to do something that would almost absolutely get him killed.

John was reminded in that moment that Mycroft, Sherlock’s brother, essentially was the British government, or that was how Sherlock put it anyway. And even though they seemed to hate each other, Mycroft would most assuredly strip John of his license to practice medicine before, oh, say, locking him up in a Serbian prison if his baby bro were to die on the good doctor’s watch.

He stared at the black monitor on his computer and sighed. He took another sip and mulled it over some more.

This is idiotic. You know exactly what to do. Why are you mulling anything?

He answered his own question when he thought of Sherlock’s face after he’d said those words.

“It’s not like you’ve got anyone of your own.”

He’d looked so hurt, like someone had tugged out then crumpled his heart. John closed his eyes. Stupid. He was the stupid one.

Though he kept drinking, he put on his best research face and fired up the old machine in front of him. Okay. Let’s think.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day, John stopped by Sherlock’s place again after work. He got the same glares from the other doctors and nurses he always did, but instead of going anywhere else first, he just went straight to the egg-shaped house. As a result, he got there a little earlier than he usually did, and he wondered if everything would be ready for him.

To his surprise, the extra set of scrubs, slippers, and everything else was already waiting, and he realized Sherlock was too smart for his own good.

Well, he doesn’t know what I’ve been thinking. I could have come back here to try to talk him out of it again.

He stripped quickly and stepped into the shower. As he washed his hair under the scalding water, he thought about his plan again. The truth was it was still extremely risky. And stupid. And absolutely unnecessary. And Sherlock could still, in fact, die. But he couldn’t imagine having to face him after he’d wounded him so deeply with nothing but a cursory apology and the same, tired words.

John hopped out of the shower and had barely dressed again when he heard Sherlock’s voice.

“Good afternoon, Dr. Watson.”

John nodded because he knew Sherlock could see him even if he couldn’t see Sherlock. “‘Lo, Sherlock.”

“You’re early.”

“I am. Can I come up and take your vitals?”

There was a pause, and then he heard Sherlock’s voice come in flatly over the intercom. “I took them already.”

“I’d like to take them again if I may. And I’d like to talk to you.”

There was another pause, a longer one, before John heard the door above him hiss open. He climbed the stairs in his slippered feet before stepping into the living room. He didn’t see Sherlock anywhere, which was typical. John searched.

When he finally found him, the boy was sitting on his bed, clearly disinterested in John’s visit. He had one of his iPhones in his hand and seemed to be texting someone in Japanese.

“Sherlock. Would you mind putting the phone down? I want to talk.”

“I thought you wanted to take my vitals.”

“And talk.”

Sherlock didn’t look up from the phone. John sighed and came to sit beside him. He let a few moments go by before he finally said, “I’ll help.”

Sherlock glanced at him, then back at the phone. “You’ll help…”

“I’ll… I want… you to be happy.” John sniffed and looked away. “I don’t want you to miss out on one of the fundamental aspects of life.”

This time, Sherlock’s eyes moved to John and stayed on him.

“Really?”

“Yes. But it’s… it’s so completely dangerous, and if you wanted my opinion––”

“Don’t,” Sherlock said in a clipped, higher-pitched voice, the way he sometimes said “Bored.”

“––Yeah, well… Fine, but I’m giving it anyway because in my opinion as your doctor… and your friend… I think it’s really dangerous. I would recommend against it, whole-heartedly. But also as your doctor and your friend… I want to see you happy. I want…”

Here, John looked down at his slippers and flexed his hands which were sitting clasped together on his lap.

“I want to help you make some kind of human connection because, frankly, this is the first time you’ve expressed any interest in it.”

When John looked up at him, Sherlock just rolled his eyes and glanced back at his phone, although he wasn’t texting anymore.

“I already told you I shied away from anything in this vein because I felt it would allow me to better focus my mind on other things.”

John nodded slowly. “But… now you’ve changed it.”

“My mind, yes.”

John waited a moment, then asked. “So does that mean you never thought about sex until now?”

“I thought about it from time to time, but I didn’t let it consume my thoughts, and I always put it out of my head whenever it started to distract me.”

“You put it out of your head?”

“Yes.”

John pursed his lips. “Does this mean you’ve never masturbated?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, it does, or yes, you’ve never­­––?”

“Yes, I’ve never.”

John took in a deep breath and let it out in a long, slow sigh. “Okay.” He turned to look at Sherlock who still wasn’t looking back at him. “I’m starting to think this isn’t about human connection anymore.”

Sherlock gave a small, low chuckle. “Hm. Why did you ever think it in the first place?”

John laughed. “I dunno. But I still want to help you. It’s just that you have to do it my way. Understand?”

For the first time in the conversation, Sherlock finally turned to look at John. His eyes always seemed to pierce straight through, to find the core of whatever John was really saying or what he really meant to say. John held his gaze fast and didn’t back down, trying to show him he was serious.

Finally, Sherlock nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

John couldn’t help but to smile a little in the moment. It was the first time Sherlock hadn’t asked questions or hadn’t tried to cast doubt on John’s authority.

Well, maybe not the first time.

John had suddenly thought of the time he’d reprimanded Sherlock after he’d left the egg-shaped house to look at that dead body. After he’d finished his stern lecture, Sherlock’s young face had changed, the haughtiness that usually characterized it vaporizing into guilt and perhaps a little bit of fear.

“You could have died,” John had said to him, which had been the catalyst for the change in Sherlock’s expression. He hadn’t complained then. Just nodded solemnly, a ten-year-old boy with too much weight to carry on his shoulders. Immediately, the young doctor had relented and knelt down to hold him.

“I’m sorry, Sherlock. I just want to keep you safe.”

In that moment, remembering the young Sherlock and the many hours John had dedicated to keeping the boy safe, he softened and wanted to wrap his arms around him again.

I suppose he’s told old for things like that now, thought John. He settled on giving Sherlock a cheerful smile to let him know they were fine.

“All right,” he said, still smiling. “Give me your arm. Let’s check those vitals, and then, I’ll tell you what I’ve been thinking we could do.”

Previous Chapter

[therachelperspective]

TV | Girls (2012-2017)

A couple of years ago, I read Lena Dunham’s memoir Not That Kind of Girl. While I left that book as indifferent as when I started it, it is what initially sparked my interest in the television show Girls. Otherwise... I’m not entirely sure I would have any desire to watch it.

But alas, here we are. And I suppose I didn’t entirely hate the experience.

My first reaction to this show is this: it’s essentially the updated, millennial-era version of “Sex and the City.” I can even assign each Girls character to its SATC counterpart. The difference between SATC and Girls, however, is that the characters on Girls are, in my eyes at least, more believable as 20-somethings living in New York City. Still slightly exaggerated as most television show characters are for the sake of aesthetic and whimsy, but believable nonetheless. 

The further I progressed with the show, I realized that yes, Hannah Horvath (Lena Dunham) really kind of is the worst, most annoying character – funny enough, the same way I felt about her SATC counterpart, Carrie. But I won’t lie when I say that I also relate to her much more than I expected, and did so throughout various points throughout the series; I surprisingly related to each of the main ladies in various ways...

Like Hannah: I will openly admit that I too have a knack for being self absorbed an/or selfish; maybe not quite to the extent of Hannah Horvath, but I know it’s a thing (and I’m aware, so don’t be a boob and make me feel bad for it 😝). If you were to count the number of times Hannah turned every situation into something about herself throughout the series, or even in one given episode, it would get really old REALLY FAST. (Especially when you factor in how much Marnie did the same thing; seriously, those two deserve each other). Similarly, we share an intensely inquisitive mind and a desire to experience as much as the world has to offer us with a plan to one day write about it. But mostly, I too am just a quirky chubby girl that wants to be loved. She has mostly good intentions, and just wants to achieve success in something she feels passionate about, while doing so with some integrity. And I really feel that on a personal level.

Like Marnie: I used to create relationships where there were none, just so I could trick my mind into feeling some semblance of love. Early in the series, Marnie constantly gets upset when the perceived “relationships” she has with her male counterparts turn out to be just a mere hookup in the his eyes. Like her, I used relationships and desirability as a form of validation. I too, as a college educated woman, got lost in the working world (though she at least had some success to begin with as an art gallery administrative assistant, where I was lost from the start). However, I’ll be honest here, most of the time I really couldn’t stand Marnie’s narcissistic and controlling behavior, and struggled to see past it.

Like Jessa: I like to fancy myself a bohemian and a citizen of the world. I too have a habit of being brutally honest and candid with people. Maybe not as harshly as Jessa does (where I feel like nothing she says the entire series has any air of niceties to it until later on), but still. It is there, though, that I believe my connection with Jessa ends. Much of her central story focuses a great deal on her drug use and her resulting stints in rehab, as well as her seemingly uncaring personality for everything around her. She would insult you and think she’s doing you a favor; she would fight authority (sometimes literally) and think there will be no consequences to her actions. But I guess you could say that, like Jessa, we’ve all made mistakes or poor choices, lost our way, and have tried to build ourselves back up by grasping at anything we possibly could that resembles happiness. I will gladly say that later in season 5, she began to really redeem herself by her desire to become a therapist and actually help people (even if **SPOILER** it didn’t pan out). And I realized, at the end of the series, when Jessa actually had true relationships with other people, that we did share a little bit more – that she too just wanted people to choose her, to be the one that people wanted to be with in the end. And... **SPOILER AGAIN** I believe she finally got that with Adam, just as I did.

And lastly, like Shoshanna: I played the role of diligent student, thinking that it would do me well in life... Only to realize that, upon graduating, the real world is an unforgiving place and those credentials would not get you as far you believed. While her first few seasons saw her studying at NYU, my relation to her really showed itself after Shosh graduated in season four. And likewise to Shosh, I was a late bloomer. I didn’t have certain um...  *clears throat* life experiences... until my late twenties and felt similarly self-conscious about my lack of involvement therein for a long time. But once we both grew into our own as women, realized the toxicity of our surroundings (especially in people), and took steps to distance ourselves from that toxicity to find our true selves, both Shosh and I finally found the happiness we deserved. I would say her character development and arc was my favorite.

Despite the innate ability I have to empathize with a slew of characters, I was ready to be done watching Girls by season three. At that point, I truly realized the constant loops in each episode, the same concepts repeated over and over as each season progressed. Like, for example, even though these were 20something characters, it shared similar tropes with so many teen dramas I’ve watched before – my least favorite being romantic/sexual partners being recycled amongst friends like it’s nothing, and the previous partner being angry about it. Even more, there were characters that kept trying to get back together with previous partners (ahem, Marnie), and not at all surprised, it failed again. I sympathize for sure, and I won’t say I’ve never done that myself, but it was and has been overplayed in television. Like, you’re allowed to let main characters end up with someone that wasn’t another character’s significant other the season before (see: Shoshanna’s and Ray’s respective series finale relationships).

There were also so many times when something took place that was meant to be shocking in Girls, typically on Hannah’s part, but the reality is that many, many times it was completely unnecessary. COMPLETELY unnecessary. Dare I say it was just Lena Dunham’s attempt to portray herself different as a writer/director, as edgy and daring, but using absolutely the wrong methods to do it. There became a point where I praised the show for being half-hour episodes so I could cover ground faster and finish the series more quickly. And even then, I felt myself having to take solid breaks between periods of episode binges to make it through the series without completely losing my mind.

It was refreshing to watch a television show with no holds barred language and nudity-wise (to which I shout a big thank you to HBO, Showtime, Netflix, and similar channels of media that don’t censor the shit out of its shows and films). But I find myself leaving Lena Dunham’s show the same way I left her novel – indifferent. I don’t feel any renowned change in my way of thinking, nor do I believe Lena to be a visionary. It was, more or less, just a way to pass time. And my usual phrase: to see what the fuss is all about. I do give her props for creating a better, more relatable portrayal of women in media, and also for flexing her abilities as a female director/writer/producer trifecta.

The most prominent thing I have really walked away with after watching Girls... is many, many more feels (Star Wars initiated, Girls fueled) for Adam Driver.

[never-not-kicking]

Criticizing science instead of story

This is something that’s bothered me for a long time so I hope I can articulate it without getting too angry. TL;DR: overanalyzing works involving science fiction is condescending, unnecessary, and ultimately perpetuates the notion that people in STEM fields are intellectually superior to artists.

I think authors should demonstrate consistency in their world. You obviously can’t make a huge scientific blunder and get away with it--like having the moon be destroyed and the Earth not being affected by it, for example--but this post isn’t about gargantuan oversights. It’s about people who nitpick content that is not 100% consistent with science and believe that is a good enough reason to dismiss a work.

Let me paint you a common scenario real quick. You’re in a group, having a fun conversation about a fictional work involving time travel, and some person derails the conversation by taking an unnecessary cheap shot at its premise: that “they couldn’t enjoy it because its depiction of time travel made no sense.” If I had a dollar for every time I heard a statement like that in an unrelated conversation, I could probably take a day off work by now.

Now let’s take a common work that could spark this conversation, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I’m going to give you all a quick lesson on what is and what isn’t a good way to criticize this book: Good way: “Why didn’t Hermione just keep the time turner and use it in the next books to stop Voldemort?” This is a good question because it a) has an answer (it was returned to the Ministry after), and b) would be a fun discussion even if it didn’t. It pertains to the overarching story rather than a scientific technicality within the book. Now for a bad example: Bad way: “I couldn’t take the book seriously because its time travel is paradoxical. Neither timeline can exist without the existence of the other.” This is an unnecessary criticism because it a) has no answer and thus hinders the conversation, and b) criticizes a story about magic and fantasy on the grounds that it’s scientifically inaccurate. Now I’ll get into why that’s a bad critique.

Imagine walking into a hospital to find someone claiming that hospitals are useless because medical equipment is ugly. IV drips? Unsightly. Catheters? Disgusting. X-ray machines? Come on, at least give it some color! This person continues criticizing every aspect of the hospital and comes to the conclusion that because it is unappealing visually, it lacks worth and is a failure as an institution. Now, would you listen to this person? Of course not. Hospitals don’t exist to be pretty; they exist to cure ailments and heal wounds and keep people in healthy. They exist to keep us alive. Now let’s reverse the roles. You’re discussing Guardians of the Galaxy, which takes place in space, and some douchebag makes a comment about its scientific inaccuracy. He’s walked into a movie whose only relation to hard science is the existence of futuristic technology and decides to criticize it as though it were a documentary. Would you take his opinion seriously? No, because the purpose of fictional work is not to be scientifically accurate. There are probably many reasons to criticize the movie, but comparing a cinematic universe that is different from our own to the real world is just lazy.

There are absolutely situations where the inclusion of bad science could be problematic, like if a work perpetuated fear over vaccines or certain mental disorders, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about people looking at a work surrounding fiction or fantasy, seeing its scientific imperfections, and dismissing it on those grounds alone. That, my friends, is a clear sign that the critic has no idea how to critique. It means that they looked at the work, missed the point entirely, and now believe that their opinion is a sign of good taste.

Why do I bring this up? Because it’s become so common that artists are often worried to show their art to the public because the science isn’t flawless. Lately I’ve been writing a story that involves an alien coming to Earth and I’ve felt the need to make every aspect of his arrival scientifically airtight. How would he survive the impact of the ship? How much damage would it cause? How do I justify the fact that no one dies from alien pathogens? Is it justifiable that he looks similar to the species that live on Earth? In the process, I’ve wound up bogging down the story and it’s become less fun to write and read. There are countless writers and artists who are afraid to put out work because of this. This kind of unnecessary scientific critique is so pervasive that the things young artists are proud of—the things they’ve put their blood, sweat, and tears into—are dismissed because critics think it’s fun to flex their own perceived intellectual superiority. The critics try to defeat the artist rather than evaluate the work for what it’s trying to achieve. They’re lazy, untalented hacks who compensate for their lack of literary knowledge by attacking something that has nothing to do with the story. (See: basically every consistently negative Youtube critic in existence. A big indicator that someone is like this is if they seem to hate every piece of popular media in existence.)

I want to make something very, very clear here: as an artist, it is not your responsibility to appease people who do not understand art to begin with. It is not your responsibility to cater to people who are just looking to nitpick and be dissatisfied anyway.Those people--the incessant critics who consider themselves more discerning or intellectual--equate disliking a work with being a discerning consumer. They cannot and will not be satisfied, so don’t try to satisfy them.

Instead, write for yourself. Write what you would want to read. Write for other artists and dreamers and fans of the type of work you’re making. Focus on immersing your reader and making them fall in love with your work instead of avoiding criticism from arrogant douchebags. You are the author. You are the visionary. You possess the imagination they don’t have. So put those fuckers in their place and make a story so beautiful everyone will be angry when they attack it, because that is WAY more fulfilling.