#I relate too much to Eleanor not wanting Chidi to go because she was happy and finally not alone

[star-kovs]

I’m sad because I’m starting a new semester of school. It’s most likely going to be my last. I feel like it’s holding me back. I’m ready to move on. I want to move away, to another city and start the rest of my life. There’s nothing for me here. I’m not looking forward to any part of where I see this city going nor fond of how it is currently. I have no close family members to miss here or any friends to leave behind. I never forged the connection with the people here to make any.

I’m ready to start the next chapter of my life but mourn all the experiences I should have and deserved to have. I never had the people or was in the place to have them. I feel like I have also missed personal milestones because I haven’t had them, like my first kiss or my first mature relationship (first relationship while I was older and not in kindergarten or so).

I just feel stuck and lonely. I deserve to feel loved by someone other than my family. I want romantic and platonic friendship love. I deserve it. I’m not sure what I’ve done wrong to not have it but I also know it’s not all on me. It’s nobody’s fault but relationships are also a two-person job. And I haven’t had much luck in the 13 years since we moved back here.

I’m working on loving and caring for myself more. After not receiving the outside love I desperately longed for, I think part of me decided that it was okay to not keep up with caring for myself. I let myself go, which also came with the depression. I’ve been overweight most of the time, for the majority if not all of the last 10 years or so. I don’t make any effort to get enough sleep, and I’m naturally a night owl, which doesn’t help. I like feeling clean but I have a hard time making myself take a shower. I struggle making myself do things I do not want to do, and do not make any effort to do things for the simple reason that they are good for me or would be good to do. I procrastinate a lot as a result. I’m late to a lot of places and struggle to make myself leave the house sometimes even though I need to be some place or I would enjoy going there (this problem really started during the pandemic, during lockdown, but I still struggle with it from time to time). I don’t hate myself. But I also don’t show any love or care to myself. And I deserve better on this end too.

I’m just so tired of the way things are. I’m ready for a change, a change that can’t come yet. But I’m ready for it, and I know I deserve better than what I’ve had. All I can do is work to make what I can control better and hope the major change can come sooner rather than later.

[transmasc-wizard]

Hey tell me about your favorite symbols and motifs and themes and mirrors and foils and parallels (and so on and so forth)

Is that.

hi ok im answering this finally

i know im a basic bitch. i know. but to get this out of the way: the hero's journey story structure drives me up a wall in the best way, specifically because you end where you started. its a circle. but even though the PLACE is the same, YOU are not the same, YOU are fundamentally changed, YOU fell to the abyss and were reborn and are thus not the same as the person who started, and i just. like it

when it comes to themes. fate. stories about fate are my favourite thing ever but only if theyre done right. attempting to gain agency and escape something that you literally cannot escape......... sdkjfhksffskdhfksgkj. and if they DO escape?? if they do?? they DO fundamentally break the narrative thats been bestowed upon them...... i die. i perish. i pass away. i like it. <-that in particular can be changing their own fate in a story abt fate, but also i like characters just. crushing what the narrative was supposed to be. on a related note, mulan not being a musical for the last half of the story is the best thing disney's ever done

also! to go back to characters specifically changing their own fate!! dont get me wrong, them being unable to stop fate is 10/10 too. my only issue is if they like fate and go along with fate. the chosen one gets chosen and is fine with it/happy abt it and wins and lives happily ever after.... NO!!! i want them to struggle!! i want the characters and fate to be in a (perhaps neverending) barfight!!! i dont care who wins i just want the conflict that creates

also to actually talk about specific pieces of fiction. the good place is a masterpiece and i will yell it from the rooftops forever. the comedy is fine ig but the actual underlying story makes me feel so many things. the theme of everyone having the capacity to become better is so needed i think. it is. and the idea that the system is SET UP to make it hard for people to be good is true!! its fucking true!!

also i feel like Eleanor and Chidi are foils. on some level. because yeah Chidi taught Eleanor to care more about her moral decisions, but Eleanor actually taught Chidi to be less caring about his moral decisions, too. at least, how i see it. she doesnt make him immoral by any means, but i think that just by being around Eleanor all the time, Chidi starts to learn how to actually deal with the fact that Sometimes, he will make choices that hurt people, but that's a fact of life and he can't judge himself on that alone. and. well . i like it!! i like it very much !!!

also smth i found interesting was how in Little Thieves by Margaret Owen, Vanja's (the main character) greed is directly symbolized by the jewels growing from her body. like, it's not even subtle; it's part of her curse. the thing is, i actually think it would have been executed better if Vanja didn't know that. if she had to make the (pretty obvious) connection herself & bend symbolism to work for her, lower the amount of gems killing her by lowering her own greed instead of just being handed that information, it'd have worked better.

also ARCANE i am so unwell about arcane. it is a story of a bunch of people who, i think, literally all just want to do something good but dont know how to execute it. Powder wanted to do something good in ep 3, but in the process she [redacted spoiler lol]. Jayce wants to do something good with hextech, but he's taking dangerous risks and he may hurt people or even start a war. Vi and Caitlyn both want the undercity to be better, but they don't know how to fix it and though I haven't watched episode 9 yet, I can feel a big fuckup coming. Even Mel!!! She's manipulative yeah and pretty morally grey but she wants what's best for Piltover. And Silco. EVEN SILCO. He wants the undercity to thrive. Don't get me wrong, he's a piece of shit, but i think somewhere. deep down. he wants things to be better, too

also i dont know where it is but there's a post talking about how Jinx is fire and Silco is water but their colour symbolism is opposite to that and i love that take so much. Jinx is blues and Silco is reds, but Jinx was born from fire and Silco was born from water and Jinx is a hair-trigger explosion, dangerous but powerful, while Silco is more like the ocean--often calm, but capable of killing and more than willing to do so.

that was. so long. so i will end that. i like Things in Media

[hawkland]

Dear Smut4Smut creator

Letter for the 2021 Smut 4 Smut exchange

My AO3 profile: sidewinder

Thank you for writing or creating art for me! I know I’ll be thrilled with whatever you come up with for any of my requests. (And if I babble on or have more prompts for one ship than another, don’t take that as any kind of preference. Some I just am more specific in the kinds of smutty scenarios I’m requesting/wanting at this time, but I love them all the same.)

Please consider the requested tags all the “prompt” you need if so inspired, if none of my suggested scenarios and ideas inspire you. Also, of course, feel free to combine them or use only one as you see fit! 

General Likes

Non-penetrative sex (especially in first-time scenarios). I love extended kissing scenes, frottage, mutual hand jobs, characters so turned on and overwhelmed that they come from barely being touched/before they can get all their clothes off, etc.

Romantic smut more than really kinky smut (though a bit of light bondage/restraint can be fun!)

That said, I have a definite weakness for wing!kink and tentacles... where appropriate :) 

Generally stoic/repressed/strong characters breaking down and needing comfort/hugs/acceptance of their vulnerabilities

Inverted relationship power dynamics - in the sense of a seemingly older and/or more powerful character actually being less experienced in sex/romantic relationships, or having more doubts & insecurities, and needing the younger/less powerful character to take the lead or reassure them.

In art - I really love all styles of fan art and just seeing how different artists interpret my favorite characters. Seriously, and that’s not just a cop-out because I’m crappy at coming up with art-specific prompts.

General Do No Wants

A/B/O dynamics, mating heats

animal abuse/death

anything related to pregnancy/childbirth

formalized BDSM relationships

non-canon gender identities and/or sexual orientations except gay/bi/pan for requested ships/characters 

scat/watersports

unrequested alternative-universe scenarios such as high school/genderswap/coffee shop/etc (however, canon-divergent AUs completely fine!)

Supernatural-Castiel/Dean Winchester

Fandom-specific Do Not Wants: Bad ending/unhappy-ever-after, Sam-bashing, any suggestions of Wincest

I confess I am a very new Destiel-shipper/SPN fan, having only gotten into the show late last year (post-finale.) So while I know there are mountains of stories already written about this ship, sometimes it’s nigh impossible to dig through it all to find stories that scratch the specific fic cravings I have. Hence all the prompts/ideas for them here, some of which I’m sure have been done to death already...but please humor me :)

Long Prolonged Make-Outs

Kissing All Over

Frottage

First Time Sex is Non-Penetrative 

First Time with Partner of the Same Gender

Experience - Experienced/Inexperienced

Experience - Experienced Partner Lets Inexperienced One Explore Them

Playful Sex

Morning After (Incredible Sex the night before)

I love everything about newly-human!Cas in season 9 (and Cas’s hedonistic tendencies in general). I have to imagine that, as a human, he just feels things with an intensity that angels just don’t feel, as if with human lifetimes so condensed, their senses are intensified to make up for it in a way that would be overwhelming for a hugely powerful/nearly immortal creature like an angel.

So give me any story about Cas’ exploring and fully embracing the sensual pleasures of sex (with Dean). I love Season 9 canon-divergence fics where Dean lets him stay in the bunker. Perhaps after his first taste of sex with April, Cas wants to add to his experiences by having sex with a male-bodied human/someone he deeply cares about (ie, DEAN). Dean may still be struggling with his own internalized homo/bi-phobia but it’s hard for him to resist Cas with his insatiable curiosity about how the human body works, having no filters/no taboos and just wanting to taste/touch/experience until he/they both are completely overwhelmed.

Wings as Erogenous Zones

Wing Kink

I love wings and true-form Cas as well. In fact I’m totally okay with canon-compliant, post-finale fic in Heaven if it means Dean can finally see/experience Cas’s true form (or at least glimpses/parts of it) without dying (because, you know, already dead and all that.) Otherwise, I’m always up for AUs where Dean can sense/feel/see Cas’s wings (if Cas wants him to) and they are an incredible erogenous zone for the angel. Maybe even his most powerful one.

Touching All Over

Touch-starved character overwhelmed from seemingly innocent touches

Touch-starved

Awkward First Times

Trauma Recovery

thank god you're/we're alive sex

Tender Sex with Lots of Eye Contact & Barely Repressed Feelings

Tender Sex

Shame in Sexual Desires

Room-Wrecking Sex

Reunion Sex

Characters mutually pining finally get together and have amazing sex

Desperate Sex

Sex gets paused to deal with PTSD then maybe returned to 

I’ll take all the Cas-is-back, ignore-the-finale fics that are possible. Give me touch-starved Cas after his rescue from The Empty. (Dean can be fully into immediately satisfying his needs or, for angst, still struggling with/unsure of his feelings/sexuality.) It’s tender and healing, or maybe it’s explosive with all those years of pent-up desire and needs. You tell me, I love it all!

Sex While Washing Off The Blood of Their Enemies

Sex While Covered In The Blood of Their Enemies

sex under the stars

Outdoor Sex

Car Sex - on the hood of a car

Car Sex - in the back seat

Hotel Sex

tender making out in a car

sex after a long car ride

For these tags, I’m thinking canon-divergent future-fic where Dean is getting older (maybe Cas is too, if he’s lost his grace), yet they still go out on hunts together on occasion to relive the “glory days”. (Sam’s happily settled down and out of the hunting life with Eileen). They enjoy post-hunt sex in the outdoors or in/on the car, or seedy motel, reveling in the adrenaline of the kill, reaffirming their need and love for each other. Yum.

Supernatural - Endverse Castiel/Dean Winchester/Endverse Dean Winchester 

Desperate Sex

Threesome - M/M/M

Threesome - Character/Crush/Another Version of Crush

Turned On By Violence

One last fuck before you die

Drugs - Drug Use

Time Travel - Sleeping with older/younger version of someone you know in your own timeline

Time Travel - Sleeping with older/younger self

Pairing-Specific DNWs: None here. Go as dark as you want, since it’s Endverse.

Um, yeah. Pretty much what the tags suggest. Dean knows its freaky as hell but maybe he catches his future self and Cas having sex and they invite him in. Maybe he sees it as a chance to be with Cas (even this very different Cas) like he can’t in his own time. Castiel is totally messed up over seeing the man he had fallen in love with (and fallen from grace for) as he had been, back then, and can’t contain himself now that he’s gone so deep into carnal/hedonistic pleasures.

The Orville - Gordon Malloy/Ed Mercer

thank god you're/we're alive sex

"We Lived" Kiss Reveals Feelings

Stranded - On Another Planet/World With No Way Home

Huddling For Warmth Leads To Sex

on the run together

Desperate Sex

One last fuck before you die

Fandom-specific Do Not Want: No Kelly-bashing.

I’d love something set in the alternative universe/timeline of “The Road Not Taken”, where the Kaylons have won, leaving Gordon and Ed on the run together.  Just, any kind of desperate situation where they know they could die at any moment, so they might as well seek whatever comfort, love and tenderness they can find being with each other.

Laughter During Sex

Awkward First Times

Friends to Lovers

First Time Sex is Non-Penetrative

Frottage

Something Made Them Do It

Drugs - Experimental Substance Has Weird Sexual Side Effects

Casual Sex while Secretly Pining

Laughter During Sex

Something fun and silly (and sexy), please, using any of these tags! The show just screams out for tropey “something made them do it” scenarios, be it due to aliens, alien food or drink, whatever. Otherwise I’d love a story where they realize they do have more serious feelings for each other than their (up til then) casual relationship has allowed.

The Good Place - Michael/Eleanor Shellstrop

Tentacles - Tentacle Sex

Tentacles

Xeno - Nonhuman Partner is Ashamed of Their Body

Experience - Experienced/Inexperienced

Awkward First Times 

Laughter During Sex

romantic sex

Tentacles - Gentle and Tender Tentacle Sex with Lots of Caresses and Cuddles

Fandom-specific Do Not Wants: No Chidi-bashing (but also, no Chidi/Eleanor endgame references/suggestions).

The ship/canon where I will eternally want tentacle smut! Michael seems so ashamed of his fire-squid demon form. I want him to find out that Eleanor actually finds it kind of a turn-on and would love to find a way she could...experience it. Since we know Michael can create simulations/realities (like he does in “The Trolley Problem”), maybe he can create one where Eleanor can see/experience a version of himself that won’t, you know, destroy the entire neighborhood or burn her to a crisp?

Otherwise I’m good with any kind of first-time scenario in one of Michael’s “reboots” (or later on when they’ve figured things out and are in Michael’s Neighborhood Improvement Experiment). Awkward Michael figuring out his human body’s reactions to Eleanor, them having fun and romantic sex, would definitely make my heart happy.

[thealogie]

hey thea I’m on s1 of the good place and in what way was the finale ep bad? i don’t mind spoiler at all and don’t want to get too involved if the writers will let me down in the end

Ehhh ugh sorry I really didn’t want to spoil it because I actually think it’s a delightful show for the most part....If you haven’t finished s1 and you haven’t been spoiled on how it ends I STRONGLY recommend you stop reading this answer after this paragraph. Because it is actually worth experiencing s1 and s2 unspoiled. Especially since many people actually loved the finale and even I concede it’s not SO bad that it should discourage you from watching

OK STOP READING

So In the end the whole crew discovers that staying in the good place becomes miserable and meaningless after thousands of ions other whatever because it’s just endless pleasantness without death or threat or anything else. So they invent a way to make the heaven more meaningful by allowing people to “die”/“turn into nothing” when they are ready to do so. So you still get to have as much time as you want, but you know it’ll end.

So summary: they all live thousands of years in the good place. Tahani becomes an architect and apparently doesn’t hang out with the gang so much anymore. Jason and janette are together but then he decides he’s ready to go and she’s like great I’m sad but happy for you. And chidi and Eleanor are together but then he’s ready to go and she’s not, so she tried to keep him there but decides that’s selfish so let’s him go. And then she’s ready to go later.

It’s like...ok these characters have been hanging out for thousands of years and their decisions are informed by this really zen/mature/we’ve done it all worldview. But none of their decisions are emotionally satisfying or instructive to me, your viewer, a human who has not lived as much as she’d ever like to live. So chidi’s desire to voluntarily become “nothing” and leave behind someone he still loves because he feels like it...is just not relatable or sympathetic to me. The fact that they all created this beautiful found family but now they barely see Tahani? I don’t get it, why not have all of them work ik after-life roles together. There are stories where it makes sense to say “people grow apart...everyone does their own thing” but I don’t think this was what they were trying to say, I think they were like “oh when you’re truly secure/mature, you just respect and support the people you love doing stuff they gotta do.” Like yeah?? But if my soulmate was like “idk this has been fun but I’m bored and I just am feeling like I gotta go...without you..to become nothing” id be like...the fuck man

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Good Place: Whenever You're Ready (4x13/14)

Okay yeah I cried cried cried. That was powerful.

Cons:

I don't really have the heart to nitpick and critique this finale. It was as good an ending to a TV show as I've seen in a very long time.

I guess... I wish it was longer?

Pros:

Just conceptually, this version of the afterlife is so freakin' gorgeous and ideal and even though I'm an atheist and don't think there's an afterlife, I... hope this is what the afterlife is like?

It just... works, on every conceivable level. Think about it. You die, and then you get to go through simulations where you learn about yourself, where you learn to improve and be a kinder, better person. And then after that, you get to go to a fun place where you can live whatever kind of life you want with absolutely no worries - the conventional dream of Heaven. You can be peaceful, or you can learn new things, you can achieve goals, you can repair relationships with people from your life on Earth. You can do whatever you want, for as long as you want. But after that, you go into the great unknown, and are finally, fully, at rest. We even see a hint of what these souls do when they're at rest - they linger within humanity, inspiring people to do better, to be better, thus continuing the cycle.

How... perfect. It's an afterlife built around the thought that effort is important. That trying is what really matters. We see all of the different ways it can manifest. We see that some people take forever, we see a snippet of Brent still trying to learn and grow but not there yet... but other characters, like Tahani's sister and parents, eventually do improve and heal through the program, and get to have a meaningful reconciliation, their family complete at last.

And then there's the paradise part, where we see different goals and dreams coming to life. Tahani spends her afterlife in self-improvement, learning new skills. I like that she doesn't have a shoe-horned romance, and that hers is a life that is fulfilled without the necessity of a single life/afterlife companion. And she doesn't go into that great beyond. We don't get to learn Tahani's "ultimate" fate. She becomes an Architect and spends at least a part of her eternity helping other people to improve, thus fulfilling the purpose she pretended to have on Earth. I like that her story feels unfinished, in a way. Maybe someday she goes through the final door. Maybe she doesn't. It's okay that we don't know.

Jason plays a perfect game of Madden, he gets to hang out with his dad and the rest of his dance crew, he gets to have a meaningful and loving relationship with Janet. And then, after letting his thoughts go blank and spending several Jeremy Bearimys alone with his thoughts (like a monk), he goes through the final doorway, off to bring encouragement to some soul back on Earth.

I loved the fake-out, where Jason is the first to leave, but then it turns out he hung around to give Janet the necklace he made for her. He was ready to leave, but he also didn't mind sticking around. Eternity means there's no harm in waiting. And it was such a fun callback for him to achieve the spiritual peace of being a monk, when that was a part of his deception and fear during season one.

Chidi's section of the episode is the part that made me bawl. See, the thing is, this show never really gave me "feels" about the characters in the way that other shows do... but that's because it gave me more... conceptual feels. I loved watching... love happen on the screen in front of me, more so than I was invested in the specifics of Chidi and Eleanor's romance. But this - the very concept of this - Chidi being ready to move on, but sticking around for Eleanor. Eleanor selfishly holding on to that love, and then learning that she owes it to Chidi to let go. And then... Chidi sharing with Eleanor a Buddhist idea of death - that life is like a wave, and death is returning to the ocean. The wave was just... a different way for the water to be, for a while.

God, I don't know what it was, but that thought... it soothed something in me. It touched me, spiritually, because of the journey we've watched these characters go on for so long. They got to have as much of an eternity as they wanted. They got to be fulfilled in every way that they wanted to be, and then they got to return to the ocean, from whence they came.

I'm also obsessed with Michael's ending. He begins to feel unfulfilled as an Architect, and so the next logical step is for him to become a human, and go through the system like anyone else. I particularly loved that Eleanor pointed out to him that there's no guarantee - the system has been working, but what if Shawn changes it? What if something goes wrong? Michael has to make that leap of faith, and as he reminds Eleanor, the very fact of his unknowing is an essential part of being human. We see him living his life on Earth. Good days, bad days, days in between. And we don't get to watch him live out the remainder of his life, die, go through the system, get his eternity, and walk through the final door. But we can have faith that that's what happens, and that faith is enough.

Janet isn't a human, and she doesn't want to be a human, so we've got another ambiguous/unfulfilled ending with her. I like the moment early on, when she talks about how she experiences time differently from humans. For her, she's everywhere and every time at once. So there's not really any tragedy to the thought of her existing on in perpetuity, befriending and existing among humans forever more. She formed really meaningful bonds with Jason and the others in the Soul Squad, so she'll do it again. She'll grow and love and continue to be not a girl, not a robot. It's lovely.

Sometimes show finales can feel like curtain calls, and this episode certainly had a lot of guest appearances from characters we've gotten to know over the years. Each one felt intentional and worthy of inclusion. I loved seeing Simone again, and John, albeit briefly. I loved seeing Mindy, and knowing that she too goes through the process for self-improvement. Her parallels with Eleanor helped to show how much our protagonist has grown as well. Derek was hilarious. Tahani's family was great. We got mentions of Eleanor and Chidi's mothers, too. Vicky was there. The Judge. Shawn. The list goes on.

And then Eleanor. Her journey is so stunning. There's something so relatable about the fact that she's the last to be ready to move on. And that she's not sure what she needs to do to feel fulfilled. I... felt that. I understood it on some deep level. It meant so much to me that Eleanor's fulfillment wasn't any one thing, any more than Tahani's or Chidi's. Living an eternity with Chidi wasn't it. Helping Mindy wasn't it. Helping Michael... that was the thing that finally tipped it for her, but it wasn't just that alone. It was a combination of all of those things.

I loved this finale so very much. It was powerful in a way I don't know how to describe. I've often found that finales of TV shows can either be astoundingly good, or incredibly disappointing. They are very rarely somewhere in the middle. This one was astoundingly good, and I'm so happy.

10/10

I have to review this show as a whole. Sure, I can think of things I would have changed, ways it could have been stronger, more exactly my own cup of tea. I could have used more queer representation. I could have used less memory wipes and re-sets in seasons two and three. But these things don't change the fact that this show had a very clear message. A very powerful philosophy. And it made a very persuasive argument for the ideas it espoused. I want the world to work like this. I want humanity to work like this. I want people to have the chance to grow, and change, and I want to acknowledge that it's not always easy, that it often involves a lot of time, and that it requires help from others. I'm so happy I watched this show. I'll definitely be recommending it to people for a very long time.

My over-all rating is...

9.5/10

[blodreina-noumou]

Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions. don’t cheat. tag 10 (or however many) peeps.

*I’ve done this twice before, technically, but I watch a lot of TV shows, so I’m doing it again.*

1 - Legacies

2 - American Horror Story

3 - The Good Place

4 - One Day at a Time

5 - The 100

1. who is your favorite character in 2?

Oof, I really should’ve picked a season. It’s tough to choose just one out of the whole anthology. The first that comes to my mind is a pretty popular choice, I imagine - Lana Winters, lead characters from Asylum. She’s tough, but she’s no cookie.

2. who is your least favorite character in 1?

I’ve actually been thinking about this lately, and I don’t think I really have one! I find all of the characters in Legacies to be reasonably fleshed out, charming, and compelling. I guess I have to go with Sebastian, simply because I don’t know what’s going on with him - why he can/chooses to reveal himself only to certain people at certain times, and what he wants with Lizzie. I don’t trust him.

3. what is your favorite episode of 4?

The second season finale really stands out. Each character gets their own little moment with Lydia, and we get to learn a lot more about them. It’s a tearjerker in the best possible way, and it really seals the deal - at that point, you have no choice but to love and care for all of the characters, and to cherish their connections to one another.

4. what is your favorite season of 5?

Season 2 remains the best to this day. It’s just where the show peaked - it had the most consistent storyline, characterization, and visual motifs. The twists were really surprising and well-earned, and trauma fatigue had not yet set in. The 100 goes downhill in a big way after season 2.

5. who is your favorite couple in 3?

Cheleanor, of course! I love Chidi, and I love Eleanor, and I love how they complement each other. Plus they are a beautiful couple.

6. who is your favorite couple in 2?

Are there any good couples in AHS, lmao? I suppose I gotta go with Liz Taylor and Trystan. They’re probably the healthiest, and come the closest to getting a happy ending out of any couple in the entire series.

But I have to admit that, when I was younger especially, I had a big soft spot for Violate. They’re fucked up, problematic, tragic, and so wrong for each other. And yet...

They’re so goddamn cute. And they provide some much needed teen apathy to the first half of the first season.

7. what is your favorite episode of 1?

“Mombie Dearest” - aka the episode where Alaric’s dead almost-wife rises from the grave and meets her miraculous daughters. It’s where the new generation really intersects with the old, for the first time. Definitely where I was well and truly hooked.

8. what is your favorite episode of 5?

I think the best episode is “Spacewalker” - where Clarke mercy kills Finn. But my favorite episode might actually be “Die All, Die Merrily” for the aesthetic alone. “Praimfaya” is high up there, too. And of course, “The Red Queen”

9. what is your favorite season of 2?

Oh man, I’ve been thinking about this one a lot, too. It’s tough, because I think the best season cannot count as my favorite, because I find it so difficult to watch - season 2, Asylum. It’s probably the most well-written, the scariest, the most disturbing, and has the most interesting characters of the entire series. But I cannot rewatch it - it’s just too tough.

So in terms of the ones I’d actually rewatch, in order: Roanoke, Hotel, Murder House, and Coven.

10. how long have you watched 1?

I jumped on inbetween season one and two - fully caught up, and I’m watching s2 as it airs. I saw a bunch of gifs of Hope sacrificing herself, but also a dude was there mirroring her? And my confusion was enough to make me finally give it a try. It’s so fun!

11. how did you become interested in 3?

Tumblr! How else, lol?

12. who is your favorite actor in 4?

Honestly, Justina Machado does work to carry the show. Obviously the more “side” characters, like Elena and Lydia, get a lot of the love and a lot of the snappiest lines and stories. But Penelope is the heart and soul and hardworking hands of the Alvarez family, and of the show itself.

13. which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

I only have a sideblog for The 100, so there’s your answer. But I think Legacies and The Good Place make me happier and are more enjoyable, lmao.

14. which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3 ?

I’ve seen every episode of both - but The Good Place has more episodes currently, so 3!

15. if you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

I relate the most to Schneider, but I wish I was more like Elena.

16. would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

I think so, yeah! I don’t wish death on anyone in ODAAT, so it’d have to be an Earth episode of TGP. I could see Team Cockroach getting mixed up with the Alvarez family through some crazy shenanigans. 

17. pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple.

I’m a Hosie hoe.

18. overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

The Good Place, because it actually knows what story it’s telling, and when to quit. The 100 does not.

19. which has the better theme music, 2 or 4?

They could not be more different. ODAAT is super uptempo and hopeful, AHS is 90% creepy noises and minor piano. It’s really hard to choose.

Tagging:

I was tagged by: @katersann​ (tysm!!)

I’m tagging: @captainwilldameron​ @doortotomorrow​ @johnmurphysreddit​ @awesomenell65​ @blodkru​ @stardreamt​ @primekru​ @blodkihci​ @nightbleeder​ @bombshellsandbluebells​ and anyone else who sees this and wants to steal it! As usual, feel free to ignore this for any reason, no pressure.

[horsegirlimogentemult]

5 tv shows i should watch?

Schitt’s Creek: A ridiculously rich family, the Roses, lose all of their money and everything they own. The only thing they’re allowed to keep is a town that the father bought for his son as a joke twenty years ago, called Schitt’s Creek, and so they have to move there and live in the local motel, and become friends with all the locals.

You’ll want to live in Schitt’s Creek. It’s also got the best gay rep I’ve ever seen in David and Patrick, and the whole town is such a safe place. And it’s hysterical. You haven’t lived till you’ve heard Moira Rose pronouncing words. I can’t even tell you the amount of heart this show has and how much it means to me and so many people. It’s warm and happy and a wonderful place.

12 Monkeys: In 2017, a plague swept through the entire planet. By 2043, humanity is one generation away from extinction. A scientist named Katarina Jones believes that there’s only one cure: making the plague never happen in the first place. A message from the past sets her off on a mission where she sends James Cole, the time-traveler, to 2015 to team up with virologist Dr. Cassie Railly to stop the plague….except that the conspiracy runs far deeper than they ever could have imagined, plunging them into the workings of the Army of the 12 Monkeys, a mysterious figure known only as the Witness, and Primaries who can see time’s secrets, including Jennifer Goines.

I literally cannot stress enough how good 12 Monkeys is. It answers every single question it ever raises, and does it in ways that make you scream at the foreshadowing and want to rewatch immediately. It twists and turns and every single bit of plot is fabulous and the characters are amazing.

The Good Place: Eleanor Shellstrop has died, and she’s in The Good Place! She’s got her house, and her neighbors, and her soulmate! One catch: They’ve got the wrong person. She’s not supposed to be there. Eleanor is, in fact, a terrible person who should be being tortured in The Bad Place right now. Luckily for her, her soulmate Chidi was a professor of ethics and moral philosophy during his life, and he’s agreed to teach her ethics so she can become a good person and earn her spot in the Good Place for real. Which should totally work out without anyone noticing…right?

Okay, I’m sure you’ve seen this one all over tumblr, but like, it’s just so good. The characters, it’s fucking funny, the questions it raises about philosophy, the plot……it’s all incredible. Plus, what other show can you hear the line “Whenever I was on Earth and I had a problem, and I threw a Molotov cocktail at it, boom! Right away, I had a different problem.”

Killing Eve: Villanelle is a professional assassin. Eve Polastri is an MI6 agent who brings it upon herself to track down Villanelle. The two become paired an an epic game of cat-and-mouse where they’re both the cat and both the mouse, and they’re mutually obsessed with each other. And falling in love.

Here’s another one you’ve probably heard all about everywhere, but……the thing about Killing Eve is that no matter how good people tell you it is, they’re not doing it justice. It’s better than that. Watch it. I watched the whole first season in a day because I couldn’t stop.

Galavant: It’s the Middle Ages, and Sir Galavant, greatest knight in the kingdom, has a lady love in Madalena–except King Richard kidnaps Madalena to be his bride. It’s Galavant to the rescue! King Richard can offer Madalena great fortune, Galavant says, but only Galavant can offer her great love. Madalena chooses the fame and fortune. A year later, Madalena and Richard have invaded the kingdom of Valencia, and Valencia’s Princess Isabella needs Galavant’s help in getting her kingdom back, and they and Galavant’s squire Sid set off on a hero’s journey accompanied entirely by songs.

It’s a musical! Galavant is so much fun, I can’t even tell you. The world did not deserve Galavant, Galavant was too good for it. It’s absolute absurdist humor, ridiculous songs, and a masterpiece.

The Librarians: The Library only ever has one Librarian, passed down lifetime to lifetime. And it calls Cassandra, Ezekiel, and Jake all as potential candidates–except it turns out the current Librarian, Flynn, is still alive, searching for the lost Library. The Library also called Eve as the new Guardian of the Librarian, and the group of five–along with Library caretaker Jenkins–set off on various adventures around the world, gathering various magical relics.

The Librarians is…..really good. It’s got heart and humor, and magic, and I love history, and god, it’s like the little show that could. Every year everyone expected it to be cancelled, and every year it would get renewed and it felt like magic. I miss it with my whole heart.

Warehouse 13: Based on the ending of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Warehouse 13 is a secret warehouse in North Dakota (as the name suggests, the thirteenth throughout history, having been all over the world) that houses artifacts with powerful abilities–objects that belonged to someone, often someone famous from history, imbued with something relating to their personalities or what they’re famous for. For example, wearing Harriet Tubman’s thimble gives the wearer the ability to disguise themselves as anyone else they wish, Janis Joplin’s backstage pass can transport you to any concert that has ever happened, and Lizzie Borden’s axe makes the person holding it have an uncontrollable urge to kill people they love. Secret Service Agents Myka and Pete are brought on as the new agents of Warehouse 13, alongside caretaker Artie, and later tech genius Claudia as the bunch form a found family and go through some of history’s most dangerous artifacts in the process.

Warehouse 13 meant the entire world to me years ago. I mean, I’m passionate about history and an actual history major, so that part’s fun, and I also adore the way the show is structured and everything. The idea of having the artifacts is really cool, and some of the effects are very clever. I’ve always felt like it was an underrated show that it felt like no one else knew about, and I loved it.

[theclaravoyant]

musings on the evolution of bisexuality in sitcoms and being treated “like a joke”

Not to open up old cans of worms, but for my video project I was thinking about the subject of Eleanor Shellstrop (The Good Place) and various opinions about her bisexuality, the status of it canon-wise, and in particular the feelings amongst some of the fandom (and non-fandom) that it is treated “like a joke.” I have heard similar things about Rosa Diaz (Brooklyn 99) as well regarding the latter point and so that worked its way in, and soon enough this ended up sort of turning into a short ish essay. I’m not really trying to argue a particular point, but merely reflect on some things, and I hope you don’t mind I thought I’d share my musings. It boils down to being laughed at vs being laughed with, which I get to below the cut after a brief exposition (I have some Thoughts)

Note: I am not looking to get into an argument with anyone, and I’m not saying this is the be all and end all answer to rep, but if you wanted to share some thoughts, add on, etc, you’re welcome to do so.

Note II: Just for clarity’s sake, non-LGBT+ people are welcome to interact if you would like to do so.

I must admit, moving back to the topic of Eleanor for a minute, I resonate with some of those feelings I outlined above. For example, I don’t particularly care for the fact that we have never seen her engage in an abiding romantic or even sexual relationship with a woman, whereas her romance with Chidi has been rebooted over and over and is consistently the outcome. It grates on me a bit that in a universe which has been rebooted upward of 4 different times that we have seen (and approx 300 other times shoved into a few minutes) this is the outcome every time. Why not explore another option for a season? I love Cheleanor, don’t get me wrong, and the constant rebooting annoys me from that perspective as well not just the f/f perspective, but in terms of sapphic rep and also considering how often bisexuality is exploited and misrepresented by heteronormative storytellers (eg the tropes “Bi the Way” and “Not Too Bi”), it really sucks.

Edit: I deleted a paragraph here that had some examples I had misremembered and was rushing through. Shockingly writing up a train of thought on a bus leads to some inaccuracies and skipping over of valuable debates. Instead, I will say that I don’t mean by the above, that m/f bi attraction is not real and valuable. It certainly is. What is a pain in the ass in my opinion - and in the opinion of a lot of the bi people I know before anyone comes at me with that again - is when bisexuality is only used to make a character interesting, sexy or rebellious, while still only representing the m/f side of things because that is easier/more comfortable/etc for heteronormative writers and viewers to portray and invest in.

THAT SAID, back to my actual point. I think we (particularly we who are LGBT+ ourselves) are also very accustomed to seeing LGBT+ characters in dramas, where bad things happen and there’s angst and death and gnashing of teeth. I think this being the norm leads us to freak out a bit and not necessarily know how to actually handle positive, happy rep in which we ourselves, our identities, are taken seriously. We are so used to either being a tragedy or being laughed at (rather than with) that it is extremely unsettling to experience what I would call a dawning new era of being respected in sitcoms - including The Good Place, Brooklyn 99, One Day at a Time, and I’m sure there are others as well.

It’s not surprising, with this skittishness trained into us, that some people interpret the treatment of Eleanor’s bisexuality as being a joke. I’m also not saying this knee-jerk reaction is the only reason; again, I’m not saying my thoughts & feelings on this are the be all and end all of rep. I am just saying that it was a major reason why I was uncomfortable at first: it is extremely hard to trust people to joke around about us, and our identities, and especially with the added element of the unique hypersexualisation of bisexual f/f attraction. But recently I’ve been rewatching some older and less progressive, less inclusive sitcoms and in comparison, it becomes very clear, the difference between being the butt of the joke (laughed at) or being part of a joke (laughed with). It might help - not just with Eleanor, but with others too - to give some examples:

In Friends, Monica, Rachel and Phoebe, only use the idea of f/f attraction when they want to get the boys’ attention, distract them, win bets, or the like. They are successful in this explicitly because the men find this idea so ridiculously, mind-bogglingly sexy that they can’t think. Yet NONE of these main characters are ever revealed to have an actual, serious attraction to girls; none of them express it outside of the direct goal of getting male attention. Similarly, in How I Met Your Mother, Lily’s repeated expression of a desire to kiss a girl is put down to her artistic nature and rebelliousness, and is repeatedly called “so stupid”, and again, is only used to get male attention (to wake up Barney). When she finally kisses Robin, it goes away (bi experiment trope), and it is implied that ~lol~ after all that Robin might actually want more, but that is then left hanging and never revisited again. There are heaps more, I could go on, but these are all examples of being laughed at. 

Compared to these sorts of jokes, let us reflect on Eleanor again. Jokes around her sexuality include: being so attracted to her female nemesis that Eleanor can’t insult her profusely without starting to compliment her, and being so attracted to her boyfriend’s girlfriend that in a simulation where she plays him, she goes to kiss the girlfriend instead of her assigned goal, which was to break up. If this sounds more like #relatable sapphic content than a dismissive joke, that’s because it is. These jokes could not happen without Eleanor’s attraction to women, that is true, but the attraction itself is not the joke. The joke lies in Eleanor’s reactions to the attraction as a messy, funny, sexually driven human. In this way, her bisexuality forms part of the joke, but it is paired up with her other personality traits as a comedy character to be laughed with. Similarly, with Rosa Diaz, her stunned moment upon seeing Alicia is funny because it is an example of what we in the biz of gay ass blogging sometimes refer to as “useless lesbian brain” (or in this case “useless bi brain”). It’s cute because the love interest is a girl and because Terry is hyper-enthusiastic that it’s a girl. It wouldn’t work as well as a joke if it was not a girl, and heteronormativity is almost definitely the reason for that, but the point still stands that the bisexuality itself is not the joke, it’s the way she responds to it: it’s the fact that Rosa Diaz, usually so suave and in control, loses the ability to Can. Terry’s overly enthusiastic allyship is also funny, but mostly to people who have experienced overly enthusiastic allyship ie the LGBT+ audience.

(To add one final example: I am not aware of ANY male bi rep in older sitcoms, which kinda speaks for itself, but in the more modern ones we have characters such as Darryl Whitefeather (Crazy Ex Girlfriend). One of the biggest jokes around his sexuality is his coming out as “both-sexual!!” Once again, the joke is not the bi attraction itself, but rather, in the fact that lol this pour bi soul didn’t know the word for it! Another example imo of being laughed with).

I know I’m not saying all that much new here. Probably nothing new, to some people. I also know I’m not addressing every joke or facet of bi or LGBT+ rep even in the shows I’ve just listed. I’m not trying to, I mean none of us have all century. I just think it’s important to highlight what I feel is usually quite a strong difference between being laughed at and being laughed with, and that was the main idea of this post. It’s definitely not always as simple as the examples I’ve outlined above (eg. some of the Eleanor jokes are similar to jokes made in Pitch Perfect, in which I would say it’s about being laughed at), but I am just trying to put some words to some of my thought process on this sort of thing, particularly as I rewatch Friends and think about how far we’ve come with it!

One final time, because people in my inbox don’t seem to get it, I am not claiming to be ‘correct’. This is just an aspect of my feelings and opinions. I am also not trying to ‘speak over’ people who actually ID as bi; in fact, it was bi people saying ‘why can’t you let us have funny things’ that actually opened my eyes to a more comfortable bi-friendly interpretation of the treatment of Eleanor’s sexuality in the first place. I’m not trying to say “this is good rep, actually,” or “this is bad rep, actually.” As I said above, I think it’s both, and I think it’s more complicated than that, and most importantly, I am not actually trying to change anyone’s mind. If you resonate with this? Cool. If not, that’s fine. It’s my thoughts, my opinion. It’s not fact and I don’t want to tell anyone how to feel especially about their own rep.

With that in mind, if anyone is interested in chatting with me more about this sort of thing (by which I do not mean harassing me about it) or asking me what I mean by certain things, or for writing advice, or whatever, you’re welcome to do so - this is just the tip of the iceberg! I just wanted to put this out there in the world for whatever purposes it might come to. Thanks for reading!

[baileysbabbles]

I just started watching season 2 of The Good Place on Netflix. I finished episodes 1 and 2 and it’s pretty different from season 1 but I like it and I’m excited. My thoughts:

I didn’t realize how much I kind of miss Eleanor’s more rude side.

As sort of annoying as it is I love when Eleanor’s soulmate takes off his shirt because he is hot.

Eleanor found Chidi a lot easier than I though she was going to. Michael kind of sucks at keeping them apart.

As much as I like Chidi and want him to be happy seeing him flustered and in pain is so funny.

Chidi’s rejection of Eleanor was harsher than I expected.

I find it totally freaking genius and hilarious to make Tahani’s soulmate shorter than her. I can relate to that so much.

Tahani can be more of a hot mess especially emotionally than Eleanor. That’s sort of a surprise to me.

I don’t think it’s going to take long for Jason to break down and give up on this silence thing.

These demons are kinda pretty stupid.

Oh Chidi and his overthinking and almond milk. He can be so pathetic sometimes but it’s adorable.

Tahani can be a real jerk sometimes but she’s subtle about it and I kind of love it.

Janet really is kind of Eleanor’s afterlife saver. She always helps her find Chidi.

Michael is honestly kind of too good at subtlety torturing them. That’s why Eleanor keep figuring it out.

I’ve got to hand it to them. 3 hours of spoken word jazz opera is very original.

I love how they just subtlety skip over the fact that they made Tahani and a golden retriever Eleanor’s soulmates at one point. I would love to see both of those reboots.

I really enjoy Janet’s dramatic deaths.

Demons are picky and Vicky is just annoying.

As much as I ship Cheleanor that I love you scene was just awkward.

Mindy is so messed up.

Oh Jason. His small brain thinking can be refreshing sometimes.

I’m so ready for this team up with Michael and the humans.

[the-paris-of-people]

THE GOOD PLACE SEASON 3 SHIT POST

Alright! Well the first half (or more than half) of The Good Place, Season 3 has officially aired and let me tell you, I have OPINIONS! about what I liked, what I didn’t like, and what I’m excited for/expecting in the episodes to come. I’m going to put this under a cut because it’s hella long so get ready for it! 

I’m going to start first by examining each member of Team Cockroach, character journey by character journey, and pinpointing what I liked, what I didn’t like, etc.! Also I’m going to try to refrain from screaming about Cheleanor in this post. We all know I love them a lot and there are other aspects about the show that I love and don’t post enough about! 

ELEANOR 

What I liked: 

I absolutely adored her close relationships with Simone and Tahani this season (YAY female friendships!) and I hope their connections continue to deepen throughout the series 

Her breakdown at Tahani’s engagement party was one of my favorite moments- I thought it was so realistic and human and lovely to have her relapsing and to deliver such a heartfelt apology really showed how she had grown in a different way than she did in the afterlife 

What I didn’t like: 

I thought the show focused too much on her character journey this season and not enough on the journeys of Jason, Tahani, and Chidi. I thought the episodes of “A Fractured Inheritance” and “The Worst Possible Use of Free Will” didn’t really add anything to her story that we didn’t know- they only confirmed what we saw previously. Like alright! We get it! She hates being vulnerable! I wish we could’ve known more about her previous relationships (romantic and otherwise) just for a more fair comparison of her relationships to Team Cockroach 

To be honest... her clothes this season. I thought her style in the flashbacks was more “Arizona trashbag” and wackier and more fun. I also don’t understand why she was wearing jeans so much? Like isn’t Australia really hot? 

What I wish for them in the future: 

For her to finally be happy with Chidi, to navigate all the ups and downs of being in a committed relationship

Now that she and Chidi are happy also, I would love to see more of her relationships with Tahani, Jason, and Janet (and Michael too! but they did already spend time together a lot this season) 

SPEARHEADING THE MOVEMENT FOR A MORE FAIR POINT SYSTEM IN THE AFTERLIFE WITH MICHAEL. LIKE YOU GO GIRL, YOU DE FACTO LEADER! 

CHIDI 

What I liked: 

I really enjoyed seeing Chidi in a committed relationship with Simone (seeing his hand around her shoulder in “The Snowplow” made me swoon!) and I think he grew a lot from it and (like he said) developed a lot professionally and personally. It made me proud to see him step outside his realm of comfort (philosophy) and toy with neuroscience, a subject which he is totally unfamiliar with (Did I think the study was a good idea? Ummmm that’s a completely different topic!) 

He loosened up and became less rigid, from not caring so much about being fired from the university to being excited about having a drink with his friends to abandoning rules, the very thing he always clings to for a structured society, and playing Jacksonville-style pool with his buddy Jason 

SHIRTLESSSSSSSSS CHIDIIIIIIIIIIIII HOLY FUCK 

Seeing his life in Everything is Bonzer! I really enjoyed seeing the university he worked at and spent most of his time, meeting with his colleagues and friends Simone and Henry, visiting Henry in the hospital and bringing him blueberry muffins, freaking out in the library, going to a cafe to break up with his girlfriend. None of it surprised me really but it was just nice to see his life outside of the neighborhood. 

I liked seeing Tahani and Chidi bond, even for a short while, in A Fractured Inheritance because they haven’t interacted in two seasons and I love these two highly educated sophisticates! 

What I didn’t like: 

How he went from 0 to 100 in regards to his feelings for Eleanor? I mentioned my feelings in this post but yeah... I just don’t get how he was able to leave Simone behind so quickly when he was lingering on his feelings for her even after he learned the truth about his fate 

Why the fuck did he wear so many sweater vests this season? I loved his button down shirts, short-sleeved, in the afterlife because they highlighted his chest/arms. SHED THE SWEATER VESTS 2K19!! 

What I wish for them in the future:

Again, HAPPINESS WITH ELEANOR! I’M READY FOR THE GOOEYNESS! 

To address the gap between the Chidi/Simone, Chidi/Eleanor relationships 

I want this more for Chidi than for Eleanor, but I REALLY REALLY REALLY want Chidi to become closer with Jason and Tahani. They have such wonderful relationships and they aren’t explored enough! I’m hoping now that he and Eleanor are finally settled in, he can form deeper connections with them. I also barely know anything about his relationships with the Tahani and Jason because he barely interacted with them in the Snowplow? 

TAHANI 

What I liked: 

I loved that she went about giving her money away because she WANTED to, rather than needed to for validation, in Jeremy Bearimy. She had genuine desire to become a good person and to hand her money over to people who needed it (like Jason). 

Also, even though I am not a fan of A Fractured Inheritance, I did really like that Tahani wanted to make up with her sister out of the goodness of her heart and that she expressed sympathy for Kamilah (even though Kamilah didn’t necessarily deserve it) It really showed how loving Tahani truly is 

Her reactions to Jason’s life in The Ballad of Donkey Doug... absolute golden 

In general, I adored her relationships with Jason and Eleanor this season. She has such strong friendships with both of them, and I wish we saw that level of bonding in Chidi’s relationships, too! 

What I didn’t like: 

I hate to say it, but most of the jokes for Tahani were kind of stale for me this season (I don’t think this is due to Jameela at all, but more the writing?) Though she KILLED it as a centaur! 

What the fuck was the point of Larry Hemsworth? Also, stop trying to make Jason/Tahani a thing. Also, STOP GIVING TAHANI MALE LOVE INTERESTS! SHE’S A LESBIAN.   L E S B I A N!!

What I wish for them in the future:

I really want Tahani to have more screen time because IMO she doesn’t have enough and she’s such a wonderful and relatable character. I hope she finds a role for herself in the afterlife system and creates a satisfying career for herself (WHICH I WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING) Honestly, at this point in the series, I’m not really rooting for Tahani to have a love interest because I think she could have a kickass self-journey first. Go Tahani! 

JASON 

What I liked:

I think the writers did the best job at depicting Jason’s life on Earth, probably because his Soul Squad adventure was in his natural environment/home turf. I loved his relationships with Pillboi and Donkey Doug, watching him work so that they became better people, and more than that, I ended up adoring and rooting for Pillboi and Donkey Doug in the process. I still am! Hi guys!

SEEING DANCE DANCE RESOLUTION! I think watching Jason lead his dance crew and ponder a deeper meaning to life showed a new depth to his character and also excellently highlighted his most positive qualities. I thought the humor in his Everything is Bonzer! storyline was my favorite and perfectly in line with who he was.

His two moments interacting with Simone were frigging golden and I wish there was more of that friendship (although Simone is more like his mom... yikes LOL) 

His friendship with Tahani. I mentioned it earlier but it really warmed my heart and I’m happy they are so close!

I actually loved his Earth clothes and getting a sense of his regular style, especially his jackets!

What I didn’t like:

Not much honestly. I liked Jason a lot this season!

What I wish for them in the future:

Reunited with Pillboi

A RELATIONSHIP WITH JANET PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEEEEEE

Again he’s a mixed bag, so we’ll see, but to reiterate I would love a Chidi/Jason friendship! 

JANET

What I liked:

Everything about that Janet(s) episode. I mean that was more D’Arcy but still, I adore that Janet(s) got her moment to shine because I thought she was underutilized this season (and now I see why, she was working hard filming this episode!)

Her adoration of Jason GETS ME! and I hated (and loved) how she admired him from afar

God. Her friendship with Michael I liked but didn’t pay much attention to but now I care about so much it’s now one of my favorite relationships on the show and it makes me well up thinking about how much time they’ve spent together. I can’t wait them to have more adventures together! I also liked how she was more rational when Michael was going nuts with his ideas of how to keep the humans together.

Seeing her develop new abilities like lying, throwing shade, kicking ass, etc. I’m so freaking proud of how far she’s come!

Releasing her queue in front of the judge so she and Michael could escape to Earth. GO JANET!

What I didn’t like:

Again, I thought Janet was underutilized and now I see why!

Sometimes I am ??? about some of her gaps in knowledge since she is supposed to know everything (like wouldn’t she have known no one’s gotten into The Good Place in 521 years?) but eh, that’s the show’s fault, not hers

What I wish for them in the future:

LET!!! HER!!! DATE!! JASON!!!

MICHAEL

What I liked:

His love for the humans truly touches me and I was astounded by the lengths he was willing to go to protect him.

I thought he was really funny this season, especially with the Dick Tracy joke!

His way of explaining the humans’ history in the afterlife (JEREMY BEARIMYYY) with all the whiteboards 

What I didn’t like:

Again, too much time bonding with Eleanor and not enough with the other humans!

Not treating Janet like an equal! GIVE HER WHAT SHE DESERVES!! ACKNOWLEDGE SHE KICKED THOSE DEMON ASSES NOT YOU!

What I wish for them in the future:

I’m so freaking excited to see him take charge of the point system! The last episode really got me pumped up for this reformed demon and I’m PSYCHED to see what’s to come!

Favorite moments of the season (Non-Cheleanor related, because I feel like that’s a given): 

Pillboi and Jason’s handshake

The reveal that Donkey Doug is Jason’s dad 

Eleanor’s breakdown at the engagement party

Eleanor forcing Chidi to ask Simone out

Eleanor pretending to be Simone 

Simone talking to Eleanor after her breakdown 

Chidi and Simone’s first meeting (I FREAKING LOVE IT! You’re so weird!)

Eleanor and Simone in the cafe  

Just anything with Simone really I’m in love with her 

The scene where Jason was lecturing DDR to give everything they got (Little Peanut: Now we can legally rob their houses LOL) 

Eleanor-Janet pretending to be Jason-Janet

PEEPS IN THE CHILI POT

Confrontation with the judge at the end of “The Brainy Bunch”

The fight inside the bar in Canada

The snail funeral for Martin Luther Gandhi Tyler Moore

Favorite episodes of the season: 

Janet(s)

The Ballad of Donkey Doug

Everything is Bonzer!

The Brainy Bunch

Jeremy Bearimy

Least favorite episodes of the season:

A Fractured Inheritance (that episode can choke) 

The Snowplow

Predictions about The Good Place in the future: 

Okay I feel like since no one’s gotten in in 500+ years, The Good Place must be incredibly outdated and therefore, not at all that great? Like it’s probably not up to speed technologically (in terms of the Janets, too) and everyone there is too old-fashioned/too goodie-two-shoes and it’s up to the gang to diversify and modernize it. 

I think Mike Schur mentioned something about how children are more likely to go to The Good Place since they have less time to collect negative point values, so I bet the place is crawling with kids? (If I can find the interview I will reference it!) 

I made a post awhile back about how William Jackson Harper in an interview said that Chidi would try to touch base/save someone from his past (Again I will reference once I dig through my posts)... my theory now that they’re back in the afterlife is that he is going to try to save his grandma! Will Eleanor meet his grandma? OMG will his grandma show Eleanor baby photos of Chidi? (This is just me launching into fanfic territory don’t mind meeeeee) 

What I want to happen in general/ what I want to know more about: 

What the fuck happened with Uzo? Like he was not even mentioned at all in season 3? Isn’t he Chidi’s best friend? 

WILL SIMONE EVER COME BACK I FUCKING MISS HER 

MINDY!! PLEASE!! COME!! BACK!! 

THE DEMONS! I NEED MORE OF THE DEMONS SHAWN VICKY GLENN ETCCCCCCCC

Anyway, this has concluded my ultra long shit post after the December 6th episode. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this and please let me know if you share the same thoughts or if you disagree! Ohhhh and I would love to hear your predictions too! Thanks so much if you got this far <3 

Tagging: @cheleanorwhore @dearestpartnerofgreatness @helianthus21 @montygreen @chidi-anagonye

[neth-dugan]

Nine Worlds - Friday

Thursday found [here]

After having had only a couple hours sleep, we got up and got ready for the day. Some of us took longer than others, and no that wasn’t me. @laalratty @knittedace and I went to get breakfast outside of costume and then went back to our rooms to get properly dressed. I also had a nap on the bed as the first session doesn’t start until 10am, which helped I think. But I did spend the rest of the day very tired.

EDUCATION AT HOGWARTS

The first panel I went to at the convention proper, and @unwoundbobbin was on it which was a bonus. 

It was a fun talk in which everyone agreed that education at Hogwarts is severely lacking, completely skips some very important subjects and really needs to look at quality of teaching.

As much as we are meant to root for Hogwarts and its independence, it’s an industry checking itself and what happens when people we don’t like are in charge? Someone said that it’s a great thing to show teachers who are fed up with having a curriculum and ofsted inspections. I agree. There was also a lot of talk that as much as muggle studies needs to be better and mandatory, there needs to be an introductory course for muggle raised students so they know what they’re getting into, the world they’re dumped in and so on. And, as a panelist pointed out, to better know all the shibboleths. She also mused that this may be exactly the reason they don’t do that and honestly, probably true.

ACE REPRESENTATION

So, I did a panel on a similar theme several years back and I was curious how this one would go. It took a different tone but times have moved. A lot of the panelists are relatively new to the community but then there was Nat Titman who is one of the founding persons of the asexual community. 

I didn’t learn a lot, but it was nice to be in a room with a ton of aces talking about ace things. Aros talking about aro things. People still hating on Moffat for the crap he has spewed. Being inclusive aof aros and demis. Which I know for a fact meant a lot to some, as I was talking to a demi person at that meeting later that day who brought it up. I got to espouse my theory on how Yuuri Katsuki is so so very demi even if language, culture and censorship means it’ll never be explicitly canon. 

BSL FOR GEEKS

This was amazing! I know how to say thank you and ‘g’ and that is it. So this was pretty great. Aside from being able to tell you my name at the end, I was delighted to learn the sign for Star Trek is literally the Vulcan salute. I also learnt how to say ‘Space, the final frontier’ though I probably do it with a massive accent. I learnt that this is the new sign coming up for trans:

...and tumblr provides a demonstration of this. Not video from the con.

Which is related to the sign for soul.  Also I learned the sign that’s becoming popular for queer which is a ‘q’ in the motion of a rainbow and it’s awesome.

There were lots of character names and phrases and there’s no way I’m going to remain most of it. And I had a weird hand thing going on that this made worse. So by the end of it, my hand hurt a fair bit. But it was fantastic. It was presented by a a group of interpreters and deaf people who bounced off of each other really well. One person even forgot how to spell their own name. But given a person who shall remain nameless forgot what their name even was at a different session? This isn’t the worst I heard of. 

I really loved it, and this was one of my favourite sessions at the entire convention. I wanted to go to the after dark one for adults only, in which there’d be swearing, but alas I had to take care of my hand and so decided it was a no go.

EVERYBODY HATES MORAL PHILOSOPHERS: THE ETHICS OF THE GOOD PLACE

I’m a big fan of this show. I came across it on Netflix and then got my Mom into it and it is brilliant. It’s smart and funny and thinky all at once. This session was more of a lecture than a panel or workshop which fit, because the person giving it is a philosophy professor. Not a moral philosopher, but a philosopher.

It turns out that it isn’t so much that everyone hates moral philosophers, it’s just really hard to be one. But whilst we were waiting for the session to start I spotted a person in front of me dressed up as Janet. I asked to confirm and was told, perfectly in character that interesting fact, they were Janet. And proceeded to give me a cactus sticky note with a Janet phrase on it. I sent a photo and a test to my Mom who loved it.

 ...I do have a picture, but didn’t ask permission to post on the internet so here is a close approximation minus cactus. 

The lecture itself was pretty interesting. Turns out the writers are using real philosophy and real books and theories and the like when making the show. I can see how Chidi would get so anxious if he follows Kant. Even the text books given to Eleanor are ones the speaker has themselves and sees as foundational texts. So yay! She went through a few schools of philosophy that pop up in the show and it was fun.

Someone pointed out that it seemed that each of the human four seemed to be missing one of the classical virtues. The speaker agreed. There was lots of debate about fair or just the system in this show is, and also how much about it we can objectively know given Michael’s aim in the first season. I pointed out that the entire thing seemed to be unfair to those with disadvantages or some mental health conditions. The last episode of the latest season, without getting into spoilers too much, entirely takes advantage of things about two characters that they’ve no way of doing away with and/or find near impossible to control. It sucks. There seemed to be agreement on this. Privilege, it seems, exists in the systems of The Good Place as we currently know them.

ASSIMILATION AND IDENTITY IN STAR TREK

This was a session hosted by Jaime who some may know and is pretty awesome. I don’t always agree with them on everything but I do appreciate them. And I didn’t agree with a good amount of what was said here. Not that I think it’s wrong, just that some of it is a matter of perspective and assigning aims and motivations to characters that aren’t, to me, clear in canon. I tend to think Worf handed his son off to his parents because he never asked for a kid, didn’t know he had one, works a dangerous job, has no experience parenting and lives on a ship that goes through a major crisis on a fairly regular basis. But people can disagree.

There are some things about Trek that.... aren’t the best. The whole area around the Ferengi is a tricky area and a bit of a mess. I love them, I love the actors, I love some of their episodes, but there are anti-semitic tropes in there made all the more there by the fact that most of the Ferengi actors are of Jewish decent. It’s problematic. It’s meant to be a critic of capitalism and modern culture. Of US. I’ve heard various Trek folk basically state that of all the species in Star Trek, the Ferengi represent modern day humans. But. They fell back on some problematic crap and there’s no way of escaping that.

There was one point when I was a bit worried it was going to get a bit anti-atheist but it didn’t thank goodness. And that’s a whole other thing.

There’s a clip that’s pretty famous amongst DS9 fans, that you fan find here, that exemplifies some of what this panel was about. Not all of it, but some. It was running through my head for sure. After the session ended a group of us had a chat after. It brought up a lot of things to talk about, new ways of looking at things and agree or not that’s usually a good thing.

...Moogie!

‘OH, BRILLIANT.’ ANTICIPATING THE THIRTEENTH DOCTOR

This one had @knittedace on the panel! She’d been talking about doing it last year and here we were . She in her hand knitted Dalek dress, me in the audience feeling a bit woozy and tired. 

Mostly, it did exactly what the tin said. People being excited for Thirteen, recalling days when they’d written fic on the idea but never thought it possible, what people wanted to see or not see and the like. Mostly, it was a feel good panel with happy people glad for a new start that would bring in new and old fans alike.

Someone on the panel pointed out that for some kids, they’ll have never known a time when The Doctor couldn’t be a woman. For whom their Doctor is a woman. And that is amazing. And she gets to keep her accent too, and there is hope we will see some of the North this season. Not just more London, or Cardiff as London.

For myself, I’ve always figured some Time Lords could change genders and sexes. Some couldn’t. And doing so was some kind of Time Lord intersex thing. But I was never really rooting for a woman Doctor.... yet when they announced it was going to happen? I was excited and relieved in a way I hadn’t imagined I would be.

Bring it on.

INTERVAL

At this point I found myself in the bar with some ginger ale talking to some people I’ve never med before. One was a demi person who had been at the Ace Rep talk and was very relieved to see demis included. I explained about the history of the flag and how they’re explicitly on it. Outside of some gatekeepers, the ace community I know has always embraced those other identities under the ace umbrella. 

Me, them and a friend of theirs made our way downstairs after a good chin wag to get good seats for the next panel. We figured we’d probably need them and coincidentally we were all going to the same one. 

FROM A/B/O TO DUBIOUS CONSENTACLES

I’m still not sure what dubious consentacles are to be honest. My mind goes to dubcon hentai but I’m probably wrong. This panel was after 10pm, the last of the day and very much adult only. I was in my TNG uniform and there was a Trek fan vid screening in the room across the hall so a volunteer checked I was where I wanted to be whilst we were waiting for it to start. Which was sweet, people do get lost down there.  Also, @unwoundbobbin was there which was a hoot.

The entire thing was a hoot to be honest. Not that formal, and mostly people sharing things they’d seen online, talk about the value of tagging, and wonder at the way fandom just comes together and decides on what dubious biology looks like. I shared the story of the early early days of Star Trek fandom how writers would come up with new weird and wonderful ways of depicting Spock’s genitals. I just think it’s something everyone should know. Fandom has been like this for a long time. 

I wont go into detail of the things discussed. But it’s amazing how trends change over time, how even over multiple fandoms some of these tropes become so accepted nobody has to explain anything. We just know how it works and dive right into a kind of shared ‘verse thing.

There were some things mentioned that I hadn’t heard of and are very much not talking about on this post. But interesting.

Honestly, this was another of my favourite panels this convention. It was so much fun. So much. Some people were a bit tipsy I think.

I did warn the two mods that I was pretty tired so if my eyes looked funny or closed, I wasn’t asleep, I was just squinting. I got so enthused by the cracky fun of it all though that I needn't have worried. I also found it amusing just how many ace spectrum folk there were there. 

After this I went back to my room. I got changed, went to bed hoping for a better night sleep than the one before. So very very tired. I’d had a great day but I was tired and I needed sleep urgently. Especially as the tired thing was not helping the dizzy thing. Thankfully I did get some sleep, not as good as home but I god some. 

[SATURDAY IS HERE]

[serendipitouscontaminant]

Re: the gifset when Eleanor declares they should be tested together, yeah I also thought Tahani did not look very convinced! Interestingly, imo neither does Chidi, although it could be in a more 'ahhhh this is a complicated decision to make so suddenly and now I'm a bit frozen THINKING about it' face. In any case I think it's super cool/fascinating that Eleanor & Jason are the only 2 who seem completely for this "we're a unit" thing (which is also a far cry from end-of-S1 Jason.)

Right?!?! Agh this is so interesting!!! I think you nailed that Chidi’s more anxiety-paralyzed than anything, because I do see him steel himself and think ‘I can get behind this’. I just think that Tahani never seems to do that.

And yeah, the thing about s1 Jason is that I think his empathy was a bit underdeveloped and considering how literal he is, he didn’t consider that he was supposed to feel bad about someone sacrificing themselves for him. He’s the one who wasn’t completely convinced about giving himself up for the others. We actually do see that in that he considers someone else giving themselves up for him a get out of jail free card. I personally think that he didn’t totally understand exactly why he was supposed to feel bad when he went back to help the others. I actually think that we can go a step further and say that he didn’t consider Chidi and Tahani his friends, because think about it— he doesn’t really bond with the two of them in s1.

Out of everyone, he was the least close with the other three. We have really limited bonding moments with Jason in s1. Eleanor clearly shows affection towards him (she uses nicknames aw!), but he’s not to the point where he cares enough about Chidi and Tahani to care about their suffering as it relates to him (as in—they suffer, I suffer, ergo I do not want them to suffer and am willing to suffer instead). He cares about Janet in this situation, and cares about Eleanor, but it’s also pretty much a foregone conclusion to him by the end that Eleanor is leaving. Who he’s really focusing on is Janet.

In s2, he’s much closer with the others because he’s not completely silent for very long. He bonds with Tahani. He’s far more willing to learn. He’s changed over the past 800 reboots to someone who cares deeply about other people. I mean, in s1 he never would’ve left a party he was having fun at to go comfort an upset Tahani, especially since he wouldn’t have noticed she was upset in the first place. It’s one of the reasons I’ll always insist that they had loads of lowkey character development over the reboots they don’t remember.

I think that by the end of s2 Jason is much more connected with his friends and he wants them to be happy, but he still wants himself to be happy too. Without his friends, he can’t be that. He understands that if he gets into the Good Place and they don’t, that’ll be sad. I don’t know if he totally understands that there’s a big chance that none of them will get into the Good Place. I think that if he had, he might’ve thought ‘maybe if I fail, I’ll just let them go and I’ll stay behind’. But he definitely understands that when Eleanor says that the Good Place wouldn’t be the Good Place if they weren’t together, he agrees.

This became Jason meta, but I love Jason a lot.

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Good Place: The Book of Dougs (3x11)

Chidi and Eleanor are so cute I might scream.

Cons:

This isn't, like, a big or serious complaint, but I do want to point out that the counsel of people from the Good Place being really slow about helping is just stolen directly from the Ent Moot in The Lord of the Rings. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I wish there had been maybe something a bit more creative going on there.

Also, I'm confused about something. See, either I've caught a plot hole, or I'm being too hasty and I just don't understand the full picture yet. Doug Forcett is Michael's reason for thinking that the points system is corrupt, because he lives a totally selfless life and is still not making it in to the Good Place. But one of the big elements this season was about the Soul Squad, doing good for just the sake of doing good, without expecting reward. In fact, explicitly, the fact that the gang knows about the afterlife means that their motivations are impure and they can never gain points. If Doug Forcett is behaving the way he does because he believes that he needs points to go to the Good Place, doesn't that invalidate his candidacy anyway? Michael comes to a totally different conclusion in this episode, related to the fact that the world is complicated, and that even making a nice gesture can involve polluting the planet during transport, using an unethical corporation to buy someone a gift, etc. But I thought this was all building to something to do with intent, and now it seems like that's not what's going on. Usually, when I'm confused by this show, it's a good thing, because it means I can't see the full picture. But here... I'm genuinely a bit concerned that they're missing a piece of their own world-building.

Pros:

So many things to talk about here. First off, I loved the person in the Good Place reception area. She was so cheerful and happy and she physically and mentally couldn't bring herself to be mistrustful or angry. It was funny in a way different from the way Janet is funny, because she's not a construct, she's just... happy and trusting, eternally. I loved the moment when she tried to shake her fist at Michael, and she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Every moment when Michael asks really suspicious questions, but she just answers them honestly with no hint of wonder, was really funny and great.

Tahani tries to help Jason and Janet navigate a difficult emotional situation, as Jason tells Janet that he saw her video screen in her void, and knows that she is in love with him. Janet is very embarrassed, and Tahani's attempts to help keep falling flat. There were so many moments to love in this plot thread, but I think the thing I liked the best was the fact that Tahani really tried to do the right thing, and we can see how much she's changed throughout the show based on how she tries to help. She liked making people feel good back when we first met her, but that was all selfishly motivated, and she honestly just wanted more attention on herself. But here, she works to give Jason good advice, comfort Janet, and then, most importantly, works to remove herself from the situation as gently as possible to clear the way for Janet and Jason's complicated relationship. She even acknowledges that she knows her fake marriage to Jason isn't the main obstacle. This isn't about her, and she really does just want to help them.

Also, Janet is... so funny. I know I talk about her a lot, but she's just the greatest and I can't help myself. She's worried about being embarrassed if her emotions come pouring out, and I imagine this is confusing for so many reasons. She's new to having so many feelings, and everyone has just been in her void, which is a pretty intense thing for a being like Janet, and she's having to pretend to be a neutral Janet for the sake of Michael's ruse. What a confusing day. D'arcy Carden kills it once again. She's adorable.

Chidi and Eleanor are so in love, and it makes my heart soar! Now they've confessed their feelings, shared a kiss, and reached some sort of equilibrium. Maybe. Chidi is suddenly the calm one, and Eleanor is the one who's confused and doubting. That's the perfect direction for things to go at this point. Chidi isn't going to suddenly transform into a totally decisive person, as evidenced by his uncertainty as to whether or not Eleanor was suggesting sex. But he's confident in this one thing. He knows he loves Eleanor and he knows she feels the same way. Eleanor is the one who has avoided real love and relationships her whole life, and so it makes sense that when the walls finally come down, she'd be really scared of what's next.

I also liked the comedy of Eleanor and Chidi each being somewhat astonished at their new relationship. Partly it's cute, as they're both feeling so in love and lucky, but partly it's funny because they can't understand why on earth they would be attracted to each other. Chidi at one point just says "why?" when looking at Eleanor, completely bewildered as to why his own feelings would land him in this situation.

As we look forward to the last two episodes of this season, the new setup is that Michael has turned himself over voluntarily to the judge, because he's worked out what the real problem is with the points system. He's struck some sort of a deal, but we don't know what that is at this point. I'm beyond excited to find out!

9/10