#I’m reading between the line

[c-duceusclay]

Dorian: You have many things that I’m envious of

Caleb: Like what?

LIKE A FUCKING HUSBAND

[v0idwraith]

quite frankly idgaf what Luigi Mangione’s politics are, he actually did something to make a change and that’s more than most people can say

[vildo]

This scene is brilliant, because you can see how desperately Jim is trying to get Spock to show an ounce of affection, and then he is frustrated of something he should not have expected of Spock in the first place. Not that he blames Spock, yet he is sure this is anything to either of them but some mutual advantage; his tone softens gradually, because he doesn’t want Spock to be made to do or say anything for his sake, something only Jim wishes to hear. It’s been a while, and here they are, both very well aware of the fact that Spock chose to abandon Kolinahr, which gives Jim every right to demand attention from Spock regardless of how little that might be. Perhaps it is too much to ask of him anyways, and he is making peace with it knowing this is how Spock has always been. Spock knows. This is what’s killing Jim. Is there anything else? No. Not unless he wants it to be. He’s here and that’s all that matters, and yet Jim can’t shake the feeling that Spock is deliberately holding back what he’s really feeling at the moment. They’ve spent too long together and have been too close to each other than for him not to notice Spock is shutting him out. And even so, he still chooses to be patient. The last thing he wants is to push it. He longs for Spock, yet selflessly so. He also knows that this is just as hard on Spock as it is on him.

[runawaymun]

One of the reasons I’m most grateful that we got so much Dadzhu this lantern rite, is finally all of the people who take things at face value and don’t read the character stories will hopefully stop thinking he doesn’t care about her except as some kind of medical experiment, or that he’s abusing her.

Hoyo with this lantern rite really said Baizhu loves Qiqi and Qiqi loves Baizhu and they said it loudly. My man was distraught when she went missing. He left the pharmacy, which we rarely see him do, and ran around the harbor looking for the traveler, specifically, to ask them to go rescue her. Them holding hands together at the gate. Qiqi insisting on guarding the gate and holding the rattan doll and absorbing the feteor blast for him bc she’s a sponge and she’s obviously worried about what that might do to his already failing health. Baizhu was clearly planning on trying to manage it by himself with how it was framed when they talked about it. Qiqi insisted. AHHHHHHH

[cabeswaterdrowned]

would absolutely love for part of the context of the “you’ve dated way more than I have” (which I will always maintain that whatever other factors are involved, had way more to do with Adam’s perception of Gansey’s levels of experience than the actuality of them / Adam is an unreliable narrator because he thinks of Gansey as the coolest hottest person evah and assumes everyone else feels this way too) to be that Adam spent ages thinking that Malory was their age but just had older mannerisms / hobbies like Gansey does and that Gansey might have dated them… in my mind the first time Gansey ever brings up Malory pre series he doesn’t use pronouns so Adam constructs this image of this glamorous old money English girl who has all of Gansey’s interests and is rabidly jealous of her, and also into the image of her in his head. Then like a few months later he realizes he’s a guy and is still jealous even though he thinks Gansey is straight or is he??… then like a few months after that it becomes clear he’s older but he’s still not sure How much older and this is Adam hot for evil Latin teacher Parrish so he’s still not ruling out the jealousy… and then he meets Malory and is embarrassed for his previous thoughts but still jealous, because he spent for much time with Gansey and because Adam is a neurotic freak.

[creampuffqueen]

listen as much as i would have loved more romance in the yangchen novels i have to say it is extremely iconic of f.c yee to write a set of novels where the sapphic relationship is an undeniable, major plot point and then write another set of novels where the straight relationship is left up to interpretation

[daisysmalia]

Reasons Tommy/Buck&Tommy aren’t going away (yet);

- The 911 insta followed Lou, and they only follow mains and people who are reoccurring (and reoccur a lot)

- They also have posted two BuckTommy posts recently, showcasing them as an official couple of the show

-Both the things above have happened in the past week, whilst they’re filming ep 8 and finishing writing 9&10 which to me suggests Tommy will be in at least one of those eps.

- Tim keeps calling it a love story and a romcom, I highly doubt he’d end that after three and a bit eps. Especially after how it’s been built up.

-Oliver said that Buck and Tommy have some getting to know each other but he also said him and Lou do too. That they need to build these relationships- doesn’t sound like it’s going anytime soon.

- Lou said he was pitched an initial arc, which is normally 4 eps, but that doesn’t mean the arc can’t be extended. Especially when the reception is as good as it has been- and also they needed the wiggle room incase it was received poorly.

- Oliver also said he’d like Tommy to stay around, regardless of what happens but also said he’d like to continue their story in a similar thread to Tarlos.

-Tim and Oliver talk a lot about getting Buck off the hamster wheel, and I think him staying in a LTR would be the final part of that. Otherwise he’s still kind of on it, where he gets in and out of relationships without settling for a bit.

-This one is half joking, but Lou keeps mentioning the fact 9-1-1 has a s8 totally unprovoked 😂

[phoenixwithapencil]

Ignis is a strategist. Ignis knew exactly what the consequences would be, knew exactly how little his choices would matter- how they would not ultimately save Noctis-

More than anyone, Ignis knew.

And he put on the ring regardless.

[moxie-girl]

so uh milgram fans are we ready to talk about this yet?

the fact that the real subject of the “experiment” of milgram is Es, not the prisoners? and how beyond the story, the true subjects are actually us, the viewers?

[seagreenstardust]

I am waiting for the day this kirimina moment is paralleled by bakudeku

Izuku, quirkless. Katsuki, screaming that the quirk, or lack of one, doesn’t matter in the slightest, and that Izuku is his hero regardless

[simpfornegan]

i love how butcher’s opening scene of the first episode for s4 is just like BOOM ! he’s pregnant !!

[goldensunset]

the indecision between ‘i love this character and i want them to be happy/i want to see more of them’ and ‘it would be most narratively compelling/intriguing if they died or otherwise were (mysteriously) never seen or heard from again’

[professorjirt]

There’s something interesting about Thorin during his goldsickness, in the way he’s both volatile and vulnerable. He’s more walled off and emotionally twisted up than ever, but he’s also more exposed. It’s like the final evolution of a game monster, where they’ve formed this armor all over them, but there is a giant glaring weakness to exploit as well. Like a giant eyeball… or a lost scale exposing soft flesh I suppose. He’s both pulling the curtain back and wrapping it around himself. It’s a fascinating and heartbreaking development, as he simultaneously betrays everything he stood for and reaches his inevitable conclusion.

[starry-eyer]

When I see stuff like this I kinda want to bash my head into a wall:

To start off, I’m not sure whether this person was commenting on book or show Cersei, but honestly, it doesn’t even matter because she’s so much more than the ‘ambitious villain’ or the ‘murderous girlboss’ tropes in both the book and show.

(Of course, I do have my issues with the way Cersei was written in the show like most people but this is simply a rant post so I’m not going to go through the differences of Show vs Book Cersei)

Cersei is a female character who was shaped by her environment, who’s insecurities were created by her environment, and she’s a woman who’s idiotic mistakes can be traced back to how her environment shaped her. She’s much more than a murderous girlboss, she’s both a victim of the system and also a beneficiary of it, while also acting as an agent of it to keep the status quo while also desiring what the system denied her.

Cersei is NUANCED and complicated and even now people hate that about her and want her to have been a purely evil woman handcrafted in a vacuum, ignoring the context of her life because readers would rather not engage with Cersei’s victimhood and nuances because that ruins their idea of: She Was The Problem and Always The Problem. (People would rather say that she deserved her walk of shame instead of interacting meaningfully with the theme of systematic gender-based violence that is so prevalent in Cersei’s story. The exploration of patriarchal violence in Show Alicent’s story is done so horribly in comparison.)

And what really pissed me off about these tags is that this person has clearly decided that they don’t care to interact with the nuance of Cersei and are fine with flattening her, and yet they shit on others for not liking Alicent.

Because of the way Alicent is written in this show, she almost always has a ‘woe is me I can do no wrong’ attitude, which of course drives people away from the character (woe is me I deserve to take a child’s eye 🥺). However, what actually annoys me is how she’s made out to be stupid, foolish, ignorant, and inconsistent due to the horrible writing of this show, all of which are deviations from her book characterization. Also, I despise it when people want me to support writing decisions and changes made in adaptations that are downright misogynistic and are meant to attract the male gaze.

But what pisses many people, including myself, off is how the changes made negatively impacted many other characters. Alicent’s terrible characterization is like a black hole that distorts and warps the whole story! It’s annoying af!

So when people like this say: ‘She’s nuanced and people just can’t handle it 🙄;’ I say: No. She’s horribly written and a different character from the book and people have a right to be critical about these changes that stripped a female character of 1) her agency and 2) her intelligence!

And the thing is, there was little reason for the writers to have made all these changes to Alicent’s characterization! In the book she is an interesting character with clear motives and understandable reactions. She’s cunning and ambitious and acts the way a noble lady who became queen would. And despite her clear ambitions and dislike of Rhaenyra, she still makes a comment wondering about who would protect the Princess from Ser Criston, and yet she then takes Cole into her service after his falling out with Rhaenyra. That’s a perfect example of nuance! Show Alicent could never compare to book Alicent’s clear moral values and consistent disregard of said moral values in pursuit of power.

And because of this, Book Alicent isn’t easy to stomach. It’s hard for most people to come to terms with a character like her and it’s even harder for people to feel sympathetic for her at the end when she went mad with grief.

On the other hand, Show Alicent was designed in a way to garner pity, and when the writers felt like her current arc wouldn’t be enough to garner the specific reaction they wanted they would then throw in a time skip and suddenly she’s completely different and yet still Thee victim. She’s designed to be as sympathetic as fucking possible! The camera angles, the background music, and the lighting is set up in a way to make sure you the viewer feels pity or sympathy for her! Cause that’s her role in this series! She’s thee Ultimate Victim!

But too bad for the writers as many people are fed up with this kind of inconsistent writing. Even when the writers created a whole new challenge for Alicent where she’s shitted on by the green council and forced to face the beast she helped to raise, I and many others could never feel any satisfaction as it was clear that once again Alicent was being made to be Thee Ultimate Victim who was just led astray by the patriarchy and was a victim of it and was only just realizing it so don’t you pity her don’t you feel sad for her and now she’s trying to do the right thing so pls pls pls pity her 🥺~ So it shouldn’t be surprising that many people are annoyed by these eNLiGhtEnEd changes that have led to a complete deviation from the source material.

To summarize: Cersei is an excellent fucking character who’s by no means easy to stomach, and because she’s not easy to stomach she’s often reduced to annoying ass tropes by dumbasses who are reading above their comprehension level. But when you actually try to understand her, you can easily see why she turned out the way she did and you can feel sympathy for her while understanding that she’s both victim and perpetrator! On the other hand, Show Alicent is a mess and HOTD is trying to make her serve a different narrative role than she did in the books so ofc people are going to be unhappy with the changes as book readers are once again faced with the annoying reality that the writers don’t give a fuck about the source material.

[grayintogreen]

All I can say about Wicked besides I like it and I’m concerned that’s going to be an unpopular opinion and I’m sad about that preemptively, is the Idina and Kristin cameo changed my life and I think if they really want to make me shit my pants, Norbert Leo Butz needs to be one of the guards who arrests Fiyero in the next movie.

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Last Hour Between Worlds

fantasy locked room murder mystery

set in a world with alternate universes that bleed into it that get increasingly more eldritch as they go down, following a woman able to step between them

she’s on leave to take care of her newborn, but decides to attend a new years’ party to give herself a short break to socialise

but when everyone is murdered - only to suddenly be alive again, but with the whole building shifted one echo down, she realises she’s caught in a dangerous looping game and will have to find a way to stop them from dying permanently…. with the help of her rival slash almost-ex

very lightly demi-coded bi MC, f/f