#I'M STILL REELING

[thatmexisaurusrex]

I think what really gets me is what the show is telling us through that breakup. That's what hurts the most.

It's that a queer person who's sad, who's alone, who's never had a stable family life; a queer person who's only gotten to a point where they're happy with who they are later in life; a queer person who yearns for a family, for love, for being someone's first choice but doesn't believe he can ever have those things; a queer person who has obviously been burned and believes that is the only outcome for him now; that no one would want him as family. That no one would love him enough to choose him first.

He walks out that door.

Alone. Scared. Spiraling. Reacting to trauma rather than Buck himself. It's seeing that and having the show tell us, yes, that's what he deserves. That's all he gets. He doesn't get a happy ending. He doesn't get good closure. He doesn't get to believe that someone wants him enough to fight for him.

Tommy was right all along.

All his fears were true and will be what he ends up with. Older queer people who want families and are scarred by their own past experiences don't get love or a family. They don't get a place to call home.

Then, you have Buck; Buck blindsided by the trauma; Buck seeing his entire six-month relationship fall apart and just letting it happen to himself again. Having yet another person in his life, in a moment of cowardice and pain, quietly and brokenly lash out that he couldn't believe Buck would actually take this seriously; that he couldn't believe that Buck would love him once the pedestal was gone and the shininess wore off. That, once again, Buck lets his relationship play out without any idea of how to be active in it. That someone Buck loves, that he thought about possibly marriage with one day, that he wants to live with, leaves him.

That Buck, once again, is abandoned.

That Buck can't know himself.

That the show wants to lean into lazy biphobic ideas and tell us, yes, that's what Buck deserves. The thriving relationship that he had crumbles within minutes because Buck doesn't get to be happy; how can he know what happiness is if he isn't playing the field? Because nothing he did before Tommy counted. Buck 1.0 didn't count. None of his previous relationships counted. Because they were all ladies, and how can you know if you've only been with one man?

Telling the audience that you can't be happy in a relationship if it's somehow a "first", despite everything pointing to the relationship being solid and good for Buck.

It is the worst possible scenario.

It is a nightmare for both Buck and Tommy.

Both messages are terrible for the audience.

There were so many ways they could have broken up and I would have been fine with it. I've talked about it before, but I was fine with Josh and Arnold breaking up in Please Like Me and I still love the show. I watched episodes with Josh and Arnold from Please Like Me as a comfort when I was reeling about this that first night! I was fine with Alexis and Ted breaking up on Schitt's Creek and I was still fine with the show. I was okay with Amelia and Kai breaking up and I'm still watching Grey's Anatomy. Because all of those breakups were understandable. They made sense. I can like couples and be okay with them not working out. And they're fictional. Fictional shit rarely hurts me, if ever. That's not my problem at all here.

It's how this happened. It's the message it signals to the audience. It's devastating. I'm still devastated by the choice. I've never felt this way about a breakup for two characters ever. The core of my grief and genuine hurt is what the show proves it believes in through this breakup. And that's what's hurt me.

[nuclearanomaly]

“I can’t offer much in the way of entertainment”

> Are you sure about that?

[sattelite-of-love]

VANESSA WILLIAMS and JENN LYON

in ELSBETH 2.04

[mymainwastoocluttered]

*slides here after months of silence* guys, I had the craziest dream ever, I dreamt Kalim was in love with Yuu to the point he was being super protective, and then he crushed a guy's head against a tree with his bare hands for daring to try and hurt MC— like, just grabbed the guy (who might've been an assassin sent by his family?) with one hand and CRUSH and he was glaring and utterly pissed and saying that people seem to forget who he is, people seem to forget that he is the heir of his family and he didn't survive seventeen years by pure luck—

[andmineisyellow]

I think episodes 4 through 7 have some of the consistent writing we've gotten from Bridgerton. And on a micro-level, I enjoy episode 8 as well. I love most of the individual scenes and moments we got (minus the epilogue). My personal favorites are the Cressida and Colin scene, everything with Portia and Pen, John and Francesca's wedding, and Penelope's speech. But on a macro-level episode 8 also underserved Colin and Pen's arcs.

I understand why the writers decided not to have Colin reveal Whistledown like he does in the books. This version gives Pen more agency, which on the surface, I prefer. But having Pen handle it all by herself also doesn't satisfy the over-arching narrative the show has set up.

Yes, Colin needed to realize that Pen doesn't need to be saved all the time, but Pen also needed to realize that it's okay to ask for help and to rely on others. The resolution should be meeting in the middle and working as a team. We should have seen them use their individual strengths to come up with a solution together. This would have been easy to do as they've already established that Colin is a schemer with how he handled Jack in 2x08 and sneaking Pen into the house 3x02. There's no reason for him not to participate in the plan. Some potential payoff was definitely missed that could have easily connected to his arc. And on top of that it should not have been Portia standing beside Pen before she stands up to speak to the queen. It should have been Colin.

And, this is more of a nitpick, but season 1 clearly foreshadowed an assured, furvent, and loud speech. It feels strange that we don't get that moment. They could have given Pen her moment and also given Colin his as well.

[aetherixs]

you mean to tell me that after ALL THAT nureyev told juno his NAME

HIS NAME???

AFTER KNOWING HIM FOR A DAY????

[jerejerejere]

How to explain to my coworkers my dire state of mind?

Sorry, a finnish man licked a stripper pole like he meant it and now two thirds of my brain capacity have been ruined? You know? Everyday stuff.

[lilypheria]

So Genshin Impact is gonna have both Naruto and Sasuke's Japanese VAs. Apparently they're also partners. Narusasu keeps winning LMAO

[jerevision]

Everybody say "hvala lepa Mark Pirc"

[nancywheeeler]

checking out at the grocery store and baba o'riley begins playing over the store speakers. with the most visceral disgust i have ever heard, the girl at the guest services desk goes, "what is this?" followed immediately by her fellow gen z coworker asking, "is this The 1975?"

gen x parents, you have failed. you're failures.

[warning-heckboop]

How could Jack Black betray us like this

[stealthrockdamage]

you should be reading unjust depths.

[antleredoctopus]

arcane spoilers

nope no

no

nah

Heimerdinger got bluegrass/country lessons from Kled during that time

And nothing bad happened 😊❤️

[hikaaa-bi]

did this episode's statement remind someone else of..

[thebiggerbear]

Just saw Echo and there aren't enough words to describe how amazing this show is. I've never had the urge to watch a Marvel show before, but from the moment I heard about this one and the cast lineup they had, I knew it was going to be something special. (been a fan of Chaske Spencer, Graham Greene, Tantoo Cardinal, and Zahn McClarnon for years; I even spotted Elaine Miles right when I was thinking where is she in this project!) Now having seen it, I realize I didn't know just how special. This show is unique, important for young Native girls everywhere as well as for the disabled and deaf communities, and it should be protected at all costs. So many barriers being broken down in one single instant. And they even have a moment in the beginning (I won't spoil who) that features another MCU character that helps to cement not only Maya's and Echo's places in the franchise but also the that these communities can come together in one single scene to represent, if that makes sense. The symbolism of that one scene is pure genius and it's extremely important. Not to mention that they worked closely with the Choctaw Nation on this project. The cast is stellar (as I knew they would be). The multi-fold representation is *chef's kiss*.

This is the MCU show you should watch. This is the one you should lend your support to. It was incredible, so well done, well written, and as I said the cast was amazing. Genius, just genius. I hope to see more for Maya through this show.

[lesbianwyllravengard]

On the bright side of all that getting banned from ao3 nonsense, it was such a "scandal" amongst my coworkers when I told them about it that they told some of their friends about it to the point where my coworker asked me today to send a screenshot of the email as proof for her roommates who didn't believe her. So. Now I'm known amongst this group of people as the only person any of them have ever known to get banned from ao3