#Jamie Blanch

[themusicsweetly]

Jamie x Claire x ✨this move✨

[frasers-of-my-heart]

Wednesday 100: Claire and Fergus wait for Jamie to return from the Bastile post-dinner brawl

Claire sat staring at the fire from one side of the chaise, while Fergus occupied the other.

“Milady?” Fergus finally broke the silence.

“Hm?” She barely focused her eyes on him.

“Milord will return soon, no? He is innocent…” he looked down to his lap, fidgeting with his fingers.

“I’m sure he’ll be home soon, darling, go rest.”

“No, I will stay right here beside you. Milord would never forgive me if I left you to wait alone.”

Claire smiled for the first time all night and pulled the boy down to her lap, looking down at both their children.

[down-therabbit-hole]

Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan

[duranduratulsa]

Up next on my 80's Fest Movie 🎬 🎞 🎥 🎦 📽 marathon...Sixteen Candles (1984) on glorious vintage VHS 📼! #Movie #movies #comedy #teenmovies #sixteencandles #johnhughes #mollyringwald #michaelschoeffling #anthonymichaelhall #JamiGertz #havilandmorris #bethringwald #joancusack #JustinHenry #blanchebaker #geddewatanabe #pauldooley #ZeldaRubinstein #JonathanChapin #tonylongo #maxshowalter #billiebird #briandoylemurray #vintage #VHS #80s #80sfest #durandurantulsas6thannual80sfest

[goose-duck]

a thing I did for fun + character info

[olenvasynyt]

Day 7 of Elucien Week: Alternate Universe

Red Lucien and La Dame Blanche

“I love you, a nighean donn. I have loved ye from the moment I saw ye, I will love ye ’til time itself is done, and so long as you are by my side, I am well pleased wi’ the world.”

Ever since I found out Lucien is inspired by Jamie from Outlander I always wanted to see Lucien in a kilt but NO ONE HAS DONE IT so I took matters into my own hands. Here is Lucien and Elain as Jamie and Claire Fraser from Outlander!

Thank you @elucienweekofficial for hosting this amazing week!

[fourmoony]

hey, you could do something with reader telling james (or poly!marauders) that you're pregnant. reader was tense and hesitant about what his reaction would be, as she thought he wouldn't like the idea

thanks for requesting!

f!reader 1k cw: pregnancy

James has his head almost inside the pot of soup on the stove, poking and prodding at it with a wooden spoon as though it may bite him, when you cross through the arched entryway of the kitchen. He turns his head over his shoulder when he hears your socked feet padding across the tiled flooring, glasses fogged up and his smile bright.

"I don't think I did it right." He tells you, forbearing a greeting all together.

His brows hook in the middle when he turns back to the pot, lips pouted just a little. You peek over his shoulder to find a simmering pot of vegetable water and find yourself biting back a smile. Sweet James, your loving and doting boyfriend, always up for a challenge. You don't have the heart to tell him there's entirely too much water and not nearly enough stock in the pot, so you rub his shoulder encouragingly, place a kiss to it, after. "Looks lovely, handsome."

It pulls a warm smile out of your boyfriend, who seems more encouraged by your words than you think he should be. He's so trusting, so loving, leads with his heart and his soul, and nothing else. He puts too much faith in you.

"Remus' never looks like this, but I s'pose thats because he does it in the slow cooker." James placates himself with a shrug, eyes back on the steaming pot.

You hum a mild agreement, pulling yourself up onto the worktop so you're facing James. He likes the company whenever he's cooking. You like the domesticity, the routine, spending time with him whilst completing a task, talking about your day, your friends. It's nice, to be so comfortable with the person you love.

"Did you write down the instructions as he was giving you them? Or are you going from memory?" You ask James apprehensively.

He doesn't reply at first, too occupied with throwing a load of raw potatoes into the pot. They drop to the bottom of the pot with a sickening thud, water splashing over the sides. James winces as a droplet catches the side of his arm and turns to you with a weary look, "From memory. He was going too fast and the landline was crackly."

There's no saving the soup now, so you allow James to continue his ministrations. You'll pretend it's even better than Remus'. Anything for James. Anything to see him smile.

"He said he hopes you're feeling better soon, by the way. Sirius, too." James adds, face dangerously close to the open flame of the gas cooker as he adjusts the heat.

You blanch. You'd mentioned feeling poorly to James yesterday morning, a little tired, a little sick, stiff, the normal beginnings of a cold. The soup makes sense, now. "You asked Remus for his soup recipe because I mentioned feeling a little poorly once?"

James nods, shrugs like it's no big deal.

You've never felt this kind of love before, the kind of care and consideration James has.

"Jamie, I'm not poorly." Your voice is a little unsteady.

You'd wanted to wait, tell him when you'd figured out how you felt about it yourself. Wanted to be sure whether this was something you wanted, something James would want. You know he's a good man, a good person with a massive heart, but you've not been together for as long as you'd have liked, you're not married, there's a list of things that could make James run for the hills and you wouldn't blame him.

But you know him. You know James Potter. He's never ran from anything.

"Well it's too late for that, I've already made the ruddy soup, now." James teases, poking the pudge of your thigh with the tip of the wooden spoon.

"James," You try to garner his full attention, away from the burning vegetable water, "I wasn't poorly."

He frowns, probably trying to pin together the phrase with the way you're acting and comes up with nothing, so he says nothing.

"I'm pregnant."

James doesn't say anything for a minute. You can't read him. Eyes wide, jaw slack, eyebrows lost in the messy tuft of his fringe. Just when you think the silence might choke you, the fire alarm sounds, loud and abrasive. It kick starts your boyfriend's brain and he grabs the nearest tea towel, motioning for you to stay put, and wafts the smoke away from the detector.

After, in the silence that follows, he leans over the kitchen sink and opens the window, turns off the stove.

"When did you find out?" He asks, voice unwaveringly calm.

Your heart slams against your rib cage, scared and begging you to run, "This morning."

James nods, "How do you feel?"

"Nauseous. Confused. Scared."

James softens, crosses the distance between you. His hands are soft on your face when he slots between your legs, eyes swimming with emotion. He smells faintly like OXO stock cubes and his normal cologne as he rests his forehead against yours and heaves a deep breath. "You wanna do this?"

"Only if you do." You answer truthfully.

"I love you, you know that?" His voice comes out hoarse, and you realise he's holding back tears.

Tears spring to your eyes, too, when you nod, "I know."

"There's no one else I'd rather do it with."

Relief washes over you like a bucket of cold water, bringing the air back to your lungs, life back to your heart. You're laughing into the kiss that James presses to your lips, giddy and excited. He presses two gentle pecks there, after, and one to your forehead.

"Holy shit I'm gonna be a Dad." He sounds awed, in disbelief.

You laugh, "Yeah. You are."

"And you're gonna be a Mum."

"That's generally how it works, babe." You say placatingly, thumbs swiping over his rounded cheeks, holding his face in place. His smile is like the sun, bright and blinding. You feel warm all over just looking at it.

"I need to phone Sirius." James announces, turning on his heel to make for the landline.

You shouldn't be surprised, not when Sirius is an extension of your boyfriend's being. So, you simply wait until you can hear James ramming his fingers against the telephone, and dump a couple more stock cubes into the soup.

He can thank you later.

[yandere-paramour]

Oh....ohhh my baby 😭 your jamie & lil atalanta art is SOOOOO CUTEE 🥺🥺🥹 But it got me thinking......typically I can totally imagine in her case as a wealthy only child who grew up with parents who love her, her growth would be documented A LOT (or maybe just a normal amount?)

But what's the case for vivien & noelle? 🥺 I assume with their environment growing up they won't have as much childhood pictures as atalanta? Oh nooo now the thought makes me so saddd 😭 I have many pics of lil me that my mom took (and I begrudgingly pose cutely for every single one) and I love showing it off to people now whenever I find one (thanks mom)

I know the yans would love any pics of me but ngl if I show them MY childhood pics I'd bound to get curious and ask about theirs in return

You're right. Atalanta's childhood was very carefully documented. There are THOUSANDS of photos of her growing up, you can honestly put them side by side and see a linear progression of her evolution to adulthood. There are pictures of her being born, her preschool field trips, her kindergarten graduation, her sports games and debate tournaments, all going up until she was dropped off at college, and there's more continuing from there. Both parents have a rotating slideshow on a digital touchscreen photo shuffle in their respective studies and they would love to show you. It embarrasses Ata to no end.

And yes, she learned very young to always look adorable and perfect for the camera even if you feel like throttling someone. The Montclairs have a reputation to uphold, after all.

Childhood pictures of Noelle are few and far between, but she and Odette made out better than the younger girls Thérèse, Celeste, and Blanche (Noelle's little sisters reveal!!!). Her mother was too busy working a dead-end job and sucking and fucking to take pictures of the kids, but they do have a few baby and toddler pictures each, often with one or two sisters nearby, and a range of school pictures every year. Noelle doesn't like them much. All her childhood was spent as a skinny, bruised little brat with a choppy, uneven haircut and stained, ill-fitting hand-me-downs with holes in them from the clothing drive. Noelle never had anything new until college, and she doesn't like being made to be reminded of her shitty childhood. She does take pictures of the younger sisters now, but they're teenagers and hate it, but Noelle knows they will want actual good reminders of their childhood when they're older.

Vivien has some childhood pictures, but they're sporadic or lost to time. When he was very small, there were always "well-meaning" foster families wanting such a cute kid, and they would take him to fun places like the zoo or children's museum and take pictures of him. But they would inevitably get tired of his hyperactive and distractible behavior and they would get rid of him, sending him to the next family without any thought for his emotions or by sending on his pictures. Only a few families went far enough to develop the photos and give them to him. When he was older and had a somewhat worse reputation due to being taken in and returned so many times, he lived in a group home where no one takes pictures of you unless it's a mugshot.

However, he has tons of baby and toddler photos taken by his parents before they died. He was their first and only child and they adored him.

(Drawn by @sienna-brulee)

[theemporium]

james potter is an act of services kind of guy... like he'll want to hold everything you're holding, or help you with something, drive you somewhere. he'd do anything to help you... "here bird, i got it." "no, jamie you're already holding most of it. i can hold two bags." "yeah, i know but you don't have to, you have me for that."

he is such a gentleman, i adore him🥹thank you for requesting!🖤

.

James Potter was born and raised to be a gentleman.

Whether it was because he was from a pureblood family or because Euphemia and Fleamont Potter would rather dig their own grave before their son grew up to be anything but, James was a gentleman at his core and nothing could shake that mindset from him. 

It was something everyone saw in him: whether it was opening the door for professors so they could pass before him, or filling up cups of pumpkin juice around him at dinner when he goes to refill his own—James Potter was a gentleman. 

And that only grew tenfold when you started dating him. 

“This is ridiculous,” you told him as you both walked along Diagon Alley. You wanted a day out and you had errands to run, but James insisted on joining you and making a bit of an impromptu date out of it. 

However, what you weren’t expecting (your own mistake, you should know him by now) was for your boyfriend to insist on carrying every single one of your bags. 

“What do you mean, love?” he asked you as he handed you the iced drink he purchased from a stall a few moments ago, knowing full well that the heat and bustling crowds were starting to get to you even if you didn’t say anything to him.

“This!” you said as you took the drink nonetheless, pressing a kiss to his cheek as you murmured a soft ‘thanks’ against his skin. “At least let me take a few of the bags, Jamie.”

James blanched. “Absolutely not, love.” 

You shot him a look. “I probably look like an arse,” you murmured as you glanced around at the wizards and witches rushing in and out of shops. “Making my boyfriend carry everything and follow me like a slave.” 

“I’d love to be your slave, baby,” James replied and your glare only hardened. 

“This isn’t funny,” you said when you noticed he was biting back his laughter.

“Love, it really is,” he said, his grin breaking through when he watched you sip on your drink with a grumpy look on your face. “I like spoiling you. It’s not a crime to want to spoil my girl.”

“Oh please,” you murmured. “I am about one hex away from binding your hands together so you stop paying for stuff.”

“Not my fault you’re slow,” he teased, happily taking a sip of your drink when you offered it to him. “If I have the money and muscles to spoil my girl, I should be able to do so.”

“But I wanna spoil you back,” you said, almost whining like a child. “This needs to be a fair relationship, James.”

“You wanna spoil me, baby?”

You nodded.

“Then you can ride that pretty cunt on my face later,” he whispered to you, watching in delight as your cheeks flushed in response. “Then we can call it even.”

.

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things (2x02): “Trick or Treat, Freak” Review

If you haven't yet, be sure to check out my other reviews:

Stranger Things Episode Reviews:

Season 1:

The Vanishing of Will Byers

The Weirdo on Maple Street

Holly Jolly

The Body

The Flea and the Acrobat

The Monster

The Bathtub

The Upside Down

Season 2:

MADMAX

Stranger Things Play:

Stranger Things The First Shadow

It’s March 22nd, 2025. Happy Birthday Will! 🥳🎂🍾 I wish it was under better circumstances.

Assuming Will survives season 5 and lives a happy life once the show ends, he will officially be 54 years old as of today. Hopefully, if the Duffer Brothers are smart, they’ll write in a scene for season 5 with the characters celebrating Will’s birthday after the whole Birthdaygate fiasco from season 4.

In regards to this episode, Halloween has always been a mixed bag for me (no pun intended). I’ve had fun and memorable ones (like from last year) and I’ve had ones that were awful (like the year before that). A lot of it had to do with the people involved. There are those who get into the spirit of Halloween without being nasty or unkind, and know where the lines are between acceptable vs unacceptable behavior. And then there are the assholes who take Halloween as carte blanche to get away with as much shitty behavior as they want to (Billy, Tommy, the Zimmerman brothers who briefly harass Will in this episode, etc). The latter group takes away any fun with the holiday, and I’ve had my experiences with people like that. Sadly, Will, Jonathan, and Steve appear to be in the same boat as me in that regard, though I haven’t yet developed into Jonathan “I’m going as a guy who hates parties” Byers.

This episode does a great job capturing the good and bad aspects of Halloween, and contains some neat movie references via the costumes (Dracula, Flashdance, Footloose, Animal House, Risky Business, Friday the 13th, Ghostbusters, John Carpenter’s Halloween, The Karate Kid, etc). It also has creepy and unsettling imagery combined with humorous moments, just like how the spirit of Halloween is supposed to be FUNNY and SCARY at the same time.

More importantly: Rewatching, specifically with Vecna and the Mind Flayer in mind from season 4 and The First Shadow, puts certain moments from this episode in a different perspective. Considering that the Duffer Brothers were already planning for this show to span 4-5 seasons by the time season 2 was about to premiere, it’s a safe bet to say this was intentional on their part. Certain scenes and tidbits of information that were dropped may have seemed inconsequential when season 2 first aired, but arguably have more relevance when you factor in later seasons and the play. I would even go as far to say that they will likely have an impact in season 5 as well.

I know I haven’t warned people before in previous reviews, but I’m going to here: This review will be SPOILER HEAVY for The First Shadow, particularly in regards to Henry/One/Vecna, his connection to the Mind Flayer, and his parallels with certain characters. Some of this will be analysis, and some of this will contain speculations for season 5. You’ve been warned.

Part 1: Will’s connection to the Mind Flayer (and his parallels with Vecna)

I know I’m not the first fan who’s noted parallels between Vecna and Will. Both Noah Schnapp and Jamie Campbell Bower have also discussed the connection both characters share, including the idea that there’s unfinished business that will likely drive the conflict for most of season 5.

For now, let’s explore with what parallels have been presented: Both Will and Vecna have been described as “sensitive” by their parents (or at least Victor Creel thought his son was), both were outcasts, both have a love for drawing, both are unique individuals who feel oppressed by the attempts of society to mold them into something they are not, both have an attraction to someone in an era where their love for that person would be deemed “unacceptable” by the norms established as well as the prevalent bigotry in those decades (Will’s attraction to Mike in the 80s, and Henry/One/Vecna’s attraction to Patty Newby in the 50s), both of them have been to the Upside Down and encountered the Mind Flayer, and both have come back altered in some way.

In Henry’s case, The First Shadow reveals that, prior to moving to Hawkins, Henry lived in Rachel, Nevada. This was also the location where Brenner was heading the Nevada Experiment at the time, with the end goal of trying to recreate what happened to the USS Eldridge when it disappeared into the Upside Down in 1943. One day, Henry was playing in the caves when he encountered a rogue scientist from the Nevada Experiment who had stolen key technology from Brenner. This technology transported both Henry and the scientist into the Upside Down. The scientist was killed, but Henry was in the Upside Down for 12 hours where he saw various monsters and encountered the Mind Flayer. He was eventually able to return to this world, but following his trip to another dimension, his blood was altered (which is how he got his psionic abilities), and he had a connection to the Mind Flayer that would haunt him for the remainder of his life.

In my review for The First Shadow, I questioned the idea of whether Will’s blood was altered as well during his week in the Upside Down, due to his exposure to the Mind Flayer. Given the visions (or episodes) he was having BEFORE the Mind Flayer infected him with its black particles in the next episode, and the connection the two continue to share AFTER season 2, it would make sense if that was the case. The other question is whether Will has any psionic abilities like Henry had once he escaped the Upside Down. The whole reason Brenner was able to create “special kids” like El and Kali was because he used Henry’s altered blood to do so. Assuming Will’s blood has been altered as well, why hasn’t he shown any special abilities outside of his connection to the Mind Flayer and his “true sight” (as Mike calls it in the next episode)? Are those specific powers dormant for right now? Is the Mind Flayer using its connection to somehow suppress them? Or is the connection to the Mind Flayer just the extent of Will’s abilities, and he has no other powers beyond that?

It's interesting to see the Mind Flayer’s fixation on both Will and Henry, and how they compare and contrast with one another. Both kids get terrifying visions of the Mind Flayer and other hallucinations. In Will’s case, these visions come off more like it’s trying to scare him; to let Will know there’s no escape. The same can be said for Henry, with the difference being it was also corrupting Henry with these visions by chipping away at his personality and nudging him to embrace his negative emotions and the darker aspects of his powers. The Mind Flayer knew Henry’s personality flaws, insecurities, and fears, and it worked hard during the play to exploit them to full effect. Worst of all: It succeeded. There’s a BIG DIFFERENCE between the Henry Creel we meet in 1959, who was shy, awkward, and still had some kind of conscious underneath, vs the cold calculating sociopath we encounter at Hawkins Lab in 1979.

In Will’s case, while the visions are terrifying, they don’t seem to be designed to twist Will into becoming evil. In fact, at no point can I recall the Mind Flayer acting as the Devil on Will’s shoulder the same way it did with Henry in the play. God knows there are plenty of things the Mind Flayer could exploit in Will’s life, from the bullying Will’s experienced, to the fact he’s a gay teenager forced to suppress his identity in homophobic 80s Hawkins, to the fear that he’ll never be accepted for who he is, to the sheer amount of cruelty, stupidity, and unfairness that exists in the world that would overwhelm anyone (as we are seeing with certain individuals in today’s culture). Instead, it goes for brutal force in assaulting Will with its particles in the next episode. Like it has to strong-arm Will to get control of him instead of tempting or manipulating Will into committing vile acts with his own agency.

All of this begs the question as to why? I will talk more about Will’s possession story as it develops, but I don’t completely buy the idea that the Mind Flayer needed Will as a spy, especially when it had Vecna (who has the same ability to remote view as El does). It clearly wants Will for something, and I find it telling that both Will and Henry survived whereas others did not: The crew of the USS Eldridge in 1943 were slaughtered when the ship briefly transported to the Upside Down, with Brenner’s father later dying after he told his son what he experienced. The scientist who also got transported with Henry to the Upside Down perished, whereas Henry lived. Even in season 1, Will is really the only survivor of those who were taken by the Demogorgon. Barbara, the two hunters in the woods, and the two Hawkins Lab scientists were killed off almost immediately, as if the Mind Flayer had no real use for them, except either as Demogorgon food or to use their bodies to make future Demogorgons (as it did with Barbara).

In Henry’s case, the Mind Flayer was molding him to become a weapon it could use. Dustin wasn’t far off in suggesting Vecna was its “Five Star General.” I’m reminded of The Witch King of Angmar, or even Saruman from The Lord of the Rings: Both are dangerous individuals with great power who cause death and destruction across Middle Earth (with Saruman and Vecna even sharing the same trait of pettiness), but at the end of the day, they are merely puppets Sauron can use to further his agenda of enslaving the world. Vecna comes off the same way: For all his proclamations to El about remaking the world into something beautiful, these are delusions. He is merely a tool for the Mind Flayer, and the moment he is no longer useful is the moment the Mind Flayer will dispose of him.

Maybe that’s why Will got targeted: The Mind Flayer could be looking to replace Vecna by bringing in new blood, so to speak. Like what Emperor Palpatine tries to do in the original Star Wars trilogy with replacing Vader by tempting Luke to the Dark Side.

But that just brings me back to my original point: There is no temptation for Will like there was for Vecna. Part of what made Henry/One/Vecna’s descent into villainy so horrifying wasn’t just the Mind Flayer’s influence, but the fact Henry had choices through all of his tribulations. He wasn’t violently possessed by the Mind Flayer’s black particles the same way Will was in the next episode, or even Billy and the Flayed from season 3. Instead, it was a consistent degradation of Henry’s personality while the Mind Flayer played on his fears and insecurities to get Henry to commit vile acts and exercise his powers under the guise it would give him some kind of mastery over his life. Henry grew up resentful of being forced to “conform” to the 50s idea of normalcy while people in his life constantly treated him like he was broken. His powers, as frightening as they were to him at the time, were a liberation as much as a curse. A way for him to get some kind of control and push back against the oppressiveness he felt around him. However, at the end of the day, the Mind Flayer was still pulling the strings from behind-the-scenes, and Henry’s surrender to its influence not only cost him his agency, but also his freedom. He spent 20 years locked up in Hawkins Lab as Brenner’s prisoner, and getting banished to the Upside Down later didn’t truly free him: He just returned to the source of all his problems, and has gotten WORSE.

I wonder if the Mind Flayer realized it couldn’t engage in the slow corruption of Will like it did with Henry all those years ago (either because Will’s negative traits weren’t as severe as Henry’s, or it realized Will would be more resistant to that) and that’s why it violently assaulted Will with the black particles and forcibly tried to assimilate his consciousness into the hive mind. It also may have been experimenting since this is the first time it could possess another human with the black particles that was its form (which Henry/One/Vecna was responsible for giving it). If so, there’s a lot it didn’t factor in, like how maladaptive it would be to Earth’s environment and heat temperatures, or how its host could turn the tables on them. But like any scientist going through an experiment, it learned. And the next time it comes after Will (which I’m sure it’s going to do in season 5), it will try a different approach if it's smart.

Will admits to Mike that his visions come off like a View-Master caught between two slides, which I think works as an interesting metaphor not just for Will, but also for El and Vecna. All three characters are caught in-between two worlds (this world and the Upside Down) where they feel like they’re being pulled in both directions, yet simultaneously rejected by both worlds at the same time. The way each character reacts to this dilemma is telling: In Henry/One/Vecna’s case, he has completely abandoned his human origins and embraced the Upside Down as his true home (even as he continues to reside in a twisted version of the Creel House from his childhood). In El’s case, she’s veered back and forth between the two (though she hasn’t ever considered the Upside Down to be her home), and while she has found friends and a family, she still hasn’t found the sense of belonging that she craves in this world. In Will’s case, while he desires to remain rooted in this world, the Upside Down is working overtime to pull him in to its hive mind. The comic book The Other Side (which came out after season 2) plays with this idea when it features this hallucination Will has following his capture by the Demogorgon:

I’ve suggested this before in a previous review, but I wonder if Will and El’s arcs in season 5 will be about trying to find a reconciliation between the Upside Down and their world. I don’t believe the Mind Flayer or Vecna will survive past season 5 since they’ve been established as the root causes for the evil inflicted on the characters, but I also think an alternative to the complete annihilation of the Upside Down could be healing it, or fixing something within that is broken, allowing both Will and El to find peace. The core theme of this show centers on the characters accepting themselves for who they are, warts and all, and part of that acceptance involves finding a balance between the different worlds (both literal and metaphorical) that these characters come from. They could go the route of destruction, but thematically, I would argue it would be antithetical to the show’s message. That’s what Vecna is currently doing: He could never reconcile the part of his human self with the part of him formed in the Upside Down when he was transported there all those years ago. As a result of being torn apart by both worlds, he has settled on one (the Upside Down) as his identity while working to destroy this world and sever all his past ties to it. This is presented in the show as Vecna’s anger and self-hatred taking things to the extreme. If Will and El intend to take a different path from the one Vecna is on, they will have to go with an alternative beyond simple destruction. Nor can they just close the Gate again with the threat still there like they’ve done for the past few seasons. There’s a reckoning that needs to happen, one that will likely result in a permanent change to the world, its characters, and the Upside Down, but will ultimately be for the better.

Speaking of Will and El, a constant that I noticed in their stories this episode center around Mike: When both are in the Upside Down (El after her battle with the Demogorgon, and Will with his vision of the Mind Flayer), the first thing they do is call for Mike. In a way, Mike acts as an anchor for both characters. It’s Mike that wakes Will up from his vision (and may have even prevented the Mind Flayer from possessing Will in that moment), and it’s Mike’s house that El goes to once she crawls out of the Upside Down.

While this is heartwarming, it does make me worried for Mike in season 5. Putting aside how one of the episode titles for season 5 is “The Vanishing of ***** Wheeler” (with either Mike or Holly being likely candidates), I’ve suggested the theory that Vecna may come after Mike as a means of hurting both Will and El. I know fans will likely reject the idea of Mike being killed off (Although who knows? The Duffer Brothers could always surprise us.), but if Vecna is serious about breaking El and Will’s morale, targeting Mike would be high up on his list. Mike is their anchor, and if Vecna breaks that, it’s going to have devastating consequences for both Will and El.

Finally, in regards to Will and Mike’s interactions in this episode, I enjoyed them, even if the circumstances behind them were bittersweet. I took note in the last review about how Mike was giving Will the space he needed without being intrusive or infantilizing Will, and we see it pay off here after Mike takes Will to his place and Will finally opens up about what’s going on with him. Will knows Mike can’t do anything about his situation, but it’s nice to have someone who understands where he’s coming from without fretting or ringing their hands about his health. The same can be said when Mike opens about still missing El, and Will listens without any judgment or condescending suggestions to “get over it.” The Duffer Brothers admitted in Beyond Stranger Things that a key theme behind Mike and Will’s pairing this season was both characters were frozen from what happened the previous year, and were trying to lift each other up. Mike and Will have spent months feeling like they have no one to fall back on, which means they’re falling back on each other for support.

In a very loose way, Will and Mike’s dynamic reminds me of the dynamic between Marshall Teller and Simon Holmes from Eerie, Indiana. Both kids are in a town where weird and supernatural occurrences happen on a constant basis (to the point it’s hard to trust anyone or anything) and they both have to rely on each other for trust, stability, and support as a result. Marshall has taken Simon under his wing (especially given Simon’s living situation) and part of Marshall’s drive during the show is rooted in helping others while solving mysteries and combating malevolent forces. Mike in many ways mirrors Marshall with that motivation, and just like with Marshall’s concern for Simon, Mike doesn’t want Will getting swallowed by the horrors around him.

Part 2: Eleven (and her parallels with Vecna)

Just as quickly as El returned to the source (the Upside Down), she was just as quick to get out. Did anyone else notice that she coughed up liquid when she woke up in the Upside Down, similar to what happened to Barbara in season 1 when she got taken? Almost like being submerged underwater, except there is no water in that dimension. 🤔 When Barbara was taken, I assumed at the time the liquid she coughed up was from the pool water in Steve’s backyard since the Demogorgon attacked her there. Seeing that the same thing happened to El here, I’m not so sure about that anymore.

The scene with El using her powers to create a bigger hole in the wall to escape was nice foreshadowing to her using that same power to close the Gate in the season finale. In hindsight, it also acts as further foreshadowing for the overall reveal about El’s abilities being connected to the Upside Down. The ease with which the membrane-like hole collapses to fit her size contrasts with some of the instances in this world where it appears like she has to use more energy and force, as if the Upside Down responds more naturally to her abilities than this world does.

One thing I’m curious about is the hole continuing to be there following the Demogorgon’s destruction. In “The Flea and the Acrobat,” we saw the hole in the tree Nancy crawled through beginning to close and eventually shutting for good just as Jonathan pulled Nancy out. Likewise, during the instances when the Demogorgon tore through Joyce’s walls, the walls would reassemble themselves almost instantaneously. Even when Joyce communicated with Will in “The Body,” it was only for a brief moment before the fleshy wall began closing up. So why didn’t the hole the Demogorgon created at the Middle School close up already? Was it just that violent and visceral of a tear (similar to what El did when she opened the Gate for the first time) that it took longer to heal?

And then there’s Vecna and the Mind Flayer: One question I’ve always had whenever I rewatch season 2 now is if they knew El was alive at this point. I’d have to imagine they didn’t. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they have sent every Upside Down monster they controlled to either capture or kill El (especially as the Gate was beginning to expand underground)? I’d even say Vecna would have made the journey himself into the real world to finish El off as revenge for what she did to him four years ago. He had the ability to remote view, so this isn’t like he couldn’t have located El during the year between seasons 1 and 2 if he wanted to. The only explanations that come to mind is that either they thought El perished when she and the Demogorgon dissolved at the Middle School, or they were waiting for the right opportunity to strike (and waited too long as a result).

There are plenty of references and inspirations for Hopper and El’s story that I intend to cover in future reviews, but I want to focus on the ones present in this episode.

There are two obvious references for the ghost costume El wears: The first is John Carpenter’s Halloween (with Max dressing up as Michael Myers later in the episode) when Lynda believes her boyfriend Bob is playing a joke on her:

The second (and the one I first thought of when I saw this scene) is E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, when the kids disguise E.T. and try to pass him off as Gertie.

In both cases, those characters get away with the disguise, with others none the wiser. I can see why El would think it would be a good cover, and I can’t blame her for wanting Hopper to go along with it: She’s been cooped up in that cabin for close to a year, and while I believe she appreciates having a home, that doesn’t mean she is happy about being confined to one limited location.

And I get where Hopper is coming from in regards to her safety and it being a risk, but at the same time, it’s not enough anymore if El is starting to feel trapped, nor does it help that he completely forgets his promise later in the episode and misses the deadline. I know Hopper teaches the word “compromise” to El in this episode, but she actually is the one who offers a compromise to Hopper before she even knows the word: She disguises herself as a ghost to emphasize that she could go Trick-or-Treating without being spotted, with the implication that Hopper would come along and watch from his sheriff’s car (under the guise of watching over the safety of other Trick-or-Treaters out there). It ties into something I’ve been emphasizing about El for a long time (especially towards certain fans who made disgustingly ableist remarks about El int he past): Just because El doesn’t have the words doesn’t mean she can’t understand concepts or is ignorant of them.

This leads me into the next reference when Hopper is late and El watches Frankenstein to pass the time. When they showed the scene with the little girl, Maria, befriending the Monster, I wondered if El related more to the girl or to the Monster. Or maybe even both. In that particular scene from the movie, after the Monster escaped Dr. Henry Frankestein’s lab, it wanders off into the German countryside where it encounters the girl, who shows him the flowers she collects and how they float on the water. Initially, the Monster is delighted by the flowers (even cracking a smile) and throws them in the water like Maria does. But when the flowers run out, he ends up tossing the girl into the water, causing her to drown.

The sad thing is the way the scene is framed gives the impression that the Monster was under the assumption the girl would float just like the flowers. His distressed reaction to her drowning indicates his intention wasn’t to kill her. The movie itself plays with the idea of whether the Monster was evil from its creation (especially since it has the brain of a corrupt criminal) or if his circumstances drove him down a dark path. While the Monster does kill people, the first two deaths (Fritz and Dr. Waldman) could arguably constitute self-defense since they intended harm to him, and Maria’s death (which kickstarts the angry mob that goes after the Monster) was framed as manslaughter as opposed to cold-blooded murder.

In El’s case, that question has been in her mind for a while: Whether she’s the monster or not. She’s had that fear since season 1 when she opened the Gate, and it resurfaces in season 4 after her experiences in Lenora and her confrontation with Angela.*

*(On a personal note, I will go to my grave insisting Angela got exactly what she deserved and should be grateful El didn’t take it further, especially after Angela was such a sadistic brat and a vile human being).

Even though the movie is the obvious reference here, I couldn’t help but think of Mary Shelly’s book and how it applies to Stranger Things as well. I remember reading Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus in high school, and finding it much more interesting and complex than the Universal Pictures movie. While Boris Karloff’s version of the Monster will always be iconic, I’ll admit I found the Monster more frightening in the book: Instead of slow and lumbering, the Monster has super speed and strength. Instead of being a dumb brute, the Monster is dangerously intelligent. Instead of communicating in grunts and screams, the Monster can speak clearly and understands language. He can also read, and gets through the entirety of John Milton’s Paradise Lost at one point (even comparing himself to the fallen angel, Lucifer, when he’s attempting to paint himself as tragic to Dr. Frankenstein).

The biggest kicker though: Instead of killing in self-defense or on accident, the monster from the book is a lot more malicious, and purposefully murders despite understanding how morally wrong that is. Granted, there are factors that drove him to that point, from being abandoned by his creator, Victor Frankenstein (who comes off deeply unsympathetic for his refusal to take responsibility for his creation, as well as keeping everyone else in the dark about the Monster while it kills innocent people), to being rejected by humans for its hideous appearance, to having its actions in saving a girl from the river being interpreted as him intending harm to her and getting shot at by the girl’s father as a result (contrast that with how the movie played the scene between the Monster and the girl). At the same time, it makes it harder to sympathize with the Monster the way one might be able to with the movie’s version. The characters in the books are messy and flawed, and the point of the book isn’t just about exploring the themes regarding what makes someone evil, but also about the process of creation and the responsibility that comes with it.

I see the book’s version of the Monster mirroring aspects of Henry/One/Vecna, and even El to a certain degree. Despite everything he does later in the book, deep down, the Monster craved acceptance and wanted to spend life with another sentient creature like itself. It’s why he bonds with the blind old man at the cottage (before his family drives the Monster away), and it’s why he later insists that Dr. Frankenstein make him a female companion. Likewise, Henry in The First Shadow, even while the Mind Flayer works to corrupt him, desires those same things as well, which leads to his relationship with Patty Newby as she’s one of the only people in Hawkins who can understand him (and visa versa). Unfortunately, that isn’t enough to cancel out Henry’s worst qualities, and with all the negative circumstances in his life (including Brenner’s manipulations), he eventually succumbs to the darkness within him. By the same token, El looks for the same acceptance, not just with her friends and family, but from the world. Just like the Monster though, she’s been hunted and ostracized, and whether that will eventually cease remains to be seen. In spite of lashing out at Angela (which, given how deeply cruel and evil Angela was towards her, El's actions weren't completely devoid of understandable context), El does comprehend morality, and doesn’t get any sadistic pleasure in hurting others, not even in anger the same way Vecna and Billy do.

In the case of this season, El is trapped in the middle. She has found some kind of acceptance from Hopper, but their relationship isn’t perfect (and will be tested in later episodes), and it still doesn’t cancel out that she’s currently being hunted and has no clue where her life is going from here, or if her circumstances are ever going to change. When things aren’t okay and continue to remain the same for an extended period of time, it’s going to inevitably cause problems. El is already beginning to make her frustrations known about her situation (and how she feels powerless to change it despite having powers that, from her perspective, should allow her to) and it’s going to force her to question if this life is what she really wants, or if she’d be better off in the world looking after herself.

Part 3: Billy (and his slight parallels with Vecna)

There are two ways I intend to cover Billy’s character in these reviews: From a practical standpoint (i.e. his character’s contribution to the mytharc, his parallels with certain characters, etc), and from a personal perspective.

While I still hate that moment in the car between Billy and Max (for obvious reasons I’ll cover in a minute), it’s interesting rewatching this scene again having seen The First Shadow. The conversation in the car heavily implied that, despite his attempts to pass blame onto Max, Billy had done something which caused the family to move to Hawkins. Runaway Max reveals what this was: During her time in San Diego, Max had a best friend named Nate she used to hang out with. Billy at this point had already scared off Max’s other friends (Eddie and Ben) to isolate her, but Nate was still with her at the time. One day, when they were constructing a bike ramp, Billy showed up, and proceeded to be an asshole to them.  When Nate told him to leave them alone, Billy proceeded to intentionally break Nate’s arm. It was serious enough the paramedics had to be called, and Billy intimidated Max into keeping silent about what happened. Nate lied to the paramedics on Max's behalf, but in the process, it permanently wrecked his relationship with Max and drove him away.

Unfortunately for Billy, his cruelty worked a little too well. Billy had been out of control for a while now (including setting fire to a dead cat and getting sick pleasure from doing so), and the incident with Nate was the final straw for Neil and Susan. They decided a fresh start was needed, which is what prompted the move to Hawkins. Billy, of course, viciously blames Max for all of this, because God forbid he actually takes any responsibility for his behavior 🙄.  

The First Shadow did something similar with Henry/One/Vecna: The whole reason the Creels moved from Rachel, Nevada to Hawkins, Indiana, was because of an incident between Henry and another child that left said child in a wheelchair. We never find out the particulars surrounding this incident, or whether Henry intentionally attacked the kid or if it was an accident (as Henry didn’t have complete control of his powers at that time). The theme, however, remains the same: Family moves for a “fresh start,” which is really about the fact they have a problematic kid who is acting out and making life difficult for everyone, and the only thing the move does is build up resentment in said kid while the problems in the family go unaddressed. The differences are that Billy’s father was the abuser (both physically and emotionally) whereas Henry’s mother took on that role in being emotionally abusive to him. And while Henry still had some semblance of humanity and a consciousness left when he moved to Hawkins, Billy has long since abandoned that and we are seeing him at his absolute worst here.

There’s also how both of them are deeply angry individuals lashing out at the world. The big difference is that, while Billy’s anger is hot and more overt, Henry’s anger is colder and more contained. In a way, it makes Henry/One/Vecna a lot scarier than Billy. There are people like Billy who think exploding at everyone will frighten them into compliance, but there comes a point where it’s just predictable as it is repetitive, which causes his bursts of rage to lose their impact. Vecna’s rage, on the other hand, is anger that has been weaponized in such a way that he almost appears calm on the surface, like he’s in control and not showing the lack of restraint Billy does. Given he’s spent 20 years as Brenner's prisoner, he’s had plenty of time to learn that kind of self-control. In some ways, I’m reminded of The Red Queen and Queen of Hearts (two characters who are often mistaken as the same despite their different personalities) from the Alice in Wonderland Novels, and how Lewis Carroll described them: “I pictured to myself the Queen of Hearts as a sort of embodiment of ungovernable passion – a blind and aimless Fury. The Red Queen I pictured as a Fury, but of another type; her passion must be cold and calm.” The Queen of Hearts is a character I’ve always found to be childish, petulant, and using her rage to bully people into going along with her agenda. The only reason she was dangerous is because she was in a position of power to order your head chopped off if you displeased her. Otherwise, she had as much brains as the Mad Hatter, and would fall to pieces the same way Trump would if his power and money were taken away from him. The Red Queen on the other hand was a lot more unnerving because of how her “cold and calm” attitude made her unpredictable, intelligent, and cunning. She is someone you didn’t want to cross.

Moving past the practical and onto the personal, I make no secret that I despise Billy. Putting aside how deeply nasty, hateful, cruel, and repulsive he is (all within that car scene with Max no less), I can testify that I have dealt with people in the past who’ve behaved like this, which factors heavily into how negatively I view his character. I have been on the receiving end of people who’ve used their rage to annihilate anyone in their way, to say nothing about these people constantly project their issues onto others. This isn’t exclusive to Billy either: When I get to season 4, I’m going to have a field day covering Angela.

The result, after having put up with this kind of bullshit for most of my life, is me being firm in certain convictions: I don’t like bullies. I don’t like abusers. And I have zero patience for people who make excuses for either of those groups.

There are plenty of personal stories from my childhood and my time at church (which is one of many reasons I quit and will not go back), but there was an unpleasant experience I had a few months ago that not only came to mind when I was watching Billy’s exchange with Max in the car, but also was something that re-awoke a bunch of trauma that had been dormant for a while now.

Long story short: I got targeted by a malicious user on here (who has since had their account nuked by @/staff) that had taken reblogs and posts of mine out-of-context in a deliberate bad-faith attempt to make it seem like I was saying something I wasn’t. There were other people as well that this creep was targeting, and they later created a List that resulted in certain users getting harassed. @stillhidden can verify this, but when I found out about what they were doing, I privately messaged several mutuals who had been following me to warn them about what was going on so they could block this asshole, including those mutuals that had been targeted by this individual. I should mention (and @stillhidden can verify this as well) that I’ve done this before in other cases, but only with mutuals I've followed and who follow me since there's an established relationship there. Usually, these people let me know they block the person after I give them the info, and that’s that. I don’t pursue it any further, and I don't make a public spectacle about it either. If any of these mutuals had messaged me to let me know they didn't want these warnings, I would have stopped immediately. With one of the mutuals who’d been following me since last year (we’ll refer to them as X), they had gotten targeted as well, and I messaged them about it. My intention was to warn them so they could block this person. Nothing else. Apparently, there was a rule with them I was unaware of (which they had never told me about either) where X had asked people not to do that. So after I privately messaged them via DM, they blew up at me the same way Billy did with Max in the car, acting like I should have known about that rule in the first place, and accused me of purposefully exposing them to negativity. It was ugly and hostile, and left me feeling bad about what happened. I apologized to X, and later donated money to their Ko-Fi after they put out a post claiming they needed money for bills to smooth things over. They seemed to appreciate it, but also continued to act like I had committed some perceived slight against them, which was off-putting. They also didn’t give a damn I was still being targeted by the person I was trying to warn them about. No skin off their teeth, as far as they were concerned.

Two days afterwards, I blocked X (for reasons I'm not going to get into besides this incident), and haven’t spoken to them since. I don’t wish any ill on them, but at the same time, I want nothing to do with them. People will probably patronize me about how I should have handled this better, or that I just should not have said anything at all, and in hindsight, I wish I’d never interacted with this person. They could have just told me “Please don’t message me about this stuff” without being vicious about it, and I would have complied. It has resulted in me being a lot more restrictive about who I privately message now because I don’t ever want a repeat of that situation again. The whole incident brought back a wave of trauma regarding people projecting their issues onto me during my life, or making bad-faith assumptions about me, or accusing me of being “negative” or “argumentative” or whatever, all while they hypocritically proceeded to be as vicious as they pleased.

I even talked about one of these individuals in my Rebel Robin review: u/Daze_Confuse. He was a former Reddit user and a real piece-of-work who got his kicks out of baiting people, constantly put others down in mean-spirited ways (and then claimed it was a joke if the moderators got involved), and was a deeply nasty person who hypocritically pretended to be against bullying 😒. To say I was happy when his account got permanently suspended (which is a rarity on Reddit these days) is an understatement. He embodied Billy’s sadistic cruelty and refusal to take responsibility to a tee.

In fact, that’s what really gets under my skin about Billy’s treatment of Max and his attempts to run Mike, Dustin, and Lucas off the road: Putting aside how vile of a joke that is (especially if one of those boys had fallen off at the wrong moment and either cracked their skulls, broken their necks, or else got run over by Billy’s car), it’s the sheer entitlement on his part to behave like this that’s repulsive. It’s the same type of entitlement Angela would demonstrate in season 4 when she was bullying El. These are individuals who act like they have some kind of privilege to project their issues onto people without giving a shit about the trauma they’re inflicting. Not only do they know perfectly well that what they’re doing is cruel, they also know it's wrong and just don’t care because they they have convinced themselves that their behavior is justified. How am I supposed to empathize with that?

What’s grotesque is seeing fans who unironically defend Billy’s behavior here, from victim-blaming Max to downplaying the severity of what he tried to do to Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. I get there’s a lack of maturity in this fandom (particularly with people who stan for Billy because he’s hot and see him as a character that they can project themselves onto), but damn I really wish people would grow the hell up already.

By the way, for those wondering what was going through Max’s head during this scene, it was horrifying from her perspective:

I don’t give a rat’s ass how many fans want to claim “LOL Billy was just joking, stop taking it seriously.” If Max was scared enough to the point she had to intervene with the wheel because of what Billy was doing…………that is damning in regards to how it reflects on Billy. A theme readers are about to find out real fast with these reviews is I’m not mincing my words about Billy’s abusive behavior, or my lack of patience for the stupid abuse apologies fans have made for his character in the past (or are continuing to make in the present).

Part 4: The Adults (Hopper, Joyce, Bob)

Hopper and El’s dynamic I will analyze more in the later reviews, but out of all the people El could have been taken in by, it makes sense it would be Hopper. Not just because he was previously a father and has some experience raising a kid (barring Joyce), but because he is the LAST PERSON anyone would suspect of harboring El at this point. He’s the one who gave up El’s location to Brenner in exchange for rescuing Will (which almost resulted in El’s capture by Brenner’s men), he’s a part of law enforcement (meaning he has a better grasp of all the backdoors and loopholes around government surveillance), he has a lot to lose if he was ever caught aiding El (which includes how other people, especially Joyce, were reliant on him to keep the uneasy peace between the town and the Lab), and he had the whole arrangement with Hawkins Lab and government agents over how they’d proceed keeping the Upside Down out of the public eye. I’m sure they probably bugged Hopper’s trailer again the same way they bugged Mike’s House (and presumably Will, Dustin, and Lucas’s houses), but it doesn’t matter since he’s barely there anymore, to say nothing about how his reputation as a drunken, drug-addict means people likely assume he’s out on a bender somewhere when he can’t be found at the trailer. And he’s smart enough to use Morse Code instead of a traditional telephone. It’s the perfect cover.

I liked seeing Hopper try to reassure Joyce over Will’s picture of the Mind Flayer and explain why he’d lie about it (because Will doesn’t want his mom to keep fretting over him), as well as how they’re all experiencing trauma and can’t go back to the way things were. In hindsight though, Joyce had the right idea that these weren’t just “episodes,” but were actually real on Will’s part. She has the same intuition Mike does about knowing something’s going on with Will, with the big difference being Will is better able to open up to Mike for the reasons I've previously laid out. Should Will have been honest with Joyce about the Mind Flayer picture? Sure. However, I get why he lied, and in the grand scheme of things, I don’t know if telling her would have stopped Will from being possessed in the next episode.

Hearing Hopper allude to his time in Vietnam and how men he knew came back with PTSD from that war makes me realize that, aside from Hopper’s talk with Dmitri/Enzo in season 4, the show has never explored what Hopper’s experiences were like in Vietnam. The closest we get is in the tie-in novel Darkness on the Edge of Town where he describes it as “ancient history” and “like part of some other person’s life.” He doesn’t consider it a personal trauma, but there’s the implication that he’s desensitized himself to the horrors of what happened over there. If anything, the trauma and PTSD Hopper exhibits (besides his encounter with the Upside Down and Hawkins Lab) has more to do with Sara’s death (as we see when he keeps having flashbacks in the season 1 finale while looking for Will in the Upside Down). Even when he’s talking with Dmitri/Enzo about mixing “Agent Orange,” it’s almost in a detached manner. It isn’t until he mentions Sara and how his exposure to chemicals led to her developing cancer that Hopper become emotional. We know Sara will be coming back in season 5 (either in a flashback, a vision, or a hallucination), but I’m curious if the show intends to explore more about Hopper’s past in Vietnam. The BTS photos for season 5 allude to the idea that a war is about to break out in Hawkins between the military and the Upside Down, and that aspect of Hopper's character could become relevant to that conflict in some way.

David Harbour in Beyond Stranger Things pointed out similarities between Joyce and Hopper’s dynamic and the one shared between the characters of Jake Gittes and Evelyn Cross-Mulwray (played by Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway) in Chinatown. The film’s even referred to in this episode by Callahan when Eugene shows up to the police station to complain about his dead crops/pumpkins and how the rot (which he believes is sabotage from Merrill) hit all the farm areas the night before (Jack O’Dell, Pete Freeling, Rick Neary the Christensens, etc). I can see parallels between the couples, with Hopper and Jake being men of their times (Jake being a 1930s hard-boiled detective with politically incorrect attributes vs Hopper embodying the hyper-masculine 1980s cowboy cop) forced into investigating something that first appears inconsequential (Hopper initially looking into what appears to be a case of rotting pumpkins vs Jake being hired to investigate a possible case of spousal cheating) only for that case to be the tip of the iceberg into a massive conspiracy (The Mind Flayer’s planned invasion of Hawkins via the tunnels vs Jake uncovering how irrigation water during a drought in Los Angeles is being dumped into the ocean, causing farm crops to die and forcing farmers off their land so it can be bought cheap and the villain can then build a reservoir to profit from all of it). On top of that, both men are in a relationship with a traumatized woman (Joyce from the disappearance of her son and the events of last year vs Evelyn from the rape and abuse she’s suffered under her father) who works with them to uncover the conspiracy and put a stop to it. The difference is while Hopper and Joyce succeed (at least for this season) ……………..let’s just say there’s a reason the phrase “Forget it Jake. It’s Chinatown” became an infamous quote from that movie.

I get that Chinatown won’t appeal to many newcomers (not helped by the fact it’s directed by Roman Polanski), but I will say that the film sadly feels relevant given the current political climate, and its themes of how corrupt rich people can get away with their crimes because the social system enables them to do so.

In any case, even though Joyce is currently in a relationship with Bob, it’s pretty obvious Hopper still has feelings for her, with that attraction being there in The First Shadow as well. I still liked Bob and Joyce’s relationship, however brief it was, but I guess it was a given the show always pushed for Hopper and Joyce as early as season 1. I did appreciate how the story of them sharing cigarettes between fifth and sixth period in high school got brought back for the season finale when they’re smoking outside the Snow Ball.

Speaking of Bob, his scene of dancing with Joyce and suggesting they move out of Hawkins together was bittersweet in hindsight. Not just because of Bob’s death, but because when Joyce finally did move at the end of season 3, it was after she had lost both Bob and Hopper (or so she thought with Hopper at the time) and was shown to be just as stressed and overworked in Lenora as she was here. Like I’ve been saying with Henry/One/Vecna, Billy, Max, and El, moving to a new location doesn’t mean your old problems automatically go away. There will always be places like Hawkins in the world (Lenora being one such example) with its unpleasantries and nasty people to accompany that.

In any case, I would have liked to meet Bob’s parents in Maine, especially given the events of The First Shadow and Patty Newby’s role in the play. Who knows? Assuming the Duffer Brothers plan to incorporate story elements from the play into season 5, we may still meet them. At the very least, we’ll get to see their reaction to what happened to their son and adopted daughter if they do.

Part 5: Teen Halloween

You know that phrase Lucy utters from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown? “A person should always choose a costume, which is in direct contrast to their own personality.” That phrase kept repeating in my head while watching this episode.

There are certain characters who go with that philosophy: Bob dressing as blood-sucking Dracula despite not being a leech to Joyce the way Lonnie was. Carol and Nicole dressing up as Alex Owens from Flashdance and Ariel Moore from Footloose, despite sharing NOTHING in common with the characters from those movies (Alex and Ariel had flaws, but were decent people compared to how nasty and unpleasant Carol and Nicole are). Nancy dressing up as Lana, Joel Goodsen's love interest from the movie Risky Business, despite having long fallen out of love with Steve and barely having anything to do with his story following the next episode. Max dressing up as Michael Myers for Halloween despite having a heart under her outwardly indifferent persona. Even her reasons for picking Myers (as detailed in Runaway Max) have a whole layer to them:

“I’d picked Michael Myers for Halloween because he had no weaknesses. He never moved fast, but he still caught up to you every time. He was impossibly strong – you couldn’t overpower him and you couldn’t outrun him. He was unstoppable.” (41) “Michael Myers was the kind of monster I was most afraid of because he was real.” (41)

There is the scariness of Max's abusive situation with Billy and Neil combined with her desire not to feel week or vulnerable. She has no desire to take on the pure evil qualities Myers has, but she does want that invulnerable feeling of not being afraid anymore the way Myers appears detached from all emotions and almost everything around him.

On the opposite side, we have teens dressed as other movie characters with personal similarities to themselves. In this case, the boys went with the Ghostbusters crew to great effect. Putting aside how the Ghostbusters deal with supernatural phenomenon and end-of-the-world scenarios (Gozer) the same way the boys deal with the threat of the Upside Down (The Mind Flayer), the characters from that movie that they choose are spot on. Ironically, Finn Wolfhard (Mike) would later go to star in the sequels Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

I know there’s the argument between Lucas and Mike over who’s Venkman, but I think the show leaned towards the idea of Lucas being more like Winston in how pragmatic and loyal both of them are to their respective friends. It’s even confirmed in Beyond Stranger Things that Lucas’s line about Judgment Day in the episode “The Mind Flayer” was referencing Winston’s line from the first movie. In any case, my unpopular opinion is I like Winston better than Venkman, but that's just me.

Tommy is dressed as Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid, which………is accurate. Both of them are hot-headed bullies. In Tommy’s case though, he knows his behavior is vile (without the same Freudian Excuse Johnny would later be given in Cobra Kai), and he just doesn’t give a crap. And while Johnny has some kind of standards from the movie (even genuinely congratulating Daniel when he won the tournament), the same can’t be said for Tommy. He has dropped Steve quicker than a hot-potato and is lining up to kiss Billy’s ass. Putting aside how blatantly obvious it is that Tommy's made zero effort to try to reconcile with Steve (which showcases just how shallow and one-sided his entire relationship with Steve was), it’s honestly pathetic he’s still vying for Steve’s attention despite pretending not to care.

Speaking of Steve, he is dressed Joel Goodsen from Risky Business. I’ve talked a little before about this movie in previous reviews, but this season is where the parallels between Joel and Steve really take off: Both characters are put into a position of having to take responsibility once things go wrong in their lives. In Joel’s case, it’s being forced to make money quickly to pay for repairs to his parents car (and later buy back all the furniture from Lana’s pimp, Guido) after the shenanigans Joel and Lana engage in cause problems and nearly wreck Joel’s future. In Steve’s case, it’s being forced to come to terms with the fact Nancy has moved on from him, but also forming a new friendship with Dustin while becoming the Party’s protector in the process. There are shenanigans involved with Steve’s attempts to be the older brother/babysitter, but they’re more rooted in selflessness compared to Joel’s self-centered motivations, which helps elevate Steve’s character.

It's funny how fans seem to fixate on that scene with Steve and Billy pictured above because I always found that eyeroll-inducing. Contrary to the fanon interpretation of some great rivalry between Billy and Steve for King of Hawkins High School, this always came off as one-sided projection on Billy’s part which Steve couldn’t have cared less about at that point. I never took the look he gives Billy in the picture above to mean “Bring it on” so much as “Go project your issues onto someone else, dude.” It’s even reflected in how Steve behaves at the party: He’s trying to watch over Nancy as she’s quickly growing intoxicated, and unsuccessfully tries to get her to slow down on the drinking. He doesn’t give a shit about Billy being the new “Keg King.”

Steve and Nancy’s scenes in this episode were difficult to get through. I’ve said before that Barbara’s death hangs like a black cloud over their relationship, and this episode emphasizes that hard: The voice-over with Barbara and the last thing Nancy ever said to her, and Nancy blaming both herself and Steve for Barbara’s death (albeit when she’s drunk). There’s an ugly sense that the guilt Nancy feels has warped into resentment towards herself and Steve, and now she views that moment of sex between them as something abominable, like it never should have happened. She probably feels the same way about her entire relationship with Steve at this point.

I said in the previous review that I get where both Steve and Nancy are coming from in regards to Barbara, and that is true: Nancy is right that there needed to be closure, not just for herself, but for Barbara's parents. And regardless of whether Brenner and his cronies were gone from Hawkins Lab, that place was still complicit in Barbara’s death and faking her disappearance, and never got held accountable for it. I don’t know what would have happened if Nancy, Jonathan, and Murray had not put together the story to expose the Lab once the Gate was closed, but places like that were already reeking with corruption and secrets. Even if Dr. Owens appeared to be in charge, that didn’t mean there weren’t others there (especially Owens superiors) with their own agendas, or that the Lab wouldn’t have restarted its illegal experiments if it was deemed to be in the interest of U.S. security.

At the same time though, Steve’s concerns weren’t invalid. There are so many ways exposing the truth to Barbara’s parents could have gone horribly wrong, and it’s a miracle that it didn’t for Nancy and Jonathan. I’m sure at this point Steve’s been filled in on everything that's happened, including the circumstances around Benny’s death, which adds another layer of his fear towards the Government. Forget about putting them in jail, or destroying their families lives: What happens if they go for the extreme option of killing them and faking it to look like a suicide? That’s also including the paranoia he feels about being watched (as evident when he goes for the blinds while talking with Nancy in the Library).

I think Nancy was hoping Steve would swallow his fear and take a leap of faith with her in this regard. You can see the look of hurt and disappointment on her face when he didn’t (excellent job to Natalia Dyer for conveying that in her performance), and instead insisted on going to the Halloween Party to pretend everything was normal:

I know there are fans who call it cowardice on Steve’s part. I see it more as she’s in a different place than he is right now in his character development. We know Steve isn’t a coward (as we saw in the season 1 finale), but he also isn’t in a place of wanting to take on that load of responsibility and all that it entails. This isn’t something Nancy can force him to do either. He has to want that by his own choice.

This is a big reason why I was glad when Steve and Nancy broke up, no matter how bitter it was. It’s also why I maintain having Steve partner up with Dustin was the smartest thing the Duffer Brothers ever did. Not only did it allow for much needed growth for Steve in being responsible for other people, but it also proved he could have that character development without it being exclusively tied to Nancy, or hinging on whether Steve ever got back together with Nancy. For all the complaining I see about how “It isn’t the female character’s responsibility to act as the wind beneath the wings of the male character,” people seem to overlook how Steve’s story this season subverted that trope. Even though Steve doesn’t get back together with Nancy, he still chooses to be a better person and NOT because he thinks it’ll win him the girl either.

On a final note in relation to Steve, Joe Keery gave a great performance in this episode. That scene where his voice breaks in the restroom with Nancy, and it finally hits him like a ton of bricks that Nancy doesn’t love him, is heartbreaking. You can hear his voice crack when he utters the line “Like we’re in love?” and damn does it hit hard.

Up until this point, Steve assumed the problems they were having had to do with Barbara’s death. Now it’s finally dawning on him that Nancy either has fallen out of love, or never loved him when they tried to restart their relationship. Her heart already belongs to Jonathan.

Speaking of Jonathan, they do a lot of call-backs to his character from season 1 in this episode: Jonathan making breakfast while Joyce is worried about where Will is. Acting like the fun other brother to Will and allowing him to go Trick-or-Treating without supervision. Working with a camera (with a little help from Bob). Showing up to a party (which he was invited to this time) with the implication that despite appearing aloof, he wants to have the same fun as everyone else is having. Observing Nancy from a distance, with his attraction to her being pretty obvious to the audience. And ultimately being the one to take Nancy home (though Jonathan claims to Nancy in the next episode it was at Steve’s insistence) and making sure she gets to bed safely. It’s like history repeating itself for Jonathan, except with slightly different beats this time. It’s almost like the universe saying “Hey, here’s a second chance for a relationship with the girl you love. Take it.”

I mentioned in my review of “The Flea and the Acrobat” that a flaw I see in Jonathan’s character is his tendency to project his issues onto people, and that shows up a little with how he complains about Bob to Will in the car. I get that Lonnie did a number on him, Joyce, and Will, to the point that he has trust issues, but I wish he had given Bob a chance the same way Joyce and Will did. This isn’t like Bob wasn’t trying to bond with Jonathan (like when he’s showing Jonathan how to work the video camera), or that Bob belittled his interests the same way Lonnie did. I don’t know if the show ever gives an exact time for how long Joyce and Bob had been dating at this point, but I’d have to assume it was for a significant enough period that the Byers were acquainted with him and had to have realized that Bob was nothing like Lonnie. It’s especially sad since, after the next episode, Jonathan goes off with Nancy on their quest to take down Hawkins Lab, meaning there wouldn’t be any more opportunities for Bob and Jonathan to get to know one another after this. While the show emphasizes the impact Bob’s death had on Joyce, and the comic Tomb of Ybwen does the same for Will, we never get to explore whether Bob’s death had any impact on Jonathan. It comes off as a missed opportunity.

Part 6: Miscellaneous

Ordinarily, I’m not a fan of love triangles because of all the contrived and petty bullshit that surrounds them, but this one between Dustin, Max, and Lucas was endearing. It’s painfully obvious to Max (but also amusing to her at the same time) that Dustin and Lucas have never talked to girls before, and in any other conversation, their attempts at appealing to Max would have just been weird and off-putting. Instead, she's charmed, and it helps they’re earnest in wanting Max to be a part of their group, which is something Max appreciates.

I will talk more about Mike’s attitude towards Max in the next episode, but while I don’t agree with it, I do think there is context behind his behavior that shouldn’t be dismissed like it has been in the past. For what it’s worth, I find it telling that even though he has a problem with Max Trick-or-Treating with them, he never cites Billy nearly running them off the road with his car earlier (while Max was with him) as a reason for why she shouldn’t be with them. He’s unhappy about what's going on, but he isn’t petty enough to try and stop Lucas, Dustin, and Max from doing what they're doing right now.

I did enjoy the characters trying out different accents. El mimicking "People are going to be aghast" from watching TV (you can hear Millie Bobby Brown's British accent slip through a little during that scene), and Dustin and Lucas attempts to imitate a surfer when they're saying "totally tubular."

Last, but not least, there’s Dustin finding D’Art in the trash can. Technically, D’Art was already there in the first episode, but I consider this his official introduction. This is a story I remember enjoying when I first saw the show, and I’m excited to cover it in my reviews.

Part 7: Conclusion - Song Choices

“Monster Mash” by Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett and “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. are pretty self-explanatory for why they were chosen. The former fits in with the theme of Halloween, and the latter ties to the Ghostbusters costumes the boys wear.

One Halloween song that they included in the trailer for season 2, but not in the season itself, was Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” That’s always been one of my Top 5 favorite Halloween songs, and I was disappointed when it didn’t make an appearance in this episode.

Next song is “Wango Tango” by Ted Nugent, which plays when Billy picks up Max and later starts verbally abusing her in the car while they’re speeding down the road.

I am not putting up a link to this song because I’m not interested in giving it any coverage beyond talking about its relevance to this scene. I get how the lyrics tie into how sleazy and shitty of a person Billy is (especially in regards to his views on girls, whom he compares to cows in this episode), as well as emphasizing how Billy’s the embodiment of toxic masculinity, but damn it doesn't make this song any more pleasant to listen to. I hate this song. I hate the beat. I hate the lyrics. I hate the music. I hate the fact Ted Nugent (who’s a racist, anti-Ukrainian, antisemitic, avid Trump supporter, who may have also committed statutory rape if his song “Jailbait” is anything to go on) likely got royalties from this. One of the lines from this song is literally “Yeah, you look so good, baby, I'm startin to drool all over myself.” 😒 Do I really need to explain this? Or how it applies to Billy? I’m usually accepting of the Duffer Brothers song choices, but this one has me side-eyeing them hard.

Next song is “Blackout” by Swing Set.

This plays when Jonathan is driving Will to go Trick-or-Treating with his friends. Just like “Hazy Shade of Winter” and “Nocturnal Me,” there’s an eerie and haunting quality to the song, which describes a blackout (which could either interpreted both literally or figuratively) and the theme of needing someone to hold onto in the darkness. (“And you're lonely tonight. And you need someone, someone to hold on. Living in darkness, looking for light (Oh). And there's nothing left, nothing's in sight.”) The song applies literally to Will later when he has his vision in the Upside Down, experiencing a kind of “blackout,” with Mike being the one who pulls him out of it and Will holding onto him. One could argue the same happens for Nancy when she blacks out from intoxication, and Jonathan is the one who takes her home and puts her to bed (with Nancy even calling his name).

Next song is Motley Crue’s “Shout at the Devil,” which can be heard at the Halloween Party during the Keg drinking contest.

This song has an interesting history of people associating it with Satanism, and it doesn’t help that Motley Crue’s band members were on their worst behavior during the time they released this album. To say the song and the band were controversial is an understatement.

In any case, the song fits with the theme of how out-of-control and animalistic Billy is, and it calls back to something Max says about Billy in Runaway Max: “Billy liked chaos better.”

The last song featured at the Halloween Party (but not the last for this episode) is “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran, when Jonathan arrives at the party, and has his conversation with Samantha (who’s dressed as a band member from KISS).

Am I the only one who sees this song as a precursor to Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi”? Both songs deal with dehumanization that comes with celebrity status and public spectacle. Duran Duran admitted that “Girls on Film” was meant to explore “the dark side of glitz and glamour” with Sunsent Boulevard being cited as an inspiration for the song. Likewise, “Paparazzi” explores that theme of understanding the toxicity associated with fame and glamour (represented by the titular paparazzi) yet still craving it and wanting to make it your own.

In the case of this song, while no one is filming at the Halloween Party (at least not from what we’re seeing), we do see a public spectacle with Nancy getting drunk and the fight she has with Steve. Given the way the rumor mill works in Hawkins, I’m dead sure people at the party will take the fight out-of-context to dehumanize Nancy or Steve or both of them. They've already established how shallow people are in that town.

Finally, to end on a slightly more positive note, the last song is “Islands in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. This plays when Bob and Joyce dance together on Halloween.

The lyrics provide a sense of comfort during this scene (“You do something to me that I can't explain. Hold me closer and I feel no pain. Every beat of my heart. We got something going on.”)  Even Bob’s suggestion to move to Maine with Joyce conveys the sense that even if they did move, it would be okay because they have each other (“Sail away with me to another world. And we rely on each other, From one lover to another.”). It's harsher in hindsight, knowing what’s going to happen to Bob, but it does convey the hope that Joyce is able to love again after her previous marriage, and that one day things will work out for her.

To finish the review, here is the Party dressed for Halloween:

[sassenach77yle]

||COUNTDOWN ||SEASON 2 EPISODE 04 || LA DAME BLANCHE ||

#83daysofoutlander☆

"It's… difficult to explain. It's… it's like… I think it's as though everyone has a small place inside themselves, maybe, a private bit that they keep to themselves. It's like a little fortress, where the most private part of you lives—maybe it's your soul, maybe just that bit that makes you yourself and not anyone else." His tongue probed his swollen lip unconsciously as he thought."You don't show that bit of yourself to anyone, usually, unless sometimes to someone that ye love greatly." The hand relaxed, curling around my knee. Jamie's eyes were closed again, lids sealed against the light."Now, it's like… like my own fortress has been blown up with gunpowder—there's nothing left of it but ashes and a smoking rooftree, and the little naked thing that lived there once is out in the open, squeaking and whimpering in tear tryin' to hide itself under a blade of grass or a bit o' leaf, but… but not… makin' m-much of a job of it." His voice broke, and he turned his head so that his face was hidden in my skirt. Helpless, I could do nothing but stroke his hair.He suddenly raised his head, face strained as though it would break apart along the seams of the bones. "I've been close to death a few times, Claire, but I've never really wanted to die. This time I did."

Cap 36 ~outlander /ep 2x04 La dame blanche

[the-bi-library]

Happy February! Here are bisexual books out in February!

Books listed:

An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson Mewing by Chloe Spencer Hannah Tate, Beyond Repair by Laura Piper Lee The Friendship Study by Ruby Barrett You Had Me at Merlot by Melissa Brayden Sunbringer (Fallen Gods, #2) by Hannah Kaner Signals Volume 2 by Nika (can be read online on Tapas too) A Vicious Game (The Halfling Saga, #3) by Melissa Blair Breaks Volume 1 by Emma Vieceli, Malin Rydén Mortgage of Convenience by Dani McLean Letters to Her Love by Katherine Grant Projections by S.E. Porter Truthfully, Yours by Caden Armstrong Rupture in Total Eclipse (Sun & Moon Duet Book 2) by Sem Thornwood It's Ours to Write by Blanche Maze The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett Big Date Energy by Bethany Rutter Tune Me Up (Bisexual Sing Team Book 3) by Renée Dahlia Snowed In With Summer by Tiana Warner Witch Boyfriend Wanted by Colette Rivera The Girl, the Ring, & the Baseball Bat by Camille Gomera-Tavarez King Cheer (Arden High) by Molly Horton Booth, Stephanie Kate Strohm, Jamie Green Prove It by Stephanie Hoyt Falling For You by Mariah Ankenman Disciples of Chaos (Seven Faceless Saints, #2) by M.K. Lobb Wine Ghost Goes to Hell by Sage Coffey In Plain Sight: A Summit Springs Novel by Siobhan Muir Who We Are in Real Life by Victoria Koops Fathomfolk (Drowned World, #1) by Eliza Chan The Absinthe Underground by Jamie Pacton

Please me know if I missed any books 💖

[pupsmailbox]

ALICE IN WONDERLAND ID PACK

NAMES︰ adelaide. alice. alycia. alyx. angel. arla. aspen. azalea. blanche. blanchesse. blanchette. bunny. cat. charlie. cherie. cheshire. chester. chérie. claire. clover. daisy. darcy. elsie. frenesi. frenesie. hart. hatter. hattie. hyacinth. indiana. indigo. insanita. iris. jack. jackie. jamie. kelly. kingsley. kitten. knight. lacey. lacie. lewis. lily. lucia. lucio. maddy. madeleine. madeline. matilda. merry. mikey. misty. nicky. night. noire. noiresse. noirette. oddity. opal. petunia. queenie. robin. robynn. rockie. rook. rose. rouge. rougesse. rougette. salem. simon. sparrow. tangerine. terry. tiffany. tillie. vanessa. verity. violet. void. wisp. wybie.

PRONOUNS︰ ae/aem. ae/aer. alice/alice. biz/bizarre. blue/blue. bow/bow. bu/bunny. bun/bun. bunny/bunny. butterfly/butterfly. ca/card. ca/cat. candy/candy. card/card. cat/cat. cater/caterpillar. caterpillar/caterpillar. che/cher. cheshire/cat. cheshire/cheshire. claw/claw. clo/clock. cloth/cloth. clover/clover. club/club. creature/creature. creep/creep. cro/croquet. cro/crown. crown/crowned. cry/tear. cu/cute. curious/curious. cute/cute. dark/dark. deck/deck. diam/diamond. diamond/diamond. door/mouse. dream/dream. eer/eerie. fab/fabric. fall/fall. fea/fear. fear/fear. fla/flamingo. float/float. flower/flower. fool/fool. freak/freak. gri/grin. grim/grim. grow/grow. guard/guard. hae/hatter. hat/hat. hat/hatter. hatter/hatter. haze/haze. heart/heart. heart/queen. hou/house. hx/hxm. hy/hym. h♡/h♡m. h♢/h♢m. h♤/h♤m. h♧/h♧m. insa/nity. jam/jam. king/king. kni/knight. knight/knight. lace/lace. late/late. lo/lock. lo/lost. lost/lost. ma/mad. mad/hatter. mad/mad. meow/meow. mir/mirror. mou/mouse. mush/mushroom. non/nonse/nonsense. odd/odd. pi/pink. po/potion. pocket/watch. puff/puff. pur/purple. purr/purr. queen/queen. rab/rabbit. rabbit/rabbit. red/red. red/rose. rhy/rhyme. rid/riddle. rook/rook. shrink/shrink. shx/hxr. shy/hyr. sh♡/h♡r. sh♢/h♢r. sh♤/h♤r. sh♧/h♧r. sil/silly. smi/smile. smir/smirk. smo/smoke. smoke/smoke. soldier/soldier. spade/spade. spear/spear. stra/strange. stri/stripe. sugar/sugar. suit/suit. surreal/surreal. swirl/swirl. sword/sword. tea/cup. tea/pot. tea/tea. tea/teacup. tea/time. teacup/teacup. tee/teeth. thxy/thxm. thy/thom. th♡y/th♡m. th♢y/th♢m. th♤y/th♤m. th♧y/th♧m. ti/tick. tick/tock. time/time. twee/tweedledee. twee/tweedledum. twi/twin. twist/twisted. van/vanish. violet/violet. wa/watch. we/weird. weird/weird. whimsi/whimsical. white/rabbit. white/rose. white/white. won/wonder. wonder/land. ⌚️. ⏱. ⏱️. ☕️. ♠. ♠️. ♣️. ♥. ♥️. ♦. ♦️. ⚔️. 🃏. 🌀. 🌫. 🌹. 🍪. 🍬. 🍰. 🎀. 🎩. 🏠. 🏡. 🏺. 🐇. 🐛. 🐭. 🐰. 🐱. 👑. 👥. 💨. 🕙. 🕰. 🕰️. 🗡. 🗯️. 🦋. 🦩. 🧁.

[insanityclause]

A confectioner’s deluge of pink ticker-tape, drifts slowly from high above Drury Lane’s stage, as disco tracks and rumbustious tomfoolery play-out below. It is undoubtedly what Shakespeare himself would have wanted and after a couple of less-than-loved-Lloyds, wonder boy director Jamie is back in his groove, wowing the masses with his accessible versions of the classics. Here, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING succumbs with minimal resistance to his magical makeover.

The delightfully camp rendering of one of the wittiest comedies in the canon, benefits from the supremely confident and well matched pairing of Hayley Atwell as Beatrice and Tom Hiddleston as Benedick the constantly sparring wit-merchants who eventually conclude that they love nothing so much as… each other. It takes a number of other characters to help them realise this truth during the course of the play, and their burgeoning romance burns slowly as a direct counterpoint to the explosive desire exhibited between the more youthful Claudio (James Phoon) and Hero (Mara Huf) who can’t keep their hands off each other. With the blessing of nobleman Don Pedro (Gerald Kyd) the youngsters are soon betrothed but fall victim to Pedro’s miserable and malevolent bastard half-brother Don John (Tim Steed) who hatches a plan to cause discord and disruption as a means to vent his malcontent’s spleen.

There are a few discernible tweaks and omissions in this production which with minimal impact ensure a tighter overall flow and snappy running time. The staging by Soutra Gilmour once again aims at the minimal and amounts to a few chairs and the occasional table with a couple of set piece effects to impress — notably a gargantuan pink heart balloon and the aforementioned ticker-tape drift which ends-up a foot deep, lending itself to the physical playfulness of the famous gulling scene in which Benedick overhears his friends discussing Beatrice’s love for him (one of several ruses in the piece). Hiddleston has an absolute ball in this moment, extracting every ounce of ridiculousness from his need to be close enough to hear, but remain unseen. He is also given carte blanche to wink, point and generally play up to his adoring fans who love every second of his knowing and inclusive performance. The revelation for me however, was Atwell’s Beatrice, whose command and ownership of her feistiness, determination and intelligence was spellbinding to observe - particularly in the later scenes where with indignation and a furious compassion she compels Benedick to act in defence of the ruined Hero, who has been sacrificed as a victim to men’s double standards.

Other cast members appearing in this production, include: Forbes Masson (Leonato), Phillip Olagoke (Friar Francis), Mason Alexander Park (Margaret) and Mika Onyx Johnson (Borachio).

With the star casting, (even cardboard cut-outs of their Marvel characters are deployed at one point to great comic effect), the show was always destined to be a sell-out. Thankfully the team have created such a wholeheartedly joyous production, that it will assuredly lay the ghost of the recent disappointing Tempest to rest. Whatever has Jamie Lloyd got up his sleeve for Evita, which is up next? I for one, cannot wait to see.

Plays at Theatre Royal Drury Lane until 5th April.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[sgiandubh]

Lights, camera, shit show

I was just cleaning my OL folders (all those Chinese paintings and scrolls do take a horrendous amount of space, heh) and I just stumbled upon something I completely forgot to share and discuss with you. I found this particular article during my solitaire lurking months and I remember being befuddled by it for a long time, then thought I've lost it for good.

I don't remember ever seeing it shared or discussed in here, either and if, by any slim chance, I am wrong, kindly forgive me. That professional website is now closed, but its content is still available to browse:

Anyway, there goes: https://www.studiodaily.com/2018/06/outlander-dp-stephen-mcnutt-asc-csc-saucy-scottish-show/

We discussed Terry Dresbach and her inebriated rants, Vanessa Woman's devastating impact on set as Intimacy Coordinator, RDM's jealousy and many other aspects of life on the OL set. Rumors likely to have originated there peppered our shipping trail like flickering lights in a sea of darkness. So yes, we dissected these things to death. But not Stephen McNutt's interview to Studio Daily, on June 22, 2018 - please keep in mind the date, it is essential!

Stephen McNutt is a well-established professional and a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and the Canadian Society of Cinematographers (CSC), as he hails from British Columbia. He also has a consistent track record of previous work with RDM, both on Battlestar Galactica and Caprica (its prequel). Therefore, one has to immediately suppose he was handpicked and brought on set by the same RDM, of course: set a very low bar on your expectations, I am warning you.

By the grace of RDM, he was one of the main Directors of Photography for OL during Seasons Two and Three. IMDb is not the best source for corroborating things, because they credit him with 13 episodes in Season Two (including La Dame Blanche- he is the Blue Room guy!), but only one for Season Three (First Wife), which is completely wrong. I even had to check some opening credits on Netflix (at reduced speed, ugh), because he speaks at length of A. Malcolm, something that would have made little sense otherwise. He was there, of course: and his is a first-hand account, heavily loaded with both innuendo and TPTB bullshit, up to the point of complete incoherence.

We focus on the three final questions:

This is a study in bullshitology, right here. The question asked is very clear and very technical: how did you approach those famous love scenes?

The answer is a mumble jumble of retcon, deflections, slips and overall impossible scramble for a logical explanation. I am doing a line by line, because this is almost too good to be true:

'(...) But as far as Cat and Sammy making love (...)' : um, hello and excuse me, I thought the question was about Jamie and Claire?!? And then we are delusional and can't fucking separate, when your own henchman, the Director of Photography no less, seems to be totally unable to do so, too? Hello? Also: 'Sammy'? 'Sammy'? What. The. Total. Fuck, and I LOLed then and I am still LOLing now. Terms of endearment overheard on set - but no, here comes the 'friendship' shite, hitting the narrative fan with Mach 5 speed. Objective? Explaining in a plausible way the hugging and 'keeping warm'. And I am sorry, but this begs the question: what the hell did this man see on that set? And how many people did see the same, hence the need to release such a gratuitous lie, for pure retconning purposes?

'They are not an item at all - I think she just got married'. Oh, fuck my life, man: you are such a terrible, terrible liar! Remember, that interview was taken in June 2018: after the OZ EFH and just about when C. was gleefully answering 'oh, God forbid!' every time she was prompted by press about her marriage plans. How can somebody with a pretty high trophic level and personal rapport to both S and C be totally unaware about C's marital status at the time? How can a long time acquaintance and coworker of RDM say no both to a friend and to a current boss (same person, the worst case scenario) asking for a favor, in that particular context? It also goes to prove that the shit show plot mainlines never originated with S and C and that the Remarkable Week-end was already planned for quite some time. By TPTB. With the full knowledge of RDM.

Let's suppose Mr. McNutt was so deeply engrossed in his work as not to notice all the people who must have congratulated C on set. I mean, I know who our (spinster) colleague from Accounting is currently banging and that guy is (mercifully) not among our staff (I totally wish them well, btw). Maybe because nobody congratulated C on that fakegagement? Also, you know them well enough to confidently say 'they are not an item', but don't know she was not married at the time and state an enormity with the same confidence? What in the name of the hoo-ha did I just read, here?

'I was always in such amazement of that.' In amazement of exactly what, Mr. McNutt? Surely not a woman holding hands or keeping warm with her gay co-star on set, huh? I mean, I need the best American English dictionary, here:

Again: what the heck did this man see? What comments did he hear? Surely, 'amazement' is a very precise choice of wording, with particularly enlightening synonyms:

Hence the need to end the demonstration with a deflection: 'They would just have fun.' You know, there is no such thing as a virgin whore, Mr. McNutt: you either are in such astonishment or you think your pals, good old S and C, such a funny girl, were having, well... 'fun', what else? You can't logically have both in the same paragraph!

And there we go: 'a very collegial atmosphere on set'. The answer is pure fool's gold, if you ask me: 'Nobody goes to sit in a trailer or says they aren’t showing up that day. '

And I laughed. And I laughed. And I laughed. I really don't know what this man is talking about. I never heard McTavish telling S to get out of that trailer ('nephew'). I never read the 'two very loved-up birdies' in a trailer a-rockin' Anons. I never watched that 2015 Anglophile SDCC interview, when S mentioned listening in their shared trailer to Erasure's Oh, l'Amour and C immediately reacted ('oh, did you just admit to that?'). But unlike me, McNutt must have been legally bound by a big cojones Non-Disclosure Agreement and morally bound by loyalty towards RDM, his friend, boss and benefactor.

This. All of the above. This is the real reason for all the bullshit you've just read: explaining a real, shocking love story by socially progressive regulations, allowing the cast to be 'much more happy'. I would laugh some more, if this was not sinister and cruel, in fact.

It is Love. A deep, strong one. But the seeds of the adverse narrative were planted early and deep, forcing even decent people like this guy to lie and smear himself a bit in the process. What we see and hear now are but better worded and more refined consequences of that fateful January 2016 morning in LA. And since I am allowed the dubious luxury only a healthy distance in time allows, let me remind you a simple, fun fact about this interview who stated they were never an item:

About ten months after McNutt uttered these words, the fandom was hit by the Covfefe Pics.

I rest my case.

[anteroom-of-death]

After the Party

Synopsis: Malcolm and his wife are attending some book event. For now.

A/n: I am a writer. Occasionally. I'm sorry for being shite with the uploads. Love you all. Warnings for mild cum eating and Ollie's general existence. Hahaha.

You fanned yourself discreetly. The heaters were at full-blast inside the cramped room. You could feel the lining of the skirt you wore starting to cling to you. It was starting to squall outside. You had half a mind to go outside and stand in it.

It would be a relief.

Your husband was off, still clutching a handful of files necessary for his job. Dazzling and scaring the masses of government people from multiple parties. And the press. Followed by his dark shadow, Jamie. Whom you quite liked, but at the moment was the bane of your existence since he tried to coup the faith of your husband out of fear of change.

You didn’t understand why you had to come to this party. It was some nutter’s book launch.

A few spouses had also come but they were put off by you for the crime of loving the scariest man in the room. His reputation preceded him too much. Also, your “noticeable” age difference made people fear the worst sometimes.

You would have thought other scandals would have turned their heads by now!

The Reeder boy approached you. He was possibly hell-bent on ruining every time you saw him.

You clutched your glass of Coke tighter.

“Did your father let you out of the house finally?” Reeder mocked, pointing to Malcolm. The irony was he was younger than you.

You blamed jealousy. He obviously got off on whatever Judas or Brutus fantasies he clearly had coming to fruition slowly. He probably loved masturbating to the image of him getting fucked by your husband on top of a print-out of party manifesto or whatever.

You inhaled and breathed out slowly, “Papa let’s me out twice a year for good behavior!” You mocked his slick, posh accent, as you discreetly tried fixing the strap of your bra under the turtleneck you wore.

Malcolm eventually saw you blanching and scowling as Reeder tried to target you more.

“Ah, noticed your glass was getting’ low, pet. Take mine…” He addressed you and swapped glasses with you. Quickly his tone changed, “You! Fuck nut, get your girl a fresh drink. Be useful! For fuck’s sake!” He said as he shoved the boy away from you. Hopefully towards the Tory girl he was apparently trying to honeypot and failing to do so…

You sipped the orange juice quietly and squeaked out a thank you.

“He likes you.” Malcolm hypothesized as he whipped out his phone and checked it. He sent a quick text and shoved it. You noticed Jamie pat his pocket and check it. He looked over at the pair of you.

He slung an arm around you and kissed your forehead.

“I need to use the restroom.” You confessed. “Can you walk me? I don’t want to deal with anyone looking at me like they did last time I got lost.” You stone-faced ground your jaw.

It was fairly easy to get lost in this place.

“Sure.” He shook his head, walking over to Jamie and whispering something in his ear before rejoining you and opening the door for you.

The hallway was empty. Thank goodness.

You exhaled as if you had been holding your breath for the entire time you’d been at the party.

He looked good. Too good. It was always such a sin for him to look like this on this lighting and in the stupid suits his job demanded him to wear.

You left him in the hall and went to the restroom. When you left the stall, he was in there with you.

“This is the ladies…” You rolled your eyes.

“Did you have to wear that?” He gestured to your simple turtleneck and faux leather skirt get-up. Not particularly sexy, the skirt was even floor length!

“I’ve been hard since you fucking got here.” He approached you, as if to illustrate the point. He fingers the fabric of your belt holding the outfit together. “I want to fuck you here.” He pressed you against the sink’s countertop.

He was right, he was hard. It was pressing against both of your abdomens.

His hand found it’s way to the hollow of your throat as he pressed you into a position where you had no choice but to sit on the edge of the counter now. He kissed your cheek and traced his tongue down the line of your jaw.

“What if someone catches us?” You reasoned, despite every fiber of your body wailing to let him take you then and there.

“Oh, let them. They’ll never speak again!” He laughed. His work persona leaking out. The soft sweet house-husband you knew was dead in these lands. Malcolm was dead, long live Tucker.

This is who he was outside the bubble of your home and what little personal lives you both had. Just a small facet of who he was.

You were quickly falling under his spell and were seeing how quickly you could at least slide your tights down and at least slide your panties to the side for this when you had the realization that you might, personally, be embarrassed if someone, especially one of those judgmental bitches that also married into this life walked in.

You pushed him off as he was just getting his cock out.

“Save it ‘til we get home? Please.” You batted your lashes. “I don’t want caught.” You reasoned.

He pulled back and sighed, “Fine. You’re in for it when we get home!” He smeared his face with his hands as if to manually compose himself into something recognizable. He somehow had gotten his belt undone in the brief time that this attack on your face had taken place.

You twisted your tongue and rolled your eyes as you fixed it.

Somehow you felt like this was just the beginning of a very long night. Longer than it already was.

Your social battery was already dead and gone, so this provided you an opportunity to go home anyways.

You washed your hands and exited, him following you like a bat out of hell. Back into that room…

He went back to talking. Seemed like he was making a graceful and acceptable exit from it.

He joined you as he gave you your coat.

The Reeder boy approached, “Awe, is it past curfew?” He shot you a look that seemed both in mocking and envy.

You balled up your fist and went to strike the annoying boy. A strong, familiar hand caught your wrist as you could see Reeder begin to flinch. You could feel your face twist from scowling and rage-filled to annoyed and put out.

“No, not now.” Malcolm ordered you.

“I’ll fucking deal with you on fucking Monday, walking syphilis.” He shoved Ollie into the corner a tad. “Don’t ever hit my wife again.” He spun the event around.

Oliver Reeder, hitting Malcolm Tucker’s wife would keep this gossip mills busy for a while.

You knew that much about your husband’s job. It was simple enough.

As you made your way through the halls and towards the exit, Jamie appeared, as if his leash was yanked by Malcolm’s invisible hand.

“Tell people that Ollie tried to strike (y/n).” Malcolm barked order at him. “He may have also hit on her and groped her. Your choice.”

"Aye, that's me, boss. Nae fuckin' worries. I'll make sure they all know what a sick wee fucker he is... Ta!” He slugged his beer, grasped so oddly in one hand and started whipping put his phone and texting.

You ripped off and chewed your right index fingernail.

The cold air felt wonderful on your sweating form. Too bad that it was shortly interrupted by the called car and driver pulling up. You could have stood there with the flakes hitting your face from that moment until the end of eternity…

Soon enough, you were home.

The minute the key unlocked the deadbolt, he pounced on the back of your neck, rough kisses with the faintest hint of stubble grazing down the back of exposed neck as teeth made purchase with the hollow of nape of your neck.

“You’re such a fucking tease.” He purred as he shoved you through your front door and shoved you into the entrance and parting your legs with his. “Making me wait while my balls are aching. Took me all not to pin you the fuck down and fuck you in the middle of that room.”

He groped your breast roughly through both turtleneck and bra.

So this is what everyone else got? This sharp, crude and dangerous man? You’d never been given of an inch of roughness by the man. He’d be soft and gentle from the first moment your eyes had met.

You flushed deeply and felt your clit throb and a familiar ache wracked through your core. You moaned and felt your body relax against the wall as he unbuckled his pants and bunched up your skirt, tearing aside your tights and underwear as he slid you down the wall. He steadied the two of you with one of his hands on both of yours. He shoved your butt up with his free hand and slid his cock in your increasingly-wet cunt.

“Christ, you feel so fuckin’ great. You’re so tight. Aren’t you? My tight little missus.” He went on as he gripped your hip with one hand and started pounding you frantically.

The words did something to you.

You felt your spine sink as you went rigid elsewhere.

“No, this won’t do.” You heard him mutter after what felt like several minutes. He went over to the sofa, dragging you along by your wrist, held only in his fingers. He clumsily sat as he slung you over his lap.

“Sit on my lap. Be a good girl.” He pulled your hips over and you onto his cock.

He began to bounce you as he pet your hair, his jaw locked as he pushed himself further into you with every bounce. You felt yourself start to grind down with every thrust.

“Such a fucking slut for me. Show me how you want my cock, angel.” His praise had you swooning over backwards as you felt your head roll back and moan.

He kept bucking his hips forward and up as you moaned more. You felt a guiding hand keep you on his cock and your walls get tighter.

“Oh, fuck.” He groaned as he shot his load into your aching, well-towards-an-orgasm pussy.

You complained, “No! Don’t pull out!” As he slipped himself out of you and let out a huffy little puff of air.

“Of course. You’re such a good girl for me.” His eyes had a strange glint in them. Debauched. That was the only way you could describe it. He was definitely debauched.

He pulled you down to the ground and tilted a pillow from the couch down and propped your hips up on it.

One of those deft, long fingers reached and stroked your lips and went down, wiping up the leaking cum from your hole, digging in slightly.

He brought the finger to your lips and parted them, cleaning it off with the wetness of your mouth.

He went down and dug out a tad more and repeated the process…

“Now, look at what you’ve done, pet.” He cooed. “Look what a mess you’ve made!” Tucker fading and Malcolm taking his place.

He kissed your lips with a feathery smile.

You would have passed out right then and there…

He slid his way to between your legs, where your cunt was fully on display. You couldn’t see but you could feel him breathing down your thighs as he licked and sucked on your raw, throbbing clit.

He steadied himself by pressing and pulling your thighs apart more.

You felt his teeth bite you roughly. Right at the top of your inner thigh, right where you were most sensitive and your flesh had rolled down into and you bucked your hips further. His face shoved directly into you. The slight stubble striking across the new marks as you felt his nose swipe into your hollows.

You groaned as you felt him commit to going down on you. Seemed like he was intent on cleaning up your mess. You failed upwards as you tried to find his hair to play with as he continued to suck and bite and nibble you to a pathetic moan.

“Please, please.” You felt yourself babble out.

You felt girlish and stupefied.

He stroked your folds and tutted. You groaned a tad more, slipping further from reality.

“If you insist, little one.” You could feel his smile from your vantage-less point.

He continued on until you came.

“Don’t wear that outfit again. I cannae focus. I may have leaked more than pre-cum.” He joked.

You nodded from your dumbfounded spot on the floor he had you in.

You still felt a little full of what remained of his load and like you has fully lost the plot here…

He joined you on the floor, yanking more pillows down and propping up both of your heads. He curled you into his chest and kissed your forehead. Both of you still partially still dressed in your clothes of your roles outside of this safe bubble you had; in that moment you couldn’t feel further from Mrs. Tucker. Just his (y/n).

His phone started buzzing off the hook. You swore you saw him switch it off, for the first time ever.

He pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa.

The snow squall outside raged on.

And you felt very safe and warm.