#Kent Twins Every Episode

[kent-farm]

Bro, you have to chill. This is why your powers come up at random times. You need to try and relax and breathe and just let go.

—Jon to Jordan, Superman and Lois, "Complications"

[megamindsupremacy]

Clark Pines AU random headcanons

-sometimes Stan and Ford pull the "switch clothes and talk differently to see if anyone can tell the difference" trick to mess with the twins, and they fall for it a solid 35% of the time, but Clark never falls for it because he can hear their hearts and Ford's heart is FUCKED UP due to the gazillion volts of electricity he got during weirdmageddon

-Clark almost didn't go to college to stay and work at the Shack and maybe convince his dad to finally let him help with the portal, but Stan recognized Clark was smart af and didn't want Clark to be held back for his sake. And then Stan had twenty crises in a row when it came time for Clark to actually Go To College

-Clark has to wear (reading) glasses but he doesn't like the feel of them so he usually just carries them around and wears them as infrequently as possible. And then his entire secret identity becomes "put on glasses" so he has to wear them all the time and he's REALLY MAD about it

-Clark was originally going to college for some sort of mechanics/engineering degree, but once he left Gravity Falls, he realized just how weird his hometown is. Like, he was theoretically aware, but the guy lived there his whole life. He left a few times to visit the twins and their parents or for miscellaneous other reasons but he never really lived outside of Gravity Falls for any amount of time. So it kinda hits him how different The Real World (for lack of a better term) is, and he decides to switch to communications/journalism major instead. Also, he was not very good at engineering.

-The Mystery Twins are approximately the same age as Robin!Dick so they become pretty good friends over the years. Mabel has a gigantic insane crush on Dick and Dick has a tiny baby crush on Dipper and everybody is oblivious about everything except for Bruce and Clark, who have to silently suffer together about the situation until everyone gets over it.

-Dipper gets really into magic and spells and stuff as he gets older so he becomes Clark's go-to "there's weird shit happening and it's not the genre I usually deal with" person. It isn't his life's work like with Constantine or Zatanna, so he isn't a JLDark member or anything, but he definitely Knows Some Shit.

-I'm cooking something along the lines of "Mabel becomes the youngest congresswoman ever at age 18" simply because I think it would be funny and because nobody ever acknowledges how that one frozen president technically made Mabel a congresswoman in that one episode.

-You know how Jon Kent is named that after Clark's Canon Dad Jonathan Kent? Clark tries to name his kid "Stan" after his dad and uncle and both Stanley and Stanford are like don't you FUCKING dare, we have enough Stans in this family, please give your son a better name dear god

-When the Young Justice team (yj98, NOT yjtv) forms, there's a running bit where they keep fucking running into either Mabel or Dipper on every other mission, except none of them know they're Superman's cousins so they think these two weirdos are trying to do Evil Stuff when in fact they're just living their lives, and these lives happen to be absolutely insane enough to keep crossing over with teenage superhero shenanigans.

[cwdumptruck]

If Jon finally getting powers is the cake then all the OC-stans crying about how it's "cheap, lazy writing" and threatening to boycott the show is the icing on top. They're acting like Jonathan straight up stole Jordan's powers when they literally both have powers now. Pretty sure 99% of Jon fans are only thinking about Super-twins teaming up against Lex. Literally no one is talking about Jon replacing Jordan and every single of them are jumping to that conclusion.

Of course these people are calling Jon selfish for focusing on his powers instead of helping Jordan. First, Jonathan "everyone else's feelings matter except mine" Kent has the right to be excited for himself for the first time in four f--king years! Second, he tried to reach out to Jordan multiple times in the episode. Jordan turns him down every time so he can keep moping. There is a limit to what Jon can do under the circumstances.

Jordan takes a backseat for one episode and y'all acting like he was depowered and about to be killed off. Dramatic much? It's called an arc. Characters have to torn down before they can be built back up. Jon fans know that better than most. So either watch it to the end or drop the show but in the meantime, stop whining.

[swift-creates]

title: Protecting the Wrong Person

category: Gen

fandom: Batfamily

characters and relationships: Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Diana Prince

warnings: some violence, swearing, descriptions of injury, blood, accidentally hurting someone

Summary:

@ailesswhumptober Day 17: Abandonment, misunderstanding, “Why did I even think you cared?”

Clark stumbles across Batman confronting the Red Hood and intervenes, but (especially with the Bats) things are never as they seem.

notes: one of the first fics I wrote for this month! I really like this one tbh

Diana flew beside him as they quickly zeroed in on Bruce’s position, the docks at Gotham Harbor. “Try not to sneak up on them,” she’d said as they set off from the zeta tube. As if Clark needed reminding. The last time he had accidentally startled Bruce, he’d ended up with a Kryptonite batarang stuck in his palm. But Diana didn’t seem too worried about it, and neither was Clark; today was a peaceful day, and all they wanted to do was pick Bruce up early for a Watchtower briefing (and if they were accused of intending to sneak an episode of the Gray Ghost on the Watchtower surveillance screens before the meeting, they would surely deny it). 

“Nearly there,” Clark said to her now. They were approaching the harbor, and he could see Batman and Nightwing facing down Red Hood. He tensed when he realised the rogue was armed, gesturing casually with twin pistols as he spoke, but their heartbeats were steady. They had it under control. Diana and Clark would not intervene unless it was absolutely necessary. He reined his senses back in to keep from eavesdropping — Bruce was always going on about privacy, despite the fact that he was always keeping tabs on everyone. 

Batman said something, and Hood replied. Nightwing chimed in before gesturing to Hood, probably admonishing him for being so nonchalant with the pistols. His heart jumped into his throat as the criminal visibly scoffed and gestured even more pointedly at both of them, leveling one at each vigilante. 

The gun was pointing straight at Bruce’s face. Hood’s finger shifted on the trigger, and Clark saw red. 

~

Bruce watched fondly as Dick and Jason bickered over who had really taken out the last henchman. 

“It’s my bullet.”

“And it would never have hit him without me kicking that panel into place.” 

“All you can take credit for is the rebound. I shot it!” 

Bruce resisted the urge to reach out and indulgently pat Jason on the shoulder (or even more embarrassing, ruffle his hair). “Nightwing, Hood. Good work.” Dick looked content enough with that, but Jason rolled his eyes perceptibly. 

“It was good until Big Bird tried to take credit for my moves.” He jabbed one pistol at Dick, and Bruce tried to imagine him pouting under his mask. 

“Little Wing, put those things away, you’re gonna shoot someone,” Dick said admonishingly. 

Jason scoffed. “Please. As annoying as you are, I think I can not accidentally put a bullet in either of you. Comes from, y’know, having years of experience handling firearms and some fucking common sense.” He pointed the other at Bruce. “See? Not dead.” 

Bruce opened his mouth to chide him, but couldn’t. 

One second Jason was standing in front of them, then there was a flash of blue and red.

And then he heard Jason scream.

His body was moving before his brain knew he was, every instinct pulling him to pull his son away from the attacker. It took him a second longer than he liked to recognise who it was rearing back for another blow, and every bit of his panic and anger and shock snapped into his voice as he shouted. 

“SUPERMAN.”

He froze at his name, and Bruce looked to Dick, but his eldest had already made it to Clark, wrapping his arms around familiar broad shoulders and yanking harshly back. If it had been just about anyone else, the super would have refused to budge, Bruce knew. But it was Dick, and he was close enough to see Clark’s eyes widen as he went down willingly. 

Dick had always adored, borderline idolised Clark, trusted him with his life and the lives of his team and everyone else counting on them to save the world. But now Dick — cheery, gentle Dick — was snarling and pressing a Kryptonite dagger to Superman’s throat. “Get away from him.” He obviously had it handled (wait, where the hell did he get-? Nope, never mind, not now), so Bruce moved to Jason and felt the mask of his expression crack. 

He was lying in the ruins of what used to be a brick wall, helmet cracked, one leg bending at an unnatural angle, the jagged edge of a bloody bone poking out of his side, and he was screaming. His baby boy, his son, who could take bullets without flinching and stitch himself up with barely a sound, was screaming in pain. 

Bruce dropped to his knees beside Jason and reached for his helmet, pressing his thumb to the button that disabled the electric safeguards and pulling it off to cradle his son’s face. “Jason. Jay, can you hear me?” 

“Nnh- B-Bruce?” 

“Shhh. I’ve got you. You’ll be okay.” 

Distantly, he heard Diana land behind him and pull Dick and Clark apart. “Kal-El, what have you done?” she whispered. Clark made no reply. 

Blood bubbled from the side of Jason’s mouth as he let out a plaintive whimper, and Bruce stroked his hair soothingly before tearing himself away and rounding on his best friend. 

“You made this mess. You’ll fix it,” he growled, jabbing one finger into the symbol on his chest. “Take him to the Watchtower.”

Clark winced, probably at the look on Bruce’s face rather than the jab. “Bruce, I,” was all he said before Diana slipped past him to look Bruce in the eye. 

“He’ll react better to me, and you know it.”

“…Fine.” She frowned, but didn’t reprimand him and went to gingerly pick Jason up. 

Jason gave a strangled cry of pain, and Bruce was at his side in an instant. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Just breathe for me.” He felt something in his chest constrict at the sight of Jason struggling to regulate his breathing. Brushing bits of rubble from his hair, Bruce leaned over to press a soft kiss to his forehead. “That’s it, Jaylad. You’re doing great.” He stepped back to let them go, shooting Clark one last glare. 

Dick watched them from a nearby crate with eyes narrowed like a panther’s, smoothly returning the dagger to his belt and falling into step behind Bruce as Diana and Clark lifted off and he headed to the Batmobile. “I know he didn’t mean to,” he muttered, the first words he’d said since pinning his role model to the wall with a lethal weapon, “but he did.” Bruce agreed, pausing to squeeze his shoulder briefly. If he spoke, he was going to start yelling and never stop. 

They got into the Batmobile and headed to the Gotham zeta tube. He would start yelling, but not at Dick. And the faster they got to the Watchtower, the better. He didn’t want Jason to wake up alone. 

[ploppythespaceship]

Superman & Lois (Season 4) - Thoughts & Review

Well. It is hard to say goodbye to this show. Genuinely, I have not been this attached to something in years. So here is my final review for the show's final season.

Which, I am sorry to say, was an incredibly mixed bag for me. As usual with this show, there were many excellent ideas marred by some terrible pacing... but also just some silly ideas that never quite came to fruition. But enough of the season works that it's a fairly solid ending, and it solidifies that this is the best onscreen version of Clark Kent there's ever been.

Full spoilers under the cut.

What I Liked

Clark's death in the first episode hits hard. It's brutal, and shockingly dark. It sets the stakes for a much more intense season than anything that's come before.

The performances are stellar, especially from the core cast of Kents. Each of them gets at least one scene to really show their stuff, and it's excellent.

Sam's sacrifice to bring Clark back is perfect. 10/10, no notes. It's a fantastic ending to his character, and probably gives him the single most satisfying and cohesive arc across the entire show.

I also just like Clark coming back to life with a human heart, and being weaker as a result. His resurrection has tangible consequences, and affects him forever going forward, so it doesn't feel cheap. It also ties in nicely with Lois' cancer arc from last season.

Frankly, Clark just has such a good overall arc this season that it makes me more willing to overlook some of the show's other glaring flaws. He has to adjust to being weaker. He has to learn to let his sons help him, and stop trying to overprotect them. He has to let go of his secret identity when he realizes it's doing more harm than good. Truly, genuinely, the best live-action Clark, and it is not even close for me anymore.

Jordan also has a great character arc this season. His failure to bring Clark back finally leads him to accept that he isn't truly ready to be a hero, and he willingly gives up his suit for a while. But it all comes back full circle when he helps the scared woman in the diner -- not for the attention or the glory, but because he empathizes with her. Knowing how much it took for him to reach that point makes it so damn satisfying.

Kyle and Clark develop a weirdly cute friendship this season that I kinda wanted to see more of.

Episode 7 is this season's standout -- "A Regular Guy," when Clark makes the decision to drop his secret identity. I thought they might take the season this direction, and was worried about it, and I have never been happier to be proven so wrong. The decision is incredibly well-motivated, built up to naturally, and has long-lasting consequences. It's a really, really solid direction to take this last season.

The Clark and Lex street brawl in Episode 6 was also a damn good scene, even if the setup was contrived as hell.

I love the finale revealing that Clark has switched his focus away from physically saving people from danger and more to using his voice to address systemic problems in the world. That is such a good direction for his character.

What I'm Mixed On

The finale did one of my TV show pet peeves -- explaining every last detail of the characters' lives, instead of leaving things to the imagination. Like, do we have to see the twins' wives? And all 9000 of their children? Really?

What I Didn't Like

The pacing for this season is abysmal, by far the worst of any season. Clark comes back so fast that his death ultimately holds no real weight -- there's no time for the characters to truly mourn him. The twins training to help Clark fight is all crammed in the last few episodes, when it should have begun way sooner. The episode with Lex's daughter goes nowhere and is just a waste of an hour that could've been better spent on something else. The reduced episode count is definitely a factor here, but I still think the writers could have restructured things to better fit into the runtime that they had.

The lack of supporting cast is noticeable and frankly distracting. Having everyone besides the Kents be on a revolving door feels odd. Important characters are just missing for some really major scenes -- John Henry isn't there to help track down Doomsday, Lana isn't there to react to Clark's return or to him revealing his identity, Chrissy isn't there for important moments at the Gazette. And while I do appreciate the laser focus on the Kents this season, it comes at the expense of them not having other characters to interact with. Smallville just feels a bit empty without the rest of the cast.

I wish they'd reworked things a bit to include more of the cast in the first few episodes, then gradually write them out more organically. I think if they'd cut the Doomsday fight in Episode 1, which was ultimately unnecessary, they could've had more of the cast around at the start. Then you could say that John Henry and Natalie are gone because they're so busy at the DOD, Lana is gone because of some mayoral duties, Chrissy is gone because her pregnancy is a bit rough, etc.

Candice still sucks. She's been bad since her introduction and hasn't really improved. Her main issue is that she isn't her own character -- she only exists as a plot point to further Jon's arcs. Besides that, she has no real chemistry with Jon, and it's unclear why they even like each other. I really wish they'd cut her altogether.

I'll just say it -- I don't really like this version of Lex. He doesn't feel anything like any version of the character I've ever known, but comic accuracy has never been a sticking point for me. Really, he's just bland and one-note. His desire to destroy Lois eventually doesn't come across as determination or ruthlessness -- it just makes him feel irrational and unstable. He's not particularly intelligent, and most of his plans are actually managed by his underlings. I genuinely think he's the least interesting main villain in the show.

Lex also doesn't have much personal history with Superman. I did like that he had beef with Lois specifically, but after a while, Superman just being a means to an end made their interactions feel sort of hollow.

His plans are also all over the place. I loved the idea of him using the reveal of Clark's identity to discredit her publicly, but that barely went anywhere. He wants to discredit her, and also kill her, and her family, and there's not really a sense of plan or direction. He's just doing things randomly to fuck with her.

I also think recasting the twins in the finale montage was the wrong move -- it's hard to relate to these actors we've never seen, especially when you can't even tell which twin is which. If Tyler and Bitsie can be caked in terrible old age makeup, you can do the same for Alex and Michael. Plus, there was no need to actually see Lois' death. That felt unnecessarily brutal and unpleasant. It could have been kept in voiceover, while showing Clark and the boys at her grave. Clark's death felt peaceful in the end, while Lois' felt like too much.

Lastly... I fundamentally disagree with the decision to give Jon powers. It undermines all of his character arcs up until this point. And if they insisted on doing it, they could have done it in a way that still gave him an interesting character arc -- but instead, he's just diet Jordan now. This one has its own post because it genuinely upset me so much. Jon was my favorite character, and this season basically nuked everything I loved about him.

[deepbutdazzlingdarkness]

I think @kennyomegasweave tagged me in this OTP meme like...months ago? And I just found it half-finished in my drafts and decided to actually get it done.

1. What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don't care anymore? 20s, not my teens, but I used to be utterly obsessed with Jack/Kent from Check Please and now, IDEK what happened. I still love them, but I have old fic I saved and never read and can't bring myself to care anymore. IDK it makes me sad.

2. Which ship would you consider your first one? Hmm probably Betsy/Joe from the Betsy Tacy series or Anne/Gilbert from Anne of Green Gables? My first ships when I actually got into fandom were Sawyer/Kate and Sara/Grissom from CSI.

3. Your first fanfic belonged to which couple? Magnus/Alec!!! I never thought I would write fic and then I watched season 1 of Shadowhunters and banged out (lol) 7 fics and almost 30k of porn in less than 2 months in 2016. They all have an insane number of hits (like. the highest has 54,878 hits and the lowest has 15,836 hits.........) and I still get kudos on them almost every day, it's wild.

4. Do you remember the first couple you saw a fanart over? Genuinely no idea, but the first one in my fan art tag is Katniss/Peeta from 2012 <3

5. Did you ever get into ship discourse? My first instinct whenever I see someone talk about something I don't like is to mute/block, so perhaps not actively, but I'm sure I have at some point.

6. Did you used to have any no-otp or have it currently? LOL. Yes. I still fucking HATE Jack/Kate from Lost and always will. Also Dan/Blair from Gossip Girl. Lately...I'm such a multi-shipper but I gotta say Kate/Anthony from Bridgerton bc I've genuinely had to restrain myself from bitching about how much I hate them SO many times since s3 came out lol.

7. Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read? I finished a rewatch of Beyond Evil last night so I've been rereading some of my old bookmarks bc I've read almost everything that's out there 😔. Shout out to the masterpiece simple & clean by whir.

8. Currently, do you have any OTPs? So many!!! Taemin/Kai is still my #1, but also Juwon/Dongsik from Beyond Evil, PatPran from Bad Buddy (it took me several episodes to actually get into the show but once I did I cried...so much over them and how much they love each other LOL), KunTen from WayV, Louis/Lestat...I feel kinda bad that I don't have a major current f/f OTP but I'm literally checking my kpop tags multiple times a week for rule 63 fic and most of my current WIPs are rule 63 f/f so there's that. (Two KunTen including what hopefully is gonna be a long one, plus a Jigyu I started yesterday for a fest that I'm hoping I'll be able to get done - not because of the length, but because I've never written Seventeen before)

9. Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together? So many??? I feel like I have to say Dean/Cas.......Lee/Kara never really got together so them for sure. Sawyer/Kate from Lost even though I 100% choose to believe they got together post-canon pre-flash-sideways. Oh my god I'm looking through my "forever bitter" tag and it's a lot of Cooper/Audrey from Twin Peaks as I expected, but I forgot about Mini/Franky from Skins. and ABSOLUTELY THEM. Everything about series 5 was terrible but that especially.

10. Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting? IDK I feel like I don't usually change my mind like that. I wouldn't go as far as saying "kind of interesting" but I guess I don't hate Bree/Roger from Outlander AS much on the show as I did in the books lol.

11. Do you have any ship that, in the past, was considered normal but now you would be cancelled over? Hmm...Cesare/Lucrezia maybe? If not them almost definitely Norma/Dylan from Bates Motel LOL.

12. What was your favorite crack ship? I was gonna say I couldn't remember any that truly fit this definition, but then I remembered the Kent Parson/Claude Giroux series #dirtbags and that was great. Actually no my real answer is Syd/Richie from The Bear. Now *I* don't think it's a crackship but they have that vibe.

13. Who is the couple you read more fanfics of? Here's a side by side view of my most bookmarked ships vs the tags I have saved rn on my front page. Unfortunately you can only have 20 but I think it's a pretty good representation. (Other than the ENHA ship, where I legit don't know anything about them or frankly even what they look like, but that tag produces so much incredible unhinged porn that I read canon-blind.)

14. What most of your ships usually have in common? I feel like I have several different ~types, but: friends to lovers, I LOVE bicker-y couples, age gap relationships, especially when one of them is a mentor-ish figure, and power dynamics in general.

15. What do you absolutely hate in a ship? Nice Guy characters, whether they're a guy or a girl. The OG example is Xander (duh) and Chloe from Smallville but you also see it with characters like Sol on My Stand In...there's def more things I hate but that's one of most major ones for me.

[derangedrhythms]

Do you have any quotes on "touch"? I've been thinking about touch and its absence because of the pandemic and would love to read anything on it

"One day without his hands and she thinks how sad it is to love."

— Marguerite Duras, from 'Hiroshima Mon Amour', tr. Richard Seaver

"Don't you sense me, ready to break / into being at your touch?"

— Rainer Maria Rilke, Book of Hours: Love Poems to God; from ‘lch bin, du Ängstlicher. Hörst du mich nicht’, tr. Anita Barrows & Joanna Macy

"Because I never hold you, I hold you fast."

— Rainer Maria Rilke (quoted in ‘A Lover’s Discourse’ by Roland Barthes, tr. Richard Howard)

"…a heart that strikes up a battle rhythm every time you touch me."

— S. T. Gibson, from 'Literary Sexts'

"That night was nothing but getting to know how smooth your body is. The memory of it goes through me like brandy."

— Ted Hughes, Letters of Ted Hughes; from a letter to Sylvia Plath, March 1956

"when we touch / we enter touch entirely"

— Anne Sexton, All My Pretty Ones; from ‘The Truth the Dead Know’

"The weight of his fingers on mine, like a bird landing on a branch. It was the drop of the match. I did not see that we were surrounded by tinder until I felt it burst into flames."

— Hannah Kent, from 'Burial Rites'

"In the heat of her hands I thought, This is the campfire that mocks the sun."

— Jeanette Winterson, from 'Written on the Body'

"...he reaches over and he touches you, like a prayer for which no words exist..."

— Richard Siken, Crush; from 'You Are Jeff'

"His touch both consoles and devastates me…"

— Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories; ‘The Erl-King’

"Shock! It’s as though his soul has touched / me as his arm leans on mine."

— Marina Tsvetaeva, Selected Poems; from ‘Poem of the End’, tr. Elaine Feinstein

"I want to touch you until my palms burn."

— Amirae Garcia, from 'Literary Sexts'

"What are you now? If we could touch one another, / if these our separate entities could come to grips,"

— Muriel Rukeyser, from 'Effort at Speech Between Two People'

"...and then one touch of your hand / and God comes rushing back."

— The Borgias, Season 3; Episode 10

"I shook his hand, and tore my heart in sunder,"

— A. E. Housman, from 'He would not stay for me, and who can wonder'

"They were not holding hands, but their shadows were."

— Toni Morrison, from 'Beloved'

"Oh how it courses all through my veins when by accident my finger touches hers or when our feet touch under the table. I pull back as though from fire and a mysterious force draws me on again—there is a fainting in all my senses."

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, from ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’, tr. David Constantine

"Come back often and take hold of me, / sensation that I love come back and take hold of me— / when the body’s memory awakens / and an old longing again moves into the blood, / when lips and skin remember / and hands feel as though they touch again. / Come back often, take hold of me in the night / when lips and skin remember…"

— C. P. Cavafy, Collected Poems; ‘Come Back’, tr. Edmund Keeley & Philip Sherrard

"I feel you, phantom touch, although you're far"

— Chelsea Wolfe, 'Twin Fawn'

"She stroked my head for a long time, and then we hugged and it felt like drowning."

— Jeanette Winterson, from 'Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit'

"I realize after this touch / he would know me / years from now, even / in the dark, even / without my skin."

— Philip Memmer, from 'The Paleontologist’s Blind Date'

"I had to touch you with my hands, I had to taste you with my tongue: one can’t love and do nothing."

— Graham Greene, from 'The End of the Affair'

[bedbellyandbeyond]

Poking the Bear

(Story Post)

It didn't take long to confirm the wolf's pregnancy once the heat was over. Nathan was still upset with Reid so he didn't engage much with him during the appointment, and simply treated him as a doctor and nothing else. Dax was a bit concerned, but he was sure Nathan would warm up again eventually. The plan before all this had always been to spend as much time as they could up at Kent's cottage so he could see his kids, so that was their next stop. They called ahead and planned to stay about a week to make the travel worth it since going up and down to the city every few days wasn't reasonable. When they got there though, Kent was still a bit surprised. He took the twins first and got comfy with them on his couch before he asked any questions though, and let Dax and Nathan get themselves a couple drinks. “You're supposed to still be in cycle,” Kent pointed out when Nathan finally sat down with a glass of water. “You said you didn't want to be here for that.” Nathan nodded and took Dax's hand when he sat down beside him. “Yes. We’re going to talk about that.”

“You are, are you?” Kent huffed and pet the back of Grace's head as she sprung up little wolf ears and a snout to nuzzle into his arm. “Go on then.” “Well, the reason I didn't want to be here for my wolf cycle was because the wolf was in heat,” Nathan explained. “No kidding.” “Exactly. We didn't want a repeat of what happened last year,” Nathan said. “Two's enough,” Kent said, sliding a hand between his chest and Gabriel's curious nosing about. “Yeah, well…” Nathan started, nervous all of a sudden. “About that…” Dax began, but he also felt like he wanted Nathan to say it. Kent narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “What's wrong with you two? I can smell you sweatin' over here. Spit it out.” Nathan wrung his fingers together. “Kent.” “I'm listenin'.” “So, the thing is…” Nathan tilted his head towards Dax. “We're both expecting.” Kent grimaced. “Expectin’ what?” “Pregnant,” Nathan said. “We're both pregnant.” “What?” Kent growled. “What the fuck do you mean? You're pregnant again?” “We both are,” Dax piped up. “Well not me ‘again' in those words, but…” He pointed to his own and Nathan's stomach. “One and one.” Kent shook his head. “Uh uh. Nope. When we did whatever the fuck that was last time you were here, we didn't do anything worth makin' babies. Neither of you was on my dick. I was sober.” “You know what?” Nathan got up and opened his arms. “The language in here isn't appropriate for these two, so you can hand them over and I'll put them down for a nap so we can continue this adult conversation.” Kent huffed in Nathan's face and just got up to go put them down himself. Nathan waited standing there frustrated until Kent came back and sat down again. Kent slapped his own thighs. “Like I fucking said, I didn't dick down no fella that night. Y'all can't be pregnant.” “You're right that no one got pregnant that night,” Nathan stated. “But Dax and I chose to have a baby, the one I'm carrying. You were not involved in that. You got Dax pregnant the first weekend we came up.” Kent looked at Nathan and then down to Dax still sitting across from him, who just waved sheepishly. “No, I fucking didn't,” Kent stated. “Ah, well, you did,” Dax said. “Made me pretty sore actually…” “Shut up.” Kent growled, sticking a finger in his face. “You're not the one what gets pregnant ‘round here. I'd believe it if it were Nathan who went fuckin' feral on my cock that night.” “Ooh, let's not say it like that,” Nathan said, still standing. “Kids are fuckin’ asleep,” Kent said. “Yeah, I’m just not a fan,” Nathan said. “Maybe you'll be a fan of this.” Kent gave both of them the middle finger. “Fuck this. Whatever you two're on about, you need to get off the drugs.” “Kent, we're being serious here,” Nathan said, opening his hands. “I know this is hard to believe, but the night Dax had his little episode, it was because of a chemical he'd ingested that morning. It gave him the ability to get pregnant and made him behave the way he did.” “Fuckin' drugs,” Kent said shrugging. “I mean, you're right in that case,” Dax admitted. “But I didn't take it knowingly. It was mistaken for protein powder.” “You wouldn't need protein powder if you just ate some fucking meat.” Kent looked at Nathan. “What’s your excuse?” “We didn't know Dax was pregnant but we came to an agreement that we wanted to have another child, just the two of us,” Nathan said. “So, I'm pregnant.” Kent scowled at Dax. “You fucked the wolf?” “I absolutely did not,” Dax said. “Only the wolf can get pregnant.” “You would know. You're the one who fucked the wolf last year,” Dax said. “As a bear!” “That's still fucking weird, buddy.” Kent growled. “It is not! Animals are animals!” “Two very different animals...” “Boys. Calm down,” Nathan said. He sat back down beside Dax and took his hand. “The wolf was fertilised by in vitro fertilisation. Eggs were removed under anaesthesia—” “Drugs,” Kent commented, to prove his point. “Can you let me finish?” Nathan snapped. Kent just shrugged. “You don't make sense. My kid's aren't even a year old and you want to make another one just for you two, meanwhile limp dick's supposedly up the creek with another one of mine?” “In cruder terms, sure,” Dax said. “We already discussed this. It’s just how it worked out. We didn't know Dax was pregnant until after. At the end of the day, it is what it is,” Nathan said. “We're both pregnant and that's what’s going on.” Kent sighed started walking away to the kitchen. “…Wasted my money on two packs of beers for shit all, I guess.” Nathan sighed. “Now that that's over with—” “So, you can come live up here,” Kent stated, turning back to them with a freshly opened drink. Both looked at him. “What?” Kent shrugged and took a long sip of his beer. “If Nathan's knocked up, there's no risks, right? You don't need to be down in that city for the wolf cycles. You can just stay up here.” “First of all, we have jobs,” Nathan said. “Not in the summer,” Kent stated. “And don't lie to me and tell me you're gonna go teach when you’re about one day to burstin'.” Nathan scowled. “Second, our doctors are only in the city. We have to be nearby in case of emergencies.” “That ghost fucker was a doctor, no?” Kent said. “He came up here once. He can figure it out again.” “It's not that simple,” Nathan said. “And Reid's busy. He's not going to be visiting. Third, you act like we like hanging out around you.” “You love me,” Kent stated. “I absolutely do not,” Nathan said. “You love me.” Kent just shrugged again. “Makes no sense travellin' so much. Should just stay here for the summer.” “Oh, really?” Dax said, shook his head. “And you're going to provide for us? With what? Deer meat and berries?” “You’re having my kid,” Kent said. “Bears eat meat. Kid's a bear.” “We don’t know that yet,” Dax said. “Either way, you can get whatever fuckin’ food you want in town. If you’re really so damn poor, I'll fuckin' buy it for you. I don't give a shit.” “With what money?” Nathan asked. “With my money,” Kent said. “You got it, don't you?” They just blinked. “What do you mean?” Nathan asked. “My money,” Kent said, getting up slowly. “You should have it. I left a couple thousand at the cabin when y'all hunted me out.” “The cabin?” Nathan processed it. “The shit hole in the woods?” “Hey. That was my home,” Kent said. “And you're saying you didn’t get the cash?” “What cash?” Nathan asked, shaking his head. “You never said anything about any cash.” “I left you that letter sayin' to go watch my garden,” Kent said. “I figured you'd fucking find it!” “I didn't really go there much,” Nathan said. “Nari watched the garden for me. No one found any money.” “That's bullshit,” Kent said. “Call your Nari person. Get ‘em to give me my money. Fucker's probably pocketed it...” “Nari wouldn't steal your money,” Dax said. “He doesn't need it.” “I don't know this fucking Nari,” Kent said. “Call ‘im up right now.” “I can't, he's in Europe,” Nathan said. “Don't tell me in this fancy new future of yours you can't call other countries,” Kent said. “I just mean he's probably asleep at this time,” Nathan said, not remembering that Nari was very much a night walker. “Call him now.” Dax just showed them his phone and Nari's face on the call screen with speakerphone on. “Give it a moment to connect.” After a couple dial tones, an annoyed voice picked up. “…Dax?” “Nari! Hey! Nathan has a question for you,” Dax said. “Do you have a minute?” “Sure…” Nathan sighed. “Hey, Nari. Remember when you used to watch Kent’s garden for me?” “Yes.” “Did you ever go inside the cabin?” “Sometimes. If the sun was really bad…” “Did you ever find anything of particular value in there?” “Mm… Yeah, I guess. There was some money in like a box…” “Oh good. Did you—” “Yeah, something like 200k.” Nathan blinked and then looked over at Kent in shock. “Two hundred thousand dollars?” “Yeah, approximately,” Nari said. “In a box. Why?” “D-Do you have it?” Nathan asked. “Yeah. I figured I'd keep it safer than some trashy cave…” “Um, and you didn't think to tell me about it?” “Honestly, I sort of just forgot about it,” Nari asked. “Why? Do you want it?” “Uh, yeah! I’m with Kent right now, and he wants his money,” Nathan said. “Okay. Well it's in a savings account. Do you want me to wire it? I might have to be in Canada though…” “Can you just send me a screenshot? We can figure out the transfer later.” “Alright.” “Okay. Um, thanks Nari.” “No problem. I will be hanging up now.” “Okay, bye!” Nari hung up and Nathan took a breath. “How do you have that much money?” Nathan asked, staring at Kent. “I saved for twenty years,” Kent said. “How did you make ten thousand dollars a year eating animals in the ravine?” Nathan asked. “Big gun back home was always trying to buy my father's property. Never wanted to sell it, but the farm wasn't profiting. When I had to run, I needed some money, so I sold. When I got here, I also sold furs from the meat I ate and some furniture I made,” Kent said. “Didn't need to buy food, so I just saved it for tools and things…” “Has Nari sent the photo?” Dax asked. Nathan checked his phone and then showed Dax the screen where it showed a screenshot for a bank account with a balance of $263’050. “I wanted you to find it and put that towards my kids if I died,” Kent stated. “Kent, that's a lot of fucking money,” Nathan said. “You should've been clearer in your letter if you wanted me to find that.” “I imagine you don't have a bank account, do you?” Dax asked. “Fuck no.” Dax rubbed Nathan's shoulder. “What do we do? Cash out as soon as possible so Kent can have his money?” “Keep it,” Kent said. “What?” Nathan asked. “Kent, it's your money.” “I gave it to ya to keep safe and to support my kids,” Kent said. “Plus, I never felt good about selling that farm for so little... Feels like dirty money.” “I'm sure you want some cash though,” Dax said. “Let's be honest.” Kent shrugged. “Okay… 10k'll do me fine.” “10k. Still leaves us with a quarter of a million dollars…” Nathan said, just staring at the screenshot. “Are you sure you don't want more? This makes me feel weird…” “Listen. I saved that cash expectin' I'd need to use it to leave the country or something if the feds found me,” Kent said. “But my kids are more important now. I can make my own money. I always have.” Nathan looked to Dax who just shrugged. “We were worried about our finances with two more on the way and parental leave…” “Yeah, you need it more than me,” Kent said. “Well…” Nathan rubbed the back of his neck. “This is ridiculously generous, coming from you… But, if you're giving me this money for the kids, then… We can keep it in the savings account for them. I won't touch it for myself.” Kent nodded. “Fine by me.” “Well, we could just make it 250k even, take out the extra,” Dax suggested. “You know, just for now…” “Listen,” Kent said placing his hands on a shoulder each. “I'm askin’ you to stay here with me for some time. Just so I can get the chance to be there for someone havin' my kids. I never could before. Not the first time. Not the last time.” Dax looked to Nathan and Nathan sighed. “Kent… You understand we plan to raise all these kids, and we're not going to discriminate with ‘this kid is mine, that one's yours', none of that,” Nathan said. “So, if you're serious about being a part of all this, you need to commit to all the kids, not just your blood. Can you do that?” Kent looked Dax and Nathan each up and down, pausing for a moment on Nathan's midsection before looking him right in the eyes. “I can do that. Kid of yours is a kid of mine.” Nathan nodded smiling fondly. “Good.” Kent tilted his head to Dax. “Now if celery stick goes off and has someone else's kids, that's not my problem.” Dax shook his head. “That won't be a problem.” Nathan stepped between them and took Kent's shoulder. “Kent. I'm very serious about this. You're entering a relationship with both of us. If you genuinely don't like Dax, you need to say so right now, because the name calling is unacceptable. Insulting his dietary choices is also unacceptable.” Kent looked a bit taken aback, and he put a hand through his hair. “I… Listen, I figure you understand…” “Nathan, it's fine...” Dax said, placing his hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder. “No. I get that you're from another time, Kent, but Dax and I established a relationship on communication,” Nathan said. “That means communicating our feelings. I know you haven't known us very long, but you've managed to communicate your feelings about me to me in your own way. I need you to do the same for Dax. If you don't want to be in a relationship with him, then there's no relationship to be had with us beyond co-parenting.” Kent shook his head. “I like Dax, alright? I just… This three in one situation… I'm not used to that… People didn't do that ‘round where I'm from.” “I'm sure they did, they just never had a reason to tell you about it,” Nathan stated. He patted Kent's cheek. “Anyway, that's good enough for me, but it's Dax's opinion that matters.” Dax patted Kent's shoulder. “I like you too, bear boy.” Kent just turned away. “Is this over? Can I go check on the twins?” “Be my guest,” Nathan said. “We'll just put our stuff in the loft.” “The loft?” Kent asked. Nathan nodded. “Yeah. It's a bit stiff so we brought some blankets—” Dax nudged his arm. “I think he expects us to sleep in his bed.” Kent flushed red. “No, I—You can sleep wherever you fucking want!” Nathan grinned. “Aw, I didn't think you'd warm up that quickly.” “I'm not! I just, you did last time, so I figured you might want to this time…” “We slept in your room as a result of other activities that night,” Nathan said. “But if you want it to be the norm, it's fine, it's big enough for now. Maybe not when we're further along…” “I'm sure 250k can help get a bigger bed…” Dax suggested. Kent shook his head. “Do what you want to!” He then stormed off to go check on the twins, leaving the couple amused. “He still needs time,” Nathan said, going to sit back down. “He may be older, but he's still just a baby gay,” Dax concurred joining him. “Baby bi,” Nathan reminded. “Let's not erase his past.” “Baby Sbice,” Dax joked. “What does that make us?” Nathan asked. “Hm…” Dax paused to think. “Got it. Sgayry Spice and Sportop Spice.” “One, racist. And two, you are not a top,” Nathan said. “I went with Scary because you're a werewolf…” “Wow, okay. Insensitive. You're still not a top.” “I can be… And no Spice Girl works with vers or switch.” “Yeah…”

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Saturday, October 29th

ANGEL: (yelling) What the hell did you do? WESLEY: What I had to. ANGEL: I don't remember seeing 'Stab Gunn' on the agenda this morning!

~~Shells~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

A slayers heart by Dragonprincess19961 (Buffy/Faith, not rated)

New Traditions by Amejisuto (Xander/Spike, M)

A spontaneous training session by Bl4ckHunter (Buffy/Faith, T)

Quintessence by OveliaGirlHaditRight (Buffy/Angel, G)

[Chaptered Fiction]

All That Is And All That Seems, Chapter 48 by MalkMcJorma (Faith/OC, Buffy/Riley, M)

north star, Chapter 29 by The_Eclectic_Bookworm (Jenny & Buffy, T)

Athena Luthor - Slayer Travels, Chapter 41 by Hermione2be (Buffy/Clark Kent, Smallville crossover, T)

Sandy Places in Tomorrow, Chapter 37 by Raihne (Xander/Spike, M)

Sunset Valley, Chapter 27 by dwinchester (Buffy/Dean Winchester/Stiles Stilinski, Supernatural & Teen Wolf crossover, T)

The Time We Had, Chapter 11 by Dusty87 (Buffy/Spike, M)

Carrot's snippet collection, Chapter 66 by CaptainCarrot (Faith, multiple crossovers, G)

The Consequences of Not Fading Away, Chapter 9 by missxfaith (Angel/Cordelia, T)

Dawn of the Future, Chapter 13 by BrennaLynn (Buffy/OC, Faith/Dawn, T)

A New Family for Buffy, Chapter 10 by BrennaLynn (Buffy/Faith, Charmed crossover, T)

Extra Pickle, Chapter 2 by Alwaysandforevermylove (Buffy/Faith, E)

Ultimately Charmed, Chapter 2 by BrennaLynn (Buffy/Kyle Brody, Charmed crossover, T)

Dawn of the Shaun, Chapter 1 by buffvamporigfan (OC & Scoobies, T)

Drive, Chapter 1 by HollyDB (Buffy/Spike, E)

Through a Mirror darkly, Chapters 1-2 by davidf89 (Buffy/Spike, E)

Colonial Bride, Chapters 8-9, by Feanix88 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Bound, Chapter 27 by RavenLove12 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Fade Away Again, Chapter 5 by Willow25 (Buffy/Spike, PG)

Not Back to the Future Rules, Chapter 2 by Lady Emma (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Seph, Chapter 1 by sweetprincipale (Buffy/Spike, R)

Colonial Bride, Chapter 8 by Feanix88 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

The Road to Hell...., Chapter 15 by All4Spike (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Not Back to the Future Rules, Chapter 2 by Lady Emma (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Sunlight On Your Face, Chapter 5 by violettathepiratequeen (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: S4 E9: Pangs Lil Pincushion (Sketch) by goofwarrior (Spike, worksafe)

Artwork: S4 E22: Restless Classic Vamp Pose by goofwarrior (Spike, worksafe)

Artwork: Buffy "Every Outfit" "Where The Wild Things Are" by whatshisfaceblogs (worksafe)

Artwork: Buffy "Every Outfit" "New Moon Rising" by whatshisfaceblogs (worksafe)

Buffy comic by johnmcguinness.art (worksafe)

Fanvid: spike and drusilla | my love paramour by cocteau twins by deadwivesclub

Manip: True Romance by loveisntbrains_ (PG-13)

Comic: A Better Place Than the One We're At, Chapter 1 by BewitchedXx (PG-13)

Playlist: buffy summers playlist for slaying vampires | a vigilante inspired playlist by MusicThroughTheMoods

Vidlet: Buffy x Angel by Shannon Rey

Vidlet: Buffy x Angel - Video Games by Shannon Rey

Fanvid: Spike and Damon- Come As You Are by Bobblehead89 (The Vampire Diaries crossover vid)

Fanvid: Buffy The Vampre Slayer- Anime Opening (Blue Bird) by Just Arvin

Fanvid: Buffy and Angel - If I Don't by juliaroxs241

Fanvid: Chosen Warriors (BtVS edit) by Random Ships🌈🛳 (Chosen episodic vid)

Buffy intro & theme music adaptation: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, except 'tis Sengoku Period Japan by Friar Untuck

Buffy intro & theme music adaptation: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, a bardcore tribute by Friar Untuck

[Reviews & Recaps]

Angel Season 5 Rewatch - #21 Power Play by Involvere

[Recs]

Top 5 Fics That Are New To Me by dragonyphoenix

Fanworks that are (mostly) new to me by dragonyphoenix

Top 10 Spuffy fics I’ve read (Oct 2022) by mcgnagallsarmy

[Community Announcements]

I Will Remember You: posting starts in a couple of days by iwry-marathon

[Fandom Discussions]

Season 5 is the only season of Buffy in which Joyce Summers appears in or is talked about in every single episode by coraniaid

Buffy Summers by aesthetic-solar-space

if you calculate the dates between the airing of The Gift and Bargaining it's only 133 days by disco-tea

faith would 100% run after buffy when dawn and the others kicked buffy out of the house (but...) by faithlehanegf

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This episode [Lie To Me] is underrated by Opening_Knowledge868

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Character dynamics you would’ve liked explored by nerdalertalertnerd

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Confessions that can get your Buffy card revoked by moonwalker_96

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Haywire

Stories are getting more complicated now

Where does Sam get off thinking he has a say in their marriage and how they raise their children? They didn’t tell him about Jordan’s powers? No surprise there. Good to see Clark put his foot down.

Jonathan is starting to crack around the edges. Moving to Smallville completely flipped the twins’ social statuses upside down and he’s trying so hard to roll with it, but he’s also about to lose the one friend he’s made since arriving.

Tag’s sudden display of whatever the hell that power is (super speed?) reminded me of Smallville’s old freak-of-the-week conceit.

So if Edge starts hitting on Lana will Kyle finally start to see him for who he is?

My personal feeling about Kyle is that even though he has been kind of douche to Lois, I think when it comes to Smallville, his heart’s in the right place. I don’t think he has any selfish ulterior motives, I just think he wants the town and it’s people to get back on their feet. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately, that makes him vulnerable to a powerful master manipulator like Edge and maybe too easily swayed by what he has to offer.

So sad that Lois feels like she’s fallen to the bottom of Clark’s priority list, but also I love that she can open up to him about it, and the fact that she feels guilty about feeling like that in the first place. I love their honesty and the total transparency in their marriage. Going back to the second episode when he told her about The Stranger (including the Kryptonite!) I kept thinking that every other superhero I’ve watched would have kept this a secret just to drum up the tension in the narrative. Thank you, writers, for not doing that!

Look at Jonathan be the peacemaker! He has such a precious heart.

Loving Jordan/Sarah. Kindred spirits, and also i still think they’ve been carrying torches for each other since they were pre-pubescents.

Thank you Lana for asking Lois to drinks! I really want them to be friends.

So...when Superman enters into a conflict, especially against humans, he severely curtails his own abilities. In “PoNBaW” last week he almost had his ass handed to him. But when ThreatCon-5 wasn’t getting it done, he powered to ThreatCon-4 and finished off The Minion.

Having said that, maybe it would behoove him to take a lesson from Barry in how to do a simple perimeter sweep before entering right into the middle of a conflict.

LOVE to see the SuperClap!

Love to see my Kent boys — and Jordan really trying to help someone for the first time.

Sam is in some hot water, and now he’s interfered so hard, Clark is his only conduit to talking to his daughter. But does he even love her enough to try to mend fences, or has their falling out just freed him to try to enslave Clark further?

[shadowgasp]

Why is the new(ish) show Superman and Lois not being hyped up?????

The acting in it compared to the other crappy DC CW shows is so good. They actually know what they’re doing. Remember when Tyler Hoechlin was in Teen Wolf and how god awful everyone’s acting was when they were in scenes with him? Because he actually knows how to act in a high quality setting? THATS EVERY ACTOR IN S&L. (Not saying the teen Wolf actors were bad. I’m just saying in comparison they were mediocre in my opinion)

Oh, and don’t even get me started on the cgi quality.

The first five minutes of episode 1 looks better than the entire Flash series.

It’s filmed in a way to make the cgi/stunts work smoothly together, and the slow motion in some scenes is the icing on the 5 tier wedding cake.

You know how in (I’m going to use the flash as an example again because that’s the show I’ve watched the most out of the cw dc universe) the flash, there’s some weird plot holes and errors in the lore that are never explained? Welp, NOT IN SUPERMAN AND LOIS-

It’s just done so well. It’s a fresh story of Superman with new characters and a fun, relatable plot(except for the whole alien thing.)

….and one last self-indulgent thing.

It balances the amount of superhero and non superhero plot points real well. We see Clark Kent’s son, Jordan, struggling to control his new powers. While also getting an equal amount of time focused on his twin brother Jonathan, who’s having a hard time making friends at his new school.

I just. I just really like it. Hhhhh

[kent-farm]

Wait, so I can use [my "talents"] for some trip, but not to save people's lives? That makes no sense. Neither does using them just so you can get attention. Ooh, Dad 1, Jordan 0! Jonathan. Sorry.

—Jordan, Clark, Jon and Lois, Superman and Lois, "What Kills You Only Makes You Stronger"

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

TWDG: The Final Season | Character Discussion | 2/2

Part 1 | Part 2

[Brody and the basement scene]

“I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. You're gonna be okay, I promise. Goddamn it, help! Why did you say that, Brody? I...I told you not to say it. Please be okay...”

Okay... here’s where the glass shatters, Marlon becomes the episode’s antagonist, and I wish there was an option to just stay in bed.

Up to this point, Marlon’s been sincerely kind, stubborn, sometimes a little agitated, but overall? A decent guy. There are flaws with his leadership and not everyone likes him, but that comes with the territory, yeah? 

He wants to keep Ericson safe, he saved Clementine and AJ’s lives, he loves Rosie, he’s Louis’ best friend- what reason do I have not to trust him?

I was rooting for you, Marlon. The first time I played, I was team Marlon.... until we got back to the school after the incident with Abel at the train station. 

Brody’s freaking out, and Marlon comes over... and the unsettling feelings starting creeping up when he grabs Brody’s arm and she shoves him down. 

The first time I played, I had the gut feeling that she wasn’t overreacting like Marlon claimed she was and this is when I started to actually doubt him. I was still rooting for him, like maybe it’s just a misunderstanding and the game wants me to question Marlon, but he’s not the real issue. Y’know... a fake out.

Then I heard his voice in the pipes and... oh boy. 

Marlon, my guy, you hurt me. 

But not as bad as you hurt Brody.

Okay, let’s do this- Marlon and Brody. Start from the beginning with their relationship and how we got to the basement scene. 

One thing you’ll notice back when I was talking about Aasim is how quick Brody is to snap “Be nice, Aasim” after he gets agitated with Marlon. Then, we see the two of them sitting together on the steps during the “HELP AJ MAKE FRIENDS” segment. There’s no conversation you can overhear or anything, but you get the impression that Brody is supportive of Marlon. 

I mean... why else would she be so quick to tell Aasim to be nice... right?

Except no, we already know that these two are so close because of what happened with the twins. But if you don’t know that, then obviously this seems like nothing. 

Though interesting to point out that people assumed Marlon and Brody were a thing based on this little tidbit, an idea that a lot of people theorize about. Hell, I believe even Kent said they might’ve had something going, albeit something unhealthy. There isn’t any evidence of a previous romantic relationship in the game, just a speculation amongst players that can add some even darker tones to their problematic relationship.

So, Brody and Marlon chat before dinner, AJ comes over and apologizes, Marlon is once again super chill and sweet to AJ and it’s great. I love the way he handles AJ.

Marlon and Brody even have a little moment where they look at each other, silent conversation and all, before he accepts the apology. Hmm. 

We don’t get to chat with Brody again until after the office scene if you choose to go fishing, and here’s where I start theorizing about Brody’s true reasons for wanting to go on a road trip.

Obviously, the whole Brody and Violet thing is what’s at focus for this scene- do you help Violet forgive Brody or not, but the whole time outside of that, Brody is very focused on another idea- taking a road trip. 

“I've lived here my entire life. Heck, I'd say I know every inch of these woods. I'd kind of like to un-know it. “

And while you can easily look at this as “Oh, Brody’s just a dreamer, she wants to go on a road trip with all her friends and explore somewhere new. So what?” allow me to put on my tinfoil hat and look too much into it. 

Brody wants to escape Marlon, the situation they got themselves into, and leave the guilt behind. Hop in a truck, leave Ericson and the place she and Marlon traded away their friends at, leave Marlon behind, and start somewhere new where she can pretend everything’s okay. Escape the anxiety and trauma.  

Just to clarify, I don’t think Brody would just up and abandon everyone to go on a road trip or anything, this is just something she fantasized and talks about wistfully. Which is fair- if it’s the apocalypse, I’m going to have fantasies like that to escape and help maintain my sanity, too. It’s a way of coping. 

The reason I say she wants to get away from Marlon is that he appears to be the driving force behind her being quiet. Though I do think we tend to gloss over the fact that Brody was indeed there and she could’ve come clean about the twins prior to Clementine and AJ’s arrival due to her murder. 

Sure, I don’t doubt Marlon told her to be quiet, that he’d figure something out... but when his decision was to keep it a secret and move on with their lives, Brody agreed. We don’t know what it took for her to agree, though. That’s the thing.

Maybe Marlon convinced her, maybe he threatened her, and maybe she agreed all by herself. 

We don’t know. She never got to tell us. 

But going off of what I’ve seen of Brody and her behavior towards Marlon in Done Running, I’m more inclined to believe that she was willing to agree because, just like Marlon, she had that guilt weighing on her shoulders. She couldn’t stop what happened, and she had no choice but to go along with it. 

She was there with Marlon when the twins were taken away. She was the one who broke the news to Violet and that had to be so damn hard all by itself, y’know... having to lie to her face about it. She helped Tenn, the twins’ little brother, take down Sophie’s paintings and clean out their dorm. 

She and Marlon stood side by side, kept quiet and watched everyone mourn the deaths of Sophie and Minerva, all while knowing what really happened. Neither of them came clean for their own reasons. 

That kind of shit will destroy your insides and drive you mad, which is what we see down in the basement. These are two broken partners in crime who are seconds away from snapping. They’re stuck, they’re overwhelmed, they can’t agree on anything, they’re arguing and getting physically upset with one another. They’ve turned into worse versions of themselves because of this. 

Marlon is no longer the chill, kind, genuine guy I praised in the beginning of this, and Brody isn’t the sweet, friendly dreamer who wanted to take a road trip with her friends. 

Marlon is angry, scared, and lashing out. Brody is an anxious mess.

And they kind of hate each other.

It’s horrible. It breaks my heart. 

And thinking about what happened the day they got themselves into this disaster... maybe Brody did protest in the beginning before Marlon convinced her that the best thing to do was be quiet and move on, that maybe they’ll never come back and this was the only thing they could do for the best interest of the group, and she agreed. 

Maybe she went into a full blown panic attack that Marlon helped her work through all while dealing with his own emotions and that, in a twisted way, brought them closer. 

We don’t know. 

But you’d think that if she so easily spilled everything to Clementine, that she would’ve eventually broke down and told everyone else, too... yeah? That Marlon would’ve pushed her far enough that she slipped. 

To that you can argue that it was the fact that Abel and his people were back that set her off, seeing that it was happening all over again and she refused to go through that. Then, when Marlon says he has a plan, that they’ll use Clementine and AJ, that was the final nail in the coffin that sets her mind to confessing. Clementine just happened to come down and Brody took the opportunity. 

The thing is... Brody had to be feeling to same way Marlon was- ashamed, guilty, heartbroken, traumatized, terrified, and so many overwhelming emotions. I think she knew what would happen if they came clean and that scared her.

She wanted to be friends with Violet again, the way they used to be- “We all used to be friends. Guess I just kinda miss that.“ and if Violet’s distanced not knowing the truth now? Imagine what she would’ve been like if Brody came clean. 

Same goes for the rest of the crew. 

Marlon gets a lot of the blame for what happened, which is totally fair and justified, but like I said, we gloss over that Brody was there as well. I just wish we had more context as to how they handled it at the beginning as that would give such a great insight to Marlon and his growth [or decline] over the year prior to TFS. 

And y’know... I think it was a blessing and a curse to have someone in on the secret. He has someone to talk about it to so he doesn’t feel as alone... but that comes with the constant worry of “what is she confesses?” and that’s where I think Marlon turned to intimidation out of his own fears and insecurities, which put a huge strain on his and Brody’s relationship, as well as their mental health.

It doesn’t help that it seems Brody has issues with anxiety and panic attacks going off what we saw in Done Running. 

Moving on to the beginning of the red flags with Marlon... let’s look at their conversations after Clementine and crew get back after the deal with the train station. 

Right as we enter, we hear them in the middle of this-

Brody: “You are not listening to me. Marlon, listen to me- I'm telling you, the place was ransacked!”

Marlon: “It's fine. We'll deal with it.”

Who knows how long this conversation has gone on... and once again, Marlon isn’t listening. Hell, Brody is flat out saying he’s not listening. If this wasn’t alarming enough, Brody goes off on Clementine upon learning Abel’s fate and Marlon rushes in... probably to make sure she doesn’t say anything he doesn’t want her to. 

Brody: “I just can't... I won't... just not again... fuck!”

Marlon: “What the hell's going on here?”

Brody: “She took them outside the safe zone... They saw someone! You know what that means-!”

Marlon: “Enough! It just means there's a hungry guy out there looking for food. It's happened before. You are overreacting.”

Brody: “You can't be serious!”

[Marlon grabs her arm]

Marlon: “Come on, let's go somewhere and talk about this.”

So... yikes. 

It’s that arm grab, man. That set off some alarm bells. It happens super quick before it cuts back and Brody shoves him so hard, he falls to the ground. Which takes a lot of force. Then Brody turns the blame on Clementine, which is interesting. 

None of that is great. But Marlon gets up and you can feel how exasperated and stressed he is that Brody made that scene and that Clementine took Louis and Violet outside the safe zone. He’s just learned that Abel is back, Brody is cracking, and it’s the calm before the storm.

It’s worth noting that even though he’s clearly upset, he’s still holding onto to this “I’m the leader, I know I asked you for help and you did, it’s fine, we’ll be eating for a while. It’s fine. I’ll go talk to Brody, go eat. Everything is fine.” 

Giving off the appearance that everything’s okay. Nothing wrong, Brody’s just paranoid. It’s fine. 

And if you’re like me, you said, “Hmmmmm... I have bad feelings.”

Though, I’d like to add that I also like that he admits that he always worries if Clementine tells him he doesn’t have to. A bit of vulnerability slipping through. So that’s it, right? He’s just worried. 

Well... that’s not wrong, but... 

Also, Marlon tells Brody she’s overreacting quite a bit and I bet that’s something he’s said to her plenty in the past. It’s just.. ugh. 

Okay, time for the fun part. 

As we all know, Clementine and AJ are woken up by voices in the pipes. They belong to Marlon and Brody as they’re having an argument down in the basement. 

What’s really sad is that they’re the only ones who seemingly notice. Clementine’s the only one who bothered to get out of bed and see what the hell was going on. Which makes me think that this isn’t the first time they’ve fought like this, so the rest of the Ericson crew just ignore it.

Which is pretty fucked up. You’d think that someone would hear it and go down there to at least tell them to knock it off. 

You could argue that maybe only Clementine and AJ could hear it because they’re closer to the basement door, which is fair. But there are other rooms in that hallway that are close enough, so unless those rooms are all empty... someone else had to of heard something. 

Hell, they all hear Marlon and AJ yelling at each other in a thunderstorm outside... why not hear this? 

In order for me to go over the entire basement conversation, we all gotta be up to speed. The conversation is below but if you want to hear the voice acting, you can watch this video here.

Marlon: “Why can't you just do what I ask you to do?”

Brody: “Because we caused all this, and now we have to deal with it!”

Marlon: “I am dealing with it!”

Brody: “By tradin' more of us away? That's not fixin' the problem, that's runnin' away from it! ...Let me go!”

Marlon: “Hey, calm down.”

Brody: “Don't tell me to calm down! You can't do this! You can't just-ahh!... Please...please! If we just tell everyone what's goin' on, maybe we can-”

Marlon: “I said shut up!”

[it’s implied Marlon does something here... grabs her, pushes her, hits her... there are no other sounds in the video but it’s not good. You can hear it in both their voices and “I said shut up!” is exactly what he says before he hits her with the flashlight later soo...]

Marlon: “Shit, shit. Brody, are you okay?”

Brody: “Fuck you. ...There's got to be some other way.”

Marlon: “There is no other way. Goddamn it, so few of us left... What else would you have me do?”

Brody: “Something! There's got to be something.”

Marlon: “No, no, no, there's nothing. Nothing, Brody!”

Brody: “That can't be true!”

Marlon: “You know, maybe...maybe it doesn't matter. It probably doesn't matter at all. It's just a couple of cigarettes. I mean... Just one fucking guy! This is an insurance policy.”

[insurance policy = Clementine and AJ. Nice, Marlon. Also his denial and inability to listen is super prominent here.]

Brody: “An insurance policy? These are fucking people, Marlon!”

Marlon: “I know that! Fuck, I know that. ...You are overreacting. I'm telling you!”

Brody: “What if I'm not?”

Marlon: “No, you are. So knock it the fuck off, Brody.”

Brody: “You knock it the fuck off! You are unbelievable! You fucking coward!”

Marlon: “Hey, HEY! We are in this together. You will not put this all on me! ...Damn it, Brody! We don't even know for sure it was them!”

Brody: “You know he's not alone. Those bastards are back and it's only a matter of time before they find us. You know that!”

Marlon: “I don't know shit, and neither do you! Goddamn it, Brody, keep it together!”

Brody: ‘There you go again, getting so mad.”.

Marlon: “Well, what do you want me to do? You're making me mad!”

Brody: “Oh, we have to tell the others! About what you did!”

It’s not a fun conversation. At all. I hate it, even if the voice acting is terrific.

So here’s the thing about this conversation... Marlon is stuck. He’s refusing to see any other way of handling the raiders return because what else is there to do? Fight them off? We know that’s something Marlon doesn’t want to do for a number of reasons- he’d have to come clean, he’d have to develop a plan of attack, he’d risk everyone at the school- so in his mind, being quiet and keeping Clementine and AJ as “insurance” is the best course of action to keep the others safe. 

But then there’s Brody. She’s had enough and you can tell that it’s all become too much for her. She just wants to come clean and face the consequences, she wants Marlon to own up to what happened, and she’s willing to face his anger and call him out on it. It gets to the point where she starts to plead that they have to tell the others. 

The more and more she goes on, the angrier Marlon gets. All his shame, grief, stress, and anger have became a dangerous cocktail that causes him to lash out. 

And he fucking does. That part where he tells her to shut up then there’s this dead pause? Then his voice breaks as he apologizes and asks if she’s okay? Followed by Brody’s “fuck you.”? 

Their fight has become physical now. It’s not just them yelling at each other, and while I want to give Marlon the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe he grabbed her like he did before which isn’t great either but fucking hell, that’s not what it sounds like. He hit or pushed her or something and... God damn it, Marlon. That’s inexcusable and it makes me question if he’s ever gotten physical with her before. Especially since Brody continues the conversation like it’s happened before....

God, I miss when Marlon was chill and sweet. Remember when he helped Clementine with Rosie? I do... Can we go back to that?

...Anyway, this whole conversation sucks and it gets worse. Marlon is a hair away from melt down and Brody is becoming desperate for him to listen to her. 

So when Clementine comes down, everything comes to a head.

And at first, you think think that maybe Clementine can calm the situation, defuse it. But then Marlon goes into defensive “everything’s fine” mode, telling Clementine there’s nothing to worry about and to go back to bed. 

Take note of his hard tone here, too. He’s doing that dominating tone, but elevated from when he used it before. He shines the light in Clementine’s face and says, “Brody and I were just talkin', go get some sleep. You deserve some shut-eye. You had a busy day.” In hopes that she’ll be intimidated and cooperate but... well, Clementine isn’t and doesn’t.

And Brody seizes the opportunity. 

Brody: “The man you met at the station. We got history.”

Marlon: “Brody... Don't listen to her, Clem, she's acting crazy. She gets this way sometimes, you just gotta tune it out.”

The desperation in Marlon’s voice here is just... ugh. Trying so hard to discredit Brody and take control back of the situation. 

That’s what it all comes back to, isn’t it? Marlon’s control. He knows Brody’s slipping and no matter what he does or says, he can’t regain his control over her and the situation. Clementine is threatening that and it’s spiking his anger. 

We all know what happens next. 

Brody: “Marlon let him take the twins. Him and his people.”

Marlon: “Damn it, Brody!”

Clementine: “Tenn's sisters? I thought they were killed by walkers.”

Brody: “That's the story we told everyone.’

Marlon: “Shut up.”

Brody: “'Cause Marlon was so ashamed of what-”

Marlon: “I said SHUT UP!”

Marlon loses control, hits Brody with his flashlight so hard that it kills her, and realization of how badly fucked up he’s become dawns on him.

Yeah, Marlon... Brody’s bleeding out on the floor because of you, because you were so desperate to keep control and hide your shame from everyone, and this is what it manifested into. 

Yet, he tries to rationalize it like it’s not his fault. He’s in denial. He told her not to say it, and she did. But it’s okay, she’s going to be okay.

Which is fucked, but at this point, Marlon’s in a full blown panic - “Oh, shit, Brody. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. You're gonna be okay, I promise. Goddamn it, help! Why did you say that, Brody? I...I told you not to say it. Please be okay.” He’s all over the place and doesn’t know what to do. 

And it gets worse. 

Because Marlon’s in such a panic, brain scattered with a shit ton of horrifying thoughts- “What do I tell everyone? Brody’s dead and I killed her. How will everyone look at me? I betrayed them. I betrayed all of them. The raiders are coming back. Clementine knows the truth. What do I do? I can’t let them know. I can’t tell the truth because they will see me for what I really am.”  -when he hears Brody tell Clementine everything, he once again does something shitty to save himself. He runs and locks Clementine in the basement, knowing that Brody’s going to turn. 

Clementine: “Marlon, you son of a bitch, don't do this!”

Marlon: “I'm sorry... I can't...I can't let you talk to the others.”

So... what does this entire scene tell us about Marlon?

Well, first off, I shouldn’t trust someone just because they love dogs. That’s on me. 

This is where Marlon goes from friend to foe and it’s a lot to take in. This scene is the reason people question Marlon’s real motivations, question whether or not he was ever good if he had it in him to murder Brody in order to keep her quiet.

But that’s the thing, when you watch this scene, you can tell that Marlon didn’t mean to kill her. In a fit of anger, he didn’t know his own strength and lashed out and she died because of it. He should still be held accountable for it, even if it was an accident. But because he’s holding on to whatever he can, he refuses to take accountability, choosing to then leave Clementine for death and pin everything on her. 

He has no plan after that, he just knows that he has to regain control over everything or else he’s done. He doesn’t have time to mourn Brody or come to terms with what he had done because he’s moving so fast to “fix” everything, y’know? 

What Marlon did down here was inexcusable. I can do my best to explain what lead Marlon to this point and why he did what he did, but that doesn’t justify anything. 

Now... before I move on to talk about the confrontation scene, there is one more important character in Marlon’s life to cover.

[Louis and a broken friendship]

“I hope you know Louis didn't mean any harm there. He's just the world's biggest dumbass. He's my best friend, so I can legally call him that.”

Where to even begin? 

From the beginning, I guess. 

Louis and Marlon have known each other for years, back before the walkers came and the world ended. We know this because of the photo in Marlon’s office and how everyone tells us that they’re best friends. 

And it’s funny that they’re such best friends but the game doesn’t care much to show us that, or even go into details about their relationship. Which, in my opinion, was a bit of a failure on the writers part. I know you probably didn’t have time and all the usual reasons, but you’d think that this relationship would be important enough to cover just a tad bit more considering that Louis is a potential love interest and Marlon’s the antagonist. 

Y’know?

The only times Marlon and Louis actually interact with one another for more than two seconds is during the card game and during the confrontation, and even that is slim if you choose to appeal to Violet. 

But like, no guys, they’re super best friends. Trust us, we told you, like, twice. 

I hate to get into the Louis vs Violet thing since this is about Marlon, but let me explain why this bothers me. 

They didn’t have any issues letting Violet spill her guts about her past with the twins, specifically Minerva. Now, the twins are considered dead at this point, so it’s not like they could show them interacting, so they get a pass for the show rather than telling. Except they do show that Violet and Minerva were girlfriends when you go fishing and look at the initials on the wall. 

I’m not saying that this isn’t important. It is. I explained why it’s important to Marlon’s character previously, too. 

But this is when we run into a problem with what they decided to do with Louis- Louis doesn’t tell us jack shit about his relationship with Marlon in Done Running prior to appealing to him during the confrontation. All I ask is why not? 

Look, to be frank, the picture is nice and all, but it’s not enough. Marlon saying “Oh yeah, muh best friend,” once isn’t enough. You barely scraped by with what you gave us. 

Louis doesn’t tell us anything about his past, at least nothing important to the plot. When Aasim makes a comment about him being Marlon’s lap dog, Louis brushes it off with a joke, and never mentions Marlon again. The only time Louis actually lets us in is if you take care of the walker with him and he explains his way of thinking before realizing he let his guard down and puts the mask back on. 

Louis isn’t willing to share anything about his friendship with Marlon but Violet’s over here super willing to open up about the twins and Brody? That’s hilarious because you’d think it’d be the other way around. 

You’d think that they’d have Louis saying something about Marlon to show us that he has a blind faith in Marlon or trusts him to a fault. He can see that Aasim doesn’t get along with Marlon and questions his leadership, so why not have him say something in defense of Marlon? 

And perhaps it’s on purpose. Maybe Louis’ trust in Marlon is so great that he doesn’t feel the need to defend him because he knows how Aasim gets. They have plenty of other stuff to argue about, why add another thing? Fine, that makes sense... but why not have him say something to Clementine? Hell, have Clementine ask him about Marlon and the safe zone and what he thinks about it?

Like when Clementine’s all “Hey, let’s go to the train station.”

Louis just stands there like “’kay,” without any indication of “Yeah Marlon wouldn’t like that.”

...Maybe he doesn’t care? Who knows. 

I’m just saying, they would’ve benefited from adding a conversation with Louis about Marlon so that we could get his perspective of their relationship BEFORE the confrontation rather than waiting until ep2 for him to give us some details. 

But, like, it’s fine... I’ll just work with what I got. 

There isn’t too much to say about them during the card game. They’re chill, they’re buddies. Louis does this cute whistle that Marlon bobs his head to and that’s pretty neat. 

After Louis asks Clementine if she ever had to kill someone she loved and the game ends, Marlon goes to make sure Clementine’s okay and let her know that Louis didn’t mean to hurt her feelings, he’s just a dumbass.

But it’s fine, they’re best friends so he can legally call him that. This is the first time we see Marlon say something like that about Louis, the second time being in the office. He’ll admit that he hopes Louis will actually show up to go hunting, which says a lot about the amount of faith he puts into Louis. 

Which is interesting to think about how one-sided their friendship can seem when you start putting pieces together. Louis has complete faith in Marlon but Marlon doesn’t return that faith due to the fact that he knows Louis runs on his own time, y’know? Louis appears to be honest while Marlon is dishonest.

Knowing how Marlon is and his need for control, you’d think that he’d be more stern with Louis. He’s like that with everyone else... until you remember that Marlon has a soft spot for Louis. One that allows him to take control in a different way. 

I can’t help but feel Marlon had this sense of entitlement to Louis as his best friend. Marlon’s been Louis’ friend the longest, Marlon is the only one who can call Louis an idiot, Marlon gives Louis special treatment in many ways that others notice, Marlon knows Louis better than anyone else does. Marlon loves Louis like he’s his own blood. 

And if you know anything about Louis and his character, you know a big part of his arc is confidence and self-esteem. I mean, real self-esteem, not the persona he puts on. Looking back at everything we’ve covered, it’s not out of the question to think that Marlon could’ve used that part of Louis to his advantage. He’s Louis’ best friend, Louis can trust him because Marlon’s always had his back, always appeared to see beyond the jokes and piano because they’ve know each other longest. They’re practically brothers. 

Having that control over Louis is important to Marlon, and while that seems like a slimy way to put it, it’s true. I don’t think Marlon ever saw Louis as a pawn or anything- I believe Marlon genuinely cared about and loved Louis- but when it came to the twins, he didn’t confide him. Marlon didn’t want to lose the closest connection he had, the one person who couldn’t see him for who he turned into, and he didn’t want Louis to tell everyone else. 

There ya go- yet another layer of guilt and shame for Marlon. 

Not only that, but Marlon didn’t have much confidence in him, found him irresponsible. He had to deal with the fact that he still loved Louis while acknowledging that he’s not reliable. 

That brings us to when Clementine appeals to Louis. 

Here’s where Marlon becomes a cocky bastard. 

Clementine: “Louis, don't let him do this!”

Louis: “Oh, no. I am not involved.”

Clementine: “What?”

Louis: “I like you, Clem, but I...”

[Louis looks to Marlon, who gives him an intimidating look back that shuts Louis down. There’s the control.]

Louis: “Not me. I'm sorry. You're, uh, on your own. Sorry.”

And Marlon’s face...? He’s so smug I could slap him. He looks at Clementine like “Oh, you thought Louis was gonna help you, huh? HA! My best friend, dingus.”

What’s funny is that in all my searching through reddit and youtube and what have you, a lot of people complain that Louis is “harder” to get to side with you. Which, technically, no he’s not. Both he and Violet require you to pick two dialogue choices before they help. Louis only appears harder because Marlon intimidates him into being quiet and that makes it seem like he won’t help you. 

Though, to be fair, he does attempt to step in after Clementine pleads with him the first time.

“Shit. Marlon, come on, man. Drop the gun.”

And Marlon really doesn’t like that. 

He snaps out Louis’ name and you see Louis visibly flinch at this. Either this is the first time Marlon’s risen his voice at him like this or it’s not, it’s hard to tell. 

“She. Killed. Brody! We can't let her walk away.” 

Funny how he says we there...

You can feel how conflicted Louis is here, just like how you can feel Marlon’s control and manipulation at play. Louis wants to believe Marlon, but he’s out here with blood all over his face and waving a gun around. He’s about to shoot Clementine, and that will make him a murderer no matter how you look at it and Louis knows this. 

He’s looking at a version of his best friend that he doesn’t recognize, but because he’s scared, it makes Louis backtrack and curl into himself. 

“Clem, I... I... I gotta trust Marlon. I just... I gotta. I always have.”

Here, you have two choices:

“He didn't trust you with the truth! He lied to you about the twins. He doesn't deserve your trust.”

Or

“Brody trusted him. And now she's dead. And he killed her!”

Personally, I prefer the first one, but both of these strike a nerve within Louis. He knows she’s right. 

Marlon yells at Clementine and gets ready to shoot her, which she accepts by the way she steps back and closes her eyes. 

Louis, with both hands up, slowly steps between them, free of Marlon’s control and trying to save both him and Clementine. 

Marlon, baffled that he’d ever do this, even moves the gun away as he stares at Louis in disbelief. 

Marlon: “You don't know what you're doing, man!”

Louis: “C'mon, dude, just drop the gun. This is how adults do things. Not us.”

Can I just say that Marlon must feel so fucking powerless seeing Louis step up to him like this? Like, with Violet he’s not surprised and not even remotely intimidated by her little meat cleaver, but with Louis? He is not okay. 

The others step forward and Marlon knows that he’s lost. Pointing a gun at his best friend? Knowing that if he so much as accidentally squeezed the trigger, Louis would be dead? Everyone has turned against him. 

Not great. 

You guys know me, you know that I much prefer appealing to Louis over Violet because of the power behind this and how much of an effect it has on Marlon. It’s perfectly executed. 

A couple more things to talk about regarding this scene. If you call Marlon pathetic, he says something interesting to Louis. 

Clementine: “You're pathetic.”

[Marlon drops his gun]

Marlon: “I know. Always was.”

Louis: “That isn't true.”

Marlon: “No, Louis, it is. You were just the only one who couldn't see it.”

When I say my heart hurts... muh heart hurts. Because this is what their friendship became, they both realize it, and Louis is devastated. 

On the flip side, if you say- 

Clementine: “We can still fix this, Marlon. It's going to be okay. We can make this right.”

Louis: “We'll help you. We're all family here. The only one any of us has left.”

Which shows that despite everything, Louis does have a little bit of faith left in Marlon and wants to help him, which Marlon feels he doesn’t deserve.

Then AJ shoots Marlon in the head.

And I really, really wish there was an option to just stay in bed to avoid all of this.

Okay.

Louis is a fucking mess after this. 

The writers finally said, “Hey, remember when Luke had absolutely no reaction to his best friend’s death in s2? What if we don’t do that this time?”

I don’t want to get too into this because this isn’t a Louis analysis, but let me quickly summarize the affect Marlon’s death had on Louis.

Anyone who was around when Suffer the Children came out remembers all the discourse about Louis. Lot of people pissed at him for being upset. Which fine, you’re allowed to be upset with him because he’s mad at Clementine and AJ, but let me remind you that he just witnessed his best friend of 8+ years being  murdered right before his eyes after no longer being a threat and he was powerless to do anything about it.

Marlon’s death hurt and traumatized Louis in so many ways and that’s something we see throughout the episode. Even though Marlon is dead, he continues to have an effect on Louis and everyone at Ericson because of what he did and how he died. 

And to clarify, Louis never hated Clementine and AJ for what happened. He just didn’t know what to do. He was overwhelmed, hurt, pissed, and never had time to mourn before raiders came knocking on their doors. He dealt with the fact that his best friend wasn’t who he thought he was and how Marlon hurt everyone at this school, that Marlon was a murderer. 

That’s a fucking lot. 

And it continues to hurt him through the rest of the season. 

Honestly, Louis says everything best:

“You sound like Marlon. I mean, not about fighting, but when he was trying to cheer us all up. For years, I sat around making stupid jokes, playing stupid games, while my best friend was left with all the responsibility. All the tough calls. All the sleepless nights. And eventually, a bullet in the head. And I didn't do a damn thing about it. And then, when you tried to tell us what he was really like, and AJ shot him, I blamed you. Both of you. If I could take it back, I would. I knew that the day you got back. I still do. ...He was my best friend. Almost like my brother, but the things he did? They were fucked up. I'll never be glad he died. But I understand why AJ thought it was the right thing to do.” 

[The final confrontation and Marlon’s murder]

“I know I betrayed you... all of you. Just let me leave. You'll never have to see me again. Just let me become...a bad memory. Just give me that. Please.”

The final confrontation is my favorite Marlon moment from a storytelling standpoint.

Just... everything about it. The thunderstorm, the voice acting, Marlon’s complete turn to antagonist and break down, Clementine appealing to Louis/Violet, Rosie barking in the background... it’s just great. It hurts but I love it. 

This is where we see Marlon’s manipulation at it’s peak. He knows he’s fucked, but is still so desperate to cling on that he throws everything he can at Clementine. He accuses her of murdering Brody, working with the raiders, takes low blows against everyone, especially Louis and Violet, and goes as far as to point a gun at Clementine with the intention of shooting her. 

Because that’ll fix everything... I guess? 

Marlon didn’t think this through. 

Anyway...

“We saved their lives when anyone else would've kept walking! We fed them, we kept them warm! And this is how they thank us?! Guns being pulled and murder! Well, FUCK! THEM!”

Marlon is broken, his last resort it to try and salvage himself, to win the group’s favor.

“Aw, come the fuck on! They only met up with these ‘raiders’ because Clem insisted they go out there. Quite the coincidence, isn't it? Shame I don't believe in those. Think about how scared we all were when the adults left. I pulled us out of that fear. I gave us all courage again. Who are y'all gonna believe, huh? Johnny-come-lately and her little fucking lunatic? Or me? Your friend?”

He’s pulling out the big guns, reminding everyone that he was the one who pulled them out of their fear and gave them courage, that he’s their friend who they’ve known and trusted for 8+ years while they just met Clementine two days ago.

Who are you going to believe?

As well all know, Clementine takes a risk and appeals to Louis or Violet. I already covered them so we’ll skip ahead to everyone turning on him. 

This is when Marlon realizes he’s losing and that anger bubbles up. 

“You don't get it. You- you don't understand at all, do you? I'm trying to protect you! All of you! Every fucking one of you!”

And he lashes out, pointing the gun at everyone now, and finally... the truth comes out. 

“...I made the right call. I saved the lives of everyone in this fucking school! If they came back... I'd do it again!”

...Yikes. 

Now, I’ve talked about this scene in previous parts, said most of what I wanted to say, but there is one thing I haven’t covered, and that’s Tenn. 

Tenn: “You told me they died!”

Marlon: “I had to save the rest of you, okay?”

Tenn: “You gave my sisters away. Why would you do something like that? I trusted you, Marlon! THEY trusted you! ....We all trusted you...”

Marlon: “I know... I know..”

Tenn was first introduced along side Marlon and you can tell that he cares about him and is protective. Not only that, but Tenn is comfortable enough to play in Marlon’s office, which is something I assume he does regularly. 

It makes me think that Marlon took Tenn under his wing, if you will, after the twins died. Perhaps as some way to try and make himself better, maybe to try and make it up to the twins by swearing to protect him. 

Tenn is what gets Marlon to take it down a bit, to explain that he didn’t want to hurt the twins, he just didn’t have any choice. He even admits to Tenn that he was too scared to develop a rescue plan. 

You can hear it in his voice when he looks to Tenn and speaks, and Tenn is the one who gets him to confess that he was the one who killed Brody, not Clementine. 

Marlon: “I wanted to get them. Stage some kind of rescue. Honest, Tenn. I just couldn't. I was...I was too afraid.”

Tenn: “You killed Brody because she knew?”

Marlon: “Mm-hmm... I didn't mean to. I didn't want this. I wanted to save all of you. Sophie, Minerva. I didn't want to hurt them.”

Which is huge. It wasn’t Clementine, it wasn’t Louis or Violet who got him to confess, it was Tenn. Hearing this boy on the verge of tears tell Marlon that they all trusted him, how could he do this to them... that got through to him. 

And I believe Tenn is the one who solidified that Marlon wanted to leave. He didn’t want to stay and see everyone look and treat him differently, see everyone hate him- He couldn’t face Louis, his best friend. He couldn’t face Violet, the girl he betrayed. He couldn’t face Clementine and AJ, couldn’t face everyone he tried to protect. 

And he couldn’t face Tenn. 

But you know what says a lot about Tenn? If you choose to remain silent after Marlon says he didn’t want to hurt them, he says:

“I forgive you.”

[?] Marlon won’t forget that. 

But even with that forgiveness? I don’t Marlon believes he deserves that, especially from Tenn. He grateful Tenn forgave him, but he still feels it’s best that he leaves.

“I know I betrayed you. All of you. Just let me leave. You'll never have to see me again. Just let me become...a bad memory. Just give me that. Please.” 

And we all know what happens next. 

So... this begs the question... after everything that Marlon did and didn’t do...

Did Marlon deserve his fate?

No.

Marlon didn’t deserve this. That’s the short answer. 

In my opinion, AJ was far from justified in what he did. 

This is a good time to compare Marlon and Lilly, since that comes up quite a bit. When Lilly surrenders at the end of Broken Toys, she does it to manipulate the situation in her favor and get the upper hand again. 

The second you show any sort of kindness towards Lilly, she takes advantage of you because she never saw the error in her ways. She believed every cruel thing she ever did was for a good cause and only ever feels remorse when she loses everyone. 

Marlon, on the other hand, genuinely surrendered. This was the first time he gave up his control and accepted what he had done, ready to face the consequences and be outcast from Ericson for his crimes. He dropped his weapon, he was no longer a threat. Marlon no longer had any malicious intent once everyone turned against him. 

And the biggest difference between Marlon and Lilly is that Marlon felt that shame since the beginning. He did bad things for the sake of Ericson, but not once did he take pride in what he did to the twins or Brody. He felt nothing but remorse.

Brody’s dead, Sophie and Minerva are gone, and he realizes what he’s become.

The tragedy of Marlon is that his fate was decided by a child who was unable to read the situation for what it was, who took it upon themselves to take Marlon’s life despite the fact that everything was over. Marlon never gets a redemption arc, and maybe he didn’t deserve one. It depends on how you feel.

But for me, he definitely didn’t deserve to be shot in the back of the head like that.  

[Final thoughts]

“...It's hard to survive too long these days without being a bit... ‘troubled.’”

Marlon is... complicated. 

That’s a good word. 

On one hand, he does have some genuine moments where he’s a chill dude looking out for his family and there’s a lot to like about him, but on the other hand... he did a lot of bad shit. 

If I had to pick a “problematic fav” within TFS, Marlon would be it. 

Like I mentioned previously, I wish we had more interactions with him and Louis, but we did get enough to get the point across. 

As for Marlon’s backstory and why he was sent to Ericson, it’s never stated and none of the creators have come forward with information. My theory? That’s a great question. 

Most are inclined to believe that he’s there due to anger and behavior problems, but for all we know, that stuff developed over time since I don’t know if someone like that would be put in a leader position. Or maybe it is and he forced himself in, I dunno. 

My guess is that it’s something we’d never expect. I don’t know if I have a theory because, well, I don’t exactly feel qualified to diagnose Marlon with something I haven’t done a shit ton of research on, y’know? 

Even after writing this and looking through everything... I couldn’t tell you. 

I find Marlon to be a compelling character that I wish stuck around longer. He’s an example of a kid who grew up too fast with the lives of his whole community on his shoulders. He was faced with a no-win situation and suffered with every decision made. His desire to control everything around him, to ground him, led to his downfall. 

In the end, Marlon expressed sincere guilt for what he did. Apologizing doesn’t magically make everything he did okay, far from it, but it was a step in the right direction. I wish he had the chance at some kind of redemption, but it’s The Walking Dead. Not everyone gets a redemption arc, most get theirs torn from their grasp. Marlon is one of those people. 

He had a lot of good qualities that were severely overshadowed by his final moments. I believe he genuinely cared about Ericson and believed he was doing all the right things to protect him. He took things too far, manipulating those closest to him and causing them more pain than he ever thought. 

All in all, an enjoyable, complex character. 

Want to see more of these long character discussion posts? Let me know! Feel free to send suggestions for characters you’d like me to cover in the future! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this Marlon character discussion/analysis/rant thing! Let me know your thoughts on Marlon!

[geekiary]

The first season of CW's Superman And Lois just ended and holy moly, I've never seen a first season as solid as this one in a long, long time. Every episode keeps getting better and all 15 episodes are phenomal.

I have been very interested and looking forward for this series since I heard about the premise; how Clark Kent handles being a husband, a father and a super hero, and I already thought that it's a very interesting take on Superman. I was actually hoping the series would be about Clark being domestic with Lois and their twin sons, but what I got is much, much better.

On top of that, Tyler Hoechlin is the most perfect portrayal of Clark Kent I've ever seen. He nailed all the dorkiness down to the small gestures, and he delivers it amazingly. His chemistry with Bitsie Tulloch as Lois Lane is also uncanny.

I have nothing to say but praises for this series and I'm so looking forward for the second season.

[afaimsarrowverse]

Arrowverse-Spin-Offs, we would like to see:

„Arrow“ and „Black Lightning“ are done, „Supergirl“ is in its last season and „The Flash“ and „Legends of Tomorrow“ will probably be over rather sooner than later. So it’s time to look at some potential Spin-Off-Ideas and the reasons why we won’t see any of those happening. But hey, I have been wrong before. The last time I did such a list, I wrote that Warner would never allow a „Superman“-Show to happen, because of them wanting him exclusive for the movies, even though at this point the Powers that Be were already working on getting „Superman & Lois“ on the way (because they have been working on that since around „Elseworlds), so maybe in two years one of those shows on this list will actually air at The CW:

Atoms: Since Ray has left „Legends“ I have been missing him, and since Crisis was the last we ever saw of Ryan Choi, yes, I still want „Atoms“, starring both Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi and their respectice wives, sciencing their way out of every problem and superheroing a little bit at the side. Yes, Fairy Godmother Nora would be a challenge to put into that concept, but if someone really wanted to find a way to integrate that storyline in the show, they could and if not, they could just do away with her powers off-screen. To bad Brandon Routh and Berlanti Productions did not part under the best terms and that the reason they got rid of him in the first place was that they couldn’t afford him any longer, so this one is not likely to ever happen. Also, I am not sure too many people are actually interested in a whole show about the Atom. Even if there a two of them.

Canaries: With „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ not picked up, they could return to this fan-favored concept: A solo show for Laurel and Dinah. Ditch the Future Crap or wrap it up in the Pilot, let them live in the present again and be a crime fighting double act. Or just set in the future, if you must, and let Dinah keep her club and just say good bye to the Queen-Kids. But since both actresses waited for a year to star in a show, that was not happening and said no to jobs because of that and the plotthreats of the „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ Backdoor-Pilot are still up in the air, it is very unlikely that we will get to see this one.

ThunderGrace: They should have aimed for that show instead of „Painkiller“, they might have had better chances to get picked up with it. Anyways, giving Anissa and her new wife Grace their own show, set in a different city of course, would go great with certain protions of the „Black Lightning“-Audience and might even attract new viewers. Having Jennifer and TC guest star regulary would also be great. Sadly this won’t happen of course, „Black Lightning“ already was very much Anissa’s story, giving her her own show would be like continuing „Black Lightning“ just without Jefferson, so it would basically be the same and therefore The CW would not go for it. Also, as long as „Batwoman“ is around, they would not do a second show with a lesbian Superhero Lead, who fights streetlevel, and since Season 2 also not one about a lesbian Superhero Lead, who is black on the top of that. So sadly, not happening.

Guardian and the Sentinel: „Supergirl“ is not getting a Spin-Off, but if we could choose, only Jessica Queller would go for the „Midvale“-One. Having Alex Danvers and Kelly Olsen als crime fighting partners in every sense on our screens would be great. Yes, the title might need some working on, but the concept would be great. They would probably operate outside of National City, there might even be a way to get the military angle in somehow. However as with „TunderGrace“, thanks to „Batwoman“ this one will never get made, because neither Alex nor Kelly have superpowers. Too bad.

Daughters of the Demon: I am very aware that I am the only one, who wants this Spin-Off. But I still want it. A show build around Thea Queen and the Al Ghul-Sisters (and Roy Harper of course) and their dealings with the League of Assassins in all forms and shapes. Katrina Law is of course not available right now, but the main reason we will never see a show around Thea, Nyssa, and Talia is that no one except me is really interested in it.

Dreamer (and Brainiac-5): This one has probably the best chance of ever happening from everything on this list, but given that it wasn‘t done anywhere outside this year’s Pride-Special, means that there probably are no actual plans for it. Anyways, a show about Dreamer with Brainy at her side, probably set in a new city rather than National City, would be great. Nia is still very new to the superhero-game, just finding her feet, and her romance with Brainy can go to many more places. But after the backlash in regards to „Batwoman“, The CW is probably hesitant to dare making a show about a transhero starring an actual transwoman. Nia might rather get moved to „Legends“ or „Superman & Lois“ or get to guest star on „The Flash“ next season than get her own show.

Next Gen: Mia Queen did not get her own show, when she was teamed up with the Canaries. However if you were to team her up with the Tonado-Twins and a Super-Spawn (not the Kent Twins though), she and Dig’s kids might just get another chance for their own show with William as their tech support. However the death of „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ makes that very unlikely, addionally we don’t know what will happen to Nora and Bart on „The Flash“ yet or where they will go with Kara or Clark for that matter in the future. And show set in the future would also cement that future, which would limit all the other shows somehow in storytelling terms, which might have been one of the reasons „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ was not picked up, so don’t hold you breath for that one.

Hall of Justice: Crisis established the League, but in a few months, only Sara, Barry and Clark will be left. But Nate is probably not the only one who applied for a seat. This one would of course have to take place between seasons or star everyone expect the heroes, who currently still have a show. I did name it „Hall of Justice“ on purpose, because there are many reasons, why this would never happen with the other name, but to be blunt, it would probably never happen under any name. However, this would be a good way to actually end the Arrowverse. To do a mini-series, where the League assembles after the last or most of the old shows are done. This could be one last Crossover with the potential of Follow Up- Features, if someone would ever want to make more of it.

An Anthology-Show:

 Originally „Legends of Tomorrow“ was supposed to be an Anthology-Show, and while the decision to make an acutal show instead was the right one back then, the Arrowverse has grown since then, and the idea to do an Anthology-Show to keep it alive is actually a No-Brainer. Instead of whole Seasons, it would be better to go for Two-Parters, Three-Parters, Four Parters and even One Offs though, in order to get more stuff done in the span of a season. The main reason this will not happen is money of course - without standing sets this one would be hard to pull off, but I think it is necessary at this point. And they could even do only two arcs per season or  only a hand full of episodes. This is where they could wrap up the open stortythreads from the failed Backdoor-Pilots – „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ and „Painkiller“ –and also where they could test out new Spin-Off Ideas, they could do my entire list here, plus more, like Slade and his sons, a story about the Hawk s, one about Kate Kane, or even Brandon Routh’s version of Superman etc. They could even go back and do in-between episodes about forgotten and dropped storylines, to which they never got around, like Roy’s death and resurrection or Rip’s founding of the Time Bureau. Additionally this is where they could do the Annual Crossover, they would not need to sacrifice episodes of the other shows, but instead air the Crossover as the Mid-Season Replacement in its own show, followed by some other storylines. But like I said, money is not on the side of this one.

 Bonus: Show that will air on HBOmax instead and therefore can’t happen for the Arrowverse:

John Diggle, Space Cop:

 This would be the Arrowverse Version of „Green Lantern“ and with a „Green Lantern“ Show heading to HBOmax it will of course never happen.

Hellblazer:

 Not too long ago this was my top-bet for a new Arrowverse-Spin-Off, given that Matt Ryan’s „Constantine“ left a lot of unresolved storylines behind, but now that a new version of „Constantine“ with a younger John Constantine as the Main Protagonist in it, is heading to HBOmax, Matt Ryan’s version of the character may even be scrapped from the Arrowverse for good in the soon future. Let’s hope there is room for both versions of the character, but a Spin-Off for the Arrowverse is very much not happening any more.

Booster Gold (and Blue Beetle):

 Wait, you might say, since when is Booster Gold getting his own series on HBOmax? Well, he was at least planned to get one. Alongside „Green Lantern“ another show was announced back then, remember?„Strange Adventures“  was supposed to feature Booster Gold. And while it has become kind of quite around this project, it was not officially scrapped. Given that it is very unlikely that we will ever get to see an Arrowverse-Version of Booster Gold instead, much less in his own show, and with „Blue Beetle“ getting his own show on HBOmax as well, Ted Kord will probably also never pop up in the Arrowverse, and Michael and Ted will never team up alonside the Legends. Too bad.

[movie-magic]

How Superman & Lois Is Avoiding Falcon & Winter Soldier's Fatal Mistake

Superman & Lois is avoiding the storytelling and pacing issues that hurt The Falcon and the Winter Soldier by focusing on the characters.

Despite Superman & Lois featuring the Man of Steel as a lead, the Arrowverse show is keeping its story grounded, thus avoiding the biggest mistake the MCU made with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The CW's series focuses on Clark Kent and Lois Lane as a married couple raising two sons. Despite Clark being Superman — arguably the most powerful being on the planet, and likely Earth's most important hero — Superman & Lois uses conflict within the Kent household as its primary narrative conflict. In the Arrowverse, Clark already knows how to be a hero — but he's still learning how to be a dad.

So far, Superman & Lois has successfully distinguished itself from the rest of the DC titles — particularly other Superman-focused series like Smallville — by focusing on a different period in the hero's life. Superman & Lois season 1 centers on Jordan Kent developing powers, and the family moving from Metropolis back to the Kent farm in Smallville, giving the troubled teen a chance at a new start in a quieter environment. This comes at great personal cost to twin-brother Jonathan, who loses both his star quarterback status and his girlfriend. Still, the predominant theme of the series is family bonds, and although there is tension between the Kents, every person is incredibly supportive of their loved ones.

Superman & Lois is leaning into the CW's strengths: relationships. Rather than having each episode feature a "villain of the week," the Arrowverse show wisely reserves its action for small scenes — saving on the effects budget while still satisfying Superman fans — and lets the conflict between characters be the main narrative thrust. The Marvel show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier did the opposite: instead of focusing the short 6-episode series on the relationship of its two leads, the Disney+ show overcomplicated its story with the Flag-Smashers plot. That fatal mistake prevented Falcon and Winter Soldier from living up to its potential.

Falcon and Winter Soldier had a strong premise: Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes coming together, coping with the unexpected loss of Steve Rogers and grappling with Captain America's future. The show's initial marketing presented the series as something like Marvel's version of a buddy-cop story. However, just like so many of the MCU movies, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier introduced a global crisis for its heroes to solve: the increasingly violent terrorist group, the Flag-Smashers, and the resurgence of the Super Soldier serum. The stakes became much higher than the reluctant partnership of Sam and Bucky — and as a result, their interpersonal drama took a backseat in the story.

There were many aspects of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier that worked really well, and largely, these are tied to strong characterization. Bucky's at his best when he's being introspective and flawed: the show hints that he is still drawn to violence, but is deeply ashamed of the Winter Soldier's violent actions. With Steve Rogers' Captain America gone, Bucky is more alone now than ever, being a relic of the past. All of the people he grew up with are dead or much older than he appears to be — and while he's grown accustomed to this new world, he acts perpetually uncomfortable. It's a theme the show sets up in the premiere but doesn't adequately address.

Falcon and Winter Soldier was poised to give Sam and Bucky a relatable, complicated, and resonant relationship — but this never came to fruition. Instead of genuine conflict between the two, the show relied on forced quips and odd-couple banter. Sam Wilson's past as a PTSD counselor made him the perfect figure to help Bucky cope with Steve Rogers going back to the past: something Bucky no doubt wished for himself, and — given his history with Steve in the MCU and how close they were — may have felt resentful of. At the same time, Bucky could have helped Sam on his journey to becoming the new Captain America. Bucky, as a white man, is ill-equipped to help Sam grapple with issues like systemic racism in America — but as a friend, he could have offered quiet support.

There are hints at the show that could have been in Falcon and Winter Soldier: in the ending, for example, when Bucky helps Sam fix up the boat and joins in on the family celebration, or the scenes of Sam and Bucky training with the shield together. The action in the series is often exciting and is executed well — but any antagonist would have worked for those scenes. Sam feeling such an affinity with Karli Morgenthau never made sense — he literally held her in his arms after she shot Sharon Carter, his friend. In general, the character motivations in the show were underdeveloped, all because not enough screentime was spent on exploring the relationships that mattered. This was the fatal mistake Marvel made with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: not using the characters' relationships as the focus of the narrative.

How Superman & Lois Avoids Making The MCU's Biggest Mistake:

The CW was wise to make Superman & Lois largely about the Kent family adjusting to major changes: the death of Martha Kent, the children learning the truth about their father, the family moving from Metropolis to Smallville, and the realization that boys could have inherited their father's Kryptonian powers. While there is a larger conspiracy at the heart of Superman & Lois season 1, the Morgan Edge plot is secondary to the story of Jordan discovering his powers and Clark trying to balance being a hero with being a father. The show isn't about super-powered beings donning costumes to beat up bad guys. While other Arrowverse shows have dealt with similar themes, Superman & Lois is the first to do so without focusing on being a superhero. For example, Black Lightning dealt with similar family themes, but is still primarily about Jefferson Pierce fighting The 100, and his daughter begins crimefighting almost immediately after discovering her powers.

Superman does appear in Superman & Lois and is presumably still averting Nuclear disaster and catching criminals, but much of this happens either offscreen or in brief subplots. The best moments in the show are scenes with Clark trying to coach Jordan, like the moment when he quietly tells his son to let out the built-up eye energy on the football field. These moments work because they're so earnest. While the circumstance is fantastic, the parent-child dynamic and the coming-of-age allegory are incredibly relatable. Clark doesn't know what to do, but he's trying his best. Jordan, as a typical teenager, lacks the maturity to make smart choices. He struggles to understand and control his powers, and he reacts to situations impulsively. He has the concerns of a typical teenage boy: his interest in a potential romance with Sarah, his newfound popularity thanks to football, and his emerging sense of self as he navigates puberty. Instead of scenes with Clark and Jordan stopping bank robbers or flying, audiences get glimpses of their family life; it's a story where the character motivations always feel genuine.

The relationships in Superman & Lois are realistically complicated and nuanced. Jordan and Jonathan Kent break the CW's warring brothers trope by being supporting and caring about each other, even when they disagree. Clark and Lois clearly love each other while having their own separate lives, and the show wisely avoids using Lois as a damsel in distress figure for Superman to save. None of the characters are perfect, with Clark in particular struggling with parental choices and the twin boys making the kind of dumb decisions teenagers make. Unlike The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which overcomplicated its first season with unnecessary global stakes, Superman & Lois keeps the story grounded on its family dynamic, which is a refreshing new standard for superhero stories.

- Screen Rant