#SHE did nothing wrong in the engagement episode (just ghosted him) so when he dumps her it's not HER fault

[all-pacas]

Would love to know if you have any theories about why House didn't talk to Chase about trying again with the patient in The Itch? He says they need him and when Cameron says he won't do it and suggests House talk to him, House doesn't and it's a bit of a mystery to me as to why not?

According to House, it's because he can't understand Chase's accent, lol.

Sadly, I don't think there's a deep answer here. House is entertaining himself with two mysteries this episode: what's going on with Cameron and Chase (which is an interesting side topic in itself, because they were coasting along in complacency until House rolled a bomb in and strengthened their relationship), and why Taub suddenly has so much time to help out. Asking Taub to do the surgery gives House the chance to confirm his theory, as he says later on:

TAUB: And why do you think I’ll be doing [what you ask]? HOUSE: Same reason you did the surgery. TAUB: That was because it was an emergency. HOUSE: No. It was because your marriage is falling apart.

If I were to read more into it, I'd also say that Chase makes it pretty clear that he isn't super into this plan or helping House, and while House does like poking at Chase he… actually seems to respect his space, lol. Chase has boundaries now, and House doesn't push them much! If Taub hadn't been available, House probably would have reached out to Chase, but it isn't necessary.

Later on, Cameron does approach Chase for another surgery, although it isn't clear if House suggested it or not. I think it was probably on her initiative, though, as Chase points out the surgery she's asking for is impossible and she's really just there to pick a fight. House would also know the surgery is pointless, and unlike Cameron, isn't trying to make Chase mad so he can feel good about storming off in a huff, lol.

[sulietsexual]

Hi I see you post a lot of pro Chris stuff and I don't want to push you to discuss anything but could you give me one example of when he treated Lorelai better than Luke? I mean he didn't even show up at the hospital after her dad had a heart attack and Luke did.

I’ll address the hospital point first, because it’s not as cut and dry as “Chris didn’t show up for Lorelai and Luke did.” 

In the episode in question we learn that Chris turned his phone off after his fight with Lorelai the night before and that’s why he didn’t turn up. It wasn’t because he was deliberately staying away, it’s because he literally didn’t know what was going on because his phone was switched off. Was switching off his phone and ghosting his wife for a day immature? Yes, of course. But he had no way of knowing that Richard would have a heart attack and that Lorelai would need him that day, and we do see that as soon as he turns his phone on and gets the messages he goes to the hospital. So, yeah, not a simple as “Luke was there and Chris wasn’t” but more a case of “Chris made a bad decision in turning his phone off and ending up looking like he didn’t care when in actuality he wasn’t aware of the situation”.

It’s hard to compare Luke and Chris and their relationships with Lorelai because they were so different and happened at such different times in her life. But I will always maintain that Luke treated Lorelai really badly during their relationship (and even before it), for a number of reasons.

For starters, he’s terrible at communication. He often just blows up at her instead of actually talking things through, such as when he yells at her when she buys his dad’s boat or the weekend they spend with Rory and Logan at Martha’s Vineyard where he’s snarky and complains the whole time. He doesn’t talk to her when he has a problem, he just yells and expects her to read his mind.

He cuts her out of his life time and again. At the beginning of Season 5 he tells her that he’s “all in” and then at the first sign of trouble, he bails. The whole debacle at Richard and Emily’s Wedding wasn’t even her fault (it was Emily and Chris’) and yet Luke dumps her, leaving her alone at the wedding and breaking up with her, simply because he didn’t want to deal with the fact that Emily didn’t like him and Chris got drunk and acted like a douche. Lorelai did nothing wrong in that scenario, yet he made her feel like he couldn’t deal with their relationship, made her feel like she had driven him away, and didn’t go back to her until Emily literally told him to. He went from being “all in” to bolting at the very first sign of trouble, instead of actually talking things through with Lorelai.

Then there’s April and really the entirety of Season 6. After (once again) screaming at Lorelai for something that wasn’t her fault, he tells her that the most important thing is trust, that they can’t have a relationship without being honest with one another and that he wants her to tell him everything. Then he finds out that he has a daughter and he hides it from Lorelai for two months (and probably would have continued to hide it if she hadn’t accidentally found out). After all that talk about trust and honesty, he hides something that huge from his fiance, lies to her face for two months and cuts her out of his life. If I were Lorelai, I would have been so hurt and betrayed.

Then, he postpones the wedding, right after Lorelai discovers that he’s been lying to her and keeping her out of such a huge part of his life, essentially sending the message that he doesn’t want to commit to her, that she doesn’t matter to him. He then spends the entire season blocking her from that part of his life, not letting her meet or spend time with April, not communicating with her, keeping her out of the loop and remaining blindly oblivious to how much he’s hurting her. He makes her feel small and insignificant, like she doesn’t have a place in his life, like he doesn’t want to be with her or share his life with her. Lorelai ends the season miserable because the man she wanted to spend her life with has treated her so badly for so many months. It’s horrible to watch.

Now, while Chris isn’t always the best person or the most reliable guy, he has always been clear with Lorelai. She has always known where she stands with him. At sixteen years old he was prepared to marry her, go to work with her father and commit to her and Rory but she turned him away. Over the years he has always been clear that he loves her, has always communicated and been upfront about his feelings. When he leaves in Season 2 it’s not because he wants to, it’s because he’s being the decent man and going back to Sherri to be a father, to support her and his child - something Lorelai didn’t let him do.

Then, when they’re together in Season 7, he is open and honest, he communicates with and talks to Lorelai. He lets her be a part of Gigi’s life and talks to her about changes in his life, he shows her Sherri’s letter within days of getting it, he discusses his daughter with her and actually lets Lorelai be a part of his (and Gigi’s) life. When they fight, they communicate openly afterwards, acknowledge why they were fighting, and reconcile (as opposed to Luke, who just yelled and then dictated the terms of their reconciliation). 

Chris is also, IMO, a better match for Lorelai. He is more outgoing and extroverted (like her), he kept up with her and knew how to handle her best. They had a playful and light banter, as opposed to the snarky and often mean “banter” which Luke and Lorelai had. Chris was happy for her when she was with Max and wished her genuine congratulations, as opposed to Luke who spent Lorelai’s entire engagement telling her that marriages fail and talking about how disastrous weddings were but then seemed to think that making the Hupa (sp?) made up for months of snarking.

But what of Chris’ behaviour at Emily and Richard’s wedding, you ask. Yes, let’s talk about that. Chris was a gigantic douchebag at that event. He was drunk and awful and he shouldn’t have said the things he said. He had also just suffered two extremely traumatising life events mere months before. His father had died and his wife had left him. He was emotional, grieving and vulnerable and Emily manipulated that vulnerability. While that’s not an excuse for his behaviour it is a reason and given how the rest of the time Chris is supportive of Lorelai and her relationships, this was definitely an OOC moment for him, brought on by his grief and loneliness.

So this got very long, but hopefully has cleared things up for you regarding my feelings towards both Luke and Chris and their respective relationships with Lorelai.

[scoobydoominuscoobydoo]

Why we started shipping Shaphne. Just Random Rambling-

I’m gonna go ahead and say this is not an argument on why Shaphne is better than Fraphne because no ship in better than another, especially in the Scooby-Doo universe.

I’m gonna take a few moments to discuss the worst portrayal that ruined my opinion on Fraphne for a long time. 

And just because Shaphne is always gonna be the OTP of this blog doesn’t mean I don’t get why people ship Fraphne. I’ve seen every incarnation of Fraphne to date and they actually are cute, I get it.

Okay with that, let’s have some fun!

Mystery Incorporated:

Let’s start by addressing the only Scooby show that actually made Fraphne canon, and how they managed to screw it up so poorly it wasn’t even funny.

Now listen, MI was the incarnation I grew up with so I do actually have a lot of sentiment attached to it. But I am not going to argue with the fact that it did a poor job of characterizing all of the gang, Scooby included.

It tried it’s best to try and flesh out the gang to have them feel more, real. Like actual teenagers.

But oh my Lord they just made it worse.

And I think the one who got the worst of it was Daphne.

Her amazing and well rounded character that had existed since forever had been pushed down to the pretty girl that had a crush on Fred. And for most of the first season none of her actions were outside of her crush shenanigans. 

And she absolutely did not deserve that, Daphne was not part of Scooby-Doo solely to be Fred’s love interest. Way back in 1969 they understood that because Daph’s actions did not revolve around Fred 24/7.

When I watched the show when I was younger I never caught onto just how much of her “development” was her managing to get Fred to say something romantic to her. I honestly love the episodes in season 2 where Daphne isn’t in love with anybody because she actually gets the chance to just be herself.

Be quirky awkward Daphne.

And then she comes full circle and returns to having the same kind of relationship she had with Fred in season 1.

When they were together it wasn’t any better.

Rewatching the episodes when they were dating now when I’m older honestly made me uncomfortable. And when they got engaged it was laughable how poorly that was executed. Tbh I’m sure Fred had no idea that he proposed to Daph and just went along with whatever she said.

Then he just goes ahead and dumps her like it’s not painful or any sort of big deal while it actually crushes Daph enough to distance herself from the rest of the gang.

Season 2 Fred made me incredibly freaked out, like I love Fred Jones to bits and pieces but MI season 2 Freddie was the worst version of him and anyone who believes otherwise can explain why they disagree. 

I’m honestly curious if other people weren’t bothered by his disturbing behavior towards Daph for the beginning of that season.

Anyway bottom line, MI was why I had lost interest in Fraphne.

And why I gained a new interest in Shaphne.

I’m sure everyone remembers that episode in season 2 where...um...stuff happened.

Mod Silas is still convinced they slept together and I feel like it’s strongly implied but whatever.

That’s not what made me ship Shaphne since during all of that Daphne though Shag was Fred and Shag also thought he was Fred. Anyone feel like explaining how they managed to experience the same hallucination? So seeing that whole thing as Shaphne does kinda seem pointless.

What made me ship them was the short scene that happened afterward.

Both Shag and Daph quickly figured out what had happened and for like a few seconds they just stare at each other and don’t say anything. Like no panic or weirdness until Fred and Scoob reacted.

Shaggy ogles over being kissed by an angel, like twice I think.

Now both of those things don’t seem like a huge deal until you remember how much of a disaster these two’s relationships in the past were.

Both of them being in very forceful and controlling relationships.

Now it’s very probable that both of those reasons mean absolutely nothing and of course I’m reading into things as always.

But that was enough to catch my attention and pull me down into a void.

Because I’m gonna go ahead and be 100% honest with everyone:

Shaphne is never gonna be canon!

We all know it.

This isn’t a Riverdale/Bughead situation where people had wanted Betty and Jughead to get together long before the idea of Riverdale was created.

People were always for Fred and Daphne. And since the dawn of time it’s been clear that Fred and Daph are always gonna be each other’s respective love interest.

Hence why Shaphne is a void of pain.

But as I became open to the idea of it I made an observation.

Though Shag and Daph have very little interaction in most of the shows it was enough.

Shaggy and Daphne always take care of and understand each other. And it’s also super obvious that Daphne is very protective of Shaggy. Different from how she’s protective of the rest of the gang.

I’m not sure why their dynamic has always been like that, but it’s a dynamic that’s survived all the way into the modern age which means a lot to me.

Another thing that’s clear is Daphne loves Scooby.

Possibly just as much as Shaggy does idk.

The significance of that fact is best explained through a motto that Mod Silas and I have always had since we started shipping it:

“You can’t get Shaggy without getting Scooby.”

This was the biggest amount of drama with Shelma in MI was that Velma always saw Scooby as a dumb dog, as Shaggy’s pet, when it came to their relationship. And never saw him as Shag’s best friend, which is exactly what he is.

So when Shag broke up with her, she chose to blame the dog even though the reason he gave her was he wasn’t ready for a serious relationship.

And for the rest of the show Velma only ever gives Scoob sarcastic and condescending treatment.

 But Daphne has always loved Scooby, that much is clear,

Scooby and Daphne’s bond within MI alone is something to be appreciated.

And over the course of time I just kind of enjoyed the fact that Shaggy and Daphne would have a very healthy relationship, platonic or otherwise, if it had ever been further explored.

That’s a good portion of Shaphne, unexplored potential. 

And it’s definitely gonna stay unexplored.

However MI was just the beginning of my unhealthy Shaphne obsession.

The rest of the Universe:

Now the other Scooby shows had me approaching Shaphne differently because I wasn’t comparing it to Fraphne or Shelma in anyway since I didn’t have anything against the other incarnations of the ships.

For this I was able to just appreciate the dynamic Shag and Daph provided as a whole and not have to have that be my central focus for whatever show I was watching.

Like I can actual enjoy the friendship between the gang.

This version of Shaphne is the most relaxed and the one I wish got more attention, because this is the one where you see that they respect and understand each other. They also seem bonded over their love and protectiveness over Scooby which always gets me grinning like an idiot.

Daphne being protective of Shag is also another nice thing that’s presented.

However, in the old Hanna Barbera cartoons, romance was never supposed to be the main focus, or even really an element in the shows.

And to be fair romance isn’t meant to be the center of Scooby-Doo, it’s the friendship between four kids from very different social classes. 

I will say that shipping Shaphne and keeping up with all of the made for TV films is typically a treat since there are a good handful of them that just provide plenty of scenes showing the perfect dynamic they share.

For people who are looking for recommendations I’d say #1 is Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Phantosaur, which on it’s own is a really good movie just to watch. But the Shaphne on top of it is a nice addition.

For #2 I’d say both of those live-action movies Cartoon Network made. The Mystery Begins and Curse of the Lake Monster.

While I have problems with those movies, *cough cough* Fred with brown hair *cough cough* 

I think those movies do the best job of portraying Shaggy and Daphne’s relationship and it’s really sweet to watch.

13 Ghosts + New Scooby and Scrappy:

I’m gonna go ahead and finish this off with the two key pieces in the Shaphne art museum.

I’m sure everyone is already aware of the existence of the two shows where it’s just Shag and Daph and company.

These are the ones where we actually get to see Shaggy and Daphne work as a team it’s all I ever needed and more. While the main reason these exist is because Shaggy was the most popular character and then they added Daph ‘cause they needed a pretty girl.

“How to make a famous cartoon in the 70′s 101.”

Now both of these shows focus like a lot more on the “comedic relief” and their fun shenanigans than on the duo but that’s to be expected since this show was made for kids.

But for the most part it’s worth sitting through Flim Flam just always talking and never shutting up or Scrappy constantly saying “Puh-pup-puuuppyy Powweerrr!!” Every 8 seconds to see Shag and Daph in the background acting like overwhelmed babysitters that aren’t getting paid enough.

Plus there was all that fun drama where people thought they were living in the same house together.

While I am very certain that these shows don’t exist because everyone at HB was secretly the biggest Shaphne shippers in the world, I am very thankful for them.

In then end I think the reasons I ship Shaphne aren’t because I want the underdog to get the girl in the end. And I don’t want it to be like some sort of ‘guy on the wrong side of the tracks dating a pretty, rich girl.’

I really just want these two to be happy and functional and honest and themselves.

I always just see it as them being there for each other because though they may be really different people it’s never bothered them before. I just see two people who accept and help each other and that’s just something I see even though their dynamic gets no screen time.

At the end of the day Shaphne is always gonna be a fill in the blanks kinda ship. 

And I’m fine with that.

-Mod Ninja 

[all-pacas]

I should clarify my previous ask, a world in which only cameron works for house but chase doesn't, would they date? Because we both know if they start dating AND are the only members of houses team, he'd fire them both.

a) I'm not actually sure House would fire them. He makes a big deal about Foreman and 13, and Foreman himself brings up this point:

FOREMAN: You were fine with Chase and Cameron dating. You obviously don't actually have an issue — HOUSE: You're fired. FOREMAN: How long are you gonna keep this up? We know you're not — HOUSE: Wrong. Again. In fact, in the last few weeks, it's hard to remember a correct call you made. If Chase had compromised his professional judgment to help Cameron, I’d have fired his ass, too.

Now, Cameron and Chase did have unprofessional sex all over the hospital while not-dating, but it's also the middle of Chase's S3 hot streak and he manages to solve a case by himself during this period, so by House's standards, no problem. He had more of an issue with them when they were bickering after 'breaking up' in Act Your Age, but actually Cameron and Chase got it together pretty quickly, so again, didn't approach the firing threshold. Hell, even in S6, House says (or at least pretends) he wants to hire them both after Dibala. Maybe he's a shipper!

But I do think it means that House is being sincere with Foreman here. He does not give a shit who is sleeping with who if it doesn't interfere with work or standards. So Chase and Cameron could date in an AU where it was just them on the team. I don't think they would, because Cameron would lose her impetus to act on her feelings. But they could!

b) They might date in a world where Cameron stays and Chase is fired, though. It was Chase leaving that triggered Cameron to pursue him, after all — they have their kiss before she resigns, I think it was the idea that she genuinely might not see him again that pushed her to act. And especially once Chase moves to the OR, there's absolutely no reason Cameron should have to make a choice between Diagnostics and Chase; Chase himself isn't actually bitter or angry over his firing, even if he uses his summer vacation to grow House Boundaries, and in S6 he mentions (without bitterness) that Cameron always liked diagnostics more than he did.

Whether the relationship would last, though… Chase has always felt pretty insecure about House in terms of their relationship. Part of it is his own issues, but Cameron really doesn't help at times. I mean, it's basically confirmed a big part of their FWB relationship was an attempt to provoke House into jealousy. While I don't think it's as simple as "Cameron was just using Chase to make House jealous," wanting House to care was a factor, House's opinion has always really mattered to Cameron. She might not be 'in love' with him, but he's someone she sees through the lens of romance if that makes sense: he's a potential romance, not just boss or colleague, and she kind of acts like the possibility always exists, even if it's unlikely. So she gets way too flustered when accidentally saying she loves him, because she's thinking it could be misconstrued (where if someone like 13 said the same thing, it wouldn't feel ambiguous to her). As late as the episode where Chase and Cameron get engaged, Chase has "is she dumping me for House" in the back of his mind — he doesn't seem to take the possibility that seriously (he's more upset about the ghosting), but it still exists. So in a world where Cameron is spending every day working with House, gushing on her lunch breaks to Chase about their current cases, I think the insecurity would get way stronger, and probably lead to the relationship falling apart pretty abruptly, even if/though nothing is actually happening with House.