one thing that's been fun to notice as i transition from teen wolf obsession into dead boy detectives obsession is how the difference in the quality of the show directly correlates to my need to write fanfiction for it.
watching teen wolf propelled me into a frenzy of fanfic-writing like never before, the likes of which i had not even felt with shows i enjoyed just as much as i enjoyed teen wolf. the fact of the matter is, teen wolf sits in the purview of media that is really rather bad, but just good enough to make me absolutely fucking bonkers about all the ways it could be better. in other words, THIS SHOW WOULD BE SO GOOD IF IT WERE GOOD. similar to merlin, teen wolf has a variety of characters, relationships, and plotpoints that are incredibly interesting and compelling, but the writing choices made and the execution of said plotpoints leaves a lot to be desired. teen wolf was (and is!) "good" in that i enjoyed it, in that i fell in love with the characters and their relationships, in that i felt visceral levels of emotion when the characters in question went through the terrible ordeals the show had in store for them—but then there are so many missed opportunities, so much lost potential, so many empty places or holes that never get explained, so many emotions or relationships or traumas that don't get paid NEARLY as much attention as they should be, and that, coupled with my aforementioned love of the characters and burning sense of injustice over the wrongs they faced at the hands of teen wolf's sometimes-shitty writing, was enough to shoot my posted fanfiction count up from five-ish to an entire eleven (to say NOTHING of the countless other unfinished pieces still sitting in my drafts).
and then we have shows like the sandman, and dead boy detectives, which... are so good i can really do nothing except scream about all the different reasons i love them and drown my blog in content for them ('the sandman' is included here because i had the same relationship with it after watching it as i have with dead boy detectives now). sure, there are some things in the show that are probably unsatisfactory to some people, and of course 'fixing canon' is FAR from the only reason people write fanfiction, but... there aren't any empty spaces. there's nothing to FIX; only eight episodes of absolute glorious, campy, heartfelt, sensitive, beautifully-written nonsense that i am losing my mind over more and more by the day. like with the sandman, my only real urges to write anything for dead boy detectives are to try and concoct some possible crossover with merlin, because i just LOVE shoving that magical little twink into as many situations as possible. i love the characters, and i would love to see how they work and clash against ANOTHER beloved character... but other than that, i just want to yell my love for this show into the sunrise and appreciate everything the OTHER creators in this fandom have to offer.
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My personal ranking of all of the episodes directed by Matthew Gray Gubler
1. Mosley Lane, 5x16: the first episode directed by MGG and arguably one of his most iconic. The carnival themes along with the actual story created a really stressful but engaging watch and I loved watching the mum be proved right. The line ‘he was alive yesterday’ really sealed the episode for me.
2. Mr Scratch, 10x21: I love dark and creepy episodes, as you will see from this list, and this episode was perfect. The horror movie aspects added to the mind games that were being played on both the audience and the characters were insane. I loved how the lighting in this episode remained dark so the audience never got any reprieve from the horror. We also had to grieve each character at some point.
3. The Lesson, 8x10: this episode was so gruesome and I don’t normally like gore but this was done in such an interesting and terrifying way. I loved the ballet scene and the end when Hotch is walking through the fake ‘audience’- both such beautifully haunting scenes and I loved how we were put inside the unsub’s delusion.
4. Lauren, 6x18: arguably one of the most iconic episodes for Emily Prentiss’ character. I really loved how this episode opened a lot of things up for Prentiss as a character and also allowed for a lot of things about her to be explained. I also loved the reveal about Doyle’s son and it really left me on edge and questioning a lot.
5. A Beautiful Disaster, 11x18: I really deliberated this ranking because I wanted it to be higher but didn’t know where to place it. I’m not easy to make cry yet this episode had me sobbing. It was so intense and Morgan’s departure was done so beautifully, I honestly didn’t know what to do with myself after watching it. MGG really perfected his craft with the set out of this one.
6. Tall Man, 14x05: this episode is amazing because you can see the influence it takes from the real life Slenderman case which made it really eerie but interesting to watch. I also loved that the episode was JJ centric and we got to learn more about her and her background with Roslyn and her parents. This episode really made me adore JJ’s character even more and AJ’s acting was incredible (I know that isn’t a note about MGG’s directing but I just needed to give AJ her credit because she was insane).
7. Heathridge Manor, 7x19: the old Salem themes with the medieval dresses and the old rituals? Stunning. The visuals for this episode were amazing and the story was so interesting. The end when she hallucinates and we are left with the image of her alone on the doorstep; my Lord.
8. Elliott’s Pond, 12x06: this might not be the right word for a Criminal Minds episode but it honestly felt kind of cosy? With the 80s horror themes and the overall lack of death, this episode is more wholesome than other Gubler episodes whilst still maintaining his classic spark. The end of the case itself was really emotional and heartwarming and I’m glad that MGG gave Hotch’s character some semblance of a goodbye because we know how close he was to Thomas Gibson.
9. Blood Relations, 9x20: probably the most messed up episode ever. Picture every dark theme you can put into a piece of media and you get this episode. It honestly made me feel sick and I think that’s why I liked it so much; I like episodes that make leave an effect and this one definitely did that. I can’t even describe what happened in this episode without getting banned but oh my. This only isn’t higher because I preferred the storylines in the previous episodes.
10. The Capilanos, 13x17: this episode had a good premise and I think the introduction where there is no music and you’re left with the odd squeaks of the clown was amazing. I liked the calls to IT, my only issue with this episode is it had the opportunity to be really tense and scary but the middle chunk of the episode just wasn’t. The end of the case was good though and it started to pick up a lot.
11. Alchemy, 8x20: this episode had a good storyline and the visuals definitely had influences from horror movies such as The Shining. The only reason it’s not higher is because it didn’t hit me as hard as the others, but it’s still a really good episode to watch.
12. The Gatekeeper, 9x07: the storyline was good, it just felt more like classic Criminal Minds than a Gubler episode. The main star of this episode is the team bonding that we get to see with Rossi helping Reid grieve Maeve and then the karaoke scene was so beautiful.
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okay i meant to make this post forever ago but my personal opinion on why so many people were so dissatisfied with lightfalll (disclaimer: i am not one of these people, i love lightfall SO much), is that lightfall was kind of subjected to a really aggressive marketing campaign.
like, stick with me here, i feel like almost all the lightfall release content (the trailers especially) were so focused on battling the witness, how this battle has been centuries in the making and this is the Second Collapse Finally Finding Us, only for there to be,,, no real resolution. the end was left on such a severe cliffhanger, but not only that, there was NO battle with the witness. the witness didn't even seem to be having a hard time at all with what we WERE throwing at it.
and for narrative reasons *i* am obsessed with this ending; in terms of storytelling i adore practically every creative decision that was made in lightfall, but i think the reason that so many people were so upset about it is because lightfall had such intense marketing and was rooted in the implication that this was the End of Days, only for us to get almost no closure, and instead so many more questions.
(there's also something to be said, i think, about the fact that the people who ARE most upset about this are like, the youtube gamer dudebros who's content is very very often rooted in the aggressive, violence-and-warfare, pvp-centric, no-interest-in-lore approach to destiny, and that the people i've seen primarily ENJOYING the narrative decisions (or at least being understanding about it) are the artists and writers and loremasters of the fandom, but i'm not quite sure,,, how to expand on that point.)
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alright chat . it's time for "dissecting the inherent tragedy of transformers: botbots and the relationships in them":
toxic doomed yuri edition ( referring to these two ↑ )
(yes, i made this picmix myself 4 this. i have no regrets. also no tl;dr because you guys NEED to read this)
something i want y'all to understand is that it is Not about the idea that spud wasn't loved. he was VERY much loved by everyone, ESPECIALLY burgertron.
the whole point is that he sabotaged himself in the process of ruining someone else's life, someone who valued him and his word above others. he and burgertron BOTH let their ego get in the way of their personal lives, the only difference is that burgertron at least had the dignity to swallow his pride and apologise when it mattered most.
He gave spud a second chance because he loved him. because he recognised that he does deserve redemption, and above all else, he wants spud to know he cares, even if that means he'll never see him again, or they'll never be friends. (Even in light of the "sidekick" comment, i genuinely don't think he held any inherent malice in that statement. even if burgs was an egotist, he still loved him.)
the worst thing burgertron did in their relationship was be unaware, and im sure that despite his ego, he never meant for spud to get hurt. that's why he went out of his way to protect him, when he couldve just stood there and let spud get put on the back of a truck to never be seen again. it would have been easy.
but he didn't. he did the hard thing. the Right thing. he stood up for someone who never did the same for him.
Spud Was Loved.
Spud Is loved.
and sometimes love isn't going to look pretty, or manifest in holding hands and cuddling, and it isn't all rainbows and sunshine. it can hurt.
it can be letting go of someone who you hurt by accident, who you never meant to harm, but it happened anyways because you made the fatal mistake of being oblivious.
And that's what Burgertron did. he let Spud go, because he understood they both needed time to heal on their own terms. regardless of if he's mad at him or not, he does still harbor positive feelings for him, and he stood up for him during times he probably shouldn't have. If he ACTUALLY hated spud, he wouldn't have stuck his neck out for him at bot prom. or believe spud when he was lying through his teeth in the games.
And that's what makes them so tragic. perhaps in another world, another life, they'd have been Actual good friends, who truly stuck by each other. maybe things would have been different.
But we'll never know that now, will we?
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