#about chantel; character development

[chantelbedford]

HOME SWEET HOME: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Below the cut is a fun little character development survey based around their homes. Feel free to use/repost this for your own characters if you'd like!

INSIDE THE KITCHEN

What is the character’s favorite food?: Steak (rare) with creamed potatoes and asparagus. Are they good at cooking? How good/bad?: She's pretty decent at cooking actually. She loves being able to provide meals for anyone that may need it; and she's never been told her food is bad. (Whether that's just people being nice she'll truly never know) Do they leave the dishes out?: Never. She may leave out a water glass on the counter for the next day but all leftovers are put away and dishes are always done before bedtime. What kind of food is in their refrigerator?: She has a tendency to cook large amounts of food at once, so often times there are several bowls of leftovers they eat throughout the week. She's also a big advocate for more healthier snack options which usually consists of fruits or vegetables from local sources. Do they cook, eat out or get take out/delivered food more?: Chantel prefers cooking at home. If they eat out it's likely for a special occasion like a birthday, town event of special celebration. If they cook do they prefer to cook alone or with company of someone? What about eating, is it preferred alone? She doesn't mind either way. She loves having company in the kitchen but she's content with cooking alone and has grown accustomed to it a lot since moving in with Charlie and raising Houston. Did your character learn to cook at an early age? If so who taught them? She did. She learned to cook with her mother starting at the age of five; there's never been a time in Chantel's life where she didn't feel like she in the kitchen cooking. If your character could only use one small kitchen appliance for the rest of their lives, what do you think it would be? Probably a mixer. Blending things together feels very much like a big part of her personality, similarly to a mixer.

A GLIMPSE AT THE LIVING ROOM

How does the character spend their downtime?: Chantel like to spend time with the animals, play with Houston, knit, read or cross stitch (which she'd just recently gotten into) If they like to watch television, what do they typically have playing, even if it’s in the background?: She's not really a big television watcher, but if she is watching things it's typically documentary series like America's Sweethearts or something similar. Do they prefer their living room to be a more intimate space for personal use or do they prefer to host people here? She doesn't really mind but she's always grown up in a house where it was more intimate. Televisions have never really been a huge part of her home and she would be more than content without one. If this space often more cluttered, or is it more clean and organized? Often more organized as it's kept pretty minimal in her opinion. Most things in the living room are things that belong there. If their living room could talk, what is one secret you think they’d share with guests about you? Probably that she often falls asleep on the couch and once she pries herself off of it, she somehow convinces Charlie she wasn't actually sleeping. Is there a specific scent you associate with your living room? A candle, incense burner, air freshener that’s designated only for the living room? Lemons or citrus. It's either from the lemon candle she has burning on the kitchen island or the counter cleaner she uses in the kitchen, but, her living room often smells like citrus fruit. Do the decorations in this room reflect their personality? For sure. She's always been very into animals and the rustic/hand me down feel and her home very much fits that exact vibe. What’s their favorite piece of furniture in this room? Is there a reason why? While it's not furniture, it's more a decor piece her favorite item is currently the plates that are hanging on the wall. They were her mother's and she thinks they complete the space perfectly.  

SECRETS OF THE BATHROOM

How does the character prepare in the morning?: By washing her face, brushing her teeth, putting on tinted SPF and likely some mascara just to make herself look a little more awake. When showering, does your character listen to music or do they prefer silence? She listens to music if other people are awake. She tends to shower when the house is quiet, though. If they do listen to music, do they sing along?: If music is playing, yes she'll hum along. What kind of hair products/make-up do they use?: Very minimal of anything. She'll use an tinted sunscreen and that's usually the only thing she does outside of mascara unless it's for a big occasion. How clean is this character?: She's really clean. Not only does she tidy all day, she's just naturally a clean person. Does the character have thousands of shampoo/shower gel bottles by the shower, or do they use only the bare essentials?: She only has the bare essentials. She doesn't feel the need to have more than that. Are they more of a bath or shower kind of person? Is there a reason why? Is there a spot for everything within the bathroom or is cluttered counters more their style? She prefers showers, especially these days but she used to love baths at once point in her life. Showers are just easier and faster which gives her more time to do what is needed. She likes to keep all the shower essentials within the shower, but with the small space of their bathroom she has a tendency to run out of room and it will get a little cluttered.

PERSONAL SPACE OF THE BEDROOM

How do they sleep? (Position, sleeping habits, bedtime routines): She is a really light sleeper, and she usually sleeps on her back or her left side. She doesn't have much when it comes to bedtime routines anymore, but, she does try to read a chapter or two of her book before sleeping if she can to settle her. Do they prefer sleeping alone or with someone else?: She definitely prefers sleeping with someone else. She's independent enough to be content with sleeping alone, but she hates it. What are their pajamas like?: Typically pajama sets, usually long sleeves and pants even in the summer because she does prefer to sleep with a fan in the summer time. What do they dream about usually?: She doesn't dream often, really. But when she does, often times her mom is in it. They're usually just talking, but she always wakes up feeling a little sad and also a little happy. How affectionate are they?: She's pretty affectionate when she cares. A lot of times people will know she cares before she ever tells them just based on her actions and responses to the people around her. Is their bedroom considered neat and tidy, or is the personal space a mess? Is there a reason it’s this way? It's a little messier than she'd like, but everything has a place and is in its place. It's just that they'd barely adjusted to her living with Charlie and getting settled when they got Houston, so they're still navigating sharing a space. Does your character’s bedroom decor reflect the rest of the house, or is this where they feel they can truly be themselves? Yeah, the bedroom decor probably reflects the rest of the house even more so than some of the other rooms do. It very much is them though.

WHAT’S IN THE ATTIC & HOW IS THE FOUNDATION

What is the character afraid of?: Dark places, swimming in water above her head, being unable to get to someone in need How do they deal with bad memories?: She prefers to talk about it. Even though she'll likely cry, she knows if she doesn't talk she won't be able to get it off her chest and she'll dwell in it which she hates. How do they hide their secrets?: She doesn't really. She's a pretty open book. If she really needs to talk about something though, that she can't talk about out loud she'll write herself a letter and tuck it away somewhere. What’s a childhood memory or story they hope to never forget? When she learned to ride a bike, and the first time she ever made an apple pie from scratch by herself. If you were to discover something unexpected in the attic, what would you hope it to be? Money would always be nice. Are there any traditions from their childhood they hope to carry on into their own families someday? She used to go caroling with her mom every Christmas so she'd like to continue that with Houston. Who does your character live with? Her boyfriend Charlie and Houston Do they prefer to live alone, or are they more comfortable living with other people? Chantel's never really lived alone. She lived with her mom until she went to college where she had roommates, then she lived with her long term boyfriend, only to move back home once they broke up and she lived with her mom and her cousins until her mom passed. She really only lived alone for a few months - maybe two years total - in her life and she prefers to live with people.

Here is where you can find a full glimpse of their home with a complete description. Here is where you can find a full glimpse of an insight to her home decor style. Disclaimer: I used the survey posted here for inspiration and some of the questions while some are from my own brain!

[esmerulia-chantelle]

Character: Escha Evenstar

"Things happen for a reason. We just need to find its meaning."

Hailing from a magicless world, she is suddenly brought to Twisted Wonderland and develops an affinity for magic. She is a kind and sweet girl who wears her heart on her sleeve.

Grade: Sophomore / Birth: 10.05

Height: 155cm / Age: 16-19

Profile

Profile template by @/yuushrimpy on Twitter. Link here!

Personality

🩷 Escha is known for being a sweet girl. She is very kind, gentle, and thoughtful of others. She is sensitive to the emotions of people around her and is a great source of support. She is a good listener and often gives good advice.

🩷 She is openly affectionate and likes hugs. She constantly gives hugs to people she is close to and comfortable with. She is someone who naturally compliments people but gets shy and a bit flustered when she receives one.

🩷 Escha also has an achiever mindset. She is diligent in her work and strives to always learn and improve herself. She always exerts a great amount of effort and doesn't stop until she completes her task, or at least until she reaches a "stopping point". This hardworking and meticulous nature of hers sometimes leads her to overworking herself and not taking care of herself properly (e.g. not eating on time, staying up later than usual).

Background

Escha is an adopted child. She's not averse to letting others know she was an orphan but only speaks of it when asked.

Apparently, she was abandoned as a newborn baby and was found inside a dumpster by someone from the orphanage. Her soon-to-be adoptive parents happened to be visiting at that time and took pity on her. Since they couldn't have a child of their own, they thought this was a sign from above and decided to adopt her. They gave her the name Esmerulia Chantelle, nicknamed Escha.

Escha found out about this truth at a young age, and it has been the source of her insecurity and why she doesn't open up about her problems. She thinks that her biological parents left her inside a dumpster because she was born as trash. That she was just a dead weight and that she was worthless.

This caused her to think very little of herself and why she strives to be better. Escha thinks that if she works hard enough, she can prove to others that she is valuable and worth something out of fear of abandonment. She also doesn't open up about the deep problems because she thinks she might bother others which makes her a "dead weight". When she feels extremely troubled, she cries and speaks about it with her stuffed toys.

She started to open up when she met Yuu at a later time. Since then, Escha and Yuu have remained close friends.

Escha doesn't like to talk about the "dark side" of her past (referring to her being found inside a dumpster and her feelings of insecurity) to others, but she was able to at least open up about her feelings to her parents. They were very supportive and gave her reassurances and comfort, telling her that they'll always love her and that she'll always be their daughter.

There's still some insecurity left in her but she is trying to overcome that. She is trying to focus on the positive things in life and is spreading love and kindness to others so that they don't feel what she feels.

She believes that everyone is worth something and worthy of being loved.

Unique Magic

🌟 Stardust 🌟

🌟 Escha can generate stardust which allows her to levitate and manipulate any object or living being it comes in contact with.

🌟 The stardust looks like magic sparkles in mixed hues of white, pink, purple, and blue.

🌟 The more stardust she coats/applies to the target, the easier it is for her to control it. But the more she generates, the more it tires her out.

🌟 She can cover herself with stardust which enables her to fly and maneuver in the air.

🌟 With great effort and precision, she can crystallize the stardust to create solid objects (e.g., a chair, platform, box). She particularly likes to make one in the form of a heart or star.

Trivia

Escha is a picky eater. She doesn't eat vegetables unless there's meat, and there's only a handful of vegetables she chooses to eat.

She likes cute and pretty things.

She has a collection of stationary materials, such as: unlined notebooks with designs on the pages, washi tapes, stickers, colored pens, etc.

She has a mini collection of seashells she finds at the beach.

She likes to go out on walks especially near the beach and around sunset. She does stargazing afterwards.

One of her weaknesses is her indecisiveness. She sometimes feels troubled with choosing what to do because of it.

She likes to sing. She's not a world class singer, but others have noted she has a dulcet voice and her singing is quite pleasant to the ears.

She is easily startled.

Her favorite color is pink and purple.

She dreams of finding her one true love.

She was initially in Year 1 Class A before being transferred to Year 2 Class A after only a few months upon recommendation of a professor.

Gallery/Cards

Coffin Icon + Groovy Candy + Magic Pen

School Uniform + Casual Attire

Tea Outfit

Sexy Green

Relationships

(to follow)

Vignettes

My Investment - Escha x Azul

[pastballads]

2. Are there any plot tropes you are sick of/refuse to RP? If so, what are they and why?

Questions Often Left Unanswered: Mun Edition. | Accepting. | @dcviated

Oh, there's plenty of plot tropes out there that I'm tired of.

"Character A stumbles/bumps into/crosses paths randomly with Character B".

After countless fandoms and partners who were always just winging it, I'm beyond tired of that specific plot idea. Writing Tino back in the RWBY fandom really put that plot trope in the grave. Surprise surprise, it's hard to write a workaholic who literally lives at work doing anything else.

Then there's always the classic "Both characters immediately get all buddy-buddy" trope.

It's boring. It skips out on all the juicy development. Realistically, the chances of you meeting a stranger one single time and becoming friends are slim. Even if you do get along, you're probably not gonna remember their name the next time you see them, or remember who they are. There's a reason why acquaintances are a thing. The only exception I'd make for this trope is if the characters are drunk— I've been around bars a lot, as my mother has been a bartender my entire life, and I've seen total strangers do dumb shit and talk like they've been friends forever.

If you want a real example, about two months ago I went with her to one of her old works, and a gal who's acquaintances with her— this gal being a medical professional, no less— motorboated her boobs not even ten seconds after an overenthusiastic greeting. People are wild when they're drunk.

And by extension, "OC meets MC/Canon Character and become instant friends".

Like, I get it. You like that character. It's just... done to death. It's the only trope I actively avoid like the plague, so much so that you can see it reflected in my writing and who I write with. Nine times out of ten, I go straight for OC muses over canon ones, putting all my ideas into what they can do. In those occasions where it is Canon meets OC, you'll always see me drifting toward more neutral or antagonistic threads. Case in point, Chantelle and Samus, Harima and Claudius, Malkuth and Leon, and plenty of others.

I'm not counting Raguna and Izren though— those two are farming sim/RPG protags. Of course their friendship would level up quick.

I could go on about all the plot tropes I don't like, but I don't enjoy complaining about a hobby we all share. I've been on this hellsite so long I've seen it all. I'm just tired of beating dead horses, that's all.

[localcuttlefish]

I am in desperate need to know more about your FAITH oc. Please!

Oh yippee!! I’m happy someone is interested in him!!

Fun fact, Isaac Chandler originally started way over in Dead By Daylight! I got really into the game in 2020, and I decided to build him around the concept of using audio cues and geographical features to the player’s advantage. He had perks that would allow you to see the nearest two generators from the highest accessible point on the map, and features that make it easier to hide from killers by seeing where the sounds of their footsteps/voices come from.

I moved him to The Magnus Archives fandom in late 2020 or early 2021, and in that universe, he is an Avatar of The Desolation, marked by The Dark. I started to write a statement for him, but it’s yet to be completed.  

He ended up being rebranded for Bloodborne in July of 2022, in which he is the antithesis of Ludwig the Accursed and Holy Blade. I wanted to see what I could do about making a character that specializes in misdirection instead of head-on savage attack.

In October of 2022, I remade him for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, basically turning him into the Antichrist. A human shadow sorcerer with an acolyte background. I intend to multiclass him a few levels into either bard or paladin depending on how his character arc plays out. 

When I rediscovered Faith: The Unholy Trinity a few months ago, I knew I wanted to rebrand Isaac again. So, I now bestow unto you, his backstory below the cut!

Backstory TLDR: Adopted into an evangelical family, but the family didn’t know his genetic predisposition to synesthesia, so they fed into a delusion of The Holy Spirit until it was no longer convenient, at which point Isaac snapped and burned down a church. 

CW FOR: Complications during childbirth, emotionally manipulative parents, evangelical parents, mentions of cult grooming, murder, delusion, panic attacks, 80’s-typical medical malpractice, negligence of mental illness.

Isaac was born in Rouen, France to Henrietta Lambros, a skilled musician who also had synesthesia like him. However, she had witnessed the gruesome death of her husband, Jehan Lambros, a mere nine hours prior, and this event sent her into shock and premature labor, which led to the loss of her life almost immediately after Isaac was born.

Isaac grew up in the care of the church for the first three years of his life because his uncle (and now legal guardian), Victor Chantel, happened to be a clergyman, but as soon as Victor had the chance, Victor kidnapped Isaac and brought him to America. Victor was a member of the Order of the Second Death in disguise, who believed Isaac may prove useful in a future ritual because of his circumstances. This cultist did not get very far in America before being apprehended by law enforcement personnel due to suspicious activity, and the truth of the cultist’s intentions spilled out quickly. Being that Isaac’s legal guardian had been arrested, Isaac was immediately put into the US foster care system.

He was officially adopted by Abraham and Sarah Chandler in Connecticut when he was four years old, but he wasn’t out of the hot water yet. Abraham and Sarah were incredibly devout to the Roman Catholic Church, and quickly imposed their beliefs on Isaac. Being in a vulnerable state, Isaac internalized their evangelical preaching, and began applying this lens of belief to everything he did. Since he was still too young to be enrolled in a Catholic school yet, his new parents send him to a nearby daycare for early education until they could reasonably get him into Catholic school.

The daycare taught him things. Like how to sing strange words in other languages, and laugh along with the man in red who visited every now and then. Isaac had been marked by the Order of the Second Death.

But lucky for him, his evangelical parents were very quick to send him to a private school the second he turned five. As Isaac grew, he developed a certain liking for music and music theory, citing the doves and pigeons singing being the reason as to why. Shockingly enough, his parents fostered this hobby into a full blown passion by encouraging him to join church choir. He was a prodigy of sorts, taking liberty to harmonize and using every chance he got to learn how to write and play music. The organist and choirmaster loved him for his enthusiasm and devotion to the craft and to the church.

Isaac claimed that The Holy Spirit was helping him write, though. At first, the adults in his life entertained this thought and encouraged him to follow the guidance. In reality, this was not The Holy Spirit at all. This was Isaac’s synesthesia manifesting as colors of sound, but warped by the dark powers of The Order of the Second Death’s influence on him. His synesthesia became almost fantastical and impossibly whimsical, taking shapes of sparks of fire and dancing lights and swirling smoke appearing before his eyes. Far, far different than any typical manifestation of synesthesia.

It corrupted his mind slowly as he grew up, still clinging to the idea that he was chosen by The Holy Spirit to see its ineffable plans. Once he was ten, his parents stopped entertaining his fantasy, and instead viewed his insistence as heretical or blasphemous. He was punished in progressively more severe ways for each time he tried to convince his parents he was telling the truth about what he was seeing. His thoughts grew darker and darker, but he progressed through school, still attending choir, still learning to play and write music. He was given medication to stop his “psychosis”, and conditioned by at least two or three different therapists, none of which came to any conclusion except serving to make him more resentful and delusional.

His resolve shattered on a cold Easter mass at midnight when he was seventeen. Before mass began, Isaac had desperately tried to convince the choir and his parents that he was seeing The Holy Spirit, to which his father shouted back at him that as soon as mass was over, Isaac would be sent to a psych ward.

Isaac promptly took the sanctuary lamp during communion and set the church ablaze, par the commands of what he believed to be the flames of The Holy Spirit demanding that he purged these non-believers. Nine were killed, and another twenty were critically injured in the blaze.

Isaac was charged for his crimes, but pled insanity, and was verifiably proven not of sound mind. In addition, he was charged as a child instead of an adult. He was institutionalized for nine months consistently, but for the following two years he was in and out of the psych ward due to frequent severe panic attacks and paranoia over fire, darkness, and The Holy Spirit. His parents weren’t in the least bit supportive through the process, preferring to just default give him up to the psych ward as soon as he had an episode instead of trying to work through his trauma as a family.

When Isaac was 20, he moved away and cut contact with his parents. For about a year, he struggled and drifted from place to place, making money where he could and using churches and abandoned buildings as sanctuaries. He ended up landing a semi-consistent job in retail at a guitar shop, where he would eventually meet Joseph Morgan, the lead bassist of Among The Bloodied. Joseph frequented the place, and eventually became friends with Isaac. The rest is history. Joseph found out Isaac was a musician, Joseph brought the rest of the band around, Isaac offered to fill the spot of the sixth band member in Among The Bloodied, and they’ve all been near inseparable since.

As of today, Isaac Chandler is the keyboardist, co-songwriter, and co-vocalist for Among The Bloodied. He avoids his hometown if he can, but Beelzefest is an essential stop on their yearly tours around the upper east coast. He avoids his parents and most big religious organizations, but he still keeps his unhealthy fear of The Holy Spirit. He hasn’t stopped seeing the flames dancing in tandem with music. 

[lonelier-version-of-you]

Omg I love that you find Harry annoying too! He honestly reminded me of Cameron a bit. And I loved Gemma!!! Shame she wasn't there for very long. Also, please do yourself a favour and try and avoid the whole love triangle shit they had Harry involved in along with Raf and his wife when he first joined. That made me want to bang my head against a brick wall.

He's so fucking annoying, I hate him so much. He really does feel like a Proto-Cameron: well-off, misogynistic white guy who thinks he's entitled to any woman in his presence. They even look vaguely similar! (And both have romantic storylines with great female characters who deserve way better - Gemma and Nicky.)

I never had particularly strong feelings about Gemma before (I guess because I hadn't seen many episodes she featured in), but watching through series 15 has made me come to really adore her. She's such a good character, and I've really enjoyed her storylines (...up until the will-they-won't-they with Harry, which I hate because, well, it's Harry). I agree, it really is a shame she was only there for 11 months!! I could watch years of her. (She was much more well-developed in that time than later characters who lasted around the same length though - compare her to, say, Roxanna or Meena or Kylie, and the difference is very stark. I feel like I know who Gemma is as a person, whereas we barely got to know any of the characters I listed.) Ty Glaser is a great actress, too.

I shall definitely try and avoid the love triangle storyline. (Why did Harry only seem to exist for love triangles? There was Harry/Mary-Claire/Gemma, then Harry/Amy/Raf.) I've never actually watched a full episode of series 16 (only clips), but I keep meaning to at least watch the first 15 episodes or so since they involve the exits of a lot of characters I like (Chantelle, Malick, Gemma, etc.). I'd want to stop before the love triangle, though! I've had people tell me about it before, and how much of a jerk Raf was in it, and it certainly doesn't sound like something I'd want to watch. :/

[eastendies]

It's not more of the same BTW. Like I say if you can't watch because it's triggering I get it but complaining that it's more of the same and they'r torturing him when you don't have a full view of how the stories progressing is very biased. It's not easy to watch but theres been more character development this year than the last 2 years and it's prob leading o therapy. People on Twitter already pointed out how the show is talking about bens past traumas a lot and unpicking his relationship with Phil and toxic masculinity through this story.

yeah bc obviously we needed this kind of sl to do that and we’ve never discussed THOSE issues before *points to deaf storyline that covered all those issues without making Ben into a whack a mole*

It’s not like they ever messed up the ending for a storyline that dealt with assault and violence for the sake of drama *points to Chantelle’s domestic violence storyline which left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths*

[bridgeportbritt]

Chapter 8 Summary

Read the chapter here or read the summary below.

In Chapter 8, we follow the stories of three main characters - Crown Princess Diana, Duchess Ella, and now Ambassador Grayson. Plus, we’ll see Spencer’s story, as well.

Diana - Official portraits and titles are released from Princess Diana’s wedding. Diana’s working (and watching Grand Duchess Bria’s new talk show) when Maranda enters her office with a note from the Royal Physician. After recieving the letter, she decides to heads down to see King Spencer to try to convince him not to abdiacate one last time. He assures her than he plans on abdicating, but wonders if there is something more to her inquiry. She says no.

Diana is distracted later that day as Gerhard tries to tell her about his day. He reassures her that she will make a great Queen and supports her brother’s decision to abdicate. She reveals to him what she recieved from the phsyician - she is pregnant.

Diana embarks on a Solo Royal World Tour then she accompanies Spencer to open Parliament, then she hosts an Ambassador’s dinner.

Alexandra visits Diana and apologizes for her role in bringing Chris to her wedding. Maranda interrupts to inform them that Chris’ interrogation was leaked and he admitted to wanting to kill Diana.

Diana visits Lillian in the hospital and the ladies resolve the bad blood between them. Diana runs into the Duke and Duchess of Parkshore who are expecting once again. She feels sadness towards her own pregnancy due to all the changes coming once the baby is born.

Diana’s busy schedule leads her to open the Britechester University of SimDonia which is her passion project. However, she collapses while given a tour.

Ella - Ella reminisces on moving from Brindleton Bay, Simerica to SimDonia. She interrupted by her school friends Victoria, Erik, Chantel, and Anthony at lunch. They chat about Karlee ditching them, the football player she has a crush on, and the new ballet teacher. Ella meets the new teacher at ballet practice, he is attractive and takes ballet seriously.

Karlee and football caption, Luka, invite Ella out. She pretends she’s going out to study but meets them at the old quarry which is closed but full of high schoolers. Luka is clearly flirting with Ella which annoys Karlee. The cops show up to break up the party. Luka runs Ella to safety and then kisses her. Later the girls dish about it, Karlee pretends it doesn’t bug her. Ella is unsure of their relationship, but goes to Luka’s football game. But jealous Karlee, kisses him to congrtulate him on winning. Ella leaves.

A sad Ella goes to ballet practice early and talks to her new ballet teacher who encourages her to stop focusing on non-issues. She develops a crush.

Grayson - Grayson is helping his brother move into Del Sol Valley. They talk girl troubles. Grayson is worried about his relationship with Sarah and living in Selvadorada where his first crush Olivia lives. Gianni says to not worry about girls and that he’s going to basically be a player.

Grayson officially moves out of Britechester and says goodbye to Sarah who is also nervous about his move. Grayson likes his new place and is invited to the palace for dinner. Olivia who lives with the Royal family is there and dinner goes well. After dinner, Grayson is approached by the Princess Royal who kisses him.

Diana - We see Diana is in the hospital on bed rest after her collapse, but she still wants to work which worries Gerhard. Diana lashes out at Maranda which further worries Diana. She hears his concern and rests.

In a dream, Diana is visited by her parents who assure her that she is ready to be Queen. They tell her to find strength in her loved ones. She decided to name the baby after her father.

Chris’s trial plays on tv and he is found guilty.

Diana apologizes to Maranda for how she acted and gives her the day off. Soon after, she goes into labor. Parker Johannes Winston De Geloes is born.

Ella - Victoria wants to talk to Ella about what happened with Luka but she is not interested. Erik is upset that Luka hurt his friend. Luka approaches and Ella says she doesn’t want to pursue anything with him despite him saying the kiss with Karlee was not mutual.

Ella fantisizes about her ballet teacher, but is interrupted by Vickie who reminds her about their styling appointment with Bria. They head to KBE SimDonia and meet Bria in her office and try on homecoming dresses. 

Back at school, Erik is trying to talk to Ella about homecoming but they are interrupted by Karlee talking smack about Ella. Ella confronts Karlee who just insults her more which leads to Ella punching Karlee in the face. An angry Bria has to go to the Deans office to talk punishment, the Dean suspends Ella from the dance and ballet.

Ella goes to grab the last of her things in the ballet room and runs into her ballet teacher Jonah. He expresses his disappointment and reveals he’s planning on getting engaged. This makes Ella even sadder.

Ella sooms with her friends at the dance who miss her. Erik isn’t with them. Soon he shows up at her home because he felt bad about her missing out. They hang out together which helps Ella feel better.

Spencer - Spencer finalizes his abdication with the Prime Minister at the Parliamnet building. He goes to meet with Diana and his nephew. Diana feels more confident about becoming Queen. Spencer officially abdicates and it’s all over the news.

Grayson - Grayson is taking on his new role very well while trying to maintain a long distance relationship with Sarah that is not easy.

He finds time to explore with the King’s son in law. He talks about the importance of supporting your partner’s interests. Olivia is also there because she is studying culinary and wants to test out a new recipe. When Olivia and Grayson are alone the connect well.

Olivia helps Grayson bring some artifacts home and they reminisce on how things were back in SimDonia. They are interrupted by a surprise visit from Sarah.

Sarah and Grayson’s trip is just alright. They aren’t entirely on the same page. Sarah expresses that she is nervous to meet his family who are in town for his college graduation.

Grayson’s family arrive and they seem to like Sarah. At lunch, Bria upsets Ella by telling Grayson about her punching another student. Grayson goes to check on his sister. Ella tells Grayson she is frustrated with their mom and he tries to reason with her. They also talk about his relationship with Sarah and Grayson finally admits things aren’t going well. Ella encourages him to break up with her.

As Sarah is preparing to leave, they finally talk and Grayson struggles to break up with Sarah but she does it for him and cites his relationship with Olivia as a reason. 

Olivia tries to offer support and Grayson takes her up on her offer to talk. He heads to the Palace but is cut off by the Princess Royal. Katalina demands that Grayson enter a relationship with her or she will sabotage his job.

Diana - Diana prepares for her coronation, but still feels some doubt. Her father and now grandfather are summoned to her in spirit form. Her grandfather offers some tough love which helps Diana confidently go to the ceremony. She is offically crowned as Her Majesty Queen Diana Ophelia Winston De Geloes, Grand Duchess of Sage.

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Marauders #22

I absolutely hated this issue, so be warned that’s a lot of salt here, and my usual whining, so skip this post if you’re not in the mood for that.  Also spoilers below.

First impression - what absolute, self-indulgent horseshit.  I hesitate to use “fanfic” in a derogatory way, but a lot of Marauders has read as being very “fanfic” in terms of self-indulgence, and greatly favoring certain characters while denigrating others.  I actually don’t think that’s a bad thing in fanfic.  It can be annoying to read if that’s not what you’re looking for (or it can be wonderful, if it IS what you’re looking for), but ultimately, fanfic is all about self-indulgence.  It’s about writing what you want to see in a story, and if Duggan’s Marauders was someone’s actual fanfic, I wouldn’t have anything bad to say about it.  I might dislike the characterization, and probably wouldn’t read it, but it ultimately wouldn’t matter because it’s fanfic.  Frankly, I’m just as bad about constantly centering everything around Pyro (and finding ways to work him into stories where he doesn’t even belong), because I’m writing just for myself, so I can be self-indulgent.  But I’d expect much better from a professional writer.  I’d expect much better from someone being paid to write a team book.  I’d expect a god-damn balanced book that actually pays attention to the whole cast and gives a thoughtful interpretation to ALL the characters, even the villains, rather than a book dedicated to shining a spotlight on two already well-established characters, and treating them like queens who step all over the rest of the cast. 

So, we ignore almost everything set up at the Gala, including the attack on Christian and the Marauder (the ship) being set ablaze.  Why aren’t the characters handling that, Duggan?  Is that really being saved for another month?  We don’t even know if Christian is dead or not, you can’t even spare a panel for Iceman reacting to this?  Instead, we tell a flashback story that eventually reveals that Lourdes Chantel is still alive, and Emma helped her fake her own death to escape from an abusive Sebastian.

What exactly is the point of this story, in terms of the overall Marauders arc?  Will Lourdes show up later to play a role?  Is this meant to further push Sebastian along some kind of path to redemption (recognizing that he drove Lourdes away with his actions).  Because so far, Duggan doesn’t seem the slightest bit interested in rehabilitating Sebastian.  This seems like yet another story establishing Emma GOOD, Sebastian BAD, the same message that’s been getting pounded into the readers’ heads for 22 issues.  Like, we KNOW, Duggan.  We know that you think the sun shines out of Emma’s ass, you’ve already well-established that you think she’s a brilliant, wonderful, compassionate, badass queen, through 22 issues of centering the entire series around her, at the expense of EVERY other fucking character in the book (even sometimes Kate, the other obvious favorite).  It’s gotten beyond tiresome at this point.  Like, I feel like even people who love Emma and hate Sebastian are getting bored by now, because it’s not even good storytelling to have a strawman villain who is no real threat just getting repeatedly knocked down.

So, Duggan has taken both Sebastian and Emma, and further removed any kind of complexity or nuance from them.  Sebastian can’t have a kind or tender side, he can’t ever be shown in a positive light.  His relationship was Lourdes was previously part of his tragic origins, pushing him to be a worse person than he’d been in a past, but no, lets retcon him to be a controlling abuser, whom Lourdes is desperate to escape.  Because it makes Sebastian look bad and Emma look good.  Honestly, it would have been more interesting and powerful to have Lourdes come back from the dead, and be disgusted by the person Sebastian has become.  That would actually have an impact.

And by the way, why did Lourdes need Emma’s help in establishing her new identity?  She was already part of the Hellfire Club, she’s the one who brought Sebastian in, she’s rich as fuck.  Lourdes should be well capable of getting away from Sebastian on her own.  She might need Emma’s help for faking her own death, but the rest of it?  Emma should just do a little hacking to access Lourdes’ personal fortune and transfer it into a new account, and then she’s good to go.  But no, Lourdes has to be treated like a little lost lamb, a helpless battered woman for Emma to rescue.  And Emma’s deal with the Kingpin further exonerates Emma for her past crimes, because obviously, she’s just working off the debt she incurred helping poor, innocent Lourdes!  It can’t be that Emma did bad things in the past because she was ambitious, cruel, vain, and power-hungry, she has to be a woke queen who was always there to help other women.

I think Duggan thinks he’s being feminist with all this, with the “women help each other,” message, and either ignoring or villifying all the male characters.  But he’s not.  It’s not feminist to take a very complex, interesting, powerful woman like Emma Frost and completely remove all responsibility and agency for her past crimes by turning her into an abuse victim and repeatedly retconning her to be better than she actually was.  (To be fair, Duggan is just continuing a trend already started by other writers).  Emma is ambitious, power-hungry, cruel, callous, self-absorbed, vain and snobby.  But she is also brave, intelligent, compassionate, kind, protective, heroic, and self-sacrificing.  All of those things are part of Emma.  She is a teacher who loved her students, and the love for those students is part of what sent Emma on her long, difficult path towards redemption.  Yes, she’s a badass queen, but she is also a flawed individual, who has worked to overcome those flaws and become a better person.  And constantly re-writing the past to make her an “always good” abuse victim who only ever committed crimes because the big bad men forced her into it cheapens that redemption.

Speaking of cheap redemption -     

The Wilhelmina subplot: Wow, Duggan really will prioritize ANY character over Bishop, Iceman and Pyro, won’t he?  I know this is me throwing a tantrum, because “Wah, Duggan is writing someone other than my favorites!” but after 22 issues I feel justified in this whining.  Iceman, Bishop and Pyro are supposed to be regular cast members, and so far Duggan has given more serious development and emotional scenes to Callisto, Forge, Dolores (the human contact at the X-Desk), Masque, Jumbo Carnation, Magneto, the Cuckoos, and now Wilhelmina.  I don’t mind the development for many of those characters, I like Callisto and Forge and Jumbo (although I’m a little annoyed at the Magneto stuff, since he’s already front and center in the Krakoa era, and about to star in a mini-series, does he really need more time in the spotlight?).  But honestly?  Fuck Wilhelmina.  I was never that interested in the Hellfire brats, and I’m not the slightest bit interested in watching the retcon redemption of a character that murders animals for fun.  Why does she get a spotlight story while the three dudes on the team STILL haven’t gotten anything more than vague background hints of character arcs.  I mean, compare the very emotional flashback and Wilhelmina’s breakdown to the half-assed, mostly taking place off- panel “redemption” that Duggan has given Pyro.  Just a single line of “maybe this crew is bringing out the best in me,” with no lead-up, no further reflection, no hints about Pyro changing his ideas before then.  Why did you even put Iceman, Bishop and Pyro on the team if you’re not going to use them, Duggan?  Because you’ve made it quite clear that you’d rather write ANY character other than them.  I can’t even look forward to Tempo and Banshee joining the cast next issue, even though I like them (and I really want to see more development of Tempo), because I know they will be yet more characters that get pushed into the foreground, while Iceman, Bishop and Pyro remain the underdeveloped background clown trio.    

Also, it seems kind of offensive to have a cruel, murderous female character, and then say that her cruelty is entirely due to sexual abuse?  What kind of message does that send to sexual abuse victims?  That it will turn you into a monster?  Why do female villains keep getting sexual abuse as part of their backstory?  Why can’t they just be bad?  Or have something else going on?  So the Cuckoos flip a switch in Wilhelmina and she’s magically “fixed,” or at least on her way to better?  Again, I think Duggan thinks he’s being feminist with this, but he’s not. 

At least Wllhelmina has been a recurring villain in this series, so I can kinda see how her potential redemption may move the plot along, but Duggan is still introducing new plot threads, while leaving so many others dangling.  What about Christian?  What about Shinobi and Fenris?  Will Bobby and Christian ever even speak to each other again?  Will the supposed main cast members of Iceman, Bishop and Pyro ever, EVER get a proper character arc?

Or will we get an entire issue of Emma, Kate and the Cuckoos giving Wilhelmina a redemptive make-over, because girl power, amiright?

[elle-smells]

I watched Bare The musical for the first time...

ok Honestly, as a musical and as a separate thing, it's not bad. Before anyone says anything, I think I get what it was trying to achieve with bullying (and social media) playing a big role in the development of the characters, I saw it and I am very aware. Anyways yeah as a musical, It's got a coherent plot, the songs are catchy and good, it flows well, I guess it works for what it is, so it is by no means a horrible show. However, as Bare? that's where I have more thoughts:

What I liked --

once again, songs were not bad, I would listen to them again.

Jason's little phone call with his Father, we get to have more moments alone with just him.

I appreciate that they tried to fix some of the stereotype-y things in the og. For example, Sister Chantelle was rewritten and not made into a typical sassy black woman. There is no "there is a black woman inside of every gay man". (she could've still been POC tho. there are ways to write a black woman that doesn't make her fall into that trope)

Nadia's duet with Ivy was cool. It added to layers to them.

I didn't exactly mind that Role of a Lifetime was given to Jason instead of Peter. It works for where they put it in the timeline of the show and actually, I think it would've been interesting if the Pop Opera had Jason sing a reprise of this song.

Overall, some of these little changes worked for the way they wrote the show.

Now, things I didn't like --

THE LACK OF RELIGION. One of the things Bapo does well is showing how the characters' faith plays a role in how they see themselves and the world. All the references to god, to praying, literally all of Epiphany, are almost entirely gone in the musical apart from a few exceptions. I felt like it was really lacking in this element that gave the original some of its heart and soul

Peter's coming out to his mom. See Me is such a good moment in the show. I missed it here

Idk, the length of Peter and Jason's relationship still matters so much to me. I wrote about this in another post but the fact that it's all built up frustration over years of hiding and telling each other that they would finish the journey how they started it, together, adds a whole other layer to each of their motivations and desires.

They butchered Portrait of a girl and I am SAD. They just took away Ivy's moment with that song and kept making her someone who is "not satisfied" bcs "oh I wish (Matt) being nice was enough for me"...why just why. Because that's not the point of Ivy's character at all or the point of this song in the original I-

They took away Nadia and Jason's moment in Plain Jane fatass (a song they didn't have at all but ok I get it). Their little sibling bickering and bonding showing how they had each other's backs, how much they cared, how much their parent's affected them. Also, they made Nadia Lucas and I still don't know how I feel about her being the one to give Jason the- yeah

The little plot with the sister and priest felt a little unnecessary, their purpose is to serve as parallels to one another in my mind but...ok

Not to say the Pop Opera is in any way perfect, because it's not and we all have to admit that it needs some change. But I wouldn't do it to the extreme of Bare the musical. I definitely prefer the Pop Opera jsut bcs I think it hits a lot more things better, and at its core, it really is a beautifully crafted show. So yeah, I wouldn't say I absolutely hate the musical but yeah it was just not it for me overall in terms of wanting to see a production of Bare.

[chantelbedford]

@chantelbedford just posted to Instagram for the first time, and tagged someone you may know, @charliesxdavis

[azianxpersuasionwrites]

tell us about your favorite character that you've ever played!

That’s super hard to answer. I’ll probably cheat and pick two, one older and one newer, because there’s a big different between my characters then (2009-2014) and now (2015-2020). It’s like they’re in different leagues. 

My favorite character from 2009-2014 was probably Blair Nightingale from Edgewood RP (@edgewoodrp). She was a lot of fun to play as one of my more carefree characters and one of my first characters that I started to get more in depth with in regards to relationships with other characters and her own motives and mental state. I liked her story and her personality and I’ve found small ways to incorporate her into newer characters. I’d play her a little differently now (as I’d play all my characters differently now), but I still love her and would definitely play her again. 

For my more recent characters from 2015-2020, I’d have to go with Karim Beckett from Skybourne RP. He is a character I played for only a short time, but really enjoyed his backstory and would have loved to have gone further in depth with his storylines to see him develop (either positively or negatively) because he had a lot of potential. I originally played super nice male characters, so he was my first attempt at a male character who wasn’t always a ray of sunshine and made a lot more mistakes that he had to learn from. I find that I’ve put in more aspects of Karim into some of the more recent male characters I’ve played because I’ve missed him so much. I would love to play him again and really see him develop and change. 

(I ended up liking Karim and his story so much that I actually added him and Chantelle into a short film that I wrote and directed!)

[fauxkaren]

Buffy Rewatch 2x07 “Lie to Me”

I love this episode. I really do. It’s an episode that maybe gets a bit lost among all the iconic season 2 episodes, but it’s so so good.

Even though this is an episodic story, we still get some character stuff that has been developing throughout the season. Namely that Buffy and Angel are kinda together, but also kinda not. And there’s a fair amount of insecurity and jealousy that keeps cropping up between them.

The episode opens with Drusilla about to feed on a little boy before Angel stops her. The relationship between Darla, Angel, Dru and Spike is so fascinating to me. It’s really complicated. Angel (rightfully...) feels a LOT of guilt for what he did to Dru which complicates everything about their interactions. Buffy that interaction, and so she is again feeling insecure about her relationship with Angel (made way worse by the fact that Angel lies about meeting Drusilla at the park later when Buffy asks what he was up to the night before), but no worries! Buffy’s old friend from LA has moved to Sunnydale and is here to cheer her up. Now it’s Angel’s turn to feel insecure and jealous! 

I love all the twists of this episode. Ford knows Buffy is the Slayer! Oh no, he’s a vampire groupie (hi Chantelle/Lilly/Anne!). Oh no, he wants to become a vampire, and he’s willing to trade all the other vampire groupie’s lives + Buffy’s life so Spike will turn him. OH NO, he’s doing it all because he has cancer and is going to die and wants to be turned into a vampire so he can live. And then Ford is turned, and Buffy waits by his grave so she can slay him when he rises. SHIT’S ROUGH.

That final scene in the graveyard between Buffy and Giles is SO good. Earlier in the episode, she’d asked Angel for the truth about Drusilla and she got it.... but it unsettled her. Because it’s v fucked up what he did to Dru, but Buffy still has feelings for Angel. It’s complicated and full of grey. So now, Buffy wants some black and white. She wants Giles to lie to her and tell her that everything is simple.

"Yes, it's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and we always defeat them and save the day! No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after.”

[dearjohnnyflynn]

https://flaunt.com/content/people/johnny-flynn

AUGUST 9, 2017

ACTOR AND MUSICIAN JOHNNY FLYNN'S VARIED STORYTELLING GIFTS ARE PERFECT FOR NOW

BY CHANTELLE JOHNSON

As I dial the mobile number to speak to folksinger and actor Johnny Flynn, I’m struck by the fact that almost a decade has passed since his debut album, A Larum which established Flynn as a part of the new folk movement alongside Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons. Yet times change, and in the intervening decade, Flynn has returned to his first love: acting.

Before becoming a well-known musician, Flynn attended drama school with intentions of becoming an actor. “I went to acting school after I was recording and making music and I was doing it alongside music. So, I was doing theatre and plays at the Royal Court,” he says, “I made quite an effort to keep the two things separate. It was important to me to make sure that I was taken kind of seriously in both fields, so I didn’t go onstage as a musician and talk about acting projects or vice versa. They’re two quite different universes, even though they’re both performative.”

Having worked on various lo-fi indie films, plays and smaller acting projects, Flynn is now taking on his most challenging role to date, starring as the young Albert Einstein in the ten-part National Geographic series Genius, produced by Ron Howard. The show focuses on Einstein’s progression from an idealistic and rebellious young man just developing his most famous theories through to his later years – played by Geoffrey Rush – as the world-renowned, hyper-famous scientist.

Best known for his mop of shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes, how did Flynn end up in the role of the celebrated physicist with whom he shares no obvious physical similarities? “I just thought it was kind of ridiculous that I would be seen as Einstein and I actually kind of passed up on it,” Flynn admits to me over the phone.

“But I was telling my friend and she was saying, ‘You’re a complete idiot. That sounds amazing.’ She sat down and helped me send off the tape, even though I’d missed the deadline. The next thing I knew, I was speaking with Ron Howard on Skype. He was talking about Einstein in a way that made me feel really excited about being in the project, even though I didn’t think I had the right to portray him. It kind of went from there.”

The physical transformation amounted to an hour in the make-up chair every day: contact lenses, prosthetics, and having his hair dyed black. The show features an all-star cast including Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush as the older Einstein, facing the rise of Nazism in the 1930s. Flynn had the freedom to construct his own version of Einstein – which he describes as quite liberating – since details on the young scientist’s character are sparse, aside from a few anecdotes.

Although they didn’t share the screen, Flynn says that creating the character was a collaborative effort with Rush to allow the two versions of the physicist to blend seamlessly. “We’d send each other references, clips, and people on YouTube and say, ‘this person is quite Einstein,’” he explains. “A broad range of people – like Harpo Marx, Bob Dylan in a press conference in 1964, or some funny clips of owls walking across branches. Or we’d collect adjectives that would sort of pertain to a collective idea of Einstein. It could be quite abstract.”

The program seeks to debunk myths about Einstein. Far from being a poor student, he was a solid scholar as a young man. He also had many complex affairs with various women, explored in the show as it traverses significant personal and historical events during his lifetime.

Aside from Genius, Flynn is filming the third season of the sleeper-hit show Lovesick. The series follows his hapless, romantic character Dylan who must inform his ex-girlfriends that he has an STD, while trying to navigate a quarter-life crisis as he explores his feelings for his best friend Evie, played by actress Antonia Thomas. Flynn has become incredibly close to the other cast members on the intimate shoot. “I’m in my bedroom at the moment and Antonia and Josh who plays Angus are in the living room watching The Night Of,” he says casually, “We’re all living together for these couple of months while we’re filming.”

Although it’s easy to imagine a student experience complete with bad takeaways and wild nights out, Flynn is a family man, married with two small children and he takes fatherhood very seriously. “I’m trying to be a whole person in front of my kids and not just this infallible deity, which was what my dad was to me, and I think that’s what makes for a big let-down when you get to 13 or 14,” he says. “My son is six and he’s super smart. He’s constantly wrenching my heart out of my chest with his observations and how he’s able to see the world. I don’t even want to be any kind of overseer or overlord to his existence. I just want him to flourish and be himself because he’s got such a unique perspective.”

Parenthood aside, Flynn has recently released his fourth studio album, Sillion (via Transgressive Records), a reflective record that explores his relationship with his father, who died when he was 18. It also touches on the current global political situation. “With everything that’s been going on in the world and the complex ideologies that have built up around the human mind and certain individuals and groups of people who are in conflict with one another, it just seems quite resonant to go back to something very simple,” he says, seemingly conscious of not sounding too earnest. “Rather than getting suspicious or insecure, for us all to look to the Earth and – this sounds incredibly hippy or something – but actually it’s just an image. It was for me, kind of a resonant poetic image.”

While he maintains a healthy dose of cynicism when it comes to mainstream politics, he intends to vote for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour in the upcoming UK election. “I’m behind that train but I do think the whole system’s a bit fucked,” he begins, “the answer doesn’t lie in politics and I think it will take a few generations for all this stuff to work its way out.”

When asked where the answer does lie, he suggests reading an article by Robert MacFarlane on the Anthropocene – the term given to the current geological era, which scientists think will be determined primarily by human impact.

“He was saying that there’s a call to arms for writers and artists to come forward with the language to process and understand the new epoch that we’re in. I think that’s why I’m happy to be a storyteller at this point. It reaches into people’s hearts and minds in a way that politics can’t.” Considering his current trajectory – music for the heart, stories for the mind – Flynn seems ready to help us find new dialogues for conversation, and maybe to divine some answers therein.

Written by Chantelle Johnson

Photographer: David Needleman at Jones Management

Stylist: Joshua Liebman at Honey Artists

Groomer: Eloise Cheung at Kate Ryan using Dior Homme

[lonelier-version-of-you]

About to rewatch S20E10 “Square One”. If I recall correctly this ep is the first time John loses a trial patient, so that should be interesting.

Edit 1: Oh Zav I miss you.

Edit 2: John on his iconic dictaphone. Also watching these episodes knowing what the 8th Doctor’s TARDIS looks like, I’m convinced the whole luminous blue vibe of John’s lab was an intentional shoutout to it.

Edit 3: I love this little Donna and Serena scene.

Edit 4: I really do love me some good morally ambiguous John content. They should’ve kept him this way, it was a lot more interesting than the supervillain direction they took him in.

Also Jac high on pain meds and actually being happy and friendly for once is hilarious.

And, a line from Fletch: “Have I stepped into a parallel Darwin?” Nah, Fletch, the parallel Darwin came later, in 2021 when Sahira was suddenly Henrik’s childhood friend for some reason.

Edit 5: We went from a Zav scene to a Jason scene just now. What a downgrade.

Also, gah, Jason: “Prison should be for bad, dangerous people, not good people like Ric who are just doing their best!” WHY DOES HE TALK LIKE A 5 YEAR OLD IT’S SO ANNOYING. I know we autistics tend to have different speech patterns but the way to write that is not to write dialogue on literally the same level you’d write dialogue for a neurotypical child character.

Edit 6: I love Roxanna’s blouse in this ep.

Edit 7: Absolute legend Ken Davies is back! I’d forgotten he was in this ep!

Edit 8: Jac is so fucking beautiful. She literally looks like a goddess or something.

Edit 9: John was SO blatantly severely mentally ill the whole time why did no one intervene??

Also lol @ Ollie joking about his lack of motor skills to Lofty the dyspraxic man.

Edit 10: When Jac said “it’s miraculous what a full 5 hours’ kip can do for you” I felt that.

Edit 11: I actually agree with Serena on something for once - the ‘Ric in prison’ storyline WAS “utter madness”.

Edit 12: The Rox and John dynamic was really fascinating. Also, John’s body language is VERY Henrik-esque in this episode.

And why does John talk like me? “There’s been no improvement, alas!” 😂

Edit 13: This episode is Jason in his 5-year-old era and not in a realistic developmental delay way (look at someone like Chantelle, she was autistic coded and “childish” but wasn’t written like an actual child) but in a ableist writing way.

Edit 14: ZAV!! I love his outfit in this ep. Also, it’s truly amazing how much character development he had when he was only on the show for 2 years.

Edit 15: Interesting dialogue. Rox: “I would err on the side of caution.” John: “You always do.”

Edit 16: Love the Jac and Ken banter. “I did the best I could, but despite my efforts, you pulled through.”

Edit 17: Rosie Marcel is SO good.

Edit 18: Zav was such an asshole when he first started out.

Edit 19: John on the dictaphone again!

Edit 20: John’s despair about the trial failing reads differently looking back after the later reveal that it was all about trying to save Lana.

Also, him lying to Essie and saying the implant didn’t fail... oof.

Edit 21: Very visible anxious stimming from John when his patient goes into arrest.

Also fuck I basically stole this scene for my one unfinished fanfic without remembering. I hope everyone thinks it was a deliberate parallel lmao.

Edit 22: I think the patient’s mum is doing a guest-character-speaking-for-staff member moment when she’s talking about the trial to John: “I didn’t think of the risks.”

Edit 23: Paul McGann is an INCREDIBLE actor.

Edit 24: John not wanting to bother Henrik by calling him about the Medical Director job :’))

Also, funny thing is, when John said he just wants what’s best for his patients I do believe he genuinely thought that.

Edit 25: HENRIK

Edit 26: “Meetings, paperwork... hardly John’s field of expertise, is it?” Lmaooo

Edit 27: I love early John with the curly hair.

Edit 28: John is very very good at manipulating people, whether he’s using it for good (as he is in this case - seeking the Medical Director job and talking Serena into giving it to him so he can help Roxanna fight for the TMS for Ollie) or not. One has to think Henrik picked up some techniques from him. I mean, the Henrik we saw in the flashback episode couldn’t manipulate anyone if he tried, I don’t think.

Edit 29: Lofty saying he’s not like Isaac aged poorly :(

Edit 30: Zav showing a moment of tenderness towards Nicky.

Edit 31: John on Henrik: “He’s like the rest of us. Lost without a stethoscope.”

Edit 32: Serena saying she’d cheerfully hand Gaskell the CEO job. That’s so fucking funny in hindsight of how John turned out.

[thisiswhatwereupagainst]

Hey, this is an assortment of random Marvel characters who are very minor but I think are cool and interesting for whatever reason.

Nocturne: Not to be confused with TJ Wagner, Angela Cairn wore the codename of Nocturne first, though far less famously. A police detective who was devastated over the death of her partner, Angela went on the search for a serial killer, only to fall into the clutches of one of Baron Zemo’s mutates, who forcibly mutated Angela as well into a mute, empathic, bat-winged being called Nocturne. Nocturne struggles greatly with acceptance of herself, but finally arrives at the conclusion this was in fact her real self all along, and it comes off to me very much as a coming-out story, as I write about HERE.

Solarr: Silas King was a drug smuggler and, unbeknownst to him, a latent mutant. When his van broke down in the Mojave desert, he nearly died from the heat, but the same sun that nearly killed him also activated his latent ability to  absorb solar energy and discharge it as heat blasts. Calling himself Solarr (yes, with two Rs) he began using his powers for common crimes such as bank-robbing, which brought him into conflict with Captain America and other heroes…and into partnerships with other villains such as Klaw. This eventually landed him in Project Pegasus, a prison for super-powered criminals where they were also studied by scientists in hopes of developing alternate forms of energy. Solarr was killed by another inmate during a jail break. Solarr was not a nice or moral man, and was in fact murderous and cruel in pursuit of his greed, but it was a sad ending for him nonetheless.Though he was inexplicably named Bill Braddock rather than Silas King in the 1990s X-Men cartoon series, he has no relationship to Betsy and her siblings.

Lourdes Chantel: A native of Barcelona, Lourdes was a mutant teleporter and the fiancee of Sebastian Shaw. She met him long before he became Black King of the Hellfire Club, or even rich at all, and they fell in love. However, when Shaw was inducted into the Hellfire Club, and then its Inner Circle, Lourdes was concerned. A member of the Hellfire Club herself, she knew how it changed people, and feared (rightly so) that it would corrupt her lover. She also feared the machinations of Edward Buckman,the White King, and believed he was planning to stab Shaw in the back. Her predictions proved true; she died saving Shaw from Sentinels sent by Buckman to kill all the mutants in the Hellfire Club, and Shaw avenged her death with Buckman’s murder, becoming the new Black King of the Club—-exactly what Lourdes would NOT have wanted.

Toxic Doxie: Sometimes called Toxie Doxie instead of Toxic Doxie, Dr. June Covington doesn’t much care for either “codename” that the press has given her. A beautiful, brilliant scientist and remorseless sociopath, Dr. Covington craves genetic perfection she’s quite willing to kill others to get it. After all, she deserves it, being so perfect herself. To this end, she’s given herself an array of unusual superpowers using her “genetic plug-in” technology, such as neurotoxic blood, antispetic saliva surgically implanted gills, thermal blasts from her own body heat, and “invisibility” to machines. June served as the “Scarlet Witch” in Norman Osborn’s “Dark Avengers”, complete with wearing her costume, so if you see a blonde lady in Wanda’s getup—don’t worry, whitewashing the Maximoffs hasn’t gone THAT far yet, it’s just June!

[ettadunham]

A Buffy rewatch 7x01 Lessons

aka redemption, nostalgia, and the circle of storytelling

We did it, guys! We made it to the last season! Also, hello if you’re new, and stumbled upon this without context. As usual, these impromptu text posts are the product of my fevered mind as I rant about the episode I just watched for an hour (okay, sometimes perhaps two). Anything goes!

And in today’s episode it’s the beginning of the end, as it’s relentlessly signaled towards the audience.

I’ll be honest, in the pantheon of Buffy season openers I find Lessons to be somewhat… middling. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of good stuff here, but there are parts of the main storyline that are just frustratingly inconsequential.

Let’s not beat around the bush – I’m mainly talking about Dawn’s new friends here. It’s obvious what the show is doing here, having Dawn form a friendship with two other misfit students and fighting demons on her first day of high school. We’re clearly going back to the beginnings. It’s what the Master aka the First tells us as well. Invoking the show’s very first episode and showing the next generation taking on that mantle.

(Also, that scene of the Fist appearing to Spike as all the Big Bads is still a lot. The music! Drusilla! You got me there, show. You got me right in my nostalgia feels.)

Which is a nice and cool thought. I love that. I love Dawn here. I just wish that the friends she makes actually appeared beyond this one single episode.

Imagine if one of those kids were Cassie! Or Amanda! I know that it’s tough to plan out these kinds of things, but the show’s done it in the past – or at the very least, set up a consistent group of background characters they could always go back to.

There are so many minor characters all over the Buffyverse, who were plucked out of that canvas and had their own little arcs through a few cameos. Think of Chantarelle, Amy, Harmony, or even Jonathan. And these characters weren’t set up to have as big of a role as they eventually got; the writers just saw an opportunity to develop them.

Meanwhile we’ve got these two kids, who this episode codes as part of our new Scooby gang. And we never see them again.

That’s just a bummer.

And it takes away a lot from the main action for me. Again, I like the idea of doing this, going back to high school as the beginning of a new cycle, where life as a teenager is hell… But I also wish I was more invested in the fate of these kids beyond Dawn.

On the plus side, I’m definitely a fan of Prinicipal Wood, and his lack of subtlety when it comes to his involvement with the supernatural. He’s like dropping hints that he knows what’s up, instead of just straight up telling Buffy that his mom was a Slayer. So is it any wonder that it’s getting picked up as shady on Buffy’s end?

He’s doing his best though, guys!! He’s got a lot of mommy issues. Give him a break.

Spike too has his own issues (which we’ll talk about in relation to Robin too). It’s a stark contrast, seeing a newly ensouled Spike here, laughing maniacally at Buffy asking him if he’s real. So are the cuts on his chest, marking his attempts at trying to cut his own heart out.

I don’t feel adequate enough to talk about that in depth. This is self-harm territory. But there’s also obviously something very specific about Spike trying to get at his own heart too in a metaphoric sense. Sure, through the heart is one of the ways a vampire can be killed, but he didn’t try to stake himself.

Spike’s a romantic. It’s one of his core traits that’s followed him through all of his incarnations. Even as a soulless vampire, he was a romantic. Except then, that side of him became twisted. As he was incapable of experiencing love in its entirety, this alter ego of his focused on what was left. Dependence. Obsession. Possession.

Spike as a vampire also reveled in his passions, and so to him violence, sex and love were all the same. They all came from the same place.

It’s no wonder then that the first thing Spike does after getting his soul back is to try and get rid of his heart. The thing that made him do all those things, even before he became a vampire.

Discussing redemption on Buffy is interesting to me, because this isn’t the show where that’s a central motive. Those stories happen over at Angel.

So, from that perspective, seeing how Willow’s story is handled here makes complete sense to me.

You know, I’ve read the hot takes about how Willow should be facing more consequences for her actions. But let me ask you this: what could possibly be worse for Willow than losing Tara?

Here’s another: how would punishing her be helpful?

And if your answer is “because murder should be punished because we live in a society”, that’s a good point. It is indeed how most of our society functions. For a reason.

But the show has been proposing for many seasons now, that normal societal rules don’t always apply in Buffy’s world. As a result, Buffy herself is positioned as the one with the power to decide how to handle any situation. Something that Faith already tells her in season 3; but Buffy rejects that idea then. At that time, she hasn’t even severed her ties with the Council yet, and was unprepared for that level of responsibility.

The Buffy of season 7 however not only recognizes her power, but embraces it. She is the law.

Which means that she can set her own principals and examples outside of society. And you can call Buffy self-righteous or whatever anyway you want, but she was never one for punishments.

Buffy always protects. If there’s a threat, she fights it, and if it’s neutralized, she lets it go. That’s why she never killed Spike after he was chipped. That’s why she didn’t kill Ben.

Buffy’s not vindictive and gives everyone the chance to grow; and in turn, so does the show.

“But… what about Faith?” – you say, predictably. I of course knew you were gonna bring her up. Mostly because you are currently just a voice in my head, arguing with my much more advanced logic.

Ah, yes. Let’s talk about Faith.

Specifically, let’s talk Faith in Consequences.

Hey, remember Consequences? The episode in which Buffy is trying to make Faith face up to her actions while also protecting her? The one where they argue about them being the law, and Buffy rejecting that specifically because Faith posits that they shouldn’t take responsibility for what they do?

More importantly, I want to emphasize this: with the gang, Buffy argues for Faith. She may not have quite embraced her role here yet as the law, but it’s clear where her head is at. She even asks for Angel’s help to keep Faith from becoming a threat.

Faith of course has her own set of issues that pushes her over to the dark side, but that doesn’t become evident for a few more episodes to the rest of the group. And I’d argue that it’s largely due to Buffy that Faith is even welcomed back for that short period of time.

Of course, comparing that to Willow’s murder is still not a good fit. Faith killed someone by accident at that point. Willow was going on a vengeance trip.

So let’s fast-forward to season 4. Where Faith wakes up and the gang doesn’t know how to deal with her.

Now, I criticized Buffy’s approach there, saying that she only seems to be preparing for two options here. Faith is either still a threat that needs to be dealt with, or she regrets her actions, in which case, there’s nothing to worry about.

Faith’s state of mind is of course a bit more complicated than that in the episode, but notice something important. Buffy doesn’t want to fight or punish Faith if it’s not necessary, even though at this point, she definitely did more than enough murder. When they meet, she tells her so. “It doesn’t have to be like this, you know.”

And for Buffy, that’s genuinely true.

After what goes down, Buffy’s pissed at Faith though. And yet we only see that side of Buffy on Angel the series. Where redemption for Faith becomes a central conflict, and one that’s ultimately resolved by her taking responsibility for her actions, and giving herself up to the police. A justice system that’s operating under normal societal rules.

And for Faith’s arc, that works. Part of her ongoing struggle was facing up and dealing with what she’s done, so this gave her the opportunity.

That however, isn’t always the case. Mostly because prison systems overall are largely unhelpful in actually rehabilitating people, but that’s a hot take for another day.

Narratively of course we still want that sense of fulfillment. We want to see the characters we love redeem themselves, and we want to be satisfied that it’s earned. But for me, that’s there with Willow as much as it’s there with Faith. It’s just that beyond the difference in thematic approach between the shows, their arcs just aren’t a one-to-one comparison.

Willow isn’t in denial about what she’s done. And she’s been dealt enough punishment as it is, even if it wasn’t any consequence of her own actions. By societal rules, she should be in prison, but because Buffy operates outside of those, Willow instead gets to have help, support and lessons.

And that’s kind of fascinating.

GILES:  “Do you want to be punished?” WILLOW:  “I wanna be Willow.”

I haven’t talked about Dawn nearly enough, but just know that I love her.

That is all.