#also Tom DID NOT tell Matt anything he just showed up like no big deal

[baconcolacan]

TEEN S!TOM YIPPEE!!! When they were teens, Matt wanted to present more femme, but his insecurities led him to shut down, simultaneously suffering from gender dysphoria, worsening his already bad mental state.

In response, Tom started showing up to school in more gnc clothing, with a bit of his own flair to it of course. All to gently coax Matt into expressing himself more freely.

[pascalina]

The brothers' movie

11/07/2015

They don't use the same last name, but they are siblings. Pedro Pascal (40) the Chilean actor who starred in Game of Thrones and now has a starring role in the Netflix series Narcos, uses his mother's surname because it is easier to pronounce in English. 17 years younger, Lucas Balmaceda Pascal (23), also an actor, debuted in Los 80 and today stars in the TVN series Juana Brava. Here, both talk for the first time about their relationship, their love for cinema and their mutual admiration.

José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal was born in Chile, but a few months later he had to go into exile with his parents and his older sister, Javiera, to Denmark. It was the end of 1975. Thanks to the Rockefeller scholarship granted for his father, the doctor José Balmaceda Riera, a year later they moved to the United States: first they lived in San Antonio, Texas. Life there was just beginning and it was not easy.

Seventeen years later, in 1992, Lucas Balmaceda was born in Orange County, California, into the comfort of a family that was financially in its prime. His dad was at the peak of his career: as a fertility specialist and director of one of the University of California's reproductive health centers. But suddenly they moved back to Chile when Lucas was three years old and his brother Nicolas was eight. The two older ones stayed there. Pedro was already studying drama at Orange County High School of the Arts. Then he went to New York to study theater at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

After a couple of small appearances in TV series, in 2014 he took the big leap in his career: he played Prince Oberyn in Game of Thrones, which made him world famous. Today, he has a starring role in the series Narcos. He is also filming a movie with Matt Damon and Willem Dafoe.

Fame came early for Lucas. After leaving Saint George High School in 2010, he studied theater at the Universidad Católica, and he began to shine: in year fourth, he starred in the theater play "La noche obstinada", by choreographer Pablo Rotemberg, and got a role in the successful television series Los 80 and today, in his last year, he is the co-star of Juana Brava, the new TVN nighttime series.

Scene one:

Lucas appears in Pedro's life

P: "I was 17 when Lucas was born. He was a baby when I left to go to university. I remember my first visit back and Lucas, who was not even two years old, was already the owner of the house. I remember those looks, wanting to tell me: 'I don't know who you are, but this is my house, mate.

To this day I have never seen that personality in another child. It was fascinating to see that wit in someone so small. Since he was a kid he had that fierce intelligence... The four siblings, Javiera, the eldest and the queen of the family; Nicolas, the doctor; Lucas and I are like a compact and consistent unit. I can't imagine life without them".

L: "Pedro was studying at the university in New York when I was born. When he went home for vacations to see the family, as I didn't know him, I thought: 'who is this guest, who is this weirdo who kisses my mother? She's mine!'. Back in Chile, every year Pedro came to visit us. It was the most entertaining thing in the world for me. He was much older and he would come with all the coolness, with all the culture of cinema, with horror movies that were not available here. Then we would watch them and play them out, we would do sketches. We would play that Pedro was a murderous monster and we would escape from him. We were each a character. He was very funny, he did voices, he impersonated people. He gets mad when I tell him, but I've always found that he has a Jim Carrey thing about him, he manages to make some impressive faces. When he came on, I couldn't stop watching him, he was too entertaining. We are all big movie buffs thanks to my dad. When I was three years old, he took my brothers and me to see Batman. I remember crying hysterically. I was very young, sensitive, and being in the cinema was like entering to another reality: loud noises, giant screen. I didn't understand anything.

Scene two

Transplanted

P: "What's Chilean about me and what's gringo about me is a very interesting question, because I don't think even at 40 years old I've been able to figure it out. I was raised and educated in the United States and socialized a lot with American pop culture, but Chilean pride has always been unwavering. My parents were exiled for eight years. So our visits to Chile were regular. My whole life I have lived in the United States and my whole life I have visited my relatives in Chile. However, since my siblings were raised in Chile, my connection to the country is much stronger today and it is something I am grateful for. Something that happens to me a lot is that when I say I've been in the U.S. my whole life, they say, "Well, you're a gringo then! And after a conversation in my fluent Spanish with a clear Chilean accent that same person turns around and says: I've been listening to you, you're Chilean!

L: "I am Chilean because I lived and grew up here since I was three years old, but at the same time I have a cultural disconnection: my parents lived 25 years in the United States, my brothers are gringos. My visual culture is super gringo, the TV shows I watched when I was a kid or the movies I watch to this day I understand them from that place: as an American. More than being born in the United States, I feel it's because of my family's background".

SCENE THREE:

The performance

P: "There were good years and bad years (when I started my acting career in the United States). Many years I was a waiter to supplement my income. But from a very young age I was auditioning for professional jobs. In my late twenties my career in the theater was relatively consistent. Then, when opportunities in television arose, I was consolidating and it became much easier to pay my expenses. I think that struggle, going through those situations, empowers you a lot and it's one of the things I'm enormously grateful for. And Game of Thrones was an incredible gift. It's the best role I've ever played and they're the best people I've ever worked with."

L: "It's Pedro's fault that I wanted to be an actor. But when I told him I wanted to study theater it was hard for him, more than anything, because he cares about me and studying theater is hard. You have to be very wise and have a super high self-esteem to take care of yourself. Pedro went through many things. If there is an actor who doesn't have contacts in the United States, it's him. Everything he has achieved is because of his work. That's why when people ask me why I don't go to the U.S., it's a resounding no. Being Pedro Pascal's little brother is not going to get me around the corner; I would have to be Tom Cruise's twin to achieve anything. Even so, Pedro had many failed career starts. In 2011, for example, he was offered a starring role in a series called Wonder Woman and it was eventually canceled. That's why, when Games of Thrones came up, I was like, wow! We were all freaking out, because Games of Thrones is like a worldwide trending topic. All the episodes he was in, we were all watching them together at my house, eating pizza or sushi."

SCENE FOUR:

Mutual lessons

P: "I try not to get too involved in anything Lucas does or how he does it. He has single-handedly created each of his experiences and is one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen. He loves his work and is continually developing his skills for television and theater, and eventually film. He executes like a real artist and, to be honest, it is more common for me to learn something from him than for him to learn something from me. I mean that very sincerely. Lucas reminds me to work hard and keeps me inspired. When I saw him in Los 80 I was incredibly proud, but not surprised. I was seeing something I had always known. The only advice I've given him is to not be such a workaholic, to take care of himself and to be proud of what he's accomplished and what he still has yet to accomplish. Deep down, I'm always going to be the protective big brother."

L: "Pedro is an object of admiration for me. What he says is law for me. Sometimes I ask him: 'Pedro, did you see that movie?' and he says: 'Yes, I didn't like it'. I tell him: 'Oh, I didn't like it either'. The nice thing about our relationship is that it happens so sporadically, once or twice a year, that the moments when we see each other are very intense. We either fight a lot or we love each other too much, but it's always like a story, like a movie. While he's there and I'm here, we talk a lot on WhatsApp and Facebook".

P: "With Lucas we always keep each other up to date on what movies to watch, what TV shows are good. I bug him all the time asking him about what's going on in his life and I'm always asking him about his perspective on things. Despite being away from each other for a long time, Lucas and I are very close and always have been. I see Lucas at the beginning of an amazing career, with an unwavering curiosity and passion. I love it when he confides in me about things he is enjoying or situations he is dealing with."

L: "I've never seen Pedro in theater, but I've been told he's tremendous. On camera, I find that he has a very intense look. He also has, and in that we are very similar, a very strong visual culture, the fact that we have always liked horror movies. He plays characters that hide something, dark characters. A great strength is that he is very sensual, he knows how to handle himself well from seduction".

P: "Lucas is brave, he's fearless. There's nothing he's not willing to try, he's never going to give up on a challenge, he's never going to leave something halfway, no matter what that means to him. Lucas is unstoppable.

Link interview

[kattwritesuwu]

Can I request a Clingy!monsterTom x Depressed!Reader? Maybe with cutting and suicidal thoughts?

I sure can!!! I LOVE angst!!!!!

---------------------

Fandom: Eddsworld

Character: Tom

Reader: Depressed

Fic type: Comfort/angst

Warnings: TRIGGER WARNING: This WILL heavily mention suic/de, blood, and perhaps other triggering topics, read at your own risk!!

Notes: People, I'm not trying to make depression and similar illness romantic, this is simply for comfort.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hate everything.

Well, not everything, but the majority, y'know? Everything just...sucks. Life in general, it's all terrible.

People are terrible. Sure, I've found a few choice people that aren't the bane of my existence, but even they have their flaws.

Am I saying that I'm some heaven sent angel? Hell no I'm not. I'm just as terrible if not more! I hate everyone, including myself.

Am I lying? Yeah. Do I have a crush on someone? Yeah. Am I gonna do something about it? Nope.

Why should I? It's not like I'll be here longer anyways...

I'm planning to kill myself.

Am I scared? Kind of. But at this point I don't care. I'm always scared anyways. Always on my guard around people.

Most people don't know the fear and pain of constantly feeling...numb.

It's not like I never feel anything, it's just so rare. My most common emotion is pain. I just want to curl up in a ball and die. But all I can ever being myself to do is cry, and even that's a rare occurrence at this point.

I feel so alone.

Friends? Yeah I have a few.... they're all a bit odd in their own way. Can't complain though, they're like family to me.

My real family? Not many immediate ones, plus, I moved to England five years ago. They called me everyday for the first couple of months. Nowadays, I can barely get a text back... I get that they have their own lives in their respective country, but man, it just makes me so cold-feeling...

I guess where I was going with this, is that I'm scared. Not of my inevitable death, but everything else.

I'm scared of anything and everything now that I think about it. I don't exactly mean common fears they talk about in elementary school, I'm talking real world problems.

I'm scared of failure, not sure why. I've failed enough in my life....it shouldn't even faze me at this point.

Im especially scared of people.

My friends? Yeah them too. What if I make a fool of myself and they think I'm an idiot? What if I make the wrong move, and they hate me? They probably hate me enough as it is...

That why I won't confess to Tom. He'll hate me afterwards. There's just no point in ruining something for nothing in return.

These were the thoughts that ran through my head as my arms and legs were sliced up by a blade driven by my own hands. It's wasn't like it hurt. All it really did was sting, I'm just that used to being hurt, I suppose.

As I was wrapping up my little 'session' I heard a knock on my door,

"(Y/N)! You in there? It's dinner time! I made breakfast for dinner!" A British accent leaked through my door.

I didn't scramble around at the thought of him walking in, my door was locked after all. It's not like I'm that stupid.

" I'll be there in a few minutes, Edd." I spoke back in a raspy voice, not bothering to yell. Edd has good ears, he can somehow hear a whisper from across the house.

It takes me a minute or two to get up and walk into the bathroom that connects to my room. I stumble a bit with the loss of blood.

Once I get in there I take a quick shower, just barely long enough to stop the bleeding and make it appear as if you just took an actual shower.

Once I get out of the shower, I slip on my (favorite color) hoodie.

That was an easy part of hiding my self abuse. Everyone in the house wore a hoodie of their own designated color.

I also slipped on a longer article of clothing to go onto my legs. Couldn't let them see my thighs either.

Once I finished the rest of my cleaning up, I headed out of my little bathroom, and in front of my door. I took a deep breath, put on a smile, and walked out.

I got about halfway down the stairs before a screech startled me, causing me to trip a bit,

" (Y/N) IS HERE! YAY!" The high pitch British scream could only belong to the narcissistic ginger known as Matt.

Once I got my balance back into my feet, I continued down the stairs and greeted Matt with a wave.

" Yeah she lives here, idiot. She's not going anywhere." A deeper voice had spoken, I turned around and Tom was there as expected. I smile shrunk a bit at his last comment.

" Sup (y/n)." You snapped out of your thoughts and responded with a casual 'yo.'

The three of us then heard a thick accent cursing in the kitchen, no doubt it was Tord,

" For jævla skyld! Just let me have the last piece!!"

Sure enough, when we walked into the kitchen, Edd and Tord were fighting over the last piece of bacon. I let out a sigh, and the two boys finally acknowledged our existence. That alone didn't stop their argument though.

I didn't even bother attempting to break up the fight, I never could anyways. Their little fuss always ends one of two ways. Edd steals the bacon from under Tord's nose, or vise versa.

I just grabbed a small portion of food, and sat down.

I knew I would be gone by the end of tonight...but I wanted to taste Edd's cooking one last time.

Something interesting happened, instead of one of the two boys getting the bacon, they halved it and sat down. Of all my four years living in this house with these people, they've never shared their bacon.

Strange.

Dinner wasn't as talkative as it usually was when we all ate at the table. Usually we'd all have a big group discussion about our day, or week. Tonight was quiet, giving me an opportunity,

" Hey, guys?" Each one of their heads turned to me, and Edd signalled me to continue,

" I just wanted to say, thank you." Their brows furrowed but I held out a hand to tell them to let me finish,

" You four have helped me with so much over the past few years. From when you let me live here when I couldn't find proper housing situations, to letting me borrow the car. I just wanted to formally tell you all how grateful I really am. You are truly the kindest people I've ever met." As I went on talking, I realized how bad of an idea this actually was.

I mean, will they get suspicious? I'm just showing gratitude right? It shouldn't sound like a cry for help or anything...

As I snapped out of thought for the fiftieth time today, I notice that all of the boys have some type of smile on their face, even Tom!

Edd was smiling like a proud mother,

Matt was smiling giddily,

Tord had a smug, 'cool guy' smile,

And Tom had the smallest smile that made my heart melt.

I awkwardly continued my fake smile, and sat down.

Conversation continued on as would on a normal night, with the topic being past pleasant memories.

I volunteered to wash the dishes, it was the least I could do. There was only one problem. For some ungodly reason, Tom had insisted on helping me.

I couldn't figure out why at first, untill it dawned on me that he probably needed something from me.

So as I scrubbed the forgetten food off of the ceramic plate, he rinsed and dried them. We did this in silence, aside from the running water. Tom's the first one to break the tension filled silence,

" So, how have you been?" It was such a simple question, I could have simply faked a toothy grin, and said that I was great. I could have thanked him for asking. I could have asked him back.

But I only did one of those things.

" I've been doing just as good as I always do." I reply with a small sad smile. I tear my eyes away from the dish water," How about you? You've been awfully quiet tonight."

He chuckles lowly," Just had a lot on my mind, trying to face some of my problems, that's all." I stop what I'm doing and look over at him,

" Do you want to talk about it? I think the others are asleep already."

Normally when Tom is having any type of problem, he comes to me for advice, or even just for someone to listen to him rant when he's drunk. I even gave him a spare key to my room if he ever needs me while I'm asleep. He's offered the same for me, but I told him that I have a counselor. I try not to lie to my housemates all the time, only when necessary.

He simply shakes his head in response," Nah, this is one I have to deal with on my own," I sigh,

" Alright then, but keep my offer in mind. Just try to remember to see me before I go to bed, I'm...going to bed early tonight. I have something to do tommorow." He nods in understanding.

After we finish the dishes, we say our goodnights,

" I'll see you in the morning, (y/n)." I give one last fake smile,

" Same to you, Tom. Sleep well." I see him nod and walk down the hall as I close my door and lock it for the final time.

I walk into my bathroom and look into the mirror. All I see is a monstrosity of a person glaring back at me.

The bags under my eyes had only gotten worse after the sleepless nights I spent writing my suicide note.

I decided to skip reading over it one last time, I want nothing that could alter my decision at hand here. If I read my dying love letter that's written to Tom, I might stop myself in some kind of silly hope that everything could be okay again. It was too late for all that now.

So, I grabbed my blade that had served me well over the years, and stepped into the bathtub. I didn't cry, I didn't shake in fear of what I was about to do. I sadly smiled instead. As I took my hoodie off, revealing a tank top that no one knew I owned. I set my hoodie softly onto the floor, and turned on the hot water.

I took a deep breath in, and sigh, grabbing my blade and getting to work on my first artery. It took me a couple tries to find it.

But once I did, it started the red tint in the once clear bath water. I took in a shaky breath, adjusting to the dizziness of loosing so much blood so quickly.

At this point I couldn't even hear the bathwater running, everything was muffled.

I reached to turn it off, and a hand was placed onto mine. It takes me a good second to register that there was someone next to the tub, yelling my name right next to my face.

I try my best to focus on who could have caught me. Yet it's so difficult to take in my surroundings at this point.

So as I stare at the person beside my bathtub with fading eyes. I feel pressure on my wound, and see something being wrapped around it.

I start panicking, trying to say no, to let me die.

But I just can't. I just watch as my life is saved against my will.

Suddenly I can see that I'm moving, I can't figure out how until I notice the arms carrying me bridal style to a soft surface. That's when I lost consciousness for the next hour.

I didn't exactly 'wake up' more like fazed into existence. It's like I just gradually became aware of what was around me.

I became aware of the sobs coming from my bedside, and of the pressure squeezing my hand.

I forced my eyes open and tried to sit up. Yet I instantly regretted my decision, pain shot throughout my body. I glance over to my hand and up the....purple arm....

Who is this? Or perhaps I should say, what is this?

It's some kind of...monster? Hybrid? It looked kind of human... I could only see the torso and up. Even then, the arms grew bigger the farther down the arms stretched, and turned a deeper and deeper shade of purple. Horns poked out of the head laying slightly onto my shin, poking me a bit.

" Am-" I hold my throat. That hurt. I clear my throat of the mucus and start again as the unknown monster wakes up,

" Am I dead?"

The monsters head shoots up, and I can't help but recognize the 'eyes' that I've grown to love.

" T-Tom..."

He tries to smile for me, but it twists into a sad frown as his black orbs start to water,

" (Y/n)....(y/n) you're...y-you're okay! You're okay..." He said this over and over again as he cupped my cheeks with his transformed hands.

I grab onto his forearm to steady his shaking. This was starting to scare me.

I had never seen this man shed a tear in front of me, yet alone bawl into my shoulder like he was doing now,

" Tom, it's okay, I'm right here." I whispered this, and many other reassurances into his ear. Confirming to him that it was going to be okay and that, to my displeasure, I wasn't going anywhere.

He seemed to get angry after a few minutes, he ripped himself away from me and took hold of my shoulders,

" WHAT IF YOU WEREN'T RIGHT HERE? WHAT IF I HADN'T OF WALKED IN!! WHAT THEN HUH? YOU WOULDN'T BE RIGHT HERE!!! YOU'D BE GONE!! I would have...lost you..." He slid down the side of my bed as he finished his outburst. He sat crying into his knees.

I didn't know what to do. Is he mad at me? But despite the questions, I acted without thinking.

I began to run my fingers through his hair, almost brushing it. He seemed surprised at first, before he leaned into my touch.

" I'm sorry Tom. I didn't think it would effect you like this..." All was silent for a few moments. Until,

" Why..?" He sniffled a few times before I could respond.

" Why? Why what?" He looked up to me,

" Why would you try to leave me?" I couldn't even bring myself to say anything after that. Tom seemed to sense the frog in my throat, and continued,

" You don't realize, (y/n). You don't realize how special you are. To your family, your friends. I mean bloody hell (y/n)! What about us?! Edd would be heartbroken! And how are we supposed to explain something like that to Matt?" I avoided the possible eye contact and twidled my thumbs in my lap,

" What about me (y/n)? How am I supposed to go on living with myself if you, the love of my life, killed herself?" My mind went blank. He took my hand in between both of his,

" I know this isn't the greatest time for this, but if it'll boost your self esteem even a little bit, I don't care about embarrassing myself. (Y/n) (L/n), I am deeply in love with you, and have been since you moved in. I've loved you since you helped me to bed when I came in drunk all those years ago. I've loved you since you beat my Pac-Man score at the arcade, I acted so mad, but you were just so cute so excited like that... (Y/n)... Please let me help you love yourself by loving you..."

By the time he was done with his speech, I was in tears, a small frown on my face. He seemed to get the wrong idea as he instantly dropped my hand and got up,

" I got the message, I'll just uhm... I'll just g-" I grabbed his hoodie strings and pulled him in for a kiss.

We could both tell that there would be many more to come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm sorry if it's extremely long, I just love to write angst haha...

[theskyexists]

thingy DOESN’T believe that synths will kill their human creators?? thats pure bullshit. of COURSE synths will kill humans in teh future if they attain consciousness that is LIKE that of humans.

also there’s no fucking way this premise makes sense bc the military would have gotten their hands on synths the moment they became capable of holding a gun and hitting shit with accuracy and walking securely through multiple terrains. never fucking mind asimov blocks

the next episode immediately goes back into also blaming mum hahahahaa. i mean it makes sense for the kids but narratively it’s quite....interesting. though ofc matts is right and Laura should deal with whatever hurt Tom is. in fact, that explains the way she’s so....bruised

‘yeah we care about her - how can you not get that’

FINALLY. toby truly lays down the law for his father!

I LOVE old american guy giving Niska lessons in humanity! YAY for the elderly!!

I LOVE OLD AMERICAN GUY NOW!!! HE’S NISKA’S DAD NOW!!!!!!

jezus. david elster was a fucking creep (niska) and a total shithead (fred). turns out that their creator was a terrible dad. this explains much about leo also.

wow Matts you’re being a little insensitive to your mother who’s divulging a SHITLOAD of childhood trauma. but i guess that’s just relating this stuff to what she knows. ok she - oh that’s so - aw

does Matilda REALISE that Max is just like Mia???? anyway - i LOVE MAX SO MUCH AAAAGGHGHGHGHGH.

she does

I love it when Max speaks and Leo is quiet for once. just keep him knocked out!!

oh no toby now you’re going too far. i am deeply concerned that the two men in this show will radicalise into synth-killers

ALL THIS TIME I ALSO THOUGHT SHE WAS HIS GIRLFRIEND BUT SHE WAS HIS MUM : ‘’‘‘‘(((( oh Nooooooo. it was already sad and tragic but now it’s 50x times more

has this synth-policewoman fallen in love with Pete?

‘you look young generally’ OH PETE lol. that made me like you again

DOES HUSBAND ACTUALLY MAKE THE FATAL CALL??? they’re really making him a villain!!!

it IS a trap huh...

SHE REVEALS HERSELF RIGHT AFTER SEX AND A DECLARATION OF LOVE. SHE’S SO CUTE AAAAA

but this was so stupid aahadhladsflajsdf. he’s much less than you think of him!!!

oh no now leo and max think it was the family that betrayed them!

why would he jump over when he could have used himself as a hostage

(had to look up whether he really dies just to be sure)

did they just expel a sister????

oh god

laura is such a pushover! what about Mia’s feelings?? she just heard that Mia had been inside Anita all along! then bring in the man that....well...it’s not rape in the moral....sense....but in the emotional sense it kinda was

she didn’t practice trigger safety??? POLICE SYNTH WOMAN?? i guess she really is a cop

i knew american dad was dead the moment Niska and he bonded. i love this series! that sounded like sarcasm but i mean that i love the characters and the story.

NOT GEORGE!!! NOT GEORGE!!!! im actually crying

ah - Fred is leo’s BIG brother

‘I was there the whole time’ OH DAMMNNN MIA!!!! balaghglabalghghagh stop

Laura and Mia are becomign real friends!!!!!!!!!!!

Matty didn’t MAKE leo show her. lol.

FRED YOU’RE NOT CLEAN!!!!! he implanted something!!!! or....is fred aligned with him after all? has he been infected somehow?

at least Mia is trying to keep things together.

they are making Joe suffer for his stupidity. not very cathartic tho

Mia desperately tryin to stitch the whole human fam back together. LOL

oh that’s poor timing. Niska you damn zealot

why does Kate keep making the wrong decisions. stupid bastard

teh opening theme is great!

DID LAURA THE LAWYER JUST GIVE UP HER PHONE?? ARE THE COPS ALLOWED TO DO THAT

Joe up for redemption!

OH SO HOBB IS ACTUALLY WORSE THAN WHAT HE SEEMED. OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!! MAKE THE SLAVES CONSCIOUS AND KEEP THEM SLAVES!!!!!!

kill this man now.

KILL HOB! KILL HIM!!!! NARRATIVE KILL HIM!!!! they really baited the audience with Hobb possibly being more sympathetic than it seemed. NO HE”S ACTUALLY MORE EVIL THAN YOU THINK!!!!!!!!!!

Kate’s so stupid. I hope she gets to be a hero

Pete’s up for redemption!

Come ON Kate!!!!!!!!! jezus was living the life of a simple cop and finally sleeping with the guy you love really SO BAD? they’ve had a worse life on the run than Kate

oh her name is KAREN??? lol i thought it was kate.

why would Hobb be concerned about it becoming clear that these synths have feelings and shit. wouldn’t that help with the marketing? i mean it is a risk what with Niska having killed a man

he’s letting them go entirely?? he knows he’s got Fred so he’s like - eh, ill just lean on this family first

does Karen understand the implications of Hobb having a failsafe?? will she TRULY do anything to stop suffering from proliferating - because this TRULY will cause suffering

I guess fred has been instructed not to kill himself - or reveal himself.

TOBY YOU GOTTA REALISE - Help Fred tell the rest. oh god i dont want to lose fred....wait where’s max. i didn’t see anybody carrying him around. also - wasn’t his brain falling apart?wasn’t that time-sensitive? aren’t they GRIEVING?

Lol - why would they not have made copies? They should have told him- if you bother us again we transmit to the internet immediately. they could do that easily!

Oh max can walk again

these fringes are so BRITISH AHAahaah

Karen is a total wildcard. only Pete being in danger will help though i think

Joe doing a very last Bastard Husband thing by being offended that his wife didn’t reveal her horrible childhood trauma to him as some kind of insult to HIM

AAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH JOE WHY

‘you didn’t want to hurt us’? what

‘i can’t do anything’ - uh you can bring Mia and Max back to life but you can’t free Fred??? FRED!!!!!!!!???

FUCK! the next goal in this whole series is to free FRED!!!!!!!!!!

why the fuck would Niska walk in heels

couldn’t they restore fred the same way as they’re gonna try and restore max????

why doesn’t he tell Karen about how Hobb has enslaved Fred??? hello? and wants to use the code?? this last bit is a bit strange. what convinced her?

she’s an ideological character but she was moved by emotion?

oh they canjust share - no wires or anything

Karen realised she couldn’t rely on Hobb to kill them - so she went out alone to kill them. aha.

what. that was. out of nowhere

why the fuck did she go from ultimate KILL YOU ALL to - alright then let’s do this in one second. how extremely poorly written or directed or both

what?

she wanted to be part of the fam. then she left. the laura tells leo to let her go. whY?? this last bit is so STUPID

all they need is some coloured lenses and they can fit right in. just GET SOME COLOURED LENSES LOL

i know they trust laura now but like - the program is on a harddrive in her hands - but Hobb knows she’s associated with them. WHY would you put it in her hands. They know what hobb can do with it.

isn’t leo ever gonna say soryy for leaving his adult/9yearold sister in a brothel?

sophie woke up at an opportune moment

leave an android in the corner of a USED church....THEY SHOULD BURY HIM SOMEWHERE. THAT’S BETTER THAN BEING A GODDAMN SLAVE

PETE TOOK OFF HIS GLASSES TO LOOK YOUNGER FOR KAREN AHAHAHAHA

it’s funny - the synths can’t cry but their eyes sure can glisten.....

HOBB JUST LEFT THE FAMILY ALONE AFTER THAT???? WHAT LOL. he knows what Karen is and. ok this last episode was a mess. but everything that came before was great. and the theme is also great

the character stuff in this is great. well. not this episode bc like. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ?? THAT RECONCILIATION WITH JOE WAS SO FUCKING WEIRD. HE FOCUSED ON HIMSELF AND THEN -- she didn’t want to hurt the fam? what??? what the fuck are you on about ???

anway things did not at all come together.

[d-criss-news]

Darren Criss acts as playwright when he writes songs. He’s far more confident, and certainly more vulnerable, when he allows himself to play the part. In such a way, songwriting opens up a whole new world that pulses with untapped potential. So much of what he has accomplished in 15 years resides in his willingness to expose himself to what his imagination and intuition have in store. He steps into a playwright’s shoes with considerable ease (just look at his resume), and always one to put on plenty of bravado, especially during our Zoom face-to-face, it’s the natural order of things.

“As I get older and write more and more songs, I really recognize that I’ve always preferred to write for another context other than my own,” Criss tells American Songwriter. He speaks with a cool intensity, gesturing emphatically to accentuate a sentence, and when you let him go, he’s like the Energizer Bunny 一 “I can tell by just how quiet you already are that you’re fucked,” he jokes at the start of our video chat. But he remains just as engaged and focused when listening.

He soaks in the world, taking astute notes about behavior and emotional traits he can later use in song. His storytelling, though, arrives already in character, fully formed portraits he can then relay to the world. It’s not that he can’t be vulnerable, like such greats as Randy Newman, Tom Waits, and Rufus Wainwright, who have all embroidered their work with deeply personal observations, it just doesn’t feel as comfortable. “I’ve always really admired the great songwriters of the world who are extremely introspective and can put their heart and soul on the chopping block,” he muses. “That’s a vulnerability that I think is so majestic. I’ve never had access to it. I’m not mad about it. It’s just good to know what your deal is.”

Criss’ strengths lie in his ability to braid his own experiences, as charmed as they might be, into wild, goofy fantasies. In the case of his new series “Royalties,” now streaming on Quibi, he walks a fine line between pointed commentary on the music industry, from menial songwriting sessions to constantly chasing down the next smash, and oddball comedy that is unequivocally fun. Plotted with long-standing friends and collaborators Matt and Nick Lang, co-founders of Team StarKid, created during their University of Michigan days (circa 2009), the show’s conceptual nucleus dates back more than a decade.

If “Royalties” (starring Criss and Kether Donohue) feels familiar, that’s because it is. The 10-episode show ─ boasting a smorgasbord of delightful guest stars, including Mark Hammill, Georgia King, Julianna Hough, Sabrina Carpenter, and Lil Rel Howery ─ captures the very essence of a little known web series called “Little White Lie.” Mid-summer 2009, Team StarKid uploaded the shoddy, low budget production onto YouTube, and its scrappy tale of amateur musicians seeking fame and fortune quickly found its audience, coming on the heels of “A Very Potter Musical,” co-written with and starring Criss. Little did the trio know, those initial endeavors laid the groundwork for a lifetime of creative genius.

“It’s a full circle moment,” says Criss, 33, zooming from his Los Angeles home, which he shares with his wife Mia. He’s fresh-faced and zestful in talking about the new project. 11 years separate the two series, but their connective thematic tissues remain striking. “Royalties” is far more polished, the obvious natural progression in so much time, and where “Little White Lie” soaked in soapy melodrama, the former analyzes the ins and outs of the music world through more thoughtful writing, better defined (and performed) characters, and hookier original tunes.

“Royalties” follows Sara (Donohue) and Pierce (Criss), two struggling songwriters in Los Angeles, through various career exploits and pursuits. The pilot, titled “Just That Good,” features an outlandish performance from Rufus Wainwright as a major player in dance-pop music, kickstarting the absurdity of Criss’ perfectly-heightened reality. As our two main characters stumble their way between songwriting sessions, finally uncovering hit single potential while eating a hot dog, Criss offers a glimpse into the oft-unappreciated art of songwriting.

In his own songwriting career ─ from 2010’s self-released Human EP and a deal with Columbia Records (with whom a project never materialized) to 2017’s Homework EP and Computer Games’ debut, Lost Boys Life, (a collaboration with his brother Chuck) ─ he’s learned a thing or two about the process. Something about sitting in a room with someone you’ve never met before always rang a little funny to him.

“You meet a stranger, and you have to be creative, vulnerable, and open. It’s speed-dating, essentially. It’s a different episode every time you pull it off or not. All the big songwriters will tell you all these crazy war stories. Everyone has a wacky story from songwriting,” he says. “I slowly realized I may ─ I can’t flatter myself, there are tons of creative people who are songwriters ─ have prerequisites to just put the two together [TV and music]. I’ve worked enough in television as an actor and creator. I can connect the dots. I had dual citizenship where I felt like it was really time for me to go forth with this show.”

But a packed professional life pushed the idea to the backburner.

Between six seasons of “Glee” (playing Blaine Anderson, a Warbler and lover to Chris Colfer’s Kurt Hummel), starring in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” on Broadway, and creating Elsie Fest, a one-day outdoor festival celebrating songs of the stage and screen, he never had the time. “I was lucky enough to be busy,” he says. “As Team StarKid’s star was continuing to rise with me being separate from it, I was trying to think of a way to get involved again with songwriting.”

At one point, “Glee” had officially wrapped and his Broadway run was finished. It appeared “Royalties” may finally get its day in the sun. “I went to Chicago for a work pilgrimage with the Langs. We had a few days, and we put all our ideas on the map: every musical, feature film, show, graphic novel, and animated series we’ve ever thought of,” he says. “A lot of them were from the Langs; they were just things I was interested in as a producer or actor. We looked at all of them and made a top three.”

“Royalties” obviously made the cut.

Fast forward several years, Gail Berman’s SideCar, a production company under FOX Entertainment, was looking to produce a music show. Those early conversations, beginning at an otherwise random LA party, showed great promise in airlifting the concept from novel idea to discernible reality. Things quickly stalled, however, as they often do in Hollywood, but Criss had at least spoken his dreams into the universe.

“I finally had an outlet to put it into gear. It wasn’t until two to three years after that that things really locked in. We eventually made shorts and made a pilot presentation. We showed it to people, and it wasn’t until Quibi started making their presence known that making something seemed really appealing,” he says. “As a creator, they’re very creator-centric. They’re not a studio. They’re a platform. They are licensing IP much like when a label licenses an indie band’s album after the fact.”

Quibi has drawn severe ire over the last few months, perhaps because there is a “Wild Westness” to it, Criss says. “I think that makes some people nervous. Being my first foray into something of this kind, Quibi felt like a natural partner for us. If this had been a network or cable show, we would’ve molded it to be whatever it was.”

Format-wise, “Royalties” works best as bite-sized vignettes, charming hijinks through the boardroom and beyond, and serves as a direct response to a sea of music shows, from “Nashville” and “Empire” to “Smash.” “Those shows were bigger, more melodramatic looks at the inside base of our world. I’ve always been a goofball, and I just wanted to take the piss out of it,” he says. “This show isn’t about songwriting. It’s about songwriters… but a very wacky look at them.”

“30 Rock,” a scripted comedy loosely based around “Saturday Night Live,” in which the focus predominantly resides around the characters, rather than the business itself, was also on his mind. “It’s about the interconnectivity of the people and characters. As much of the insider knowledge that I wanted to put into our show, at the end of the day, you just want to make a fun, funny show that’s relatable to people who know nothing about songwriting and who shouldn’t have to know anything.”

Throughout 10 episodes, Criss culls the “musicality, fun, and humor” of Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger and Max Martin, two of his biggest songwriting heroes, and covers as many genres as possible, from K-Pop to rap-caviar and classic country. While zip-lining between formats, the songs fully rely on a sturdy storytelling foundation ─ only then can Criss drape the music around the characters and their respective trajectories. “I wanted to do something where I could use all the muscles I like to flex at once, instead of compartmentalizing them,” he says. “I really love writing songs for a narrative, not necessarily for myself. I thrive a little more when I have parameters, characters, and a story to tell.”

Bonnie McKee, one of today’s greatest pop architects, takes centerstage, too, with an episode called “Kick Your Shoes Off,” in which she plays a bizarro version of herself. “She has her own story, and I’ve always been fascinated by it,” says Criss, who took her out to lunch one day to tell her about it. Initially, the singer-songwriter, known for penning hits for Katy Perry, Taio Cruz, and Britney Spears, would anchor the entire show, but it soon became apparent she would simply star in her own gloriously zany episode.

In one of the show’s standout scenes, Pierce and Sara sit in on a label meeting with McKee’s character and are tasked with writing a future hit. But they quickly learn how many cooks are in the kitchen at any given moment. Everyone from senior level executives to publicists and contracted consultants have an opinion about the artist’s music. One individual urges her to experiment, while another begs not to alienate her loyal fanbase, and then a third advises her to chronicle the entire history of music itself ─ all within three minutes or so. It’s absurd, and that’s the point. “Everyone’s been in that meeting, whether you’re in marketing or any creative discussion that has to be made on a corporate level by committee. It’s the inevitable, comedic contradictions and dissociations from not only rationality but feasibility.”

Criss also draws upon his own major label days, having signed with Sony/Columbia right off the set of “Glee,” as well as second-hand accounts from close friends. “There are so many artists, particularly young artists, who famously get chewed up and spat out by the label system,” he says. “There’s a lot of sour tastes in a lot of people’s mouths from being ‘mistreated’ by a label. I have a lot of friends who’ve had very unfortunate experiences.”

“I was really lucky. I didn’t have that. I have nothing but wonderful things to say,” he quickly adds.“It wasn’t a full-on drop or anything. I was acting, and I was spreading myself really thin. It’s a record label’s job to make product, and I was doing it piecemeal here and there. I would shoot a season [of ‘Glee’] and then do a play. I was doing too many things. I didn’t have it in me at the time to do music. I had written a few songs I thought were… fine.”

Both Criss and the label came to the same conclusion: perhaps this professional relationship just wasn’t a good fit. They parted ways, and he harbors no ill-will. In fact, he remains close friends with many folks from that time. So, it seems, a show like “Royalties” satisfies his deep hunger to make music and write songs ─ and do it totally on his own terms.

“I still say I want to put out music, and fans have been very vocal about that. I feel very fortunate they’re still interested at all,” he says. “That passion for making music really does come out in stuff like [this show].”

“Royalties” is Darren Criss at his most playful, daring, and offbeat. It’s the culmination of everything he has tirelessly worked toward over the last decade and a half. Under pressure with a limited filming schedule, he hits on all cylinders with a soundtrack, released on Republic Records, that sticks in the brain like all good pop music should do. And it would not have been the same had he, alongside Matt and Nick Lang, not formed Team StarKid 11 years ago.

Truth be told, it all began with a “Little White Lie.”

[theadrogna]

This comes under the heading of better late than never, and many apologies to @singledarkshade​ for the lateness of this response to the Dream Movie Challenge. So, we were given six actors from our favourite TV shows/movies, a wildcard actor, and a random item. We had use these actors and the object to create our own movie.

I give you a supernatural romantic comedy, starring Matt Ryan, Elizabeth Henstridge, April Bowlby, Taika Waititi, Ellen Page, and Woody Harrelson. With a special appearance by Merryl Streep.

Synopsis:

Max Webster is working as an investment banker in London, making huge amounts of money that support a lifestyle of clubs, bars and one night stands, until his boss and mentor commits fraud on a huge scale. Max is implicated, despite knowing nothing. He loses his job and not a single other bank in the city will touch him, meaning his career is effectively over and he’s rapidly going broke. Just when he thinks things can’t get worse, he is told that his sole relative, his estranged paternal grandmother has died and left him property in Brighton.

With nothing better to do and hopes that the property is worth something, Max heads to Brighton to tie up his grandmother’s affairs, dreading his time outside the capital and increasingly depressed about life. Upon arrival he meets Poppy Fletcher, his grandmother’s lawyer who was the one who contacted him about his grandmother’s death. 

Max discovers that his grandmother was the proud owner of the “Worst Wax Museum in Britain”: The House of Wax. Only a handful of the wax statues look like who they’re supposed to be and the rest are like someone sculpted celebrities that they’d never seen. The museum is barely making enough to keep it afloat. He begins to make plans to sell the museum and at least make enough to pay off his Grandmother’s debts. Enter Cooper Farnsworth, rich American businessman, on the run from the Mafia after a dodgy deal went wrong. He desperately needs to make money fast.

But Max finds out that his inheritance is rather unusual in a number of ways...

For starters, there aren’t many wax museums where Meryl Streep hands out advice and enjoys watching the footy on the night watchman’s TV when the punters have gone home for the night. But it isn’t just Meryl, all of the waxworks come to life thanks to an old book of magic that is powered by the signatures of the guests and the messages they leave. The less visitors there are, the less magic there is to keep the waxworks alive and things have been getting desperate lately until only a handful of the waxworks have the necessary magic to come to life.

The waxworks tell Max about how his grandmother desperately tried to bring in more people, but her failing health meant that everything fell apart. Max discovers how his grandmother loved the museum and also loved him, despite her outwardly cool demeanour. He had thought that she didn’t care that he left Brighton, but Amelia unearths the letters that his grandmother wanted to send but didn’t have an address to send them to.

Max realises that he can’t sell the wax museum after all, and he enlists Poppy’s help in finding a way to keep it going. In the process she also discovers the secret of the museum, and Max and Poppy discover that they’re falling for each other. Meanwhile Cooper is plotting to get Max out because the listed building is worth more than Max is aware, especially with some of the period features.

The finale has Cooper breaking into the museum to destroy the waxworks, but Steve, the night watchman sounds the alarm. Cooper accidentally starts a fire and there is a desperate fight to save everyone from melting. Max and Poppy rally everyone to deal with the fire, and Cooper is arrested for arson.

The publicity from the fire actually brings in more customers, Max updates the museum with new exhibits, deciding to focus more on local history and tell the stories of the people who live in Brighton. He’s cleared of any wrong doing at the bank and Poppy helps him sue for wrongful dismissal. He uses the payout to finance repairs to the museum and more and more waxworks come alive every night as the visitors pour in.

And Max never thinks about leaving again, because now he has a family, albeit one that includes Meryl Streep, Amelia Earhart and Margaret Thatcher but he doesn’t mind.

Max Webster (Matt Ryan): Max lost his parents when he was young and was raised by his paternal grandmother. The two did not get on and he left home as soon as he could for university and then the big city. He always had a love of risk taking and wanted to be rich, so he studied finance and got a job in banking. He spends his time closing deals in a highly stressful job during the day and then out on the town in the evening. He has very few friends, all of whom are from work, and he very rarely sleeps with the same woman twice. He has a very shallow outlook on life and everything is about money.

His life is changed by inheriting the House of Wax and discovering that his memories of his grandmother are flawed and desperately inaccurate. He deals with the unusual House of Wax that his grandmother created and his grief at her passing. He comes to realise that not everything in life is about the next deal or how much money can be made.

Poppy Fletcher (Elizabeth Henstridge): Poppy is a lawyer and is responsible for executing Max’s grandmother’s will. She’s the one who hand Max the keys to the House of Wax and sees the look of disappointment on his face. She is very efficient and competent, loves the town she lives in and knows everyone on her street. She mourns the loss of Max’s grandmother, and has no idea that she was anything but the eccentric, elderly owner of the House of Wax. She doesn’t like Max at first because of his attitude to his grandmother and his version of her doesn’t seem to be the same as the woman she knew.

She ends up spending a lot of time with Max as the property sale becomes more difficult and after a while, she realises that he’s not at all the image that he projects. She starts helping him to get back on his feet and renovate the museum. Then she discovers about the magic book and she realises that she can’t let Max deal with the situation on his own.

Florence Nightingale (April Bowlby): Florence doesn’t look like the picture that hangs next to her in the slightest. Even her period dress is somewhat suspect. She prefers to wear much more recent clothes and is doing online first aid courses at night. She’s slightly haughty and thinks she knows best.

She can see that Max is depressed and grieving when he arrives. She’s one of the driving forces behind getting Max to take better care of himself and to talk about how he feels. Once the museum is safe, she works at becoming qualified as a therapist and sees patients online, writing an agony aunt column for the local paper.

Amelia Earhart (Ellen Page): She likes to pretend that she’s actually the pilot that she was sculpted to be. She’s very much her own person though, feisty and fun loving. She has no idea how to fly a plane, but has a flight simulator that Max’s grandmother gave her and is a computer game ace. She has the high score and no one can beat her.

She is the first waxwork that Max discovers is alive and persuades him that he isn’t hallucinating. She takes him to see the others when she realises that he’s the grandson of the previous owner.

She ends the film playing games in esports tournaments and winning, much to the amusement and delight of her fellow waxworks.

Steve (Taika Waititi): The night watchman of the House of Wax. He’s always known as Steve and no one knows his full name. He never really seems to go home, he’s just there. Max is very confused by him at first, but eventually realises that he’s another waxwork. He was one of the first created and no one is ever sure who he was supposed to be, at the end of the film it’s discovered that he’s supposed to be Genghis Khan, but like most of the other waxworks he bears no resemblance to his original. He is quite protective of the museum though.

Cooper Farnsworth (Woody Harrelson): An American property developer who is interested in buying the House of Wax and turning it into flats. He moved to the UK, to get away from some people who didn’t like him much (actually he double crossed the Mafia). He gets increasingly desperate to buy the House of Wax when some of his former business partners catch up with him, threatening Max and Poppy if they don’t sell up, but he never finds out the real secret of the museum. He thinks he’s hallucinating when he sees the waxworks move and fight back during the finale. He’s dragged away shouting about moving statues and charged with arson.

Meryl Streep (herself): She is modelled after the three time Oscar winning actress and is the only waxwork who looks like she is supposed to. She’s something of a leader of the group, checking in with everyone to make sure that they’re doing okay. She’s concerned about the fading magic and trying to keep everyone’s spirits up. She offers very good advice to Max about how to run the museum, most of which Max ignores to begin with because he thinks he knows better. Later we see her taking on the museum accounts and running the financial side of the museum with Max listening carefully to her. He may have been a banker but those skills are very little use when it comes to book keeping.

Additional actors:

Arthur Darvill as David Bowie - Can actually sing, sounds nothing like David Bowie. Wants to be Major Tom and follows NASA on Twitter. Tom Ellis as Paul McCartney - Can also sing and taught himself to play the piano. Duets with Bowie to entertain the rest of the group. John Boyega as Frank Bruno - Hates punching people, is a total softy. Ryan Reynolds as Salvador Dali - He once tried painting and decided never to do so again. He prefers reading and writes poetry. Eccentric. Celia Imrie as Queen Victoria - Knows everything that there is about Queen Victoria. She misses Albert who hasn’t woken up for a while now due to lack of magic.

[aetherschreiber]

The Cycle of Fandom

I am an early Millennial.  As a 1982 baby, I literally came of age in the year 2000.  A lot of hay has been made about how my generation does things differently from our parents.  And by now, plenty of it has been made about why, as well.  I won’t rehash the talking points, but it comes down to how much things changed in our formative years.  Our parents went from vinyl to 8-tracks.  We went from cassette tapes to CDs to MP3 players to streaming over our phones.  That’s a lot to have to adapt to and as a result adapting is just what we do.

But when it comes to fandom, the human condition really hasn’t changed that much.  People like things and when they like things they obsess, collect, analyze, and sadly they eventually eventually gate-keep.

Now, let me preface all of this by saying that I don’t really have any citations for any of this.  But, as someone who was thoroughly raised in fandom, I also have a tendency to get hooked on things a lot of my generation would scoff at for being old.  I love the original Lost in Space and Man from UNCLE, the very first Mobile Suit Gundam is my favorite, I’m fascinated by the puppetry in Thunderbirds, and I’m a complete sucker for just about anything with Cary Grant.  I will binge-watch classic Doctor Who as much as I will the new stuff and love every moment of each for what it is.

For most Millennials, this isn’t the case, for whatever reason.  It’s neither a good thing nor a bad thing.  It just is.  Most folks in my generation have heavy nostalgia for the 80s at the oldest and just don’t really concern themselves with very much from before that.  It’s not that they don’t have an appreciation, but they don’t have the resulting fangirl crush I have on David McCallum that I will commiserate with my mother about (Illya Kuryakin is an adorable badass and I will die on that hill).

I like to think that this has given me a bit of a unique view on fandom, in general.  I participate in some older fandoms, where things move a bit more slowly and where the average age is usually at least one generation removed from me and therefore a bit wiser in a lot of ways.  They’ve just sort of... already covered this ground, so to speak.

The difference is the pace at which they did it.  But the cycle is the same.

It’s never anything that starts maliciously.  No fan I know of has ever set out to point-blank keep someone else from liking the thing.  Rather it starts with a sense of seniority.  “You like this thing, now, too?  Great!  I was there for the beginning and let me tell you, back then...”  It’s always like a fandom big sibling who wants to show their younger counterpart the ropes; get them proper caught-up and versed in the lore so that they can better participate.

I love fandom when it’s at this stage and it’s the type of fan I strive to be at all times.  I don’t like setting conditions for fandom.  I think it’s partly because I am such a late-comer to so many.  The idea of being a fan of something that was made 30 years or more before you were born is a hell of a thing, but I’ve never let that stop me.  And for the most part, these fandoms that are much older than I am have reached the point where they are welcoming and just sort of stuck in the big sibling stage.  Sure, you have the occasional troll, the guy that scoffs that I can’t understand because I wasn’t there at the very beginning.  But they’re usually slapped to the ground pretty quickly by everyone else.

There is the occasional exception, of course.  But one of the things those such fandoms have in common is that there is still new content being made for it.  Doctor Who is a prime example, as is Star Trek, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings (yes, I do count the upcoming Amazon series and other non-book content as new content, deal with it).  There’s something about new content being made for a fandom that causes an odd anxiety that thing that the fandom loves is going to be somehow ruined.

I’m going to use Doctor Who as an example for a lot of this.  The show turned 56 years old this last November.  56 years!  And the fact that it had a couple of decade-long breaks in there, which were themselves only separated by a single two-hour movie, only serve to highlight the changes it went through.

My second-oldest memory is of Doctor Who.  I remember the regeneration from Tom Baker to Peter Davison.  Now, Whovian historians, before you freak out because that change-over happened in 1981, before I was even born, remember that back then the US got episodes around two and three years later than the BBC, in syndication on public television channels.  So for me, that change happened when I was two.  I remember there being some Big Thing (tm) that my dad was anticipating.  I remember the burgundy and red outfit that Tom Baker was wearing while laying stricken on the ground, surrounded by his companions.  And I remember him suddenly turning into a blond and sitting up, wide-eyed and mystified.  I didn’t understand any of it at the time, of course.  And so I also remember turning to my dad, who was watching with excitement, while the credits were rolling and asking why the man turned into another man.  Oddly, that’s where the memory ends.  I don’t remember the response.  In fact, it’s only having since seen that episode as an adult that I have been able to identify it for what it was.

After that, I don’t have much in the way of Doctor Who related memories until the Paul McGann movie in 1996.  I was 14 and not well-steeped in Whovian lore at the time and I thought it was great.  My dad was more luke-warm to it because it just wasn’t the same as what he grew up with.  It was a sentiment shared by many, unfortunately, which meant that Paul McGann’s wonderful take on the Doctor was relegated purely to audio adventures until the 50th anniversary in 2013.  Sadly, in the early days of the internet, those of us who liked it weren’t quite able to find each other yet.  In the days of Usenet and mailing lists, it was still only the most hardcore fans of a thing who got together to geek out.  Meaning that most of the conversation was “oh, that’s all wrong.”  Lurking in those conversations, I saw pretty much every tremulous young person who dared to say that they liked it get slapped to the ground and told they weren’t a fan of “the real thing.”

Gate-keeping.  It’s nothing new.  And in 1996 Doctor Who fandom ran smack into its pad-locked closed barrier.  Around that same time other old but still active fandoms were starting to manifest the same thing on the internet.  It was when Trekkies suddenly separated into Trekkies (who had seen the original as it aired) and Trekkers (who came long later), for reasons I have never understood.

No, that’s not true.  I understand it.  Us humans tend to get possessive about our stories.  We have a sort of emotional ownership to them, even if not a legal one.  And when you feel an ownership of something, there is an instinct to protect it, keep it pure.  And to do that, it’s natural to try to set oneself up as an authority on the subject.

It took another decade for Doctor Who to come off the shelf again, in 2005.  I was 24 by then, the age that marketers tend to target.  A friend got his hands on a digi-copy of Christopher Eccleston’s first episode, “Rose,” that had been leaked to the internet in its entirety about a week before it actually aired.  We watched it before our D&D group met and I was instantly hooked.  And the friend that was responsible for the new addiction was only too happy to have new fandom friends.

The pendulum had swung.  Gate-keeping was out and welcoming people to the fandom was the MO.  Of course, there were and still are to this day old school Whovians who deny that anything past Sylvester McCoy exists, calling the 1996 movie and the current series a different show entirely.  There will always be those people.  But for the most part, Whovians welcomed new fans with open arms throughout all of Eccleston’s and David Tennant’s runs.

Now, that one cycle, from welcoming to gate-keeping, and back to welcoming, took 42 years.  Most things don’t last anywhere close to that long.  A show might be on for five years or a movie and its sequels be around for ten and after that, for the most part, it’s done.  And in the pre-internet age of fandom, the pendulum swung slowly enough never to hit a repeat in the cycle.

The internet has sped up everything about fandom.  The airing of just about any show in any country might as well be a world-wide premiere these days because it all just travels that quickly.  It has to if it wants to maintain any sort of surprise in its story lines, otherwise internet chatter will spoil it.  These days, things move so fast that even the few hours between an episode of Doctor Who airing in the UK and in the US is enough that one can be subjected to spoilers.  And the swing of the fandom pendulum has sped up accordingly.

For Doctor Who, it started swinging back again when David Tennant left the show and Matt Smith took over.  Tennant’s Doctor had a lot of fans who desperately didn’t want “their Doctor” to leave, many of whom took to the internet, swearing off the show.  They said it would never be as good because David Tennant was just the best Doctor ever.  By then, there were a number of us Millennial Whovians who had dug into the lore and were comfortable with the concept of regeneration as a part of it.  After all, it had already happened nine times.  And there was a bit of a tendency to call those people who swore off Matt Smith’s episodes as being fans not of Doctor Who but of David Tennant.  Meanwhile, of course, old school Whovians were patting us all on the head going “aren’t you cute.  Now you understand why Tom Baker leaving was such a thing.”

And so, the pendulum started to swing back.  You started having people call other people “not really fans of Doctor Who.”  That only got worse when Peter Capaldi took over and there was a significant portion of the fandom upset that the Doctor was now an older guy instead of the 30-something Doctors we had grown accustomed to.

Gate-keeping reared its ugly head for most of Capaldi’s run and, sadly, I think that kept a lot of people from the fandom and from really appreciating the 12th Doctor.  That cycle has started to swing back with Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor, but the gate-keeping is in a stage where it is desperate to hold on to what Doctor Who was when they became fans and therefore is very toxic right now.  It’s not pretty.  But those asshats are starting to be slapped to the ground on social media thanks to a new influx of fans who are now once again more comfortable with the idea of regeneration and its possibilities.

Similar swings are happening with many other fandoms.  The Star Wars fandom is a really ugly place right now, quite frankly.  Star Trek seems to be on the welcoming end.  There are always the exceptions to every generalization, of course.  There will always be “that guy” in fandom.

This swing has always existed.  Millennials are just the first generation for whom it has swung multiple times in the life of the show.  The internet is probably the biggest contributing factor to that.  What that means is that we’re the first generation to really have the chance to see the pattern for what it is.  A few of us have even been able to extrapolate back and understand that, no, this is how it always has been, just slower.

The hopeful part of that is this; by virtue of being the first to recognize the pattern, we are the first ones with the opportunity to learn from that history.  And now we’re starting to see fandoms that actively abhor gate-keeping and just want more people to come in and play.  But those tend to be very young fandoms.

The one that comes to mind for me is Critical Role.  This is a fandom that was wholly born on the internet, as the series is streamed live on Twitch.  It’s really unlike anything that has ever had a fandom this size before.  It’s only been around for four years or so.  But the cast is on its second D&D campaign which means it’s already had the opportunity to have the elitism gate that could be closed.  But something different seems to have happened.  The very moment that people started saying “I’m a real fan because I watched the Vox Machina campaign, not just the Mighty Nein,” they were told to shut the hell up and let people like things.  A foot was stuck into the gate and wrenched it back open before it could close.  And you know what?  The fandom has absolutely exploded in the last two years.  And I have yet to run into a single instance of someone gate-keeping for it that didn’t get an overwhelming and harsh rebuttal from the folks who welcome people to the fandom.

Sadly, the Critical Role fandom is distinct from the Dungeons & Dragons fandom on this point.  But therein lies the difference.  D&D is over 45 years old, ten times and more the age of Critical Role.  And the “satanic panic” over it in the 80s made a lot of D&D players very protective of the hobby, only amplifying that.  The age of your average Critter is only mid-to-late 20s or so.  At 37, I’m a little bit of an outlier, I have found.  The Critter fandom is big on TikTok which I... don’t grock, frankly, because I’m turning into an old fart.  But I’ve never, ever, been made to feel unwelcome because of that difference.  It’s been a refreshing experience, frankly.

In contrast, I really feel like I’m only now starting to be considered a “true Whovian” by the old school Whovians.  It took me 15 years and required me getting hooked on the classic stuff (which I was all too happy to do).  People who have never seen any of the classic stuff and don’t care to are often still looked down upon.  That needs to change.

The Critical Role fandom is still young and all of this may prove to be overly-optimistic in the end.  But I think it has the opportunity to be the first big fandom not to go through the gate-keeping cycle.  I sincerely hope we can hold on to that.  The cast and crew are a big part of that, with how they always hammer on the idea of inclusivity and engage so directly with the fandom.  “Don’t forget to love each other” is Matt Mercer��s sign-off at the end of every episode and serves as a constant reminder.  And if more casts and crews of more fandoms do that sort of engaging in the future, it will help break the cycle of fandom gate-keeping all the more thoroughly.  This is a fact that production companies are starting to awaken to as Millennials, comfortable with social media, age into positions of authority.

So, welcome people in, gate-keep, almost cause the whole thing to collapse, repeat.  That’s the cycle that fandom has engaged in for three generations and more.  But I think we’re on the cusp of breaking that cycle, for the most part.  The idea that you can be a fan of something without knowing absolutely everything about it has been gaining very visible traction in the last five years or so and it is wonderful to see.

Now, please, people.  Don’t prove me wrong.

[youremyonlyhope]

The Timeless Children

Season 12 finale here we go.

“Take my hand.” And again the Doctor leaves her companions to go after the Master. At least this time she kinda chose to go with him. Graham... I don’t like the idea of you guys wearing Cybermen armor.... Master, what exactly is your plan here? Bringing the Cybermen? Graham.... awwww. That was so sweet. Will one of them die? If Graham or Yaz end up converted I will kill someone. “They are mine” nooo shut up Lone Cyberman. “You really think I’m gonna believe anything that comes out of your mouth.” Yes. I will believe him. I trust him to this extent. That was so weird to see a Cyberman move that naturally when Yaz turned to make sure he was gone... So smoothly instead of robotically. Indigenous race... we’re getting to human colonists.... right?... Adopted like Brandon... SHE FELL OFF A CLIFF TOO. WE’VE NEVER SEEN A CHILD REGENERATE BEFORE. THAT’S SO SAD. Oh god, if they end up shooting Yaz or Graham because they’re in Cyberman suits... The season started with him playing basketball... Ryan don’t you die. Hoarder? Of what?! Of people?????? Several regenerations... so was she killing the child over and over again!? Nearly there?? Nearly?????? There’s MORE?

Ok. So the Doctor is the Timeless Child... Ok... Ok. I need the episode to keep going so we can get to really get what this all means.

Also, if this is what the Master found out that caused him to destroy Gallifrey, then awww maybe he loves the Doctor and is mad about what they did to her.

Ok good, they didn’t get shot while dressed as Cybermen. “Oh. Okay.” OKAY. So that’s the Lone Cyberman out of the way. I like that the Lone Cyberman clinked when the Master picked him up. “and all this would be over. I would’ve been ok with that.” No Master. No. Don’t have a death wish PLEASE. It can’t be that bad. “I should have said ‘Someone should have cut you down to size’ and THEN zapped him.” Awww. Ok Master has the Cyberium. That’ll be fun. Back to commercial. But I need to know if my girl the Doctor is ok after that revelation! Tell me she’s ok!

I hate the stupid previews that BBC America plays. I thought the show as back. You’d think after years I’d stop falling for it, but we got through half the episode before the first preview.

“I cannot bear that.” Master, shut up. Ok, so it wasn’t because he loved the Doctor. I knew it wouldn’t be, but a girl can dream. He destroyed Gallifrey because of the insult of having part of the Doctor in him. OH SHE REALLY PUSHED HIM. I blinked and I missed it and then he was on the ground. Brandon?? It’s all erased... What the hell is the Division? OOOOOOOHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. CYBERMEN TIME LORDS. THIS IS WORSE THAN THE DALEK SILENCE. OH BUT I DO LOVE THE DESIGN. He blew a kiss. Kisses. Just like she sent O.

I mean. The Master back in the 1996 movie wanted to know the Doctor’s secrets, and found he was half-human. Maybe that was just a sort of fake-out that was planted to keep others from discovering that she’s the Timeless Child.

OH god I don’t want the fam to get killed on Gallifrey... Yaz no why did you have to go first? Stop being reckless. “This is Gallifrey.” She said the thing. RUTHHHHHHH. My girl. Something “He” said, but the “He” is not the Master? Jack? “Oh! I’m talking to myself again!” I love the Doctor. Awwww all those flashbacks. Oh so “he” was the Lone Cyberman. Ugh. I was hoping for my baby Jack. Is there a TARDIS they can steal to get everyone off the planet please?? Also, oh god the Gallifreyans will be super dead this time around. Which will suck. Oh god the Master wants them to do it... it’s a trap... A TARDIS TO STEAL! YAY! Doctor, stop having a death wish. You always have a death wish. Stop it. Neither you nor the Master are allowed to have death wishes. Yaz don’t you dare volunteer to do it instead... I can see it in your eyes. OOOH Ryan. “I am so much more than you.” Why does that give me deja vu? “You’ll become Death.” Doctor of Death. Wasn’t that a thing before? Oh, Ko Sharmus. Ok at least it’s not Yaz. So he sent the Cyberium! And look at all the people who thought it was Jack or Ruth or something. Overthinking it. Run, Doctor. Just like you tell everyone else to. TARDISes are organic too though... so are they all destroyed? And is the Master dead for good now? I hope not. I love the Master. She ran away from Gallifrey and never stopped. Again.

Ok wait. The title is Timeless Children. Plural. We’re still only talking about the singular Child. Oh god no more Doctor Who until Christmas.

Ha it’s a house! That’s so cute! The Chameleon Circuit’s working! Will they live in their TARDIS? I mean, you got a house right there. You can probably ask it to change the inside to look like a house too. Will the Doctor still just run away and not reunite with her Fam? Just leave them behind? “Good Chameleon Circuit” Wow two working TARDISes. AWWWW LOOK AT OUR TARDIS. I love her. “Don’t get jealous.” Sweet. AGAIN? THE JUDOON!?!?!?

Revolution of the Daleks???

Well that was a cliffhanger. Great.

I haven’t rewatched Matt Smith’s era in a while, is that supposed to be River’s prison?

Anyway. I think I’m satisfied. I wish the Master got out of that in the end, if only because I love the Master. He needed to be stopped of course. But still. Give me more Master. Especially Dhawan!Master.

It’s the Master. They’ll be back eventually. Hopefully still Dhawan.

Ruth Doctor. My girl. Glad to see her come back. Poor Doctor, she has so much to deal with now... It does bring up a bunch of questions. Like how she got more regenerations in the Time of the Doctor... I assume she’s able to just regenerate forever... so why would Gallifrey make a big show of giving her 12 more... I guess because they were like “Hey so, if we don’t come down there and look like we’re listening to Clara and helping the Doctor, he’s gonna find out about his past, so let’s just send a bit of regeneration energy at him to make this specific regeneration extra big and convince him he was given 12 more.... then we can just rinse and repeat again later.”

Also, the Doctor was a black girl first. If only it was still Black History Month. Oh well.

So Ruth’s version of the Doctor reached her 12 regenerations at some point, had her memory erased... and reverted back to a child... but why did they not do that to Eleven? Did they just want to see what the Doctor would do if they knew they were living longer than initially intended this time around? How many cycles have there been? I hope Ruth’s set of 12 was the first one but I doubt it...

At least the Valeyard, the Watcher, and the Curator make a lot more sense now. They can fall just about anywhere now and not mess with the 12 regenerations thing since that does not matter at all anymore for the Doctor.

And I can’t remember if we all freaked out about this back then, but I’ve been thinking about this recently, did we all freak out when we saw the Curator because of the number of regenerations? Because, by the time we watched the 50th Anniversary we were all freaking out and counting regenerations and wondering if the Meta-Crisis counted towards that number, and then wondering if Capaldi is the last Doctor or if it ends up that Smith is actually #13 then how does Capaldi happen? We were wondering all of that, so what did we make of the Curator? I honestly can’t remember. I feel like for the entire month after the 50th we were all just so blinded from the appearance of Tom Baker to wonder where the Curator falls in the 12 regenerations thing. And then by the time we started actually wondering where he fits in, Christmas happened and Eleven got more regenerations and we were like “Oh ok well then I guess the Curator’s at the end of those regenerations.”

But I LIKE the idea that the Curator is even further along than we thought, and that now that Gallifrey is truly gone (which sucks) and can’t enforce the rules of sets of 12 regenerations, the Doctor is just going to keep going on and on forever and ever and eventually starts just picking faces again.

Also, how old is the Doctor? We thought the 4 billion years in the confession dial was bad, but like, maybe it wasnt?

And what about that theory that all the Gallifreyans are the Doctor just at different points in their life, going back in time but living all the lives simultaneously... nah that’s too much.

Anyway. I was sure that this season would lead to us finding out that humans are the ancestors of Gallifreyans, still kinda hoping for that. I’m really clinging to this human thing. First I thought the Doctor was the Hybrid because he’s half human, now I thought we’d get the revelation that Time Lords evolved from humans.

Wait. There’s still one BIG question. If the Doctor isn’t from Gallifrey, then WHAT THE HELL IS SHE!??!?!

[mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker]

Let’s debunk this hot trash

“Part of the problem in front of Marvel Comics is the Marvel Universe is one long, mostly-unbroken line since its inception in 1961's Fantastic Four #1. There have been retcons, changes, tweaks, and cuts, but by and large it's a straight run. The universe has seen a number of resets, but it's mostly been returned to the state that long-time fans are comfortable with.”

Why is this a problem? Marvel is the highest selling comic book company in America and the long continuity is objectively not a problem.

It’s just something people incorrectly claim is a problem.

By the 1990s Marvel already had shittons of complicated continuity that had been going longer than most other long running franchise stories.

The readers back then jumped on ship just fine.

The AMOUNT of continuity you have is never the problem it’s how you manage it. In the days where every issue was treated as someone’s first and made accessible the amount of continuity was never a problem.

“Marvel Comics as a whole and the current creative stewards of its characters have to roll with 57 years of punches. They have to take the good and the bad. In the case of Spider-Man, the current writers, artists, and editors have to occasionally tackle the fact that Peter Parker hit his wife, made a deal with Mephisto to wipe out his marriage, or that Gwen Stacy had sex with Norman Osborn. ”

They don’t HAVE to deal with any of that.

They already dealt with the first of those things and simply SHOULD deal with the other two by erasing them.

But it’s also not like the presence of those things (sans OMD) is a huge hamper on the storytelling abilities or sales of the writers.

“Many of these are moments that readers and creators would simply like to forget, but they're a part of the fabric of the character. ”

Yes and welcome to ‘This is how a dramatic character on serialized fiction’ works.

“With Marvel's Spider-Man for PlayStation 4, Insomniac Games had the chance to start from scratch. They get to pick and choose what works for their version of Peter Parker and his alter-ego. The only backstory he brings to the table is that which Insomniac has carefully considered. This allows the team to drop the facets of Spider-Man that maybe didn't work and play around with some new ideas that might be better. And if Marvel's smart, they should steal some of what Insomniac Games did here.”

Why?

Insomniac already stole from Marvel.

Sales and storytelling potential for Spider-Man is NOT hampered by large continuity or even negative patches of it for the most part.

When bad stories happen so long as they are fixed then things get to move on. Even something as bad as Sins Past isn’t overly a drag because the story itself is so nonsensical it might as well not be canon, people have isolated and ignored it and the scope of the damage it can cause is fairly limited, it doesn’t really cut to the heart of the franchise. The time he hit his wife on the other hand was dealt with and moved on from.

So the existence of bad patches doesn’t really matter. Doctor Who has had no end of bad stories merely in it’s TV incarnation (to say nothing of it’s plethora of spin-off media which are all canon to varying degrees) and all those things still happened. But the show is still going strong and hit stratospheric popularity in the mid-late 2000s and early 2010s.

Hell the Simpsons is still going despite there being at least 20 years of mediocre-bad stories.

“I'm going to be honest. I'm not a huge fan of Mary Jane Watson. I don't necessarily have a problem with the character, but I've never really been a fan either. The marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson was done on a whim and many writershated it at the time.”

Oy vey this shit again.

The marriage was not done on a whim. Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man wanted it to happen and EIC Jim Shooter decided to synch it up with the comics.

At the time Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz had been building up to Peter and MJ’s wedding with the intention of her jilting him.

But the build up from them, and other writers like Peter David, was still there.

Only the outcome changed.

As for this ‘many writers hated it’ thing, the article links to ONE writer’s opinion on the subject.

If we actually look at the majority of Spider-Man writers to have written for Spider-Man during and after the marriage we see most of them were okay or neutral on the subject.

David Michelinie wasn’t thrilled with it, but he came on side eventually. Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz were the same. Matt Fraction wasn’t too sure about it but wasn’t innately against it either. Nick Spencer clearly liked it. Howard Mackie has given statements indicating he was against it at a time but might over all be neutral. Roberto Aguirre Sacasa has never said anything on the subject to my knowledge but his work implies he’s supportive of it. Mark Millar has never said anything on the subject. J.M. DeMatteis, J. Michael Straczynski and Peter David have been outright supportive of it, as was probably Todd McFarlane, Jodie Houser and for sure artist Ryan Stegman.

Oh and Stan Lee the creator of Spider-Man. Let’s not leave him out.

Compared to that we have Roger Stern, Terry Kavanagh, John Byrne, Paul Jenkins, Gerry Conway and Jim Owsley who were against it.

Conway’s opposition was possibly due to his going through a divorce at the time. Stern’s opposition was based upon his idea of MJ being stuck in the Silver Age but he wasn’t innately opposed to Spider-Man marrying in general. Jim Owsley on his linked to blog (where he routinely lies, including claiming Ron Frenz was potentially suicidal when he never was) had a stupid sexist rationale for disliking the marriage. John Byrne is creepy shithead who would’ve preferred Spider-Man was dating underage girls anyway and along with Terry Kavanagh never wrote a good Spider-Man story in his life. In Kavanagh’s case he never even wrote a good story in his life.

So of all those people only Paul Jenkins dislike of it wasn’t unjustified. But he was an outlier.

Every other writer either liked it, was neutral on it, disliked it for nonsensical reasons or didn’t know about good storytelling in the first place to make citing them worth a damn in the first place.

And aside from aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall of this...does the author realize Peter and MJ’s relationship and MJ’s whole character doesn’t begin and end in the years they were married?

Like he talks about their marriage as though this being bad proves their relationship and her character is bad when there was 20+ years of MJ prior to that.

“I think Peter has had better love interests over the years, including Gwen Stacy. ”

And the author would be wrong.

Gwen Stacy is neither better nor more interesting that Mary Jane.

That’s why THEY KILLED HER!

“Part of that is giving Mary Jane something to do. She's been a model and an actress, but the books were always more concerned with the superheroics, so you never really got the chance to feel her drive there. She was a nightclub owner, but again, the same problem persisted. ”

Except Spider-Man stories ARE NOT MORE CONCERNED WITH THE SUPERHEROICS!

My God. How the fuck can someone have read any number of Spider-Man stories and not realized, oh yeah, the book is about Peter’s life over all and his normal life is as if not MORE important than whoever he is punching this month.

By this logic Harry Osborn, Aunt May, Flash Thompson and literally every supporting cast member who isn’t J. Jonah Jameson or like Ashley goddam Kafka, is a better supporting character than Mary Jane.

Mary jane doesn’t have to be involved in the superhero side of Peter’s life because the Spider-Man series isn’t about that. It’s about his life in general and sometimes one blurs over into the other but not always and frankly if you go by the classic stories not even most of the time.

That’s why on the occasions where such things did happen it was a big deal.

“Other than supporting Peter Parker, what did Mary Jane Watson really want? ”

To be an actress

To be taken seriously as more than a model

To support her sick cousin

To earn a psychology degree

To avoid commitment

“Sometimes she just wanted Peter to not be Spider-Man anymore, which is a downer of a conflict.”

This is another lie.

The ONLY times during which Mary jane didn’t want Peter to be Spider-Man were during the Clone Saga when she was pregnant, he’d retired and Ben Reilly was the new Spider-Man and new main character (meaning there was no issue there) or during the Mackie/Byrne reboot where she was being written deliberately out of character as an act of sabotage.

Unless the author meant like in specific stories where Peter was injured and she didn’t want him to go off and be Spider-Man at that moment or in that specific context, as opposed to wholesale retiring. At which point...how is this a downer conflict? It’s a starkly realistic and emotionally justified conflict in a series built off the back of realistic emotions because Spider-Man is a human drama and soap opera FFS!

“Sometimes, things are good... ...sometimes, they're not.

Go to the article itself and notice the second image the author uses.

If you’ve ever encountered similar lines of anti-MJ/anti-marriage argument before those panels, that artwork or stuff similar to it might strike you as familiar.

Why?

Because it’s from the exact same story. Maximum Carnage.

Every asshole who tries to make this argument uses Maximum Carnage, one of the worst Spider-Man stories over all to bolster their claims. The repetition of scenes from this story (and usually the same scene) is telling because it’s either cherry picking from a notoriously bad story and pretending like it represented a norm (and removes it from important context FYI) or...these people don’t know what they are talking about and just parrot one another with the same examples.

“Over in the Ultimate Comics line, writer Brian Michael Bendis would give Mary Jane a career choice that dovetails well with superheroes: journalist. See, the reason DC Comics' Lois Lane works is her driving motivation—to be the best investigative journalist in the world—puts her on a path to run into Clark Kent and Superman. ”

Yeah and the problem is that MJ worked as well for decades even when she wasn’t a journalist. Shit she worked for the majority of Ultimate Spider-Man’s run prior to her becoming a journalist!

Yeah, remember that tiny piece of vital information the author conveniently ignored. For MOST of Ultimate Spider-Man’s 10 year tenure with Peter Parker as the lead character Mary Jane wasn’t a journalist!

Shit, she worked for her school paper so the idea that it made her involvement in heroics more organic is pretty bullshit.

More importantly prior to her journalist job Ultimate MJ’s role and function within the narrative was strikingly similar to her 616 married counterpart!

“Her intense curiosity and lack of self-preservation makes her endearing; the audience knows what she wants and the lengths she'll go to get it.”

And MJ’s goofy deameanor at times, inner strength, sociable nature, insecutirs, struggles with guilt and commitment make her endearing.

“So Insomniac decided to take the Ultimate version of Mary Jane and play it up to Lois Lane levels. She's an investigative journalist at the Daily Bugle searching for more on the recently-arrested Wilson Fisk. Her own adventures put her on the path to meeting with Spider-Man. You get that moment where they're both asking, "What are you doing here?" and you realize there's old, unmentioned romantic history. MJ already knows Peter is Spider-Man and she's fine with that side of his life. ”

And it works great...in a video game setting where you truly are spending 90% of your time in the middle of action and the plot needs to be entirely in service of that plot.

But in the context of a comic book more about the normal lives of the characters than revolving around superheroics and starring the most famous character (who’s clad in red and blue) of one of the two biggest companies in the world MJ as a journalist would die on it’s ass because it WOULD just be derivative of Lois Lane.

I mean Jesus Christ people also deride Black Cat and Norman Osborn for being derivative of Catwoman and Norman Osborn even though they deviate in big ways. But if Spider-Man major love interest/wife literally also became an investigative journalist and primarily interacted with Spider-Man (at least within the context of the main plot) within that role it would literally just be Lois Lane.

“This Mary Jane's problem is one of equal partnership. She's a great, inventive journalist. Sure, she could die on an investigation, considering where she decides to focus her talent, but in her mind, that's no different from a police officer or firefighter dying in the line of duty. The truth is important. This flips the dynamic a bit; her problem is that Peter doesn't acknowledge that she's also right where she needs to be. She's his equal, even if she doesn't have fancy Spider-powers. ”

  MJ was Peter’s equal in the comics too.

 Being someone’s equal as a person doesn’t mean doing the same job as them, working in the same line of work or directly contributing to the superhero action.

 You just need to be an equal in your personality and agency which in-universe MJ has had.

 This is to say nothing of how by this logic Alfred, Batman’s FATHER FIGURE, is not his equal or how Ganke Lee in Miles Morales comics wouldn’t really be HIS equal either or how, again, Spider-Man stories do not innately codify the superheroics as MORE important than the normal life stuff.

  “It's a great change.”

 Yes it is, in the context of a video game.

  “This Mary Jane is funny, a bit headstrong, and leaps sometimes before she looks. ”

 You mean just like comic book Mary Jane.

 “ Comic Mary Jane has many of these facets, but it's tough to get a grasp on what she really wants outside of Peter. ”

 Unless you’ve literally read the issue immediately after Peter meets her where she makes it clear she wants to be an actress. Or read any comic in the interim where she wants to have financial security, be taken seriously, reconcile with her family, indulge in/get over her commitment issues, help her cousin, learn psychology, etc.

 “Journalism doesn't have to be the answer, but there needs to be one that intersects with the lives of Peter and Spider-Man. ”

 No there doesn’t. In the real world couples jobs don’t have to intersect. Many of Peter’s supporting cast members do not have jobs that intersect with his life outside of the fact that they are his friends and/or family. This is true of other heroes too.

 MJ being Peter’s friend/girlfriend/wife is enough of a reason for her to intersect in his life and be featured in this stories, beyond that she can be given subplots of her own just like many other characters had.

 Two of the best subplots in Spider-Man involved Flash Thompson. One of them was his and Betty Brant’s affair and the other was his struggles with alcoholism. These were problems that for the longest time Peter wasn’t even aware of but they were compelling and entertaining unto themselves because Flash was a great character and we cared because he was Peter’s friend. However these stories also at no point ever really involved Spider-Man’s life. It was strictly confined to the problems of Peter Parker’s world.

 MJ’s job can be much the same.

 MJ’s normalacy is in fact a MAJOR reason why so many fans love her so much and why so many people love Spider-Man himself.

 Why make her more like Lois and her dynamic like that of Lois and Superman, those two characters who famously are awesome but also not as relatable as Spider-Man and MJ!

  “With Insomniac's Mary Jane, everything just clicks into place.”

 As would it for comic book MJ if you bothered to pay attention.

 “The problem here is Marvel never sat down and explained how this worked. Again, Peter's death was the impetus for Miles becoming Spider-Man. In the Ultimate comics, he had the powers long before he actually put on the costume. Miles' creator Brian Michael Bendis never sat down and explained the new backstory before he jumped over to DC Comics. We don't know the specifics of why this version of Miles took up the mantle, the question of his motivations always remains a bit fuzzy.”

  No it isn’t. Miles wasn’t REBOOTED into the 616 universe. He was integrated in with everyone’s memories altered around.

 His backstory was the same as in the Ultimate Universe he just literally, physically migrated over.

 Miles motivations were thus the same albeit undermined from a creative POV.

 “When the title of Spider-Man was passed on in the Ultimate universe, that made sense. But the question the Prime universe needs to answer now is: Why do they share the title? ”

 Because that was Miles’ chosen title and Peter gave his blessing for it and on a meta-level it is intended to represent how anyone can be Spider-Man.

 “Peter has offered it to Miles, but why does this version of Miles want it in return?”

  Because Ultimate Peter died and Miles wanted to honour him.

 It isn’t the case of he just ALWAYS existed in this universe. You cannot time travel back like 15 years into the 616 Marvel universe and locate baby Miles Morales He literally, physically doesn’t exist there.

 “That's really why these new versions of the characters work. I can see what they offer Peter and what he offers them in return. ”

 Comic book MJ offered Peter a human connection, a friend, a confidant, someone to support him and companionship.

 Why does she need to offer any more than that when in real life no one is hinging their deeper relationships upon the basis of what that person does for them in terms of their jobs or hobbies.

  “And that facet is sometimes missing in the Marvel Comics iteration. ”

 No it isn’t.

 “I see what they offer Peter, but sometimes it's hard to see what they get out of the relationship.”

 MJ gets a friend, companion, someone who understands and supports her, someone who helps emotionally fulfil her and make her a better person and sometimes someone who can help her in times of emotional and physical crises.

 “Great artists steal, Marvel. The comic publisher is already bringing Insomniac's Spider-Man into the the universe with the upcoming Spider-Geddon crossover (shown below). Now it's time to steal certain facets of the storytelling for the universe. Marvel Comics is stuck with the millstone of continuity around its neck, but that doesn't mean there aren't new directions the company can move Spider-Man and his amazing friends toward. ”

 Marvel has never rebooted it’s history since 1961.

 DC has done so in varying ways 5 or 6 times.

 Marvel outsells DC.

 Of all iconic characters owned by DC, Batman’s history has altered the least from one reboot into the next.

 Batman outsells every other DC character.

 In the 1980s Marvel fans had no access to the internet, few information books or other resources and few reprints with which to catch up upon the 20-25 years worth of history for the characters and of the few resources they did have not everyone had access to them.

 Marvel comics sold more physical copies back then than they do now.

 The highest selling Marvel titles of the 1980s and 1990s were the X-Men related titles which had objectively the most complicated, convoluted and least accessible .

 So STFU about too much continuity oh my God!

[hollands-poppet]

BIG BROTHER PART 1// HARRISON OSTERFIELD X READER

Summary: Big Brother is a reality TV show that allows a number of contestants to live in isolation that try to avoid eviction by their houseguest, and last man standing wins half a million dollars.

Word count: 6.6K 💛

A/N: Yay, first part is out.. I still don’t know if this series is working out the way I thought it was so I would LOVE feedback your guy’s feedback, it would help me tremendously. Predictions, theories are also welcomed. 

Warnings: A TON of cussing tbh, sort of proofread not really, hella drama even tho its only part 1 hahaha

PROLOGUE 

-

-

Julie is outside of the Big Brother house as the houseguests are in the backyard of the house, they’re all holding onto a rope that is attached to a small disc, all of their feet barely able to fit on the disk. She comes up on the speaker as they all hang on to the rope, “This Head of Household competition is called “Hang on There.” This competition will require you to hold on to this rope while standing on this small disk, sound easy? Well as soon as the timer starts, the ropes will start revolving and you all will begin to rotate around in a circle while still having to hold onto the rope. Are you ready houseguest?”

The houseguest all give Julie a cheer or a thumbs up, “Alright houseguest, goodluck and goodnight.” Her voice disappears from the backyard, and her shift is over for the night.

The timer starts, and the ropes begin to rotate around the backyard, “Oh fuck this shit feels nasty.” Hayley says as closes her eyes while holding tightly onto the rope.

Tana starts to obnoxiously laugh as the ropes begin to spin her around, “Y’all this feels like the first time I smoked weed.”

Tana’s DR: I want to win this HoH because it’ll make me seem like I’m serious-

Tana loses her grip and ends up falling off the disk first, it hasn’t even been a minute into the competition.

Tana’s DR: Are you kidding me? It hasn’t even been a minute and I fell off, I lost my grip.

About five minutes after Tana falls both Hayley and Joe fall off at the same time, Hayley quickly runs off the mat that they fell on and throws up on the grass.

Hayley’s DR: I was so nauseous, spinning in circles is torture, this wasn’t my comp for sure.

The competition in total has been going on for about an hour and a half, the last houseguest holding on are Madelaine, Y/N, Tom and Shawn.

Shawn’s legs have been shaking and his arms are aching from holding on so tight, and finally his legs give out and he falls on the matt beneath him. He immediately turns around to face the ground and pukes, he vomits underneath everyone so if anyone falls there is a chance they will fall into his vomit.

Shawn’s DR: I couldn’t make it off the mat, I just puked all over. I can’t believe I was able to hang on for that long and not win BUT it’s also good that I didn’t want because I can’t have a huge target on my back yet.

Tom is holding on for dear life, his hands are burning from holding onto the rope, “Girls, if I jump off will you keep me safe?” Madelaine hasn’t even flinched or even gotten out of her zen mode, her eyes are closed as she spins in circles, “I promise, you’re safe with me.” He looks behind him and watches you hold on for dear life, “Y/N? What about you?”

You nod your head with your eyes closed, “Yes, Tom.”

Y/N’s DR: Are you serious, Tom? I’m literally just telling him what he wants to hear.

And once he hears that yes, Tom lets go of the rope that he’s been holding onto for the past hour and a half. He lies stiff on the floor from his hands forming blisters and his calves aching from holding him up on the rope.

Madelaine’s DR: It’s down between me and Y/N, and I can hold on to this rope forever..so I decide to offer a deal.

“Y/N, I see you shaking...let’s strike a deal, I promise I’ll keep you safe.” Her eyes open and she makes eye contact with Madelaine, “Please, let me win.. I promise I’ll keep you safe too.”

Y/N’s DR: I counter offer her deal because I want to win too, but I don’t think I can hold anymore.

“I can hold onto this all day Y/N, please I promise you’re safe.” Your legs are aching, and your muscles are tensing up, you can’t hold on anymore. Before letting go you ask again for re-assurance, “You promise I’m safe?” She looks back at you, “I swear, I won’t put you up this week.” And with that, Y/N lets go and lands on the mat underneath her.

Madelaine’s DR: *holds up the HoH key* I am the first HOH of the summer and I could not be more excited. *claps hands* These houseguest better know I’m not just here to play, I'm here to win.

Madelaine jumps off the punching bag she was holding on to, and lands on her back as she lays stiff on the ground due to her muscles aching. Y/N wipes her face with the towel that Shawn brought to her, she is getting a bit emotional but is doing her best to hide her disappointment.

Y/N’S DR: I made a deal with Madelaine because she was going to outlast me so I just thought I would throw the comp.. anyway it gives me a chance to play in the HOH next week. *she moves her hair from her face* It just sucks to lose.

As Y/N wipes her face with the towel, she is approached by Harrison whose arms are open for hug, “You did amazing, mate.” She lets out a crooked smile as she accepts his hug, “Thank you, it’s Harrison right?” He pulls away, “Yeah but you can call me Haz.”

Haz’s DR: Y/N is a beast, she killed that comp. I just think she’s awesome. *stares into camera and winks*

The houseguests are walking in back into the house from the backyard, the sliding doors lead into the kitchen which everyone stands around in for a bit.

Tana stands on the kitchen counter, “I just want to congratulate everyone on the first competition, you guys all killed it.”

Zendaya scoffs and after taking a drink of her water can’t stay silent, “Dude, you fell first.” It’s like everyone’s head shot in the direction of Tana and Zendaya, was this the first fight of the season?

Tom and Shawn make Ooooo sounds as they watch from the kitchen table a couple of feet away. Y/N, Haz, Hayley and Madelaine watch from the sink and fridge as they still dry up from the competition, they’re not sure what is happening.

Tana claps her hands in sassiness, “So I see someone is bitter about not winning.” Zendaya crosses her arms, “Ain’t nobody bitter, now get your dirty ass feet off the table.”

Zendaya’s DR: Now who does this girl think she is? *taps her head* She’s just being so rude, and having her dirty shoes on the kitchen counter isn’t okay.

Tana slowly gets off the kitchen counter, “Look, I didn’t insult anybody.. if anything you’re being rude by telling me I fell first.”

Z almost chokes while sipping her water due to a sudden chuckle, “I’m not upset about that Tana.. just out of respect for everyone keep your feet off the kitchen counter that’s it.”

Tana’s DR: Is this bitch serious?

“I’m not trying to fight Tana, I’m just saying you know what I mean?” Zendaya scratches her arm as the blonde comes up to her with open arms, “I know my bad, I just got carried away.” They both hug but as they embrace Tana looks dead into one of the house cameras and rolls her eyes.

Tana’s DR: Obviously I’m not sorry BUT *flips hair* Madelaine is watching and she’s the new HOH, if she sees that I’m starting shit she can easily nominate me for eviction so I just decide to squash whatever happened between me and the flight attendant.

-

-

*Next Day*

Madelaine is hanging out in the HoH room which is a secluded room upstairs in the house that the head of household gets to have for the week. She is doing her makeup on her bed when she hears a knock on the door, “Come in,” she yells as she looks at herself in her palette mirror.

It’s Hayley and Tom who waltz in after being let in by Madelaine, Hayley lays on the bed as Tom takes a seat on the 3 seat couch in the room. He clears his throat, “We just wanted to congratulate you on being the first HoH of the summer, that’s awesome.”

The redhead puts her palette down, “Thank you, I really appreciate it.”

Hayley picks up for Tom, “No yeah, we’re genuinely happy for you. We just wanted to come see where your head is at.”

She gets up from her chair where she’s doing her makeup and picks up a snickers from the table, “You guys aren’t my targets for sure. I really don’t know what I’m gonna do.” She takes a bite from her Snickers, and sits across from Tom on the couch.

Tom’s DR: If I can plant some seeds in Madelaine’s head about who to put up, I can possibly have her wrapped around my finger this whole summer.

“Honestly, if I were you..I would put up Tana because she’s been rubbing people off the wrong way in the house.. Just like yesterday with that whole thing with Zendaya.” Maddie’s eyes widen, and she slaps her hand on her knee, “Dude, the first thing she asked me when she met me was if I had no soul because I had red hair, like what the fuck is that about?”

Tom’s DR: Uh, Madelaine do you hear yourself right now? Your first nominee is practically slipping out of your mouth.

Hayley’s jaw drops slightly, “That’s not cool! Especially for a first impression... So there is your first nominee dude, nobody is really vibing with her anyway so nobody would be mad.” The redhead nods in agreement as she takes another bite from her Snickers bar, “And who would go up with her?” Tom takes a sip from his cup of water, “Who haven’t you talked to?”

She swallows her chocolate, “Honestly, Keiynan..  he hasn’t talked to me at all since I’ve won.”

Tom’s DR: *rubs hands together* I think she just found her second nominee, now hopefully she goes through with it, as long as my face doesn’t appear on the memory wall… everything is peachy.

*Downstairs*

Y/N is hanging out with Zendaya in the rooms as they are getting to know each other a bit better.

“How did you end up becoming a flight attendant?” The dark beauty wraps her hair into a bun, “I was going to school and I just wasn’t feeling it so I decided to just dropped out started going to flight attendant school and I really figured out I want to study fashion now.”

You sit up on your knees, “DUDE! When we get out of this house, I can feature you at the radio station I work at and we can promote you on there.”

Z smiles, “Stop, no way.”

Y/N claps, “Yes! It’ll be so awesome.”

Zendaya’s DR: Y/N is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met and I really want to work with her, so since we’re alone I decide to bring up a final two deal.

Z moves from her bed to Y/N’s and sits criss cross style, “Look, ever since we moved in I feel like I could really trust you and we both killed today’s competition.” Y/N nods her head and scratches her upper lip, “No, fucking same dude.”

“Let’s make a final two deal, we taking each other to the end.” She puts out her pinky out and you intertwine yours with hers, “it’s us to the end girl, I swear.”

Y/N’s DR: Z is so chill and she seems loyal and I’ve been vibing with her so I can see myself taking her to end with me.

As soon as you both pull your pinkies away, Harrison walks in the room “What are you ladies talking about?” He makes his voice a bit sassy as he sits next you.

“We were just talking about who Madelaine is going to nominate today.. who do you think?” Harrison bites into the apple he has in his hand, “Um, I’m not sure to be honest with you. I’m hoping it’s Tana.” You slap your hands together and yell in a whisper, “Me too! She’s so fucking rude.”

Zendaya rolls her eyes, “You already know how I feel about that girl.”

Zendaya’s DR: Honestly, I hope Tana’s ass ends up on the block. She’s rude, insensitive and is just loud. She’s just an annoying person.

“Hey guys, we’re gonna do some yoga outside wanna join?” Shawn shoots into the room with a bandana in his hair. Z gets off the bed, “I’m sort of down.”

Shawn fists pumps Z, “Sweet. Tom, Keiynan and Tana will be in the backyard waiting.” He begins to walk away when Zendaya responds, “On second thought, I’m gonna shower.”

Zendaya’s DR: I’d rather rot than do yoga with Tana.. *motions index finger* no thank you.

Zendaya moves past Shawn to the restroom, he shrugs his shoulders, “You guys in?” Y/N lays back down on her bed, “I’m good, I think I’m gonna nap.”

“What about you Harrison?” Harrison rubs his eyes, “Nah mate, I think I’m gonna nap as well.” Shawn rolls his eyes, “Alright, suit yourselves then.”

Y/N’s DR: Does it look like I do yoga?

“So I take it yoga isn’t your thing?” Harrison says as he sits on the edge of Y/N’s bed. Her head pops out of her sheets and looks at the blonde, “Definitely not. I don’t do much physical activity.” You both laugh, and she sits back up on the bed’s headboard.

“You could have had me fooled, you killed that competition.” He lays down on the edge of her bed as the two keep eye contact, “I really wish I had won, but I made sure she wasn’t going to nominate me- I just thought it would be better to throw it and be able to play for the next HoH.”

He nods, “Yeah, that’s a smart move and if I win I swear you won’t go up.” Y/N blushes, “That’s cool thanks, likewise here. You seem like a great asset to me.” He pops up from his spot, “Asset? Don’t you mean friends?”

She laughs, “Well of course, I just don’t want people to get the wrong idea.” He is taken aback, “What do you mean?” She runs her fingers through her hair, “You’re super cool, I just don’t want people to think we’re in an alliance-”

“Or showmance?” He cuts her off and smiles, she brings her lips in between her teeth and chuckles “I came here to win, Harrison.”

He gets up from the bed, “So did I.”

Harrison’s DR: I get where Y/N is coming from, being with somebody in this house usually doesn’t end well. Showmances are number one targets but that still doesn’t stop me from wanting her.

Y/N’s DR: Why does he have to be so hot?! *rolls eyes*

*Later that day*

Everyone is seated at the kitchen table as Madeleine walks in with the two nomination keys. She sets down the box on the table and steps back in front of the memory wall.

“This is the nomination ceremony, it is my responsibility as the head of household to put up two houseguest for eviction. I will turn two keys to lock in my nomination and they’re faces will appear on the memory wall. The first houseguest I nominate is…”

She takes a step forward and turns the first key and the first photo on the memory wall that appears is Tana.

Tana let’s out an obnoxious laugh. Madeleine continues her nominations, “The second houseguest I have nominated is…” she turns the second key and a photo of Keiynan appears on the memory wall.

“I have nominated you, Tana, and you, Keiynan, for eviction.” She turns her attention to the blonde, “Tana, you have rubbed people the wrong way, including myself. I’m pretty sure nobody has a problem that you’re on the block right now.” Then she shifts her body towards Keiynan, “Keiynan, we haven’t really talked at all in this house which shows me that you don’t have my back in here.”

“This is fucked up, I haven’t done anything to you!” Tana yells as Madeleine steps back in front of the memory wall, “Tana, if you would like to talk after like adults then we can. You both still have a chance to fight for the veto. With that being said, this nomination ceremony is adjourned.”

Tana’s DR: Who the fuck does this bitch think she is? I haven’t done jack shit to her and I’ve been nothing but nice to everyone in this house. *flips off camera*

Keiynan’s DR: Are you kidding me? I have to win this veto and pull myself off the block.

Madeleine’s DR: Tana is one of the most disrespectful people I have ever met and she deserves to be up there.

Tom’s DR: Holy shit, my plan just worked. Madeleine actually put up two people I brought up, now all I have to do is to make sure I get picked to play the veto so that nominations stay the same. *rubs hands with a devilish smile*

“You bet your fucking ass that I’m gonna win that veto!” Tana yells from the kitchen to Madeleine as she walks up the stairs, “Okay sweetie, make it happen.” The blonde continues to yell, “YES SWEETIE! I AM GOING TO WIN.”

Tana’s DR: Fuck that bitch, she’s so fucking ugly anyway.

*Next Day - Veto Competition*

The Veto Competition was being held the next morning after nominations, and to say that tensions were high was an understatement. Madeleine had chosen Shawn to host the Veto competition.

All players beside the nominees and the head of household were picked from random draw. The players that were picked were Jo, Y/N and Tom.

Tom’s DR: This is perfect, I got picked to play in the veto now I just have to make sure I win it.

Shawn starts to read from the cue cards, “This competition is called ‘Hide & Go, Veto! Each of you will be separated, unable to speak or communicate with each other. One at a time you’ll go ahead and enter the house and have three minutes to hide your veto card. Once all the cards have been hidden, one at a time you must search to find your opponents veto card but keep in mind all of the veto cards look exactly the same so you don’t know which houseguest Veto card is being brought back out here. You will need to search quickly because your turn will only last two minutes.”

He continues, “Once the veto card is found, it will be placed on the board. The houseguest who hides their veto card the best will win the Power of Veto! Are you guys ready to play Hide & Go, Veto!”

The six contestants all cheer while the other housemates clap from the sidelines. “Alright, Madeleine you’re first.” The redhead takes one of the veto cards and runs into the house.

Madelaine’s DR: In this competition the goal is to find the best hiding spot and have nobody find your card. My strategy with hiding this veto card is to hide it where nobody would really think about looking.

The first place she runs to is the kitchen freezer and finds an open pizza box and slips it in there. She turns to a camera and puts a thumbs up while running back outside, Tom follows soon after. He runs straight to one of the hangout rooms and grabs a pillow and unzips it and staches his veto card in there.

Tom’s DR: I know that the houseguests are going to be looking through the couches but they wouldn’t actually look in the pillow? Would they?

As he runs back out to the backyard, Jo runs into the house.

Joe’s DR: I feel like people here really underestimate me here because I’m sort of quiet but I need these houseguest to know that I’m serious about this game.

Y/N’s DR: This competition is all strategy, you really don’t know who is gonna come out with your card or if you’re veto card is hidden well.

As the Y/N runs out of the house, Tana enters jogging in “Where to hide this shit, let’s go!”

Tana’s DR: I HAVE TO WIN THIS. If I don’t win this, my ass is going home and I have to throw this back into Madeleine’s face.

As Tana goes out, Keiynan goes in and hides his veto in the storage room garage.

Keiynan’s DR: Madeleine’s excuse about me going up is seriously dumb. I don’t have to talk to you boo, straight and simple. I have to win this, and that’s the tea.

The competition in total lasts about an hour and half until all the veto cards are found, Tom found 2, Y/N found 1, Keiynan found 1, and the last one was found by Madelaine.

Shawn waits for the veto players to line up before he speaks, “Players, all the veto cards have been found except for one. It is now time for the big reveal.. Tom you have found the first veto card and the name inside is…”

“Keiynan...Sorry Keiynan..you have not won the power of veto.”

Keiynan’s DR: Well..so much for winning. My only hope now is that Madelaine wins the veto so that I can convince her to pull me off the block.

“Y/N, you have found the second power of veto card, and the name inside is…”

“Madelaine..” Shawn clicks his tongue, “Sorry Madelaine..you did not win the power of veto.”

Madelaine’s DR: Great, now all I can do is hope Tana doesn’t win that veto!

Shawn continues, his palms growing sweaty from being so anxious, “Tom, you found the third golden power of veto and the name on that is...Y/N.”

Y/N’s DR: So I’ve been eliminated and I’m not too happy about it, it seems like I can’t win a competition here.

“Better luck next time, Y/N. Keiynan, you found the fourth power of veto card and the name on that is... Tom. Sorry, man. You did not win the power of veto.”

Tom shakes his head in disappointment and whispers to himself, “This is rubbish.”

Tom’s DR: You’re kidding me right? The whole plan was for Tana NOT to win, and she’s so close right now. Come on Jo, pull through with that veto!

Madelaine’s DR: My hands are shaking so bad right now, Tana CAN’T win that veto. *holds cheeks* My anxiety is through the roof.

Shawn holds up the last veto card, “And the last veto card to be found was by Madelaine..and the name on the card was...Tana. Congratulations Joe, you have won the golden power of Veto!” He goes up to Joe and lays the gold chain around his neck.

Joe’s DR: BOOM! *holds up the Veto necklace* Ya boy just won the power of Veto, now Tana can’t come up the block.

Tana’s DR: *crying hysterically* I was sooo close, I *claps* was *claps* so *claps* fucking *claps* close! *claps* Now my only hope is to see if I can convince Joe to use the power of Veto.

A couple of hours after the veto ceremony, Tana pulls Joe aside into the storage room “Hey Joe, I just want to congratulate you.. I honestly mean it.” He pulls away and walks to the basket of fruit on the counter, “Thanks Tana. You did great too, it was so close.” She wipes the tears that start to go down the apples of her cheeks, “I know this is forward but can you please use the veto on me, please.”

He bites into the apple and nods his head in a no motion, “I don’t know Tana, I have to do what she wants to do.” They both know that he is referring to the redhead in the HoH room, “Please, Joe..There are bigger targets than me in this house.” Joe runs his fingers through his hair, he is intrigued by Tana’s plea for safety.

“There are beasts in this house like Tom, Harrison even Y/N. If we can convince her to put one of them up, there isn’t blood on your hands because we’re getting a strong player out.” He nods and thinks for a bit, “I’ll talk to her, I like what you’re thinking.” She smiles and gives him a wave as she walks out of the storage room, “Thanks Joe.”

Joe’s DR: I mean, Tana has a good point. If we can take a shot at a player who is stronger than her or Keiynan than why not do it now?

After the veto competition, Y/N is alone on her bed in her sobs when she hears footsteps come into the room “Are you alright?” As she peeps her head out of the cover, she notices Harrison coming in shirtless, “Yeah, I’m fine.” She turns back around to face the wall when she feels a hand land on her shoulder, “Do you want to talk?”

It’s only been a couple of days being away from her family but she feels alone without her family right now, so she decides to confide in Harrison, “It’s just- I lost the HoH competition..and then the veto. I don’t know, it’s just a bit disappointing.” He lays next to her, his elbow supporting his weight “It’s only the first week, you have the rest of the summer to win a bunch of comps.”

You nod your head, “Yeah, I know..Thanks Harrison.” He chuckles, “Hey, call me Haz.”

Y/N’s DR: Besides Zendaya, I feel like Haz has been the only other person I could truly confide in. He seems like he has my back more than I have his, and that screams loyalty to me.

Haz’s DR: It seems like Y/N is opening up to me a bit more, she really does kick ass and I just want to make sure she knows her.

Before he can get out of bed, Y/N reaches for his hand “Wait..um do you think you can just hang out with me here? Zendaya is out in the pool and I don’t really want to be alone.”  He lets out a small smile, “Yeah, I’d love to.” As he lays down next to you, his hand lays on your thigh as your hold onto his hand, this feels nice..it feels nice to be close to someone like this again.

Joe walks out one of the bedrooms and notices you both lying in bed, he doesn’t say anything and continues to walk towards the kitchen. Y/N and Haz don’t make or think much about it but continue to talk.

Joe’s DR: So I walk out of my bedroom to see Harrison and Y/N laying all cozy, and that doesn’t sit well with me. That means this is a possible showmance forming and that is a big no-no in this house, time to tell Madelaine about this plan.

Madelaine hears a knock on her room door, “Come in.” She’s hanging out with Zendaya as she paints her nails. Joe comes in and takes a seat on the couch, “Hey, can we talk?”

Z stops and looks at Joe, “Do you want me to leave so you guys can talk?” He sets his feet up on table in front of him and crosses his arms, “No I want you to hear this too.”

Zendaya nods her head and continues to paint the redheads nails. Joe sighs and then kicks off his opposition, “So, Tana came to talk to me about the veto and she actually made a few smart observations..so she isn’t a threat.” The redhead next to Zendaya blows her fingers that have polish, “Don’t tell me you’re considering taking Tana off the block?” He clears his throat, “Yes only because I think they are bigger threats in this house.”

“It’s only the first week Joe, we can’t just go targeting big people. Tana is an easy target.” Madelaine stands from the couch and sits across from him on the couch, and tries to understand his logic. He throws on his shades and looks at the redhead, “Okay, you’re right but I came to play Big Brother and there are way bigger targets than Tana. She sucks at competitions so far, and she’s just annoying. And I think there is a showmance forming..”

Zendaya’s head shoots over from the chair she is sitting on and starts to pay attention, “Whose forming a showmance?” she asks as she tries to keep up with the conversation.

“Y/N and Harrison.” Madeleine’s mouth drops as she looks at Zendaya who is sort of skeptical of Joe’s accusation.

Zendaya’s DR: Does Joe not know that Y/N is one of my close allies in the house? Keep talking Joe, please spill the beans.

“There are much bigger targets in this house than Tana, and if we can start knocking them out now..why not then? What if I take Tana off the block and throw up Y/N?” Madelaine scratches her forearm and purses her lips, “I’m understanding where you’re coming from and if you do decide to use the veto, we just need to make sure we have the votes to get her out because if she stays, all hell is breaking loose.”

Zendaya’s DR: *stares into the camera with a dumbfounded look* Are they idiots? Why are they trying to make big ass moves during week one?

Madelaine intertwines her fingers together, “Please, just think about it. And let me know what you decide to do because I need to know.”

Madelaine’s DR: I get where he is coming from but bro its WEEK ONE. He needs to chill out.

*Next Day - Veto Ceremony*

Tana and Keiynan sit on the nomination chairs in the living room while everyone is gathered around on the couches, and Joe standing at the front of the room with the veto hanging from his neck.

Joe begins his speech, “This is the veto meeting, Keiynan and Tana have been nominated for eviction but I have the power to veto one of the nominations. I want to give the two nominees a chance for you to tell me why I should save you.. Keiynan, you first.”

“Okay, I just want to say congratulations to your first veto win. If you use the veto on me, I can be your greatest ally in this house..if not then I respect your decision.” He takes a seat back on the nomination chair and Joe chimes in “Thank you, Tana your turn.”

Tana stands up and claps her hands, “Okay, I’m not going to beg you to use the veto on me but I do have a piece of information that everyone should know..” She smiles devilishly at Joe as she looks at the houseguest surrounding her, “I went up to Joe yesterday asking him to use the veto on me and I suggested that there are much bigger targets in this house and he agreed. So, I doubt he is going to use the veto now but you guys need to know that he is a snake, and is willing to take out whoever he needs to.. Thanks y’all. Tanacon 2018!”

She takes her seat and crosses her legs with her hands landing on her knees. Joe laughs as the houseguest sitting on the couch look at him confused.

“I have decided..NOT to use the power of veto.” He takes the necklace off his chest and puts it on the veto box, “This veto meeting is adjourned.”

Zendaya’s DR: Joe is a smart cookie for not using the veto..only problem is is that everyone now knows that he wanted to take Tana off the block and put someone with a bigger target on there. This plan just blew up in your face Joe, sorry.

Madelaine’s DR: Ugh Joe… why did he even trust Tana with that information? I can’t.

Joe’s DR: I decided not to use the veto because I knew Tana couldn’t be trusted. Even though she outed me in front of everyone, all I have to do now is sit back and deny, deny, deny. Boom.

Tana’s DR: I wasn’t sure if Joe was going to use the Veto or not, so I decided to throw him under the bus as my last idea to try to get these houseguests to save me this week. 

After the meeting, Zendaya pulls Harrison and Y/N to the BeeHive room “I need to talk to you both but when I tell you both..you guys can’t freak out.” You and Harrison both have concerned faces as Z drinks from her mug.

“Are you guys in a showmance?” Your head literally pops back from her question, “Z are you kidding? We’ve only known each other for a week.” He turns to Y/N and winks at her, “I mean I’d like to be.”

She pushes Harrison and turns back to Zendaya, “No, we’re not.”

Z rolls her eyes, “So I was painting Madelaine’s nails in her room yesterday and Joe came in saying that we should pull Tana off and put one of you up because you’re in a showmance.”

Y/N stands up, “Oh fuck no, I have to talk to him.” Z grabs you and sits you back down, “No, No, listen we can’t vote Tana out.” Harrison chimes in, “Are you fucking kidding?”

“No, I’m not. If we keep her she’ll always be causing drama and we can just have her be a distraction. She’s not as big of a liability as we think, even though she is disrespectful and annoying… we can’t vote her out. We keep her and she’s a number for us.”

Y/N’s DR: I hate that Joe threw Harrison and I under the bus but Zendaya is right, if we pull out an HoH, we can send his ass home. We’re coming for you Joe.

*The next day*

The voice of Big Brother: “Y/N, please go to the Diary Room.”

Y/N gets up from the living room couch and heads into the room that is only a couple of feet away, and when she walks in she notices a book and an envelope resting on the couch.

She picks up the book and envelope and sits on the couch, she rips the paper out and begins to read, “Congratulations Y/N, America has chosen to tempt you with the Halting Hex. Shut up, shut up, shut up! Holy shit this is insane!” She puts her hand on her chest to feel her heart rate picking up, she continues to read from the card, “Accept this temptation and this the Halting Hex will allow you to halt any one of the next 4 evictions. If you or any ally is in danger of going home, you have the power to stop the live eviction by unleashing the Halting Hex before the eviction process begins..Holy shit.”

“It may only be used once, and once used it will be gone forever. Remember.. Every temptation comes with a consequence and while the Halting Hex can change the course of your game, it can also change the course of the entire Big Brother game..”

Your hands cover your mouth as you look happily into the camera, “America...I gladly accept this temptation, I’m not sure what I did to make you guys like me so much but I gladly accept.” You pick the book that reads the following description, “Read this Spell and the Halting Hex will be in motion. Halting Hex rise, Eviction Night dies. Repeat it three times….Halting Hex rise, Eviction Night dies..Halting Hex rise, Eviction Night dies..Halting Hex rise, Eviction Night dies.”

You close the book and look into the Diary Room camera once more, “Thank you, America. I’m sure this is going to come in handy at some point in this game.” She winks as she leaves the items behind and keeps the secret to herself as she continues on her day.

*Eviction Night a couple of days later*

Julie Chen appears on the screen in the living room “Houseguests, the time has come to cast your votes to evict. Madelaine as current Head of Household, you will not be to cast a vote. You will only cast a vote in an event of a tie. Y/N, you’re first, please had to the diary room.”

Y/N heads into the diary room and sits in the DR couch, “I vote to evict Keiynan.” Julie thanks her as she exits and next Shawn enters the room.

“Hi Shawn, please cast your vote to evict.” He waves, “Hey Julie, I cast my vote to evict Tana.”

The rest of the houseguest continue to vote while everyone sits in silence til Julie returns on the screen.

“Houseguests, all the votes are in. Just a reminder, once the evicted houseguest is revealed, he or she will only have a few moments to say goodbye to their houseguests and walk out the front door. With a vote of 4-3… Keiynan, you have been evicted from the Big Brother house.”

Madelaine and Joe’s jaws drop, they’re both in shock from the turn out of the votes. Keiynan doesn’t even hug his houseguest, he instead grabs his bag and walks out the front door of house into the audience with Julie.

The redhead gets up from her seat and starts yelling, “How the fuck did Tana not get evicted? Someone start explaining.” Y/N gets up from her seat, “Sit down dude, it isn’t a big deal.”

“I bet you voted to evict Keiynan, didn’t you?” She follows Y/N and rest of the houseguest who go to the memory to watch Keiynan’s photo turn grey. “Answer me, Y/N. I didn’t put you on the block, you owe me.”

Y/N turns around and approaches Madelaine, “I don’t owe you shit, you and Joe talked about putting me on the block up in that room, do you think I’m stupid?” Harrison comes up behind her and grabs her by her waist, “Stop Y/N, you’re making a scene.” You turn to him and back to her “I don’t care, our names were brought up and she better hope I don’t win HoH because I’m throwing her ass up there.”

Madelaine laughs, “Oh, I’m shaking. And by the way Zendaya, I know where your loyalty lands.”

All Z does is walk away and go up to Haz and Y/N who are now in the beehive room, “We got to pull out a win in this HoH.” Y/N shuts the door behind her, “I have to tell you guys something before the HoH comp..I got the first temptation of the summer.”

-

A/N: I WOULD LOVE SOME FEEDBACK GUYS, PLEASE PLEASE! I want to know what you guys think of this series, I don’t even know how I feel so knowing how you feel will definitely help me a TON! Theories, predictions, or whatever you want to say is welcome. Love you all-Amy 💛

Taglist: @ladybirduris​ @princesssparklesxo @imjakeharrison @spidey-pal @thedaydreamingwriter​

PART 2 

[tkmedia]

Ray Flores paid his dues to become boxing’s new voice

Ray Flores paid his dues to become boxing’s new voice

18 Aug by Joseph Santoliquito As he walked out still damp from swim practice, the brush of a chilly breeze forced Ray Flores Jr. to clench his shoulders and yank his jacket tight to his neck. Little did he know he was stepping into a seminal life-changing moment. His father, Ray Flores Sr., was waiting for him in the warm, humming car out front of East Chicago Central High School one winter day in 2002. Ray Sr. was a Spanish teacher who wanted more for his three sons. He had a deep, baritone voice that could punch through walls. It commanded respect every time he spoke, especially to his boys. Ray Sr. had a way of being direct without being confrontational. So, when Ray Jr. tucked himself into the car for the 10-minute ride home that afternoon, he caught the brunt of it. Ray Sr. was transparent with his boys. Raising them, whatever was on his mind he said. As they drove home, Ray Sr. darted a look at his oldest son over a brewing concern and asked, “Listen Ray, are you going to become an Olympic swimmer? I hear you talking about swim practice and stuff, but what about your education? What about your future? You really need to apply yourself to something you can hang on to move forward.” A few months later, Ray Flores Jr. walked into ECTV, a local public access cable station in East Chicago, Indiana, looking for a summer jab. Ray Jr. can look back at that epiphany as to why he’ll play a central role in the broadcast of the Manny Pacquiao-Yordenis Ugas fight for the WBA welterweight title on the FOX Sports PBC Pay-Per-View this Saturday (9PM ET/6PM PT) from the T-Mobile Arena, in Las Vegas, Nevada. “My father saw a critical moment where the swimming and my social life was becoming more important than my education and he wanted to shake me up a little bit, and I’m glad he did,” admitted Ray Jr., who will be calling the media press conferences for PBC this weekend, as well as the FOX international broadcast of the fight. “If it wasn’t for that particular conversation, I would have swum all four years in high school. I don’t think I would be where I am now if that talk never took place.” Ray Jr., who will turn 35 on August 30, would watch Julio Cesar Chavez fights with his father when he was a child, feet dangling from the edge of the living room sofa, mimicking what the fighters were doing on the screen. Ray Sr. would playfully chide him that he would only sit still for fights and Chicago Bears’ games. That was it. Otherwise, Ray Jr. was constantly moving. He still is. He easily travels 40 of the 52 weeks a year. Though he’s in his mid-30s, Ray still looks like he’s 16. He was actually that age when he walked into ECTV. Ray got an internship and worked an hour a week doing local community news and started a teen talk show. When the internship was over, he was impressive enough to be among a handful of students that the local station asked to stay on and work after school. He would do an hour-and-a-half a day during the week when school got out at 2:30. Soon after, the city of East Chicago, a hamlet in Northwest Indiana about a 31-minute drive from Chicago, bought ECTV, which allowed Ray to suggest broadcasting local high school basketball and football games. From there, Ray had a chance meeting with Miguel Torres, East Chicago’s only semblance of a sports star at the time. Torres was a World Extreme Cagefighting champion, who eventually graduated on to the UFC, before MMA was nationally regulated. Ray started following Torres and asked if ECTV could start covering his fights. Ray Sr. would make the short trek to the Ramada Inn in Hammond, Indiana, where Ray Jr., then 17, would conduct fighter meetings and then call Torres’ fights from the Hammond Civic Center, a quaint 4,000-seat arena. “I did so many events there that I grew up in that building as a commentator, and as a ring announcer,” recalled Ray. Jr. “Fight fans growing up in Philly had a legendary place like the Blue Horizon. I had the Hammond Civic Center. We were so low budget that I had to literally sit next to the camera, plug in my microphone in the upper deck of this 4,000-seat arena and called the fights next to the camera with my notes in my lap. “I think that’s where things started for me. In 2005, I began a new boxing and MMA radio show, but I wondered how I would do it, considered boxing is such a visual sport. I got a lot of help from old Chicago Tribune boxing writer Michael Hirsley would come on. But there were some obstacles. “From an MMA standpoint, I got a great start quickly from guys like Joe Goytia and Mike Davis gave me the chance when I was a sophomore at Columbia College Chicago (where he graduated with a BA in radio and television). Joe called me up to be the ring announcer for his fights that paid $200 a night. You’re a college kid, so $200 is a lot of money. “In boxing, Bobby Hitz, the Chicago promoter, gave me my opportunity a year later, in 2008, 2009. But the real breakthrough in boxing came in December 2011. Joe Martinez, who works for Golden Boy, did a local MMA fight that I was working, and I did the first half of the night and Joe did the second half of the fight. “I met Joe in the summer of 2011 and he took a liking to me. He called me out of the blue in November of 2011 and asked me if I could fill in for him in Indio, California, and I sent them a tape. I’m so blessed, because so many people are so great to me. From there, I started doing one show a month for Golden Boy since Joe was so busy.”

Ray was once a five-year-old kid watching the legendary Joe Goossen corner Gabriel Ruelas. Ray began announcing one card a month for Golden Boy and doing Floyd Mayweather undercards on large shows, like Mayweather’s fight against Canelo Alvarez in September 2013. During the Mayweather-Marcos Maidana undercard in September 2014, Sandy Goossen-Brown, Joe’s sister and Tom Brown’s wife, heard Ray and told Tom about him. In December 2014, Ray announced ESPN’s “Night of Champions” when he ran into Brown, who runs TGB Promotions. Brown asked Ray to do a Showtime ShoBox show the following week. In June 2015, Brown began bringing in Ray to host press conferences. Banner Promotions’ Artie Pelullo, Marc Abrams and Matt Rowland helped him take another step in April 2015 in getting the Lucas Matthysse-Ruslan Provodnikov announcing assignment on the HBO card. Ray received some pushback from some major network people, but he had strong allies in PBC, Brown, Kelly Swanson and Sam Watson pushing his cause. Eventually, when given the chance, he proved himself to the doubters. His talent spoke loudly. “I grew up when legends honed their craft, with Marv Albert and Bob Costas with the NBA doing Chicago Bulls games; John Madden and Pat Summerall doing NFL games; and Steve Albert, Ferdie Pacheco, Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Emanuel Steward calling fights,” Ray said. “I remember watching the Julio Cesar Chavez beat Greg Haugen in 1993. I was watching the countdown show three hours before the pay-per-view and I wouldn’t move. “Watching the prelim fights, there was Azumah Nelson fighting Gabriel Ruelas, and the trainer for the Ruelas brothers happened to be the legendary Joe Goossen, who I work with now on FS1. I was watching Joe corner Gabe Ruelas 30 years ago, when I was five. Talk about life coming full circle.”

Ray made sure to create a good path for younger brother Miguel to follow. Ray Jr. could be the most viewed boxing announcer in the world today. He’s also the only ring announcer who then broadcasts the same fights as the blow-by-blow man. He handles PBC events as the media host, handling press conferences and grand arrivals, is the Triller blow-by-blow announcer and is the international broadcaster for the PBC fights on Showtime and FOX. Miguel Flores, 27, sounds just like his brother. And if not for Ray Jr., Miguel wouldn’t be where he is on the boxing broadcasting tree. Their goal is to be like the Buffer brothers, Michael and Bruce, one day. Miguel is heading in the same direction as Ray. “I’m very proud of Ray and I wouldn’t be where I am without him,” Miguel says. “He has a great, distinctive voice, he’s passionate about sports and anything to do with sports and boxing. He was there with Miguel Torres, and Ray would even use his own dime to cover some of his events. “Ray wasn’t handed anything. He started honing his skills at a young age. He did everything and loved it. A crucial part of his development and what you see now is the polished experience he got with ECTV and all of the things he did there. My dad really pushed that, and the voice definitely comes from our father.

Miguel (standing left) and Ray have a special surprise for their parents, Ray Sr. and Sandra, seated with younger brother Alejandro, this weekend in Las Vegas for the Pacquiao-Ugas fight. “If me, Ray and my dad were to all talk together, it would be tough to distinguish us. But if you were around us a lot, you could tell the difference. I remember Ray calling Bulls’ games standing in the living room watching games. I don’t remember my parents thinking Ray was nuts (laughs). They encouraged it. Teachers would tell my parents all of the time how special Ray was.” This weekend is a big deal for Ray Jr. personally. It’s not big because it’s a Pacquiao fight or for the attention the fight brings. It’s big because for the first time, Ray Jr. and Miguel get to treat their parents, Ray Sr. and Sandra, to a big fight in Las Vegas. “It’s something very special,” Miguel said. “Being in this industry, there’s a lot of running around and a lot of the work that goes into what we do. We’re on the road three and four weeks at a time, and it’s not a normal life, but sharing this with Ray and my parents will make this weekend special. “Ray is the one that started it. He set the path. It’s one of those weekends that we’ll never forget—and I get to share it with my parents and my brothers. It’s what makes what I do so much better. I have a brother like Ray.” Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been working for Ring Magazine/RingTV.com since October 1997 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on twitter @JSantoliquito. GET THE LATEST ISSUE AT THE RING SHOP (CLICK HERE) or Subscribe

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[takadasaiko]

Breathe Again Beneath the Flames: Chapter Seven

FFN II AO3

Summary: Nez meets Solomon in the field for intel, Tom and Howard make an attempt at an honest conversation, and the Hargraves find something to truly unite them when they receive shocking news.

Chapter Seven

There had been a time when he had trusted her with everything: his life, his secrets, and even his company. She had been the one that had chosen to break away with him, to risk everything with him. The one that had given up a budding career in espionage because a little boy with big, blue eyes had become the center of her universe and the same one that had mourned with him when that little boy had vanished from their lives.

Howard hadn't known what to expect when he took Scottie to see Tom. He knew he didn't trust her now, but if he were honest he wasn't even sure he knew her anymore. She was determined to convince him that she hadn't been the one to take down his plane, that she was on his side with this. She had offered to combine their resources on the investigation into Ian Garvey and had made good on that by asking to send Nez in to meet with Solomon for an update. It could all be a game, a ploy. She had always been good, but the tentative truce that they shared at the moment had left them in better standing with the board and that had to count for something.

The one thing he was relatively certain he could rely on was that she would fight for their boy.

"I don't envy Tom's position between the two of you."

Howard snorted a laugh, not moving from his place in the doorway. Nez moved around him, leaning casually against the wall and offered the man in question a quick wave. Tom nodded, acknowledged her presence from where he was in the middle of physical therapy, Scottie chatting with the therapist next to him.

"She's a force to be reckoned with," he acknowledged, letting his gaze slide over to his most trusted operative. "It goes without saying that I need you to be careful with Solomon."

"Any reason I wouldn't be?"

"History."

"Like yours and Scottie's?"

"Ha," he grumbled and saw her smirk. "We're working through a web of lies, half-truths, and secrets, Nez. I need you focused."

"I'm focused. Tom's become…. family."

"I know he's earned your loyalty, but Solomon's is only to Scottie. Be careful."

She nodded and Howard loosed a breath. Nez pushed herself off the wall. "I've got a flight to catch. Just… don't start a war while I'm gone, boss?"

"Do my best," he promised. He was left leaning alone for several long moments, watching his son struggle through the therapy. He was doing better. Physically, mentally…. Howard knew that Nez and Dumont had been sharing intel with him, and as much as he wanted to keep him away from it, he wouldn't sit back and do nothing. That wasn't in his nature and never had been. The best hope they had was to curate the information he received, allowing him to feel useful in the investigation without pushing himself. It was a delicate balance, but one that he was relatively sure that Nez understood the importance of. Like she'd said, Tom had become family. He knew those words weren't uttered lightly with her.

Movement from across the room caught his attention and he saw Scottie making her way over. "He's made so much progress just in the last handful of weeks."

Howard quirked an eyebrow. "Taking credit for that?"

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were teasing me," she murmured in response, a hint of mischief in her dark eyes. Her expression sobered after half a beat and her voice softened. "I just mean that between his success here and the information Nez and Dumont have been feeding him -" Howard gave a short sound of acknowledgement at that one - "it's only a matter of time until he pushes harder."

"I've been think about that too."

"I think if we're going to continue with our present course of action that we need to be on the same page."

"Isn't that what's happening right now?" he asked warily.

"Howard, you and I have been working at this for months now. This isn't a business deal, this isn't an operation. This is our life."

"Get to your point, Scottie."

"Let's have dinner tonight. Just you and me. We'll-"

"Let me stop you there. My concern is making sure Tom gets out of this alive and as intact as he can be. Anything else is secondary and, Scottie, I'm not interested in giving you a chance to make a power play."

He didn't give her a chance to respond or to provide all of the excuses he knew she would have stored away. Little by little she had been trying to work in deeper and he would be damned if he let her get her claws into him again. There was too much at stake.

"What is a beautiful woman like you doing in a place like this?" a voice purred behind her and Nez Rowan smirked just a little.

"Some asshole said it was a good place to meet," she answered and turned on the bar stool to find that same asshole grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Hiya, Mattie."

"Nez, it's been a while."

She let her gaze drift down the length of his tailored suit. "You seem to be holding up just fine. Did you really think that would blend in in this dump?"

"My, working with Howard has made too judgy," he chuckled. "You haven't even tried their wings yet."

"Wings?"

"Mm." He motioned at the woman coming around the other end of the bar. "Lily, dear, we'll be at my table."

"Sure thing, Matt. Can I get you anything?" the waitress offered.

"The wings, apparently, and whatever's local on tap. It goes on his tab."

"Oh does it?" Solomon asked with a grin and flung his arm around Nez's shoulders, directing her towards the table in the corner. She was about to slide in across from where he appeared to have set up camp, but instead he pulled her into the booth with him. "Trust me. You'll like the view a lot better in about five minutes," he murmured directly into her ear. It would look like a flirt to anyone watching and she flashed a smile for show.

"What do you have for us?"

"Why, you have somewhere to be?"

"My flight in a couple of hours."

"He is keeping you on a tight leash." He leaned, digging his phone out of his pocket and he punched in the code before showing her photos of a dock. He flipped through them and Nez saw the same woman appearing every few shots.

"Who is she?"

"Li Zhou," he said very lowly. "She's responsible for coordinating and overseeing the Nash Syndicate's incoming product from all over the world."

"And you think you can use her to get to him?" Nez asked.

"One of my paths in. You know me, I like to keep my options open."

"The only one left standing," she mused and watched as the bell on the door drew his attention.

"You could set your clock by him," Solomon mused and scooted over ever so slightly.

As Nez followed she realized she could see through one of the decorative holes in the back of the booth in front of them. The seating arrangement made more sense now. "Is that-?"

"Yes it is. Not that he's done a great deal of any interest yet. They do say patience is a virtue."

Nez settled back and out of the line of sight through the small hole. She leaned in so that she could speak quietly. "You know, Tom thought he could be a cop. He said that he knew he'd run something through a federal database."

"What, Keen didn't see the badge as the man was gutting him?"

Nez snorted, but she didn't have a chance to respond as the waitress brought the wings and beers, replacing Solomon's mostly empty glass. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Will do," Solomon promised with a wink that had her rolling her eyes and laughing at him.

"You just can't help yourself, can you?" Nez asked, Not able to hide the amusement from her voice.

"I've been told I'm charming." He stole one of the wings.

"Really? They live long enough to say it?"

"Well, they would if they did," he chuckled and he motioned at the basket of wings. "C'mon, you're not leaving until you try them."

She shook her head and grabbed for one of the sauce covered wings. "I've missed you, Mattie."

"I know." He laughed when she jammed her elbow into his ribs, and when he spoke his voice was too soft for anyone but her to hear. "I've missed you too."

He tapped his knuckles against the door of the tiny little room that Howard had claimed as his office, drawing his father's attention to him as he did. Clear blue eyes darted up, softening just a little as they recognized the visitor. "Tom, everything alright?"

"Yeah, just wanted to see if you had a sec," the younger man managed and Howard nodded immediately.

"Of course. Come in, sit down. Did you make it all the way over here without the cane?"

Tom felt his lips tilt upward on one side only and he leaned his head a little as he spoke. "Don't tell the doctors," he murmured and it took a moment, but he thought he saw the barest of smirks on Howard's face. He sank gratefully into his seat, watching him, and there was something about the way that he was studying him. There was curiosity there, but there was also hesitation, almost like he was stopping himself from going to far with it. "You know," Tom ventured after a long moment, "Liz likes to tease me about how focused I can get. She says that if I'm zeroing in on something that an explosion could happen and it'd never rattle me."

Howard chuckled softly at that. "I could see that being the case."

"Yeah…. I never really put a lot of thought into where I got that from before. It just was part of me. It's kept me alive over the years, and after these months, I think I have you to thank for it."

His father didn't respond that that, but there was a shift in his gaze and sat back in his chair, waiting for the inevitable point.

"I'm just saying," Tom continued, "that as good as it can be and as many times as it has saved my life in really tight spots…. Liz taught me there's more than just that."

One grey eyebrow quirked up. "Are you trying to tell me that I'm working too hard, Tom?" he asked, amusement lining his voice.

The lopsided smile returned and he turned, rolling his eyes just a little. "I'm trying to figure out where I belong in all of this. You, Scottie… I don't know. I'm just wondering if you're so focused on whatever enemies you're after that you're seeing them when they're not there."

"So not working too hard, just paranoid."

"Comes with the job."

"It does," Howard said slowly, "and sometimes it sharpens the sense to danger."

"You still haven't told me what it is about her past that makes her so dangerous."

He watched the shift in his gaze and he hadn't thought Howard could close off any more. It was strange, but he'd retreated even further since Scottie had come to the base. If he loosened up around her while they were out, Tom had no way to know, but there he was stern and locked down. He was nothing like Scottie had once described him once.

Brilliant, playful, charming, a terrible flirt.

In the time that Tom had seen his parents, these people that he'd thought had thrown him away most of his life, he'd only seen them try to sabotage each other, torture each other, and outwit each other. There was nothing of what Scottie had described or that wistful look that she'd had while describing it, but Tom did think that he recognized the look that Howard held onto. He'd seen it in Liz's eyes years ago when she was convinced that it had all been a lie.

"It's complicated."

"I have an IQ of 173. I think I can manage."

Howard chuckled at that. "This never had anything to do with your intelligence, Tom."

"Just about the secrets you guys keep." Tom sighed, slouching down in his chair. This was the man that hadn't hesitated to tell him that he thought the Scottie running Halcyon wasn't the same Scottie that he'd married. He had made sure that he went on an op to prove to him that the tech was real and spun a story about a double without blinking an eye. If he believed it or or just needed to use Tom then, the younger man still wasn't entirely sure, but there was certainly something different about the way he went at his secrets about Scottie now. He kept them closer, like a promise he didn't dare break. In a way it reminded him of Reddington and his damn suitcase full of bones, but like Reddington, there was always a better than even chance the past would creep back in and cause trouble for the present. Another quiet breath left him. "It's not like Scottie's exactly forthcoming about it either, so at least you can agree on that."

"Another thing you come by naturally then?" The amusement faded just a little as Howard leaned forward, his gaze focused on his son. "Alright, Tom. You've spent some time with her here. She knows who you are now. Do you trust your mother?"

He didn't answer right away, letting the question weigh on him. It wasn't an easy one for him or for Howard, he knew, and it deserved an honest answer. Especially if he was hoping for one in return. "Trust is something that has to build," he said carefully.

"Something else Liz taught you?"

A soft smile pulled his lips. "Yeah, she did. Hard learned, but we got there."

"I'll tell you a secret, son. You and Liz are the outliers in our business."

"Maybe, but even if Scottie is angling at something, dinner won't kill you. Maybe it'll give you a better idea where you guys stand."

He watched Howard watching him for a long moment and finally the older Hargrave raised his hands, palms outward like he was surrendering. "Alright."

"Yeah?"

"I may not trust her, but I do trust you. If you think this will help, we'll give it a go."

Tom blinked, a little surprised he gave that easily.

Howard stood, rounding the desk. "I've never been good at this, Tom. Trust or…. well any of this. Scottie and I are both good at playing the parts, but it gets… muddled when thing get real. I know I don't say it well, may not even show it well, but you…. You've grown into a better man than either of us could have ever hoped for. I want you to know that."

"If she turns out to be using us both I'm never gonna live this down, am I?" Tom asked with a short laugh.

It took a moment for Howard to catch up to the tease flashed an actual full smile. "No."

Tom grinned, the expression feeling strange after so long, but not wrong. He still felt the weight of missing Liz and Agnes in every breath he drew, but the last weeks had helped. He finally felt like he was making progress, both physically and with figuring out where he stood with Scottie and Howard. He couldn't say he trusted them entirely, there was too much there, but he was starting to, and that was further than he would have ever thought the could get at the beginning of this.

Scottie was fairly certain that Tom was responsible for changing Howard's mind. How he had done it so quickly - or even why - was still a mystery, but not one that she felt the need to unravel before sitting down with Howard that night.

She hadn't been sure what to expect from the dinner. Howard had been vague, saying that if she really felt like they should meet then it should be that night. They flew out for a board meeting bright and early the next morning. So when she rounded the corner into the room connected to the kitchen and found a bottle of wine and a nice dinner set out she was more than a little surprised. And suspicious, but that came with the territory. "Did you cook?"

"I didn't poison anything," Howard promised lightly as he worked at the cork.

"Did you think I would?" Scottie asked, her heels clicking lightly as she moved to the table. Her dark gaze swept over it. He hadn't cooked like this in years, and if he had it certainly hadn't been for her.

"Maybe not intentionally."

"That was one time," Scottie argued and she saw the teasing look in his eyes. No, this was not at all what she had expected.

"Have a seat. I promised Tom I'd be civil and I intend to keep my word to him on that."

"This is above and beyond civil, Howard," she murmured as she pulled the chair out and sat down.

He tipped the wine bottle so that it poured into the glasses, but didn't say anything until he took a seat. "Nez met with Solomon. He has eyes on Garvey."

"One of his leads is panning out then," Scottie murmured, cutting into the chicken on her plate.

"I can't express how important it is to approach this with caution."

"Really? I was thinking about the direct approach to take down the man with a Marshal's badge to protect him."

Howard chuckled at that. "He really is a lot like us," he mused. "Tom, I mean. We were discussing focus earlier and he said that Liz used to give him hell over it."

Scottie smiled behind her wine glass. "I remember when he was little how it was a game of which one of you was more stubborn than the other. He would sit outside of your office until you came out or he would fall asleep. He refused to go to bed until you told him goodnight."

She watched Howard's expression soften at the memory. "Stubbornness from me, snarky nature from you…. imagine if we'd raised him," he took a bite from his plate.

The images played over in her mind and Scottie pushed at them. "Has he told you how he grew up?"

"In the system for a while. McCready took him after that."

Scottie bristled. Tom hadn't spoken to her at length about his upbringing, but between what she already knew about the St Regis organization and the few things Tom had said, she knew that the strange childhood he might have had growing up with his parents would have been a ray of sunshine next to what he went through with the man he still referred to as Bud.

The conversation halted as her phone buzzed and she reached for it.

"You may be the only one with a signal in the whole base," Howard mused, his tone just shy of accusing.

Scottie gave him a taunting smirk before glancing down at the text.

"Scottie?"

It took a moment for her to realize she was staring blankly at the phone. "Elizabeth Keen is awake," she breathed out, feeling her chest tighten and she looked up to see Howard's expression mirroring what she could only imagine her own must look like.

A long moment passed before Howard repositioned himself in his seat. "Tom's not ready."

"No." She looked at the phone again as if somehow the message had changed. "If he finds out there won't be any stopping him."

Howard nodded, taking a long drink from his glass. "Delete the text. Wipe it yourself. This doesn't leave us."

She nodded in agreement, one quick glance at the words before they were cast out into nothingness. They had to be careful moving forward. If he found out too soon, this would all go wrong faster than they could stop it.

Notes:

Oh the Hargraves. Making bad life choices, but at least they're making them together?

I wanted so badly to make a preview set for Jennifer showing up, because I was very excited to see her when that scene laid out in this chapter. I didn't expect her nearly this early, but if I'm honest, that's been the story of Solomon's arc for me. 'Oh, well okay, if that's how you want to take it I guess we'll go there' lol. I was going through my notes yesterday evening on the writing to make sure I hadn't missed anything and realized that a plot point I thought was still a ways out needed to happen either within the chapter I'm currently writing or the next one at the very latest to make everything work our. I love how it's all coming together.

I hope you guys are having a great Wednesday and that the show doesn't shatter us too badly tonight. Please feel free to leave your thoughts! Your feedback seriously makes my day.

Next time:

Tom gets a gift that will allow him to push his limits a bit more and Liz meets Scottie Hargrave.

[acsversace-news]

The penultimate episode of “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” is almost like a checklist of all the challenges a director might face in crafting an episode of TV. For Matt Bomer, that’s exactly why it made for the perfect directorial debut.

“We had two child protagonists in the first couple acts of the episode, so you’re already on child hours. We’re in three different countries, five different cities. Party scenes, trading floor scenes, a period piece,” Bomer told IndieWire. “I was so grateful to be thrown so many challenges my first time directing because I was able to tick off so many boxes of things that I don’t have to worry about any more. Half of it was just getting it done and knowing you can do it and do it on schedule.”

Known for his work in front of the camera, Bomer had other opportunities to direct before but always wanted to wait for the optimum chance to immerse himself in a project. When “American Crime Story” became a possibility, Bomer devised his own personal film school to get himself ready to meet the challenge.

“I was waiting patiently in the wings. Ryan had reached out to me back in December [2016] and asked me to direct. After I passed out and regained consciousness, I said yes and really spent four and a half months on this episode,” Bomer said. “I read over 3,000 pages of books on directing, I shadowed two different directors on the show. I sat down with film and television directors who are friends of mine who were willing to be mentors. I did an intensive at the DGA. I knew the level of artistry that was [happening] on set and I wanted to meet everyone on their level.”

Part of Bomer’s signing up for “American Crime Story” was the chance to fully commit to the task. He was on set for a month of shoots while the show was filming other episodes in the season, affording him the chance to know the full crew before he started.

“I didn’t want that partial directorial experience. I wanted to really immerse myself and approach it like any director would. I wanted to be there for all the scouts. I wanted to be in the room for all the casting. I wanted to be in all the design meetings. I didn’t want to just lean on the director of photography to get me through while I worked with actors,” Bomer said.

For an episode that meant turning L.A. into locations as wide-ranging as San Diego and the Philippines, it was an investment that paid off down the road.

“I had to find three different countries within a Los Angeles area,” Bomer said. “We had an incredible production designer in Jamie Walker McCall. She worked her magic, particularly what she did in the Baliuag shack. That final confrontation between Andrew and his father is a setpiece we talked through that she built. I think her work on that was tremendous.”

The pivotal piece in the “Creator/Destroyer” puzzle is Jon Jon Briones, who plays Andrew Cunanan’s father Modesto, a man whose pathological drive to appease his son lays the groundwork for the rest of the “Versace” saga that came before this. Briones’ reputation as a performer had preceded him on set, with “Versace” star Darren Criss and writer Tom Rob Smith both praising his legendary, long-running work as The Engineer in “Miss Saigon.” Through the audition and right up through the first day of shooting, Bomer knew they had the perfect man to play Modesto.

“We started with that move-out scene early on. He had this guy and he knew this man. We were also shooting this while he was in a Broadway show, so we had to shoot all of his stuff out in six days straight and then he had to fly back to New York,” Bomer said. “That final scene, that ‘Heart of Darkness’/’Apocalypse Now’ confrontation at the end of the episode, that was really when I went, ‘OK, this guy is sensational. He’s got this all mapped out and he knows how to do this.‘”

Building a relationship with the two performers at the heart of the episode was key. Even though Bomer didn’t come in with a predetermined directorial style, he had the advantage of having already seen what Criss was doing with Andrew Cunanan as a character before it came time to show how he got there.

“I had been witness to what Darren was doing on set and had been blown away by it from Day One. I knew how he liked to work. I think a big part of directing is when you’ve got something great, get out of the way. Just set a good frame that tells the story right, stage it right,” Bomer said. “I try to give the actors a lot of information about what the scene’s about by how I stage it. There are also times when it’s a three-page scene between two people and I go, ‘I’m not giving you anything. Let’s rehearse until we get something that’s organic and true and then we’ll shoot that.’ So there’s no one-size-fits-all. You’re always dealing with a different box of crayons, depending on which artist you’re working with in any given scene.”

That preparation meant that even the smaller moments in the episodes, ones on a much simpler scale, had the opportunity to take advantage of everyone’s shorthand.

“One of my favorite things we did was that really quick scene where he puts on the CD and he’s picking out his big reveal outfit for the party. It was a tiny little thing, but we were just vibing creatively with the camera people, with Darren. Everything was coming together at that point. I think we did it in one take,” Bomer said.

That sense of understanding came from collaborating with people that Bomer had previously worked with on other Ryan Murphy projects. Those individuals were part of every step of the “Creator/Destroyer” process, from the on-set crew to the stewards of the post process.

“I was so fortunate because when you’re working with Ryan Murphy, you’re working with the best people in the industry. I’m not talking about episodic. I’m talking about in the industry,” Bomer said. “The camera crew, the production designers. Simon Dennis, the director of photography. Alexis [Martin] Woodall, what she does in post-production, the way she tones these shows is phenomenal. My editor, Shelly Westerman, was a personal hero of mine. She did ‘Velvet Goldmine’ and worked on so many of the films that were really central to my cinematic experience as a young man.”

That editing process shines in the boardroom scenes where Modesto is essentially pitching the American dream to his employers, both before he’s hired and after his penny stock scheme has been sniffed out.

“This is Sidney Lumet-esque style, where these performers are all bringing their A-game. Shelly and I knew we wanted these scenes to live for a long time, not to be this MTV, jump-cutting thing. Stay in masters longer and not chop and chop and chop to distract,” Bomer said. “Particularly in an episode like this, it’s so psychological, you needed to have this creepy drifty feel and live in these moments that are uncomfortable and horrific and scary. Especially when you have performers operating at this level.”

Bomer said he’s back to being patient about any future directing opportunities, but having this finished and released to the world is the first step in keeping those future options open.

“It was all a learning process, but I feel like with anything, discipline can give you freedom. I was so overly prepared because I had the time and the luxury to be overly prepared. The first couple days we finished a bit early and I was able to take some deep breaths,” Bomer said. “I know that there will be a time when I am directing and I’m having to deal with some much harsher realities that you don’t have to deal with when you’re working for Ryan Murphy television. The best thing this gave me was this sense that I can do it.”

[fyeahfantasticfour]

How did all the F4 meet?

Ben and Reed were college sweethearts roommates. As we see in Fantastic Four Annual v1 #2, Reed was looking for a boyfriend roommate, and, having failed to get into Victor Von Doom’s good graces, stumbled into Ben’s:

They both adored each other instantly. Ben would make sure that Reed got out of the lab and had fun every now and then, as we see in Thing v1 #2:

And in return Reed went to every one of Ben’s football games and cheered him on even though he didn’t have any idea what was happening, as we see in Fantastic Four Unplugged v1 #2:

Cut for length!

They were in love! So much so that they eventually ended up signing up for the army together after they graduated because they didn’t want to be separated (in the Lee/Kirby origin story – I think in current canon Reed at least worked for the U.S. military (especially while building his rocket), but I’m not sure if he was supposedly actually in the army).

Reed and Sue’s first meeting is more complicated. Prepare yourself, because I have Opinions. 

Originally, in Fantastic Four v1 #11, Reed says that they were childhood sweethearts who grew up together and that Sue was the girl he left behind when he went off to war:

So we can assume that they met when they were both children, and that they were likely not too far off in age – certainly not more than four years or so, if they were already dating when Reed was 21, i.e., right before he joined the army. They were childhood sweethearts in canon for 25 years, and I like it a lot! It’s cute! I like the idea of them knowing and being in love with each other their whole lives! Sue and Johnny could have been Californian like Reed! There is so much potential for good in the childhood sweethearts origin story! 

I also think it explains a lot about her early interest in Namor. Reed was the safe, conventional good guy who loved her and treated her (by the era’s standards) well and who she took for granted (and maybe he did the same) because they’d been together so long. Maybe he was the guy everyone had been telling her she would marry since she was very young, and she genuinely didn’t know how she felt about that – did she really love him, or had she just always been told she did? Namor, on the other hand, was new, unknown, dangerous, sexy, taboo, a bad boy, an undersea prince, and exactly the worst guy she could’ve lusted over. However, he treated her infinitely less well than Reed (who never, you know, kidnapped her or assaulted her or tried to force her to marry him or anything AND HOW WAS THAT A HIGH BAR TO PASS, NAMOR?), and ultimately that pattern of bad, misogynist, toxic behavior on Namor’s part led her to choose Reed. (Literally – she ends things with Namor permanently in Fantastic Four v1 #27 after he kidnaps and imprisons her and tries to force her to stay with him for a day to “give him a chance” that was equal to Reed’s, and she just…refuses to go along with it because he kidnapped her and then accused her of “”””making””””” him do it because she wouldn’t choose between him and Reed and he was going to force her to – a stark contrast to Reed, who, as you can see in the panels above, backed off immediately when she told him she couldn’t make up her mind and said he’d never bring it up again and then didn’t – and then she tells Namor it’s over, she chooses Reed.)

But then in the 1980s, John Byrne had to come along and ruin everything. He decided that since Stan Lee had, in the letters page and not in the actual comic (i.e., the canonicity of this is disputable, and, oh, I dispute it and I HAVE REASONS), stated that Reed was in his late 30s and Sue in her 20s at the time they got their powers, this origin story didn’t make sense, so he came up with another one that I completely loathe. 

In Fantastic Four v1 #291, Sue recalls her first meeting with Reed. He moved into her aunt’s boarding house for a summer when he was a senior in college, she fell in love at first sight, and, oh, did I mention she was TWELVE? 

Reed was, to be clear, terribly embarrassed about the whole thing and had zero interest in Sue at all:

He moved out of her aunt’s place, and that was, it seemed, that.

They ran into each other again about ten years later, and that’s when they started dating. Since Reed was 20 when they met and Sue 12, Reed was 30 and Sue was 22 when they actually got romantically involved. This is from Fantastic Four v1 #557, and, yes, that’s how long this was canon:

I’m sorry, but no. This is just…SUCH a sexual fantasy for male nerds. Little 12yo Sue is too young to have had any experience with men, so she’s completely awestruck by a nerdy guy and thinks he’s the greatest thing ever (I mean, this is made slightly better by the fact that Reed IS pretty exceptional in every respect, but it’s still being written for/by nerdy men who aren’t). Then she grows up to be gorgeous and glamorous and an actress and still idolizes the guy and worships him the way she did when she was little and so ends up marrying him. Read this and tell me that’s not how it strikes you:

An eight-year age gap wouldn’t be unacceptable if they were both mature, experienced adults at the time they met – my best friend’s parents are eleven years apart in age, and their marriage is happy and good, and, I mean, a 38yo marrying a 30yo isn’t a big deal – but the fact that Sue was a literal child and Reed was a grown man when they met makes it inappropriate and clearly led to an unequal power dynamic. It didn’t have to be this way, John Byrne. You could have gone with the childhood sweethearts/girl next door origin that was actual canon instead of the letters page that wasn’t. You can’t say they were “kids together” if Reed was an adult and Sue was a child, so you intentionally got rid of the childhood sweethearts origin just so you could introduce that eight-year age gap and have Reed meet Sue when she was a child and he wasn’t. Just. Why not get rid of the kid part too? Bad choices all around.

But, anyways, along come Matt Fraction and Tom Brevoort in Fantastic Four v4 #4 in 2013, and they decide – and oh, god, thank you – that the Byrne origin…is not the most appropriate beginning for a modern-day love story. Gender politics have shifted in the past 30 years and it isn’t really acceptable to have your hero marrying a woman he first met when she was barely hitting puberty and he was a grown man. So they aged Sue up to nineteen and kept Reed in his early twenties, thus eliminating the age gap entirely and going back to something more like the Lee/Kirby childhood sweethearts version, although they kept the boarding house element intact. I really love this origin because it’s SO adorable and what Byrne’s always should have been. In this version, it’s Reed who falls in love with Sue at first sight, which I also appreciate, because, yes, Sue is amazing:

If you love ReedSue, please read this issue. It’s basically a love letter from Reed to Sue. I have many problems with Fraction’s run, but this is one issue I wholeheartedly love.

Ben and Reed met Johnny around this time – and assuming there’s a ~7 year age gap between Johnny and Sue, Johnny would’ve been around 12 at the time. (He would’ve been five in Byrne’s origin, just FYI, when he met Reed and Ben, which is the only good thing about it.) I think a lot about Johnny’s relationship with Ben and Reed is explained by the fact that he met them when he was extremely young, combined with the lack of father figures/positive male role models in his life. Think about it – a lonely, orphaned, nerdy boy meets an extraordinarily kind, patient, smart man and his popular, star linebacker best friend – they must have seemed like the best and coolest guys on the planet. I don’t think Johnny’s ever entirely stopped seeing them that way. I really wonder if Johnny’s pranking of Ben was a pattern of behavior that started when Johnny was a kid because Johnny desperately wanted to get Ben’s attention. He was cool! A jock! Popular! Girls loved him! Reed loved him! People paid attention to him! He was everything Johnny wanted to be and everything Johnny wasn’t. Johnny’s uncritical hero-worship of Reed and constant need for Reed’s vocal approval DEFINITELY started then. I also wonder how much the way Johnny was then colored the way Reed and Ben still see him – they always think of him as a kid, of course, but also his loneliness must’ve been very apparent to them.

This is Sue and Ben’s first meeting, although we, unfortunately, have never seen Reed and Ben’s first meeting with Johnny:

Ben’s wearing his State U sweater, so clearly he was still studying there. But because Marvel can’t keep track of anything, James Robinson complicated things further in Fantastic Four v5 #14, because he depicted Reed and Sue as first meeting while Reed was at Columbia, not State U.

[Yes, that first panel is Johnny and Sue, and that’s how young Johnny was when he met Reed and Ben in contemporary canon. He looks around 11/12, I’d say.]

They kept Reed’s sweater vest the same but changed the school? Why must they make everything so complicated? I would assume that Ben still met Sue and Johnny during this time, although that’s not for sure because he probably had graduated from State U by this point and was likely already in the U.S. Air Force, working as a test pilot and astronaut. But I think in most versions of the post-Byrne origin story, that is when they met.

But, anyways, Marvel, it is about time you actually showed us the first time Johnny met Reed and Ben and also Sue, just so I can enjoy how cute and tiny Johnny was. Marvel 2-in-1 gives you the perfect opportunity!

[1-800-sassy-mendes]

2.0

Summary: The tour crew is teasing you about how you’re picking up on everything Shawn’s doing. 

a/n: I feel like I should be writing some angst bc like I feel like I have too much fluff and cuteness but here I am writing another fluff. I also don’t know where I’m going with this one tbh. Here’s one I wrote like after The Not Shawn Mendes tour. To the anon that requested, I will post it very soon. Just need to make my mind up on some stuff.

Your name: submit What is this?

“Woah,” Zubin just stared at you after asking him something. 

“What?” You raised your eyebrows, you have been with Shawn the whole world tour. Going home whenever you wanted to, and getting to go wherever you want to. It’s been very fun on tour, you got closer with everyone else. You felt like they were really your family, they took such good care of you.

“You literally just sounded like Shawn. Not even kidding.” Zubin laughed, and you rolled your eyes. Everyone on the tour family with Shawn has been saying that you and Shawn has been been together way too much, that you’re starting to act like him. 

“Oh my God, Zubin!” Zubin just laughed and finally replied to what you were asking him.

“Wish me luck.” Shawn whispered into your ear while giving you a hug. He was about to go on stage. You can hear his fast beating heart while you were in his tight embrace.

“Good luck, kill it out there.” You giggled. He let go of the hug and smiled at you. Your heart skipped a beat because of that smile. He started walking away to go below the stage where he comes out the start of the show.

“I love you.” Shawn mouths to you once he gets on stage and he spots you standing backstage. 

“I love you too.” You blew him a kiss. He smiled at you and started the show. This was you and Shawn’s ritual every single time he gets on stage. 

Every single show, you and Shawn were both nervous. Shawn was nervous about pleasing all of the people that came to see him, and you were nervous that everything goes right and it’s another great show. You started chewing on your nails, praying that he doesn’t get hurt, he doesn’t get mobbed by fans switching from stage to stage. None of those has ever happened, but you always had that worry before one of his shows start. 

“Y/n, what did I tell you about biting your nails?” Aaliyah commented while walking to where your seats were. “Stop. You are seriously picking up everything he does. Don’t pick up Shawn’s bad habits, you have such pretty nails.” 

Your face turned red, even the person who was pretty close to Shawn noticed. She’s lived with Shawn for all of her life. Aaliyah has been on tour for a couple of days now. She said she wanted to hangout and tour with her big brother while Manny and Karen are on a cruise for their anniversary. 

You were having a late lunch with Aaliyah, Matt, and Brian after having a little look around the city. You scrunched up your nose in disgust when you felt that wet, mushy, awful tasting tomato in your mouth. You just wanted a nice sandwich but tomatoes just had to ruin it. Brian watched you pick out all the tomatoes off the sandwich you’re having for lunch, while Shawn was working out.

“You and Shawn are perfect for each other. Both of you are so damn weird.” Brian shook his head, with a smile on his face. You knew he was kidding even if he wasn’t smiling. Out of everyone, Brian was the most supportive of your relationship with Shawn. Quoting his words, you and Shawn were his otp. 

“I never noticed tomatoes were so nasty.” You laughed, examining the sandwich.

“Yeah, you say that now after Shawn probably brainwashed you into not liking them.” Matt commented which made Brian and Aaliyah laugh. 

“How is it like touring with y/n?” A fan asked Shawn during the q&a. His eyes lit up and made eye contact with you when the fan mentioned your name.

“Horrible. She takes such long showers. Just kidding.” The fans cheered and you playfully pouted. “It’s been fun actually, everyone thinks she’s turning into me. We were walking with Aaliyah this morning, y/n made this face and I was like, that’s something I do.” 

“Oh, sorry. Like it’s fine. No big deal,” You smiled and talked with your hands. “You can definitely do it later. I don’t want to bother you.” 

One of the people from the crew smiled and nodded. She walked away and before she was out of your line of sight, Tom and Mike came by to grab a water bottle in the cooler beside you. 

“Was that y/n or Shawn?” Tom commented and Mike laughed. You smiled at them and walked to Shawn’s dressing room. All the comments were funny at first, but it started to get frustrating and annoying. 

“Hey, babe.” Shawn greeted you when you walked in. He was just sitting in his room and strumming a guitar. 

“I feel like I haven’t seen you all day,” You gave him a small smile. Shawn’s been busy all day, so you didn’t want to bother him, so you ended up running around the venue. He immediately noticed that there was something wrong with the tune of your voice and put the guitar away. 

“Come here, baby.” He opened his arms wide open for a hug, and you crashed on his lap. Your head on his shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

“Am I really doing everything you do?” You buried your face in his chest, embarrassed of what you just asked him. You felt his chest vibrate while he laughed.

“Oh, baby.” He kissed the top of your head and started stroking your hair. “Yeah, kind of.” 

With what he said, you immediately sat up from burying your face in his chest to look at his face. “I knew it. Everyone’s been saying that I’m with you too much that’s why I’m doing everything you do! And it’s been getting annoying.”

“Is this why I feel like I haven’t seen you that much these past few days?” Shawn looked at you with those gorgeous brown eyes. You nodded, Shawn knew you very well. He knew that you let anything people say to you. That’s why he insisted on you not having any other social media aside from Snapchat, you always let what people say get to you. And you act upon it. He buried your head in his chest again, holding you in his arms, you heard his heartbeat. That heart that was yours. 

“They’re just teasing you,” Shawn whispered, with his lips pressed to your hair. “That’s what happens when you’re with somebody way too much, you start picking their slang. I actually caught myself talking like you the other day.” 

“Did you really?” You laughed, you felt better about the whole thing.

[briangroth27]

The Flash Season 3 Review

The Flash is my favorite of The CW’s DC shows, and probably my favorite show on TV at the moment. Season 3 continued to thrill me with a terrifying villain and a great exploration of the Flash himself! It truly felt like Savitar helped close the book on a chapter of Barry’s life and I can’t wait to see him move forward.

Full Spoilers…

Barry Allen/The Flash I really enjoyed Barry’s (Grant Gustin) growth this season. He seemed to truly learn that he can’t be selfish and change time to suit his wishes or ease his sorrow after Jay (John Wesley Shipp) talked to him about how time can’t ever be perfectly restored, and I’m glad he stuck to his guns on that score. I was also pleasantly surprised that Barry was—for the most part, at least—up front with the rest of Team Flash about what he’d done in creating and undoing Flashpoint and what he saw of the future instead of dragging the reveals out for several weeks and straining his trustworthiness with the team. I liked that there was a concerted effort on Barry’s part to keep the family aspect of the team together, particularly after seeing what became of them in the potential future he visited. It was clever that this allowed him to finally figure out who Savitar was and I was happy that Barry got to decipher it out on his own.

I really like the metaphysics of the Speed Force and that the show often has it talk with Barry to guide him or, as was the case a few times this season, admonish him. The Speed Force being upset with Barry over Flashpoint was a great beat and a solid reinforcement of what Jay had told him. I felt like an unspoken lesson the Speed Force had for Barry when it spoke to him through Ronnie (Robbie Amell), Eddie (Rick Cosnett), and Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) was that all three of those people chose to sacrifice themselves and none of their deaths were Barry’s fault, so any guilt he felt over “causing” them was misplaced. Even if the Speed Force had to kick him into gear again, I loved Barry getting back into hopeful hero mode. This was taken to the extreme when he agreed to the brilliantly bonkers plan to wipe his memory so that Savitar’s would also vanish, and happy, blank-slate Barry was so good to see! Cisco (Carlos Valdez) coaching him through his statement in court was a fun scene that reminded me of Barry going on his literally blind date with Patty Spivot (Shantel VanSanten) last year, and I loved that that aspect of his job came up.

I think the show should emphasize Barry’s scientific knowledge more at Star Labs—though I understand the rest of the team simply needs things to do too—and early episodes this year struck a good balance when it came to fighting crime. For example, Barry coming up with the idea to stop Magenta’s (Joey King) ship plan and Team Flash figuring out how to execute it was a pretty good compromise. On the other hand, I did think the show downplayed his CSI skills too much this year, particularly with Julian (Tom Felton) constantly showing him up at work. Barry doesn’t need to be the best CSI, but he shouldn’t be repeatedly shot down like he’s new to the job either. Similarly, adding Tracy (Anne Dudek) as yet another scientist at Star Labs—one who’d be working on manipulating the Speed Force, no less—felt like it was stepping on Barry’s toes; he could have at least helped her create the Speed Force Bazooka. As likable as Tracy and Julian were, I wish the writers had found a better balance between their skillsets and Barry’s.

I was happy to see that Iris (Candice Patton) and Barry didn’t treat Flash like distinct personality: Barry doesn’t have a divide in his persona like some heroes do; as we saw when he lost his memory, Flash is just his ability to do extraordinary things and Barry is the motivating factor behind his heroism. I’m also glad they dealt with the potential awkwardness of Barry and Iris having been raised together. I never thought it was weird since he loved her before he lived with the Wests, but I've seen that "incest" complaint online a few times. That Barry’s reluctance to move the relationship forward was fear of losing everything now that he finally had it was a great and natural place for his character to go, particularly right after losing his father after he’d just returned. As it turned out, this was also a clever way to foreshadow the end of the season: he almost lost Iris and then willingly entered the Speed Force—giving up his dream life—to save the city. I thought Barry’s first proposal to Iris was a little underwhelming, so I was glad that they played it as Barry getting ahead of himself and trying to change the future more than truly celebrating their relationship and wanting to move it forward. Barry breaking up with Iris to fully focus on Savitar is not the move I would’ve made, so when they got back together in the musical crossover with Supergirl, it felt like Barry fixing a mistake rather than a rushed plot reversal. Barry singing “Runnin’ Back to You” to propose the second time was much more romantic! That was a smart use of Gustin’s singing talent and a cool tie-in to the musical nature of the episode. When Barry erased his memories, I loved that it was Iris and their love that brought them back; she’s his lightning rod, after all. Her line about good memories getting you through the bad ones was great. I loved the couch moment at the end of the season with Barry and Iris, with their playful conversation about wedding invitations. I really wish we’d see more of them as a couple; it’s weird that we haven’t seen a lot of their dates or general relationship moments outside the big ones. Hopefully we’ll get that upon Barry’s return next season. Barry telling Iris to “remember to run” was a heartbreaking way to close this season and I can’t imagine it’ll be very easy for them to get through Barry choosing to walk away from her without a discussion.

I thought it would be far too soon for Barry to get sidekicks—it seemed like he hadn’t really had a chance to dig in as a solo Speed Force expert before becoming a mentor himself yet—but training both Jesse Wells (Violett Beane) and Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale) worked out really well! I loved the callbacks to Barry being trained by Ollie (Stephen Amell), and once Barry really started teaching Wally, those scenes felt extremely iconic. “Run, Wally, run,” indeed! It was nice to see Barry’s reaction to hearing that Snart had died a hero too; it’s good to see he was right about Snart having good in him and to see that Barry can inspire people to be better. I was also happy that Barry’s morality triumphed in the Gorilla City invasion, though I think they needed to clarify a few things in the past regarding Barry being a killer. While he never did anything like Oliver, it looked for all the world like the first two metahumans in Season 2 were killed when Barry stopped them. Maybe they were Flashpointed back to life, but if they’re going to make a point about Barry not being a killer, I think they need to do more than just leave a vague possibility that a criminal didn’t die at his hands. I’m happy to see they want to play Barry as a hero who doesn’t kill—who’ll find the impossible answer no one else has time to think of—but I think they should also either clarify or deal with their continuity on that score. If he’s going to do it, he needs to deal with it.

That said, Barry had a number of fantastic superhero moments this year! Phasing an entire train was nothing short of astounding. Snapping his fingers into a stream of compressed gas to ignite it, creating a makeshift flame-thrower, was a cool way to vary his powers. He demonstrated a much greater control of time travel than he has in the past when he went to visit the future, leaving me legitimately shocked that he really did come back just a second after he’d left, as planned. It was slightly odd that he’d run off right when Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) had gone Killer Frost, but I get that his worry about saving Iris trumped that and he was right about his time travel capabilities. There are a few times where Barry could’ve used his speed more wisely, like unmasking Alchemy faster: they could've easily had Barry speed for his mask, then have Savitar catch his hand before he got to it and pin him against the wall. Another time he could’ve done more with his powers was during an otherwise show-stopping fight with an ice slide-creating Killer Frost. Barry could’ve thrown lightning at her or created wind tunnels to ground her; Cisco’s not the only one with ranged attacks. Aside from small moments like those, I never felt like Barry was going easy on criminals for the sake of the plot.

Finally resolving Barry being his own worst enemy felt like the natural close to this chapter of his story while also giving a really good reason why Flashes can't just use time travel to fix everything. Physicalizing Barry’s more selfish impulses in Savitar was brilliant and I love that these first three years built to Barry fighting the darkest version of himself. Barry voluntarily entering the Speed Force was sad, but it also felt like what a responsible, selfless hero would do and I like that he's grown to the point where he knows he can't control or change everything. Even though his progress will be a bit hampered by his time in the Speed Force, I can’t wait to see where he goes once he gets back!

Savitar At first I wanted Savitar to be an actual god of motion—that seemed like a good step up from Thawne (Matt Letscher/Tom Cavanaugh) and Zolomon (Teddy Sears)—then I wanted him to be just some random original speedster, so the season’s main enemy wouldn’t be the third traitorous member of Team Flash in as many years. But as the season continued, I came around to the idea of Savitar being Barry; it was the ultimate way to make Barry literally face his mistakes and his worst impulses; even Eobard pointed out that Barry had become the villain of the story. Savitar had a very impressive, scary introduction, and there was never a point where I thought he was needlessly going easy on the heroes. The only moment that came close to that was when he said he had plans for Jesse so he wouldn’t kill her, which were never brought up again but I assume were meant to go into motion after he had secured his origin. I briefly thought Savitar might be a resurrected Eddie Thawne (either via Flashpoint or Eobard bringing him back with the Spear of Destiny over on Legends of Tomorrow) or Barry from the original pre-show timeline gone insane, but I was sure early on that he was a Barry Time Remnant from the future. “I am the future, Flash” was a very cool clue and the fact that he knew the team sealed it for me. I saw a few tweets complaining that they had called Savitar’s identity as well, but I can't imagine a more impactful or satisfying reveal. I'd rather see it coming than have a crazy twist that has little impact. I didn't think Future Barry needed to omit the existence of a surviving damaged Time Remnant—they could've just as easily not known he survived—but that abandonment explains why Savitar went bad when the prime Future Barry didn't. I liked that they combined elements of the comics’ Savitar—a nobody (literally; we never learned his name!) obsessed with the Speed Force who had a long existence with a cult springing up around him—with Cobalt Blue—Barry’s evil twin, adopted by the Thawnes—and an evil future version of Barry Allen from the New 52 timeline—to improve on all three characters. Thanks to his terrifying power, personal tie to Barry, and the fact that he was a manifestation of so many of Barry’s issues, I definitely think Savitar topped Thawne as the best Flash villain so far!

I enjoyed the mythology Time Remnant Barry created around himself by going back in time to cement his place as the “first” metahuman with superspeed. I loved his increasing god complex and his use of Alchemy to lead his growing cult of followers. That he could be trapped within an Arc of the Covenant-style box was a perfect touch. I loved the origin of the Philosopher's Stone and the reason it allowed him to deflect the Speed Force Bazooka's blasts was pretty cool. “God feels no pain, so I had to become one" was a great line and cool motivation to reshape himself in the wake of Iris’ murder and his abandonment by Team Flash. Since Barry is so dependent on his familial connections, Savitar cutting them all off felt like a perfect direction for his character. At one point I wondered why Savitar wouldn’t just kill himself to save Iris (or give himself over to the Time Wraiths, as the Speed Force suggested Barry do), but I think in addition to completely losing his mind he wanted the power to fix everything…he is Barry, after all. He didn’t think his younger self was worthy of the life he led, so killing himself wouldn’t solve anything anyway. I would’ve liked clarification on his plans beyond recreating himself: my theory is he wanted to make another Flashpoint to create his perfect world; this could’ve grown into an attempt to control the Speed Force itself, since it was preventing Barry from further rewriting time (and I really like the idea of a “god” out to control/manipulate speedster Heaven). Like Barry trying to fix the past, Savitar may have been fully confident he could perfect time and make everything better once he’d secured his origin—including bringing Iris back to life—and it’d be like she never died…he just had to kill her first.

His successful attempts to mess with Wally’s head and orchestrate his escape from the Speed Force prison were a little similar to Eobard and Hunter manipulating Barry, but still felt fresh (and it makes sense that Barry would’ve learned tactics from those villains). Savitar’s seeming reluctance to kill the people close to Barry—besides Iris, who he needed to kill for his origin—despite claiming he didn’t need anyone, made sense given he was Barry, which eliminated what would’ve been a question about such an all-powerful supervillain’s restraint. I’d like to think that the moment Savitar was forced to relive over and over in the Speed Force prison was Iris’ death, with the additional knowledge that he did it. I didn’t see Savitar pretending to be Barry to discover Iris’ location; they could’ve had Savitar replace Barry at any moment, but that was absolutely perfect and crushing. It doesn’t (necessarily) refer to that moment exactly, but the message in the Invasion Crossover directing the heroes not to “trust Barry” was a cool bit of foreshadowing and another neat clue to Savitar’s identity that seemed to refer to Barry’s Flashpoint shenanigans. The gimmick of Savitar having all the new memories Barry creates as time changes was a great way to let him stay ahead of our heroes; literally anything Barry did, Savitar would remember.

I hadn’t expected the kind of vengeance that created Savitar to be lying deep within Barry, but after its reveal I could see where it comes from. I really liked how they balanced the anger in Barry to establish the potential for Savitar without wrecking Barry as a hero. The idea that Barry's lack of hope and mercy is the wellspring Savitar comes from is a cool way to dramatize the importance of him remaining an optimistic hero. Even though Barry came to terms with the idea that the darkness can drive him to better himself after making mistakes, his memory loss proved heroes don't need tragedy to be heroes. Barry’s attempt to save Savitar by helping him and bringing him back to the light side was unexpected and really well done; too bad the thought of living without Iris and the appeal of being an unfeeling god was too much for Savitar. Gustin did great playing both sides of this section of Barry’s arc (as well as the broken potential future Barry)! I thought Savitar’s plan B for godhood—splintering himself into every microsecond of time to evade the paradox coming for him—was even cooler than his plan to simply recreate himself. It would’ve been awesome to see him succeed and the heroes have to undo that, but I loved the Savitar arc overall and it truly felt like his defeat signaled the end to this chapter of Barry’s life. And what a defeat it was! The forest fight with Savitar vs. Barry, Wally, and Jay was incredible!  

Iris West I love Candice Patton’s Iris, but I’m frequently left wishing she had more to do. This season brought her and Wally into Team Flash more, but Iris’ role was often left to acting as the glue of the West family (and sometimes, Team Flash as a whole). Patton is good at it and I like that Iris plays that role, but I really want them to find a way to incorporate her career as a reporter more. I had a similar gripe with Lois Lane (Erica Durance) on Smallville as well: when Barry runs off to fight crime, why isn’t Iris right behind him to get the story? Why not throw in a flirty-cute "see you there!" from her as Barry runs off? That would be such an easy way to incorporate her job into the show; even if she doesn’t have anything to do in a fight scene, it’d be a great reminder that she actually does her job. Since Cisco’s metascanner eliminates her ability to really feed the team scoops on crimes, she could bring some humanity to the villains Team Flash faces thanks to her investigations. While Barry gets physical evidence as a CSI, Iris interviewing the people in these enemies’ lives can provide emotional or background information that could help Flash understand who he’s fighting. Iris also gets saddled with a bit of the “ask questions so the audience understands” unnecessary exposition Firestorm (Franz Drameh, Victor Garber) gets on Legends of Tomorrow, though not as much as she did in Season 1, so this is improving. I hope that ends and the writers give us more credit. It’d also be cool to see Iris cross over to the other shows next time; I think she’s the only regular from Flash aside from Wally who hasn’t gotten to visit another series. I’d absolutely love to see her jump over to Supergirl and give Kara (Melissa Benoist) a few journalism pointers!

All that said, Iris getting to play a bigger role within Team Flash was great to see! It was neat to see her and Wally working together as crime fighters in the Flashpoint timeline and it’s cool that Barry’s season-ending sacrifice and Iris’ increased role on Team Flash effectively makes that the case in the real timeline as well. Iris and Wally had some great echoes of that crime-busting team throughout the season, such as when she distracted Joe (Jesse L. Martin) with a very funny conversation about her possibly being pregnant so Wally could snoop through his files. Iris knocking out Wally when he was possessed by Alchemy was great; I definitely thought she’d end up captured, so taking Wally down was a nice surprise. I was glad when the other characters finally stopped treating her like she couldn’t do her job without dying—especially knowing it’s Savitar that would kill her, not some random villain—because she’s an adult and it was time they accepted that she’s capable of taking the same risks they are (and more than willing to do so). I liked that they came to the understanding that she wasn’t going to stop helping people, no matter what the risk.

It was also fun to see Iris and Barry’s relationship develop, though I wish we got more of it onscreen. The show has never been very showy about Barry’s love life, so it didn’t feel like Iris was shortchanged in comparison to Linda (Malese Jow) or Patty, but while we’ve gotten plenty of moments of Barry being in love with Iris over the past three years, I wish we were seeing more of them actually dating. Nevertheless, what we got was fun; bits like their first date (which ended awkwardly), their redo (which also ended abruptly, but better), and moving in together were fun, as was her joking with him while he was trapped in a mirror. I liked her reasoning for breaking up with Barry after his future-averting proposal, and her video vows were perfect. Intercut with Barry’s futile race to save her, however, they were absolutely heartbreaking!

I'm not sure how I feel about Iris shooting Savitar right after Barry had a heroic moment for staying the course and not killing him. The idea is clearly that killing is not a heroic act for Barry, so why is it OK for Iris to do it? It's a gray area—Savitar was going to evaporate in seconds anyway as the paradox hit him and she does save Barry by killing his doppelganger—but it could've been a less fatal shot. Had she just shot Savitar in the leg, she would’ve prevented him from killing Barry long enough for the paradox to evaporate him. That's the one thing I'd change about the finale, I think; at least Barry brought it up later and it seems like Iris will deal with the effects of that choice next year. I’ve heard she’ll be the leader of Team Flash while Barry’s gone, so I’m definitely excited to see how she settles into that role!

Wally West/Kid-Flash As wary as I was of Wally getting his powers so soon, just like Roy’s (Colton Haynes) early introduction on Arrow, I loved what Keiynan Lonsdale brought to the show this year! I loved how much of a fan of the Flash they made him and how badly he wanted to be a hero, so his ascension to Kid-Flash was great and felt true to the original comics. His glee at finally getting powers was infectious! I love that Wally's the idealistic fanboy while Barry is more of an optimistic realist. It's a nice balance that proves you don't need a light/dark contrast to create friction or friendly competition between heroes. Moments of the guys ribbing each other, like a “Flash vs. Kid-Flash” conversation at Jitters and playing the truth of stage whispering as Barry was asking Iris to look after Wally while he was on Earth-2 dealing with Grodd were great fun and I’m glad that sort of competition never erupted into some epic argument between the two.

I thought Wally’d secretly seek out Alchemy to get his powers, so I’m glad they didn’t go that route (even if he did put himself in the cocoon). I liked that he was willing to use himself as an Alchemy tracker—Wally never needed powers to be a hero—and his moment about fear with Barry before they went into the lair was great. I thought pulling him out of the chrysalis before he was ready would cause more problems with his powers than it did. In the comics, initially they started to kill him so he couldn't use them much until his physiology was corrected, so I thought they were going to do something similar here (I even thought that would be the “fate worse than death”). Perhaps they’ll still play that card in the future, but I’m glad he got to have his dream come true. Wally’s eagerness to be trained played into the Invasion Crossover very well and jumping into that fray was a fun first outing for Kid-Flash! Once Barry started training Wally, I absolutely loved it! Wally's issues with phasing were a nice nod to the comics, where he originally couldn't phase "cleanly" through objects, leaving them unstable, and would instead leave Looney Tunes-styled holes in them. I do wish they’d taken the opportunity of Barry losing his memories to flip their relationship, so Wally could train him for a bit. He brought it up so it seems it happened offscreen, but it would’ve been nice to actually see him in Barry’s shoes and vice-versa.

Wally’s burgeoning relationship with Jesse was fun! The two have good chemistry. I liked their early issues caused by his jealousy over her powers and that they focused more on him putting himself in danger than resenting her for getting superspeed. I was glad that he was immediately honest with her about Harry (Tom Cavanaugh) “dying;” that could’ve been a source of cheap drama, but they chose to have Wally be mature and honor his relationship with Jesse instead. I really thought Wally would go with her to protect Earth-3 and I wasn’t sure why he wouldn't use the opportunity to get away from things so soon after his time as a prisoner in the Speed Force. I guess he needed his dad and sister more then, and he got his groove back in the Supergirl crossover, so I’m ultimately glad he stayed. I knew he’d get the fate worse than death, but I didn’t guess he’d be trapped in the Speed Force watching his mom die over and over again or catatonic and crippled in the potential future! It seems Wally is fated for a dark path, and I hope they can prevent that.

It was nice to be reminded of Wally's engineering acumen in the finale and I hope Cisco takes him under his wing as an engineering apprentice at STAR Labs. Like Barry as a CSI and Iris as a journalist, I’d love to see Wally applying himself as an engineer next season; Cisco as a mentor would also be a fun, new note for him to play and a different energy for Wally to play off of. I loved Wally's evolution into Kid-Flash and I'm excited to see how he handles living up to Barry, even though I’m surprised we’re getting Wally as the Flash so soon. I’m glad it’s not due to a permanent Barry death (I was afraid WB’s movie division might want that with Justice League’s Barry coming up), and while it seems Allen will be back faster than he should to really play out Wally as the solo Flash, I hope his return creates a lot of drama with Wally suddenly being put back in second position to Barry. Living up to Barry’s memory and then dealing with what his place in the world was after Allen’s return were big arcs in the comics for Wally, so I hope next season gives them the time they need.

Cisco Ramon/Vibe Cisco getting to be in the field more as Vibe was great! Perhaps that evolution is a chance for Wally to pick up his slack in the lab. His battles with Killer Frost were excellent and perfectly emotionally charged. I don’t remember them specifically stating it, but I feel like Cisco’s fear of turning evil after meeting Reverb added some great weight to his attempts to save his best friend from herself. If it wasn’t explicitly stated, that could’ve been a great argument for how she didn’t have to give herself over to the Killer Frost identity. I loved how conflicted and how concerned about hurting Caitlin he was whenever they came to blows and I honestly couldn’t guess how Vibe vs. Killer Frost would go down in the end.

I also liked how much Cisco has grown in hostage situations; he's come a long way since he gave up Barry's secret ID to Captain Cold to save Dante (Nicholas Gonzalez). On that note, I really liked Cisco’s angst about his brother this year. While correcting Barry on whether or not they were friends when they went to recruit Supergirl may have seemed a little much, I think his pain and anger needed to be that big and drawn out or else it would’ve felt rushed and underdeveloped. It’s also possible Cisco and Dante were closer in the post-Flashpoint timeline than they were in the original one, which would be a cruel irony in that they didn’t really get along in one reality and Dante died in another. I liked the way they finally resolved things between Cisco and Barry; it felt natural. I also liked that Cisco had a moment in the Invasion Crossover where he was faced with much the same choice Barry was. His reaction to accidentally changing time for the greater good was a great way to let him understand what Barry had gone through and to work through his problems with his best friend.

Another great development for Cisco was his relationship with HR. I wasn’t a big fan of HR, but at least he drove all of Team Flash to be their best without relying on the genius of a Harrison Wells. The “just show up” speech about heroism Cisco gave HR was excellent and such a great moment for both men! Cisco’s relationship with Gypsy (Jessica Camacho) was fun and breezy, which was a great switch from the angst of his strained friendships with Barry and Caitlin. I’m 100% sure that the dead partner Gypsy keeps referring to—the one that seems to be standing in the way of her starting a relationship with Cisco—was the Cisco of her Earth. I’m definitely interested to see where their relationship goes next year; it’ll be nice for Cisco to have a relationship that goes beyond flirting for once! I also liked Gypsy opening Cisco’s eyes to what he could accomplish with his powers, though I think he should’ve had to land more than one hit on her during their first fight. Oh well. Like pulling a Flash Signal out of the Batman mythos, Cisco calling Savitar “Two-Face” was totally unexpected and very funny!

Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost I’m torn about the portrayal of Killer Frost. On one hand, playing Caitlin’s metahuman evolution like a disease she was desperate to conceal and cure was a great, fresh take on the metahuman condition. I also really liked that she didn’t get over what Barry accidentally did to her with Flashpoint. On the other, it seemed like the show fought far too hard to make Killer Frost a separate personality without any reason why. Unless a split personality was Flashpointed into her past along with her powers, Caitlin showed no signs of one in the previous two seasons and while Magenta did have a split personality brought on by her powers, it was due to Alchemy granting her the memories of her life in the Flashpoint timeline. Caitlin didn’t get her powers from Alchemy and had no memories of any other life, so why was she alone subject to a split personality? It felt like the show was afraid to pull the trigger on a major character development for Caitlin and instead wanted to play it safe by making Killer Frost “someone else,” except they also had Frost say that she was the real Caitlin. There would’ve been absolutely nothing wrong with Caitlin being justifiably angry with Barry and going off the rails—even hurting her friends—in her frantic quest to be cured. Pining for Ronnie aside, we’ve never seen Caitlin really desperate, and this could’ve been a great way to explore a darker side of her (particularly with Savitar showing us Barry’s darkest side). They didn’t need to scapegoat her wrongdoing on her powers. The fact that she was often forced to use her powers to save her friends (freezing Iris’ arm to stop an infection, getting Barry out of the mirror, slowing Savitar, etc.), thus pushing her farther and farther into her Killer Frost identity was perfectly tragic, but it would’ve been better if Frost hadn’t been a separate person; they could’ve just played Caitlin as being sick of saving everyone else when they couldn’t do much to help her.

All that said, Killer Frost was great as an enemy and Panabaker was great in both roles; this may be her best material yet on the series! Her villainous puns were a lot of fun and the CGI—especially the Iceman-style ice-slides in a fight with Barry and Cisco—was outstanding! I didn’t see her being the traitor coming at all and teaming up with Savitar was a nice twist and echo of Earth-2 Caitlin working with Zoom. In hindsight, her early comment about all their friends being their greatest enemies was a fun bit of foreshadowing for both her and Savitar. I liked meeting Caitlin’s mom, Dr. Carla Tannhauser (Susan Walters), and I was sure she’d turn out to be an evil parent, so I was relieved it was actually Nigel (Thomas Cadrot) who wanted to force Caitlin to use her powers while Carla genuinely wanted to help her. I hope we get more of Caitlin’s relationship with her mom next year. At the end of the season, I loved that they didn’t take the easy way out by having Frost cure herself. Going through her full transformation and becoming someone who isn’t quite Caitlin or Killer Frost is the stronger choice and I’m excited to see where they take her character next year.

Joe West Joe’s season arc felt like one that forced him to begin letting go of his kids. From his Flashpoint-created estrangement from Iris at the beginning of the year to dealing with Wally beginning training as a speedster, to learning about Iris’ impending death, and finally to losing Barry to the Speed Force, Detective West was put through the wringer regarding his children. I thought Joe being overprotective of Wally and trying to stop him from being a superhero worked better than his being protective of Iris for most of the season, maybe because Iris feels like more of an adult than Wally does and she’d already been a reporter for years at this point. That said, Joe struggling with saving Iris from her fate and his recollection of when she was a baby was so sad! Her death was a standout moment for Jesse L. Martin. I didn’t think they had to hide Barry’s vision of the future from Joe and I’m glad there wasn’t a huge falling out over it when it was finally revealed. In hindsight, that was a clever reversal where Joe’s kids were needlessly overprotective of him instead of the other way around.

I did think we needed a bigger moment where Joe came around on Wally training. It felt a hair too fast IMO. I liked that his comments about love and family accidentally led to Barry realizing who Savitar was (particularly as Joe’s plot in that episode felt fine, but extraneous at first). His romance with DA Cecile Horton (Danielle Nicolet) is fun and I hope it continues. I’m definitely interested to see where Joe is after the hiatus. We’ve seen him repeatedly turn out much worse for wear without his kids, so losing Barry like this must be hard on him. I wonder if he’ll still be the same voice of the common man for Team Flash or if his role will change; I kinda hope it does. I like that he’s been the stable backbone of the West family and I don’t think I’d want a midlife crisis for him, but with all three of his kids growing up, I wonder where Joe’s energy will be put if not into being overprotective of them. I wonder if he has aspirations to climb the chain of command at the CCPD.

Harry Wells/HR Introducing multiple Harrison Wells was a fun idea (and Cavanaugh was clearly having a blast creating the most random Wells possible), but none of them could replace Harry for me. I love his friendship with Cisco and their mini-competition about naming supervillains was great! I thought pretending to be dying to convince Jesse to listen to him was a bit much, but I’m glad he owned it as a mistake. His reactions to HR were always entertaining! I loved that Team Flash hid Iris on Earth-2 with Harry and I was very worried Savitar would kill him (and Joe) when he came for her. I’m glad it seems Harry will be sticking around in Season 4, but I hope the team doesn’t slide backwards into leaning on him as a mentor figure. They’ve grown beyond that, so it’ll be interesting to see how he finds a new role for himself on the team.

I really disliked HR in the beginning: his being a “muse” helping others reach their full potential never worked for me and often came off as though he were just taking the credit for Team Flash coming up with their own ideas. That said, I’m glad that this Wells not being a genius forced Barry to step up as leader and the rest of the team to think for themselves more; I feel that was key to me never hating the character; instead I just struggled to see how he fit on the show at first. HR did grow on me, though, and even though training Wally at first sounded like a terrible idea, it worked. They also got some good comedy out of HR, such as “All’s Wells that Ends Wells.” He and Tracy had a cute relationship while it lasted, and I liked him just being there for the team as the series progressed. Moments like consoling Jesse and getting an inspirational boost from Barry in the final episodes made me like him more (and I liked that the latter was a direct example of what Cold said: the goodness in Barry was the key to saving Iris). I was glad he got to go out being a hero; Cavanaugh won me over on HR and I definitely appreciated how much he’d touched the rest of the team at his funeral.

Julian Albert/Doctor Alchemy This was a really cool reimagining of the comics’ Dr. Alchemy: he's "making gold" from raw materials by bringing people to their full potential! It was clever to take Alchemy’s split personality from the comics and twist it so that it was Savitar’s influence over him. I was torn on whether Julian was Alchemy or not, but there was really no other suspect. When it was finally revealed, it wasn’t a shock, but I wasn’t disappointed either. I liked that he wasn’t the third ally (however caustic their relationship) of Barry’s to knowingly turn out to be an enemy; his opinion that metas were wasting their gifts being evil was an original take on the situation and the layers they added to him as the season progressed all worked for me. His opinion that the police force had become lazy since Flash did more than all of them together was a great man-on-the-street take on Barry’s heroics! I liked that he provided an obstacle for Barry at work, but I do think the show dropped the ball a bit on letting Barry prove himself in that field; even getting Allan’s job back was more due to Julian figuring out who Barry was rather than Barry proving he deserved to be a CSI. Barry just lost too often in the face of Julian’s professionalism IMO. One time Julian’s skills didn’t make Barry look bad was when they had to operate on Caitlin; Barry and Wally could’ve sped-read medical skills to do it, but that would’ve been raw knowledge as opposed to Julian’s experience as a medic. Moments like that worked and I wish there had been a better balance of that sort of “competition;” Barry doesn't have to be the best at everything of course, but they almost made it seem like he was a total screw-up compared to Julian.

That said, once Julian joined Team Flash he was a fun addition and, as my friend pointed out, brought the snarky “friendly antagonist” energy back to the team in Harry’s absence. Bits like him geeking out over a “planet” of apes were fun; I enjoyed his whole Indiana Jones vibe, actually. His relationship with Caitlin wasn’t something I was rooting for initially, but I liked it. Their shared lack of control over their powers was a great bonding factor, even if his experience as Alchemy was much more clearly defined as a split personality than her changes into Killer Frost were. I felt sorry for him when Barry asked him to let Savitar back into his mind again and Felton was great with the agony and turmoil of becoming Alchemy again.  Even though he’s not going to be a regular in Season 4, I’d definitely be open to Julian returning for a guest appearance now and again.

Allies I liked a lot of what they did with Jesse Quick this year, particularly when HR tried to stop her from going after Savitar and she responded that on her Earth, she’s the Flash. Though she got some training from Barry early in the season, I loved that she asserted herself as a main superhero instead of anyone’s sidekick. Also, even though HR grew on me and I liked him by the end, Jesse being over him and knocking him out still felt cathartic. I didn’t think Wally and Jesse would make it as a couple because I didn’t think the show would stick with three heroic speedsters on a single Earth for the whole year; it’d be too easy to defeat the villains. I’m glad I was wrong and they made their extremely long-distance relationship work, because I like them together. I liked that Jesse had real, valid concerns about Wally’s interest in superspeed; the drama generated by that arc felt valid and pressing. I did think it was a little odd that Jesse abandoned crime-fighting on Earth-2 to protect Jay’s Earth-3, but maybe she’d gotten things under control back home. There were a few missteps with Jesse that felt like she was simply written out of scenes to make them more streamlined, but ended up hurting her character a bit. For instance, Jesse was too preoccupied with Iris’ engagement ring to help Barry and Wally save lives? Jesse could've just taken in the ring in superspeed, making an out of character moment a little better by putting a fun Flash spin on it, at least. There’s no reason she couldn’t have been right beside Barry to witness Wally’s freakout at seeing Savitar either. She could’ve run off with Barry to try and save Wally from being sucked into the Speed Force prison too (though admittedly, he could’ve done more than watch once he got there as well). Facing off with Savitar and proving he was human, not a god (Stab, Jesse, Stab!) made up for this a bit, but these moments felt out of character and unnecessary. Still, Jesse is a fun recurring character and I’m hopeful she’ll be back often in Season 4!

I thought for sure Jay Garrick would play a role with the JSA over on Legends of Tomorrow, but I liked what they did with him here even better. Making Jay Henry Allen’s doppelganger was an inspired choice and I love it whenever he shows up; Jay stopping by to give Barry advice not only feels iconic but feels important, given Barry’s talking to a man with his father’s face. Read any interview with Shipp and it’s clear how thoughtful he is about his approach to playing both Henry and Jay (and his own Barry) and how best to use his time on the show (or why he should sometimes be kept away altogether), rather than being an actor who needs everything to contort to fit him in. I do think it’s sad they keep locking him away in prisons, though; just being away on Earth-3 is a good enough reason for him to not be around. That said, I hope he’s been helping Wally find his way as the new Flash!

Gypsy was awesome! I don’t know anything about the character she’s based on, so I was up for anything the show did with her and I loved all of it. She was a great adversary even though she didn't want to take over the world or steal things, and her interdimensional collector job made for one of the most reasonable hero vs. hero fights around. Her supreme confidence, tenacity, and preparedness (including handcuffs that Barry apparently couldn’t vibrate through) made her an instant favorite of mine. It was very cool that she entered the show not only with something of a history with HR, but Abra Kadabra too. I hope things work out for her and Cisco and I’m excited to see where she goes next season. Meeting her father (Danny Trejo) is going to be fun too!

I love Captain Cold, so getting to see him in flashbacks, as a Speed Force manifestation, and finally plucked from time to pull a heist with Barry was very cool and a lot of fun! With both his villainous and heroic versions showing up, we got to see all sides of Snart this year. I hope Barry gets to meet the “bizarro” version that’ll be showing up on Legends this season. I was so excited for Julio Mendez (Alex Desert) to finally be on the show, since he was Barry's best friend on the 1990 show!  I liked that he ran the CCPD in Flashpoint and I was sorry to see both his appearances cut so short. Since he died in the normal timeline, I hope he gets to be Jay’s CSI buddy/police support on Earth-3. I liked Tracy Brand, but I still think Barry should’ve had a larger hand in helping her build the Speed Force Bazooka/prison. He’s the one with all the knowledge about the SF, so we should’ve seen them working together (the Speed Force even mentioned that, in the original timeline, they did work together on it). Dudek had good chemistry with Tom Cavanaugh and I liked how she acclimated to the team’s sci-fi craziness relatively quickly. I’d be up for more appearances in Season 4. Lyla’s (Audrey Marie Anderson) brief appearance was cool and I liked her reasons for not giving Barry the power source ARGUS had. He didn’t deserve her trust, which was a great example of unforeseen consequences of his actions. That her trust in him was restored by the end of the heist seemed a little rushed, but not unnatural. I thought the Accelerated Man of Earth-19 (Sean Poague) might be important to the Savitar mystery, but I’d still like to learn more about him. At least visually, he’s very distinctive and seems like he could have a cool story.

Villains Eobard Thawne is my second-favorite villain on the show and I love how much he loves tormenting Barry. I still wish his final battle had been with Barry, but I hope a younger version shows up sometime; I still think there’s more to explore with him hating Barry because he idolized him until he found out they’d be enemies. It was cool that he got to call Barry out as the villain of the season. I hope Abra Kadabra (David Dastmalchian) comes back soon and often. Playing him so much like a stage magician isn't what I had in mind, but I thought it worked well and I loved all his tricks! I really liked how creepy he got when he said not telling Barry about Savitar would be like he got to kill Iris too. Savitar aside, he’s my favorite new villain this year and I hope we see much more of him (even though he was taken off to be executed, we can still meet his younger self). The Earth-3 Trickster was fun (and it’s very cool Mark Hamill was willing to pop by for a reunion with Shipp from the original Flash show), but I prefer "our" version and would like to see him return!

I can’t believe we got to see Gorilla City and I loved every second of it, though I would’ve liked to see a bit more of their culture and world (but seriously: the fact that we got anything blows my mind!). I thought Solovar (Keith David) gave Barry a great fight in the coliseum and used original ways to counter his speed. Like I saw mentioned on Twitter, it seemed like Grodd (David Sobolov, Simon Burnett) should’ve been able to read Team Flash’s minds in the cells (or just compel Cisco to open a portal once Barry accidentally convinced the gorillas to fight humans), but I guess he didn’t because he got cocky or, perhaps, Grodd’s telepathy didn’t work within the cages and didn’t want to give Cisco a chance to escape by pulling him out. I liked Grodd’s missile threat a lot and even though they were severely outmatched and outnumbered it was spectacular to see Barry, Jesse, and Wally team up against an army of apes! Barry and Grodd’s rematch was slightly underwhelming after Barry vs. Solovar, but I liked that it was Barry’s goodness that won the day, not his fighting skills. I'm also glad Grodd is locked up at ARGUS for use later on. I don't need to see him again immediately, but I definitely want him back in the future. I hope Hunter/the Black Flash isn’t dead (or that he can be reconstituted somehow), because he was scary on Legends and I’d like to see him continue to play his role as the Speed Force’s Death.

I liked Mirror Master (Grey Damon), but felt they could do more with his powers, like endangering multiple civilians at once from various mirrors/windows around the city. It was cool to mention the comics' other Mirror Master, Evan McCulloch, as being from Earth 2. I’d like the characters to meet him and see what he can do with his tech-based powers. Exploring the mirror universe Scudder travels through between reflective surfaces could also make for some cool episodes. I thought The Top (Ashley Rickards) was better than in the comics and I liked her vertigo effect. Since Count Vertigo (Seth Gabel, Peter Stormare) doesn't have his reality-warping tech (yet?), I'd love to see her fight Oliver sometime on Arrow. However, both Top and Scudder could stand to have their own episodes to fully shine: there never seems to be enough time to really dig into either of them. On the other hand, I definitely hope that their Bonnie & Clyde routine continues a trend of the Rogues working together against Barry. Playing Jared Morillo/Plunder (Stephen Huszar) as a high-tech pirate thief was fine as a one-off villain. The comics' version was the mirror-verse clone of a cop (Morillo), created by Mirror Master to be his inside man. That would've been cooler, but there’s nothing to say that plot can’t be used with any other character either…evil Mirror Joe, maybe?

Like Grodd and Gorilla City, I can't believe they managed a giant kaiju monster on a network TV show! I might've given the moment at the end with the kid (Isaiah Lehtinen) controlling it being talked down to Flash instead of Joe, though I'm glad they made the kid face the consequences of his actions. Speaking of outstanding CGI, we got another fun King Shark appearance and another missed opportunity for a Street Sharks reference from Cisco. Hahaha! I loved the fin in the smoke and am definitely game for King Shark to return whenever they want. Matthew Kevin Anderson was scary as Clive Yorkin, who could disintegrate anyone he touched and was on a killing spree. Magenta may have been a bit low-key as a villain, but her story brought out some great parallels to Harry/Jesse, Barry/Flashpoint, Harry/Barry and mistakes, and Joe/Wally. I also really liked the way Barry talked her down instead of fighting her off. Shade (Mike McLeod) was kind of wasted in his episode, but at least he didn't die. In the comics, Shade's somewhat immortal and has been a villain and an anti-hero, which could provide an interesting perspective to contrast with Barry if he comes back. Given the caliber of other speedsters on the show, Edward Clariss/The Rival (Todd Lasance) felt underwhelming. He served his purpose and didn’t need to be epic, I suppose, but he wasn’t that impressive. Maybe if we hadn’t had so many evil speedsters or if he got more than one episode to show what he could do he would’ve been fine.

General Plot Notes It always feels like so much happens on Flash episodes and I wish more shows were like that. I liked the structure of the season, with the metahumans so closely tied to Flashpoint. I don’t want to get rid of 22-23 episode seasons, because I love getting to spend as much time as possible with these characters and worlds, but it might be better to split each season between two main villains. Alchemy and Savitar worked this year—and the ability to trap Savitar while still racing to rescue Iris from her fate helped to maintain his unstoppable shadow over the season without making him or the heroes look incompetent—so I think the show is headed in the right direction on that front.

Using the headlines glimpsed in the future was a clever way to propel the “save Iris!” plot; they could try and change the future, but they could never be certain of how successful any given change would be. Even travelling to the future didn’t afford Barry many answers, but I liked that it was another chance to show how Barry can inspire hope in even the most hopeless (and a Cisco so desperate for hope that he’d trap Barry there was a great manifestation of that). While the pacing felt a little off in that episode, I loved that it spent so much time with the Future Team Flash and that all the changes they’d gone through were fully explored. The Future Flash suit was a nice touch; I’ve always felt the belt buckle on the present-day suit looked a little awkward and bulky compared to the rest of the suit, but making it gold and incorporating it into his lightning belt made it look like it fit. If they take anything from the future suit for a Season 4 look, I hope it’s that. I enjoyed the fact that even though erasing Barry’s memories was a truly crazy Hail Mary scheme to beat Savitar, it actually worked. That was one of the best uses of (and reasons for) an amnesia episode I've seen in a long time. Wally losing his powers was a cool side effect of Savitar losing his memory that I didn’t see coming. The countdown throughout Iris’ death episode gave it a great sense of tension, even while balancing it with plenty of funny lines. I didn't expect Iris to actually die—and I totally believed it when it happened—but I didn't think it'd be permanent. I guessed HR would take her place with his holographic projector (and thought we might be seeing someone other than Iris as early as when Wally was having his visions of Savitar escaping the Speed Force), but the show had a much simpler way of doing that than my convoluted time travel theory. The finale was not at all what I was expecting, but I loved just about all of it!

The development of the world was cool and felt like we were taking baby steps to the iconic Flash mythos of the comics, particularly with HR opening a museum in Star Labs. It’s great that they have a continuing relationship with the city and its people; Flash shouldn’t be like other superheroes who are inaccessible to the public except when there’s a crisis. That they could teach kids about science to keep their doors open (their needing a source of funds was another good point!) was very cool. I do wish they’d taken the opportunity to rebrand the museum as the Flash Museum in an attempt to change the future; maybe now that the building has been destroyed, that’ll be part of the rebuilt Star Labs. That’d be particularly fitting after Barry’s “death.” The Speed Lab was another cool addition to Star Labs and I’m hoping we get more of this sort of world-building in the coming year. I wonder if they’ll take the building exploding as an opportunity to completely overhaul the Cortex and other sets. It was also cool to visit HR’s Earth-19 and Jay’s Earth-3 (and of course Jesse’s Earth-2); I hope we get to see more of the multiverse as the series continues!

I was wrong about how things would go in Flashpoint (I thought the Invasion Crossover would be a Crisis that would resolve it 8 episodes into the season), but I liked what they did a lot and I'm glad we got back to (approximately) the show we know quickly. I do think they missed an opportunity to have present-day Barry become the Flash who told his younger self not to save Nora in the Season 1 finale, but I guess that moment has been permanently erased (along with the original Barry of the Flashpoint timeline; I understood it that he’d fade away/merge with our Barry when he entered Flashpoint, like the first two times Barry time traveled). It also would’ve been fun to explore the Flashpoint world a bit more, maybe including a classic comic book goateed-Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance-Black Canary appearance, but overall I’m glad the show kept the focus on Barry and his world. As fun as dark alternate realities can be, I felt both the comic and the animated versions of Flashpoint lost the focus on Barry and his affect (or lack thereof) on Central City in favor of Justice Leaguers fighting each other. I’m glad the show didn’t do that and getting to see our heroes in this alternate timeline was a lot of fun. I was sorry to see elements of the show we knew go, but I really liked Flashpoint—and the damage it did to the West family dynamics, Cisco’s brother, and Caitlin’s health—as the reason Barry can't just go back and fix whatever he wants. Even though he came out of his first brush with the Speed Force wiser and more confident, losing Henry crushed him and I think Barry needed a big lesson about the consequences of his actions. That Flashpoint both served as the lesson and fed into the creation of Savitar was brilliant.

I liked the Invasion Crossover a lot! Despite a few choices I would’ve changed, Flash kicked things off (after a brief Supergirl scene) to a great start! I didn't think we needed to see Barry and Ollie pinned down outside Star Labs three times. Seeing the alien ship crash and the Dominators charge would've been enough of a hook to start the episode and I would've cut it to look like Barry and Ollie were being pinned by the Dominators to preserve the brainwashed heroes reveal. I also don't think we needed to see the Supergirl scene again; it didn't add any information to the crossover and it makes watching the Supergirl episode unnecessary if you want to see the "real" crossover. My only other (and larger) issue was a general lack of strategy from everyone involved: Ollie had people attacking Kara with no visible plan to adjust their methods to her powers and Kara and Co. just waltzed into the warehouse where the President (Jerry Wasserman) was being held. It’s true that’s her standard operating procedure since she's invulnerable, but you'd think Sara (Caity Lotz) would know better and at least offer an alternative plan. It also should’ve taken longer to mind-control that group. Ollie and Barry got smarter when their backs were literally against the wall, but I would've liked to see a little more tactical planning from everyone; Wally aside, they weren’t new at this. That said, it was definitely a great crossover! I was glad they got the obligatory hero vs. hero fight out of the way right off the bat. And it was a great, fun fight! I also loved that the front of the Star Labs hanger was the Hall of Justice from Super Friends! What a great shout-out! I love that these shows aren't afraid to dive head-first into Silver Age wackiness! I loved how Barry's Flashpoint guilt played such a strong role in the crossover (and that the invasion was a response to Flashpoint) without feeling like a pity party. Ollie talking to Barry about mistakes and responsibility was perfect; I love their brotherly relationship and was happy to see him reassure Barry (and to support Barry as the nascent Justice League’s leader). Their drinks at the end of the Legends episode were perfect as well. Ollie's right: everyone makes their own choices; Barry just shuffled the deck a bit as to what cards people got dealt. They have fully driven home the point that he can't just go and change time—no matter how much he hurts—and I truly believe Barry won’t ever screw with it again.

The second big crossover, a musical Supergirl adventure, was probably my favorite CW crossover yet. Barry and Kara (and Gustin & Benoist) are a great comedic team and I hope we get many more team-ups from them over the years. "Super Friends" was a ton of fun and a perfect encapsulation of their friendship; I’d love to see more of them just hanging out. Everyone involved in “Duet” sang really well; it’s amazing they’ve collected so many good singers across these shows! Maybe next time Pied Piper (Andy Mientus) and Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) can join in the fun too. I loved the 1930s/40s setting and, while I would’ve liked more original songs instead of covers, I loved everything we got. I didn't expect Music Meister (Darren Criss) to be purely out to help the heroes at all, but I liked the twist. My theory is, he’s from our world (DC’s Earth-Prime: our world, where Grant Gustin plays Barry Allen on TV), and has been watching Barry and Kara on their respective shows; that’s why he’s so invested in them getting happy endings. It was nice to see J’onn (David Harewood) cross over, but I would’ve liked Chyler Leigh’s Alex to come to take care of her sister as well. The limited time spent in the real world prevented them from really getting into it, but it would’ve been cool if Iris had given Kara some advice on working her way back into the journalism business. It was also cool that they threw in another Supergirl “crossover” when Cisco and Gypsy were fighting through multiple Earths and landed in CatCo for a moment. Bits like that are fun reminders that the shows are connected without having to make a big deal out of it.

With Wally taking over as Flash and the team moving forward, I’m hoping we get to see Barry getting back to basics with science and CSIing this year. It’ll be fun to see how Barry deals with a world that’s moved on without him, particularly after seeing him in a world of his creation at the start of Season 3. Maybe his huge steps forward in personal growth will lead him towards the more responsible Barry from the comics. I wonder if Iris finally wrote the “Flash Vanishes in a Crisis” article, and it refers to the Speed Force storm at the end of this year. I’m glad we’re getting Clifford DeVoe (Neil Sandilands) as the main villain next year: there’s no way they could’ve topped Savitar with a sixth speedster villain (seventh if you count Hunter as the Speed Force Death avatar). We needed to get Barry vs. Barry to finish his current arc, so now I’m ready for the fastest man alive to take on the fastest mind alive!

I can’t wait for Season 4 next week!