#also blame kelly for this existing }

[marvelling-at-marvel-blog]

I find Trevor from shameless the most frustrating characther.

When he first introduced, I really liked him, the way he could really help Ian explore life outside of his southside world and more of the LGBT world was interesting. And I love the actor who plays him, but his character just did not work, and I know why. It was bad writing. (Also, I have to admit I didn't feel the chemistry between the actors, even if they were both playing their roles well.)

Now, first off, I think that Shameless really dropped the ball in writing new characters after season 5 or 6. Especially love interests. In the early seasons, all the Gallagher's interests were people outside of their relationship with a Gallagher. Love or hate them. I could tell you plenty about them, and they interacted and had storylines outside of their love interest.

I mean, think of Karen, Jimmy, Mandy, Shelia, Mickey and even Svetlana.l. They were all interesting outside of just being a love interest, and they all had personality and backgrounds. I really think Shameless lost that in their later seasons writing.

See Kelly, Trevor, Tammi, Caleb, Ford and Cassidy for example. It felt like they purely existed to only further thier LIs storyline. Even the writing of Mickey, when he returned as a main character, wasn't as in-depth as it was in either early seasons.l and just seemed to be more to drive storyline and comedy than in-charachter for him

So, back to Trevor. I wanted to like him, and I did for his first few episodes, but his writing frustrates me so complelty. I think as a person who also works in social services, his actions and contradictions make no sense. So in the episode that Mickey comes back when Ian goes to see him, he is really busy because his trying to place a kid. And when he thinks if he can't, he says he may have to just let them crash on his couch. Which pinged me as completely inappropriate as a social services worker as you can never have a child just say on your couch like that as you are crossing so many professional boundaries and as he rightfullylayer says can give the wrond ide. But in S8, when Ian has that girl stay over, he (rightfully) tells Ian that is completely inappropriate and then gets really mad at him for it, which just made him annoyingly hypocritical.

He is apparently working with at risk youth and abused kids, yet he tells Ian that Monica is trying and to give her another chance as Ian is being unfair to her, that he is being to hard in her. Crazy. I could not think of a single person in this job who would have that attitude towards neglectful or problematic parents. Because anyone in this job would know setting boundaries is healthy and that anyones trauma is thiers to feel how they feel about. Same with the way he treats Ian's grief after losing Monica. When he takes him to the place with the chubby guys, they lost me completely.

Then we have the idea that Ian was clearly sprialing later in S8 and going off his meds, but Trevor seems unaware even though anyone could see it let alone someone with any kind of training.

His writing is just so bad and seems literally to be only to serve Ian's storyline and screw his character development outside of that. Especially in S8. Then he doesn't even appear at Ian's court preceding and just disappears

I think he could have been good for Ian. And I think with the lack of chemistry I felt between them maybe they should have just been friends after the whole cheating thing. And maybe it's the fact that Cameron's chemistry is off the charts with Noel that made it really feel like he had none with Caleb or Trevor but that doesn't make up for bad writing. I get that writing a new post-Mickey love interest is hard after how much fans love him, but the writers can only blame themselves for that too as the never wrote a good ending storyline for a loved charcther they though was leaving for good at end of S5.

Shameless really lost a lot for me when they stopped writing their supporting character as interesting people outside of their relationship.

Trevor is my example charcther of that. That actor deserved better.

[thousandfireworks]

Authors whose books you have to avoid because they are problematic.

Abigail Hing Wen.

Alex Aster.

Alice Hoffman.

Alice Oseman.

Alison Win Scotch. ‘Terrorism is never acceptable. Not in Israel.’

Allie Sarah.

Amber Kelly.

Amy Harmon.

Annabelle Monaghan.

Anna Akana.

Aurora Parker.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

Brandon Sanderson. Islamophobic.

Carissa Broadbent. Said that hamas is doing violence against innocence.

Chloe Walsh. Siding with Israel in the name of humanity.

Christina Lauren. Believe that Israel is the victim. A racist, also Islamophobic.

Colleen Hoover.

Cora Reilly. Travel to Israel despite criticism.

Danielle Bernstein. Islamophobic.

Danielle Lori.

Deke Moulton. Said hamas is terrorist.

Dian Purnomo.

Eliza Chan.

Elle Kennedy.

Elyssa Friedland.

Emily Henry.

Emily Mclntire.

Emily St. J. Mandel. Admiring Israel.

Gabrielle Zevin. Wrote a book about anti-Palestine. Mentioned Israel multiple times without context on his book.

Gregory Carlos. Israeli author. A zionist.

Hannah Whitten.

Hazel Hayes. Reposted a post about October 7th.

Heidi Shertok.

Jamie McGuire.

Jay Shetty. ‘Violence is happening in Israel.’

Jean Meltzer.

Jeffery Archer. Wrote a book with a mc Israel operative (mossad) in a positive and anti terrorist light.

Jennifer Hartman. Liked a post about pro-Israel.

Jen Calonita.

Jessa Hastings.

Jill Santopolo. Said that Israel has right to exist and fight back.

John Green.

Jojo Moyes.

J. Elle.

J. K. Rowling. Support genocide. Racist. Islamophobic.

Kate Canterbery.

Kate Stewart.

Katherine Howe.

Katherine Locke.

Kristin Hannah. Support Israel. Shared a donation link.

Laini Taylor.

Laura Thalassa. Islamophobic.

Lauren Wise. Cussed that Palestinian supporters would be raped in front of children.

Lea Geller. Thanked people who supports Israel.

Leigh Dragoon. Islamaphobic and anti Asian racist rants on Twitter and threads

Leigh Stein.

Lilian Harris. A racist. Blocking people who educates about colonialism in Palestine and call them disgusting.

Lisa Barr. A daughter of Holocaust survivor. Support Israel.

Lisa Kennedy Montgomery.

Lisa Steinke.

Liz Fenton.

Lynn Painter. Afraid of getting cancelled as a pro-Palestine and posted a template afterwards.

L. J. Shen. Her husband joins idf (Israel army).

Mariana Zapata.

Marie Lu.

Marissa Meyer.

Melissa de la Cruz.

Michelle Cohen Corasanti.

Michelle Hodkin. Spread false rumors about arab-hamas. Islamophobic.

Mitch Albom. ‘We shouldn't blame Israel for surviving attacks or defending against them.’

Monica Murphy. Siding with Israel.

Naomi Klein.

Navah Wolfe.

Neil Gaiman. Suggested Palestinians unite with Israel and become citizens.

Nicholas Sparks.

Nic Stone. Talked nonsense that children in Palestinian refugee camp are training to be martyrs for Allah because they felt it was their call in life.

Nyla K.

Olivia Wildenstein. Blocking people who disagree with Israel wrongdoing.

Pamela Becker.

Penelope Douglas.

Pierce Brown.

Rachel Lynn Solomon.

Rebecca G. Martinez.

Rebecca Yarros. ‘I despise violence’ her opinion about what's happening in Gaza. Blocking people who calls her a zionist.

Rena Rossner.

Renee Ahdieh.

Rick Riordan.

Rina Kent.

Rivka (noctem.novelle).

Rochelle Weinstein.

Romina Garber. ‘These terrorist attacks do nothing to improve the lives of Palestinians people.’

Roshani Chokshi. Encourage people to donate to Israel.

Samantha Greene Woodruff.

Sarah J. Mass. Her book contained ideology of zionism.

Stephanie Garber. Promoting books by zionist author (Sarah J. Mass)

Skye Warren.

Sonali Dev.

Talia Carner.

Tarryn Fisher. Said ‘there was terrorist attack in Israel.’

Taylor Jenkins Reid. Posted a video about genocide.

Tere Liye. Rumoured to have ghoswriters to write his books and never give credit to them.

Tillie Cole.

Tracy Deon.

Trinity Traveler (Ade Perucha Hutagaol). Rumour to wrote book about handsome Israelis.

T. J. Klune.

Uri Kurlianchik.

Veronica Roth.

Victoria Aveyard. ‘Israel has the right to exist.’ quote from her about the issue.

V. E. Schwab. Shared a donation link and video about Israel.

Yuval Noah. ‘Israel has the right to do anything to defend themselves.’

Zibby Owens.

[thatonebirdwrites]

Supergirl 3

Supercorp 11

Alex Danvers 7

Supergirl: 3. ...which scene I would like to erase from the universe and why.

Okay, if I'm being petty: Lena and James dating. Especially the bedroom scene where Lena is dressing as if they just had sex. They have no chemistry. Just let them be friends instead.

Though, I can tolerate James and Lena to some degree, but Lex after Season 4?

Yeah, let's erase every scene with Lex in season 5. Let the dude Stay Dead and have Lillian be the villain. We are watching Supergirl, not The Lex Show. Geesh. Erase him especially from Season 6. We did not ask for a ridiculous Lex in love with Nxy (she's not human so why would he, an xenophobe, fall for her?) romance arc. We wanted Supercorp. Ugh. Erase that too.

The problem with Lex taking up so much screentime is threefold:

It takes away from Lena's growth and prolongs the rift era unnecessarily. She also has to put up with his abuse, which yuck and ouch. It would have made more sense for Lillian to come to her daughter and ask for Lena's help on a project, and Lena would have likely fallen for it. She'd have been in a fragile state already due to the whole weird Multi-verse Universe reset, so likely very confused after thinking she'd died. Then Kara showing up to warn her off her family. Then Lillian comes to request Lena's aid, but Lillian does not know that Lena is from Earth-38 and not her Lena. That would have added some fascinating tension, and it could have expanded upon the consequences of Crisis, which the showrunners failed to play into. So we never really get to have that Lillian-Lena team-up which would have justified the rift being prolonged. Lena will then discover something very upsetting, realize her project can never work, and then still ends up going to Supergirl for help. (Except this time, Kara isn't a righteous asshole. And that Episode 100 doesn't exist just to claim Kara was always right and can never be wrong nonsense. Instead, we get Kara realizing that she hurt Lena as much as Kryptonite hurts, and during Lena's return, Kara will also apologize. And the blame won't be only placed only on Lena's shoulders. Then we can have a reconciling/repair arc.) .

It steals Kara's thunder from her own show. Far too much of the narrative was placed on proving what a "genius" Lex is and how "genius" he'll always be and oh look he's a "genius." It was trite, irritating, unoriginal, and stole time away from Kara, her friends, Lena, and Lillian (vastly more interesting characters). Kara's adjustment to the new Multi-verse could have had more depth. Her struggle with her relationship with Lena and their reconciliation could have been explored more thoroughly. .

Alex and Kelly's relationship felt a bit rushed in Season 5 because again Lex takes up too much damn screen time, and we could have gotten more of Alex and Kelly working through hardships together. Where they find their footing on this new Earth. Where we see how Alex finally tells Kelly Kara = Supergirl and how they handle that.

I'm sure I can think of more reasons why Lex should not exist after Season 4. (Even Crisis would have gone smoother and been less annoying if Lex gets yeeted.)

Lena can take his place, and we can have the awkward Lena and Kara meeting again on the Monitor's ship. Lena is all bitter and sad but willing to help. Kara is trying to repair things.

Flash tries to befriend Lena, and that's when Lena learns that Kara won't stop talking her up to everyone she meets, so the entire group of superheros all think Lena is some amazing person who does no wrong. Lena is absolutely baffled and starts to wonder if maybe she needs to rethink the whole Kara situation.

Batwoman turns to Sara Lance and says, "these gals are so gay. I'll talk to both to see what's up." It sort of backfires. Kara won't admit to being in love. Lena does but assumes Kara just used her to keep an eye on the "Luthor," and Batwoman soon regrets saying anything.

Sara Lance finds this all somewhat amusing but also a little sad. So she decides to help by hitting on Lena, and Lena decides, why not, so flirts back. She swiftly learns that her flirts with Sara seems to make Kara quite upset, which Lena finds confusing and fascinating. Except Sara realizes that Lena is only flirting with her to poke at Kara, and so Sara bluntly says, "You're in love with her, aren't you?"

Lena glares at Sara. "That's besides the point."

"Is it? The sexual tension between you is so tight we could cut it with a knife. Seriously, just go up and kiss her. It'll solve everything." Sara winks. "Trust me."

Lena frowns. "I most certainly do not trust you on this." But she'll ponder if Sara is right the rest of Crisis.

Green Arrow says something misogynistic, which pisses off Lena who proceeds to eviscerate him. (She will later say kind words to help the others process his death as she's an expert in processing death at this point.)

Batwoman then whispers to Kara, "Holy shit that's hot. Is she taken?" This sparks Jealous!Kara, and Batwoman soon regrets saying anything again.

Sara then takes advantage of jealous!Kara and proceeds to poke her to try to get Kara to admit she's in love. This causes shenanigans that does not help the mission.

The Superman from the other universe will meet Lena with joy, and that's when Lena learns that Kara and her are an item there. She is quite upset to learn this and sulks a bit by hiding in a corner, while she continues to plot a way to solve the Monitor's Crisis. (Lena decides Crisis happened because the Monitor is a colossal idiot, so now a woman has to fix what a man broke again.)

Lena figures out a way to stop the Crisis but the Monitor doesn't heed her warning, and dies dramatically. She then comes up with a different solution with the other's help.

Okay, that sort of got away from me there.

Anyway:

This is why Lex stays dead in my Confession and Unraveling Realities stories. Lillian gets to rise up as an anti-hero, and Lena becomes the person the Monitor seeks out instead of Lex. (There's a magic-based reason why the Monitor can't bring back Lex, and it's explained in my lore and the Great Irish Quest as to the how and why of it. I like to have explainable lore unlike the writers of Supergirl *insert gif of Lena looking at the camera*).

Supercorp 11 ... ...how quickly I started shipping them when I got into the fandom.

So I'll be honest, I originally watched some of Supergirl (basically most of season 1 and 2) with my younger sister, who told me about how gay Alex is (I was surprised to find out that Alex is literally gay). Except Alex's arc sort of got sidelined by How Absolutely Gay Kara And Lena Are. What The Heck. Then the show tried to have Kara date the slaver-prince-jerk, and I was like, "NOPE."

So then I sort of forgot it existed and wandered off to watch (and rarely finish) other shows.

So during my Korrasami era, a few years ago, when I fell ill, I saw a GIF that looked like they kissed in the last episode. So I raced back to finish watching. Though I kind of had to remind myself of the story (like I had managed to somehow write Mon-el out of my memory, so I could not remember who that annoying guy was who kept lying to Kara in Season 3. So then I went back to rewatch episodes in 2, and was like, "Oh, it's the slaver prince, yuck. go yeet him again.")

Anyway, I got to the end, and found out the GIF WAS A LIE. They did not kiss.

I was so mad that I leaped into the fandom to see who had written about this tragedy of epic proportions in order to fix it. All that to say, before I even knew about the extent of this fandom, I'd already shipped them because what the heck.

They are so gay for each other. That was the best superhero romance love story I've ever seen and the show writers were too homophobic to let us have it. *grumbles grumpily*

No wonder this fandom still keeps going.

Alex Danvers 7. ...the scene that I think adds depth to their character or the relationship this character has with someone.

It's in season 5, where Alex is injured and Kelly panics about it. Alex manages to calm Kelly down and talk with her about how Kelly feels, why Kelly feels that way, and then Alex shares her own feelings. It's a truly touching scene, and shows the depth of her bond with Kelly. Honestly, I love that conversation they have.

Is it the Tsunami episode? Yeah, I think it's that one, since it's Alex at the docks struggling to get people to safety, but they are all wearing the VR contacts and in a VR environment, so it's like herding cats but worse.

Another great scene is when Alex's first attempt at adoption falls through, and her and Kelly have an incredibly touching scene that digs deep into their feelings. Kelly even shared a snippet from her past, and it hints strongly at something developing between them. That was lovely too. Honestly, all the scenes Alex has with Kelly are lovely, and I wish they'd dug even deeper.

Thank you for asking!! This was a lovely distraction from grief.

[ididit-allofit-foryou]

RIP to my friend nixie. they stopped watching SPN after season 11. and asked about the finale. i wanted to immortalize what i sent (which includes a recap of seasons 12-15 so they would Understand.) so. read on if you wish, this monstrosity is going under the cut lol

so. in season 12 lucifer possesses the president of the united states (dont worry about it) & impregnates one of the president's staff members who was banging the president behind closed doors, republican Kelly Kline. through a series of events, cas winds up being the Adoptive Father. kid is born, but he had opened a rift to a different alternate universe the show so eloquently named 'apocalypse world'. it is a world where sam & dean were never born. through Another series of events, team free will PLUS mary winchester (yeah shes back from the dead, amara brought her back, dont worry about it lol) & cas tries to kill lucifer. he thinks he did, comes back through , and hes like there for .02 seconds before lucifer pops through & stabs cas. cas dies. mary beats up lucifer with angel brass knuckles or whatever & they fall through the rift & it closes. they are trapped there. at this exact moment, jack kline (kelly kline & lucifer/mr. president's baby) is being born. sam runs into the house to Check On That. dean however, falls to his knees next to cas's body & looks up desperately to the sky. (the cw said Not to read into this. it means Nothing. destiel who?!) also kelly died in child birth. bc spn Hates women.

thats the end of season 12.

season 13, we have jack. he popped out a fully fledged like. 19? 20? 21 year old?? bc his mom said he would have to Grow Up Fast. dean wraps cas's body in a curtain. alone. and is like crying & devastated. the bois and jack burn cas's body & dean looks like he wants to off himself (& he tries to in like. the next episode but Death brings him back). (also sorry im sooo bad at summary lol). we have the Widower Arc where dean bargains with a silent god to bring back cas, but Nothing. and dean is just fucking depressed as all shit. suddenly! cas is back!! BECAUSE jack heard dean yelling at sam about how its jacks fault cas is dead bc when jack was a fetus he showed cas a Vision of how he could bring Paradise On Earth if they allowed him to live (they wanted to kill him bc. like. Spawn Of Satan & all that). so jack uses his Powers™️ & brings cas back from the dead! yay!! a lot of other shit happens & the Empty (which is like. the Entity that encases all the angels & demons when they die, & where cas was when he was dead) Does Not Like that cas escaped. so, it wants to take jack to get back at cas. cas is like 'no fuck off thats my son lets make a deal. take me back instead' & the empty is like 'ok bitch 2 can play that game. i WILL take you. but ONLY when you experience a Moment Of True Happiness™️'. & cas is like 'bet.' bc! hes a depressed mf & figures it would take a Miracle to make him Truly Happy. (pls keep this in mind, its a surprise tool for later). ummm so yeah season 13.

season 14 had like. ANOTHER fucking michael/lucifer arc but it was Stupid. dean said yes to michael like the angels wanted in season fucking 4 & 5. & i dont Totally remember the plot but like. dean has michael trapped in a box in his mind & wants them to?? fucking?? put him in a warded coffin & chunk it in the ocean?? so michael will never hurt the world again?? also--its like. AU michael. and also mary is okay, & we get AU bobby & AU charlie & a lot of shit happens. anyway.

season 15: we get the Divorcr Arc™️!! dean & cas fight!! bc guess what? jack accidentally killed mary!! (yes! she died AGAIN!!) bc! he didnt know how to control his powers! & dean blames cas! so cas Leaves in a big dramatic breakup scene. we also find out that god (aka chuck) has been like. controlling Everything?? & free will Doesnt Exist?? & dean has a crisis & we get cas saying 'dean, you asked what about all of this is real. We Are.' (which we were apparently sooo crazy to read into!!) & also!? chuck brings back ALL the monsters salmon dean ever killed?? and rowena sacrifices herself to save the world! but! dont worry! she is now thenQueen Of Hell™️ & fucking THRIVING! anyway, season progresses, we get purgatory 2.0 and dean & cas are separated & dean lITERALLY GETS DOWN ON HIS OLD MAN KNEES TO PRAY TO CAS AND APOLOGIZE AND SAY HE FORGIVES HIM!! & then. a bit later. chuck starts poofing away Everyone On Earth bc he wants to destroy the multiverse. and also? death wants to kill dean i forget why. oh yeah! i think he stole her Death Book or whatever to try and see how to kill god. anyway. we have episode 15x18. Thee Episode of All Time. it starts with AU charlie and her gf. they are making eggs and vibing and all of a sudden her gf goes Poof. then sams gf Eileen goes Poof. so they round up as many friends as they can & put them in a warded place but they all go Poof. so sam is with the friends when this happens & also jack. and dean & cas have gone to the bunker to Fight Death. and. so. get ready for this. death shows up. she (yeah billie the reaper became death btw. long story) she starts to like. squeeze deans heart to kill him with magic. cas helps dean run through the bunker away from her. they get to the dungeon. death is literally banging on the door which cas had cut his palm to ward with a sigil of his blood with a knife he pulled from deans back pocket. (again: he cut his palm--another Surprise Tool For Later). deans like 'im so sorry man, we should have stayed with sam. shes gonna get in here, and shes gonna kill you, then shes gonna kill me' & cas is like 'well theres one thing strong enough to stop her' & he starts telling dean about the deal he made to save jack (yep, he never told him). and he says 'i always wondered what would break that curse. but i think i know now' & he. he fucking. he starts a speech about how he knows how dean sees himself, as a killer, a monster, daddys blunt instrument driven by anger, just like his enemies see him. BUT cas says dean is Not that. he says dean is 'the most caring man, the most loving man on earth' & deans like freaking out & is like 'why are you telling me all this? why does this sound like a goodbye??' & cas says, crying, but smiling, 'because it is' & then!! cas!! says !! 'i love you' !!!!!!!!! &&&&& death breaks down the door!! && the empty is materializing behind dean! & dean says 'dont do this cas!' & cas grabs deans LEFT SHOULDER WITH HIS BLOODY PALM! & says 'goodbye dean' & shoves him out of the way!! & the empty grabs cas!! && death!! & takes them away!!!!!! && dean is like!! freaking the fuck out sitting on the flooor with tears in his eyes!! && we cut to like. a bit later. hes Still there, crying, head in his hands, as his phone rings on the floor--its sam. end of the world, sam is calling, & he doesnt answer. we end the episode to deans crying. LIKE FUCK!!!!

15x19: they defeat god. jack like. absorbed him?? & he became god?? & then fucked off to do godly duties!? and did Not bring cas back????

(there are Theories that Chuck Won &thats why the next episode is so fucked and i Have To Agree)

15x20: okok. i fucking HATE THIS FUCKINGEPISDORNFMDNFNDNFNDBDND

anyway. so. cas is Not in the episode. at All. we have sam & dean? driving??? & there are like at LEAST 2 very Bad montages of random scenes that dont even make sense. sam & dean go to a pie eating festival. sam shoves pie in deans face. they Thengo on a case. its vampires. theres a vamp from like. season 2?? who was a minor charachter?? but they brought her back?? why??? idk. and. so. dean gets impaled on a rusty rebar nail during the fight scene in thr barn. he gives sam a long ass speech. they ?? touch foreheads for some reason??? && dean wont let sam get help??? & sam is like 'if cas were here...' & deans like 'yeah well he isnt.' like??? && then deAN FUCKING DIES??? && GOES TO HEAVEN??? && BOBBY IS THERE??? AND APPARENLY FUCKING ABUSIVE ASS JOHN LIVES DOWN THE ROAD??? && dean asks bobby 'so jack did all this?' (as in revamping heaven so people can be all together instead of separate like it used to be) & bobbys like 'well, cas helped' & then dean smiles, then goes?? & rides his car!?? bc his car is in heaven????? && we just see him driving interspersed with clips of sam on earth, burning deans body, and grieving dean, and later sam gets a blurry wife, we dont see who she is, and he has a son?? and he named him dean!? whixh we know bc the kid has on overalls that say 'dean' on them??? & then sam gets old and sits in the impala & cries while wearing a wig that looks like its from fucking party city?? then sam is on his death bed and his son is there?? && theres all these pictures around him of himsefl and dean & mary & john but?? no wife!? ans also!!? noone else like their friends?? & then sam dies & carry on my wayward son plays for like the second time in the episode. and we see dean on a bridge in heaven, he finally stopped driving & is staring off into the distance. and then he hears something behind him & smiles & we all thought 'CAS???' but NO its fuckingSAM somehow young again like whendean died?? & theylike. hug. and then it pans out & all the cast & crew are there?? and they say thank you to us for watching?? and then ?? its over?????? like Awhta thWHAT THE FUCK

[marta-bee]

It's so easy to criticize Donald Trump, it almost feels self-indulgent. If I wrote about every scandal or upsetting and offensive comment, I'd do nothing else all day. But the news out of Arlington crossed a line I didn't know still existed.

For non-Americans, Arlington Cemetery is a large cemetery of notable American public servants, not only military but that's what it's known for. It's one of the largest such cemeteries, certainly the most iconic, and because of that it has a certain sacred quality in the American imagination. Certainly this American's. I've had the honor to stand there, thankfully connected to someone I only knew tangentially.

It's also supposed to be non-political, which is of course where Mr. Trump enters in.

To put it in the most generous light I can manage, Trump was asked to attend a memorial by some of his supporters, for their family members who died in Afghanistan. His staff was warned not to take photos there or do anything politically motivated. This is a sacred space and a monument to national service and loss, and more to the point it's a massive grave of nearly a thousand servicemen and -women. Even if Trump was invited by some families, it's not just their space.

There was a camera. An Arlington Cemetery employee told them to stop, and his staff assaulted her. The campaign later posted video of him grinning and giving a thumbs up on their social media accounts. Said employee filed a report but opted not to press charges because she (of course it was a she). That's not even the bit that's got me most upset, though. One of the soldiers' mothers, Kelly Barnett, is asked about Trump politicizing that space. She describes her son's death as a murder by the Biden/Harris campaign. She talks about how we can't understand what it's like to be in her shoes. (Video is here, just over 2:00 in.)

There's just so much pain and anger in those words. She's turned to rage over what was done to her son rather than seeing the honor and dignity of his choice. Or perhaps in addition to? Most of my male cousins served; none died, but we had enough of other kinds of loss connected to military service, so I have a glimpse of that kind of pain. Obviously not to the extreme of having a child die, but enough. I can imagine how under different circumstances I might have gone down that dark path of blame and rage.

Which is probably why it utterly guts me to see her feel the need to defend Trump. I don't blame the media; this story is newsworthy and she chose to speak to them. But she's clearly in so much pain even now, and if she was the one to invite Trump, how truly, irredeemably wrong of him to exploit that pain to get a bit of publicity. He could have said no. Or he could have stood with them, been quietly supportive, not turned it into an ad where he had to know people like her would be left to defend him. Her words seem almost a cultish mentality, and I'm so far beyond pissed to think of him taking advantage of her pain and the place it drove her to.

What an utter fucking bastard of a man-child.

I honestly didn't know I had it in me to still be so offended by this kind of thing. But honestly, this is so far beyond the realm of "wrong." Truly.

[ananke-xiii]

Missing Mothers and Missed Opportunities

Or: There can be three, four fathers in this show but there can only be one mother (and she doesn’t even want to be there, lol)!

One way that I like to see the first episodes of s13 is focusing on missed opportunities. Sam’s mind is in the past, he is very much ruminating about his missed opportunity with his mother while Dean’s mind is in the future as he is trying to deal with the fact that Cas is dead (although, to be honest, I think Cas’s death is a catalyst for Dean's much deeper issues related to his identity. As I’ve already said, in s12 Dean was in the process of understanding who he was regardless of his relationships and while he had some sort of reconciliation with Mary, he didn’t have any with Cas).

It’s no wonder, then, that Sam thinks that Cas and Mary might still be alive while Dean doesn’t. In Supernatural the past can come back and if it’s come back once why can’t it come back again? Past is hope. The future, however, is always “doom and gloom” in this series, it’s apocalypses, it’s “it ends bad, it ends bloody”, it is, in other words, super pessimistic. And “The Future” is impersonated in Jack and in the visions of the future he transmitted to Castiel which Dean blames for his death.

Sam is smart but it doesn’t take a genius to understand that if Jack has opened the rift once he might be able to open it again. Therefore, Sam sees in Jack an opportunity: if Jack can control and manage his powers he might open the rift again and Sam could get his mother back. What’s more, he also starts to see (what he thinks he’s) himself in Jack.

Dean: I told him the truth. See, you think you can use this freak but I know how this ends and it ends bad. Sam: I didn’t. Dean: What? Sam: I didn’t ‘end bad’. When I was the freak, when I was drinking demon blood. Dean: Come on man, that’s totally different. Sam: Was it? Because you could’ve put a bullet in me. Dad told you to put a bullet in me, but you didn’t! You saved me! So help me save him! Dean: You deserved to be saved, he doesn’t! Sam: Yes he does, Dean, of course he does!

The “What?” shows how the two are talking about completely different things. Maybe it was the word “freak” that triggered Sam, however I tend to agree with Dean here: Sam and Jack are not “totally different” but they are different. What I disagree with is when Dean says that Jack doesn’t deserve to be saved (Dean, Dean, Dean… you, just like everybody else, don’t need to “de-serve” anything. I swear to God the day we realize what the words we use actually mean maybe the world will really start changing). Because the thing is that Jack doesn’t need to be saved. He’s not a human who drank demon blood for what he thought was “the greater good” but turned out to be the beginning of his end. He was not part of a gigantic, messy, blatant scam involving Heaven and Hell. Jack’s partially the result of both Lucifer’s delusions of grandeur regarding Creation and Kelly’s conservative and dreamy desire to have a baby with the President of the USA (he was never gonna put any ring on it, girl and you knew it. Btw, Kelly is the baby-trapper in this story and no one else, I won’t change my mind ever), but he is nevertheless one of the most powerful beings in all existence. I honestly think that the only character who has ever understood Jack was Donatello.

Donatello: Oh. Speaking not as a prophet but as a scientist, I don’t think teaching him is in the cards. It’s like asking a lion not to be a lion. Sam: But this is not a lion! This is a human! Donatello: With a strong dose of God juice.

It’s not a strong dose of demon blood, Sam. It’s God juice, okay? LOL. Anyway, Donatello is super on point here: Jack is human and not-human. He’s a living aporia, the character where all the false dichotomies of the series show their fallacies. He’s “both… and” incarnated. He’s born and he’s already in his 20s. He’s a child and he’s a not-child. He has an age and he’s without age. Nobody will ever come close to understanding him if they cling close to a “black or white, good or evil” mentality. And this is why the show totally failed (for me) in s14 and how Sam is also failing here because he projects his own (respectable and very real) Lucifer-related issues with evilness onto Jack. Jack is beyond “good and evil” because he’s both human and angel, he embodies two different moralities and also transcends both of them because he’s neither only human nor only angel. To sum up, I don’t think that Supernatural, with its structure and its specific morality, could have handled a character like Jack. And this is why the show has to de-power him, de-soul him, make him die and resurrect etc.

Back to Sam and his failings. He projects his own stuff onto Jack, he wants to use him as a “can-opener”, he thinks Jack can be saved from “evil” because he can teach him. My question is: how much can Sam be negatively judged for these actions? My answer is: not so much.

As far as projections go, this is what he’s been doing from S1. Per SPN structure, both Sam and Dean have been projecting and identifying their issues onto the monsters of the weeks for 15 seasons. Jack is just the “Monster of the Season”. Projection and identification, identification and projection… I mean, this is what the show is about. If all of sudden Sam had woken up and miraculously solved all his identity-related issues the show would have been over.

As far as the utilitarian aspect goes, Sam has actually made some progress here. He “only” surveils Jack via cameras and tries to convince him to do some stupid exercises with a pencil. Previously on Supernatural Sam had literally enslaved, chained and imprisoned the people/creatures he wanted to use. These kids, they grow up so fast :”).

As far as the “do no evil” teaching goes, now here’s what’s really interesting to me.

The episode is “The Rising Son” and Sam’s passionate plea for Jack’s goodness via his teachings is paralleled to Asmodeus’s attempt at locating Jack in order to find him and harness his “timeless knowledge and unschooled power”. Asmodeus acts like Lucifer acted with Sam in S11 in that he pushes Jack to open up the earth “for God” (“I speak the words of God”, “God has a message for you”, “Do it for God” etc). Since Lucifer’s not here, though, Asmodeus wants to “[have]him (Jack) found and trained to rule. With me as his humble advisor, of course”. Of course we know he will fail because he himself says that he had tried to train the Shedim in the past and utterly failed.

ASMODEUS: I know the perils of Lucifer’s disappointment. DREXEL: He—he did that? ASMODEUS: Long ago. Eager to please, I freed the shedim. DREXEL: You… Oh, I’ve heard stories about— ASMODEUS: Oh, I’m sure you have. Hell’s most savage. Things so dark, and base, God himself would not allow them into the light. But I, in my pride, believed that I could train them. Use them. But Lucifer feared them, as well he should, so he forbade it, locked them up again.

This, of course, means that Sam will fail to train Jack/the Shedim too.

The parallel between Asmodeus and Sam must be explored because the show seems to pass it as an Evil (Asmodeus) vs Good (Sam) training but it’s not as simple as that. There’s even a scene where Asmodeus-as-Donatello talks about Jack with Sam and he seems to agree with Sam’s theory that Jack can be molded. While Sam thinks so because “Kelly was a good person”, Asmodeus-as-Donatello is obviously more interested in his evil father’s lineage.

While it’s true that both of them don’t even consider to give Jack a choice, to ask him questions and to try to understand him, they’re not exactly wrong when they agree that Jack’s powers do need some training, regardless of why they’re interested in his powers, Jack doesn’t have a grip on how his powers work. The show insistence on “good vs evil", however, completely ignores the very valid point where Jack’s powers are simply neither good or evil per se but they are “only” a(nother) force to be reckoned with.

This “good vs evil” thing obscures something very important and I think a distinction must be made here about what "training" really means in this context: Sam wants Jack to learn to master his powers, so that he (Jack) can be in control of them; on the other hand, Asmodeus wants to exploit Jack because of his powers, he wants to be the one who’s in control of them.

Both Sam and Asmodeus have an agenda, clearly, they’re also two characters very much interested in power. But when Asmodeus says that he wants to train Jack what he really has in mind is to groom him. Asmodeus’ techniques are very similar to Crowley’s with baby Amara and Demon Dean (I know Dean was not a child but he was one metaphorically because Crowley calls himself “Father” and “daddy” while he calls Dean “a rather scrumptious altar boy”. Ugh). These are predators’ techniques: their intent is to create intimacy with a person (for instance, Asmodeus takes on Donatello’s resemblance to lure Jack and take him to the Hell’s Gate), usually a child, to make them do what they want and abuse their victims, victims who usually don’t even realize they’re victims (Jack doesn’t know he’s being manipulated).

This is NOT what Sam means when he says he can teach Jack. Sam’s utilitarian mindset can be reproachable but his intent is not the same as Asmodeus. Sure, it’s still absolutely problematic but, again, his intent is not to open up the earth to release the Shedim and use Jack to rule Hell. He wants to open the rift to the Apocalypse World to find his mother. He is, in other words, being a softer version of John Winchester. In fact, he is replicating John’s methods because this is what he grew up with and this is what he knows. Avenging Mary’s death, finding Mary in the AU… even if the intent might be comprehensible it doesn’t justify both John and Sam’s attitude towards the reaching of their ends. Yet, their ways are still not the same ways of a Crowley or an Asmodeus.

The other thing is that John was Sam’s father. He was father to two human children whom he raised as if their childhood was a huge, endless military training. Training someone, as a concept, is not evil: if you have a skill or a talent or whatever, you need to train and learn and explore your limits. Having someone who believes in you and wants to help you in your training is not evil too: in fact, it might be a very good thing. It’s a problematic thing, however, when your caregiver is more focused on the training than the care. It’s even more problematic if said caregiver is a paranoid who raised his sons as soldiers. But this is still NOT the same thing as demons such as Crowley and Asmodeus do.

The differences in "training" and what Sam fails to understand about what happened with Asmodeus is explained in "Patience":

SAM: Even with Asmodeus, that just happened?

JACK: No, he made me. It was like, like he was in my head.

SAM: Okay um, then uh… Imagine him doing that.

JACK: No!

SAM: No? Why not?

JACK: Because I don’t want to! It’s just… I can’t do this! And you keep staring at me, waiting!

Asmodeus made Jack use his powers, he was in his head. He had also abducted him, manipulated him: he wasn't trying to train him, he was trying to groom him. Of course Jack doesn't want that.

If Sam is replicating his father's teachings we must then ask: who is Jack to Sam in this moment in the narrative? He’s definitely not his son nor his sibling. But he's not someone Sam keeps in locks either. As I’ve said, Sam has never been above imprisoning people in his dungeon to reach his goal, yet he takes another road with Jack, maybe precisely because he’s identifying with him and projecting onto him his own fears and issues with “being evil” and “being a freak”. There is something very similar between the two but what is it? And why is it not expressed? Maybe Sam is not Jack the way he thinks he is but they do share one thing: they have both missed the opportunity to create a bond with their respective mothers.

Sam only really utterly fails Jack when he’s dishonest with him. He eventually understands that and comes clean with him but I think that a lot of the initial issues happened because he was not communicating with Jack at all. And he didn’t even give him a choice. I think that if Sam were honest with Jack and gave him the choice to help him he would have discovered another thing that make them veeeery similar: both of them are okay with twisting human morality and… sort of… manipulate people a little to get what they want. Does this make them evil villains? To me, no. Does this make them human, layered, compelling characters that raise interesting moral questions more than give black and white answers? Totally yes!

Sam and Jack are not “totally different” but they are different. Conversely, they are not “totally similar” but they are similar. The Rescuing of the Mother can happen because The Loss of the Mother is something that Jack can deeply understand and relate to. He doesn’t want to save Mary just to please Sam and Dean. I think it’s deeper than that.

In case it wasn't clear, the conflation of Mary and Kelly is very clear in "The Big Empty":

MIA: You’ve lost someone recently? DEAN: No. JACK: My mother. SAM: Uh, our mother. We’ve having a difficult time.

Mary-as-Missed/Missing-Mother is such a central theme in this season that the Apocalypse World is a literal ramification of the Original World that's solely dependent on Mary Winchester’s choice to not deal with Azazel. John is never brought back and, more importantly, Sam and Dean are never born. This is a world where she’s not the mother. But why is Mary’s choice so vital it can create different timelines?

S12 and S13 implicitly seem to tell that everything that happened was because of Mary’s choice and… it’s, like, not true? Sometimes Sam and Dean are so ultra-focused on “free will” and “making the right choices” that tend to forget the part where both them and their parents were part of a larger scheme that was predicated on people ultimately being herd towards a designed pen. Like, while I think that Dean and Sam having issues with their mother is completely real and plausible, I don’t understand why the narrative re-frames itself in this way… I understand that they were going for a specific retelling of the first seasons but this is not just retelling, this is demolishing the premises of those series. S4-5 were precisely about the mystification and the perils of a glorified, Grand Destiny that in reality was nothing but a Big Scam. It’s not your destiny if your destiny is something that somebody else is telling you about and when this somebody else has a vested interest in you believing that you have that specific destiny. Or if somebody else is removing all of your choices leaving you with close to nothing to choose from.

Apocalypse World is, thus, such an unfair double-edged sword, cause on the one hand, it gives Mary agency but on the other it shows us that both choices resulted in… well, frankly, catastrophes. And I think it’s unfair to throw this huge weight onto her shoulders after they had dug her up from her grave while completely ignoring the whole thing about senior management angels playing puppeteers with the Winchesters.

Kelly-as-Missed/Missing-Mother is the other side of the coin of this little argument of mine because in s13 the writers demonstrated how Kelly must stay dead because one mother is enough and they didn’t know what to make of Kelly since she was not a hunter. She was just, as a character, Jack’s mother. The rift to the Apocalypse World was even possible in the first place because she (more or less, it’s complicated) decided that she would.have.her.baby. But, just like Mary before her resurrection, if his actual mother were back in the game it either meant that Jack was out of the game or that they had to include her in some capacity into the Winchesters dynamics and they didn’t want any of that. Mary’s death meant that Sam and Dean entered the hunters’ life, Kelly’s death assures the same for Jack. Plus, they all have an angel watching over them, isn't it just great? But hey, wait, this is the absent fathers show so we’re gonna give this kid three, four, five fathers!!! (sarcastic). Also, Alive Kelly wouldn’t be the Good, Perfect, Dead Mother that she is to Jack because, well, she would be a Real Character, not a memory on a pen drive and Alive Kelly would be so faaaar from the Good and Perfect Mother. Do we have to try to write another complex mother? One is enough!!! (sarcastic).

In conclusion, in s13 Sam’s (and Jack’s) huge missed opportunity stays… missing. Jack will go to the Apocalypse World and fight the angels with Mary whereas Mary decides to stay there (lol!) to help with the fight. They literally have to find a bus and move all the remaining AU people to the Original World because Mary has decided that she wanted to stay in a world where she didn’t choose John and she didn’t give birth to her sons (me asking Sam who has just died and was resurrected by Lucifer only to find out that his mother didn’t want to be saved: are you REALLY okay? LOL). I’ll stop here cause this is getting way too long but maybe, just maybe, s13 as a whole was a giant missed opportunity.

[bethanydelleman]

Knightley isn’t the Secret Villain of Emma

The book Jane Austen, the Secret Radical by Helena Kelly has been haunting me despite the fact that I’ve never read it and I probably won’t because everything I hear is wild. Theories from that book come up in discussions a lot.

Anyway, I would like to address the author’s theory that Mr. Knightley is actually the villain of the novel, marrying Emma just to he can enclose land and become more powerful/wealthy. Also, he caused the turkey theft by making people poorer. There is a argument against this theory here and, by the excellent John Mullen: here.

So firstly, this goes against everything we know about Mr. Knightley’s character. He shows concern for everyone, especially the poor, and he respects people of the lower class, such as Robert Martin. We see many examples of this, the Bates being a prime example. He sends his last apples to Miss Bates and offers his own carriage for the Bates and Jane Fairfax to go to the Coles. (This also proves he can use his carriage if he wants to). The most dramatic point of the book is him scolding Emma for being unkind to someone poorer than herself!

Secondly, there are still common fields, it’s right in the book: if one is blown over in the bleak part of the common field there will be the other at hand. I dare say we shall be all safe at Hartfield before midnight (Ch 15).

Thirdly, I don’t see how this is evidence at all of Knightley having evil plots:

“True, true,” cried Mr. Knightley, with most ready interposition—“very true. That’s a consideration indeed.—But John, as to what I was telling you of my idea of moving the path to Langham, of turning it more to the right that it may not cut through the home meadows, I cannot conceive any difficulty. I should not attempt it, if it were to be the means of inconvenience to the Highbury people, but if you call to mind exactly the present line of the path.... The only way of proving it, however, will be to turn to our maps. I shall see you at the Abbey to-morrow morning I hope, and then we will look them over, and you shall give me your opinion.” (Ch 11)

Knightley is talking to his own brother, among family. We have absolutely no reason to believe he is lying. In his annotated Emma, David M. Shapard points to this same passage as an example of Mr. Knightley’s thoughtfulness to the local people. If anything, this makes him an ideal, not a villain.

Fourthly, like, theft happens people. In every society all the time. Poultry are smallish and stupid and easy to steal. And to blame Knightley for poverty when even Jesus admitted that poverty will literally always exist? One man can only do so much!

Finally, Jane Austen does mention enclosure in her novels, indicating she’s not scared to bring it up, and which character does it? John freaking Dashwood. When telling his sister why he is so poor, John says, “The enclosure of Norland Common, now carrying on, is a most serious drain [to his finances].” (Ch 33, Sense & Sensibility) Of course he’s not poor; he also does not engage in charity at all, not even when he makes a deathbed promise to his father. If you read both of these novels and somehow took away that Knightley is another John Dashwood than... I mean honestly I don’t even know what to say.

But it’s also unclear in S&S if Austen though enclosure was a bad thing. Henry Dashwood, the girl’s father, seems to me to be presented as a good man, and he might well to have been planning enclosure as well:  

Mr. Dashwood’s disappointment was, at first, severe; but his temper was cheerful and sanguine; and he might reasonably hope to live many years, and by living economically, lay by a considerable sum from the produce of an estate already large, and capable of almost immediate improvement.

Which leads me to believe that the real crime of John Dashwood was to complain to his impoverished sisters, not necessarily the enclosure itself. He’s claiming poverty while doing something to make himself more wealthy.

Either way, however Jane Austen actually viewed enclosure, I don't know how you can read Emma and decide that the thoughtful, caring, polite, and truth-telling Mr. Knightley, who gives up his actual home to live with Emma and her father, is somehow the villain.

Additional Note: I am pretty disinclined to believe anything in the book Secret Radical because of her argument that Fanny bought a knife for Betsey to protect her from the abuse of Mr. Price. Which is.. just insane. I really doubt either Susan (14) or Betsey (5) could fight off a former Marine Officer with a pen knife, even if that was how child abuse worked... but also none of the Price children ever act like they are afraid of their father. He yells at the boys once to zero effect and then they come and make noise right in front of him... Anyway, I'm just addressing the Knightley thing because it comes up a lot online now.

[storiesofsvu]

Alright, thanks to injury we are home on a Thursday rather than stuck working a function so we’re here and ready to go for law and order!!

Okay this mothership episode isn’t grabbing my attention too much so far, if I have nothing else to say, don’t blame me lol.

Dude… im not sure if this is the actual plot twist cause we do have half an hour more to go, but I called it being the partner right off the bat.

I wasn’t fully paying attention, but like… they can and will subpoena this cop into testifying right? Like if he doesn’t, he gets charged/fined/goes to jail? Correct? Wtf dude…

Okay, I do dig Jess. She’s growing on me. I also really like how she’s always in t shirts while her detectives wear full on suits LOL. I’m glad we’re getting more background info on her as this season goes on. I feel like we already know more about her than we knew about kate.

Im sorry? Is her having a meeting/getting investigated by IAB supposed to be a surprise? The other captain literally said they would fire him if he testified to the thing she ended up testifying to??? Like… duh??

Alright, svu time. I’ll actually be paying attention, promise LOL.

“youre a defense attorney, why don’t you try defending me for a change!?” LOOLLL. Carisi…. That was a good line.

GOD the hesitation and not wanting to take off his wedding ring… ahhhh. Our sweet little in love boi.

Now watch the entire fandom try to figure out what 0188 means to carisi.

Amanda hearing this and knowing that the fear of getting shot/killed in the field was one of the reasons she left the job in the first place and thinking their little family was safe and now carisi has got himself stuck into a similar situation. UGH. Let them be fucking happy.

“you really think you should be down here?” oh fuck you buddie, obvi she’s gonna be there…

I get that the older guy is fucking insane and like, just wants to commit crimes, but if “we wanted to drink, need money for that. Saw the store had an atm, the girls had cards” why not just fucking steal the booze???

How do cops not burst into laughter at the ridiculous demands some of the low life low brow criminals demand in situations like this?! Lool

Honestly it’s pretty surprising it’s taken this long for olivia to end up heavily involved in the situation lol.

I REALLY hope that next time we see our squad that Velasco and silva actually get some screen time. This is getting fucking ridiculous. We have an ensemble cast, it’s small, but they exist and are each supposed to be in each ep. I get that ice has an entire career outside of svu and he’s only there for the paycheques so he can dip in and out whenever he wants. But how about we let the ones who are new actually get some character development. Like, kate and joe have had max two scenes with like, three lines each so far and Bruno and fin are nowhere to be seen. (again, I know that we get heavy carisi involvement and they’ve got to pay kelli, but still. It’s an ongoing trend, not just tonight.)

Also lowkey surprised amanda hasn’t kicked down the fucking door and burst in there guns blazing herself. Cause if it wasn’t for their kids, she would have.

Amanda looking more stressed/worried/heartbroken about olivia going inside to swap for carisi is…. Something… lol. Jemily. It’s giving jemily. Yeah I know it’s rolivia, but you know what I mean if you watch both shows.

Were the swat guys not already like half storming the door the moment the shot was fired, why was there enough time for all of that before they got in? they easily could have busted it down/broken the glass and unlocked it.

See. First thing carisi does is put the ring back on. Im telling ya

That ending was just fucking depressing. Like, OBVIOUSLY HE’S NOT OKAY. And him turning down therapy is… expected, but also like, he needs it. If amanda finally buckled down and went, I think he can handle that. He never got any closure/help/comfort the last time he was held at gunpoint. Now this time, he’s going to be holding onto guilt and the blame of both people that died, the girl who was raped AND the fact that he lied to the younger perp. ALL of that is going to be a dark cloud over his head for god knows how long and he’s just going to clam up and say he's fine and not talk to amanda about it until it blows up way too big and late. AND we have to wait til January to get any kind of follow up? Ugh. Honestly, it’s time for him to retire/shift jobs/shift boroughs.

Neither episode tonight was great tbh. Peter’s acting was good, kelli’s was good. Those are about all the notes I have.

I’ll be watching Grey’s later and 911 likely tomorrow or whenever it decides to pop up on Disney.

[electrictoes]

It's really stupid that many EO fans are making a big deal of Rollins coming back at the start of the season.

Like, both shows could have explored more on EO at the start of 2023. But they didn't. Only thing was that one scene before the crossover event started. That's not Rollins' fault.

So I see no reason to blame her for delaying EO. It's not her fault the producers wanna keep baiting EO longer.

I think they're frustrated, but it is very much misplaced blame.

Ultimately, Dick Wolf will be the decision maker re: EO. Rollisi are more "B" couple territory and the writers probably had a lot more freedom to get them together. The B couple always move faster than the A couple in every single show, because the stakes are lower.

It's easy to feel resentful because we "got it all". I won't get into the sheer amount of Rollisi development that happened off screen, but from their persepctive, Rollins is getting scenes they think Liv should have. The bigger problem last season (but also in s22/23) was the amount of screentime wasted on music video montages and introspective thoughts of perpetrators and trauma porn showing the crimes. They would have the space for both Rollins and Liv to have those kind of scenes if they went back to a) not showing the crimes and b) not taking 5-10 minutes to bring in existing characters at the start of every episode.

Not to mention, the only person Liv has had meaningful conversations about Elliot with is Amanda. She might as well have been talking to a wall the back half of s24.

I understand why they're upset, but Rollins isn't taking anything away, she's adding. Also, Mariska and Kelli are clearly thrilled to be back filming together - Mariska probably pushed for her to come back - as they're so fond of saying she decides.

[scvcnmore]

Was that [ALBA BAPTISTA]? Oh no no, that was just [RACHEL SUMMERS], a [CANON CHARACTER] from [MARVEL/X-MEN]. They are [TWENTY-THREE] years old, use [SHE/THEY], and [ARE NOT] aware that they are not actually from Washington DC. Too bad they can’t stray from this city for long.

Rachel Anne Summers is the daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey from Earth-811. She was conceived while her mother was possessed by the Phoenix Force, and due to this the force itself considers Rachel to be almost like its own child. It's perfect vessel

A lot of things went very not-right in her universe, very fast. The assassination of Senator Kelly actually came to fruition, which led to a lot of anti-mutant sentiment. Her mother died in a nuclear explosion. Her father died at the hands of a Sentinel. The school was attacked and razed by federal troops, leaving her the only survivor. She was found by Professor Xavier's body and taken to the lab of the sadistic Ahab, who then tortured and brainwashed her into becoming a 'Hound' used to track other mutants....and this was just her childhood

She eventually broke the brainwashing, and was deemed useless and sent to one of the mutant encampments. This is where she meets Kitty Pryde and they go through the attempt of changing their past to save the future with time-travel, but Kitty wound up in the 'present' of Earth-616 instead. Later on, Kitty would send Rachel back in time instead to spare her as their camp (and earth) was being destroyed, but she too would end up in present day 616 instead

Many adventures, mostly misadventures really, ensued. The reactions of this earth's Scott and Jean were not initially the best or good at all really but over time they've come to resemble a family, along with her brother Nate (Cable - whom she at one point raised in the future, before being simultaneously sent to the beginning of time and end of time...fun times)

She's worked with many iterations of X-teams, including X-men, eXcalibur, X-factor, the Marauders. She's recently gotten herself sent to Otherworld to help her pal Betsy Braddock, and now she's here. Back to teaching Psychic Defense 101 and constantly having to warn other telepaths they really don't want to try and pry when in her mind. It never ends well for them

Rachel fell victim to the kill-or-be-killed event, having foregone killing her own target. As such, she is currently unaware of her actual life, and currently believes herself to be the daughter of an equally unaware Logan Howlett, and sister to an unaware Rose Winters

She still lives 'at home' with her dad, and is very much a daddy's girl even though she'll never admit it. As far as she's concerned, he's been more than enough of a parent on his own, and there's never really been any reason to question to why her mom's never been in the picture. Rachel figures one exists, of course, if only because that's probably where the ginger genes came from

Rachel is several years older than her sister, but no one would be blamed for assuming it was the other way around. If hard-pressed, she'll just say her brain is far too busy trying to keep her powers in check to also be expected to produce more than a single braincell at a time (though this aspect of her personality is definitely not a result of the lack of memories lol)

She currently has a a full-time job with one of the local security firms (her job as a professor forgotten) and is more than chill with having her time split between it, her family, and her very strange looking dog, Amazing Baby

Once her memories return, Rachel will recall everything up until just before the events of the new X-Force run

Upon her arrival in D.C. she is still learning and acclimating to the powers that come along with having reached her prophesied point as Askani

She does still have the Shi'ar tracking mark on her back and her hound marks on her face, though the latter are usually telepathically hidden

Her wiki: https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Rachel_Summers_(Earth-811)

@ivehurtpeople, @mcrcki

[shit-talk-turner]

I totally disagree.

firstly, because when Taylor posted photos or hinted something to Alex it was after the month of July, when they had both already broken up.

she still stayed at his house, she acted as if they were still together, while thousands of fans already knew about Louise's existence on Europe tour with him.

And another thing, Taylor wasn't clingier with the Wags in 2018 before the end just with Lola and Alyssa.

We rarely saw her, Katie and Kelly (Breana didn't like her) together.

So, no, I don't see any similarities. //

Mmkay, I said I saw similarities, not that they were the same person. If things were exactly the same, that'd be a bit deranged. And btw, I'm not even saying any of it is happening consciously... it just kind of seems like Alex's girlfriends since Alexa have followed a trend - all girly/happy when they start dating, and then the get progressively more edgy in their aesthetic, and seemingly also more miserable and insecure in general. Even Arielle who is a ball of sunshine and seems like an overall emotionally healthier person started dressing more edgy and leaning into that rocker aesthetic and started to get a bit gaunt. If he hadn't dumped her kind of prematurely, I'd guess she would go down a similar path.

Also, hard disagree on a lot of your points. First, Taylor hinted about him plenty during their relationship, and I was specifically referring to the pics at the end of it. Secondly, she wasn't hinting at him by posting the house where she literally lived - not a priviledge that Louise shares, which is why it reads more like hinting when she does it. And frankly, that may have been his house but it was also her home. For almost 2 years. Giving her time and space to find her own place is the least he could do after cheating on her and presumably dumping her. I don't blame her for taking him up on it, and her doing so isn't "acting like they were together" - in fact if anything she hinted that they weren't with the crying photo and such. Can you imagine if he were like "btw, I've been sleeping around, I'm leaving you for some French groupie, and oh also, you have 24 hours and then you're homeless!" Its clear you dont like Taylor, but how much of an asshole do you actually want Alex to be in this scenario?

As for the WAGs, you're right, Taylor was clingier with just Lola and Alyssa at the end; she was closer with Katie and Kelly earlier on. Louise is clingier with Amanda now. She made every effort to be closer with Katie earlier on. This is a parallel.

Sorry, but I don't get how you don't see similarities. I don't think they've broken up. I'm just saying I've noticed a pattern and in the past this pattern didn't end well.

^

[noa-nightingale]

we’ve never talked before (hi my name’s kelli!) but i just saw that you read crime and punishment and it’s become a life or death issue for me to know your opinions.!

she’s the best worst book i’ve ever read, and the worst best book. i love her, i hate her. she consumes my every waking thought.

Hello! :)

Ooooooh boy that book.

I hope you don't mind me rambling about it haha. I don't know where to start (or stop) so this will probably be messy.

Most of the time I am not really into reading from the perspective of a character I don't like - but this time I enjoyed it. Well, enjoyed is probably not the right word but Raskolnikow's thoughts and persepctive was endlessly fascinating to me, even though I disliked him and found his reasoning kind of horrifying.

Like, the whole concept that there is the broad mass who is only there to procreate and ensure that humandkind will continue existing and then there are people who are so special that they are above the law and above morality... it's a horrifying concept.

I think it was kind of inevitable that he turned himself in at the end. I did not doubt that he would do it for, like, the entire book. But having a surprise ending wasn't the point of the book - you have a murder that is not a mystery to you and you have an ending that you can predict from the start, and the whole thing is still so damn interesting.

What else?

Everyone is too damn patient with the guy lol. He does not deserve that many chances. He does not deserve Sofja's support. I can't blame Sofja for how she acted. She is a traumatized 18yo girl in a very vulnerable position. If anything, I can blame Raskolnikow for treating her how he does.

Oh! And Awdotja!

I also think it was obvious that she got together with Rasumichin in the end. Like... Who is the best choice for her?

Is it a) her shitty fiancé who wants her to worship him and look up to him and be inferior to him and thinks it is better to marry a poor woman so she has to be grateful to him and be indebted to him, b) her creepy ex-employer who tried to assault her and probably killed his wife, or c) her brother's friend who tried his best to help her and her mother and is generally a decent, good human being.

Rasumichin was actually one of my favorite characters. I fucking HATED Swidrigailow though. Most punch-able character of the entire book. I don't know how many faces I pulled when that creep got time on the pages.

The money troubles that Raskolnikow had where so stressful to me. And it was even more stressful to me that he threw money away (literally), that he refused opportunities to make money (when Rasumichin offered him the job of translating German texts into Russian and he just walked away), that he gave away money. Like, he pretended that killing the old woman was for her money but it was not about that at all, and it was just so damn stressful to me. Maybe because of my own money troubles idk lol.

I also think Lisaweta's role was kind of... underdeveloped? Raskolnikow could justify killing the old woman as much as he wanted to to himself, calling her a louse and everything... What about Lisaweta though? She ended up as someone who had to be murdered because she was a witness. Raskolnikow does not think about her as much as he thinks about the other woman he killed.

What did kind of shock me near the end was the death of his mother. It made me sad. She spent the entire book worrying about her son and in the end she died in a delirium without ever having seen him again. She deserved better.

I read the German translation btw (hence the spelling of the names - I am using the pronunciation of the German translation) and I rather liked it.

There are probably a thousand more things that can be said about the book but I'll leave it at that.

Thanks for the message! I enjoyed rambling for a while! :)

[fcb-mv33]

what is your last post about? what happened? did someone say bad things about max's family?

Some blog posted in the max tag this long ass rant about basically hoping that Kelly drops out of existence, P goes to live with her Dad and doesn’t have her mother in her life and also blaming max all cause some reporter used clips of the kid

Like lmao I don’t have any feeling towards Kelly but this was the oddest thing I’ve read in a while

[the-type-a]

Gonna give you ideas for your Duncney playlist. I don't have the energy to see if these are already on there, so I'll just drop them here. Also I'm not sure if these actually work for canon Duncney or the Duncney that exists only in my mind but EH.

-Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps (Doris Day) -The Last Time (Taylor Swift)

-Bad Blood (Taylor Swift)

-My Life Would Suck Without You (Kelly Clarkson)

-The Kids Aren't Alright (Fall Out Boy)

-The Countess and the Common Man (Anstasia)

-Catabolic Seed (The Scary Jokes)

-Two (Sleeping At Last)

-Colors (Halsey)

-Ghost (Halsey)

-Lethal Combination (The Wombats)

-Something There (Beauty and the Beast)

-A Guy That I'd Kinda Be Into (Be More Chill) -Womanizer (Britney Spears)

-Community Gardens (The Scary Jokes)

-Where Were You (Maria Mena)

-Partners in Crime (Set it Off)

-Weak (AJR)

-Never Love an Anchor (The Crane Wives)

-It's Alright (Mother Mother)

-King (Florence + The Machine)

-Only Us (Dear Evan Hansen)

-Despair (leo.)

-Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Set It Off)

-Everybody Loves a Clown (Gary Lewis & The Playboys)

-New Year's Eve (Mal Blum)

-Pardon Me (He Is We)

-The Way I Loved You (Taylor Swift)

-Broken (lovelytheband)

-Fire On Fire (Sam Smith)

-Burn/First Burn (Hamilton)

-What Do You Know About Love? (Frozen)

-Don't You Want Me (Glee version because shut up) -Sorry I Stole Your Girlfriend (Stereo Skyline)

-From Now On (The Greatest Showman)

-Animal (Neon Trees)

-All I've Ever Known (Hadestown)

-Congratulations (Hamilton, sung by Bridgette maybe?)

-Furniture (Owen Pallett)

-Human (Christina Perri)

-Fight For Me (Heathers)

-Seventeen (Heathers)

-I Won't Say I'm In Love (Hercules)

-Like Real People Do (Hozier)

-The Good In Me (Jon Bellion)

-I Like Me Better When I'm With You (Josh Wall)

-I'm Just Your Problem (Adventure Time)

-Thnks fr th Mmrs (Fall Out Boy)

-Toxic (Britney Spears)

-We're Gonna Be Okay (Cody Francis)

-I Could Say (Lily Allen)

-I've Had Enough (Melina KB)

-A Lovely Night (Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone)

-LOSER (Neoni)

-Love The Way You Lie (Part II) (Rihanna)

-Cruel Summer (Taylor Swift)

-Lay All Your Love On Me (Mama Mia)

-Kids Again (Artist Vs Poet)

-Doctor (Jack Stauber's Micropop)

-Anti-Hero (Taylor Swift)

-Moral of the Story (Ashe)

-Love Love Love (Of Monsters and Men)

-New Light (John Mayer)

-Crash (Neovaii)

-Girl Crush (Little Big Town)

-Still Into You (Paramore)

-interlude IV (Showtime) (Zach Callison, Grace Rolek)

-Love Again (Pentatonix)

-Buzzcut Season (Lorde)

-Small (chloe moriondo)

-Don't Blame Me (Taylor Swift)

-In Fact (Demo Version) (Gregory and the Hawk)

-This Feeling (The Chainsmokers)

-Traitor (Olivia Rodrigo)

-Mine (Taylor Swift)

-Don't Do Sadness (Spring Awakening)

-Crush Culture (Conan Gray)

-I See the Light (Tangled)

-Just a Friend to You (Meghan Trainor)

-Her (Loving You) (Glades)

-School Friends (Now, Now)

-Nothing (Bruno Major)

-Strange Sight (...Tinkerbell)

-Very Good Bad Thing (Mother Mother)

-It Took Me By Surprise (Maria Mena)

-The Zombie Song (Stephanie Mabey)

-Way less Sad (AJR)

-White Rabbit (Jawster)

-Call You Mine (The Chainsmokers)

-Your New Boyfriend (Wilbur Soot)

-Pools (Glass Animals)

I can feel you judging my music taste. Half of these are insanely basic and half are theater kid songs.

Added all the ones that weren’t there!

No judgement at all! I love the majority of this selection lmao but I will say… I’m very disappointed you did not mention Niall Horan with Moral of the Story, or Harry Styles’ cover of girl crush 👀😂

[hitchell-mope]

(A Much Needed Talk)

Kelly: I’m guessing you didn’t ask me over her for dinner?

Mon El: is there enough food to feed ten armies on the table?

Kelly: no.

Mon El: then no.

Kelly: this is about Alex’s outburst isn’t it?

Kara: well uh yes and no.

Mon El: here.

Kelly: Martha Kent’s phone number?

Kara: she helped me. She can help you.

Mon El: now we know Alex doesn’t want-

Kelly: no. You’re right. Resources are everything. You need every single thing you can get when you have a child. I’m sorry about hiw she acted towards you.

Kara: ah don’t worry. Remember what I was like after the twins were born?

Kelly: you threatened to throw Samantha out of the window

Mon El: you didn’t?

Kara: not my finest moment. But I was grieving you and I blamed her for it. Anyway. Esme is not the twins. For one thing she’s older.

Mon El: and she has more powers. All they have is daxonian powers. Esme has the potential of every single one in existence. Not only ours but so many we don’t even know about yet.

Kelly: you’ve got a plan haven’t you?

Mon El: don’t we always.

Kara: convince Alex to call and talk to Martha. And also consider taking some measures to help Esme.

Kelly: like what?

Mon El: off the top of my head. Ask Brainy to make some 30th century doohickeys that Esme can wear in her ears. Her ears are pierced right?

Kelly: yes.

Kara: perfect. She can even pick out the style that she wants.

Kelly: that could work. That could work really well

Mon El: and if she ever wants to make me fly across the room again. I am more than happy to oblige.

Kelly: she’ll be very happy to hear that.

Mon El: now I’ve got four pigs in the oven but I can cook another one for you if you want to stay for dinner?

Kelly: thanks Mon but I should be getting home. Esme likes us to read to her.

Kara: you want one of us to fly you?

Kelly: nah. I drove.

Mon El: get back safely.

Kara: and good luck.

(End of A Much Needed Talk)

[bearpillowmonster]

I watched Days of Future Past last night and I decided that since it wasn't all it was cracked up to be, maybe I'd check the comic, it's probably the most popular and I saw potential in the story so I tried it out.

It starts with a retelling, getting us caught up with early X-Men lore which I guess I sort of needed since the movies and cartoons are what I'm more familiar with but I could've picked it up easily. The second issue is Nightcrawler's birthday and he basically dies from one of his gifts. Wait, is any of this relevant? No. No. No. Ok, Uncanny #141, now we're at the time travel.

So differences from the movie, they hunt mutants but it's more complex.

Year 2013? Huh, and the movie was 2014, that's nifty. Then M is hunted but certain individuals are allowed to live and work for the Sentinels so it's a wasteland but not an apocalypse. The movie just lobbed H and A together and said that any of them could breed mutants, I guess, it was a really quick line. Colossus and Kitty are an item. Then Rachel is the one who sends them back in time, who is Jean and Scott's daughter. So all that build up and you failed to mention that? I had to look that up on my own? Oh...this is her first appearance...they probably didn't even know themselves. Also Kitty is the one to go back to 1980.

Some of those previous comics explain certain relationship aspects like Kitty's hesitation towards Nightcrawler but I didn't care enough to have them there.

They're after Kelly not Trask. To a degree, I see why they changed some of these things, Wolverine was the main of the movies and it's a good excuse that his mind could take it and they already had Kelly be a plot point before, Trask was something people wanted for a while as well as Sentinels so it only made sense to make it correspond. They're also after Charles himself and Moira, who is his colleague. She's in First Class but I wouldn't blame you for not knowing that.

Those two are actually invited to the meeting to debate Kelly. These people know mutants exist and who they are, they even pick them out in a crowd. So yeah, the X-Men are already established. Destiny is there so another mutant that does the opposite and tells the future- in the past, so they get vague stuff like "there's an anomaly" meaning Kitty but they don't know what and don't see as far as 2013.

They can move Kitty's body so there's no need to have someone sitting there holding her head all day while she's in time, so yes, they do jump back and forth to show 2013. Magneto had a wheelchair btw, that's poetic. I'm sorry?! what is that?

Wolverine's electric piss beam? Hello? Wtf? But it basically ends at that same meeting where they fight and in the movie, Wolverine is bent out of shape from seeing Stryker, making him lose his time grounding but with Kitty, she just has it after we see her friends in the future getting killed, only to assume that she too was found and killed and the original Kitty took over again. Yeah.

And the rest of the collection is a- am I reading this right? An alien comic. No like this thing looks almost verbatim

Purple Xenomorph with a dual head and eyes as it chases Kitty through the mansion. How is this con- you know what, I'm not gonna bother. So while the comic ending is bold, I liked the movie better but I have a bit more of an understanding where it went wrong because it had to push to expand the comic, putting in all that Magneto stuff at the end and having a second confrontation with the president this time. They show various villains that happen to be in the white house at the end of the comic but it's just a tease, the movie didn't do it because they literally used those characters in other movies and killed them off, I could see them trying to flesh that idea out though. Where does that go exactly? It's not in this collection.

I really don't know specifics, the wiki just says Black Air and time manipulators so maybe it would be the other way around, I don't know. Overall, not so impressed with it but I like the characterization.