#also this gifset is boring i know

[nomattertheoceans]

Y'all I'm not going to lie, all the gifsets kinda make me want to get into Percy Jackson??

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

THE BEST OF PRIORITY: TUCHANKA (PART 1)

Featuring: Cmdr. Sophie Shepard, Urdnot Wrex, and Urdnot Bakara With: Dr. Mordin Solus, Primarch Adrien Victus, Dalatrass Linron, Urdnot Wreav, and Comm. Specialist Samantha Traynor This will be the defining moment of Krogan history... Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (2021)

[bahoreal]

I really don't think West out of Yumen is your thing since it has a ton of straight romance. The production value is questionable, and acting mediocre in my opinion.

LOOOOOOOOOOOL i do enjoy romances of all varieties even straights (altho it can be a struggle) when theyre well written, i just tend to not enjoy direct Romance Stories in general... i like a good plot driven story. unfortunately so many idol dramas tend to be straight romances, a bit dull, and badly written (i forget which one it was where the reviews were like "i feel like a group of very beautiful people just fed me a spoonful of shit" LMFHABDKAUDBW) without even good writing to back it up. sigh. thank you for the review i guess i wont be watching!

[all-pacas]

I think one of the similarities between House and Chase that doesn't get mentioned that much is how fucking allergic they BOTH are to opening up. House is pretty obvious. But Chase? He's such a liar. He will do anything to NOT tell people about his personal shit. He lies to patients about it. He crafts a backstory. It's not as obvious as with House, because Chase is quite good at the Pleasant Facade, but like.

Here's a couple!

"I had a great time getting my tonsils removed, it's why I became a doctor!" Foreman, annoyed, points out he still has his tonsils. In S8, Chase explains the real reason: his mother used to lock him in his dad's study for hours on end, and he'd get bored and read textbooks.

"I did some antics as a teen, but my mother thought I turned out alright!" No, she didn't, she died when he was 17-18.

That one gifset from One Day, One Room. "Keep her asleep," Chase says, incredulous, because why in the world would you ever tell a patient about your past trauma? Why tell anyone?

His dad dies and he kills a patient. He clearly cared about Kayla, he'd bonded with her and her family. He pretends he was hungover and didn't give a shit. He refuses to tell Stacy or the board "I messed up because I was in shock/grieving," even though it ends up saving his job, until House pushes him to admit it. He would rather be sued and lose his job than admit "I was sad my dad died."

Most of his lies are actually meant to deflect from his personal life. He's much more private than I think he's given credit for: in the s1 episode with the nun, he lets it slip he hates nuns, and doesn't correct House when House (correctly) assumes he's a Catholic School Kid, but he doesn't tell House or anyone but the patient he actually went to seminary.

Socratic Method? He's clearly got some Issues with alcoholism, and, frustrated, calls Foreman out for assuming he doesn't know just because he's a rich kid. Foreman asks him directly, did you know someone like that? Chase doesn't answer. He spends the episode clearly identifying with the underage son of the patient, but never once utters the words "my mother was an alcoholic."

In 'Cursed,' when Cameron is prodding him about his father, he straight-up refuses to engage. She tries sympathy: nothing. She tries to relate: nothing. She gets frustrated: nothing. He tries very hard to avoid both his father and dealing with House, only opening up when forced. House also spends about half the episode trying to get the truth out of Chase, at one point even declaring they're going to talk about it now -- only for Chase to use the stairs to get away.

S6? He refuses to discuss the divorce, no matter who confronts him about it, no matter how gently. He claims he's fine, as he lies in the lounge, rubbing his ring-finger. He punches House just to get people to stop asking questions.

S8? He gets stabbed. Whenever one of his collogues ask how he's doing, he recites the same polite "thank you for your concern, but I'm doing very well" line in the same polite way.

The one running theme is that House is very good at getting the truth out of him. Half of these examples end with Chase losing it at House, telling the truth or blowing up or punching him in the face. Because. You know. Who else does that? Who else spends so much time avoiding talking about himself and his past and all the ways he's fucked up?

[galedekarios]

seeing @mercymaker's own post about the "apology" made me feel confident enough to air my own feelings about it now that i have had a night to think it over and not internalise it anymore.

i'm not going to further belabour the point again how this "apology" is not an apology at all, but a statement where he doubles down on everything, omitting important facts, twisting truths, dancing around the issue at heart, and so much more.

it's frankly exhausting at this point.

i want to address one thing specifically however since he thought it was prudent to dedicate an entire paragraph to it in his "apology".

the fact that he wrote this:

"Truthfully I am not sure when or if I’ll begin creating again but I will continue to ask for permission to credit/use someone’s works if I feel like I’m inspired like I honestly had been doing following the late March situation. I do not expect any forgiveness or positive reactions to come out of this tbh, I just know an apology was warranted and deserved. This time I’m actually taking a step back to evaluate it."

after he just said this:

"To one gifset in particular, the hands set, that gifset was honestly a pure coincidence/accident. I truthfully had no idea that the blog had done something similar first. Hands are a common theme in Gales romance that I picked up on and I had no idea a similar set was done prior. I can say this about other sets too but it was this one in particular that I can honestly say was an honest coincidence/accident. And I couldn’t have known that those scenes/themes bore any special significance to that blog. Also I want to acknowledge I was never seeking “mutualship” but more so I enjoyed them as a creator and most likely had tumblr technical issues. I’m sorry if my actions ever made you feel unsafe, that’s the last thing I’d want to make someone feel :/"

it's just... absolutely vile to me.

first off, i have to ask: which is it? are you "apologising" or are you still trying to pretend that the concepts gifs i created and you stole are "common" things that you "picked up on" and "had no idea a similar set was done prior", which you could "say about other sets too"?

i'm confused at this point...

i'm being facetious here. i'm not. he's not sorry. he's sorry he got caught. again. and that, this time, it reached other parts of the fandom that it previously didn't, where he couldn't lie anymore about how all of this is just a case of people bullying him, of people being exclusive and clique-y.

i don't understand why he singled that set out in his "apology", however, other than that he must know by at this point that it's the one gifset that most upset me. not only because he stole it twice, but because it is so meaningful to me.

so... let's look at the facts here:

he followed me from early on, ever since my blog got traction in the bg3 fandom after the full release of the game

he engaged with me via messages and comments at around this time

there was no talk abt this theme specifically in relation to gale until after my meta and gifset gained traction, despite being a set containing an original character, which generally does worse in terms of engagement

he stole several other of my concept gifsets that i posted around this period in time (gale + missing waterdeep, gale + saying i love you, gale of waterdeep vs gale dekarios, one of my oc compilation sets)

he contacted me to remake a gifset in particular that was an older set as well, just like the hands set

i showed side by comparisons in my original post (same scenes, same frames, same framing, same caption) and it was so blatant to the point of where several people reached out to me, confused if the copy is actually my set or reblogging it, thinking it was mine

i think it's pretty obvious what actually happened, considering the context and, to be honest, at this point i don't think even he believes his own lies anymore.

all i can say is that this was not about apologising - none of this was - it was about trying to save face and doubling down.

[moonlightspencie]

hear me out… washing the impala at the bunker with dean when you’re bored. please and thank you 🫶🏼

literally rbed a gifset of him doing that exact thing earlier today. i’m feral for this scene {and the entire episode} so my brain is running wild rn hehe (also the quote from said episode, “i’m mostly confused” was one of my first handles on tumblr)

pairing: dean winchester x gn!reader

—————

You strolled around the bunker, frankly unsure what to do with yourself without the absolute urgency of chasing down some big bad. Not even a casual case had come up in a couple days, and you were growing a bit restless.

You finally ran into Sam after wandering for a while, catching him as he made a sandwich in the kitchen.

“Hey,” you greeted briefly, walking over to steal a piece of ham.

You chewed on it as he glanced at you with a quirked brow. He chuckled softly, then sighed.

“Hey,” he finally said. “You done eating my sandwich ingredients?”

“It was one piece of ham, Sammy.”

“Sam,” he corrected.

“I’ve been living with y’all for how long?”

He paused, then shook his head softly with a smile.

“You doing anything today?” you asked, hopping up on the counter.

He watched you for a moment. “Not really.”

“Ugh,” you groaned.

“What?” he asked, laughing.

“I’m bored,” you exclaimed. “We’re all cooped up, I need to… I need to do something.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” he shrugged. “I’m gonna eat my sandwich.”

You sighed hard. “Where’s Dean?”

“Garage. I think he’s washing the cars.”

“All of em?”

“Probably,” he said with a smirk. “Go bother him.”

“Bother him? You think I’m bothering you?”

“Yes.”

You scoffed playfully, hopping off the counter. You started walking away, but made sure to get the last word in.

“One of these days I’ll be long gone and you’re gonna miss me like crazy, Sammy.”

He smiled again, not able to get in a word as you left for the garage.

You heard music playing before you even got to the door, opening it carefully and walking inside. You saw him, soaking the impala in soap and water, just a black t-shirt and jeans.

At least he wasn’t wearing the short-shorts this time.

You let yourself watch him for a few moments, never not in awe as to how someone could look so good in a plain black t-shirt. Eventually you decided to stop creeping on him and headed towards him instead.

“Hey,” he said as soon as he saw you.

“Hey. You need help?” you asked, lingering near the hood as he wiped down the windshield. “And by that I mean, please let me help. I’m dying to do something.”

He smiled, nodding towards the suds-filled bucket.

“Grab a sponge.”

You picked up the other sponge from the bucket, wasting no time in scrubbing down the roof of the car. You both listened to the music, slowly but surely getting every nook and cranny of the vehicle. You were working on one of the back wheel wells when Dean grabbed your attention.

“Hey, trade-off,” he said, tossing a newly-wet sponge in your direction.

Unfortunately for you, he didn’t give enough of a verbal warning. The heavy sponge hit you in the leg, knocking you off your balance and making you land straight on your butt. You opened your mouth in a feigned offense.

“You dick,” you said, laughing lightly.

He laughed at you, not even bothering to help you back up. You scrambled up, slamming the sponge on top of the car and grabbing the hose. You called for him, stopping him from laughing right as you sprayed him with the hose, effectively soaking his shirt.

His eyes went wide, freezing in his motions for a few seconds.

“You little—”

He started after you, not stopping even as you started spraying him again.

“No!” you squealed.

He closed in, grabbing you and effectively trapping you against the car. He wrestled the hose from your hand, turning it on you.

“How do you like it?”

You screamed and laughed, trying to push him off. He was relentless, giggling with glee as he soaked you completely. You reached behind you to get the sponge, wringing it out over his head. Luckily for you, it shocked him enough to get out of his grip. Unluckily for you, he quickly recovered and caught up to you before you could get far.

“You’re not getting away that easy,” he muttered.

He grabbed you from behind as you tried running, pulling you into his chest. His arms wrapped around you, holding your arms to your chest. You laughed hard, trying to wriggle away.

“You’re so mean,” you yelled, his grip only tightening.

“Don’t start what you can’t finish,” he said into your ear, clearly proud of himself.

“Whoa,” you heard Sam’s voice. “Should I give you two some privacy?”

You stood up a little straighter, looking in his direction. Dean only slightly loosened his grip.

“We’re washing the car,” you stated as if he didn’t just walk in with fully functional eyes.

He merely quirked a brow. “You two look cleaner than the car.”

“She started it,” Dean said quickly.

You craned your neck to see him behind you, giving him a sour look.

“You threw a sponge at me.”

“You hosed me down.”

Sam nodded slowly, backing out of the room quietly to retreat.

“Not fair,” you said, almost smiling again.

“Very fair,” he stated.

“Let me go,” you laughed.

“No way,” he said, only holding on tighter. “This is your punishment.”

You smirked. “If you really wanted to cuddle this bad, you could’ve just asked, you know?”

“How much you gonna let me ask for?”

“Not much I wouldn’t,” you said, hoping this wasn’t crossing any lines.

He hummed, an obvious smile in his voice, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Apparently, he didn’t care much about a crossed line or two.

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[pseudophan]

I havent seen the video yet but ive only seen gifsets of the same two questions. Was the video phil answering those questions and nothing else?😂 was it boring?

LMAO the other questions were fun just not that giffable! they're like ok good to know but nobody needs to reblog this lol. also less people gif on fridays generally cause people are busy, so those who do focus on the highlights i suppose

[sotvtaughtmehowtofeel]

let's talk tags

There are lots of posts out there about why reblogging is so important to tumblr and it is. Reblogging without tags still helps more people see the post, so I'm certainly not saying add tags or stop reblogging. Sometimes you don't have the spoons, sometimes you don't have anything to add, sometimes you're in a rush. It happens! Tagless reblogs are still reblogs and every reblog is a win for tumblr. But I know empty reblogs are super common now and I'm wondering if people (esp people coming from other platforms) don't quite understand the tagging system/culture?? so let's talk about it

1. When you post something, the tags are how other people find it. Your followers will see something you post even without tags on their dash, but other people only find them when they're looking in a tag (like a fandom or character tag). Tags are also important for people who want to filter a certain tag (to avoid spoilers or because they just don't like the content). Importantly (and I semi-recently learned this myself), tags on reblogs don't help anyone else find the posts. Reblogging helps other people see it, but tags on a reblog don't add anything beyond that. Adding fandom or character tags on a post is for your own organization.

2. Tags can help you find things on your own blog. Do you like things to find them later? Do you get frustrated trying to find things again in your likes? If you reblog something and tag it, you can search the tag on your own blog to find it later. tumblr is a little bit of a garbage site (but it's OUR garbage site), so tags don't always work lol but you have a much better chance of finding it again this way than you do scrolling through hundreds of liked posts.

3. Tags are for reactions! This is what I refer to as "tag culture". A decade ago, everyone on the fandom side of tumblr was screaming in the tags. It's fun. It's fun for creators to see your reactions to things we make, it's fun for your followers to read your thoughts on things, it's fun for mutuals to talk back and forth in tags. Tags are how you get to know the personalities of other people on tumblr. Tags are why it's not boring to scroll past the same gifset 6 times because you get to see 6 different takes on it. Tags are how you can react to what other people are saying about a post while keeping the post in circulation so more people can see it and react to it.

Scream in tags. Be a little unhinged. Join the fun.

[galactic-rhea]

never thought about the vader + obiwan dynamic like that but damn. kind vibe. consider !! (or dont ur decision) if we were to tentatively tie it into the pre-existing canon that instead of the "vader wants to kill obiwan because he blames him and is therefore obsessed with killing him" it could be more. vader is obsessed with kill obiwan BECAUSE of his self-hatred and self-disgust. obiwan (and ahsoka. and rex. and luke and-) is one of the last pieces of Anakin Skywalker alive. he's a living reminder of that pain and who vader couldve been. so the obsession is less With obiwan, then with himself and it turns into this grotesque self-harming violence and obiwan is being sucked into by association. i could also see this applying to vader's fights with ahsoka and luke (the first one not the second). peace and love ur thoughts and art are golden ❤️

Woah thank you! <3

I haven't watched Rebels yet, so I have no idea how the Ahsoka vs Vader fight went (which is why I avoid so hard gifsets with Ahsoka and Anakin 😂😂) but it could be pretty accurate, I suppose!

With Vader, I usually remain on the notion that he's pretty much a husk of Anakin, he lacks any passion at all, like sure he's angry and furious most of the time, and annoyed, but it's like, instead of raging burning fury, it burns like how ice burns, is old and calculated and rootten and it leaves you numb to everything.

In the original trilogy he doesn't seem to deny thaaaaaat hard being Anakin, I mean he does, but like he's just so...idk, he's so "meh" about everything, nothing matters, like instead of going "THAT NAME MEANS NOTHING TO ME ANYMOREEEEEE!!!!" it's more like "-takes away Luke's lightsaber- That name means nothing to me anymore y'know."

"then my father is truly dead"

"ah"

Like he's almost bored, in fact when he kills Obi-Wan he does look almost bored like "wow, this is a lame fight, I'll end it quickly old master" and then he stomps on the robes when Obi-Wan's corpse disappear,,,,like a cat trying to catch a light pointer, and then he just leaves like "whatever idc why this body is gone, i've seen weirder stuff" NKJDFSNJDFSSD

He doesn't even care enough about his self-hatred to like, you know, do something about himself, or like, even kill himself because Palpatine probably doesn't let him die and because he believes he deserves the hell he lives him. He only mostly moves to carry on Palpatine's orders.

So that's mostly what I go by with him, if he's obssesed about anything, is when he learns about Luke, probably. If he wanted to rid off everything about 'anakin skywalker', you would think he wouldn't care about Luke that much because Luke very proudly takes on the name Skywalker (i would say agressively and stubbornly 😆) and he would rather not aknowledge anything about Padmé or why he turned to the dark side, which he probably doesn't admit outwardly, and probably tells himself he doesn't care, but internally is the very reason he hates himself.

He also kept Ahsoka's lightsaber, which, again, is he reaaally wanted to destroy everything that remained of his old life wouldn't fit (again, I haven't watched Rebels so idk if that's brought up in their fight)

He wanted to kill Obi-Wan mostly out of the fact he...kills anything opposing the empire, and the jedi are forbidden now and "I suppose I should want revenge and he's here now".

But yeah, I could see an AU where he does want to hunt down Obi-Wan and it's just an attempt to end what's left of Anakin, and feeling really empty and unchanged if he believes Obi-Wan dead (or actually manages to kill him before ANH timeline). Like there's just quiet silence, and he still feels the same, Anakin's still hasn't been destroyed, and then goes back to his usual misererable apathy.

[woozapooza]

I know I’ve said basically this same thing before, but I was thinking about it again, so here we go again: interpretation of a work of fiction is a personal thing and there’s really no objectively correct reading, but personally, I’m eternally unconvinced by and uninterested in readings of The Sopranos that boil down to “these people literally cannot change, they’re destined to be Like This for the rest of their lives.” Obviously the show excels at showing the factors that constrain people’s choices, but if we’re supposed to disapprove when the characters justify their bad choices by downplaying their own agency (which I think we are!), then we can’t also believe that those choices were literally inevitable. It’s gotta be one or the other!

Like, on a gifset of the scene in “Down Neck” where Tony says, “You’re born to this shit. You are what you are,” and Melfi responds, “Within that, there’s a range of choices,” I saw a bunch of people in the tags saying that Tony was right, and I’m still all ????? whenever I think of that. He’s 100% right that the circumstances of your birth inevitably affect your life and your character, but Melfi’s response is also obviously correct, both in Sopranos world and in the real world. To say that he’s right and she’s wrong is, IMO, to fall for the very lie that he (along with most of the characters on the show to one degree or another) tells himself so that he doesn’t have to take responsibility for his life and his actions! Granted, some of the people saying “he’s right” may have just been joking, or they may have forgotten the full context of the gifs. But this is also just one example of a pattern that doesn’t get any less strange to me no matter how much it pops up. Actually, it’s a pattern that extends beyond The Sopranos. I can’t wrap my head around a reading of any story that boils down to “it literally had to turn out this way, the characters were always going to do what they did.”* To me, that interpretation requires either (1) believing that people do not have agency in real life**, or (2) believing that fate doesn’t exist in real life but does exist in the story***, which to me automatically renders the story pointless and boring because at that point it has nothing to say about real life.

Absolutely NOT trying to start a fight or anything, I literally just wanted to get these thoughts out of my head. Actually, no, I had to get these thoughts out of my head. I don’t have free will, which means you can’t criticize anything I do. Sorry but I am naught but a helpless victim of destiny 🤷‍♀️

*from an in-universe perspective, I mean. Not from a meta perspective. **obligatory blanket disclaimer that I realize that there are limits to any one person’s agency and I am NOT saying that you can do literally anything if you just try hard enough ***obviously some stories do have destiny built into them in the form of, like, prophecies or whatever, but that’s not what I’m talking about here

[deputyrook]

also as an aside the reason I included juno (from the descent) instead of sarah in the gifset is because my hot horror take is that juno should be the main character of the descent. juno is such an interesting, complex, ambitious, determined character and sarah is so boring by comparison. juno is flawed and tough and i love her. her perspective and position in the story is way way more interesting than sarah's dead family angst. "I was the other woman in a relationship with my best friend's husband who i loved and now he's dead and no one knows" is so fucking interesting! "I accidentally killed my friend thinking she was a monster and i feel even MORE horrible guilt now" is so fucking interesting!

i propose a third ending to the descent where juno somehow makes it out alive anyway

[louisferrignojr]

Im bored and honestly having a rough week and miss seeing ur posts on the sal tag which brings me to my question

You got any favorite Sal and Tommy head cannons? Idk could be about anything.

oh no :( im sorry ur having a rough week!!! i hope it gets better<3

you know what i also miss seeing my posts DSKGJKSDJ when will i break free from censorship jail </3 i have a gifset in my drafts tho i'll post it as soon as im 'back'

headcanons? hmm. trying to think of something a little light-hearted even though this is the Ship of Angst.

i like to think sal and tommy kept in touch after sal was reassigned to the 122. tommy trying to be there for his friend because sal is not happy about being suspended, and tommy gives him a Look and tells him that captain nash had done him a favour and he's lucky he still has a job and sal eventually, begrudgingly, admits to it, but he says something like, "i still think he's an ass," and tommy kind of shrugs and invites sal to come along to bobby's "family-style" crew dinners (but of course that means sal would have to swallow his pride and apologise to the man so fat chance, tommy). sal eventually drops by tommy's workplace but only after tommy transfers to the 217/harbor station and by then he's out to everyone, and lucy sees sal walking through the doors and turns to tommy and goes "aw look your boyfriend's come to see you!" and tommy rolls his eyes and says "fuck off, donato," and hopes she doesn't notice the hug that's a little too tight and lasts a little too long. he's missed his friend, okay?

[jung-koook]

if you're not jikooker, why do you reblog posts with the tag jikook? 🤪

this is really so weird... like, I make 101819181 gifsets dedicated to namjoon and jeongguk but I've never been called namkooker. I've been asked if I ship them romantically, but no one has "accused" me of anything like you do. even though I always claim that I don't ship anyone romantically, you come to boring me with this. it doesn't make any sense to me. like, if I ship someone romantically why would I hide it??? even more jikook which is one of the most popular ships today. like, why would I hide that? what would be the reason lmao. I have no problem with people shipping other people romantically if they do it just for fun, in a lighthearted way. not about those who want to make you believe in their ship, fight about it, make their lives about it. these are the type of people I don't interact with. but those who do it just for fun I have no problem with. thats why I have no problem reblogging ship content or following ship accounts. one of the reasons I don't ship people romantically is because we never know what this couple is really like. for us they can be the sweetest thing, but between four walls it can be something completely different. this happens even to couples close to us, imagine with couples of people we don't even really know. also, people who have never said they are dating. now please leave me alone because I'm tired of answering questions about this. this is so pointless and silly.

[three--rings]

GOD GOD GOD it's time for FERAL VAMPIRE HOUR!!!

EP5 man. Man. Man.

Fucking Excellent Shit.

The level of compelling this show can put on the screen has fucking peaked.

Okay so random thoughts.

They totally tricked and distracted the fans with that combo punch of Armand-Louis dom dynamic shift last week and the tease of Devil's Minion dynamic in the preview.

Only to be like, oh yeah by the way, all the shit you thought was happening before ep 4 was totally right, Armand is an unhinged psychopath and edited both of their memories.

Of Course. That absolves Louis of nothing, because like he's just as terrible a person as always, blaming his partner for all of his emotional flaws. Literally saying "I have to cheat on you because you are boring." like, okay LESTAT.

I am IN AWE of Assad.

Like WOAH. I thought Jacob would be the ultimate in impressive acting in this show but Assad was sitting there playing Minecraft all of season 1 only to blow the fucking doors off the house in S2.

He's so deeply unhinged and dangerous and also hurt and possibly genuinely in love in a toxic, possessive way. And he managed to do all this eye acting through fucking CONTACTS?

God. This show is so fucking good. If it doesn't get picked up for S3 I'm gonna cry.

Interesting hints in the preview, but I try not to draw too many conclusions since we know they know how to manipulate us.

Really wondering what asstastic opinions the fandom will conjure about this one after "Louis is racist" from last week. It's like people just spin a wheel and decide which of the characters they're going to woobify each week. (I shouldn't go into tags but I crave those sweet sweet gifsets.)

[authorangelita]

3. What’s your least favorite episode?

4. Do you have any favorite fandom media you’d like to recommend? (Fic, edits, art, etc.)

9. What is one of your favorite scenes?

Hi! Thank you for the asks!

3. What’s your least favorite episode?

Of the whole series, it was definitely Right + Wrong + Both + Neither (S04E06).  I haven't watched it in a long time, but I remember being very bored with the whole Russ' past love story.  I was also not a fan of Golden Lancehead + Venom + Pole Vault + Blood + Baggage (S05E07) because I hate snakes, so I don't rewatch that one either.  I love Frankie though, so that makes me sad.

Of the Jack era, it's a toss-up between Fish Scaler (S01E14) and Magnifying Glass (S01E15).  They each had some good moments, but I thought the storylines in both were weird and didn't really fit with the show.    

4. Do you have any favorite fandom media you’d like to recommend? (Fic, edits, art, etc.)

Oh, boy.  Let's see.  All of @anguishmacgyver 's gifsets.  I especially love the series about Mac's complicated relationship with oxygen.

For fics, there's so many good ones.  Two of my most re-readable are:

In Extremis by gaelicspirit – Mac and Jack on a research ship that's overrun with pirates.  There's a lot of quality h/c including a drowning and resuscitation.

Let's Be Enemies by Ridley C. James – Mac has appendicitis on a mission with his team and Oversight.  Quality Nana Beth stuff at the end – Nana Beth is the best. 

9. What is one of your favorite scenes?

I love the quieter one-on-one Mac and Jack scenes.  The one from Corkscrew (S01E08) where Jack convinces Mac to stay behind is probably my all-time favorite, but a very underrated scene, imo, is from Chisel (S01E09) where Mac calculates how much paper they need to stop a bullet. 

Honorable mentions to the Jack Dalton family reunion speech, also in Chisel, and the scene in Compass (S01E19) where Mac almost stabs his thumb with the SAK while telling Frankie why he enlisted. (I made these videos too but Tumblr will only let me upload one, so let me know if you want me to put them in separate posts :) )

[wellofdean]

Thinking more about this gifset from ep 12x09, The Future, and just want to say a thing about what the word 'subtext' means, because it sometimes feels like what people think it means and what it actually means are not aligned.

So, as a starting point, subtext is defined as "the implied meaning or underlying message of a narrative that is not stated directly. It is the unexpressed thought, feeling, or emotional throughline that lies beneath the text."

The scene in the gifset linked above rife with subtext, and it's really very obvious. But first, there are several layers to the text. There's the visual: Sam looking concerned, Dean working on Cas's truck. There's also the context of the other events in the episode. In brief: Cas returns to the bunker after being out of touch for so long that Dean was worried, and angry with him; Cas tried to return the mixtape Dean gave him and Dean refused to accept it; Cas tells Dean he feels like he just keeps failing and Dean stresses that they need to work together; Cas 'plays him' and steals the Colt from under his pillow; Dean threatens to 'kick his feathered ass' but notably does not follow through. Right before this scene Dean throws Cas the keys to the Impala like it's a totally automatic for him to do (it's not!), only to have Kelly drive off with his Baby, and with Cas.

Here's the transcript:

Sam: How did this happen? Dean: ( Scoffs ) What? The lying? The Heaven plan? Or the fact that I'm working on this stupid truck? Sam: No, I mean, what's wrong with Cas? Dean: Well, he hasn't exactly had a banner year. I mean, think about it. Between Lucifer... (huffs out a breath) ...killing Billie, Ramiel, everything's been blowing up in his face... And he's so desperate for a win right now, he can't even see straight. Go ahead and give it a try. (Engine starts)

So the text of this scene is a combination of what we see, the context in the episode, the wider context of the show and relationships, and the lines.

Here are some examples of the subtext in this scene:

Dean has given some thought to how Cas is feeling.

Dean understands that people make questionable decisions when they are feeling down and defeated.

Dean has been there, and done that.

Dean sympathizes and empathizes with Cas.

Dean's frustrated, but Cas is still family to him.

Dean cares about Cas and wants to help him.

Sam does not quite know what to make of Cas's behavior.

Sam knows that Dean will know better than he does what is motivating Cas to do what he is doing.

Dean is emotionally closer to Cas than Sam is.

Sam relies on Dean's reaction to Cas's recent actions to know how to react himself.

Dean wants Sam to understand and sympathize with Cas, and not judge him too harshly.

There is much more one could add to this, but nothing I've said above is the least bit controversial; it's nothing more than a basic understanding of the content of the text, and it is very clearly communicated. Understanding these things in this scene is not rocket science, and everything I mentioned above is indisputably there as unspoken but clear emotional throughline in the text.

Subtext is not a mysterious puzzle, or a ghost floating around in a text that is invented out of the audience's desires, it is the actual emotional force and content of it. Ernest Hemingway is a long way from being my favourite writer, but he was, nevertheless, a heavyweight champion of subtext. He called it the 'iceberg theory,' or 'theory of omission': the text (words themselves) present only a small part of what is happening in it, but it is important to note that subtext is part of the text like the unseen part of an iceberg is part of an iceberg. A text without subtext would be very boring indeed, and would leave nothing for our minds to do when we process it. It's difficult to imagine any narrative text that doesn't have it.

I think that a lot of the time we say things like: I want Destiel to be explicit, not 'just subtext', but look at what is communicated via subtext above! Virtually everything that's important about the scene! Subtext is not imaginary thing the reader adds, it is part of the intent of the text, and Destiel is more explicit than this in the text in a lot of ways because it is the bones the text is hanging on -- it may not be spoken, but it is part of the structure of the text, and that's because of things like the way Ruby and Sam's story parallels Dean and Cas in season 4, or the way Dean's entire motivation in purgatory is Cas, and when he gets back from purgatory, he can think of little else, or the way Cas very obviously parallels Colette in the MOC arc and there is no Abel, or the entire widower arc, or the fact that main emotional arc of season 15 is Cas and Dean's break up, reconciliation, Cas's confession and finally Dean's despair and willingness to just die in the final episode. There's a lot of that that simply doesn't make any sense without Destiel as a structural element in the narrative.

There are so many ways in which the whole story is BUILT AROUND the assumption that Cas is Dean's strongest bond and partner, and around how important Cas is to Dean's emotional life, which is why I think it's often more accurate to say that Destiel is CONTEXT, because it's actually the reason why we understand the subtext of so many scenes and arcs in the story.

The fact that Cas loves Dean is not subtext, it is explicitly stated, and the fact that Dean loves Cas is not explictly stated, but it is present in the text at so many levels, that to call it 'just subtext' or imagine that it is some kind of unacknowledged, unavowed ghost in the narrative is not accurate. There is no way to understand a thing like Dean's devastated face at Castiel's pyre, or why Castiel leaving in season 15 feels like a divorce without it. Destiel is the emotional force of it, and moreover, it's the part of the iceberg you can't see because it's underwater, but it is fucking there, and IT WILL FUCK YOU UP.