#and no it's not because of francesca some people use that as a reason too but that's not why and like i said it comes from a long time

[nxvermore]

Is it just me or this recent attacks on Tom seems coordinated? It's so fucking strange. Of course there's the herd effect and people join in without even thinking properly, but where's this whole thing of picking on him comes from? And "picking on" is a very light way to put it. Everything he does people shit on and rejoice in that and in seeing others do it as well. And it seems worse now than when it was for The Crowded Room.

[darklinaforever]

It kills me how many people think that the gender of a fictional character doesn't matter.

We are in fiction, where the characters have arcs, or they embody themes. Obviously for some characters gender matters.

Michael is literally named the new heir and freaks out about becoming a new John /basically taking everything he had.

Michaela can't really have this arc... Unless we strangely learn that the laws in Scotland are extremely different from England located in the Bridgerton universe (and I speak for the universe of the series, where we have no idea if they will stick to reality where women in Scotland could inherit), and I doubt it for the moment.

So no, Michaela couldn't necessarily have the same arc as Michael.

I'm not even sure she could be a Merry Rake. Can a woman be called Rake in show Bridgerton universe ?

The fact is that Michaela will necessarily differ at certain times from Michael.

Already there are always drastic differences between the show and the book, this time I think it will be even more emphasized. (I even doubt that we will have as many nods to the book as season 3 dedicated to Polin's story did)

In any case, the very basis of Francesca's story is that despite the loss of true love you can always have a second chance, which is a clear originality compared to the other romances in this series of books ; well, is already changed with the way the end of season 3 happened.

It seems that the marriage to John was a mistake, that the physical aspect of their relationship will not prove pleasant in view of the Fran's reaction to their kiss, and worse, that Fran doesn't feel true love for John.

True love in Bridgerton often results in great passion and similarities to the story of Edmund and Violet, and Francesca literally matches Violet's reaction when she first met Edmund, but this time when she meets Michaela.

Whereas Fran is never supposed to have this kind of reaction around Michael / Michaela as long as John is alive. Because she normaly truly loves him.

So how could the story be the same after such a change to the very heart of the story ?

It's not just the gender change from Michael to Michaela that makes the adaptation of When he was Wicked complicated and uncertain for some viewers, including me too, it is above all a whole.

But for some obscure reason people refuse to accept it.

Beyond that, I repeat, Michael Stirling is a fictional male character who has been around for years.

That people are disappointed, including me, not to see this character, as he is basically on paper, be adapted to the screen is not necessarily homophobic, assumed or internalized.

Yes, some are, but not everyone. Some of us are part of the LGBTQ+ community and no, we do not all suffer from internalized homophobia so as not to 100% validate such a change !

We're talking about an attachment to an image that we have formed in our mind about a FICTITIOUS character for fucking years !

Besides, I didn't even say that I was fundamentally against it, because I have already explained several times that a part of me was happy to see a main romance between two women on screen in the television universe for Bridgerton (and the actresses are magnificent and on top of that, I'm sure, will have very good chemistry). Once again, representation is always cool, but, is this really the right place to do it ? I'm not so sure.

And contrary to what some say, I'm not saying that LGBTQ+ relationships should systematically be secondary in fiction. No way. I'm simply saying that transforming one of the main canon ships of the books without which the Netflix adaptation would not exist is perhaps not the right thing to do, since there is already a community attached behind these characters...

And seriously, if the creators really wanted a main LGBTQ+ romance dealing with the Bridgerton universe, they could easily make a spin off dealing specifically with this part of society and how they live.

I'm sure many, including me, will watch such a spin-off ! And damn I would love for something like that to happen !

You see, the opportunity to have an LGBTQ+ romance at the forefront without changing the kind of characters mostly beloved by an audience that already exists. Not very complicated though.

Do you realize how inappropriate it is to insult someone homophobic for that things ?! I don't know what kind of fucking bubble these people live in...

And it's scary to say that you can be insulted by a community of which you are a part, simply for not conforming to everything that is judged 100% morally correct for them.

If you have the misfortune of delay, sometimes there are those who unleash themselves on you to insult you for things that you don't have, simply for a fictional character...

"You don't 100% validate that a fictional male character who has existed for years and whom you have loved for years, with a fairly precise image in mind as a result, becomes a woman in his adaptation ? Well obviously, it's is that you are, at worst, a homophobe, or at least worse an internalized homophobe, and in any case that is not tolerable and you are not a true ally and you are problematic who deserves to be hated."

I don't know if you realize how STUNNING this is ! There really are people on this app who need to get fucking treatment...

And anyway why am I racking my brains ?

There will always be stupid people to come and tell me that what I say is always homophobic because if I have a problem with the change of gender of a fictional character through an adaptation well I'm the real problem.

As they say, you can't change idiots.

So stay stupid if you want, but at least leave me alone.

[chaotic-archaeologist]

long time follower, first time asker... i really need some wisdom or encouragement right now. i'm in my 30s and have been working on a bachelor's degree for years, in fits and starts, with a lot of setbacks. (finally landed on history with religious studies minor, but i used to study anthropology as well.) the thing is, i recently watched a guest lecture by a wonderful religious scholar (dr. francesca stavrakopoulou) and she was so... inspiring? erudite? smart? she was incredible to listen to, she seemed so in touch with her field and was able to draw amazing connections and answer questions with references to multiple religions and languages off the top of her head, was able to recommend peers of hers by name for other specialities, it was really inspiring.

but as awesome as she was, after the lecture was finished i was a little devastated because i feel like i will never be able to achieve that level of ease and expertise no matter how much i study. i feel like a fraud, i feel like my adhd is holding me back and turning my brain into swiss cheese. it's already taking me so much longer to get a bachelor's than it should and i'm painfully aware you have to have a PhD to really work as a historian; i feel like i'm so far behind that i'll never catch up and that as i get older i'll just get worse at learning... is this imposter syndrome? am i just struggling with a plateau and need to push harder to reach the next level? am i just not cut out for academia? have other academics also struggled with this? what do i do? :( i love this field more than anything, i have wanted to study people and history since i was in high school. i don't even know what i would do with my life if not this, but i just don't know if i'm completely out of my league and living in a fantasy land or if having a career as a historian is really still possible...

You know what, I'm really glad you asked this question.

I had a very similar experience recently, where I went to an academic talk that was so well done it left me thinking well shit, I'll never be able to do something like that. But you know what? I really do think that's the imposter syndrome talking.

I'm a fan of the four stages of learning. Unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence.

You and I, as upper level students, are maybe somewhere on the cusp of conscious incompetence and conscious competence, which is not an especially comfortable place to be. We're aware of how much we don't know, and when we do things, we have to try really hard to be good at them.

The talks we both watched were given by people at the level of unconscious competence. And you know how they got to that level? By doing a PhD and spending a really long time immersed in the literature. They started their learning journeys earlier, and so they know more than we do right now. Which is normal!!! At this point in our careers, we are not expected to be able to do work like this, and there's a reason for that—we're not ready yet. But with time, we will get there.

(Psst, you know what the biggest prerequisite for giving a talk like that is? It's passion and a genuine interest in your field. You can't learn that, or force it if it's not there. And it sounds like you've got it covered.)

So now I'd like to address your fears of being too old. I totally understand—ageism is real, and it's especially hard in college settings where everyone around you tends to be 1) much younger, and 2) on the high school -> college track. Not being on that track is not a moral failing. The higher education system in the United States is very hostile to anyone who doesn't perfectly fit into the university's machinery. That is a problem with academia, not with you.

I know plenty of nontraditional students who have gotten their degrees at varying ages. When they give you your diploma, it won't have your age on it or how long it took you to get your degree. What matters is that you've earned it, not when. Better now than never. Don't give up.

I would like you to try to do on thing for me: look back through your life and make a list of all the moments where you had an "aha" moment. When you realized this was something you wanted to do for the rest of your life. When you did something and felt good about it. And I do really mean write! it! down! Keep this list (and add to it) so you can look back at it. I pay attention to stuff like this when I write in my journal so I can remind myself during low moments.

Congratulations, it sounds like you're passionate about something enough to pursue it doggedly, even when things are difficult! That's something special that not everyone gets to have. I think you owe it to yourself to do your very best to pursue your dream.

-Reid

[darcytaylor]

My thoughts on Season 3 of Bridgerton

I have been trying to word exactly how I feel about Season 3 of Bridgerton.

From reading what other people have said it seems like there are mixed reviews.

I will say this right now - I really did enjoy my time watching it. I think Nicola and Luke did a great job at portraying Penelope and Colin.

I think part 1 and part 2 have completely different vibes and I can see why they accepted the 2 part release. It gave the viewers more time to digest everything and to appreciate the first 4 episodes.

But I also think (for that very reason) it hindered the season as a whole because it seemed to me that I was watching 2 different seasons of Bridgerton. They left the rom-com elements in part 1 and didn't look back, and went straight for drama. (I do love some drama in a television show though)

Maybe if it was released all together it would have flowed a bit better because I wouldn't have been searching for the rom-com lightheartedness, that I saw in part 1. I would have accepted that the drama was about to happen and happy to say goodbye to the rom-com vibes.

Having been able sit with part 1 for so long and really appreciate all that the first 4 episodes had to offer, part 2 seemed to be a bit confusing.

One of my favourite parts of part 2 were the moments that Colin was angry at Penelope. I think Luke did a fantastic job at portraying someone who was in love and angry at the same time. I said this before and I'll say it again, his eye/face acting is on point!

Nicola and Luke had mentioned before that Penelope and Colin finally open all of themselves to each other, that's how they were able to make their relationship work and become partners.

I loved seeing them not be ashamed to confess their love with each other, it was heartwarming seeing Penelope take of her shield and not hide. That was the main take-away from part 2, Penelope revealing all sides of herself, to everyone around her.

She spent her whole life in the shadows and she was now stepping "into the light". That is why it had to be Penelope confessing she was Lady Whistledown, unlike in the books. That is why they needed to reveal she was Lady Whistledown to the Ton.

Whistledown was her shield that protected her, but she completely stripped that away and let herself protect herself. It was beautiful to watch and Nicola smashed it.

Do I think that some of the background stories were a bit dragged out? Yes. I don't think they needed all of the threesome scenes of Benedict. I didn't mind him becoming more aware of himself and having the threesome. I think most of us were waiting since Season 1 to finally see it happen! But I think they showed 1 scene too many of it and it became tiresome, it didn't feel like it was enhancing his story/character, by the last threesome scene.

I really loved the direction they took for Francesca. You can see that she walks to the beat of her own drum. She is guarded but at the same time so open. If that makes sense. I think that her season will be one to look out for, for sure! Especially since we now know that her story will have the LGBTQ+ storyline. Mikaela Stirling! YES! It actually made me gasp and smile when watching them introduce her.

As for the Eloise storyline, I think Claudia did a fantastic job at portraying hurt and love and wanting the best for people even if you are mad at them. I love the fact that it took so long for Eloise to begin to forgive Penelope. It seemed more real that way.

I know people didn't love the way that she befriended Cressida and how she seemed to listen to her. But she needed that friendship to understand why her friendship with Penelope was special. To see how a person can be the way they are because of the people who raised them. To see that bad people can do good things and good people can do bad things.

So my final thoughts, I loved the season as a whole. It made me smile, laugh, be angry, hopeful, cry. It did everything I would want a television show to do.

Were there some issues. Of course. There really aren't a lot of television shows that I would say are perfect (I have 1 but I'm not going there).

I look forward to watching more seasons and to see what ALL of the actors do in the meantime.

[moirindeclermont]

Daily thread about BridgertonS3, and as I type this words, I'm getting a little emotional because never in my mind this need to talk about Bridgerton, would turn out to reach literally thousands of people.

I think it's apt to bring closure to this adventure by talking about two things and how these ties together. Let's talk about the theme of identity and the power of representation.

For me, the theme that stuck the most of the season is identity. We see that with Polin, of course, but we see that with Benedict, with Francesca, with the Mordrich, with Lady Danbury. Literally most of the storylines of this season (if not all) have the theme of identity as a denominator. But there is one more storyline that needs to be considered as well and that's ours.

If we consider us viewers not as simply spectator but as active participate (through fandom, through social media, in whatever way we interact with the source material) than it's possible that the theme of identity underlines also our relationship with the show. I'm sure this is not the experience of the general audience, the ones that consume a product for entertainment and then go on with their life. But even as a general audience, everyone has some media that touches them particularly.

In that sense, everyone knows that it's possible to have a before and after, to have a media touching your identity in a way that's so powerful that stays with you for a while, sometimes forever. For many of us, this season was special exactly for this reason. I'm sure I'm speaking for many people as I say that the reason we felt so connected was that we felt seen.

I can talk only about myself, of course, but I've started this season knowing I'd relate hard with Pen. Through viewing and reading ad engaging, I've discovered that yes, I relate hard with Pen, but I also relate hard with Colin. In discovering these similarities, I've fallen in love with him and connected with parts of my identity I didn't know before.

Representation is so important because it allow us to access a different level of self awareness. Sometimes it's very shallow, but sometimes it's so deep that can heal, at least in part, some part of yourself you didn't even know were still scarred. I've done a lot of work on my body image and acceptance, and yet that mirror scene is imprinted in my mind not because it was necessary the most steamy one I've watched (although it's a strong contender), but because been recognized is powerful.

Furthermore, engaging with the source material allows you to form connections, been exposed to different point of views, it allows you to open yourself a bit more. Parts of yourself rests within the posts you've made, the fic you've written, the people you've met, the communities you've created. Looking back now, I've realized I've bee struggling for years on how to form a community of like minded people...

And in a span of a few weeks not only the comunity was born "but the only thing I've needed to do it was being myself". For this, I must tell all of you thanks, because there wasn't a best motivator that knowing people were interested in my takes. And while I'll still post, comment and engage with Bridgerton for a while (lol, the hyperfixation is not going anywhere anytime soon) it's bittersweet and a little scary to decide to close this little adventure and start a new one.

I do embrace change but change is also scary and the two things can co-exist. But, as both Pen and Colin learnt this season, I've too learned that you must overcome the fear of rejection and abandonment in order to be your true self. In order to own your identity. And this is a lesson that we all know theorically, but it's another thing to truly make it sink within yourself. And if Bridgerton, Colin ad Pen, and everyone of you, helped me in this journey, I'll always be grateful for that.

[theroyalthrones]

Behind the Scenes | Various Locations | Alland, Romagna, Orillia

beginning | previous | next

FRANCESCA ORTEGA Lucian? He's still asleep, he doesn't hear. Maybe have this slide be the sun coming in from the windows. FRANCESCA ORTEGA Luc?

LUCIAN CRIMSON ...Mmm?

FRANCESCA ORTEGA Why haven't you asked me?

2 LUCIAN CRIMSON What?

FRANCESCA ORTEGA The Winter's Gala for the College of Arts. I wanted to go.

LUCIAN CRIMSON Can't we just stay here? It's comfortable... And you're soft...

FRANCESCA ORTEGA ... Are you ashamed of me?

He get's up, he's more awake now

3LUCIAN CRIMSON How could you think that?

FRANCESCA ORTEGA I don't know, maybe it's because all we do is hide in here.

LUCIAN CRIMSON I can't complain

He's on the ground putting on his pants

FRANCESCA ORTEGA Well I can! I'm sorry I'm not some plastic heiress like all the girls you've been with befor-

LUCIAN CRIMSON That's not what I want anyway, Cesca. I want you.

FRANCESCA ORTEGA Then take me to the dance.

He kisses her

LUCIAN CRIMSON I'm sorry, I can't. I have my reasons, trust me. FRANCESCA ORTEGA ...

LUCIAN CRIMSON I'll make it up to you, promise? I'm late to practice, Nic is going to kill me. This is where their kid is probably conceived.

Now they're back in the present. Their in a swanky restuarant. Francesca arrives, the host leads her

FRANCESCA ORTEGA I'm meeting someone, he should be here already.

HOST Right this way. In the back room, Lucian is at the table. He gets up and kisses her cheek. Sitting down, he takes her hand in his. LUCIAN CRIMSON Call me crazy, but I've been thinking. FRANCESCA ORTEGA Oh no, I'm scared.

LUCIAN CRIMSON What if we arrived to our dates together instead of separately.Or Walked in public, with no disguises?

FRANCESCA ORTEGA (mocking sarcasm) I have to lock you up, Luc. That's the craziest thing ever. I'm sure absolutely no one does it. LUCIAN CRIMSON (chuckles) But we don't. She takes her hand back. FRANCESCA ORTEGA You know why, absolutely nothing about you is mundane.

LUCIAN CRIMSON Is there a scale to mundanity? I'm just a Man, Cesca. I could tr-

FRANCESCA ORTEGA Oh please, Luc. That is never in the cards for us. People would talk.

FRANCESCA ORTEGA It wouldn't be good.

LUCIAN CRIMSON People are always talking, Francesca. I'm done letting that effect my life. We've wasted too much time.

LUCIAN CRIMSON I don't want to waste more.

FRANCESCA ORTEGA ...

They leave the restuarant.

LUCIAN CRIMSON We're really doing this again?

FRANCESCA ORTEGA (Sighs) I'll see you at the car.

She sits alone in the dark restuarant room. Sadly. They Drive home silently in the back of a limo. At her apartment, she gets out. But Lucian Grabs her hand

FRANCESCA ORTEGA Lucian! (whisper shout) Someone'll see! LUCIAN CRIMSON (Laughs) Goodnight, Cesca.

FRANCESCA ORTEGA Hurry, Lucian!

[crow-in-a-teapot]

unreal unearth first impressions

OKAY REALISING I AM RELISTENING TO THIS ALBUM FOR THE HUNDREDTH TIME JUST TODAY ACCIDENTALLY SO IIM GONNA QUICKLY WRITE DOWN MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS BC IM ALREADY BEGINNING TO ACTUALY THINK ABOUT THINGS AND LOOK AT LYRICS AND READ OTHER PEOPLE'S OPINIONS, so here is an only slightly tainted not quite first impression of unreal unearth from me (obviously the singls ive heard before but)

de selby (part 1) i turned on the album sitting in the absolute dark, ten minutes past twelve at night, this started playing, cue instant tears. i think i was just hit with 'this is the most beautiful thing ive ever heard' and i wasn't expecting that from de selby 1 for some reason. and when the irish kicked in that just. no words, just crying and im what two minutes in. i wasn't even thinking about what he'd been saying about connemara in the dark and mirrors of people you used to know (i'd seen him talk about it, but purposefully skipped the actual song when it came up online) it was just. de selby 1. and the part as gaeilge

de selby (part 2) sexy groovy silly fun, it's really growing on me, thinking about 'i'd still know you, not being shown you

i only need the workin' of my hands' also i cant wait to read third policeman and look at this completely differently

first time the beginning was jarring, and then at the lyric about his name i kind of :( i also liked the lethe/liffey parallel, it's so very hozier of him to do that. god the push and pull of there must have been something off from the beginning? if every time they called him baby he died? something like that was my first interpretation, now im wondering if it's because it's not his name and they're the one that made his name sound wonderful for once. intellectualising that part of the lyrics kind of ruins it for me ngl, i think it's more about how it feels, i think it feels like contrast like not knowing if it hurts or is wonderful. little detail of when he says come here to me and it sounds so casual and irish like come here to me tell me, i really love it. and the final lyric hurt. really impeccable timing for a breakup album like

francesca why can't i listen to i'd tell them put me back in it for the first time again WHY CAN'T I LISTEN TO I'D TELL THEM PUT ME BACK IN IT FOR THE FIRST TIME AGAIN AND REEXPERIENCE THAT. my favourite thing from this hozier era might just be that music video (over all the other ones help)

i, carrion (icarian) is just really devastating. sunlight but what if you wanted your heart to be torn to shreds. the imagery is so vivid

eat your young is growing on me too, the lyrics are just so good. they're just SO GOOD, their rhythm is so satisfying they fit together so smoothly, and at this point it's just as fun and danceable as something like de selby 2

damage gets done is kind of pop? it made me think of the bones ft marren morris

who we are [had to remove a section here] the vocals are otherwordly. the drums are gorgeously frantic. quietly it slips through your fingers love??? falling from you drop by drop??? HOLD ME LIKE A KNIFE???makes me physically ache

son of nyx i'm so glad this is here, an instrumental was something that really could put me back to where i was mentally with de selby (part 1). first thing i thought was i can't wait to learn the piano part. i've seen people say this, but it does seem like the obvious, it's an instrumental that just belongs in a movie

all things end all things do end so real. very cool how much of a direct inflence gospel music is

to someone from a warm climate (uiscefhuarithe) i can't wait to relisten to this one again and again, the parallels between being a child warming up a bed and jumping to later in time with a lover aaaa so tender NATURAL AS ANOTHER LEG AROUND YOU IN THE BEDFRAME AAAA

butchered tongue A FAVOURITE A FAVOURITE foreigner's god but softer, how can i listen to this and ever leave ireland how can i listen to this and feel like this and be packing suitcases what is wrong with meeeeee. the violin and the instrumence. jesus christ. instantly picturing my road signs when he started singing about the native ones

anything but THIS SONG STARTED AND I INSTANTLY STARTED SMILING COMPLETELY INVOLUNTARILY, THOUGHT OF ALMOST (SWEET MUSIC) i started thinking of bright lion king imagery before he even started talking about stampedes and hoofbeats. and the vocals here too, so overwhelmed by how cheerful and joyous it sounded that i really didnt pay attention to lyrics, so it'll be cool to look deeper later

abstract (psychopomp) the production here i was very unsure about, because there was something that made me think if it were more rustic/intrumental and less modern, it might have hit me even harder, like there might have been a way to elevate it further. it made me think of colours and purples and reds and oranges, another really visual song, like i, carrion. it's really gorgeous. SEE HOW IT SHINES will be in my head for a long long time... ugh it's all so bittersweet and sad and beautiful. all my love and terror there balanced between those eyes what a line

unknown / nth if you've scrolled through my accunt for longer than a second you know how i feel about unknown / nth

first light i was hit with such intense terror that this was the last song of the album. what am i supposed to do for the next decade without music to look forward to while andrew goes back into hibernation under bray train station jean jacket lost and found or whatever. so i didnt play and instead did this musing on how beautiful the vocals throughout the album are and how funny it was in the zach sang interview when he talked about singing instead of playing instruments when recording songs because he's 'better at singing than most intruments' and his producer just wouldnt replace those voice recordings and that's why there are so many choirs and zach is basically like 'you absolute weirdo no one else has the talent to do that but ok' (affectionate) (paraphrasing). i love the drums so much. i love the strings so much too. A VOICE YOUR BODY JUMPS TO CALLING OUT YOUR NAME :(((((((((((( imagining hearing this in the 3arena and having colours break out across the whole ceiling ill remember those lights during no plan in 2019 forever im an indoor concert girlie forever what they can do visually is so magical.. i saw a good omens edit of this today already i love you good omens fans

not to sound like a broken record i wish swan upon leda and through me the flood and love of were on this and maybe even but the wages and

[alrightsnaps]

Other than the genderswap twist what did you think of season 3? If you'd rather not talk about bridgerton feel free to ignore xx

All of it was a big no for me tbh

The leading couple was predictably boring and underwhelming as hell (which was expected), but the rest of the season felt super meh too.

Kate and Anthony coming and going instead of having an actual arc... to the point of having a heavily pregnant Kate undergoing a long and physically straining journey to India (and by the way no, this wasn't done to phase them out and explain their absence in season 4 because Simone has spoken about coming back next season. So they're literally having them doing express trips to a different continent in under 6 months for no reason). No baby Edmund even though there was time for the Featherington sisters children. Not even a pregnancy announcement to the Bridgerton family, just Violet and Lady D.

Benedict’s “vital” role of the season was apparently whoring around yet again, except this time he's completely forgotten about his art too?? Y’know the one thing that's supposed to be central to his character arc??

Eloise was predictably robbed of any character growth and there wasn't even a proper resolution to her and Penelope’s conflict. She just forgave her overnight for some reason?

The Whistledown reveal had 0 impact or consequences by the Queen even though last season we were led to believe things were so dire Penelope had absolutely no other choice but to out her best friend as a political radical and a fallen woman. We legit didn't even get a reaction by the Bridgerton family when they found out the girl they'd spent their lives treating like family was out there trashing them for years.

Cressida’s arc was underwhelming to the extreme and she was once again reduced to a cartoonish villain for the sake of Penelope's redemption. I also think I officially reached my limit with the Cowper family after season 3 and I hope they don't turn out to be Sophie's family cause I've grown sick of them.

Other than the genderswap I'm not sure how I feel about Francesca’s overall characterisation this season? Yes, book!Frannie was supposed to be different from the rest of her family, in the sense that she wasn't as over-the-top, super dramatic as the rest of the Bridgertons, but she seems to have undergone a complete personality change in the show. Francesca is someone who had her boundaries but she was also easygoing and comfortable and witty around her family and loved ones. CVD gave us a glimpse of that with Ruby’s Francesca but Jess Brownell made her into a painfully shy and socially anxious individual. And that's just not her in the books. Compare her scene of playful banter and flirting with Michael in WHWW to her being practically tongue-tied when she met Michaela.

And of course the elephant in the room, which is her relationship with John. A season of building their love story reduced to Francesca being disappointed by their kiss and falling for another person on their wedding day...That's Jess Brownell's version of bisexuality? Cause frankly it's insulting.

Add to that the atrocious costumes and makeup that make the show feel less than a period drama and more like Hunger Games Capitol cosplay. The entire show just feels off, dull and tedious to get through.

That's not really what I signed up for back in season 1. And like, I see many people jumping to defend the show with the “bridgerton was never historically accurate” argument but that's just bs. We know season 1 wasn't historically accurate! No one is asking for it to be a documentary. But it used to feel like a period drama. Through the costumes, the makeup, the dialogue, the world building. That's just not there anymore. The showrunner change is felt and since she's here for the long run I'm afraid the good days of the show are behind it.

I shudder to think what she's gonna do with Sophie’s character..

[lillywhitefield]

Hey!

First, I just want to say that I am right there with you!! I watched season 3 with an equally obsessed Bridgerton friend (she’s a big Kanthony fan and I was honestly a general audience fan until like Tudum of July 2023, after which I became a huge Polin fan… they’d always been my fav in the show because I tend to gravitate toward that “side” couple if you will but I just hadn’t entered FULL Bridgerton obsession mode yet 💀). Anyways, we watched it together when it came out, did not check the onlines. And when I tell you we both cried multiple times throughout the season, I mean that we CRIED. There were soo many beautiful moments and while ofc it wasn’t perfect, it spoke to both of us in a way the other seasons didn’t. (My friend remains a Kanthony fan, happy for her bc they’re a lovely couple that I too enjoyed, but she turned to me at the end and just said “They (Polin) are so good together.”After we both had finished crying over the “How lucky I am to stand by your side and soak up even a little bit of your light” line.) idk. It just made us both feel seen in different ways and for different reasons, and we found so many lines/scenes about love and family beyond beautiful. So ofc we were both blindsided when we finally opened up the socials and hell was breaking loose lol. But to be completely honest with you, I think a lot of the hate is coming from the Francesca storyline (homophobia is a disease and some people need to touch grass 🤷‍♀️), the group think mindset that chronically online individuals tend to get into, and the fact that they wanted a little more Polin at the end (which, don’t we all? But as you said, this is Shonda. And I watched the other two seasons, no main couple got more than those 5 min of bliss at the very end which we gotta good amount of sweet scenes during their engagement period lol.) I’m at peace with it because I know they’re back next season and will likely get to be a fluff-fest, similar to Kanthony this time around. I thought it was more interesting for them to explore the JOURNEY to happiness.

All this to say, do what you need to do until the timeline calms down and people finally touch grass. But know there are some of us who also liked s3 ❤️

I think touching grass was VITAL to my enjoyment of season 3! I do feel for people who did not enjoy it, but I'm in fandom spaces to have fun, and I need to protect my own mental health so I just had to check out of a lot of the critical discourse. People are allowed to feel however they want, it's just for me that I am choosing to ignore a lot of it and focus on what I loved and what we *did* get from S3 😊

I'm glad to see that 10 days out from the part 2 premiere, more people seem to be doing the same! And I am SO EXCITED for married and happy Polin in season 4! If we get anything like what Kanthony got, I will be thrilled

[alaffy]

Bridgerton, Ep. 3x07 – Joining of Hands (spoilers)

Before we begin, I have one quick question about last season.  Did Eloise tell her family that the Queen thought she was Whistledown and that the Queen had threatened to destroy the family if she did not confess?  I mean, it is the very reason Penelope wrote about Eloise; so, knowing who does and does not know is kind of important. 

Yet, it seems like in some scenes they are indicating she did tell them and in others it’s like the family doesn’t have a clue.  This is one of the frustrations I have with this season and something I will go into further detail in just a moment.

But let us deal with the secondary plots first.  The Cressida being Whistledown thing is….kind of a letdown on how quickly it was resolved.  I mean, it does make sense plot wise; but still….  That being said, Cressida clearly is more cleaver than people give her credit for.  After all, she does the one thing that should have been the most obvious answer when finding Whistledown, talk to the print shop workers. 

Kate and Anthony are back for the wedding.  But the writers manage to shuffle them off again, as Anothony decides they should go to India before the baby is born. 

Violet has a talk with Lady Danbury and realizes that Danbury is not happy with the attention that Violet has been receiving from Danbury's brother.  Later, when the brother calls on Violet and asks if she were willing to possibly court after the Francesca situation is finished, Violet says she’s interested; but also makes it clear that he does need to try to patch things up with his sister first.  That Violet won't start anything that will hurt her relationship with Danbury. This leads to him explain to Danbury why he told their father about her planned escape.  And it’s as I figured, he was a child and he wanted his big sister to stay; he had no idea what he’s actions would cost Danbury.  And the reason why he hasn’t said anything until now is because, as much as he admires her, he’s also afraid of her.  Anyway, things seem to be better between them.

Benedict decides to ask Tilley what is going on.  Tilley tells him that she does have the same kind of relationship with Paul as she does Benedict.  But the reason why she invited the two together is that, well, Paul likes men as well and she figured the two of them would hit it off.  In other words, maybe the three of them could have something together.  Of course, Benedict has to think about this.  In the end, he does decide that he would like to try.  Again, this isn’t too much of a surprise; they’ve been hinting since season one that Benedict isn’t Heterosexual.  As the showrunners have said in a recent interview, by today’s standards Benedict would be considered Pansexual.  And when you look back at Benedict’s relationships…yes, they have been women; but his attraction never seemed to be about their gender. 

Francesca…it seems like not all is well with her and Lord Killmartin.  Or rather, it seems like maybe she feels like something is missing.  Still, she does (in the most comical way) announce her intentions to marry Lord Killmartin to the Queen.  And, of course, the Queen is fine with it as she lost interest in the match as soon as Whistledown seemed uninterested.

Now, we get to Colin and Penelope (and Eloise).  My feelings on this are a mixed bag.  There are some things about this that work very well and others that do not.  I will say that maybe they are trying to tie too many issues to this conflict and so it becomes a bit muddied.

Here’s what I do like.  I like the fact that Penelope is acknowledging that she is Whistledown, that she is a writer and she will not give it up.  That she has a right to have some dreams of her own.  At the same time, we also have Penelope acknowledging that the way in which she used her power was reckless and, therefore, good people got hurt.  Of course, as de LaCroix says, Penelope was a child who did not understand the kind of power she had.  Now that Penelope has grown, and that she realizes she needs to be careful about what and how she writes, things can be better.

I do also understand Colin’s concern about the dangers of Whistledown.  He isn’t wrong that Penelope had put herself and her loved ones in danger.  We see that at the end of the episode with the Queen (also, when Colin storms out afterward and Penelope chases him, how is it the only Danbury puts two and two together?  Love the Bridgertons but they really are the most oblivious people sometimes).  And I don’t feel as though Colin is saying Penelope should never write again (although I don’t think he’s really thought about how this might be the only way she can write freely); he just wants her to not be in danger.

Which also leads to the next part: Colin does have a fanciful idea of what their relationship should be.  And this one is going to be hard to explain.  I think he likes Penelope for who she is, or the woman he’s always known.  I think he’s having a hard time seeing her and Whistledown as the same person (And given his justifiable animosity towards Whistledown, I can understand that).  However, he has also seen himself to be his future wife’s protector and provider; yet Penelope…well, she probably has more personal bank then Colin.  The protection part…she needs a partner, and a good partner will always try to protect the other.  But she doesn't need him to fight her battles. Now, I don’t blame him; this is what society has told him his duty should be and I do think he is more open minded than most men.  Still, it’s clear that the reality of the situation has rattled him and perhaps it’s time to do a bit of introspection on some of the, maybe, less desirable parts of his personality. 

Especially, when you consider the fact that he basically is Gaslighting Penelope at the beginning of their marriage.  Penelope wonders what their marriage will be like and Colin tells her it depends on if she gives up Whistledown or not.  Basically, our marriage can be happy so long as you do as I say and if you choose otherwise, then our misery is all your fault.  I understand Colin is hurt; but (like the theme that is pretty predominant in this season) that doesn’t give you a right to make shitty decisions. 

Here's what I don’t like.  Well, first off, I don’t like the fact that they tried to tie this back to, from what I understand, is the original plot of the book (I’ve only read the first three).  In the Netflix series, Colin has a very justifiable reason to dislike Whistledown.  Colin has also never compared his writing to Whistledown in the series.  So, why bring in the book plot that Colin is jealous because he feels Penelope is a better writer?  I mean, I understand it might be to show that he’s unsure of his place in the relationship; but they’re already showing that in several different ways in the show.  Why bring this in as well?  It just feels out of nowhere.

Second, Penelope entrapped Colin into marriage?  I know we need drama, but what kind of Machiavellian bullshit is this? Like, she figured out a way to write a gossip collum undetected; not purposely swindled families out of house and home, for God’s sake. I won't even blame Colin on this one, as this is clearly the writers choosing drama over character.    

Third, and this comes back to the question I asked at the beginning, did Eloise tell her family about the Queen threatening to destroy them if she did not confess to being Whistledown?  Or rather, did she ever tell Colin; because the answer to that question is important.  If Eloise didn’t tell Colin, than she needs to because Colin is judging Penelope’s actions based on incomplete information. 

And if Eloise did tell him, then that makes Coin’s behavior towards Penelope somewhat worse.  Or, at least his behavior as the episode goes on.  I can understand his initial reaction, given the shock and hurt he must be feeling.  But, if he knows that the Queen threatened Eloise and he knows that Eloise always tells Penelope everything…. then he should be able to put two and two together enough to, at the very least, wonder if Penelope was trying to be helpful.  Maybe that's something they'll deal with in the next episode, but if they don't...big misstep.

[bohemian-nights]

So bridgerton really skipped Eloise, Benedict and Francesca for Cunt hungry Colin and man pleaser Penelope. They both give me nothing but people who think they have it bad but literally live in luxury. Literally over the whole Bridgerton series after queen charlotte I don’t care anymore

Eh, Bridgerton is on a probation period for me. And I’ll say that even though I don’t particularly like either Colin or Penelope, at this point, I don’t care that they skipped over Benedict’s story for them.

(I have a theory of why they did this and if my theory is correct I’m happy as a clam).

And if we are going by book order Polin’s season should come before Eloise(who is book #5 and it doesn’t matter but I personally am uninterested in her character) and Francesca’s (love her/her book is my second favorite and I am excited to see her and Michael, but her book is #6).

Now the real reason why Bridgerton is on probation for me isn’t Benophie being skipped, it’s the issue of Sophie’s casting and how everytime you mention her (possibly) being Black, people start crying.

I’ll be honest and say if Shonda pulls another stunt and doesn’t finally cast a Black girl for Sophie Beckett my Black ass ain’t watching this shit anymore.

I don’t want to hear any it’s “bad representation” especially not from a bunch of non-Black women. Sophie isn’t a slave(she literally says she could’ve left anytime she wanted to which is something that slaves never could) and more importantly, she gets a happy ending.

And yes I know about Gregory’s book and no I don’t want to wait another five to six years for that child’s boring season(I give Polin crap, but their book is actually better than that dry mess) where he is spending half of it pinning after another girl. It’s a very strong possibility his season never happens or if it does happen it combines with Hyacinth which is unacceptable if that’s our only representation on this show.

Fortunately the rumors are that a casting call went out for a Black female lead for season 4 and people speculate Masali Baduza (who is stunning and talented) was the one who landed the role.

So I’m remaining cautiously optimistic that one of the these two rumors is true, but if not (as I’ve stated) season 3 will be the last season of this show I watch.

I already have one show(and racist fandom) that acts like Black women are the plague.

Hell, might as well say Black people period because some of these dumbasses have been crying about Michael being (more than likely) Black and saying there are “too many Black people”(it’s giving me HOTD fandom war flashbacks) on the show and it not being “diverse enough.”

Mind you they say all this even though the showrunner is a Black woman(which is why I expect Sophie to be Black cause I would never expect nor demand that from someone else), but instead of being understanding why most of the diversity would and should be Black they want her to mule for them, but I’m not supposed to say that since it hurts their feelings.

This show is plenty diverse, but because Shonda hasn’t completely stopped featuring Black people they are upset.

People want every season to be like season two and that’s fine and dandy, but Black people are under-presented in the media and not only that our representation is absolute shit riddled with stereotypes.

I don’t think Shonda(or I hope not) created this show to further sideline us so a Black Sophie is the hill I’m willing to die on. I’m not watching three seasons back to back to back with a non-Black lead and definitely not five seasons back to back 5x over with a non-Black female lead.

I will not be suffering through another anti-Black fandom whose showrunners prioritize and appease said non-Black racist fandom at the expense of Black people. That’s my grievance with the show.

[stanleyl]

the situation on every app is so… poor Francesca for this entirely awful situation and i hope she has good support around her. because my god people are so evil and cruel.

and tom is getting latches too from every single fandom because he isn’t “speaking up for her” that he does the bare minimum about social activism and that so many other actors have spoken on when their co-stars get hated on. he is being compared to the pjo cast that was constantly defending annabeth’s casting, to tom blyth when he defended zegler from the hate train and so on… even Z fans are on it. people have this hate for tom for not reason… and it’s so exhausting.

i do feel like they should publicly support her, not just tom but the entire company behind the play but maybe they’re discussing it privately??

Wasn't the Percy Jackson fandom also dragging the actress? Cuz the people "crying" about Fran's casting are basically racist incels pretending to care about a Shakespeare's story, they don't even know it's not a movie. I don't know about this Rachel or what happened.

Maybe they're not aware of how bad it's getting now, maybe it was a mutual decision to just ignore, maybe he'll speak about it (not necessarily on social media, but in some interview, perhaps). We don't know, these people are not chronically online and eventually those incels will move on. Like I said, Tom has spoke about racism before, he made a whole fucking post defending those football players, when no one was asking him to do it. Twitter stans hate this man and they're just using this as another excuse to continue with their hate campaign against him. It's not even about a woman getting racist attacks anymore, it's about Tom not speaking, but how many of them are actually defending her? Reporting those tweets? I bet those tweets are still there.

Z fans love to claim Tom fans don't care when incels are being racist/misogynists towards her, but do they care? I've reported many racist tweets when they were comparing her to a monkey or calling her a man, and I never once saw any of those fans in the quotes or reply actually defending her. Also, isn't she not on a press tour right now? Do some of her fans think if they finally have some "proof" showing "Tom is not good person" she will leave him? ok.

[winvyre]

[Valerie's Story] Chapter 1: Omie (3/6)

It's the first day of spring: Omie's Festival day. Normally around this time there's still snow deep enough for the watchmen to need to clear the streets since we live in the Northern part of the Forest Region but this year the most we ever got was a few inches that melted a couple days later. And that was in the heart of winter. It’s odd.

Everyone’s festival outfits have furs and thick fabrics so they’re all wearing nice summer clothes instead which means a lot less red is present. It’s nice to see the rainbow in the square from my bedroom window even though the festival day feeling sorta relies on all the red. At least the pennant banners with Omie’s symbol and the hearthbloom wreaths hung all over the village are red.

This dress is my favorite. It’s lavender (my favorite color), off the shoulder like Omie’s though not as deep of a neckline, with long flowy sleeves and small butterfly embroidery all around the cuffs and bottom hem. The skirt hangs just past my knees so I can still run around in it and there is noticeable stitch work in a few places because it gets torn when I’m playing in the woods and Mom has to fix it. The biggest one came from getting caught on a branch when I fell from a tree. That’s why she gave me my vest. It’s brown and laces up in the front and it’s long enough to protect most of the skirt. The belt has a large silver buckle the same shade as my eyes which is why I picked it.

I guess the whole point of the festival is moot now because the winter was so unusual. We’re supposed to be thanking Omie for protecting us through the winter and keeping our houses warm. Oh well. The Believers will find some other reason to celebrate. I’m here for the games and the food!

Before any of the fun stuff happens we have to wait for the special service to be over. Today most people will congregate in the Megachurch in the capital, some of our neighbors will too, but Archfell is pretty isolated so our main temple will be at capacity. It’s got some nice stained glass windows but other than that it’s what Maurin would call “art deficient.” He’d also say “It’s like they think having three thousand candles makes up for how barren the walls are.” He would know, too. He counted. I wish he were here.

The temple isn’t the only place with candles today. Every booth has at least a few candles waiting to be lit. The exceptions are the candle-selling booths for obvious reasons and the booths run by the most devout of Omie’s Believers; they have a lot. They're usually the same booths anyway. According to the religion, the candles represent our hope and faith as a guiding light through dark times. There's a story about Omie arriving in a plagued, famished village and lighting all the candles with her holy energy. That story is the reason why Holywood, also named after the story, is the capital of the Forest Region and why the Megachurch is located there.

Francesca and I loiter outside the temple, listening in. The priest’s voice is muffled but I can still make out most of the words. “Benevolent Omie, uplift the lowest and alleviate their suffering.” Fran’s waiting for the watchman from the docks to exit so she can pretend to run into him. Mom says she's at that age where some kids start thinking about romance and to indulge her a little bit. That's why I'm here. She's too scared to talk to him alone. He's only two years older than her which is how much older she is from Kell. It shouldn't be that hard. Is that what I’m going to be like in three years?

“Gentle Omie,” the priest says, “care for us, show your love to the loveless, put our hearts and our minds at ease so that we may celebrate today.” Francesca's pacing. It's almost the end. “Let us recite ‘Our Lady.’”

The church goers chorus:

“Our Lady, Our Lady

Dressed in all red

The color of Hearth

The sufferers bled

Our Lady, Our Lady

She came from the sky

To help the unfortunate

And mend why they cry

Our Lady, Our Lady

Champion of Home

She takes care of us

We are never alone

Our Lady, Our Lady

We kneel and revere

We dance and we sing

Because you are here.”

I’ve never witnessed any other religious services but the Hearth Immortal’s worship has gotta be one of the most boring. How it became the most widespread is a mystery to me.

The temple doors open. Fran jumps and adjusts the pastel blue hair bow tying off her dark braid. She did it herself and is very proud of it. People pour out, ready to start the festivities. The first teens I see are Fran’s classmates she sometimes hangs out with. They look her up and down with an amused sort of disgust then snicker amongst themselves. She blushes and hides her face. What was that about?

The watchman is one of the last people to leave. “I can’t do it!” Fran whines.

“Just do it already! He’s leaving!”

“No! He’ll hate me! He probably already does!”

“Have you ever spoken to him?”

“Not directly…”

“Then why would he hate you? I’d understand if he’d actually met you-”

“Hey!” Fran’s nose scrunches up and her eyebrows furrow. I watch the watchman finish his conversation with an older couple before he starts walking again. This is stupid.

“Hey, watchman.”

“Yes?”

“Are you single?”

Fran rushes to my side, “I’m so sorry about her, she’s just goofing around.” she smiles nervously, dragging me back to our hiding spot.

“Any particular reason you wanted to know?” the watchman asks good-naturedly.

“My sister likes you.” I say without hesitation. Fran lets go of my arm to cover her face again as she sprints away. “Uh oh.” I think I messed up. “Disregard that. I have to go now.”

I find Francesca crying behind the temple. “Why would you do that?!”

“I was trying to help.”

“You didn’t help me, you just embarrassed me! The other girls are never going to let me hear the end of it. My life is over!”

“Fran-”

“Go away, Valerie!”

I back up, bumping into Mom. “What’s wrong?”

“I told Fran’s crush that she liked him and now she won’t talk to me.” I point to Fran curled in on herself on the ground.

“She just needs some time to calm down. You overstepped her boundaries and upset her. She didn’t ask you to confess for her so it wasn’t your information to tell. I’ll stay with her, you can apologize later.”

Oh. “Okay.”

Mom sits down next to Fran and I go to meet Kell at our rendezvous point: the spinning top stand.

----------

Channeling Ebony in that outfit description lol Half way through... buckle up!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

[romaine2424]

Daily Blog June 23, 2023

When I used to post on LJ I would often have a post called Tidbits, that is what I think today's post will be like. A lot of unrelated things, but then again some are. Hope you enjoy.

What I'm Reading:

The Light More Beautiful by @firethesound. It's 4 chapters and around 81K. I'm close to finishing chapter 3 and will do so later tonight along with the last chapter. Family and house responsibilities intruded on my fandom fun. LOL I'm so enjoying the story. I really really like reading and writing about older H/D (meaning not Hogwarts or 8th year). Here, I think they're in there late 20's. The fic is canon divergent at some point in HBP where a potion accident happens that effects them greatly, however, the main part of the story takes place 13 years later.

Draco has been trained as an Auror in the US and specializes in creating spying instruments and other things that help Aurors (think of Q in James Bond). Harry is training Aurors since he was waylaid by an injury, which I've yet to discover what happened to him. Draco returns to the UK to find out Pots and Pans (I love this so much), who are Harry and Pansy are best buds. And Draco also returns with his huge crush on Harry fully intact. The interplay between H/D is top notch with lots of sparks, hilarious banter, but also soft moments. Truly lovely. Oh and the acronyms!!! Highly recommend! Can't wait to finish it tonight.

Tumblr Posts of Interest:

Francesca Coppa, one of the original OTW founders, made a post about joining @fanhackers (A place where fans, academics, aca-fans and all manner of enthusiastic fannish people can come together and squee over cool research.) If you enjoy meta and fandom research definitely give a follow, too.

2. The the @thedrarrylibrarian hosts Happy Hour on Fridays with friends of the Library. I'll do a separate post later about @thedrarrylibrarian because they're awesome! But what caught my eye is their hosting @phdmama. Usually, the person they select recs a story that they love that hasn't gotten much play. @phdmama, however, chose to discuss re-reads. This is the way she so artfully stated her reasoning, "Reading, quite literally, has saved my life and transformed it. So I thought I’d highlight of few of those fics that have impacted me so profoundly. These fics are comfort food for my brain. These are fics I come back to, over and over and over again. They live in my soul." And I nodded my head reading her choices. I hope you check out the post and her selections.

What crossed my mind while reading the post was that there are fics that are in my top 10 favs, that I've only read once. I call them my Saving Private Ryan fics. Seeing that movie was an experience, one I'll never forget, but I don't think my heart could handle a second time. I put Frayach's The Price We Pay for Wings in this category. I will never understand how that fic is only 13K. It was written in 2007 for hd_holidays, and remains one of the most beautifully written h/d stories bar none.

Add-ons for yesterday's blog:

For Fan Fair, @phoenixacid heavily promotes commenting on Fair's fics, artwork, and podfics. There is a contest where you are put in a group of random folks who've asked to be involved. And the groups compete against each other for points. Points are given for comments and more points for a rec. So I'm not the only one commenting on all the fics. LOL @caroll-in and I were on the same team last year, I don't think that will happen again. We killed the competition!

@snowingalway commented on my blog yesterday with further clarification of what art is archived and what is reblogged. I found it very helpful. Here's the link with her comment at the end

Older Fic Rec:

So as I mentioned above, I hadn't re-read The Price We Pay for Wings, but when I went to get the link, I discovered something I didn't know existed...a sequel. I didn't know that Frayach had written one, I had left fandom just before. A Flame Undampened is as beautiful as the first, though I do think I could and will read it again. Scorpius had loved and is loved. And that candle, yep, it's a symbol. The fic is around 5K and was written in 2012 in honor of the Newton, CT slaying of innocents.

Oh FFS how can The Price only have 46 comments and Flame 25 ?????? sorry, just got to me. This is a subject for a later blog. :)

Have a good weekend! Rom

[bridgertonbabe]

Bridgerton Characters on The Traitors

So after binge-watching the first series of The Traitors Australia and reigniting my intense love for the show (after first watching The Traitors UK), naturally I began to wonder how the characters of Bridgerton would fare in this set-up. In no particular order...

Francesca (and let me tell you now, with 100% confidence, whether she's a faithful or a traitor; she's going to win)

Faithful: naturally she'd be a one of the quieter members but she'd know within a couple of days of shrewdly watching everyone who the traitors among them were. She's not going to battle to make her voice heard but she is careful in who she shares her suspicions with; she doesn't want her opinions to be too loud and get back to the traitors and be murdered in the night as a consequence. She's far too stealthy and would probably drip the seeds of who she believes a traitor is to a louder faithful so they might be murdered instead, allowing her a clear path to the final.

Traitor: the coolest, calmest, most collected Bridgerton character; she doesn't even bat an eye when the host selects her as a traitor. She is razor sharp in her strategy and planning; she isn't just ten steps ahead of the faithfuls, she's also ten steps ahead of her fellow cohorts. She perfectly assesses who she can trust among the other players, who will take the fall, who can be manipulated, who can get themselves banished without her even having to pull any strings. Even if her name were to be raised at the round table, she'd remain nonchalant and manage to talk the suspicion away and turn everyone's vote towards someone else.

Michael

Faithful: it's Michael Stirling; he's sticking around for longer than some of the other (straight) male contestants would like. He's an asset in challenges and keeps morale up. He'd either be murdered by the traitors because they know he'd never be voted out otherwise OR he'd be banished purely based on his incredibly likeable and charismatic persona and the others believing because of his affable nature that no one would suspect him to be a traitor in a case of reverse psychology.

Traitor: the reason stated above why he might end up voted out is the same reason he would make for a great traitor; he's too damn affable for anyone to immediately suspect - though that's not to say they wouldn't eventually identify him. He'd charm his way into every player's good books so they'd be less inclined to vote for him, plus he'd possess the gift of the gab to convince everyone he wasn't a traitor and lead them down the trail of believing a different person is playing against them.

Penelope

Faithful: using her wallflower abilities of quiet observation and study, she'd pick up on comments and behaviour of others and come to the correct conclusions of who the traitors are. She doesn't always speak at the banishments but when she's confident in her opinion she makes her voice heard and everyone listens when she does. Her downfall would either come at the hands of the traitors murdering her when they realise she's on to them OR the other faithfuls finding her quiet intelligence suspicious and believing her capable of being a traitor because of it.

Traitor: it's Lady Whistledown herself we're talking about here; she's definitely making it all the way to the final. She's gets a kick out of all the power she possesses in traitors tower and loves analysing and thinking through all the choices she has to wisely make. She makes careful note of how every player is planning to vote and knows the right things to say to instigate a change of vote if needs be. Her only stumbling block would be if she reached the final and was challenged by a faithful she had made a close bond with; only then would her mask slip as emotions got the better of her as she pleaded her case in a last ditch attempt to claim the money for herself.

Colin

Faithful: while some could write him off for going with the flow, Colin is more observant and astute than people give him credit for. Sure, he does tend to go with the group majority if he believes there's probable cause at banishments, but he's also not afraid to kick off a discussion if he has a strong suspicion of who a traitor could be. The traitors would hold off on murdering him as he proves to be an all-rounder in the challenges but potentially they'd underestimate him and find themselves banished by his hands.

Traitor: being personable, he'd easily ingratiate himself with all of the players and secure his safety by simply being well-liked among the group. He thinks on his feet and outsmarts the faithfuls on several occasions, however if accused he might lose his cool and become too defensive and get himself banished as a result.

Eloise

Faithful: gets in way over her head coming up with umpteen theories for every single player being a traitor and connecting dots that aren't actually there to fit in with her thoughts. She'd dissect every last word anyone has uttered and turns the banishment discussions into interrogations as she goes about getting answers. Her downfall would end up as a result of her own doing as she relentlessly insists on a single theory for who the traitors are, hammering on and on but being so narrow-minded and obsessed with her theory being right that her behaviour raises suspicions of the other players (even if one of the names she's raised was an actual traitor, she's end up doing that traitor a favour simply because nobody is taking her crazed ranting seriously).

Traitor: as big a game as she would talk, Eloise wouldn't make it to the end as a traitor. Trying to big-brain the entire game and keeping ten steps ahead of the faithfuls would overwhelm her and keep her up at night as she tries to think through every last game play possible. She'd do well for awhile but eventually other players would pick on up something being amiss with her, whether's she talking a little too much and pushing forward other names for banishment or how she acts a little furtive at the round table. She'd also be a traitor that would convince herself that another traitor is going to betray her (despite her cohort showing no signs of it) and get them banished before she believes they do the same to her, but end up shooting herself into the foot for getting rid of her teammates so prematurely.

Phillip

Faithful: his role as a faithful will go one of two ways; either he'll be an early banishment OR he'll be one of the last faithful standing. Either option is purely down to Phillip's incredibly reserved nature and in a big social game like The Traitors he'd probably keep to himself for the sake of his social battery, but when he does get involved in discussions he mainly operates as a listener who nods along and the few times he does speak he might come across a little awkward. As a result the other players might find his behaviour questionable and believe it's a sign of a traitor and banish him early on, however, being so quiet he could alternatively end up fading into the background and not being on anyone's radar until the numbers are so small that everyone has to be put under the microscope and only then would the other players truly consider his potential to be a traitor; a consideration that would most likely translate into his banishment because nobody had ever suspected him prior.

Traitor: has the potential to be a dark horse as a traitor due to his stoic persona. Though a quieter character, when he does open up and voice his thoughts the other players are intrigued by what he has to say and take his suggestions seriously. He wouldn't confront anyone at the banishment but he would suggest to other players throughout the day the names of people he has some suspicions of, but making it conversational to see what the other players' thoughts of them were. He'd be more inclined to kill off the louder and more formidable players simply because if ever challenged he knows he can hold his own against softer-spoken people who don't raise their voices compared to those who are more frank and intimidating.

Kate

Faithful: is of course going to make for a rather formidable traitor-hunter due to her incredibly competitive nature. She'd definitely be one the voices leading the way for the rest of the players and also pipe up during banishments to speak on behalf of the group of who the majority has their suspicions on. She might not always be bang on the money but the second she correctly identifies a traitor and has them banished the traitors will be signing her death warrant. She'd be too influential of a faithful to keep around - though alternatively because of her voice having so much sway, other faithfuls might believe her to be a traitor boldly doing her manipulation out in the open and she could end up banished as a result.

Traitor: would love, love, love becoming a traitor and outfoxing the faithful. Similarly in her role as a faithful, she would definitely end up as leader among the traitors - though god forbid she and Anthony were traitors together because they'd for sure butt heads over any decision they were about to make. She would use her cunning to manipulate the way the voting goes in the banishment room while also having a tend and befriend method of securing her trust among the faithful.

Anthony

Faithful: he and Kate are two sides of the same coin when it comes to playing any sort of game; they're there to win. Like Kate he would be at the forefront of round table discussions, but in comparison to Kate he would get in a bit too deep and lose his cool during confrontations and accusations. His downfall would most likely be leading the charge of a banishment with so much confidence that he identified a traitor, only for the banished player to reveal themselves as a faithful; as a result, the rest of the group lose confidence in him and believe the reason he pushed so strongly was because he's a faithful desperate to keep eyes away from him.

Traitor: would definitely have more cool as a traitor but still not as much as Kate. He would enjoy the one-upmanship against the faithful every time he steered them in the wrong direction at banishment, though his confidence could potentially grow into arrogance and lead to a slip-up as a result which would lead to his undoing.

(Bonus Kanthony note: imagine if at the start one of was a traitor and the other a faithful, but the latter has suspicions on the other right from the off. As vocal as the faithful is in their convictions, the other players dismiss it because of how obsessive they become in what almost seems like a vendetta, meanwhile the traitor simply points the finger back at them for correctly calling them out. They're so frustrated with one another; that is until the traitor is the last traitor standing and must recruit a faithful and damn it there's only one single name that comes to mind in who they're going to recruit because it's better to have their adversary onside than against them.)

Sophie

Faithful: she's never going to get herself banished, let's be real, with all the other faithfuls willing to turn a blind eye to any suspicion they might have of her because she's just so god damn lovable. While she doesn't always contribute at round table discussions for banishment, she is stubborn in her thoughts of who she believes the traitors are and isn't going to go along with the pack mentality if she believes the target in question isn't actually a traitor. She sticks to her guns but rather than being deemed suspicious, other faithful respect her for her opinions and might side with her theory instead. If she doesn't make it to the very end it's because the traitors have killed her off to shock the rest of the players; however the faithful would be out for blood to avenge her and would end up banishing a traitor straight after her murder as a result.

Traitor: the Lady in Silver knows a thing or two about wearing a mask and keeping her identity secret, meaning she'd play a blinder as a traitor. Nobody would suspect her and as mentioned above, even if her name crossed people's minds, they'd ignore it in favour of a more likely candidate. While she is quietly calculating throughout the game, she could fall at the final hurdle if challenged during banishment. By that point towards the end of the game she might just be mentally exhausted from keeping up such a facade and she crumbles enough under pressure for the others to vote her out ahead of the final.

Benedict

Faithful: honestly, Ben's just there for a laugh, he's the least invested in hunting out traitors. Sure, he finds the game interesting and all the dynamics that come with it but he's more than happy to kick back and relax and watch the carnage unfold. He goes along with whatever way the group seems to be voting and while the arguing is a bit fun, when it gets too much he does speak up to remind everyone to calm down in order to keep the peace if he feels the group are coming across as cruel with all guns blazing towards certain players. He would potentially end up being banished merely because he never offers up opinions on who the traitors are and doesn't seem to take the game as seriously as the other faithfuls.

Traitor: one of the least likely to even want to be a traitor so how he ended up in this role is just as big a mystery to him, but okay bet. He has plenty of the Bridgerton charm to form alliances and build rapports with the faithfuls to secure his place, though he'd definitely find the strategising as a traitor difficult and feel guilty for manipulating the vote against a faithful as well as murdering people. As engaging as he is among the players, some of them might pick up on the pressure getting to him and banish him as a result; but actually, he's massively relieved and has a jovial smile on his face as he bids the players farewell after revealing he's a traitor.

Hyacinth

Faithful: literally her favourite part of the game is going from person to person and group to group gossiping and theorising on who the traitors could be. She's definitely not afraid to throw a name out at the table but equally she loves watching the accusations and lines of defence as it plays out in front of her and she's the most excited every time the banished player stands before them to reveal their identity. She would probably end up being used as a pawn by the traitors, knowing if any of them drip a name of suspicion into her ear that she's going to gleefully run off and circulate the name to the rest of the group.

Traitor: would probably struggle immediately after being selected to stop herself buzzing with obvious excitement over her newly bequeathed role, though she would last a bit longer than the very first day. As much as she would love playing the role of traitor, I think that love would be worn far too blatantly on her face e.g. watching everyone reacting to someone not coming down at breakfast and smirking with amusement because her actions are what have caused this fallout. She might talk her way out of the first accusation aimed her way but any additional slip-up would be her undoing.

Gareth

Faithful: more of a follower than a leader and is quite happy for others to pave the way to identify traitors. Even when he does sit and think on who the traitors could be, he begins to overthink everything and just thinks "fuck it" and instead opts to go with whoever everyone else is planning to vote for. He would definitely be susceptible to traitors manipulating him into voting and thinking a certain way and they wouldn't murder him because of it. However the fact he has nothing to contribute at the round table combined with him keeping a low profile within with the group might lead to his banishment.

Traitor: again wouldn't be too comfortable taking charge of the group but is happy and willing for someone else to step up to the plate. Once he's built up enough confidence in the role he would definitely be a risk-taker and with luck on his side would just about be able to pull off whatever plan he had enacted. However without luck on his side, his risk could instantly turn the tables on him and be voted out as a consequence.

Lucy

Faithful: is very focused on keeping tabs on who everyone votes for at every banishment. She would be able to remember it to jot down in a notebook back in her room and before she goes to bed she would analyse everyone's voting track trying to see if any patterns emerged or anything glaring jumped out at her, hoping this method might help identify the traitors. She'd also work out the logistics of why the traitors would kill off the faithfuls that they chose, going back to her notes to see if the recently deceased faithful was onto anyone voting-wise. If she were to make her note-taking known to the group and successfully identify a traitor as a result, then she would quickly become their next victim and not make it down to breakfast the following morning.

Traitor: much in the same analytical way, she would go about her role as a traitor by thinking of it as a game of numbers, weighing up the odds of every decision she made and how it would affect the game. She's affable enough to keep under the radar of suspicion, but her downfall would be because of her loyalty. Even if one of her fellow traitors was bound to end up banished by the end of the night, she wouldn't have it in her to vote them out and instead vote elsewhere; however not voting out a traitor would place suspicion right at her door and she would struggle to argue her way out of this line of thinking.

Gregory

Faithful: feels bad for voting for just about anyone and doesn't enjoy when everyone gangs up on a player to be banished. He never really knows who he's going to vote for ahead of the banishment and simply makes his mind up after the discussion at the round table has ended. While it's more likely the traitors would kill him off then him ending up banished by the group, if he lasted long enough he would be a contestant to have an eleventh hour crystalising moment when he pieces everything together and realises who the remaining traitors really are.

Traitor: he's not lasting long as a traitor and quite frankly he's glad when he's banished because it was far too stressful. He'd be incredibly nervous throughout his time as a traitor, resembling a shivering Bichon Frisé at any given moment, casting little room for doubt amongst the other players that he is one of the traitors.

Daphne

Faithful: loves a good challenge and definitely has her eye on the prize. Her suspicions would rest on how the other players were coming across emotionally throughout the game, if any of them seemed nervous or not particularly forthcoming with their thoughts and feelings on the game at hand. She'd also keep a close eye on how every person reacts when receiving a vote during banishment, keeping note if they survive the banishing or if they are voted out and revealed as a traitor, reflecting on anyone's votes who the ousted traitor seemed visibly moved by; and building up a case that another player could have been a traitor voting out their own. Has an equal chance of being murdered for being vocal in her observations as well as being banished for arguably planting seeds and pushing the voting in a certain direction.

Traitor: would make for an incredibly organised player and come to traitors tower with a three point plan for the following day that she plans on executing flawlessly and has no qualms in directing her fellow cohorts in their designated plan of action. While she would run a very tight ship, she could fall victim to a mutiny by her fellow traitors if they believed her incredible forward-thinking skills included stabbing them in the back at an opportune time.

Simon

Faithful: while he does enjoy the thrill of the game, he's fairly laid-back and lets others take the lead in hunting out traitors. He prefers to cast his vote on reasons backed by proof but as is the nature of the game, sometimes there isn't much of a choice but to follow a hunch. He's not particularly confident speaking at the round table with just how tense and finger-pointing the group can become but he would open up the start of deliberations if they had an unsuccessful streak of previous banishments and suggest they opt for another way of thinking since their current methods haven't been panning out. Is more likely to be voted out than murdered, purely being of a quieter nature than others and people believing him capable of pulling off the role of traitor.

Traitor: plays with a level of confidence that lowkey he didn't know he possessed and everything falls into place for him, giving him a very smooth run for good portion of the show's duration. However, the one thing that stresses him out the most are the banishments, particularly the deliberation at the round table. Nervous of becoming tongue-tied if faced with accusations, he has to mentally prepare himself and put on his best game face before entering the room. He'd keep as quiet as possible during the discussions with minimal chiming in but if accused he might end up defending himself a little too strongly for the faithful to truly believe he's one of them.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I started looking up an old Comedy Zone lineup this week because I was writing a biography of Andy Zaltzman and wanted to see who'd done that with him, and then I fell down a small rabbit hole, and now I've accidentally taken screenshots of the Comedy Zone blurb in every Edinburgh program for the 24 years it ran (1991-2014 - I think, 1991 was definitely the first and I couldn't find references to it in later programs) and then made a list in text of all the lineups by year. I've done things like this before and usually there is at least some sort of point to it, but in this case it really is just autism, I saw a chance to make a list and I took it. It's not for any larger thing. But it might be kind of fun to look at?

The Comedy Zone was a thing where Avalon picked a few of its new people and had them perform as a mixed bill in the middle of the night throughout the Edinburgh Festival. As far as I can tell it was very frequently people who had not done a solo Edinburgh show before that year, but would do their first one the following year, so they were about that level of new.

I find it slightly interesting that I've heard of at least one person in all those bills, two or three in most of them. All four in 2000, 2009, 2011, and 2007. The 2007 thing I know in further detail from John Robins' Chortle blogs that chronicled his Comedy Zone experience from that year. Blogs that I highly recommend reading (archives exist from July and from August) - to anyone who shares my weird interest in Edinburgh Festival comedy history with a specific focus on the 00s, or to anyone who thinks John Robins is too intense now, and you would like some perspective on how much farther it used to go.

Anyway, I'm quite sure the number of people I've heard of in that list of Comedy Zone performers is disproportionate, compared to if you took a Fringe program from any of those years, made a list of all the comedians in it who had never done a full solo Edinburgh show before that year, and then took four random people from that list. The fact that Avalon could consistently pick which new people were most likely to go on to be famous (at least, famous enough for me to have heard of them, as a person in Canada in 2024), even though none of them were famous when they were first picked, is a sign that Avalon is a really really good judge of talent, and/or that there is truth in the conspiracy that Avalon secretly runs all of television. Possibly a bit of both. (My favourite example of that theory is this video, where they say at the beginning "Reds were made up mostly of Avalon acts" - no one in that video was particularly famous when it was filmed but there is a notable discrepancy now in the levels of fame from one team to the other).

The list is kind of interesting to read as a timeline of when people really kicked off their comedy careers, so it might be worth opening the link below for that. But really, I just made a pointless list of names for no reason and wanted to do something with it so I've stuck it here.

1991: Simon Munnery (as Alan Parker), Stewart Lee, Mark Lamarr, Chris & George

1992: Brenda Gilhooly (as Gayle Tuesday), Harry Hill, Al Murray, Andre Vincent

1993: Boothby Gaffoe, Woody Bop Muddy, Mathew Hardy, Mr Buckstead

1994: Julian Dutton, Dan Freedman, Kevin Eldon, Sean Percival

1995: Julian Barratt, Tony Burgess, Dave Gorman

1996: Can’t tell because it wouldn’t let me zoom in on the picture of the program, but definitely Brendon Burns was in there, possibly Ross Noble

1997: Chris Addison, Frankie Boyle, Neil Bromley, Noel Fielding

1998: Anton, Simon Evans, Gordon Southern, Dan Evans

1999: Dan Antopolski, Tony Law, Lucy Porter, Rob Rouse

2000: Danny Bhoy, Spencer Brown, Karen Taylor, Andy Zaltzman

2001: Rob Deering, Francesca Martinez, John Oliver, Karl Theobald

2002: Markus Birdman, Nick Doody, Gary Delaney, Ray Peacock

2003: Russell Howard, Matthew Osborn, Al Pitcher, Stan Stanley

2004: Tom Bell, Andy Bone, Steve Hall, Marek Larwood, Steve Williams

2005: Matt Grene, Russell Kane, Mark Olver, Isy Suttie

2006: Dan Atkinson, Lloyd Langford, Janice Phayre, Jon Richardson

2007: Barry Dodds, Carl Donnelly, John Robins, Joe Wilkinson

2008: Tom Deacon, Elis James (name misspelled in program), Nat Luurtsema, Henry Paker

2009: Jen Brister, Ed Gamble, Chris Ramsey, Gareth Richards

2010: Davey See, Ivo Graham, Josh Widdicombe, Naz Osmanoglu

2011: Hari Kondabolu, Iain Stirling, Paul Currie, Phil Wang

2012: Kieran Boyd, Hayley Ellis, Ahir Shah, Mark Smith

2013: Lucy Beaumont, Tommy Rowson, Carl Hutchinson, Matt Winning

2014: Steve Bugeja, Jack Barry, Alex Smith, Adam Hess