#and the fact they didn't make her a two-dimensional Bad Mother either

[airyairyaucontraire]

so I'm up to the part of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys where they finally try to wrap up the Mohn plotline, and instead of chilling on the Poké Pelago my dude's seemingly been in the Crown Tundra getting his brain jellied by a Nihilego that he thinks is Lillie the entire time

I love it

the Nihilego has even removed all the mirrors in the house so (I think) it doesn't have to see its reflection and be reminded that it's not his real daughter

or perhaps just because they're foul baubles of man's vanity, who knows?

[youremyheaven]

I second completely what you are saying about Claire Nakti's work, it's so male centered and heteronormative, and she always has to find a way to make it about sexuality or attraction when it frankly is not relevant.

I know that this is a personal thing, but as an ashlesha native I could not finish watching the ashlesha video, I found it so triggering as a person that has been sexually abused before. I found it really disturbing how she, in my opinion, seemed to romanticize abuse scenes or even directly say that it was part of the ashlesha "allure". She didn't criticize the men for being abusive, and placed responsibility on the ashlesha natives. I have absolutely no desire to be dominated or subjugated by a man, and the BDSM connection was just completely uncalled for, as she also ignored the fact that women can also be and are the Dom. Then again, she might have mentioned this but I couldn't finish the video.

Comparatively, I'm also a Purva bhadrapada native, and when I watched the Purva bhadrapada video, I learned a lot thematically yes, but I cant ignore the one dimensional representation she gave the women. Just like I don't have the desire to be dominated by men, I also don't have the desire to ruin their lives for absolutely no reason! 😭 It's cartoonish, a Femme Fatale is just the male version of "the bad boy" archetype but without the grace men are given by women cause they think "uwu he's sad I gotta save him♥️". Archetypes do not represent real women, they are just a way to dumb them down.

I think that part of the problem is using movie and movie characters to represent nakshatra themes, when most of these movies are made by and for straight men. They do not represent the experiences of women or queer people. Also, Movies aren't real life and I feel like it would be more realistic to study the patterns in natives lives and use movies more sparingly.

I've actually heard the same comment from multiple Ashleshas about how uncomfortable they were with how Claire sexualised the whole Ashlesha experience. I haven't watched the whole video either so idk but something I've noticed with Claire's research in general is how she fixates on one or two recurring themes (usually sexual/romantic/somehow involving men) and makes the whole video revolve around that?? she nitpicks examples to further her narrative. whenever she makes videos that are more centred around planetary dominance, its very apparent that the examples she is citing aligns with one nak or two more than the rest. In her Jupiter women video, most of the examples cited where Vishaka with some Punarvasus thrown into the mix and virtually no PBP girlies cited. i think the whole concept of planetary dominance is skewed to say the least because each nak manifests the planet's energies in a way that is unique to them so the qualities we associate with a planet are perhaps actually just the qualities of one single nak that exhibits it the most.

claire's research is also rooted in western esotericism, like kabbalah and whatever Aleister Crowley was teaching folks idek, and those are heavily based on weird sex rituals and male gaze-y teachings which if the rumours of her creepy bf doing the research are true, makes sense

she correlates vedic astrology to "archetypes" so each nak is "femme fatale" or "mother of maya" or whatever but its 1000x more complex than that?? its really really hard to narrow down a nak's energy into just one or two aspects, even when i do research i am acutely aware of how this is just a glimpse that i have into this energy at this moment, i find it very icky how claire will outright claim some nak is a succubus or some other nak is a tantric initiatrix without giving them the complexity they are due??

yeah same i think relying heavily on movies and fictitious works is not reliable because even beyond the fact that men make it for men, all art is the source of imagination. imagination and reality are very different. in my research i found out that many dictators have Jupiter naks, i wouldnt be able to make that connection by looking at movies because Jupiter themes manifest in movies are very different?? (surreal punarvasu, transformation heavy vishaka and chaotic destructive PBP and their mafia movies) what art we make and how we channel our naks through art is different from how these naks affect our personalities and behaviour

[lemonhemlock]

I really think some Green fans need to get real and realize the show will never portray a clearly young girl (we don't know the character's age but the actress was 15 years old during S1 filming - it's just vile to pretend her character was making everything up) lying about getting raped and setting poor Aegon up. Also, he was never confused when Alicent confronted him about what he had specifically done, in fact, the dialogue between them heavily implies this was not the first time this happened. He also never denied the accusation which I think he would've if the "it was a set-up" scenario was true. Anyway I doubt Dyana will knowingly be involved in the B&C affair either like some people from the other side keep hoping for. If she's going to provide information about the hour Helaena and her children are visiting Alicent or anything of the sort then it will likely be the some manipulation from Mysaria's part. I highly doubt Misaryia is going to say to Dyana "I know he wronged you and you want justice. How about we kill his heir?" and she'll be like "yeah let's do that". Her being a part of B&C is the second worst arc she could possibly have after the fake rape plot some are suggesting (or just as bad) because in no way one can ever claim that an innocent child getting beheaded in front of his mother would be an epic revenge story the audience will be cheering. I don't believe the writers will choose either of these two options.

yeah, the reason aegon turns the waterworks on and looks confused is because mummy hit him, not because mummy unjustly accused him. i realise some fans are hoping against hope and there's nothing wrong with daydreaming about a perfect pro-green world (i wish LOL), but, unfortunately, there's no "fixing" the dyanna situation. portraying young girls as manipulative liars when it comes to rape is just way more damaging than portraying a rapist prince on screen. we need to believe women and normalize that in our media, not to give more ammunition to dismissive narratives.

if the writers, say, had a change of heart and realised the error of their ways (i know, bear with me) or regretted the lost opportunity they had with aegon or whatever else. AT MOST, they could maybe retcon the child fighting pits thing bc aegon is never actually shown in there, so, if they REALLY wanted, they could never mention it again and pretend it didn't happen. but dyanna already got a pretty emotional scene where she was scared out of her mind and pleading with alicent + aegon basically admitted his guilt in the very next scene, so there's not much to do about that, other than reshoot the episode or re-edit it to remove that sideplot, which is obviously never going to happen ever. also, say what you will, but it was a pretty big deal that alicent believed her, no questions asked, and provided her with contraception and financial compensation, instead of punishing her and going "nuh-uh, not MY son"

like, "house of the dragon fake rape plot angers SA survivors and women's rights organizations" is not a good headline to have unless their aim is to turn it into The Idol with dragons

the good news, though, is that aegon is not real, so, as beings who exist in three dimensional spaces & outside screen and paper, we can acknowledge it as a controversial writing choice, accept it as an L and just move on with our lives. you don't have to agree with it & there is ample room to critique it, but it's also time to (gently) advance with the five stages of grief. the damage is already done, i'm afraid, we just have to take it on the chin and carry on.

i also agree that dyanna actively participating in b&c would be a mistake and not smth aspirational for her character (i have already breached this topic in her tag for curious cats). but i'm not convinced i trust the writers 100% NOT to go down this path bc they have sure shown that they can have a very simplistic understanding of female badassery and emancipation sometimes, re: how rhaenys killing civilians doesn't matter. all the more frustrating, because, had they moved the set around a little, she could have flown out dramatically on meleys without killing anyone, while maintaining all the benefits of the scene. but it seems they're not immune to shock just for the sake of shock.

anyway, as with all speculation, i am simply just talking out of my arse right now and cannot judge any aspect of S2 without seeing it first. episodes can be filmed with more than one version for various plots and who knows what they'll choose in the end. dyanna's actress may be filming scenes, but do we have any assurance those scenes will even make it in the show? there's no certainty they won't end up cutting them and editing the episode around her. so she can act out the most Kill Bill variant of her character and by the time next year rolls around it's on the cutting room floor

[lovedaisy02]

Barbie review

TLDR: Ken centric, Ken Asks for a divorce and he really should. Good for Ken. He deserves more. Waste of time, just look up Ken clips and Ruth clips online and that's the movie.

Full Review:

I finally saw Barbie....

Um

So, about the worst movie I think I've wasted time on in a while. Not too surprising since the last decade hasn't brought anything memorable other than Spider verse.

It should be renamed "Ken Asks for a Divorce" and he should, I felt happy for him when he threw her clothes out and got some of that negative emotion out. Barbie is not a center point at all and doesn't add to the film at all. Any actress could've played here without changing anything or impacting the film. Margot Robbie does a good job in her roles but she didn't really even need to be there. She was more or less just collecting a pay check and coasted (good for her, don't we all sometimes?).

The film failed to comment on the 21st centuries social problems between genders and appears to be stuck in the past while simultaneously representing the exact disconnect between cis men and women: a lack of mutual respect and communication. Instead of coming to the conclusion that Ken and Barbie should give each other mutual respect for their thoughts, feelings, ideas and hobbies the film decides that the Barbies know better and the Kens should just be manipulated into a solution. They are not in a romantic relationship in the film but even a friendship would be impossible in their situation. In fact, in real life, I would tell Ken that Barbie is a bad friend and he should let her out of his life. The film skims the surface of women balancing societal demands but it lacks nuance and cultural insight. Some women might still be facing these issues and some areas of the US but I bet a lot, me included, don't, and the current sexism women experience wasn't represented at all. It also excluded more atypical women which is the realistic majority.

The mother-daughter relationship was also poorly written and poorly executed. Ruth, which I love the addition of, comments that Barbie helped heal the rift between mother and daughter. Barbie says she didn't help. I agree with Barbie. She didn't do anything, they went to another reality and suddenly were no longer fighting. The US tends to have a trend of "teenagers hate their parents" which is very tried and one dimensional. This feeds into another lack of insight since many cultures respect their parents and I'm sure many US teens don't hate their parents for no reason at all.

The rant Sasha gave upon meeting Barbie was nonsensical. That's all I can say about that without having to unpack it line by line. Not to mention the fascist throw away line doesn't make sense and it just comes off as a grab at trying to reference the current mainstream buzz words.

All in all the most entertaining and exciting part of the movie is when Ken took over and then went to war which, is a more realistic representation of what a lot of girls end up doing with their dolls...

The film also failed to stick to its rules of their world. Suddenly every Barbie and Ken understood taxes, cars, and stocks? I can see the Barbies knowing since they each have jobs but how would the Kens know? Their whole identity is that they don't know anything because they've never had jobs outside of a hobby or location (rolling blades, beach, guitar etc). How would a ken be able to be distracted into explaining stocks? How would Barbie and Ken know to explain they don't have genitals if they've never had genitals and no one in the Barbie world does either? It was too disjointed.

Do you want to watch an interesting commentary on men and women gender relations? Watch Barbara Streisand films. Specifically, "The Mirror has two Faces." We don't need anymore films going "hey men make sexual comments, don't promote women and women have to try really hard!" Films because it's pointless. The 80s to about 2000s and maybe some after already did it and did a wonderful job without making the women look stupid or the men stupid and did all by showing not telling. We need more films on the nuances of gender identity outside of men vs women and instead where the actual break down of communication is, when the gender roles are reversed or defied and what that might mean in a relationship (familial, work, romantic, or friendship).

Very firm 3/10 wouldn't recommend. Don't waste your time if you haven't watched it yet, just look at Ken clips on YouTube and the Ruth appearances and there, there is your movie.

[lookforthefuture49]

Yo!

I got a fanfiction, finally. I don't expect it to be read much here, but here are the links to fanfiction.net and Ao3 pages for it respectively:

Ao3

Fanfiction.net

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13947355/1/Universal-Wars-aren-t-fun

Ok now I can paste it.

Enjoy <3

[Note: this story is only to be on Archive of Our Own/Fanfiction.net under the username DoubleKKookie and on Tumblr under the username Retrooutlaw. IF YOU SEE IT ANYWHERE ELSE, PLEASE SHOOT ME A PM! This is also kinda meant for funsies, obviously.]

Note note: half created by AI Dungeon. Yay for Ai Generated fanfiction lol

[Universal wars aren't fun//1//Battlegrounds]

Izuku's hair ruffled in the wind, the view of a crumbling city crossing his vision. It was odd, how one minute the world was peaceful, and the next an inter-dimensional war decided to happen. During this war of many universes, most of his world was ravaged. Izuku figured he would probably be safe, at least for now. His world might be a battleground, but he wasn't in the midst of the fight. He wouldn't hurt people from other worlds just because some of their worst villains wanted to attack other places. In fact, Izuku just wanted an excuse to help these new people, to stop their worlds from being ruined too. His plan was to travel between the worlds.

Except, all he got was a dazed sense of incompleteness as the world around him seemed to flicker. For a moment, it seemed as if he were home again visiting his mother over a break, excited to see what his friends did. He could feel a couple of tears form, but of happiness, of joy. However, just as quickly as this flicker came, it left, and he came to the realization he was just remembering the past, that he was still alone in the forest, and that seemed to worsen his sad state.

Izuku turned and took a few steps. He had to get moving, and he had to get moving now. He didn't quite know where he was going, but he knew it was far from his home. All he knew was that he had to keep moving, and find a new reason to fight. So, Izuku decided to just keep walking. He made his way through the forest, dodging branches and occasional bokoblins.

Bokoblins were odd, as he'd never seen them before the inter-universal war began. They hadn't even kinda existed in his world, but now he felt like he was fending the creatures off every other step. He never attacked them, but it seemed like he was constantly running from them, even if they were obviously weak.

This rural area he'd found himself in looked to be nearly untouched by the war. Still, there was this odd sense of unease, and Izuku felt like he was being watched. Like he was being watched every step of the way.

Fearful of this feeling of a watchful eye burning a hole into his back, he began to speed up, getting to the point of running. Running as far as he could, as fast as he could.

The more he ran, the faster he felt himself becoming. He couldn't tell what time of day it was, but he knew that it had to be night.

He ran for what felt like an eternity before stopping, legs buckling under him

He fell to the ground, trying not to cry out. He stood back up, deciding if he was going to be upset about a stupid war, he was gonna do it where it was safe, so he stumbled away from the wide open area he was in, and eventually found a flat-topped building, which he entered before reaching the roof and staring out at the more rural area he had found himself in. What modern building were there, such as this one, were overrun with vines and ivy.

He sat down on the roof and wrapped his arms around his knees, finally letting everything soak in. This situation was garbage. He'd been left behind by the civilians who escaped, he had no idea where his friends were, and he had no way of contacting any heroes or any of his peers to come to his aid.

Izuku didn't want to think about the possibility that they were all dead, but looking at the modern buildings being overtaken like this one, he couldn't help but think such a thing. If the entire town was this destroyed, how on earth could THEY be ok?

He didn't understand how something so bad could happen. How the world could ever go back to normal after what was happening right now, Izuku didn't know. But, all he could do now was try to help, and help he would. The moment he saw a portal open, it was his door to purpose, to other people, whoever they were.

He didn't care what world he stepped into. He didn't care if he died, he just wanted to make a difference. It was no longer about this world, about him, or any of the pro-heroes he once loved. Now, if it meant death, he'd stop this war. He decided right then and there he'd do it for his friends, for his family, for All Might, and for whoever he met on the other side of the portal he was adamant on finding.

He wouldn't fail. Lifting his arms from his legs, he rested his face against his knees and took a deep breath. He lifted his head up, staring to the sky.

"I promise, I'll save everyone. No matter what."

...

Izuku sat on that roof for several more minutes before deciding to resume his search. He stood up, left the roof, and began to walk again- until he heard something. Multiple people, a fair distance away behind him. Judging from what he was hearing of the conversation, they hadn't noticed him yet, and were rather focused on someone who sounded distressed and wanted to get away from them. He hid behind the building as the group of people came into sight, listening into their conversation closely.

"LET ME GO!" He heard peirce the air, and when he could see the group, he noted the man who yelled it was being dragged by the arms by two other people, and this man also looked.. unexplainably odd. His appearance didn't matter now, though. What was important was the predicament he was in.

"Would you just put me down already!?" He snapped again.

His supposed captors looked even angrier than they had initially.

"Our leader says that's not allowed, bucko." One of the two people holding him said. His voice was gruff and southern.

He had a goatee and his hair was slicked back. The other one was female, model-esque.

She had long, curly blonde hair, calm blue eyes and slick red lipstick, which was weird for someone to be wearing in this kind of situation.

"Our orders are very clear. Boss wants you."

"I DON'T KNOW WHO YOUR STUPID BOSS IS BUT I CAN ASSURE YOU-"

The southern-sounding captor pulled a lighter from his pocket, and with it lit, rammed it into the torso of the man. He let out a blood-curdling scream and then didn't say another word afterwards. he, nor his clothes, had caught on fire, oddly enough. The southern guy snarled at the man. Izuku wasn't entirely sure who was good or bad in this situation, but he was irked by the entire scene. The only hard part was deciphering if the one who was captured by these two was good or bad, as saving a villain in the midst of a crazy war would be pretty counter-productive. From the way this man's captors were talking, however, he figured he was either a hero like him, or just in the moral gray trying to stay out of things.

Taking a risk, he stepped out from the shadows...

"Stop!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. They turned to look at him, and their eyes went wide.

He pointed at the man. "You two! Release him right now!"

"What do you think you're doing?" The southern one hissed angrily. "This is none of your business, kid! Go back to where you came from!"

His eyes flicked to the man, who seemed to be either knocked out or unresponsive, as he hadn't even twitched when Izuku shouted in his general direction.

"I don't care! He's being mistreated! I won't stand for it!"

The model (At least, Izuku assumed she was a model) whisper-hissed something at her comrade, who just scowled and shook his head. The two started arguing in hushed voices, as the man they dragged here was now beginning to stir.

When he did open his eyes, fear was clear in them immediately, probably thinking the glare Izuku was directing at his enemies was for him. He calmed after a moment, however. The pair seemed bugged but opted to leave without the man now that they'd been found by someone else. (Maybe that's what they were arguing about) They dropped the man harshly, although he didn't seem to be bothered by this at all. He seemed more bothered by the burn mark just below his chest, which, while small, seemed to be quite painful. It was hard for Izuku to gauge what the man was feeling, though, since he looked dead. Not just figuratively, but quite literally rotten and dead. It was strange, but Izuku decided not to question it, for that wouldn't help either of their situations. He instead walked up to the man, hoping to maybe initiate a conversation.

"Hey, um..." Izuku wasn't really sure what to say to him. He didn't know his name, for one.

The other was that he looked like he'd been through hell and back. He had a multitude of scars, both old and new, on his face and body. They were either dark purple, black, or was a hole, which revealed an empty vessel underneath. In fact, his entire complexion was purple, which struck Izuku as off. Any normal person, quirk or not, definitely was not supposed to be dead and purple.

"Are you alright?" Izuku decided to start with. Simple enough.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine." (That comment definitely didn't pan out, but Izuku didn't know his life. Maybe this was normal.) Izuku noted a prominent British accent, one he hadn't noticed while the man was shouting angrily, which was odd, because he probably should have. Taking a closer look at him, the strange man was thin, mangy, and also lacked hair. His pupils were glowing, which also really was strange, and the whites of his eyes were now, instead, pitch black. It was somewhat unsettling, but Izuku tried not to think much of it.

"What was all that about?"

"Frankly, I dunno. One minute everything was normal and I was sitting at home, and the next those two were dragging me along to their 'boss'." He replied.

"I tried to get away, but it wasn't exactly easy. I kinda miss having muscles." He said this in a very nonchalant way, shrugging. Evidently, this man was missing vital body parts, who knows how many, and he was acting like it was completely fine.

"I... see," Izuku said, though he wasn't sure what else to say.

"So, what about you, kid? What's your name?"

"Izuku. Call me Deku, please." He stuck out a hand.

"Michael." The other shook his hand, and Izuku noted that he felt no bones in his hand, like it wasn't solid. It was strange, completely empty. "Uhm, do you know what's been going on lately?"

Michael did not reply immediately. "I dunno, something about some war? It didn't seem to pertain to me until I was dragged into a different world entirely, but feel free to explain."

"All I'm really sure of right now is that there is an Inter-Universal War going on right now, and I want it to end. Mostly because it's left my home a wreck, and I don't want that to happen to anybody else's."

Michael nodded in understanding.

"I can appreciate your feelings on the matter."

...

"How long have you been here?"

"Probably only a little over 2 hours."

Izuku had given Michael the choice to stick with him or go off on his own, and, not knowing what else to do, he agreed. Now they walked aimlessly as Izuku tried to explain a bit about what his world used to be like, and just make small talk. Izuku had decided the moment Michael agreed to tag along that he would not question his purple complexion or the lack of internal structure. It seemed like it might be rude, or bring back bad memories if he said the wrong thing, and he didn't want to cause that.

"I see."

They continued in silence for about an hour, before Michael spoke up again.

"I think I prefer this place over my home, truth be told."

Izuku was a little surprised that he would say something so out of nowhere. "Why?" He asked.

"I could go on for days about the terrible things that happened there." Michael sighed. "I don't particularly like dwelling on the past, so I tried to block it out. But here, it's all right. Even the atmosphere feels less oppressive, even if it's obviously still chaotic here."

Izuku frowned. "That's a pretty deep feeling to come up with so suddenly.

"I've had plenty of time to think, and this is the only conclusion I've come to."

...

The night took a long time to come, and Izuku still could find no portals, nor salvation in another world. He would have to wait another day. The pair sat down, and Izuku found himself falling asleep quite quickly...

It seemed like only seconds had passed when he felt something pulling him back to reality. He opened his eyes, and saw that the sky was beginning to turn pink.

"Get up." Michael whispered.

Izuku squinted, kind of annoyed. "Why?" He whispered back.

"I hear a large group of people coming, and I don't want to risk anything."

"Alright." Izuku nodded.

He stood up, as quietly as he could, and stretched, yawning. He was about to head off when he heard the sounds of many feet marching nearby. They were getting closer every second. He halted said stretching, and opted to climb up a tree. Michael made an attempt to hide, slipping behind a tree, but he was pretty easy to spot if one simply looked a little.

Izuku looked down at the group of men, as they marched by. His only question was why they were marching along together like this, and here of all things. They almost looked like soldiers, marching along with random weapons in hand. They were of varying species, although Izuku did not pay mind to this. When they passed and were far enough, Izuku leaped down and gestured for Michael to follow him as they tailed the group to see where they were going.

"What is this?" He hissed. They were headed towards a large open area. The group marched on, keeping pace, until they were they were the size of ants in distance. Izuku looked out to the open, treeless plains ahead. It took a minute to click in his mind, and he realized as Michael caught up what the plains were.

They were in the midst of a battlefield.

That's a wrap :D

[mc-critical]

Episode Review: Magnificent Century Episode 55

Time to set this straight...

Synopsis: After the events of last episode, Sultan Süleiman has fallen ill which puts everybody's intentions into a test while Mustafa learns about Aybige and Bali Bey's relationship. (which... was this even necessary?)

WARNING!: Spoilers! (duh..)

Note: This will probably be my only episode review. I was planning this for so long- I have so many conflicting feelings for this episode and I want to finally set them clear. I warn- there may be many nitpicks and over-exaggerations, heck, I may even sound like a biased Mahidevran fan at some point but I want to finally say what I think and that will probably be the way.

Now to the point.

Make no mistake, I think this episode has lots of strong moments.

The metaphors and the flashbacks are really strong in this one. The episode was basically made of them- all of them are extremely nuanced, have such a meaning and they're just... beautiful. Look at Mahidevran's flashback where she remembered the days in Manisa, so sad and beautiful, her first monologue in the series and especially a moment of vulnerability and sympathy for her, look at Mustafa's supposed ascension to the throne, so dramatic, and it's such a nod for future events..., look at Süleiman's memories- the people that matter to him most (his father, his mother, Ibrahim..), knowing that he's lost them or he'll eventually lose them, that thing about innocence- the same thing he said to Mustafa in episode 46, a neat parallel as usual and all else..

It has many powerful scenes. From the monologues and the flashbacks that reflect all the feelings of the characters (Mahidevran's first monologue in the series, Ibrahim's monologue, Hürrem's heartbreaking one..) to the powerful moments, representing the character arcs to some characters. ("I ripped the love out of my heart...") Episode 55 was full of moments like these that make the show worth the shot in spite of everything.

The direction has no flaw. The Mahidevran and Mustafa scene that had awesome lines and setting and a neat parallel between them, the entire depiction of Hürrem's suffering for Süleiman and her will to poison herself, the dream for Mustafa, the heavenly doors opening in front of SS and Ibrahim getting him out... The direction has overally improved in season 2 and this episode was just the pinnacle of this.

The final scene was a cult. Hürrem coming triumphant with her kids, the powerful Lüli playing in the background and the most impressive thing- the three sides. In this scene there were three sides standing to Süleiman's bed- the left side with Hürrem and her kids (along with H. being a step ahead of everyone else), the middle one with Hatice, Valide and Gülfem, and the right one with Mahidevran, Mustafa and Ibrahim. And these sides set many positions. The left, bound to become the closest, has Hürrem right by Süleiman's side. And she's one step ahead of everyone else. That, is a foreshadowing, that she'll be a haseki sultan and actually rule the world one day with the kids by her side. That is also used to parallelise Mahidevran and Ibrahim to Hürrem and Hürrem to everyone due to that step thing. The middle, actually the closest (their position is the closest to his heart) has Süleiman's relatives (and Gülfem) standing but Hürrem stands a step ahead of them, meaning that SS will disregard them too one day. And finally the right, arguably the most "distant" one, has Mahidevran, who literally ripped the love for him out of her her heart, Mustafa, who suffers in result of this, and Ibrahim, whom Süleiman has started to distrust little by little despite that he still remained loyal then. This also shows that despite of what she did, Mustafa will be with his mother till the end and that they will be the ultimate sacrifices. The parallels were especially strong here- the slowly succeeding Hürrem and the downfalling trinity. The direction and the music just empowered that string of emotions.

Not to mention how emotionally-heavy the entire episode 55 is. No matter what happened and how did it happen, you could feel for these characters. The emotion was probably the reason why this episode stands out so much- yes, there're lots of emotional episodes after this one, too (Ibrahim and Mustafa's deaths *cough*) but no episode did things like this peace here did. Nothing was like it.

And last good thing but not least, this episode actually set clear that this show is more than just a soap opera- from the first two seasons, this episode was the most serious one in terms of the atmosphere. And even if the whole illness thing was just a serial compromise and that the episode kinda lacked tension because of it- Episode 55 took all of the best aspects of the show and threw them in, resulting in an actually powerful culmination of events and future events.

Or... it actually would be.. if THAT didn't happen.

With all these powerful scenes, flashbacks, monologues, lines and direction,

What stopped this episode to be the perfect culmination in my eyes?

What fell flat?

What made me feel like the episode didn't even have to exist in the first place?

Answer: Character Portrayal:

Mahidevran's character derailment. (or rather the impression of it)

As simple as that.

Whether we like it or not, character portrayals can completely empower or downplay an episode. And that's exactly what happened here.

We know that Mahidevran was supposed to have a character arc. An arc where she was supposed to let loose of Süleiman forever. And this episode was supposed to be the culmination to this character arc.

However as I've mentioned before, it had no build up to it whatsoever. Yes, Mahidevran was becoming more inconsiderate, arrogant, demanding and even ruthless in the span of 46-this episode but it was never foreshadowed that Mahi was falling out of love with SS. The opposite actually- episodes 53 and 54 are a proof of that, I'll say this much. It was never even hinted that Mahi has ever even considered doing something like what she did here. And if the writers thought that making a character more arrogant, inconsiderate and ruthless means character development in terms of a main characteristic (I.e Mahi's unconditional love for SS), well, they are honestly wrong. Not to mention that in the first minute this same episode 55, Mahidevran mourned Süleiman and even had a monologue over him (and that was her first and last monologue in the series, you might think it matters) but then all of the sudden, she just.. stands up to him like it was absolutely nothing.

And what is the trope that defines a sudden change of a main characteristic of the character without an organic growth?

Character derailment.

This episode made an impression that Mahidevran was having a well-crafted character derailment that was still logical due to the circumstances and said character arc that despite badly crafted, the character still underwent. The fact all this happened all of the sudden without an organic growth makes literally all of this become very confusing beyond words. It isn't derailment due to the arc but the bad craftsmanship of said arc sets the impression that it is.

And the worse thing than this supposed character derailment is the impression it sets on the fandom. Most of said fandom literally think that Mahidevran has never even loved Süleiman which not only erases a huge part of her character and her motivation but and a huge part of the show's canon. That also antagonizes Mahi on a huge degree and seemingly or not removes the last of her redeeming qualities.

All this also turns the show's Gray and Gray Morality upside down- everyone supports Hürrem here and Mahi is the only one that doesn't. It looks like as if Mahidevran's the only "true one-dimensional antagonist" and the rest are either truly good, either are good but flawed or either bad with redeeming qualities which fully disregards the show's themes and the nuance of the characters. It's not truly like this but that's the impression it makes.

The situation with the derailment becomes even more messed up in the near end of the episode when Mahidevran smiles tenderly after she learns that SS has waken up. That is actually a sign that despite of not loving him anymore, she still has her affection for him left but due to all things said above it makes the impression that this is character rerailment in the last minute.

Let's not mention that the real consequences all this has aren't presented until much later in the game (episode 74, 101 and all of season 4) and even then it simply degenerated SS's personality and no matter how many times Mustafa showed him that he doesn't listen to his mother (along with his looks in episode 46 wayy before this showing that not only episode 55 is the reason), he still remained delusional due to his complex.

With all that said, I think that episode 55 still is a strong culmination but the horrid character portrayals and the bad craft of Mahidevran's character arc made it fall apart.

[namelessexistence]

The idealization part is so true. Binghe perceive people as extremes, IF he pay attention to them at all.

In both timelines, his greatest obssession is SQQ, tough It manifests in completly different ways. In both lifes, he seem unable to see SQQ as a complex person with good and bad inside of him.

To Bingmei, SQQ is a saint. When SY protect him from Without A Cure, Bingmei decides not only to leave behind any negative feeling about him, but also that SQQ must have had a reason to everything he ever done. Let's ignore the transmigation and the fact that SJ and SY are two different people, since LBH had no means to know. Still, "being a cruel teacher that punishes your disciples disproportinaly" and "not wanting your disciple to literally die" are not mutually exclusive. But, in Bingmei's mind, If SQQ cares about him, than he was never even slightly unfair ever.

Bingge painted SQQ as the Villain, the worst scum that ever lived, while remaining either blind or indifferent to people like OPM, LPM and SHL doing horrible stuff. I'm not saying that Bingge did not have a reason to resent SJ, but the fact that SQQ was horrible to him, doesn't necessarily means that he was the absolute worst to everyone, all the time. If SQQ tried to save LQG or not, or If the Qiu deserved their end ir not, nothing of this make LBH's experiences less valid. But, in Bingge's mind, the only thing that would explain his abuse is that SQQ was completly heartless and unable to love. And It wasnt just that he didn't see that SJ was a complex person, is that he actively didn't want to see. He doesn't like when SJ shows he cared about YQY. He ignored any evidence he had that SJ was a three dimensional person. Someone so determined to bring SQQ doom must have investigate, to find any possible additional crime If nothing else, so I don't believe he didn't have chances to learn what we know about SJ.

I also find interesting that QWY idealize LBH the same way he idealize SY. More wasted potential. Narrative parallels. Too bad QWY got little to no development.

I won't include transmigation in my fanfic, and therapists sadly doesn't exist in their world, so we'll have to do the best with what we have. But it is a interesting Idea to some other story.

Building relationships with other people woudn't just mean have more peopl to support him and pet his head. He would have to learn to understand different people at least a little bit. He would have the chance to learn about different experiences. He woudn't be able to act as If he romantic partner is the only person in the world who matters.

Interact with other people in equal ground would give him a lot of opportunities to grow. It woudn't just make his trauma go away, It doesn't happen, but hopefully he would be able to deal with It in a better way.

Also, I've never seen someone in the fandom talk about It, but the way his adoptive mother is Far too idealized as well. And I'm not saying that to bash a dead fictional woman who raised a orphan despite having little to herself. But, look, I love my mother more than anyone in the world, and she wasn't a bad mother at all. But we had fights. We annoyied each other and made each other feel bad because we are human beings with flaws who live together. Also, raising a child is not easy, who woudn't make mistakes? Sure, If my mother tragically died, I would probably focuse more in the good parts. But, the more I think about, the more I feel that LBH's idealization of the people he love is the reason his mother is remembered by him, pidw readers and svsss readers as such a kind selfless woman, Goodness in human flesh, but nothing more than that. We know nothing about her beyond that she was kind. We don't even know exemples of her kindness being directed to other people.

That response had no line or direction, I just shared some thoughts about the subject. I hope It made sense.

It's not a fix-it If LBH doesn't have friends

Ok, so the tragedy of the Original Luo Binghe is how empty everything he have is. He is so unsatisfied he would jump at the first chance to marry his worst enemy, someone who abused him, If that man can truly love "Luo Binghe" (I Also have a theory that they're kinda soulmates, in a messed up way, because Airplane originally planned for them to get together, but that theory is a completly different matter).

The point is, Bingmei is happier and satisfied because he has something Bingge never had, a relationship he actually care about. And I don't mean that LBG never cared about any of his wives, specially NYY, but whathever affection he may feel for them was not enough to bring himself to build genuine relationships. No one really loves 600 people, that number is just ridiculus. But he's never satisfied, with all the wives, victories, glory and treasures.

I find It fascinating to compare both LBHs, he is really an interesting character. And, If I was to say everything I think about the tragedy of LBG, this post would be too long and stray too much from what I'm trying to say.

The point is that svsss is a fix-it for pidw, where LBH gets a meaningful relationship. Because of that, it was a wasted opportunity to not let him build meaningful relationships with other characters. It would show what LBG could have had, even in a world without SY, If he allowed himself to.

And there's potential everywhere to It. NYY was the first person after his mother to be nice to him.

He and LMY could bound over interest in romance and their habit of making things up in their minds. They're both dreamers (and they're both into weird s**, except that LMY doesnt want to participate)

QWY helped him when he got out of the Abyss. She projected a lot into him in SVSSS since he saved her right after her sister died, it's something to explore.

There's a lot of Enemies to Friends potential with MF, SHL and MBJ. I've seen him be friends with SHL and MBJ in some fics, but It never explores how they got there, since his first impression of SHL was her invading the Sect, causing destruction and then cheerfully pointing out that SQQ was poisoned and there was no cure. His first impression of MBJ was even worst.

And I only talked about svsss characters until now.l, but crossover brings even more possibilities.

The juniors of mdzs are precious. JL was the only one who didn't start already as an angel in the novel, but he gets better.

LJY likes romance stories, and OYZZ is a romantic as well.

JL is an orphan like LBH and LSZ, is not only an orphan, but raised by a loving parent with no blood ties without knowing anything about his biological family.

In short, we must give LBH some friends, he needs them. And the possibilities are very fun