#based on that one s6 episode

[irenespring]

Me: I'm going to get back into writing fanfiction for a fun creative writing outlet, while I work on other humanities and social sciences in classwork :) Also me: Has now read at least one official medical study, multiple interest/support group and government reports, and several online testimonials re: House's possible amputation vs. non-narcotic pain treatments sans amputation, and now has a pretty good mental chart going of decidedly STEM things.

I have been tricked into researching STEM. Creative writing has betrayed me.

[riacte]

I know you made a post a while back on how to write Rendog, do you by any chance have tips for False or any posts on how to write her? The docs I have found on False are very limited XP

Thanks for the ask!

I personally find False tricky to characterise because her reactions can be finnicky and unpredictable, but that's why I like her.

False loves animals. Her bases are full of them and she gives them silly names like Noddy (she's bad with names)

False has mentioned her favourite animals are foxes and she didn't really understand the bird association until chat pointed out it was because she built an eagle for like two times

False knows she has an intimidating reputation but she doesn't fully vibe with it because she thinks she's rusty and out of practice.

False is community oriented and quietly connects different areas done by hermits (what she did at the end of S6, especially prominent with the districts, also what she's doing with the rivers this season). She keeps the group together and keeps infrastructure running (she contributed to the HC7 Nether hub) without making a big deal out of it

Based off the above, False has a flexible style and can work with a variety of aesthetics/styles while keeping them coherent with the overall landscape, clean, and on a realistic scale (realistic for Minecraft builds anyway). She has a keen eye and can easily pick up the finer details of someone's build/vision.

False's kindness really shines through her actions. She may be snarky and sarcastic a lot of the time, so you may not hear her say she cares for someone or openly show verbal affection but you know she does because she does favours for them/spends time with them/remembers specific details about them. Which ironically ties to the following:

False has bad memory and Does Not Remember a lot of "significant" things (she forgot her MCC10 Orange team once)

Some phrases to pepper in [insert British accent]: "Oh my goodness" "Blimey" "What the heck man?" "Flippin'" and her catchphrase of sorts for this season in the form of a horn— "Oh my God HI"

False sometimes introduces her male collaborators with a mister prefix to the audience presumably for fun and whimsy, I don't know if she does this for the female collaborators

False is VERY skittish and scared while being competent at facing whatever she's scared of. She's constantly confused. Think Xisuma and Mumbo's type of British confusion. She's paranoid.

False is mischievous and quick witted. She can come up with pranks on the fly and execute them swiftly. (For example, the invisible hat/briefcase prank on Gem) She loves punching/shooting/killing people and throwing them into one block holes.

Honestly, False is just random at times. Why does she have two phantoms in boats on her base? Dunno. Why does she sleep in that awfully cramped staircase bed? Dunno but it doesn't seem like she's changing it. Why is it called Big Business? It just is. It's for fun and whimsy (until she gets scared and starts crying and running away).

False has a tendency to randomly sneak up on someone and randomly escape. She's hard to catch. She's an enigma.

False tends to stay quiet during big group events and is also the type to get talked over

It takes time for her to warm up to new people so she'll be pretty quiet around them, however she will speak up for business/practical purposes (eg. her comms when she plays competitively).

I think this already gets talked a lot but False has great spatial awareness + reflexes and does a lot of the wrangling when it comes to team games

I don't think this can make it into a fanfic but she LOVES using emojis 😄🤨😒 I think for her HC7, most of her episode titles have an emoji

This is more of a personal interpretation but False seems like she would be scared/wary/paranoid of things most people don't care about but then when something actually freaky shows up she's like "yeah sure whatever".

False disrupts the flow when she's expected to go with it and goes with the flow when she's expected to disrupt it.

TLDR:

Surface level: quiet, skittish, alarmed, confused, nervous, wary, awkward, snarky, sarcastic

Under the surface level: cautious, considerate, kind, patient, loyal, humble

I really want to emphasize that she teases/kills/roasts her friends because that's how she shows affection. The more I watch her, the more it hits me how kind and patient she is but I guess that doesn't fit into the slay girlboss trope. And if she does show affection, it's in a subtle way, like quietly correcting someone's self deprecating joke or giving "gifts" to them in the form of pranks.

[all-pacas]

anyway something about how observant chase is and how he doesn’t get enough credit for it

- one of his first assisted solves is in sports medicine. he sees the patient refuse a drug test and at the time it means nothing. house needs to figure out how they got cadmium poisoning and now chase gets it.

- control: house doesn’t brag about solving the case. cameron and foreman are like whatever. chase realizes it’s a clue and goes to the patient’s room and finds out she’s been chugging ipecac. he had no clue case wise, medicine wise. he got it from looking at house.

- the whole s3 firing arc. he realizes almost instantly that house doesn’t want foreman gone, that foreman also feels guilty about it all. he spends episodes practically vibrating with frustration about it. foreman laughs at a joke! house ruins foreman’s interviews! chase is correct btw. house all but admits it. he sees them acting slightly odd and gets tweaked and figures it out.

- there’s other times! he puts together the little girl is allergic to light because she keeps getting worse during procedures. he realizes a woman is dying because her cat didn’t eat dinner. very controversial but you can make a strong case he’s right about cameron after she breaks off her fwb thing for the same reason: he tells her as such. and yes it’s not great to have a man explain to a woman how she feels but what he says? honestly? he has a pretty good read on cameron as a person?

- s6, private lives? wilson thinks house is acting sketchy and goes to chase for info. not foreman or taub or 13. chase has been working for house again for like two months and half of that time he’s been in a divorce depression. and yet chase instantly explains who house’s bookie is, his favorite sex worker’s name, and also figures out what he’s hiding based on his glasses. incredible.

- and the thing is it’s so fucking neglected kid of him. it’s so this child was parentified and spent his childhood taking care of his mother and looking for her tells. this child wanted desperately for his dad to pay attention and care. chase is phenomenally observant of other people. house tells him this specific trait is why he got hired. chase might not be the most book smart but man when he feels like it

[waywardmillennial]

Puppet History Trailer Breakdown

The PH season seven trailer dropped on Watcher TV today and I'm going to try to break it down New Rockstars style - so settle in because this is a long one!

disclaimer: I am an oxymoron of a human who notices lots of details and misses other clues - so I might not have caught everything but I tried!

[s7 trailer easter eggs and spoiler-y thoughts under the cut]

The trailer opens with the Professor looking at the billboard for Phorgedytol, the tagline of which reads "(something) WITH YOUR BRAIN"

[note: this is different to the Phorgedytol billboard we see at the end of the trailer that reads "FRENCH THE VOID!"]

the first shot of Ryan in the trailer is from the episode with Aria Inthavong

behind them on the bookshelf you can see what I think is a brachiosaurus (from the late Jurassic era), a pair of alpacas, and the Genie lamp very prominently displayed!

then we cut to this interaction Ryan: How long has it been since we've been in class? to which the Professor gives a very non-committal "Uhhhh...."

[Interesting, no? Possible side-effect of the Professor taking Phorgedytol maybe?]

then we cut to guest Alex Song-Xia with a possibly foreboding comment

[this probably has no lore implications but I like that there's a framed copy of this photo that Ryan tweeted in 2021 on the set]

the trailer continues with the Professor talking to the guests

then the trailer cuts to what could be a major lore drop with Ryan saying, "You keep my wife's name out of your god damn mouth!" as he marches to the theater to slap the Professor

[notice how this is in black and white -that's the trailer edit not mine- so perhaps this is a flashback of some kind? Maybe to something that happened to make the Professor want to take Phorgedytol?]

Remember in s6 Ryan and the Professor were friends (see: the JC Penney photoshoot) so seeing a moment like this in the trailer is, for lack of a better phrase, a slap in the face

Based on what all the guests are wearing in the trailer it looks like The Slap will happen in Claudia's episode, based on the shot right before Ryan gets out of the chair (their reaction face is gorgeous btw)

we get a great out of context line from Sara Rubin

and the Professor talking about his anatomy with Brennan

Then the Lore Drop Hits

[yeah the rest of this was just a drop in the bucket in this trailer tbh]

The cuts happen fairly fast with overlapping VO - I posted most of the main shots earlier and there are some shots of the history skits that I skipped to focus on the Lore. These shots also have some alt descriptions in this post of things I noticed on the rewatch

VO Script Mysterious Puppet: No, you louse. You sops. You absolute men. Ryan: Well, this is collusion. They clearly- Professor: That's not collusion. Ryan: It's collusion! You guys fucking figured it out before this. Brennan: Just get on his wavelength, man. Professor: Get on my level! Ryan: You're just not ready for the truth!

[First reactions: The Professor is wearing a party hat for a lot of this trailer, and so is the new puppet. So they must have been at the same party. Also, the Professor is standing in front of a sign that reads "Six Nasty Seasons" even though this is the trailer for season seven. Is that from the season six wrap party? Could it also point to Phorgedytol symptoms that we're 'missing' a season?

The horse puppet looking through the door has a moustache, so is very likely not Dorothy Ruth or Stanley Melvin Murphy. Maybe DR's fiancé? This same moustachio'd horse is in the pasta scene

Hard to say which horse is walking towards The Brown Derby but fun to note that was a real chain of restaurants in LA starting in 1926]

Then the Professor meets with the new Shane character - shall we call them Patch for now?

and that's the trailer in a nutshell!

*Roll End Credits*

Other reactions:

Delighted that we get canon confirmation that the Professor goes by Connie McNasty, at least some of the time

Love that Joyce and Garrett are back this season!

The noir, old Hollywood vibes of this trailer are gorgeous and overall it looks really well-made!

I hope we get some explanation for the slap that's not Ryan and the Professor becoming enemies again

the Liza Minelli* of it all

Not too sure on many theories at this point, but I'm sure it's going to be a great (but maybe nail-biting) season!

[ct-multifandom]

S6 ep speculation

Get ready to hear my 80% wrong predictions even though I’m like, super not caught up on this show! It’s still fun to guess. Also this post will be generally leak-free so don’t go replying to it with “uhhh actually from the leaks we know this and that”. Not the place. Warning, this post is incredibly long.

1) Climatiqueen

I lean into the microphone and say, “Aurore”. The crowd erupts into cheers and fervent applause. Everyone shouts and whistles and pumps their arms in the air.

Interesting that they went with the French name for both translations, and she clearly seems to be a powered up version of stormy weather. It’s so fitting to circle around and start this new arc and new butterfly user off with the OG… I just hope we’ll get to learn a little about her character this time (doubtful). She’s gone to the main cast’s school this whole time and was Marc and Zoe’s classmate. It’d be great if they made her an actual recurring character instead of a special NPC. The children yearn for a character who acts like a cunty Mean Girl but isn’t actually a bad person.

I’m guessing this episode will serve as a general intro to the new world, showing us a typical day in the life of LB & CN kind of like the original pilot without dropping any important main plot developments.

2) Dessinatriste/The Illustrhater

Why is nobody talking about how funny the English name is, that’s hilarious. The haterrr. I’m getting very different vibes from both translations emotions-wise. The English title makes it sound like they’re petty or angry rather than sad.

My first thought was Nath because the name follows similar conventions as Dessinateur/Evillustrator in both languages and as one of the earliest and most iconic akumas it might continue this idea of Lila following in Gabriel’s footsteps while first learning how to butterfly.

In early s1, Gabriel was still experimenting with his powers while figuring out what does and doesn’t work when making an akuma. Well actually, since it was Gabriel, he learned absolutely nothing and was shocked when making the same mistakes over and over didn’t give him different results.

I think putting Lila through that same test drive phase would show her being much more analytical and actually develop her skills based on what she learns. In s1, Gabriel had a hard time making The Evillustrator do what he wanted, going so far as to like bloodbend him, then never targeted him again. If Lila was in that situation, she might figure out how to be more persuasive/manipulative/motivational or just learn that she has to choose akumas who will align with her goals in the first place.

Nath is also majorly due for character development. And he might be a pro level hater. It’s odd and a shame that we’ve only seen him once while every other class character has been akumatized like a hundred times atp. I think it’s most likely him.

I’ve seen people bring up that the French name sounds like a pun on the feminine form of the word. While Nath might be a diva, my counter argument is that this might be referring to Kagami, who is also interested in illustration and a girl. <- LMAO [insert Kagaminette joke], I mean “and is a girl”.

We haven’t heard much about her artistic journey in a long time even though it was important enough to mention in that trading card game where they said she secretly wants to make her own manga but lacks the confidence to start even though she has it planned out (super paraphrased).

Since Tomoe will become a greater villain, this could be the opportunity to show it since she’s the reason Kagami is self-conscious about her art. Maybe Tomoe will provoke Kagami into getting akumatized on purpose to test out Lila’s abilities or use her somehow. I’m not sure what her motivations are. Kagami does have, what, four different akuma forms already not counting powered-up ones? Crazy evolution tree, why not add more.

This might be an episode where Kagami becomes more comfortable pursuing what she wants and finding support among Marinette and friends instead of looking for Tomoe’s validation, continuing the plot line from Perfection. Once again, I don’t think it’s likely to be her tho.

3) Sublimation

I’ve seen the leaks and I believe everything I’ve seen has been from this episode. I feel comfortable saying this since it was already released in the official trailer, but the villain here is the coach woman. This episode seems to mostly be focused on this new runner girl character. I won’t elaborate because I don’t think any of the other stuff I know about this ep was in official material, but yeah, very much a new character situation.

You’d think this episode would have something to do with the power of the rooster miraculous, but there is absolutely no indication of that. I like to imagine the writers have a “word of the day” calendar at the office, and when they learned the word sublimation they were like, “hollllyyyy shit you guys, we need more people to know about this”.

4) Daddycop

I expect this to be a Sabrina-centric development episode and would be shocked if it’s not. Her relationship with Roger is pretty interesting since they seem to be on good, loving terms, yet he’s okay with all the Chloe bs and seems apathetic or ignorant to how Sabrina was being treated. Maybe we’ll see some rebellion from her now that she hangs out with other people.

The akuma’s name, to me, implies that Sabrina will be responsible for Roger’s akumatization or at least the main focus of it. Maybe he will become overly protective of her and target anyone who fucks with her or worry that she’s straying from the right path and exaggeratedly try to correct her behavior.

Sabrina’s behavior up to around Penalteam was likely informed by Roger’s influence, possibly more-so than Chloe’s. He had this “doing what you’re told is right” mindset that he instilled in his daughter, so in this episode, she might help him unlearn it. As a cop, he was always mindlessly bossed around by Mayor Bourgeois, so since Andre is gone, Roger will have to think for himself more.

5) Papys Garous/Werepapas

Continuing the theme of dramatic dads, the consensus seems to be that this will be Tom and probably Rolland. I’m not sure why, but Marinette’s always getting up to some silly billy antics, so. Tom doesn’t seem to have any issue with Adrien and idk what type of beef is gonna start for the grandpa to get involved. It might be some misunderstanding situation or another “Chat Noir is on our fucking balcony again, get the broom” moment.

It might very well be the mom and dad though, not the dad and grandpa. People have been talking about how it’s unrealistic that Marinette has been able to keep huge secrets from her parents for so long, so they might snap this time, not because of Adrien, but because she’s been acting shady herself. They might assume she’s getting into trouble. People have been long speculating that Sabine will learn Ladybug’s identity soon, so maybe she will finally have to tell her parents in a situation similar to gang of secrets.

6) Princesse Syren/Sleeping Syren

Ondine yayyyy! Yay! Ondine. Possibly a Kimdine episode to redeem Kim after they ruined his character for no reason and everyone got really mad because it didn’t even make sense. Remember when the instas were still a thing Alya had a post like “hanging out at the pool! Ondine is so awesome idk what she sees in Kim” or something. Yeah. How’d he pull a baddie like her if he’s been acting the way they’ve been showing him to act? Makes no cents luv. I’m dying to see more of their relationship, more of her, and some repair of what they’ve done to Kim.

It sounds like they might be doing some kind of sleeping beauty retelling? Idk how that would make Syren a threat if she’s asleep the whole time, but maybe she’ll still be doing the whole flooding the city with tears thing while she’s sleeping.

I also really hope Ondine will be attending their school now. I want to see her interact with other characters and become more relevant. Please give The People (me) what they want (official Ondine street clothes design). Also they’ve been introducing too many lamely designed girl characters with average heights and athletic-skinny body types. We need the 6ft swole girl to balance them out.

7) El Toro de Piedra

This name is so Ivan-coded that I’m tempted to just say that it’s not him, but why would they make an intentionally misleading Ivan clone. The name is concerning because it sounds like a mix of stoneheart and his hero persona. That makes me think maybe he’ll get akumatized AS Minotaurox. His arc has been about how he’s scared to accidentally harm others because being the first akuma bothered him so deeply. If he’s in a situation where he has to act tough or use force as a hero, he might become upset, worrying that he’s going overboard. I can see him cracking if his fight against an akuma ends up getting a civilian hurt in the crossfire or with someone being scared of him afterwards. Having his regular/akuma and hero forms mix together could compromise his identity.

Also I guess he’s Hispanic? *sonic voice* I didn’t know that. I remember a long while ago they said in an interview to look forward to Ivan lore which is one of the things I am most excited for this season. He is probably THE most underrated character in the show and most overdue for development.

8) Vampigami

Guys I hate to say it. I really hate to say it. My heart wants this to be vampire Kagami sooooo bad but my brain says we aren’t allowed to have nice things. I already suggested a Kagami akuma earlier, and she can totally get akumatized several times a season again because her mom hates her, but I’m not ready to be disappointed like this. I want her to become a badass evil vampire and acquire a Ben 10 arsenal of villain forms, but Vampigami is probably gonna be some stupid shit like Optigami except it looks like a bat instead of a butterfly this time.

I really don’t know what to seriously expect. I can’t imagine vamp referring to anything other than vampire, although it can also mean patching/editing like the word revamp. Gami has only been used in a senti name before to mean oragami. Idk man vampire Kagami is so engrained in my mind that I can’t come up with anything else. Like to charge reblog to cast. Let’s manifest that the writers have finally tuned in to what the people want.

9) Monsieur/Mister Agreste

This has got to be the episode that introduces Adrien’s grandparents, right? Meaning his grandpa is gonna be Gabriel’s dad and the title could stand for three generations of Mr. Agrestes. I’m surprised we haven’t heard much about them yet, but since Gabriel’s dead, it makes sense they’d come around to get his affairs in order or attend the funeral etc etc.

We got a big movie about Emilie’s history and her noble family, but all we know about the Agrestes is that they weren’t rich, and they sold fries. But there’s the weird part: wouldn’t Gabriel’s parents be the Grassettes? How much do they know about his life after he moved out? This episode might show us more about where it all went wrong for the Gabriel of this timeline. Maybe his dad will get akumatized because Gabriel abandoned their family, and he’ll become Mr. Agreste instead of Mr. Grassette to try to fit himself back into Gabriel’s fake narrative. He’ll turn into a rich asshole old guy because he thinks that’s the type of dad Gabriel would have wanted instead of his real self. Dang that’s sad.

10) Le Chateau Noir/The Dark Castle

My first reaction was Chat Noir, but I saw someone say Darkblade which makes so much more sense. I mean Chat Noir getting akumatized is an avengers-level threat, and last time it happened he blew up like everything, plus the episode was pretty late into the season.

Darkblade fits pretty well with the castle thing since he’s a knight. He lost yet another mayoral election, unable to even blame it on corruption this time. On top of it all, the new, fairly elected mayor is his old coworker from school who also didn’t have much political experience. Ouch.

11) Revelator

I’m getting Reverser from the name but only vaguely. This sounds like a similar type of villain to Gold Record who forces people to reveal something about themselves. Maybe this episode will go into how suddenly having secret identities is affecting the other characters’ relationships like Gang of Secrets again or Truth/Lies. If the akuma’s power has to do with revealing secrets, someone may get their identity exposed on accident like in Wishmaker. By that I mean a reveal between characters other than the akuma and the secret they want to find out.

12) Psyconductrice/Wreckless Driver

My first thought here was Max’s mom because she’s a train engineer, but the name seems to imply cars specifically. Totally unrelated, but remember that one poll on here about who’s the hottest MILF in miraculous, and Claudie Kante was in dead last by a lot, even way behind Audrey with her fuckass Anna Wintour bob and horrible child abusing bitter personality? Yeah you all have horrible taste. Democracy is dead and I hope everyone is happy being so goddamn ignorant and wrong. /hj.

On the topic of moms this could still be someone’s mom. I’ve brought up the pattern before: many moms are associated with a mode of transportation that are connected to their villain form. Car: Tomoe, boat: Anarka, train: Claudie, motorcycle: Gina. We could get a bus driver mom, or a trucker or taxi or racecar driver. Imagine. I’ve been saying we need a pilot mom.

Even if this isn’t anyone’s mom, it might be a new character. Idk who else it could be of existing characters.

13) Yaksi Gozen

This bitch again. Boo. I mean she IS super badass actually, but can we comically pull her offstage with a long hooked cane and let someone else have the screentime? I gotta say I am interested in her as a major villain but. Her akuma was cool the first two times and it’s time to calm down.

Clearly there’s something new about her this time. When looking up what yaksi means, it brings up yakshi, a type of nature spirit, but nothing that actually matches with “yaksi”. Maybe she’ll run a greenwashing campaign with her company? That reminds me of Mega Leech and how she wasn’t held accountable for her involvement in that scenario. If she comes under fire, she might get herself akumatized on purpose Collector-style to save face. Does anyone know if yaksi means something else? I’m not convinced it’s supposed to be yakshi without the h.

14) Couchorak/Grendiaper

Gigantitan vibes, possibly a powered-up version of him. When Hawkmoth first akumatized the baby, it was by mistake, and he ended up regretting it because he was hard to control and useless to his cause. Would Lila akumatize a baby on purpose, or is this an accident too? Since there’s a time skip, baby August would be a year older as well, so he’d actually be a toddler now, which might make him less unpredictable.

A shot in the dark I’m gonna make is that this might be Ivan’s younger sister. We know he has one, and while we don’t know her age, it sounds like she’s probably a toddler. We also know that he’s interested in childcare as a career. If I had to guess, I’d say he probably takes care of her often, which might be what gave him the idea. If she gets akumatized, it would be a great setup for his superhero focus episode.

15) La Redresseuse/The Ruler

My hottest take on this whole post is that this one is Mendeleev. Isn’t she the principal now or something? Idk but she’s a strict teacher who needs order, so I think the name matches her because 1: rulers are school supplies, especially for a science teacher who needs everything to be measured exactly, 2: ruler meaning leader with a totalitarian connotation, 3: the French title means straightener which connects to disciplining students or controlling how the school is run.

I think she’ll get akumatized because her students lack respect for her, and her strictness makes them dislike her which actually hurts her feelings as seen in the NY special. She might have a hard time adjusting to this new school system and her new role, not seeing the same positive relationships Bustier and Damocles held with the kids. She’ll go way overboard and turn into an evil school-themed dictator to try and regain control, but then learn her own lesson.

16) Noe

This is most likely a new character or something, but I love the idea that it’s just like, evil Zoe. Zoen’t. Noe.

OR imagine if it’s a more powerful version of Nino’s brother because it’s Noel but without the L, meaning this time, he won’t be taking the L. Coincidence? I think not. He is Lila’s pawn or whatever after all.

In all seriousness I have no idea what this is and the name could mean a lot of things, so I’m gonna just go with a completely new character.

17) La Fee De Beaux Reves/A Fairy Good Night

This is so Pigella energy. Not Rose, Pigella. In Jubilation, we saw how terrifying her power is when used for evil, trapping people in their own daydreams. Maybe she’ll struggle with nightmares or sleep problems and turn into an akuma that forces everyone to get stuck in imagined utopian illusions so they can “rest”. This idea is kind of the opposite of Sandboy and Nightormentor. I’d love to see more of her power and how it can be used for both good and evil, especially since a lot of people seem to think it’s useless or too situational.

18) Les Crassetastrophes/The Dirtifiers

This might be the little kids in another obligatory babysitting episode. The villain name is plural, so it could be a comic relief moment where the kids get mad because they don’t want to clean up or something silly. Otherwise maybe this is another pollution situation? I’m leaning more towards children, though. Another possibility is that we might be getting our first animal akumas.

19) Riginarazione

So I’m pretty set on this being Lila herself. Italian words? Check. Villain name having “queen” (rigina) in it because they can’t be too creative? Check. I’m guessing the pun is supposed to be regeneration rather than “queen ration” so maybe she’s gonna make herself some sort of nearly invincible self-healing villain.

20) Renverse-cœurs/Heartfixer

This sounds like that monstrosity Andre and Audrey turned into. Heart Hunter. I had to Google the name because I erased it from my mind. Out of all the old villains, I’m surprised this is one they’d choose to revamp since it was such a jumpscare, but I can see how they’d want to revisit it in the context of the Bourgeois’s messed up relationship since they were more of a temporary joke villain the first time. Maybe we’ll get some backstory on Chloe and Zoe as kids and who this Lee guy is who’s supposed to be Zoe’s American Dad (goooood morning, USA!). Based on the akuma name… maybe they’re gonna get less divorced. Wouldn’t that be a shocker? Audrey character development? Or maybe they’ll feel the need to keep it together for the kids.

21) Les Titans Chaines/The Chained Titans

I have no idea but it sounds awesome. Clearly more than one person. My first thought was s5 finale energy with the miraculized, like a whole mob of people sharing the same negative emotions. The metal vibes make me think maybe Couffaine family just because they’re so dramatic, and Jagged was a titan in the music industry who didn’t want to feel chained down? Kind of a stretch perhaps. Of course, it could be something new.

22) Lady Chaos

I’m saying Marinette akuma idc. I know people have been making this prediction for the past couple seasons and the writers were saying no but. Episode 22 is the one where shit goes down. Now that Bunnyx is active full time and there’s an entire team of other superheroes, there’s finally a chance to beat her if she does turn evil. I’m guessing it’s gonna be a bad timeline one like the Adrien akumas.

My concern with this type of ep is that they’d Mary Sue her and be like “her power levels are so high that nobody stands a chance against her, the best ladybug ever” even with like 20 heroes fighting her. I don’t think it’d be too bad though, because thinking about Chat Blanc, if she instantly blows up the whole world and the goal is just to undo that timeline, it’d probably be about equivalent.

23) Tristanansi

Using triste in two of the French akuma names is uh… we couldn’t come up with anything more creative? Anyway obv Nora so this could once again be a Nino episode like the first, but it could also (more likely imo) be an Alya one. Nora has a fiery personality and strong opinions so maybe Lila could’ve taken advantage of that to manipulate her kind of like what happened with Jalil. We were briefly introduced to a character who is her friend or boyfriend last season, and he may be more relevant this time, like maybe they have a fight. Similar to Sentibubbler, maybe Lila is targeting Alya’s family to try and get information out of her or steal the fox miraculous.

24) La Reine de Frayeurville/Queen of the Dreadzone

Other people have been saying this could be a Halloween special but… I want to say this might be a powered up Horrificator. This might be one of those episodes where they make it more lighthearted before the finale, and we haven’t seen her act on her own since s1 which is like the whole point of her akuma. She isn’t effective at all in groups and everyone’s been kinda desensitized to what’s supposed to be scary about her. Maybe they’re bringing her back scarier. Mylene has come far with her phobias, so they’d need something to really scare her.

I remember something about a proposed Halloween special taking place in the catacombs, which is coincidentally where Lila’s lair is. There might be a connection where the gang figures out she’s there, and something spooky goes wrong while investigating. The Paris catacombs are an understandable place to get scared in and a great setting for horror.

25) Protocole Secret/Secret Protocol

26) Nemesis

^^^ Ok I don’t know what specifically to say about the finale except that they’re probably gonna fight self-akumatized Lila since they tend to be kind of unpredictable.

What I do want to do is bring everything together and point out that Lila knows the identities of like half the heroes from the beginning because she stole Nathalie’s iPad or whatever happened. In Miracle Queen: Alya, Nino, Luka, Kagami, Kim, and Max had their identities revealed, which was relevant again in Optigami. Alix didn’t even try to keep a secret. Lila can easily connect that five of these people are her former classmates and all of them are friends, so she must have figured out that the rest of the heroes are also from their group. In the London special, it didn’t take a lot of hard work to uncover Marinette’s identity. She also targeted Kagami last season on a personal level. Side note, I have no clue if she knows Felix is Argos or not. That point is unclear to me, but I’m gonna assume she does since Gabriel knew.

We have Marinette, Adrien, Juleka, Rose, Mylene, Ivan, Zoe, Marc, Nath, and Sabrina left in the safe zone. I predicted most of these characters will get akumatized, and I believe Lila will be targeting them on an individual level under the suspicion that they’re on the team. It’s likely that she will even expose some if not a lot of them. In fact, she might have gone after Ondine as a red herring because she’s friends with them and King Monkey’s gf. From her perspective, Marinette could be one of the superheroes just as easily as anyone else could.

I’m not too worried about Adrien since he’s been the best at staying secretive, and Lila might not even suspect him because of the idealized yet untrue preconceived notions she has about him.

She may also be going down the list to see who does and doesn’t show up to each fight, making ladybug feel the need to call the minimum number of people to help her, which would solve the narrative problem of “why can’t ladybug sic the whole team on every akuma”. Discounting any Mirage tricks, having a certain hero help fight an akuma would tell Lila that the akuma is for sure not that hero. And obviously if every hero except one shows up that’s uh… suspicious.

Something very interesting is that out of all these characters, the episode I predicted to focus on Sabrina is one where the akuma is not her. Perhaps Lila will overlook her because she only recently made new friends, thinking she’d never be trusted with a miraculous. This same mistake of underestimating Sabrina is what led to her downfall the first time, so it’d be poetic if Sabrina managed to play the spy twice.

I did not predict any of these episodes to potentially be a Juleka akuma, but you know this girl will never in her life catch a break, especially with the rest of the pattern I’ve laid out above. Which episode do you think is secretly gonna be Reflekta? I guarantee you it’s one of them.

As a final note, I think Nathalie will be instrumental in helping the team identify Lila as the villain. They’re very unlikely to defeat her this season for good, but Nathalie knew about Lila’s little internship with Gabriel, and she was the one who originally had all the grimoire pages and Optigami identity data digitalized. She may recognize that information has been stolen or connect that Lila may have had the opportunity to physically take the butterfly miraculous by entering the lair. She’s in a unique spot because she’s the only one who knows this much about Lila’s villain plans, but also knows Ladybug’s identity now. I’m interested to see her role as a redeemed ally to the team.

Aaaaand that’s my novel length essay. Thanks for making it to the end. As always, I’m interested in hearing what other people think! (I feel like a YouTuber doing an outro lol) I’m excited to see the first episode soon which is actually gonna be the second episode I guess. So close! Off to an incredible start. I want to hear other theories!

[receivedhope]

I feel like it's pretty undeniable that from Season 3 onwards, there seemed to have been a shift in Blaine's character from how he was in Season 2. While I am not the first to point this out, I do think there are some greatly underutilized traits of Blaine present in S2 that get phased out as he receives more screen time and are not usually brought up in such conversations.

This will unfortunately get long because I love Blaine meta.

There was always some half attempt at making Blaine out to be bossy and while Puppet Master is an episode that aims to address this, I did think it fell a little flat in selling this side of him. He was more whiny than anything lol. This bossy side of him that always wants to be in control of the room and the people around him was... given a better set up, I'd say, while he was in the Warblers. It was more subtly showing than outright telling, though unfortunately we spend so little time in Dalton that it was hard to gauge the inner hierarchy and dynamics of the group accurately since they always presented a united front to outsiders - Trent's betrayal in S4 is a big deal. But I always did find it interesting how hung up they were on Blaine, who at the very most attended Dalton only for two years, as well as that he had no actual title such as a captain or head Warbler, yet was the decided leader of the group not just star performer. (See: Will shakes Blaine's hand after their Sectionals tie. Based on just the Warbler court scenes, you'd assume Wes stepping up here to do so make more sense.)

Though it was not lost completely and I always have been of the opinion that most conflict Kurt and Blaine have stem from their respective control issues. Kurt needs schedules, sufficient space to move on his own and he exercises his need for boundaries freely (see: retreating to his room in Home and asking Burt to leave as well, not allowing Finn to touch him in Theatricality and Grilled Cheesus, scheduling Friday night dinners with Burt, scheduling make outs with Blaine in DWS) while Blaine enjoys being the protector and ultimately having the last word (see: the entire plot of Tested and NNY). It makes a stupid amount of sense that the times they butt heads the core issue stems from an external force limiting their movement, like how in TFT Blaine sees the opening night closing in on him as a deadline and makes him panic, or when Blaine cheats in TBU to gain some control over how to identify their long distance relationship, or how Kurt feels their impending wedding more suffocating than anything pre S6.

However something that unfortunately did seem to get entirely lost from Blaine's character as time went on, that I do think miss from him entirely in latter seasons, is his conformist attitude from S2.

Blaine is almost Kurt's foil during his Dalton arc. While Kurt hates having to fit in (and has never quite succeeded in it at all), Blaine likes moving as one with other people. He likes being a part of a team, being depended on and being liked. And this attitude ultimately is why he is stuck in a rut before he meets Kurt - he retreats to Dalton when real life gets complicated and messy, because he is never challenged by it. Dalton is how Blaine ultimately sabotages himself.

Even his wardrobe in S2 was telling this story - a completely normal guy who likes being only that. The very few times we see him in everyday clothes, they are average with nothing outstanding to note. Dark colors, jeans, simple shirts. A far cry from "I am the center of attention and this primary colors proves it" and wacky bowties. While I always liked that Kurt is most likely the one picking out his clothes, I did enjoy this side of Blaine more, the subdued, regular everyday guy who wears only what his peers do - even if the costume department would have found it painfully boring to stick with in the long run lol.

Why he got so worked up about and increasingly frustrated with Finn actively excluding him from the ND in early S3 also makes sense. While Kurt, as a true individualist with no real desire to fit in is not easily phased by not being included, Blaine takes it to heart.

(I always thought Blaine views having a significant other is like always being in the same team with someone and is why he desires a relationship so much.)

I like this aligned with his hesitance and slight uncomfortableness over Kurt's prom outfit in PQ as well. (Though, I'm sorry to grasp as straws, I also enjoy the thought of Blaine deciding to side with Burt as a way to impress him - if you look closely, Blaine is more impressed and smitten with Kurt's outfit at first... But you are free to disregard this point because this is just me being insane.)

A natural conclusion of his bossy and conformist personality would ultimately result in him also leaning towards being authoritarian, which I think makes great sense for someone who likes being part of a team, knowing where they all stand and making sure he fits in but also preferring to take charge and be the head. I really like that! And I think this all being contrasted with Kurt, who can't blend in, even if he tries (see: Preggers, Laryngitis, his entire dalton arc, I'd argue that even his senior class president campaign as well as starting in NYADA qualify a bit) and always makes his own path to follow is just sooo interesting and can really sell the whole opposites attract thing! Because I do believe that Kurt found it particularly nice that there is this outstanding, well mannered guy who is respected by all his peers and is ready to go to bat for him, helping him push Kurt's ideas as well as using his influence to help him - I think somthing very similar attracted Kurt to Finn as well in S1 - and it is pretty much canon that Blaine finds Kurt's fighting spirit inspiring and something hopeful (I think he was inspired by Kurt to transfer to McKinley, which is why "I did this for me" and "I even switched schools for him" can simultaneously be true), as well as attractive that Kurt is a one of a kind (cut to 'youre the only one...' in DCT). Also put a pin in that last part, because I have so much to say about the consistent bird allegories and imagery associated with their relationship, but maybe at a later date since this is already getting long.

Other times, I also think that S3+ Blaine is not that out of left field if you pay attention to him in S2. Something that gets pretty early established is that Blaine is a rash and impulsive person. When he is hurt, he lashes out. You can see this in NoN when Karofsky picks a fight with them, it gets physical pretty quickly, however you can see Kurt being just... disappointed? Resigned, almost?

Blaine is also quick to react to Sandy's heckling that Kurt shuts down asap.

We later learn that Blaine is also entirely capable of doing things with the intent of hurting Kurt - he sings a Whitney Houston song at him that implies Kurt much less ambigiously cheated than in reality, in front of all his friends, because at the core of it is his anxiety about Kurt leaving him. He cheats on Kurt when he feels neglected.

And I think it is a bit naive to think he dated Karofsky entirely because of a supposed mutual attraction, ignoring the Kurt of it all. The history them three share is undeniable and he did want Kurt to feel like shit about it - which, for the record, I think is understandable since Kurt broke off their engagement rather ungracefully and it pushed Blaine into a depressive state, to the point of getting cut from NYADA and having to move back to Ohio.

All that to say - I always found all of the above very in line with the S2 Blaine who was quick to compare Kurt to Karofsky in BIOTA, just because Kurt said something mildly offensive in a moment where he was also hurt!

I guess this is also the time to quickly, as a sidenote, talk about Kurt's biphobic comment. I think the ultimate, intended purpose of the scene was more comedic. A mean, off color joke, but a joke RIB wanted to make nonetheless. However I do not find it out of character. Firstly: that is a seventeen year old boy who was told his whole life that he is disgusting and sick for liking men by the entirety of the conservative town he lives in. He is sexually assaulted by his closeted bully and has to transfer schools and he was never afforded to be "in" the closet either, because everyone around him assumes his sexuality. How right or wrong that is to do, is another topic. He has a crush on the only other out and proud gay kid in Ohio - who would rather give it a shot with a girl before Kurt. And to add insult to injury, Kurt already lost a crush of his to Rachel!

Of course he is hurt, of course he will say something less than gracious!

And Blaine in the only other person who is fully aware of Kurt's situation - for him to compare Kurt saying something mean and a bit offensive to Karofsky's actions is out of pocket, in my opinion.

I'm not sure how to end this neatly, but I will say this: I do like all of the above about Blaine and would have loved to see these traits more consistently. I do not think this darker side of his negates the good parts of him. If anything, understanding his lows helps me appreciate his highs even more.

[moralofallthestories]

CK s6 part1 spoilers‼️

This is going to be mostly my rant on ep5 and some plots from the previous episodes

- My heart BREAKS for Tory, it’s like the writers just decided to add more on top of the misery from her story last season. S5 the girl broke up with someone she loves and cares about for Kreese’s plan, ended up hurting herself badly and had no one by her side the entire season, and now they just decided to kill off her mom just when her life is starting to get better. What did she do to deserve this??

- Look how quickly Daniel and Johnny moved on to Hawk for their selections literally after they all learned about Tory’s mother’s death, like if you both are such good senseis, wouldn’t it be nice to actually give a shit about Tory and her grief?? Instead of making if about yourself, how about we actually go console her and making sure she’s okay or at least be there? Both of them are such bad mentors for the kids, first is how they handled Kenny’s situation after he got humiliated with the accident, Johnny only spoke up when he’s fighting for Devon and Daniel rlly favors his kids than his other students. If any of these two even showed the same attention and support to Kenny and Tory, I’m sure neither of them would actually quit Miyagi-Do so quickly on the spot. Some sensei they really are huh.

- Robby my man, I get that going to the Sekai Taikai is important for you but are you really gonna do nothing after your girlfriend’s meltdown about her mother’s death? At this point this show’s writing is so bad I don’t wanna hear about any “they probably did this off-screen” kinda bullshit no more. I swear if part 2 has any point of showing him standing on the moral high ground accusing Tory of switching sides like what he did to her in s5 imma riot, cancel my Netflix subscription along with my family plan :))

- Based on s5 and what we’ve seen so far, my headcanon for Robby & Tory is that he’s the one that usually texts her first and he texts more but she’s not good with it, she’s not good with expressing her emotions either so sooner or later they’re gonna face this communication problem in the relationship (of which the problem was clearly shown before in s5 when they “broke up”)

- While the privileged kids talking about their top colleges and applications, what Robby and Tory had was the Sekai Taikai - underdogs in the top 4

- Devon, my girl…not a good decision…why you choose to go on that path

- I can never like Anthony he really gets on my nerves

- Bad writing with all those conflicts overall, hated how they handled Kenny’s character especially trying to embarrassing him for the flag fight. I was hoping to see him and his brother in more action but you can never expect too much from Cobra Kai writers I guess

- The baby storyline continues…the most boring and unnecessary storyline that ruins Johnny’s character as a father and a sensei

- CK really has this type of half assed writing throughout all seasons why am I surprised lmao

The good part:

- Sam & Tory’s reconciliation and their apologies to each other, the sleepover pillow fight was so cute and I love seeing both of them are so done with Johnny’s instigating

- Robby and Tory’s promise of standing together

- How Robby found himself & his confidence again after seeing Tory showed up, this is what partners influence each other

- Robby & Tory’s little nod to each other whenever one of them is fighting someone else, no words but it means so much more

- Johnny & Mike’s fight - it has to be purely a fan service kinda fight but I’ll take it

- Hawk & Demitri’s fight, unnecessary but it surely was entertaining

- Kyler’s redemption, I’m actually happy they didn’t give him a glamorous redemption and try to change him completely to let him join Miyagi-Do, it’s nice to see that his frat boy personality is still there

- Kwon’s fighting skills are some real deal

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s6 episode 10 thoughts

hmm… scully seems to be black and white in the image for this episode. maybe she has had this power to turn greyscale the whole time and she has simply never chosen to wield it until now. how fascinating of her!

ah, i see that the one after this is likely a two-parter, based on titles alone. so i had better focus now before things get crazy.

the description here emphasizes that scully will be the one pursuing this photographer!! i hope that bodes well for our girl!! i need lots of scully time!! or else terrible things happen to me!!

post-episode thoughts: we need to release the cut of this episode where mulder and scully team up to destroy this ritter fellow. i know mulder had to physically restrain himself from choking that dude out. frankly, he usually has FAR less self-control, so this was a big step for him.

but first and foremost, this was a scully episode. and there is so much i want to say. about living!! and dying!! and loving!! and what scully wants for herself!!! and i am sad, but i am pondering!!! and i want her to be happy!!! and in the process of editing my notes, i got myself so worked up over the whole thing that i simply cannot articulate anything!!!! which is such a shame, because if i had words, i would use them!!! at length!!

we open in new york city, where a woman gets help pushing a shopping cart out of an elevator to deliver some mail. mail time!!! wait. who is behind her?

get away from her. she is working. STOP FOLLOWING HER. I’M SERIOUS. now the elevator is taking too long to come get her…. and the creepy guy gets in. GET OUT OF THERE. YOU’RE MAKING ME ANGRY.

why can creepy man see everyone in black and white? until he steps out of the elevator, and all of the color returns.

oh shoot. he gets out and then the elevator starts breaking. so he takes the STAIRS. and it falls!!!! 

he’s taking a picture of the collapsed elevator?? with the bodies in it??? 

now who does that help….?

why is he documenting it… is he working for OSHA or something…..? 

shortened intro, you will not sneak your tricks past me.

someone else is doing a background check here at the FBI!! are scully and mulder free?? well, they’re stuck on the same floor, so probably not. mulder is on the phone and fiddling with his pen.

no; they, too, are sadly stuck performing background checks. this is so sad!!! she can save lives!!!! and they use her for this!!!

she asks if mulder is ready to quit and he says “no. that would make way too many people way too happy” <- LMAO well, that is entirely understandable

ohhh, she gets a strange call and is on the move. she was asked to go to kersh’s office!! this cannot be good!! he hates her!! and she was the only one called!

OOO, WE SEE HER FILE. she’s 5 foot 2!!! i didn’t know that!!! but i figured she was somewhere in that area. and she lives in annapolis, maryland. like learning that mulder lives in alexandria, i do not know enough about geography to know what that means.

seems she was brought on in 1990 as an instructor of forensic pathology, and she was recruited right from the university of maryland. i did know this. but not the years during which it happened. 

ARGH, i wish this screen wasn’t so dark so i could SEE. it says something about physics. BA in physics?? ARGH! this is so frustrating. mulder had described her thesis as her “graduate thesis”, so maybe she did physics undergrad, physics grad school, then med school, then FBI. 

well. it’s not focusing other than that, so i can’t make any conclusions unless kersh announces what he sees inside. because he is the one reading her file.

some agent named ritter is here from new york. who are you, man? he found an old crime scene photo of a woman who passed away from an overdose. but the clock in the photo is 45 minutes earlier than her listed time of death. scully points out that a clock can be wrong. why is this ritter man, like, quizzing her?

hmm!!! from the newspaper, the other photograph of the body shows a totally different time, an hour and a half later!!! that is very weird. from the same photographer, too. i’m guessing he wasn’t just hanging there for 2 hours and spacing out his picture taking.

alfred fellig is the photographer. ritter thinks that maybe he poisoned the woman and photographed her for personal pleasure, then came back later to do his job for the police and photographed her AGAIN. and while scully says that is “quite a theory”, there are 3 other photos of fellig's that show very different times according to different negatives.

she says there’s no consistent MO, and he says there is no consistent anything. and he wants her help. kersh asks him to leave. what is afoot here….

“i would say he has a promising career ahead of him. so did you… at one time” <- OH MY GOD??? 

(furious scully face)

“AGENT MULDER and i will begin immediately” <- OH!!! she stood right up for him!!! what a good friend!!

but kersh says he is a lost cause. and that he hopes she isn't as well.

so now she has to go to new york city with this RANDOM GUY. oh, i’m pissed off FOR HER!! kersh must be trying to separate them….

fellig is getting off a bus and watching some guy have what appears to be a heart attack. heart attack (or coughing fit? chest pain?) guy is in black and white!! 

he goes somewhere and gets some mail, patting his head with a cloth while fellig watches out the window. and he grabs his arm!! and falls!!!! AND FELLIG COMES CLOSER TO WATCH????

he pulls out his camera and takes a bunch of pictures of the dying guy, who he sees in black and white. very weird.

mulder is looking through a bunch of photos on his computer. ohhh, it looks like he found the pictures from fellig. “mulder. what are you doing?” “being nosy. eating my heart out. they’re sending you on an x file” <- OHHH, HE LOOKS SO SAD AND LEFT OUT :(

“it’s not an x file” “that’s not what i’m reading”

“i’m thinking murder by telekinesis. i’m thinking maybe a shamanistic death touch. i’m thinking about the muslim superstition that to photograph someone is to steal their soul” <- OHHH, LET HIM ON THE CASE :( 

fascinating look into how he starts gathering leads based on the little information he knows about the case and his wealth of memorized strange facts....

he thinks they’re splitting them up!!!! and he’s so sad!!! oh!! she tries to tell him it’s a one-time thing, but he isn’t buying it.

she bites her lip, closes his tabs as agent ritter walks in, and introduces them. he very visibly wants to beat the guy with a hammer. and makes a point of calling him by his first name.

jump to new york city. ritter and scully are asking some cops about fellig. he has yearly renewals for his job a very long time, and he’s been doing it since 1964!!! he doesn’t seem to have aged. 

OH! this ritter guy seems fine enough, but he called her "dana", and that made me flinch. he doesn’t seem to think it’s that weird fellig hasn’t aged at all.

meanwhile, some other dude is being chased and calling for help. whoever is chasing him pulls out a knife and kills him!!! and fellig is there to take pictures of the scene!!

but the murderer finds fellig and starts stabbing him…… he steals fellig’s camera as the blood pours everywhere. but fellig gets up!!! and pulls the knife out of his own back!!! ack!!!! 

the blood from his body is red and didn’t cause any gassing, so i don’t think he’s one of the shape-shifting aliens, but maybe he’s some sort of vampire or vampire-like creature?? maybe he sucks energies from the photos of dying people he takes??

ritter and scully find the knife with fellig’s prints on them.

“what’s this?” “a whole lotta blood” “yeah, i got that” <- LMAOOOOO, do not separate her from her bonded pair or she will be mad. scully clearly does not think there is a second victim because there is no second body.

ritter says it is “january 4th”. so does this take place BEFORE rain king, somehow? or did we jump ahead a year? you know what? i’m gonna try not to think about it. 

that seems like a weird detail to include for it to just prove the timeline wrong.

(i'm still annoyed about this 24 hours later btw)

they’re interviewing fellig. scully watches from the corner. he says he saw someone stealing a kid’s shoes and tried to run him off. he claims he touched the knife after the murderer left. 

OHHH, she picks up on the fact that he is in pain and is closing in on him like a shark smelling blood. yeahhhh, noir detective. ritter seems fascinated by this but like, come on, we all are. he’s not special.

fellig confesses to being cut. and she helps take off his shirt to see the gashes. ritter says to get his blood drawn and take pictures.

“hey, i’m confused. i thought we were trying to bust this guy, not look for reasons to let him go” “i thought we were looking for the truth” <-YEAH, YOU TELL HIM 🔥 

he gets pissed and leaves

AWWWWW, MULDER CALLS HER AND SAYS IN A STUPID VOICE THAT THEY USED TO SIT NEXT TO EACH OTHER AT THE FBI :,) AWWWW, LOOK AT HER TIRED SMILE!!!

WAIT, WHY DOES HE KNOW ABOUT THE STABBING, LMAO????? “i told you, i’m nosy” <- WHAT DOES HE KNOW??

they found another murderer’s prints on the knife and fellig’s blood all over the place… yeah. so fellig probably isn’t killing these people outright.

DID HE HACK INTO THE NYPD DATABASE SOMEHOW?? LMAOOOOO???

NO, HE GOT THE FILES FROM KERSH SOMEHOW, AND HE SEES THAT FELLIG HAS A HEALING FACTOR. LMAOOOO, oh he is gonna get in TROUBLE!!

but he says kersh has (mostly) nice things to say about her. which is kind of him to add.

he whines his way into doing a background check on the murderer, saying it’s what he does now. and you can tell she wants to say no, but also knows that saying no to him won’t do a damn thing, lmao.

why does he have access to kersh’s files….?

scully is joining ritter in a car at 1 am. seems he’s doing a stakeout on fellig. ritter tells her to have a LOVELY evening in a way that seems like he really hates her. man. i thought he was kinda chill at the start of this episode. except for the way he was quizzing her. and ignoring fellig not aging. maybe he was a jerk all along and i simply tried to be kind.

time for scully to flip through some more murder photos. OH NO!! she hears the camera clicking in the distance… and ritter just walked away!!! IS HE GONNA BE DEAD???

she knocks on fellig’s door and says “explain this” LMAO, get those answers!! how did he take a photo of a murder an hour before the police arrived?! 

she says he needs to explain himself or he will not know a moment’s peace. and trust that she means it.

fellig says to take a ride with her, which has me scared. and then he drives her around for an hour!!! he says he is looking for the shot. 

he finds a woman on the street corner, saying she’s about to die, could be a minute, could be an hour. scully grabs her gun, thinking he’s going to do something nefarious. he says the way they die is always a surprise- he just always knows when. 

“you want me to believe that?”, she asks

but then a man comes toward the woman on the side of the road, and they start fighting. scully gets out of the car! and she grabs the dude!!! he is under arrest!!! i fear she may only fulfill the prophecy somehow… 

she takes a gun off of him, and when he claims it isn’t his and calls her “red”, she slaps him on the face, omfg…. just a little slap…. but it was enough

BUT NO!!! when scully goes to ask the lady on the side of the road if she’s okay, the mystery woman gets hit by a truck!!!

OMG????? and fellig comes in to get the shot…

ritter is mad as HELL with scully when she rolls up with this random dude under arrest. she is also very mad at him!!! she does not need his permission to do her job!!! but he says he has something to show her. 

the murderer who killed that kid over the shoes claims that fellig did it. and scully accuses RITTER of making the STORY UP, OHHHH!!!

“fellig is a murderer. whether or not he did this specific one, i don‘t care-“ WELL, YOU SHOULD???

omfg… is this some sort of moral test for scully? is kersh torturing her like this is the good place? he says he knows the judge and he’ll get the warrant

OHHHH!!! “you know, kersh warned me about you.” “uh, he did?” “yeah, you and your partner. god knows his reputation precedes him, so i guess i should have seen this coming. you muck up my case, and kersh will hear about it. are we clear, dana?” “scully.”

WHEW!!!! THE WAY SHE SAID HER NAME ALL CLEAR AND QUIET GAVE ME GOOSEBUMPS

you tell that pathetic rat.

“and we’re done with this conversation” YES MA’AM 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

wow. still playing this on loop in my brain, 24 hours later. the implications... the defining of herself... the resistance... yeah.

phone call time!! it’s mulder!!! she admits that it is an x file, which prompts him to sound worried. “what happened?”

mulder says that fellig is 149! under the name henry strand, someone applied for a press license way back in the day, and henry’s prints match fellig’s!! and before henry, there is an L.H. rice who was born in 1849 and has the same fingerprints!!

how did he track the fingerprints down… get mulder out of this office and into a research lab, maybe!

“i’m not good at math, but i figure that’s a whole lot of candles on the cake”

! MULDER LORE REVEAL ! he doesn’t think he’s good at math!!!

man, i haven’t gotten to do a lore reveal text format like that in a while. that felt nice.

scully finds fellig's age hard to believe, but mulder says she should find him before he vanishes again. she turns up at his apartment and looks so scary, LMAO. 

but she warns him that he will be arrested in 2 hours and charged with murder. which makes her seem to be the the good guy here, and not as scary as her angry face would suggest.

fellig says he just takes the pictures, but she hits him with “what you showed me was a contemptible lack of compassion for another human being. you showed me that you profit off of people’s deaths” <- OHHHH, GET HIM!! that strong moral code kicks in again!

“now, why shouldn’t you go to prison?” <- oooo, she’s playing hardball. but he says they’re lucky!!! and he doesn’t take them, “he” does. girl, who the hell is "he"?

fellig must be jealous that these other people can die… 

scully follows him into his darkroom. i feel such fondness for her as she moves the curtain. 

he points to someone in the photograph and says “he’s the one who takes them” BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! 

it’s a glimpse of death itself. he’s trying to photograph death!!!

“mr. fellig, i know you know more about photography than i do, but this is just a lens flare” “you’re right, i do know more about photography than you” <- LMAO, okay, that did make me laugh.

she asks him why take a picture of death, and he says he wants to look into his face so he can die. nothing will kill him. he's tried it all.

hey man, i’m unfortunately really distracted by the terrible feelings of tenderness that scully has sparked in me right at this very moment. yeah, idk. i don’t really want to focus on this guy right now. it’s very sad, genuinely, but look at her face. 

he says he doesn’t want to be here, and he got left behind. 

“you know, i don’t believe you” “yes you do. that’s why you’re here” <- OHHHH, he called her out…. the cracks in her disbeliever facade keep growing… is it that she doesn’t believe him, or that her greater commitment to needing to know the truth and therefore do the morally correct thing in handling this murder case brought her here?? can they be separated???

she flips through his photos, touching one of a young flapper. she asks how he knows when they’ll die, and he says he knows.

scully has to step outside. and she calls mulder, asking if louis brady (name on the flapper photo) was also one of fellig's names. he says no, but there is a big gap before 1939, so it could be.

but somehow, fellig disappeared!!! just kidding, he’s back. he wanted to get his film. i thought he vanished for a few seconds there.

mulder is in the FBI archives at 9:30 am. ahhh, i wish i could go there. and he finds fellig’s photo!! it shows him wanted under the name louis brady for double murder!!!

mulder calls ritter when he learns of this news, because he cannot get ahold of her. he tells him about how fellig killed two patients and walked away!!! he tells him to find agent scully NOW. and ritter, of course, is shocked that this murder happened like 80 years ago, but whatever. you better go check on her, ritter.

meanwhile, scully is still with fellig. she asks “how can you have too much life? there’s too much to learn, to experience” and this hits hard because she, of course, was very recently dying.

(moaning in pain as i think about scully wanting to experience and learn everything there is this world has to offer.......)

he says you start to wonder what everyone else gets to know

OH, SHE ASKS ABOUT LOVE??? he wanted to look up his wife 40 years ago. and he couldn’t remember her name. 

(scully, you damn romantic...)

“love lasts 75 years, if you’re lucky. and you don’t want to be around when it’s gone” <- oh stop… you’re going to make her cry…

but, is he actually going to try and kill her…..?

WAIT! she turned black and white… and tells her to count her blessings.

IS HE GOING TO KILL HER BECAUSE HE WANTS TO HELP HER???

(author's note: no)

she wants to know how to prove his thing- that he can live forever, and that he can sense when people are going to die before they do. fellig says someone took his place. he had yellow fever. and he’s getting his camera around…

he saw death back when he was sick. and he saw him dancing around the room, taking people. but death didn’t take him. 

a nurse sat with him, and when death came, he looked away. she looked at him instead. and the fever broke, and she was the one that died. 

he tells her she’s very lucky. she gets in his face and insists she is NOT going to die. she tells him to turn it off. he took her phone!!!

he says death is coming and he needs to make her peace…. 

but it’s ritter!!!! he fires his gun at fellig!!!

SHE COLLAPSES???? WHY IS SHE BLEEDING??????? there is blood coming from her throat???? did ritter miss and shoot her instead???

fellig tries to take a photo of her with his other camera, and asks if she sees "him". he says don’t look, close your eyes. and he holds her hand in his. AND HE LOOKS INTO DEATH INSTEAD. and he gasps softly…. oh my god…. he finally dies.

scully is in bed in the hospital a week later. mulder is waiting, telling ritter he’s a lucky man. which is better than i expected.

OH, he grabs her hand. and he sits on her bed. and he smiles, saying her doctor says she is making an amazing recovery. but she seems so sad, and in so much pain

he says “death only looks for you once you seek its opposite” <- OHHHH my god…

and we fade to black.

so i rewatched the scene where scully gets hurt because at first i couldn't tell what was happening, and this DUMBASS ritter shot fellig, and the bullet went STRAIGHT THROUGH HIM and INTO SCULLY???? like. what the HELL WAS HE THINKING????

holy fuck, if i were mulder i would have done a lot more than tell him he was a lucky guy. look at her enduring ritter's presence while she’s in her hospital bed and he was such an awful person the whole time they worked together. i would have told him to fuck off and let me recover from the bullet YOU put in me in peace.

and mulder grabbing her hand. and the flowers in her room. and his smile at her news. but she’s so sad. people don’t live forever. 

she wants to live, and she wants to have a life, and holy HELL need to lay down.

oh my god… this episode was super dark. and usually i don’t really like the dark ones. but it has scully, so i liked it better. because we got to contemplate her worldview. 

and she wants to LIVE. she wants a LIFE. she wants LOVE. the way she got in fellig’s face and REFUSED to let him take her picture… the way she tried to understand how he could be jealous of death, because she always wants to understand and to learn and empathize… the way she helped fellig, and fellig helped her by telling her to look away from death, so he could look instead… oh my god.

we need to do something about this ritter guy. hopefully, he will simply be fired. you can’t go around shooting your own agents. OH! and the way he didn’t care about justice at all- how he got the warrant because he knew the judge, and he told scully that if she got in his way he’d go to kersh… and how she told him her name is SCULLY and this conversation is OVER…

oh!!!

and mulder helping over the phone; mulder using her sleuthing skills to find out that fellig WAS a murderer and she WAS in danger, and he called ritter immediately and said you had BEST find her. and i can only imagine how he went to bed that night thinking of all the ways he wanted to kill ritter. how he sat by his phone for her. bouncing his basketball until the hospital sent him word of her recovery. 

now, i’m still puzzled as to why he has access to kersh’s files. perhaps this is some sort of clue. but to what? i cannot say.

i just love scully SO MUCH. she saw that the woman on the side of the road was going to die, and she stepped right in and did everything she could, even if it was ultimately doomed. she couldn’t sit back. and she wants a life. she’s in love and she wants a life and she wants a house and a dog. and to save people. and to do work that is satisfying. and all of these things she has been denied.

(screams into my hands)

she’s been slowly starting to believe- maybe not in the traditional sense, but in the sense that she recognizes something she cannot understand is afoot, and she finds herself curious about how and why. i found it very interesting that fellig called her out for this and gibson did as well. and we know that gibson can read minds, so we know it to be true. i don’t think “believes” in the same use of the word that mulder does, but she is finding it harder to compartmentalize, maybe. and can you blame her? i mean, she is miss "there HAS to be a scientific explanation for this". belief not in the supernatural sense, but in the sense that there is so much more to learn and understand and experience. be it love and life or the guy who lives forever and can somehow sense death. maybe the spiritual and the scientific aren't that separate.

god. this really was a scully episode, and i am so grateful. i deserved this. even though it wasn’t one where she laughs and enjoys the gift of being alive, we still got to dive into her thoughts and emotional state. AND we got bonus angsty mulder- angst about them being separated, and angst about nearly losing her. is this not the ultimate kind of mulder angst? 

i shall go to bed a bit sad this evening, but content. 

as i edit my notes to make them readable the day after watching this, there is still so much on my mind. in the sense that i want to write a thinkpiece on what this means for scully's character. maybe this will be a turning point, when she once again confronts her own mortality. how easily death can come. maybe she'll tell him how she feels because she realizes that now is all she has. maybe she'll confront kersh and tell him to get them off of their nonsense assignment so she can go back to saving people. maybe she'll think about all of the times she felt so certain that she was going to die in the past and once again try and make a meaning for why she didn't.

i am also thinking about how sad mulder was when kersh separated them and then how horrible he must have felt when he heard that she was SHOT in his absence. and there was nothing that he could do for a week while he could only wait to hear if she was okay. and then he drove up there as soon as he could. and he KNEW that it was ritter's fault she was lying in that bed fighting for her life, but he somehow managed to say only how lucky he was instead of slamming his head through the drywall. and how he held her hand, smiling, so happy to see her, taking his spot on her bed, thinking of how he loves her and how many times her has nearly lost her. and her thinking the same thing. and neither of them saying anything. just touching.

the feelings i am experiencing are large and difficult to put into words, which is frustrating because, like AUGH! (gestures wildly) do you get what i mean?! do you SEE what i am saying?!?! (grabs your shoulders and shakes them vigorously)

please share your thoughts with me, especially if you are a scully girl like myself. to me, this felt sort of like scully's version of paper hearts, in a way. at least, i see some parallels. even if i cannot elaborate at this time because my brain is flopping.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale’s Predictions for Miraculous Ladybug S6

(These are only based on the Titles I saw for season 6, Do not tell me about Leaks. I’m avoiding them as much as possible. DO NOT write any leaks on here. I will delete replies)

-Marinette and Adrien might have some couple fights but not break up, or if they do the break up will get fixed within an episode

-There will be Adrinette kisses

-First few episodes are probably going to be similar to season 1, so I’m expecting some old akuma are coming back with updated designs. Like Stormy weather and Evillustrator.

-A new girl will get introduced and Marinette will likely get jealous.

-Some of the akuma will be heroes that got akumatized but are stronger because of the miraculous they hold. (It’s what I would do for drama)

-Nino Finally learns Adrien is Chat noir.

-Lila’s many different identities becoming a thing. And Marinette will be the one unmasking all season

- The whole bunch of secrets that Marinette is keeping from Adrien have her feel guilt and right when she’s going to tell him, it’s going to get prevented and/or Retconed because the in show universe will have some sort of justification. Like how they can’t tell eachother their identities.

-Lila or whatever her real name is fully gets all of monarch’s knowledge and uses it to make a mega akuma or a secret plan that will result in a cliff hanger for season 7 (she stole Natalie’s tech thing so it’s not a stretch)

-Adrien will NOT learn anything new.

[evanpercy]

The Couch in S8 and how it will tie to buddie canon, a 9-1-1 analysis

First of all, I'd like to say that this theory is based solely on observations made by myself and others, on camera and lighting choices which, as we all know, are always very important in a TV show. I'm NOT going over the previous couch theory from s6, 1. because I don't have the time and 2. because everything has already been said (Buck falling asleep on Eddie's couch because it's the only place he feels safe, Chris falling asleep in the same place, yada yada).

Next, this theory is going to be pretty much chronological, but I may be getting a little ahead of myself at times, sorry. In the end, you'll see, it makes sense, but I'm also asking you for a bit of imagination.

Let's dive into it!

Everything begins in 8x01. We get a scene between Buck, Tommy and Eddie, who are organizing a birthday party for Chris over a facecall. Eddie's couch makes its first appearance this season: Eddie sits on it to call Chris, and Buck and Tommy hide behind it.

Buck and Tommy share a moment. It's cute to see Buck so comfortable in his relationship and his attraction. Well, Tommy is awkward but, are you surprised? (no) As Eddie starts the call, Buck and Tommy jump from behind the couch and we get the first frame interesting enough for this analysis.

What can we say? Eddie is alone on the couch, Buck on his left and Tommy on his right.

(Eddie is once again between Buck and Tommy. In all their scenes together, there's always someone in between the other two. That's not the point here but I love to point it out.)

Buck isn't with Eddie, he's standing behind the couch. It's acting like a physical separation. Buck can only watch Eddie's pain from a distance as the call goes on, and he is useless. Powerless.

That will be the case throughout the early part of this season.

Buck doesn't do anything about Chris and Eddie. Why? I still don't know to be honest with you.

Eddie doesn't talk to Buck about Chris at all. They don't share a single scene alone in the privacy of one of their homes. There's always someone with them - Tommy, the rest of the crew - or they're at the station. Eddie will talk about Chris to Hen, Bobby, the cheerleader's father, Father Brian, even Brad in 8x08. NEVER Buck.

There's also something interesting about the fact that Eddie and Buck don't really talk to each other until Tommy breaks up with Buck.

It's probably not conscious, but I really think Buck is actually distracted by Tommy. He's in this new relationship, it's good, it's cute, it's really different from what he's used to.

We'll see that this will eventually go away...

(A quick interlude: Of course this isn't the first time we've seen 3 people with the couch. It also happened with Buck, Eddie and Chris in S3 - yeah, when couch theory wasn't even a thing. They're on Buck's couch though, but I'm planting a seed in your mind, watch out...)

Next time, it's not Eddie's couch we're talking about, but Buck's. It appears in 8x05, when Buck is sitting in his armchair after returning from the hospital and Tommy is looking after him. There's a lot to say in this scene, but I'm going to focus on one or two things.

Episode 5 was shot after episode 6. I can't stressed out how much it's hit after hit to show us that Buck and Tommy are not staying together (and indeed, Tommy breaks up in 8x06). I imagine the writers ran with the opportunity to show just how incompatible and how physically separated Buck and Tommy are, as well as drawing many parallels between Tommy and Eddie. Maybe I'll talk about that someday.

In this frame, Buck and Tommy are separated. Buck is sleeping in the armchair and Tommy on the couch. I know it's better to sleep in a sitting position when you've dislocated a shoulder, but they could have had Buck sleeping in his bed, snug in his pillows, Tommy next to him.

They didn't.

They made Tommy sleep on the couch. Buck's uncomfortable couch. The one I think he bought with Natalia (if I'm wrong, please don't hate me, season 6 is far in the back of my mind).

See, Tommy doesn't even fit properly on the couch. He's got his head on the armrest and he doesn't have a blanket that covers him completely. He doesn't fit into Buck's life, no matter how hard he tries. He's always out of place.

He chooses the couch Buck doesn't like, and he'll be the only one in this season so far to use it. He's comfortable on it and can sleep, something Buck has never been able to do. Buck will never choose this couch, even if he thinks it's the right choice.

(By the way, Oliver said in an interview literally released before episode 8 that Buck's couch is uncomfortable.... Thanks for that, I know you're a couch theory truther Oliver.)

Next couch, 8x06. Eddie's Risky Business moment.

He dances in his living room and jumps on his couch twice. The first time to recreate the scene. The second time, he chooses to lie down on the couch to bask in the euphoria a little longer. Eddie has his first moment of pure joy in years, and it's on the couch that he decides to settle and calm down. Not saying too much about it but I wanted to point it out, once again.

Where it gets interesting, you know it, is when Buck arrives. Buck, who's just been dumped and once again goes to Eddie for a little comfort. He hands Eddie a beer and sits down first on the couch to drink his own.

Let's take a look at this last frame. The framing ticked me off as soon as I saw it, but I couldn't put my finger on why. Now, I know.

Eddie and Buck are sitting side by side, yes, but! If you pay close attention, you can see several things.

First, Buck appears completely in the frame, from shoulder to shoulder. He takes up most of the space, sitting upright on the couch, staring straight ahead.

On the other side, Eddie leans against the backrest, but in doing so, he moves out of frame. The arm and hand holding the beer are totally offscreen. He's looking to the side, not at Buck.

It's already a weird composition, a very pointed choice, because why aren't they both clearly visible in the frame? Why is Eddie a little off the side? This could have been filmed in a slightly less close-up shot, to show them both fully, but it's not. It's clearly a choice.

Let me direct your attention to the wall behind them. You'll see, it's interesting.

Between them, but rather on Eddie's side, what can we see? A picture. Yeah, but not a random one. You can see it more clearly on this frame of Eddie.

Yep. It's an art of Texas. Quite ugly if you ask me. (Eddie, you're clearly making some strange choices when it comes to decorating.)

I won't try to analyze this framework any further, as you've already understood what I'm getting at if you've been paying attention.

It's a foreshadowing of Eddie leaving for Texas.

So we got Eddie leaning away from Buck, a Texas pic on the wall between them, while Buck is just here, choosing Eddie's couch (and Eddie) for comfort after his breakup. It's where he feels safe. Eddie is always here for him when he's not okay, he's his constant. See how the colors are warm, golden? It screams safe. It screams home.

They don't need to talk, they have each other... or so he thinks. Sorry Buck.

Let's move on to 8x08. Where it all makes sense.

Very quickly: Eddie isn't making his call to Chris on the couch, but on his coffee table. First, what the hell? It's weird, unless you think he considers the couch a nice place, and that this conversation will be far from nice in his head. Indeed, he was right.

Buck shows up at Eddie's after baking way too much bread, because he almost called Tommy. By the way, the mere fact that he decided to go to Eddie's to stop himself from doing so speaks volumes as fucking always, but let's not get into that.

(Look at his little basket, his bread all wrapped up. Buck, you're everything.)

When he realizes that Eddie is seriously thinking of moving to El Paso... well, he supports him. He supports him, because that's what a best friend is supposed to do, right? He suggests to Eddie, and I quote, “we should move this party to the couch”.

By the way, this is the first time he's explicitly brought the couch to Eddie. And we know that when a character mentions something for the first time when they never did, it's to emphasize it.

It's the same with Eddie saying he's straight… or when he says “we?” after Buck's suggestion. They are in this together, and it's what Eddie realizes when Buck goes to sit on the couch... He doesn't have to do all that alone. (Take that little side analysis, my treat. I fucking love this scene, I want to dissect it.)

Buck sits on this couch he's chosen many times over the years.

It's THE couch, the one he always goes to when something is not right in his life. After he died, when he couldn't sleep at home. After his breakup.

He's the first to sit on it ... yes, just like in 8x06.

(This may seem trivial, of course, but the fact that he always goes without waiting for Eddie... Imo, it screams “Buck will figure it all out first and Eddie will have to catch up with him later”. Or "Buck will be waiting for Eddie". Same with him already drinking his beer while Eddie struggles to open it. Maybe a bit far-fetched, but eh? Anyway.)

The setting of the scene is so cold, and I didn't realize it until I compared it with the other scenes on the couch. This creates quite a contrast.

(Sorry I need to talk about something. Let's open an analysis in the analysis.

Buck is dressed in blue - it's Eddie's color in the color theory - while Eddie is dressed in a brownish button down. When I first watched this scene last night, I didn't notice, but looking again… Don't these outfits remind you of anything?

Yeah. I know, they're not the same, but they're similar and it's enough for me to make the parallel. Buck was there for Eddie when Chris left, and he's now here for him when Eddie wants to move to Texas.

Something about "I love you, so I'm letting you go". I'm crying too, don't worry.)

Back to the couch.

Eddie is totally off-screen, he's gone compared to the last time we saw the couch. Buck is alone, something shifts on his face - I'm not gonna lie, it was like watching a fanfic from AO3 on my screen. I've read enough feelings realization to recognize something close. Okay, to be fair, I don't know if it's a total realization of his feelings, but it's a start... and how beautiful that it's happening on Eddie's couch.

The couch represents safety, love, family for Buck. We understood it in s6 when it was first brought up.

By sitting on it, Buck chooses this life with Eddie, in a way.

Can you see the frame with the Texas pic? It's now completely visible, in the frame. It's behind Buck, over his shoulder. Eddie's departure, and by extension Texas, will haunt Buck for a long time to come.

I have to say, this shot is incredible. The whole scene is. I want to play it again and again, I want it tattooed on my eyelids. I'm gonna think about it for 3 months.

In a few episodes, we've gone from Buck behind the couch - away from Eddie's problems - to Buck on the couch, alone - totally there and available for Eddie, even though Eddie soon won't be.

After the breakup, Buck can finally talk to Eddie, care about him - not that he didn't before that, but he's finally free to throw himself back into his relationship with his best friend as before.

Buck has found his home, his couch, the relationship he's most comfortable in, but maybe it's only now, when Eddie's about to leave, that he realizes it.

The couch was never about Eddie - it was always about Buck and his relationship with him. So it's even more powerful to see him behind it in 8x01, on it with Eddie in 8x06 and finally all alone in 8x08.

(I didn't know Oliver confirmed the symbolism of the couch back in S6 but, once again, thank you Oliver.)

(Even if Tim Minear tries to say he doesn't know what it means... Please Tim, we know you're smarter than that).

So what can we expect from this couch for the rest of the season?

If Eddie is really leaving, which I don't believe, he might offer Buck his couch. If the couch is how Buck will realize that he has feelings for Eddie, I'm going to send a gift to everyone who's believed this theory since it first appeared. You're the real ones in this fandom.

If Eddie stays, I think we'll be getting more scenes with the couch. We could go from 3-2-1 to 1-2-3. Stay with me, and grab your imagination. We're going full in theory mode.

1 - Maybe we could have another scene, this time with Eddie alone on his couch? I could see this happening when he's packing, Buck not far away, and Eddie starts to wonder if this is really the right thing to do as his gaze lingers on Buck for a moment too long.

2 - We need two people on that couch again. I'm a big "Buddie first kiss in Eddie's kitchen" truther, but it could also happen on the couch.

Or they could have a big conversation together on it, that will eventually lead them to confess their feelings to each other later on. Maybe that's when Eddie decides to fight to get his son back, to not move to Texas? To confront his parents?

That's two scenes on the couch, two scenes where they don't really talk, even though the couch is an invitation to do so. I'd find it extremely interesting if their first real serious conversation this season took place here.

3 - Finally, we could go from Buck, Eddie and Tommy to something much better for a 3-characters scene on the couch, a configuration we've seen before: Buck, Chris and Eddie. It could even be the last scene of the season, and that wouldn't surprise me at all!

Just imagine: Buck and Eddie have confessed their feelings to each other, maybe Chris knows, maybe not. The three of them end up on this famous couch. Chris is in the middle, and Buck and Eddie look at each other over him, a smile on their lips.

Everything is fine, they've survived the end of the season disaster, Chris is back, they've finally found each other after years...

What an incredible parallel this would make with the beginning of the season! Where Buck was with Tommy, Chris away from his dad, Eddie depressed...

There, they could finally be happy on the damn couch. I have a very clear vision of this scene and I hope they make it a reality. We need our little Buckley-Diaz family together again. With buddie canon of course.

That's it, you've reached the end of this analysis-theory. I hope you enjoyed it. It took me 3 hours to write and I got lost in other theories, but hey! I had fun.

We're entering a 3-month hiatus so let's try to be kind to each other! Let's share our theories, fanarts, fanfics and edits to make this break a little more enjoyable!

If you want to give your opinion on this theory, you're free to do so here in the comments, or on twitter and bluesky (in both cases, I'm there under @/tinybuckish).

Self promo mode, I write fanfics that you can find on AO3 under the username Beezethe! I have one coda about the buddie scene in 8x08, pure angst with no comfort... Feel free to give it a read!

[ectomoog]

How to Get Your Friends into Doctor Who (2005)

Doctor Who is an incredibly popular show that no-one has seen, so I often eagerly recommend it to people, and sometimes I make the mistake of actually watching it *with* them. It's easy to forget how randomly terrible and/or cringy and/or uncomfortably Moffat-esque some of the episodes are, *especially* when you're watching it with someone who has no idea what to expect, SO I made a list of nine episodes to watch with a complete newcomer (NOT a "best episodes" list), based on exactly how keen they really are:

If they say "fine, just this once"

Blink (S3, E10)

This is a classic, a no-brainer really. A tense, creepy, tightly-written piece of horror TV with twists and turns and solid drama, it's considered the best episode of Doctor Who for a reason, and it's very accessible for a one-off viewer.

Silence in the Library & Forest of the Dead (S4, E8-9)

If you're looking for a two-parter, I think this one is super easy to put on. It's fantastic and it's got horror, action, sci-fi and mystery elements, and it all ties together very neatly.

The Runaway Bride (S3, E0)

I like to include a Christmas episode for the rapidly approaching holiday season- this one is very funny and mostly very light, along with some good sci-fi monsters and some bonus exposition for the general show.

If they say "alright, prove I should watch it"

Midnight (S4, E10)

If they like horror, this one is a heavy-hitter. A really tight script, with excellent drama and a really great concept. It's a great introduction to the Tenth Doctor with minimal lore. If this doesn't impress your person, I don't know what will.

Vincent and the Doctor (S5, E10)

If they want something more heart-felt, this is the one. The monster of the week is a bit cheap but all the scenes with Van Gogh really utilise the opportunties that the classic historical figure story provides- plus that ending is undeniable. A good intro to Eleven, and a nice, contained story.

A Christmas Carol (S6, E0)

This one is just a fun Christmas story, it has the funny floating fish and the time travel and all that. If they enjoy this, they'll love all Moffat's stuff lucky them.

If they say "I'm keen! Where do I start?"

Rose (S1, E1)

I think Rose (and then the rest of Series 1) is the perfect episode of Doctor Who to properly start on. It's campy, it's fun and weird and it sets up basically everything you need to know for the Revival Era. You get the companion, the Doctor, regular Doctor Who tropes and themes, etc. Plus, if they can't get past the Mickey bin scene, this show probably isn't for them anyway.

The Eleventh Hour (S5, E1)

I think the only other reasonble place to start is Series 5- it's the only other clean break in the show that doesn't suck (sorry, TWWFTE is just Not Good). It seemed to work for Jeje from Twitter, you get some unexplained things but generally it's easy to follow, and if they're Sherlock fans or something similar they'll love this era in particular.

The Church on Ruby Road (S1/14, E0)

If they're desperate to be up to date, get them to start on Series 14/Season 1 first. I think so far it's a bad place to jump in IMO IMO, but just one season is far easier to manage than all 14, and the promise of a special and another season coming out within the next 6 months is an easy sell.

So there you go, there is my REVISED version of this list. if they don't like any of these episodes, kill me.

Also, yeah there's a lot of RTD era episodes in here and no Chibnall ones or Capaldi ones. That's not because I hate Chibnall or 12 RTD was just a better writer than back then SORRY.

[purpleheartskies]

Robby's Hero's Journey - The Character Archetypes

Also titled Robby is the underdog - Part 8

(Text in blue font is quoted content.)

A character archetype is a common recurring representation of a character that embodies a set of universal and recognizable traits or characteristics.

Typically, there are 8 character archetypes seen in a Hero's Journey. In Robby’s Hero's Journey, some of the characters' roles are easier to identify than others', but most are identifiable. It's important to note that a character can fit different archetypes at different points in the Journey, though a character usually embodies a primary archetype in the Journey. This post will review which characters fit which archetype in Robby’s Hero’s Journey.

The archetypes:

Hero

Herald

Mentor

Shadow

Ally

Shapeshifter

Trickster

Threshold Guardian

The Hero

The hero is the central figure of the story (protagonist) who undergoes a journey, facing challenges and transformations. The hero often starts as an ordinary person who is then called to adventure. They are present throughout the entire journey, from the ordinary world to the return with newfound knowledge or power.

Robby, of course, is the hero in his Hero’s Journey.

"Well, you are the tree, Robby. You've got strong roots. You know who you are, right? So now all you've gotta do is visualize what you want your future to look like, and then you make it happen."

Robby is the protagonist, which is still shown in s6. In part 2, especially, it was interesting how central he was. Everyone treated him horribly, but he was still at the center of the scapegoating. He was also the only teen to have had all three new antagonist teens be antagonistic or be an opponent towards him. The rivalry between him and Kwon was well-developed, with a lot of parallels between Kwon and him. Zara noticed and later targeted him. Axel was/is set up as a opponent for him in official matches. This can't be said for any of the other teens. Also, the lack of support from all three senseis towards him and the lack of one-on-one conversations between him and the senseis, especially Johnny and Daniel, are glaring. During the brawl, Johnny, Tory, Sam, and Miguel each came or tried to come to Robby's aid.

Based on Vogler's version of the Hero's Journey, stages 1 to 9 spanned s1 to s5, stage 10 spanned s6 part 1, and stage 11 started in part 2. Stage 11 is the Resurrection stage and the climax of the story. In this stage, Robby will have his final "transformation". At one point in part 3, Robby will choose his "need" (believing in himself and finding balance) over this "want" (a relationship with Johnny, for which he gave up who he is and stopped believing in himself) in order to achieve the goal of his journey. Stage 12 of Robby's Hero's Journey will then span the remaining episodes after Robby's final transformation.

The Herald

The herald is the “call to adventure.” They announce the coming of significant change and become the reason the hero ventures out onto a mysterious adventure. The herald is a catalyst that enters the story and makes it impossible for the hero to remain in status quo. Existing in the form of a person or an event, or sometimes just as information, they shift the hero’s balance and change their world.

Daniel is the Herald. He issued the "call to adventure" to Robby in s1e6.

Daniel: "You wanna stick around. Learn something." Robby: "Sure"

The Mentor

The mentor often possesses divine wisdom or direct experience with the special world, and has faith in the hero. They often give the hero a gift or supernatural aid, which is usually something important for the quest. The mentor may also directly aid the hero or present challenges to them that force internal or external growth. After their meeting, the hero leaves stronger and better prepared for the road ahead.

As I went over in my Robby has a Hero's Journey post, Daniel serves as the main Mentor in Robby's story. In fact, he is The Mentor in the The Mentor stage of the Journey. He imparted Robby with lessons about finding balance, understanding who he is, and thinking about his future.

Robby: "I just wanted to get back at him [Johnny]." Daniel: "I know. But you're never going to find balance that way. You can't let that bad blood change who you are. I'm not saying you need to like the guy. I know I never will, but he... he is your father. And believe me, you're lucky to have one. You just gotta try to remember, he's... he's not a monster. He's just a guy with a lot of demons. Mr. Miyagi always told me there's no such thing as a bad student, only a bad teacher. And your dad had the worst teacher there ever was. It sent him down a wrong path. But you don't have to go down that path. Do you understand? You don't have to ever become him. Trust me. You let go of all that anger, and I guarantee you, no matter what happens tonight, you go home feeling great."

Daniel continued to provide mentorship from s2 to s4.

Kreese and Silver have also taken on Mentor roles in important points of Robby’s Hero’s Journey. 

In s3e5, Kreese’s advice to Robby was crucial for Robby surviving juvie. This advice led to Robby striking first for the first time and eventually led him to Kreese and to joining Cobra Kai.

"Now you're in the real world, kid. You might wanna learn to strike first."

In s4e1, Kreese also told Robby that he has enough potential to become a champion and he just needs to show it to the world. In s4e10, although Kreese's lesson wasn't good, he was still being a Mentor to Robby when he asked Robby if he was fighting an opponent or a friend, during the match with Kenny.

Silver's lesson to Robby in s4e4 was crucial to Robby's Journey and was the start of the The Approach stage.

"You've learned to channel your anger, but you're afraid... If you want to become a champion, you need to dig out that fear and face it. Because if you don't, it's going to hold you back forever."

Silver also tried to impart a lesson on Robby in s5e9: "There's a difference between being heard and being listened to. They heard you, but they listened to me."

Since s5, in general, Robby seems without a Mentor. Maybe because Johnny is present physically in Robby's Journey now. In anything Johnny and Daniel should both be playing this role, but both are too focused on their own issues and each other. Johnny is also not a Mentor for Robby. Johnny is Robby’s Shadow.

The Shadow

The shadow is the main antagonist of the story. The shadow reflects the darker aspects of the hero, sometimes represented as the mirror image (opposite) of the hero and their beliefs. Overall, they are the antagonist or villains present throughout the whole story in varied ways. The shadow is the "monster under the bed," and could be repressed feelings, deep trauma, or festering guilt. These all possess the dark energy of the shadow. It is the dark force of the unexpressed, unrealized, rejected, feared aspects of the hero and is often, but not necessarily, represented by the main antagonist or villain. However, other characters may take the form of the shadow at different stages of the story as "foil characters" that contrast against the hero. They might also represent what could happen if the hero fails to learn, transform, and grow to complete their quest. At times, a hero may even succumb to the shadow, from which they will need to make sacrifices to be redeemed to continue on their overall quest.

As I talked about in my Robby has a Hero’s Journey post, Johnny is the Shadow character. This is what I said in that post.

The Shadow is one of several character archetypes that plays a role in the Hero's Journey. The Shadow can be the part within the hero that they don't like or that is deep repressed feelings or trauma. The antagonist or villain to the hero usually is the physical version of this Shadow.  Robby's main conflict is with his "hate", as his main goal is to break the cycle of generational trauma. Robby's "hate" due to his trauma is his internal Shadow. Johnny is the character and antagonistic force who represents and causes Robby's "hate"; Johnny has been Robby's external Shadow throughout the series. Daniel called Robby's conflict with Johnny "bad blood" in the avt locker room in s1e10. In s2e1, Johnny also said that he doesn't want to have "bad blood" between them. In s3, Robby said that Johnny should be his worst enemy because he abandoned Robby. In s1, after Robby saw Johnny give Miguel the gi and hug, Robby went to Daniel to piss Johnny off. In s4, when Sam brought up that Johnny knows Robby is a "good person" and that Johnny's "trying to change", Robby shifted to anger and said that Johnny had a choice and he chose to become a drunk loser who still hasn't figured out his own life and now he wants to make up for lost time to feel better about himself. Robby then joined Cobra Kai to prove that the Cobras and he are better than them, the Miyagi Fangs. Robby especially wanted to prove that he is better than Johnny. Robby reacted based on his "hate" both times. In this scene in s4e10, Robby is talking about this "hate" that he feels because of Johnny's behavior and him choosing Miguel over him consistently. (He can also be referring to the school fight wrt his "hate" for Miguel, but had Johnny supported Robby over Miguel after the school fight, Robby's "hate" for both of them probably wouldn't have worsened so much.)

In s6, Robby continues to struggle with his traumas. In s6e5, his "second place" trauma was exposited, and that of course has greater roots in how Johnny (and others) treats him. In s6 part 2, Robby's struggle with his internal Shadow is shown to be worsening. He kept losing focus in his fights and eventually resorted to drinking to cope with his abandonment/replacement trauma. In s4e4, he said that doesn't want to end up like Johnny, but by s6e8, his trauma has worsened so much that, when he believed that now even Tory had abandoned and replaced him, he decided to drink for the first time and got drunk, like Johnny does. He also fought with anger, not balance, when he fought Kwon in s6e9.

As I mentioned above, Robby is in the middle of the Resurrection stage. This stage ends with the final transformation and win. Something will happen that will cause Robby to start confronting his worsening mental health and Johnny (especially Johnny's behavior towards him), which Robby stopped doing after the apartment fight (the end of his Ordeal stage).

"I'm sick of blaming you, Dad." Robby is tired of all of the trauma Johnny's behavior causes him. Since Robby said those words, the traumas have worsened. Throughout Robby's life, Johnny has abandoned, neglected, replaced, abused, and scapegoated Robby.

The Ally

Allies are friends or companions who support and accompany the hero through their journey. They often complement the hero's skills and help them face challenges. Allies can also be characters who aren't as close to the hero but offer some type of help along the way.

Robby doesn't have a consistent, trustworthy Ally. Although characters have played the Ally role in his Journey from time to time throughout his story, none have been an Ally the whole way through.

This lack of consistent support from an Ally or a Mentor is actually a key aspect of Robby's character journey. The lack of support impacts his mental health greatly and makes it harder for him to succeed in his Journey.

The Shapeshifter

The shapeshifter adds dramatic tension to the story and provides the hero with a puzzle to solve. They can seem to be one thing, but in fact be something else. They bring doubt and suspense to the story and test the hero's ability to discern their path. The shapeshifter may be a lover, friend, ally, or enemy that somehow reveals their true self from the hero's preconceived notion. This often causes the hero internal turmoil, or creates additional challenges and tests to overcome. The shapeshifter blurs the line between ally and enemy. Often they begin as an ally, then betray the hero at a critical moment. Other times, their loyalty is in question as they waver back and forth. Regardless, they provide a tantalizing combination of appeal and possible danger. Shapeshifters benefit stories by creating interesting relationships among the characters, and by adding tension to scenes filled with allies.

Sam, Tory, and Kenny have this role in Robby's journey. 

Sam started out as an ally to Robby, but after the school fight, Sam had a choice and she chose. Although they’re "friends" now, their friendship is superficial at best. Sam still acts like she did nothing to hurt or betray Robby and acts like Miguel bears no fault in the rivalry with Robby. Robby has stopped holding people accountable for hurting him, so he went along with Sam using him in s5 (like she had tried to in s4). He also had his own reasons for wanting to take down Silver and Cobra Kai. They have been "friends" since.

Tory also fits this role. Since they became friends and then lovers, Tory has betrayed Robby twice now. First, as she helped Kreese in s5. Second, as she joined Kreese behind Robby’s back for the ST. Robby isn't faultless in their relationship. In s5, he gave her the break-up ultimatum because he wanted to distance himself from Cobra Kai. In s6 part 2, his side is more complicated as she was putting up walls and refusing to communicate. Both of their traumas were at their worsts. Although Tory believes that Robby cheated, Robby didn't cheat and what Zara did to Robby is not his fault. (Narratively, it is shown that Zara took advantage of him while he was drunk. Robby blaming himself, while not even able to recollect what happened, is par for him. I'll address this again later.)

It was interesting to see how both Tory and Sam betrayed Robby in s6e6. Tory told Sam that she had told Robby about Kreese. This was low because, in s6e5, Tory had told Robby not to tell anyone that Kreese had come to talk to her. Tory also made it sound like Robby knew about the offer Kreese had made to her, but in Tory and Robby's conversation just earlier, Robby asked Tory if this (joining CK as captain) was what Kreese had come to talk to her about. Later, when the others were confronting Robby about talking to Tory, Sam told them that Robby knew about Kreese and Tory. Sam didn't even talk to Robby about it first. Both girls threw Robby under the bus about Tory joining Kreese.

Sam and Tory indeed are this archetype in Robby’s journey. Each girl played a role as his ally, as a friend turned girlfriend. Both relationships feature betrayals of some sort by the girls. Their trust and loyalties with him fluctuate. Both girls are narratively attached to him more than to any other boy (Miguel included). 

Kenny also fits this role. He too started out as an Ally. As Robby trained him, Robby did try to curtail Kenny’s desire to fully become Cobra Kai. After Robby showed “no mercy” to Kenny in their match, Kenny chose to fully adopt and stay Cobra Kai. Robby did apologize to Kenny for the match, and it took some convincing from Robby to get Kenny to join Miyagi-Do. (Honestly, I wasn’t so keen on how much Robby insisted that Kenny join Miyagi-Do.) Since then, there hasn’t been much of their relationship. However, this relationship was used as a major turning point for Robby, as Kenny was the “mirror” that Robby looked into during his Ordeal stage. It’s also through Kenny that Robby’s weakness of compassion was explored.

Miguel seems to be playing this role since the apartment fight. Between Miguel not taking accountability in s5e5 and continuing to scapegoat (s6e2), intimidate (s6e5), and bully (s6e6-7) Robby, Miguel puts on the appearance of friendship with Robby. When Miguel "apologized" in s6e9, he didn’t reveal the true context of his behavior: his jealousy of Robby being Johnny's son, and Johnny supporting Robby's captaincy win. Instead, Miguel deflected on the reason. This wasn't an actual apology. Robby believes that Miguel is his friend but Miguel is not. In s5, Miguel only became Robby's "friend" after Miguel got to beat the shit out of him and scapegoat him completely for their rivalry and school fight. The baby plot device also cemented Miguel's place more in Johnny's life. s6e8 showed though that Miguel will not tolerate Johnny favoring or supporting Robby more than Miguel. Miguel is most definitely not a true friend. s6 continues to show that explicitly and subtly. Miguel actually does have a primary role in Robby’s story, which I'll get to in a bit.

The other teens in the Miyagi-Do are shapeshifters too. Their alliance and loyalties to Robby shift, depending on the circumstances. After the school fight, the Miyagi-Dos had taken part in scapegoating Robby for the school fight that Miguel had caused and escalated between him and Robby. Miyago-Do teamed up with the bullies (Johnny, Miguel, Hawk) first, before Robby even joined Cobra Kai, but the Miyagi-Dos called Robby a traitor. In s6, although they're all Miyagi-Do now, the scapegoating for the school fight and other things continues...

The Trickster

The trickster is the jester or fool of the story that not only provides comic relief, but may also act as a commentator as the events of the plot unfold. Tricksters are typically witty, clever, spontaneous, and sometimes even ridiculous. The trickster within a story can bring a light-hearted element to a challenge, or find a clever way to overcome an obstacle.

I’ve been trying to nail down who fits this archetype in Robby’s story. Demetri is a possible character. For example, in s6e6, after they saw Tory in the hotel lobby, Hawk asked if Robby would be okay, and Miguel said that he would be. Demetri bluntly said, in comedic fashion, that he himself wouldn’t be. Though Demetri can be more annoying than funny, he does have moments of levity and commenting about the events. He doesn't seem to have had an important impact on Robby’s journey, as some tricksters may. But again, not all the archetypes in every journey fit the molds exactly.

Anthony may be another trickster, as he has moments of levity and calling things out too.

For Johnny's and Daniel's Journeys, Amanda, for example, fits this archetype as one of her roles. She lightens a lot of moments and calls out the absurdity of events often. She doesn't play this role for Robby’s story specifically though. In fact, she told Daniel to ignore Robby’s feelings after the arrest because Robby’s "a teenager". She also told Daniel to let Robby go after Robby walked away from Daniel outside of juvie. Though, she had given him advice in s2e4 about mistakes. She may be a Shapeshifter in Robby's Journey, specifically.

The Threshold Guardian

I'm going to take some time with this final archetype because a few characters fill this role. I'll also talk about the inanimate Threshold Guardian in Robby’s Journey.

What is a threshold in the Journey?

A threshold can be any dividing line between one point and another. A border between one space and the next, between one state of being and another, the threshold in your story represents a moment in time that changes everything for your protagonist and their fate. They’re crossing over from one form to another, one place to another, one mindset to another. The hero will go through several throughout his journey and each one is important because each means he has "made it" to the next phase of his journey. Often the hero will have to bypass or defeat a person or thing that makes getting through the threshold rather difficult. These beings or obstacles are called "Threshold Guardians"—their purpose: to stop the hero in his tracks.

About Threshold Guardians

This archetype guards the first threshold—the major turning point of the story where the hero must make the true commitment of the journey and embark on their quest to achieve their destiny. The role of the threshold guardian is to help round out the hero along their journey. The threshold guardian will test the hero's determination and commitment and will drive them forward as the hero enters the next stage of their journey, assisting the development of the hero's character arc within the plot. The threshold guardian can be a friend who doesn't believe in the hero's quest, or a foe that makes the hero question themselves, their desires, or motives in an attempt to deter the hero from their journey. Ultimately, the role of the threshold guardian is to test the hero's resolve on their quest. A threshold guardian is an archetypal character who stands between the hero and their goal. The guardian might be another person, or it might be an object, animal, or event. To pass the guardian and progress the narrative, the hero must typically change in some way, try something new, or overcome challenges. The Threshold Guardians often represent the status quo. The hero is the maverick, renegade, or rebel trying to cause change, while the Threshold Guardians are defenders of the way things are. The threshold guardian is usually a secondary or tertiary character whose entire purpose within your story is to be an obstacle for the hero. In the annals of mythology, the Threshold Guardian were generally minions of the story's primary antagonist, and served a very literal purpose. As time passed, and storytelling got more sophisticated, so has the role of the Threshold Guardian. The ally of the antagonist – This Threshold Guardian is actively working to stop the Hero from reaching their goal – the true antagonist of the story.  There is often a symbiotic relationship between a villain and a Threshold Guardian.

Miguel is the primary Threshold Guardian

In my Robby has a Hero's Journey post, I stated this about Miguel's role in the Robby's story:

Although Miguel is an antagonistic force towards Robby, Miguel is more an extension of Johnny (and Sam). Robby's actions are primarily driven by his "want" (a genuine relationship with Johnny) and his "need" (understanding who he is, overcoming his "hate", and finding balance), which are both tied to Johnny as he is the main source of Robby's trauma and "hate".

As mentioned, the Threshold Guardian blocks the threshold between the ordinary world and the special world, but Guardians appear at important points to "test"/"block" the Hero.

Miguel is the most prominent Threshold Guardian in Robby's Journey. Miguel especially is (one of) the biggest obstacle when it comes to Robby getting to Johnny, the Shadow. 

Robby about Johnny and the Mexico trip: "uh... it wasn't really that kind of trip. But, uh, we did work out a few of our issues. There's still some that are just too big to solve." 

In s1e5, although Robby had seen Johnny give Miguel the gi and hug, Robby had only taken an action that would affect Johnny—getting a job with the LaRussos. Robby's first interaction with Miguel was the beach party in s1e9, where Robby tried to protect Sam but Miguel attacked him. In the s1 avt, before going out for the final match, Robby said to Daniel that Robby has to face "him" eventually, talking about Johnny—The Shadow. But, Robby faced Miguel in the match! Miguel is the Threshold Guardian that is an Ally to the Shadow, the Threshold Guardian who has a symbiotic relationship with the Shadow throughout the series. Although Robby lost the s1 avt, he had fought with balance and honor. His win was internal. He and Daniel then reopened Miyagi-Do and crossed the threshold into the Special World.

Robby's main fights with Miguel are the s1 avt (Crossing the Threshold), the school fight (Tests, Allies, and Enemies), the apartment fight (end of the Ordeal and start of the Reward), and captaincy fight (The Road Back, another threshold crossing).

Robby's first fight with Miguel, the primary Threshold Guardian, was right before Robby crossed the threshold into the Special World. Robby finally got a victory over Miguel as Robby was crossing back into the Ordinary World in The Road Back stage.

The s1 avt and captaincy fights were points in Robby's Journey where he was crossing the Journey thresholds. Note, in these two fights Robby had balance in his fights. In fact, Robby’s struggle with balance was featured as a component of each fight. Yes! Robby’s poor mental health/balance is also a Threshold Guardian. I will get into this in a bit. 

The school and apartment fights each resulted in major shifts in Robby’s journey, both externally and internally. 

The school fight took place during the Tests, Allies, and Enemies stage. Miguel pushed Robby to his limit. He lost his balance, had a "fight" trauma response, and accidentally injured Miguel. After this, Robby expressed hopelessness in his journey for the first time, "But you were right. It was a mistake trying to help me because I can't change." Robby was contemplating giving up on the Journey. Robby was put in juvie and lost everyone’s support. 

Robby did give up on his goals for a time. Then, in s4e1 Robby decided to compete for the trophy and a better future because of his conversation with Sam, in which she'd brought up Johnny and that triggered a trauma response in Robby. In s4e4, Silver's advice to Robby to face his fear emboldened Robby to confront his Shadow once again in The Approach.

"For as long as I can remember, I've been afraid... afraid that I'm gonna end up like you. But that's not gonna be my fear anymore... because I am better than you."

The apartment fight took place at the end of the Ordeal stage. Robby was pretty much beaten into place by both Miguel (the main Threshold Guardian) and Johnny (Shadow) as part of the toxic family. Robby was also welcomed back by everyone. However, he had to give up who he is, including his self-worth, as he stopped standing up for himself and his side of the story. Because of the situation, he chose his "want" (relationship with Johnny) over his "need" (who he is and finding balance). At the beginning of the Ordeal in s4e10, Robby had expressed his second statement of hopelessness. "I screwed everything up… It just made things worse and now it's never going to get better... I'm sick of blaming you, Dad." At the end of the Ordeal in s5e5, Robby ended up giving up who he is because it was never going to get better.

Both environments/situations that Robby entered into after the school fight and after the apartment fight have been traumatic but in different ways. Both have resulted in severe internal changes in Robby, further worsening his mental health and worsening his struggles with balance. Robby’s losses, in karate and in life, are setbacks in his Journey. Not to mention, the apartment fight was a mirror to the school fight.

Since the apartment fight in s5e5, Miguel has played a Shapeshifter role, as I described above. However, Miguel's primary role in Robby's Journey is that of the Threshold Guardian, especially when it comes to his attachment to Robby's external Shadow–Johnny. Miguel's conversation with Johnny on the plane in s6e8, for example, is a setback for Robby gaining a true relationship with Johnny. The little bit of "support" Johnny gave Robby because he'd won the captaincy was challenged by Miguel. Johnny's attention straying from Robby to Miguel and staying focused there, like after the school fight and for the Mexico trip, are other examples of how Miguel is an obstacle in Robby's Journey to achieve his goals ("wants" and "needs" are both goals).

Miguel's antagonistic behavior towards Robby when it comes to Johnny, Sam, and the karate championships (especially in S1 and S6) are interestingly described by the following:

This important archetype character's entire existence is wrapped up in guarding the threshold. For this to make sense as you create your story, there has to be a really good reason why. Finding out this reason why will help you build out your threshold guardian character's backstory and motives (because, remember—every character, even the secondary ones, need motives). In many instances, threshold guardians are willing to make dramatic sacrifices to protect their threshold. They want to keep their special world separate from your hero's world. They don't like the fact that your hero is trying to shake things up by crossing between the two. It's messing with the status quo. Maybe the guardian realizes that the hero's willingness to cross boundaries is a threat to the way things have always been.

Carmen is also a Threshold Guardian, an indirect one. She actively scapegoats Johnny and Robby for Miguel's faults and violence in the fights and has kept Johnny’s focus on Miguel, like when Johnny talked about his failures with Robby or about being uncomfortable being a “dad” to Miguel. The baby plot device, for all intents and purposes, is a Threshold Guardian as well. I've always said that the baby was introduced primarily to impact Robby in his character journey. He is the only one who changed because of its introduction into the story. And the circumstances around that change moved Robby from one stage (The Ordeal) to the next (The Reward) in the Journey. In s6, the family scenes being done in a way that excludes Robby, either subtly like with everyone praising the scapegoating essay or explicitly with Robby not present at all, is also very telling. (See my post about Johnny, Robby, and the family in s6 part 2.)

Robby's "hate"/trauma is also a Threshold Guardian

Robby's "hate"/trauma is a Threshold Guardian, in addition to being his internal Shadow. This is shown explicitly in a lot of his fights. The battle is both internal and external in these fights. 

The internal threshold guardian - While not as common and not as easily recognizable, sometimes stories include internal demons as threshold guardians—something within your main character that's preventing them from moving forward and that they must learn to overcome. It might be a past trauma, addiction, fear, etc.

The overall theme of the series is about finding balance, not just in karate but in life as well.

"You remember lesson about balance? Lesson not just karate only. Lesson for whole life. Whole life have a balance. Everything be better. Understand?”

In my Robby has a Hero's Journey post, I said this:

In s4e10, Daniel told Hawk during his match with Robby: "This fight is not about him. The biggest battle is always the one within. Okay, concentrate, defense, focus, power. You find your balance, and those points will come. All right?" This also applies to Robby's journey and his conflicts with his "hate" and with Johnny.

In that fight, Hawk resorted to mostly using Cobra Kai against Robby so didn't need to rely on his balance, while Robby resorted to mostly using Miyagi-Do, lost his balance after he looked in the "mirror", and eventually lost the fight.

Robby's balance has been emphasized in Robby's fights with Miguel and Hawk throughout the series, and in Robby's fights in s6 part 2, as part of The Resurrection stage.

Hawk is another main Threshold Guardian

Hawk had first injured Robby in the s1 avt and that enabled Miguel to do more damage. Hawk was also the person Robby fought and lost against in the s4 avt. This was the start of Robby's Ordeal stage. He lost his balance during that fight and lost the fight.

In my Keeping the Peace post, I talked about the correlation between the s5e8 scene of Johnny recapping the avts with the boys (more unreliable narration on Johnny’s part; Johnny keeps trying to reframe Robby's reality) and Robby’s s6e5 shadowing boxing scene.

Interestingly, in the s5e8 scene, Robby is sitting with his Shadow–Johnny–and the two main Threshold Guardian characters —both of whom were trained by Johnny and primarily use Cobra Kai as their fighting style like Johnny does (while Robby primarily uses Miyagi-Do). Johnny talked about the first avt, the main fight during the Crossing the Threshold stage, as if Miguel hadn't cheated and as if Robby had lost the tournament fair and square. In s6e5, Robby’s "second place" trauma was emphasized using the avt matches to these two Threshold Guardians.

Other Threshold Guardians in Robby’s Journey

Trey and Cruz were the obstacles Robby had to overcome in the Refusal of the Call stage in s1e7.

Shawn played this role in s3. Robby had to defeat Shawn in order to "advance" in the Journey. In this case, Robby chose to strike first for the first time.

In s4e1, Robby had to fight the Cobras to secure his place as their leader. They became his allies after this.

In s6 part 2, as part of the Resurrection stage, all 3 new antagonists played some role in Robby's Journey. (I will speak objectively about Zara here, based on what is portrayed in canon. My post about the SA and it's framing and marketing explain that all of Robby's traumas, especially by other characters, are framed and marketed the same way. I will treat the SA as I treat those other traumas and will address it as such.)

Of these three, Kwon was explicitly set up as Robby's rival. He has many parallels to Robby. While Miguel is a foil character to Robby, Kwon is a mirror character to Robby. (I hope to address this more in a post about Robby in part 2.) Robby kept losing to Kwon until their match in s6e9. Although that fight is cool, Robby fought with anger and made sure to make it hurt, which made the Shadow proud. Robby didn't rely on Miyagi-Do and didn't fight with balance. In terms of succeeding in his goal of finding balance, Robby had a major setback. He was angry that he'd fallen for Kwon's mind games, and he took his anger out on Kwon. Kwon fits this description of a type of Threshold Guardian.

To increase tension and add to your hero’s internal development, this archetype should represent something greater to your hero than just a simple test of their ability. Maybe your guardians represent the bigger, worse villain that your hero will need to go up against in the future. Maybe they represent your hero’s internal conflicts and faults that they’ll need to overcome at some point. Maybe they represent a weakness that your hero has been trying to hide.

Miguel matches the first "maybe" that is listed. Kwon seems to match the other two "maybe" because a lot of Kwon's insecurities matched Robby's.

Zara is another Threshold Guardian. It stuck out to me that Robby losing in his matches really hit him hard after the SA. He seemed to be somewhat coping with his lost matches before that, even with Miguel bullying him about his poor performance in his matches. But, it was after the SA that he blamed himself for the whole team losing. Hawk and Demetri were being dumbasses about Kenny and had made things worse in their first group match, but Robby just put it all on himself. When Miguel talked to Robby, Robby specifically mentioned messing up off the mat too, when he said that he shouldn't be captain anymore. His drinking didn't seem to upset him; what Zara had done upset him much more. He specifically called the latter the "stupid" thing he "did". This makes sense because of his confusion and self-blame over it. This experience traumatized him, like his other traumas have. His self-blame increased and his mental health worsened.

Axel is another Threshold Guardian. He is an interesting one because Axel and Robby didn't interact much until their match, which was interrupted. They will compete again in part 3. I did find Axel's line and frustration with Robby interesting: "Are you going to keep defending, or are you going to fight?" When I heard this line the first time, I thought: "This is some meta-commentary about Robby's people-pleasing." Robby has stopped fighting for himself and has been on defense with all of his "friends" and "family". He has shown his edge once in a while, like with Miguel in s6e5 and s6e7, but it's not enough. Robby's people-pleasing is a defensive behavior he has to consciously counteract to start fighting for himself again. Threshold Guardians challenge the Hero. Axel’s line stuck out because Robby is at that point in his journey where he needs to stop defending and start fighting his main antagonists, his Shadows.

Although the Axel-Miguel rivalry is set up, not much thought and time has been put into developing their rivalry. Axel's interest in Sam is the only basis for it. Kwon and Robby's rivalry was well developed. Kwon is a mirror character to Robby, but Kwon was obviously a misdirect. Axel seems to be another misdirect as the final Threshold Guardian before Robby faces his Shadow. Axel is set up with a sad backstory (meaning his redemption is set up), and his conversation with Sam on the beach foreshadowed him joining Miyagi-Do. Miguel is the one who has been at the main thresholds. He is the primary Threshold Guardian. (Hawk is secondary to him). Like Robby had said, he and Johnny still have some of the issues (Miguel/Diazs) that are too big to solve. s6e8 showed that Miguel is still an issue between Robby and Johnny. Robby is also excluded from the family in important ways. Miguel also keeps the rivalry going as he pleases, as shown with his bullying Robby until he got Johnny's attention back. In a way, Miguel bullying Robby in s6e6-7 was Miguel acting as a Threshold Guardian at the time, affecting Robby's mental health. The Miguel-Robby rivalry is not over yet, and Robby’s side of the story has yet to be explored and resolved. (I'm aware of the leaks, but I'm also aware that people shut down conversations about other theories for the leaks that can also be possible. I’m just going to stick to analyzing canon here.)

Overall, a lot of the characters have identifiable archetypes in Robby's Hero's Journey. The main characters in his Journey especially are easier to classify into the archetypes. After part 3, I may do a revised version of this post because the story will be over and the roles may be more defined for some of the characters after that.

(As always, please don't comment or reblog with dismissive comments about the nuance in the story. The nuance is part of the story, and the story is exploring important topics like trauma, bullying, neglect, and dysfunctional relationships.)

[sevensoulmates]

I've never been more convinced then I ever have of Buddie canon and I think we're about to get Buddie canon confirmed in the bachelor party/wedding episode.

I think these 2 episodes, 4 and 5. One told through Buck's the other told through Eddie's are clearly telling a story of two separate queer journeys. One of acceptance(Buck) and the other of repression(Eddie).

I think this episode is going to end with Eddie doubling down on his relationship with Marisol because Buck being bisexual is going to draw feelings inside of Eddie that he is absolutely terrified to explore and he thinks that being with a woman is just going to make those feelings that are getting stronger and stronger for Buck go away, they won't.

Then in episode 6 which is the Bachelor Party/Wedding episode, as Ryan said Eddie is going to let go, have fun and see where it takes him. When Ryan said that I have never been more convinced that something is happening between Buck and Eddie after the bachelor party and it's going to be something very non platonic that will be the reveal that Buddie is canon.

I'm very much inclined to agree with you, especially about episode 4 being Buck's journey of accepting his queerness, and episode 5 being about Eddie's journey of repression. Buck and Eddie have always been narrative parallels on equal and opposite journeys, both heading for the same place but going about it through very different personal arcs.

Like I've said before, I think things are going to get worse for Eddie before they get better. And I think you're so right that episode 5 is going to be things "getting worse" because he's going to double down on Marisol. The more I've been hearing and sussing out with people, it seems like Marisol's sticking around past episode 5 (which sucks, I know! We were all hoping!) but I can see why that choice is being made because unfortunately if we want to explore Eddie's comp-het, then we need a woman around for him to be comp-het with! I think that's likely why they also switched up on Marisol's personal style this season and had her go from tomboyish in s6 to very femme in s7. They needed to represent her being a little bit more of the "perfect woman" for Eddie again a la Ana Flores. Especially in contrast with Buck and Tommy who are very masc-presenting men.

Most of the time when people talk about compulsory heterosexuality in an academic space they are always talking about women because comphet is inherently a byproduct of patriarchy and misogyny. But, as most of us are aware by now, patriarchy has deep-rooted harmful effects on men too. I can't claim to be anywhere near an expert but I would love to see it explored deeper with Eddie given that a lot of his story has also revolved around him deconstructing other aspects of toxic masculinity and hypermasculinity.

Like does Eddie really enjoy going out with Marisol? Or does he like the freeing feeling of being able to cuddle up with a woman in public and know that no one is judging?

There's a lot of academic theory that goes into compulsory heterosexuality but if you look at the "Am I a Lesbian? Masterdoc" and apply everything there to Eddie, it's almost point for point him.

Some examples:

[brackets] are me turning "men" to "women" from the original text for clarity

Deciding which [women] to be attracted to – not to date, but to be attracted to –based on how well they match a mental list of attractive qualities.

I like the idea of being with a [woman], but any time a [woman] makes a move on me I get incredibly uncomfortable.

I do not like the reality of being with [women], only the idea of being with [women].

I like the idea of marrying a [woman]/being in a relationship with a [woman], but I can always pick out a reason to not want to date any [woman] that is interested in me or any [woman] suggested to me

You view relationships with [women] as a chore, burden, or just something you must deal with.

Picking a [girl] at random to be attracted to

Choosing to be attracted to a [girl] at all, not just choosing to act on it but flipping your attraction on like a switch

the [girls] I like are always hyper [feminine] [girl's girls] who embody everything about [womanliness].

Only/mostly being attracted to unattainable, disinterested, or fictional [women] or [girls] you never or rarely interact with.

Reading your anxiety/discomfort/nervousness/combativeness around [women] as attraction to them. Confusing your anxiety around [women] for “butterflies” or being flustered.

Dreading what feels like an inevitable domestic future with a [woman]

You have every reason to be happy in your relationship with a [woman], but you just aren’t / everything is going really well, but something is missing and you can’t figure out what

Thinking you’re commitmentphobic because no relationship, no matter how great the [girl], feels quite right and you drag your feet when it comes time to escalate it

Going along with escalation because it seems like the ‘appropriate time’ or bc the [girl] wants it so bad, even if you personally aren’t quite ready to say I love you or have labels or move in together etc.

Or jumping ahead and trying to rush to the ‘comfortably settled’ part of relationships with [girls], trying to make a relationship a done deal without investing time into emotional closeness

Your relationships with [women] are devoid of passion.

Feeling like you have to have relationships with [women] and/or let them get serious in order to prove something, maybe something nebulous you can’t identify

Getting a [girl]friend mostly so other people know you have a [girl]friend and not really being interested in [her] romantically/sexually

Wishing your [girl]friend was more like your [male] friends

Worrying that you’re broken inside and unable to really love anyone

Having had people think you were gay when you had no suspicion you were gay

That got longer than I intended but I wanted it here anyway because it just proves (at least to me) that this is the story they're doing with Eddie. The only ones I didn't include were the parts about sex because other than Shannon we actually haven't seen how Eddie reacts in sexual moments with women.

As for the bachelor party/wedding, I do think a lot is going to happen there, and likely a lot of Buddie clues, big and small, but I still don't think anything physically intimate (kiss, hookup, etc) is going to happen. The only exception might be hand-holding, a hug or like a slow dance. Those I could see being plausible.

[poison-into-positivity]

I think the reason I’m not that disappointed by the wwdits finals is because it’s about what I expected.

It felt like, as it’s felt for a while now, that they were writing this show more out of obligation than anything—it’s been several years since the show has been a labor of love, and if by some magic they had turned that around in the eleventh hour, more power to them, but just based on the way s6 had been going I had kind of set myself up for the “here, damn” of it all.

is that disappointing? Yes of course, I miss s1-3 as much as anyone. But it’s not as if the past few seasons have been leading up to something amazing and groundbreaking and then they just NOW dropped the ball. The ball has already been dropped. The ball is rolling away.

I’ve decided I’m okay with the way things ended, because I think the episode by itself is really good and fun - I love when tv shows get meta and bend the rules of the medium like that. The three different hypnoses were a really cool idea, and if it wasn’t the last episode ever I think this would be one of my favorite eps. It didn’t really hold up as a series finale but I had a good time, and I’m going to miss my vamily endlessly.

[thecrownnetflixuk]

Rewatching Favourite Scenes:-

The Crown 1x08 – It's a Real Royal Knockout

One of the most human and relatable storylines in The Crown was based on an actual royal showdown between the real Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.

The royal couple's argy-bargy was said to have occurred during their Australian tour in 1954, as reported by The Crown’s historian Robert Lacey.

Their row was allegedly caught on camera. According to author Ingrid Seward, a TV crew were secretly filming the chalet where the Queen and her husband were staying.

As shown in the episode, any footage of their argument is unlikely to exist. The film clip was handed over to the Queen, for which she thanked the crew personally.

*THE CROWN S6 PT I premieres on Netflix: Thurs 16th Nov 2023

[a-heart-of-kyber]

Whenever anyone bitches about Reid in Proof I'm just overhere like, "I would've been worse."

I'm not gonna beat around the bush and both sides this; imo Reid had a right to his anger and JJ was in the wrong.

Whenever I see the anti Reid arguments for this episode, it's always "Reid's anger was valid, but-" and then they proceed to invalidate his anger....

Now this is very Anti JJ, and not exactly pro Emily or Hotch either, and I am not looking to be convinced otherwise. There are tags and a readmore and now a warning. If you are bothering to read this any further and you disagree... you made that choice, not me.

Starting with s6 Emily. She literally put them all in danger and Knew it. She never would’ve prepared them until Doyle did what he did despite knowing they were threatened even before meeting with Doyle. Meaning one or more of them could've died probably without even understanding why. It's only because Doyle was looking to trap her that none of them were hurt.

Now, Proof opens and we immediately find out that JJ had already been bugging Reid to hang out before the episode. Which she clearly had been doing despite her knowing he was actively avoiding her. "He hates me." Makes it clear this wasn’t a one-time ask.

Hotch then, ignoring the tension, pairs them up.

Is Reid passive-aggressive? Yep. Is his passive aggressiveness based on her (JJ's) actual actions and the breach of trust and deconstruction of character caused by those actions? Also, yes.

Not once does JJ open one of these potential conversations with "I'm sorry." Because, guess what, even things you view as Necessary and Right can genuinely Hurt People. Best way to handle it? Take Accountability for your damn actions and apologize.

Hotch takes accountability in 7x01 and the first words out of Emily's mouth are "I'm sorry."

Instead, JJ puts the onus on Reid to open up because, to JJ, she is entitled to know his feelings. To JJ, she is entitled to his forgiveness.

During their period of grief, JJ should have steered him elsewhere to grieve because she was Lying to Him. To Reid, she spent months lying to him and play acting at a grief that he perceived as mutual. That would be mortifying to discover. It'd make someone feel foolish and betrayed. It's incredibly fucked up.

Then JJ goads Reid into a fight by insulting his intelligence and essentially calling him arrogant by suggestioning this was all just the result of a bruised ego, after spending the episode clapping back instead of apologizing. Their fight's foundation is steeped in a feeling of broken trust and manipulation/betrayal on one side and righteousness on the other.

And people have the audacity to say that Reid telling the Truth is being manipulative....after literal months of JJ doing that to him. The only difference being that she was Lying.

Frankly imo, when you push for a fight by hurting someone Even More (Reid had been actively trying to leave), you do not get to play victim when their truth hurts you.

And only after that does she even think to say "I'm sorry."

Plus let's not discuss the bit of this necessary secret where no one seems to actually consider the safety of those who didn't know if Doyle came knocking. Reid, Morgan and Garcia were potential and unwitting pawns/sacrifices the entire gd time. (Rossi says he figured it out....swell.)

In 7x01, Reid wasn’t requesting reinstatement. He would've quit/taken the fall. He was at the very least considering it.

He can't be mad at Emily because she came back to life and said sorry. He can't be mad at Hotch because that's his boss, and he didn't melt down in front of him.

But JJ acted as if his forgiveness was assumed, mandatory almost. That was his Best Friend who let him drown right in front of her....again.

I would've told All of them to get fucked and ghosted because I wouldn't have been able to trust them ever again. And while I have abandonment issues, I don't have them to the extreme that Reid does. The fact that he stayed is a miracle.