#bbc ghosts s5 spoilers

[elliottexists]

nothing in the world belongs to me but my love is mine, all mine

[soppybitorag]

thinking about how Thomas' death related directly to his love for isabel and yet he died cold and alone not knowing he'd been betrayed whilst Captains love directly related to his love for havers and yet he died looking into the eyes of a man he loved, and who knew loved him back, hand in hand. even when the queer characters don't meet a happy ending they aren't thrust upon a heavy, greater burden of sadness and tragedy than what is inherently there. I'm so happy at how the 6 idiots treat their queer characters. it is with every ounce of compassion and kindness that we have very rarely seen before

[douglasthealien]

Was thinking about the similarities with the Captain’s death between Thomas and Julian’s. Would have loved to see some bonding about this between them :) especially between Captain and Thomas. Two reckless sillies who died for love

[floweryrings]

kitty’s death AND her reaction to it was literally the best thing ever. it wasnt her sister!!! it wasnt the two men that were plotting something idk. it was a spider. on a pineapple. she wasn’t upset, no, instead she turned into spiderkitty. i love her.

[parttimesarah]

A good deal of the BBC Ghosts fandom after S5E5…

[literary-lesbian]

i don't care i don't care everyone shut up it was perfect. it was literally perfect because they have their own beautiful little family now and earlier when they tried to leave it didn't work because it was still their dream but now they have a new little dream. and they gave the house to someone who could afford to turn it into the hotel. and guys. they have the room. they have the same room and i bet they go there every single year and alison gets to see them again. it's like that group of friends that you know inside out that you only get to see once in a while but you're always as close as ever and you just. still always get each other.

[spineless-lobster]

The Captain looking like a kicked puppy in Carpe Diem, a compilation:

Someone help him :(

[ineffablelunatic]

Thinking about how in Sorry's the Hardest Word, Captain apologises so formally and struggles as much as the rest of the ghosts to say sorry to Alison.

And yet "I'm sorry" is the first thing he says to Havers after not seeing him for years. Apologising for disrupting the celebration, apologising for upsetting him, apologising for dying. Apologising for loving him. No airs, no neat military phrasing, no masking. Just "I'm sorry," simple as that.

I think that, really, says more than anything - that Havers was the only person he could be genuine around, that he could apologise to without the formal front that he put up during his life and still carries with him as a ghost. The only person who knows him well enough to see all of the meaning behind those two words, who doesn't see his love as a crime, who, in his last moments, tells him that it was fine, that he doesn't need to apologise, that he understands.

That he knows.

[mermaid-trash]

if anyone cares about my thoughts on that christmas special, they're under the cut lol

i didn't like it. what was the point in 5x06 after that episode? i mean i get why they made the decision they did, but the whole ending of s5 is about Alison wanting to continue living with the ghosts despite knowing what's best for their family. then in the very next episode they go back on that decision in like 2 minutes

also i complained about 5x06 spending no time on the emotional climax and honestly i would say the same thing about this episode, they spent too long on the plot with Mike's mum and not enough time or emotion on the plot about Alison and Mike making a HUGE LIFE DECISION IN DECIDING TO LEAVE THE HOUSE THEY'VE SPENT YEARS LIVING IN AND SANK THEIR ENTIRE LIFE SAVINGS INTO??? like hello?? am i insane for thinking it should have been a way bigger deal than it was?? like dude i didn't even cry and i wanted to SO badly

[violetgauze]

kitty in 5x02 is truly living the 12 year old girl experience of being absolutely convinced you're pregnant despite the fact you've never had sex

[gnomeantics]

so we're adding havers to the list of sad gays named anthony

[jimjimenezzz]

the way julian's voice cracks in his speech in the final episode,,,, simon farnaby count your days, i am in your walls

[seagull-scribbles]

I’m here

[captainsatspeed]

my thoughts about eleanor’s “redemption”

she was just a bitch! not evil! just a bitch to her sister and realised she shouldve been kinder during the time she had with her.

she was not a malicious person with bad intentions. just selfish and nasty when she didnt think about the potential consequences, and when it was too late, she realised she’d been a bad person and wasted her time. not redeemed, not evil. just a bitch

[soppybitorag]

The Captain as Man, Mirror, and Medals.....

a 🚨Red Lever🚨 meta on The Captain appearing in a mirror (and a cracked one at that) in the opening credits of Ghosts and what that could mean in the context of s5e5 and beyond :-D

What do mirrors symbolise?

Briefly, they outer vs. inner perception; who we are vs. what we let people see/want people to perceive us as. Mirrors Cannot Lie, and thusly expose our reality. Reflections are often said to be a persons True Soul, an idea across many early civilisations. It wasn't reflected light rays hitting your eyeballs, it was you seeing your Soul.

But also, we are 'mirroring' people when we copy them, appearing unoriginal and inauthentic.

Captain as Portrait and Mirror -

Now, ghosts can't see their reflections or be captured on camera/film. We don't see Captain looking *into* the mirror, just what is shown to us: the outer self/controlled perception. Also, the way he is framed makes it look like a portrait, something signifying power, virtue, and importance.

What we *see* is a middle-aged man of supposed stature, with a collection of earned medals (reflected, they'd be the right way round, which they aren't irl).

A soldier.

A Truth, as Mirrors Can't Lie.

Portraits can be twisted, however, such as The Picture of Dorian Gray. In it, Dorian's portrait grows more grotesque because of his sins and vices, whilst retaining his external beauty over many, many years.

Captain, likewise, is forever going to look the age he died, much like how Dorian is forever the age of when he got the portrait made. (Not saying they're similar in personality or really any deeper than that, just thought it note worthy.)

It'd be remiss to forget that in the opening creds, Robin is next to the mirror, flickering a lamp.

He is litterally shedding light on the mirror, implying a deeper meaning/more to be understood about what's there. There's also the fact that the mirror is cracked (cracked? definitely distorted).

Cracked Mirror Symbolism -

Cracked Mirrors can be seen as a form of deception: if distorted they can warp the image presented (even when we expect the truth from them), making things appear closer than they actually are (a common occurance in fairytales, for example), or taller/bigger/wider/fractured.

Some people believe broken mirrors weaken the spirit of a departed person. Oscar Wilde famously used this belief to mark a characters' death in, you guessed it, Dorian Gray.

It's worth noting that Dorian Gray is also the story that led to Wilde's imprisonment for homosexuality.

Cracked Mirrors are notably bad luck in many cultures, too. Romans believed that Gods observed them through mirrors, so breaking them was severing that connection, thusly having the Gods curse you with bad luck.

Ultimately, cracked mirrors present a fractured sense of self, where the inner and the outer are at odds with one another, or there is discontent in one or the other. Perhaps both.

What does this mean for Captain?

Well, we *see* a man of stature/inportance with war medals. Virtuous.

In actuality, the medals were always forever out of his grasp (making things look closer than they are) as he never left Britain, as much as he maybe would have liked to. He stole the medals to deceive the Veterans by façading (being inauthentic/copying/mirroring) as one of them, but bad luck had him put them on clearly wrong to all but him. If he had a mirror, he could've fixed it.

He was most likely one of the lowest ranking people in that room, in a house he once had control over, but no longer did.

Those actions directly led to his death, where he forever is entrapped with and condemned to wear unearned medals.

Of course, he most likely wanted to be perceived as integral/noble by people, but he just wasn't. He thinks himself a coward, wearing a mask, and forever will be. It's no wonder that in his purgatory/button house afterlife, he elects to seek control over how people see him. He's just The Captain.

some extra things I wanna throw in here

Captain died looking into Havers' eyes. He could probably see his own reflection at his end. But at least it was in the eyes of someone who truly knew him and loved him. For him. Told him as much. Because Mirrors Can't Lie.

Also, one way to rid yourself of the bad luck caused by breaking a mirror is, apparently, touching a tombstone with one of the shards and burying it deep down innthe ground where spirits can't find it, at nighttime.

So here are some completely random images.

[euthyami]

// bbc ghosts s5 spoilers

so when i die, which i must do.

could it shine down here with you?