#bbc ghosts season 4 spoilers

[impossiblyizzy]

guys if Mr Back Of The Head isn’t Daley I’m gonna be so disappointed! I want Daley content!

[viola-halogen]

I just think Robin and Kitty should bond over how close they both were with Mary and then become best friends.

They would go on walks and sing songs together like they used to do with Mary and just remember her together. And give each other the hugs they both desperately need. Eventually they would just come to just love each other’s company for no other reason.

Also I think they would make great besties and I would love to see them interact more.

[id: a digital drawing of Robin and Kitty from BBC Ghosts. They are sat on the floor with their backs against a wall and Kitty is leaning her head on Robin’s shoulder. /end id]

[the-names-kam]

no wait i’m not done talking about this

THOMAS NEVER HAS A MOMENT OF TRUE EMOTIONAL VULNERABILITY AND SELF ACTUALIZATION.

the closest we get, i believe, is in Gone Gone. he is clearly mourning the loss of mary, but instead of focusing on her and his actual feelings about her, he instead turns the focus back on himself, and talks about how much he has left to give, and his circumstances when he first met mary, and, of course, how much he loves alison.

and obviously part of that is just who thomas is as a person. that’s just one of his flaws. but.

i can’t help but feel like he’s deflecting, talking about things that we already know are upsetting to him (being unable to create his art, the circumstances of his death) instead of how mary’s death is actually affecting him.

he does have his moments, obviously. telling alison he wants her to be happy when he’s in the bath (i do believe that that was genuine lmao), him realizing he’s making everything about himself once alison points it out, the memorial to mary he helps alison come up with.

but. they’re very brief, and, imo, they don’t give as much insight into his character as the others’ reactions do.

even in his backstory episode (and in a few others as well, like the camping episode), he has his moments of brief vulnerability, but it’s nothing groundbreaking for his character like the others.

and it FEELS like he’s being vulnerable all the time, constantly talking about how he feels at any given moment, but. he’s not… saying anything.

like it’s all just… surface level. “oh, the tv show they’re shooting is about byron, his nemesis, that makes him angry! oh, and alison has a crush on the actor, that makes him sad!” y’know what i mean?

but like. i don’t even know if this is intentional or not because i can’t help but feel like the show doesn’t really. try with thomas.

like they’re just kind of like, “oh, yeah, thomas is obnoxious and overbearing and not good with boundaries, that’s just how he is” rather than giving him the depth the other characters have. (absolutely no hate towards the actors/writers tho !!)

idk i’m just kind of. fascinated by this now.

something that i find interesting about thomas is that i feel like he never really complains about things that actually negatively affect(ed) him

like he laments about how his mother took a little too long to come feed him that one time, but never mentions being addicted to opium (and presumably going through withdrawal), which is obviously an incredibly awful thing to go through

and aside from his “OH GOD, IT BURNS” line when presented with the musket ball, he also never talks about getting shot, even though getting shot in the gut is an extremely painful way to die

idk maybe i’m reading too much into him but it’s just. interesting

[captainloveshavers]

Captain is an amazing dad to kitty and a wonderful fairy god mother.

[varietysky]

when you're in a "kitty higham character development" contest but your opponent is a Christmas special

[caeran]

SAD HAVERS FANART... I'M SO SORRY

[parttimesarah]

Inspired by this post from @myheartissetinmotion about the S4 BBC Ghosts XMas special…

[mixedfandomer]

Something I noticed about the intro of Ghosts is that characters with ghostly powers are using them in the intro (exception Fanny who only appears as a painting in the room with Kitty and Humphrey) Robin uses his light powers (or well is seen with flashing lights), Mary has smoke rising from her, and when Julian appears a cup falls off the table, I also noticed The Captain appears in the mirror so what if he gets ghostly powers involving appearing in mirrors (that would also be a fun way for Mike to actually see one of the ghosts)

[parttimesarah]

Now he better scoot off stage like…

YOUR MAJESTY. HELL IS EMPTY. ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE

[impossiblyizzy]

Ghosts - Hotel Walls

‘This life is beautifully ugly at times’

(contains spoilers for season 4!)

[viola-halogen]

12 Days of Thanktival — Day 3: Angst/Secret Santa

—

[AO3 link]

Relationships: Kitty & Mary, Robin/Mary, Robin & Kitty

Characters: Kitty, Robin, Pat Butcher, Mentioned Mary

—

Summary: [SEASON 4 SPOILERS]

The first Christmas after losing Mary is hard for everyone, but especially for Kitty and Robin. Robin makes sure Kitty doesn’t have to go through it alone.

A/N: for me Robin and Kitty were the people who were closest with Mary so I really like the idea of them supporting each other through their grief and becoming closer together because of it.

—

It’s Christmas (So No-one Can Fix It)

“Now that brings me on to point seventeen of today’s agenda: the first ever Button House Secret Santa.”

“Yes!” Pat cheered. “Oh, you guys are gonna love this.”

Robin whooped with excitement. He still wasn’t sold on the whole “Christmas” thing, but when Alison had explained the concept of Secret Santa to them, he had to admit it had sounded quite fun.

“Quite,” the Captain agreed from the front of the room, where he’d been conducting the daily briefing for the past two hours. “Now, obviously we can’t actually buy presents for each other, what with us being… well, dead. Which is why I’m encouraging all of you to try and think outside of the box, and come up with something suitable that you can do for your partner. It could take the form of a song or poem…” his eyes strayed over to Thomas, who immediately sat up higher, striking a pose. “Or you could arrange something nice for your person to do. Whatever you can think of. Now, Alison has kindly agreed to help us with the choosing of the names. If you please, Alison…”

“Right,” Alison said, putting down her phone and getting up from where she was sitting on the other side of the room. “I’ve put each of your names on a piece of paper in this bowl. One at a time, each of you will come up and I’ll pick out a random person for you. If you get your own name, I’ll put it back and pick a different one. Oh, and no telling anyone else who you’ve got, because that just spoils the fun of it. Okay?”

“I don’t know why on earth I let you persuade me into taking part in this absurd business,” Fanny scoffed.

“This should be a bit of fun, right Robin?” Julian said, catching Robin’s eye and winking. Robin grinned.

“Don’t forget about me this time!” Humphrey said from where he was perched on a coffee table.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Alison said, looking around the room. “Let’s see, who wants to go first… Kitty, how about you?”

Robin glanced over at Kitty, who was standing behind the sofa. He had expected her to be the most excited about taking part in the Secret Santa, but far from her usual enthusiasm, she seemed particularly quiet and subdued. At the sound of her name, she looked up like a startled rabbit. Her eyes swept over the room, and then she gave a loud sob and fled the room, gathering her skirts as she went. Robin heard the muffled sounds of crying in the distance.

Alison’s face fell, and she looked worriedly around at the others. “Is she okay?” she asked. “She didn’t seem upset at all yesterday. Do you think something reminded her of her sister, or…”

“She’s probably just in one of those moods,” Fanny said. “Just leave her, she’ll come around eventually.”

“Are you sure?” Alison bit her lip. “Captain, maybe you should go check on her… she talks to you…”

“I’ll go,” Robin said, getting to his feet. He said nothing else as he left the room—the others would only doubt his ability to talk to Kitty, and besides wasting his energy on an explanation that wouldn’t be listened to was rarely worth his energy. He heard them muttering behind his back as he left, but ignored them and headed in the direction Kitty had gone.

Finding her, however, turned out to be a whole other problem. She wasn’t in any of the usual places she went to when she was upset—not in her room, or her reading spot, or the landing at the top of the stairs. Nor was she on the bench in the old flower garden, or her usual nook in the library, or the windowsill where she liked to watch the sunrise. It was only when Robin was coming back from checking the place where Florence now stood that he happened to hear the sound of crying, coming from further down the garden. He turned and followed the sound, and as soon as he saw where she was everything started to make sense.

Kitty was sat on the ground in the patch of trees where they’d held the memorial service for Mary, curled up into a ball as she sobbed her heart out. Directly in front of her was the tree underneath which they’d buried the items Alison had collected—the drawing of her that she’d done now hung framed from the tree trunk to mark out which one it was.

Robin felt as though a cloud had passed over his heart, stifling out all the warmth he’d previously felt. The day suddenly seemed colder, bleaker than it had any right to be, even in the middle of December. He approached Kitty in silence, dropping wordlessly to crouch next to her.

“I miss her so much, Robin,” she hiccoughed. Her eyes were shiny with tears, tears that vanished into thin air almost as soon as they rolled down her cheeks. Her shoulders shook as she said, “I still… can’t believe she’s… she’s really g… gone…”

“Let it all out,” Robin said, reaching out to stroke her hair. In a sudden moment of heart-wrenching awareness, he realised that what was happening now made a sort of parallel of the last time he’d comforted Kitty while she cried. It had been that night at Alison’s party, when Kitty had been convinced Alison was ignoring her out of spite. That night Mary had been by his side, helping him comfort her. That night had been the last time he’d ever kissed her.

Robin blinked hard as tears stung his eyes. He wouldn’t cry now and make Kitty feel worse—he had to be strong for her. Like he’d been strong for his sister when their mother was killed in front of them. Like she’d been strong for their children when she heard the news of his death.

“I miss her too,” he said, continuing to stroke Kitty’s hair. “The pain…” his voice broke. “Every time you think it’s gone for good, it… rears its head again.”

“It just d… doesn’t seem… seem right… celebrating C…Christmas without her. How… how am I s… supposed to be happy when I can’t… I can’t share it with her?”

“I know,” Robin said. He did know—for all that he didn’t care about Christmas, it could be a brutal reminder of the year that had passed when it came up again. Especially now, when last Christmas Mary had still been by his side. When he couldn’t stop remembering how this time a year ago, she’d been his lawyer as he tried to argue that Alison was the one trespassing on his land. How they’d spent countless evenings curled up under the stairs together, coming up with new ways to make Alison give back what was rightfully his. How this time a year ago, he’d still had Mary here within his reach.

A single tear escaped from the corner of his eye and rolled down his cheek. He made no effort to wipe it away—it vanished almost immediately—but Kitty saw it and began to cry again. “I’m never… going to s… see her again,” she sobbed in a small voice.

Robin said nothing. There seemed nothing to say, in the face of that one final statement. Instead he threw his arms around Kitty and buried his face in her shoulder, holding her close to him, as if he could crush all their shared grief into oblivion with the weight of his body. It wouldn’t work forever, he knew, but for a brief amount of time it might just be enough.

“What… what are you doing?” Kitty said, her chest heaving with sobs.

“Hugging you,” was his muffled response. “Make feel better.”

“Oh,” Kitty said. She sounded surprised, as if the simple gesture were something completely out of the ordinary. He wondered how long it had been since someone had hugged her like this.

“When you were a kid, Mary used to watch over you when you were sad,” he told her. He’d often sat with her as she did, watching as she whispered comforting words over and over again that Kitty couldn’t hear. Yet she’d still done it every time, without fail, as if she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving that sad little girl alone. “You cried a lot as a kid. Think she wanted to protect you, and that was best way she had to do it.”

Kitty’s crying paused. “That does sound like Mary!” she said. “Oh, and that explains why I so often thought something was burning as a child. Eleanor told me I was imagining things.”

Robin smiled. He decided not to mention the countless times Mary had deliberately made herself sick just to inflict the smell of burning on Eleanor at random moments in the day.

“Oh, I wish I could tell her that now! We’d have laughed about it for hours…” Kitty’s shoulders began to shake again, and the sound of sobbing came back.

“Hey, I got you,” Robin whispered, stroking her back. “It’s okay. Is going to be okay.”

It took some time, but eventually the force of Kitty’s tears went out of her, and she relaxed in his arms. Her crying stopped, and Robin felt a weight go out of him as well. He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, but when the sky began to darken and the stars came out, they simply lay down where they were without letting go of each other. Once they were settled, Robin pulled himself closer to her and closed his eyes, and at some point they both fell asleep like that.

~~~

He woke up to an early morning sky and the sun barely a finger’s width over the horizon, with a stiff back and a crick in his neck and Pat standing over him looking relieved. Kitty was still asleep in his arms.

“We didn’t know where you two had got to,” Pat said. “It was Alison who saw you out the window this morning. We should have realised you’d be here.”

“Well, now you know,” Robin said.

“We, um… we all picked our partners for the Secret Santa without you. If you go and ask Alison she can tell you who you’ve got.”

Robin chewed his lip. “I should stay with her,” he said, nodding at Kitty’s still-sleeping form. “Don’t want her to wake up alone.”

“I think she would want you to join in and have your fun,” Pat said, and the flicker of his eyes towards the tree ahead of them revealed that he wasn’t talking about Kitty. “If you want… I can stay instead.”

Robin thought for a moment. If it had been almost anyone else he’d have refused the offer, but Pat knew what he was doing. “I s’pose so,” he said, and carefully disentangled himself from Kitty before getting to his feet, stretching out his muscles. He turned to go, but Pat reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you for looking after Kitty,” he said. “I think… she’d be proud of you.”

Robin smiled. Inside his heart, the first rays of the sun were beginning to peek through the clouds.

“Careful,” he said with a grin. “I got fleas on that shoulder.” He cackled as Pat quickly withdrew his hand. Then he turned and headed back towards the house.

[capswarmedals]

BBC GHOSTS: DEEP DIVE

"You're a bloody fool, James!" - Ben Willbond, Inside Ghosts: A Christmas Gift.

CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR CHRISTMAS EPISODE AND SEASON 5. BE WARNED.

Okay, just before we start, I WILL be referring to BOTH James and The Captain. Wait and see, your poor little dumplings.

We all know The Captain. Brave, stern, always has a stiff upper lip and of course, most obviously, he's an ABBA loving star. Joking (not really though)!! The most obvious part is that he is gay, but he hides it deep down inside himself. You'd have to kill him to find out or well, you know what I mean (/ref). That part deep down inside himself is James. James. The real person, the person under the mask, the villain, the mastermind of it all. Except that... James isn't really anything like The Captain. James is not brave, not stern, never has a stiff upper lift, but he's still an ABBA fan and gay. Incredibly, incredibly gay.

We know that he had a very, VERY strong crush on Havers (Anthony as I will be referring to) as evident in the Cricket Report in the Button House Archives and in Redding Weddy/Carpe Diem. Throughout the series, we see James fall for men. Mike ("Yes, he'd make a very fine soldier."), Adam, the director ("Yes, though I might just... Check."), Pat (even though it's not as obvious, but it's certainly there).

Many people, including myself, head canon James/The Captain to be autistic, and I can very much add some reason and proof to these reasons.

1. A very strict routine. This man will NOT let go of routine, and it is clear in 4x02 (Speak As Ye Chooses) where he states: "It's all very well saying 'At ease', but what do you do for the rest of the day?" and visible expression of shock and anger to finding out that a club was cancelled. As we come to the end of episode, where we see the man casually without his jacket on, he says "We've got forever" before immediately re-settling himself into his strict routine when being reminded of Film Club. But of course, this could be either that James is attracted to Captain America or is just reminded of his strict routine. This links into another point about change. In 3x05 (Something To Share?), this silly man agrees with Pat about how it is frightfully important to have an extremely strict routine. DON'T get me started on his almost coming out. (I will talk about this.)

2. Hyperfixations. This man has a hyperfixation/special interest in tanks, birds and basically anything remotely military related. He made a club solely dedicated FOR birds. He values his hyperfixations over secrets ("This is outrageous, I'll simply have to tell Fanny-" "No more war documentaries, then." "Your secret is safe with me, she'll have to kill me first- Well- You know what I mean."). 1x02, watching Hitler's Secret Superweapons "It's Christmas! I mean, it's Christmas Morning!" and when Mike turns it off... "What the bally heck do you think you are doing? Where the bally hell are the tanks?" "If you were dead, I would thrash your bottom, sir!". As like other autistic people, such as myself, taking away our hyperfixations isn't a good thing. We don't like that.

3. Masking/easily overwhelmed. (Basically what this deep dive is about). James is the true individual. The Captain is his mask, his shell. And he's been living in it for far too long now. He does not like change, and hates loud noises. This is clear when a club is cancelled in 4x02, and when he realizes the Queen's speech is televised in 2x07. He stress stims by using his swagger stick (Or Anthony's) and twirling it around in his fingers, he bounces a lot, he hums a lot, and whenever he matches about the place, he swings his arms depending on what arm the swagger stick is under (usually the right), and yes, I know that military marching is very exaggerating on the arms, but STILL, it's an output of energy that he does CONSTANTLY. I don't think I've seen anybody talk about the fact he hums. He does it SO MUCH.

4. Tone. Because of his ridiculous amount of gayness inside of him, this man cannot always understand straight jokes. 5x04, where they play Blankety Blank and he does not understand the word "saucy" (I mean, it is late 20th century/early 21st century slang...) and does not approve of the meaning. He gets jokes late, but that's alright because I do too.

ANYWAYS. Back to his pining.

In the first GIF, you see James check Adam out. This also happens in another scene with the quote "Do you find yourself to be distracted?" where he takes the moment to check Adam out yet again. In this second GIF, you see James slightly creep out when he realizes that he's openly saying he'll miss a man, with that look down, almost ashamed of himself.

But why does he fall for these men of order? Because it reminds him of Anthony, not because they're bossing everyone about - it's as if they're doing the bossing about for him, so he can relax and be himself. During Redding Weddy, we see Anthony order the unit around whilst James is looking outside the window (suppressing stims, but bouncing slightly on his feet) trying to spot Germans. I could see why James fell for Anthony. Despite everyone else, Anthony does not see these stims as annoying or his remarks to be unfunny. We see him SMILE when James makes a joke.

As we know, their love for each other was mutual.

He knew.

Anthony smiles after saying "James" and saying "I know". Why? He knew he was dying, he knew that James loved him, he knew why James was here. He wanted to be by James' side as he died to comfort him. To just be together, maybe once. Maybe twice. We don't know if they've held hands, kissed, but still. This is a very significant moment.

Additionally, Anthony's knowledge of James' intense crush is during their talk in James' office in Redding Weddy as it starts to reach a conclusion. Anthony subtly hints to the fact that if James should say anything, the moment is now ("Well, if that's all?").

He raises his eyebrow slightly, communicating to James that he is eager to hear what he really says, and that it's okay to be them because they're alone together. But no. The Captain completely hides James away. Anthony understands, he always has. The Captain probably hid James away because of Anthony's reaction to "I shall miss you, Havers." (his smile drops).

But... "I say, Havers?"

The way Anthony turns around. SO QUICK.

His smile. It's so ridiculously warm. But he knows because he saw that hesitancy, he saw James' sad expression. James is bally well sad that Anthony is leaving!!

Masking is clearly shown in this conversation. The Captain is preventing James from speaking the truth. And just like how he buried the limpet mine, he too, buried his feelings. And it became a ticking time bomb to Carpe Diem, where that emotional bomb finally explodes.

He leaves it to the last second. Literally. Let me show you proof.

Ben is absolutely AMAZING at micro-expressions, one of the many reasons I love to delve into The Captain so much. Carpe Diem (5x05) is an excellent example of some of the best James scenes.

Right here, what I am personally reading is that James is attempting to unmask, or is in the process of doing so. He deciding whether he should tell his story or not. This frame is important as it comes just after the quote "When I died, I never got to be surrounded by the people I loved." Blatant foreshadowing here because well, it shows that James loved Anthony and still does, despite it being 83 years since Anthony left of that year, he still holds him very dear to his heart. Of course, he has Anthony's swagger stick, which I love because he's always been there with James to help him out through moments. I love that and I love everything about that. How I ADORE Simon Hynd's directing here of the camera position, openly hinting to the fact that James died with Anthony next to him. God, everyone in that show is a mastermind!!

I also think that he is remembering here. Perhaps remembering the good memories? That Sunday afternoon stroll, or that certain Cricket Report? He's trying desperately to remember Anthony so he doesn't forget him when he moves on. For all he knows, he doesn't even know if Anthony thinks of him. All he knows is that he knew, and is most probably dead. He doesn't know what's beyond the veil. He doesn't know if he'll see Anthony. It's worth it.

This "desperate searching" facial expression is the same as the expression he had when glancing at the gate a few scenes prior to this, eyebrows furrowed and mouths slightly agape. It cuts to the gate, where we know, that in Redding Weddy, Havers walked out of. Anthony. Yet again, he's remembering him. James is obsessed with the memory of Anthony, the good times they had yet the good times they never were really good as laws about homosexuality were extremely strict. You could even say he is clingy.

Another thing is that, The Captain is one of the most favourite characters and people have been demanding to see how he died for ages! Why is it near the end of the last season? Well. I may have an idea to why it is in the last season.

James leaves things until the last second, he leaves the real explanation to things until it's too late. I saw someone on tiktok quote that James is as pretty as poppies because his love sprouts up in the wrong times and wrong places, which I think is amazing. I personally believe that his death was purposely the last one because you needed to see that he's more than just a stern WW2 CO with no feelings. He's an anxious man who's terrified of the real world so decides to seclude himself in a time and place where he was loved. World War 2. 1940. When Anthony loved him. We needed to see this inner secluded character within him to make the death sadder, which is what Ben likes, the silly man.

This also explains why he says "Is it? Is it, Alison?" during Redding Weddy because, well, with his mindset and attitude, he doesn't believe the war is over. He wasn't very good at keeping a unit of alive people under control, but perhaps he could try at keeping a whole bunch of dead people under control to keep himself busy from accepting the fact that Anthony is gone and he should emotionally move on.

In 4x04 (Gone Gone), the episode where Mary moves on, we see that James' coping mechanism is to keep himself busy. Keep himself busy so he doesn't have to focus on his feelings, but when he's given the time to pause and process it... He completely breaks down. Imagine that with Anthony when he left for North Africa.

But why does he like Pat?

Well. It isn't canon. But, the most recent Christmas special definitely hints at it. Pat introduced James to the amazing thing of baby talking, attempting to teach him just as Mia is put to bed. But once again The Captain's hard shell is back again and gives him a monotone voice and tone, rather making him seem like a robot. But at the end of the episode. He learned, and the glance he takes towards Pat is "Did I do it?" and Pat gives him a warm smile and a subtle nod. HUSBANDS I TELL YOU!

The Woodworm Men (3x03): Pat outbests The Captain with camping, yet they are still both very keen. The Captain trudged back though!! In this episode, James is awarded the teamwork badge from Pat, and when you see the scene, you can tell that he is smitten and in love. Because, now rewatching that scene with the context of his death, he must've been the happiest he had been in a while to achieve and properly earn a badge. James, I think, personally likes Pat because he still has all the leading roles (being a scout leader) and that reminds him a lot of Anthony hence why we see them working together in a lot of episodes (2x06, 2x02, etc). It all leads back to Anthony. Who knows what would've happened if they didn't meet.

I also think that Getting Out (1x06) is a good episode that represents self growth as well as debating with the issue of being mocked, as James is mocked in the episode.

This is him overhearing the conversation. Confusion. Anger. This episode is where James learns that not everybody will adapt themselves for him, not everybody will accept the way he acts. It's pretty clear that he cannot control this mindset he has, it was probably drilled into him, the poor soul. The way he brings himself back into the group is through a secret weapon (Kitty, because she's the most likeable and their relationship is mwah).

This episode is also important because of the scene in the library with James and Kitty.

"What matters more? Keeping Alison here, or letting her be happy?"

Now imagine that question but Anthony. James has sacrificed his life and soul towards Anthony, and even has a piece of him with him. This man is obsessed with Anthony. Crazily in love. He can't control his feelings for people. It just... Happens.

After Carpe Diem, it took me only a fraction of a second to see how comfortable he was. He was free to love who he wanted! I was stimming so crazily when the last scene of Season 5 (disregarding the Christmas special) was him being gay. Fanny comforted him after he came out, and every one supported him. He feels safe now.

The mirror and the draw in the intro.

Personally, I believe that the mirror represents the fact that his medals are the right way, meaning that the man in the mirror is The Captain and the man looking at his reflection is James. He's looking what he could've been. A hero. Yet now that he's come to terms with himself, James knows that he can be himself now. Free of judgement. Free of secluding himself away. I believe that the drawer represents him ever searching for more memories to grasp onto, more things about Anthony to remember. I also think it represents the fact that there is something inside of him that is worth looking for, and that thing deserves to be looked for and looked after. The draw is pulled out as far as it can go, so this could point to the fact that there is something buried within the house that needs to be found and given back to him. Could be the limpet mine. Or perhaps that William letter truly was a love letter.

OVERALL:

James is a different man to The Captain. The Captain is merely a costume or a nickname James wears knowing full well of the man he is underneath those perceived images of him. James is a coward. James is obsessed with Anthony. His heart has bled so much he has to rely on the small amount of attention from someone so he can carve it out and then offer it to those people who attention has been wasted on him. Ben is an amazing actor and writer who threads things together so subtly and sneakily it's insane. James won't let go of the military mindset, just incase he meets Anthony when he moves on. He thinks that no one will fall in love with the present him so he tries his best to act like his old self. Ben is right. You certainly are a fool, James. But oh, how I love your character.

[thekingofspin]

‼️ BBC GHOSTS S5 EP5 SPOILER ‼️

(you have been warned)

so in episode 5 we learn the captain and havers names.

havers name is not William, it's Anthony.

in season 4 the caption keeps talking about

"Lord brigadier sir ANTHONY Barthomlew rasinby jones"

SIR ANTHONY

HES TALKING ABOUT HAVERS.

[sco07ut]

bbc ghosts season 4 christmas special spoilers (but very very mild it was from like a 3 second bit) 🫶

okay i have about a billion thoughts about the special BUT FIRST OF ALL, WHY OH WHY WERE THOMAS (COULDNT WIN A FIGHT AGAINST A STRONG GUST OF WIND) AND JULIAN (ALLERGIC TO MANUAL LABOUR) SELECTED TO HOLD UP THE CAPTAIN FOR WHAT LOOKED LIKE AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME

WHO THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Spoiler alert for all of season 5 of BBC Ghosts and the first three episodes of season 2 of Our Flag Means Death.

I really enjoyed season 5 of Ghosts. More than I expected to, I think, because I’d thought it might be running out of steam. I didn’t find season 4 quite as good as the first three, I figured there’s maybe not enough in the premise to sustain it for all that long. But season 5 left me wishing it would keep going, there’s plenty more they could do.

I am glad we’ll have a Christmas special, as they left a lot of loose ends. Arguably too many loose ends for a season finale. They could probably have solved that by cutting the quite unnecessary “Pat and Robin fight over a weather presenter” B plot from the finale, and spending the whole episode on the main story. But that was probably the only storyline in the season that I didn’t enjoy. Even the baby storyline, which I anticipated annoying me ever since I realized last week that they’d inevitably do a pregnancy in the final season, was done nicely, I thought.

Aside from the baby thing, I like that they did avoid a few of the seeming inevitabilities. There is such a well-recognized formula to this sort of feel-good sitcom, and everyone is so familiar with it, that there were few things they could have done without being incredibly predictable. Everyone’s been assuming it would end with all or at least most, or at least a few, of the ghosts disappearing. So I found it funny that instead of doing that, they dedicated the second-last episode to parodying the fans’ certainty that it would happen, and then subverting the expectations. It was just enough of an affectionate jab at the audience and their expectations to be funny, not so much as to compromise the warm and nice tone of the show.

The characters are all really well drawn for a show with such short seasons, I thought. And I did like the closure we got on Kitty and the Captain in the last season. I mean, I’m disappointed that my theory didn’t come to pass, that it’ll turn out his name is Captain Ben Willbond (I would also have accepted Captain Adam Kenyon). But Regular Ben Willbond did a hell of a job in that dramatic scene. And Lolly Adefope did a hell of a job in hers. They all did, really. It’s just a really, really nice show. I’m glad Tumblr obsession with it got strong enough a couple of years ago for me to watch it. And definitely looking forward to the Christmas special, and hoping we get a bit of a time skip/epilogue that’ll tie up all the loose threads.

And on the other show that dropped a new season this week – the first couple of episodes had me rather disappointed that Our Flag Means Death seems to have given up on being a comedy altogether to be a drama, even if it’s a reasonably entertaining drama. But the third episode felt more like the first season, which was good. I didn’t absolutely love the first season as much as some did, but I did quite like it. It was low on female characters though (I mean, it’s a show about old-timey pirates, I’m not saying I blame the writers/creators for making it male-dominated, I’m just saying I’d probably have enjoyed it more if there had been more scenes for Leslie Jones and Claudia O’Doherty because they were both great characters), so it’s nice that season 2 seems to be quickly solving that. I like a lot of the new people. I’m not quite sure how much more the main two guys have to do from here, so I like that they’re bringing in other stuff.