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phantomoftheorpheum · 8 months ago

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PLL: OS (Summer School) 2x07 thoughts

*Spoilers for 2x01-2x07 of Summer School + the trailer for the final 3 episodes.

Okay, this is it, y'all, the last chance to make any predictions! I suspect this is going to be very long.

Unfortunately I have a lot going on rn, so I'm pretty exhausted and I fear this will not be my best, but I'm going to do my best to push through the brain fog. If I struggle with expressing my thoughts, at least you'll know why.

I think, for the final analysis of the season (I will post something about 2x08, but it will probably be a much shorter post, since I don't anticipate doing much speculating [outside of loose threads]) I'm going to break things down by girl, but fully go through every character most closely linked to each girl, then move on to stuff that doesn't fit well in those categories. Okay, let's do this. I hope you're ready for overthinking. (P.S. there are weird breaks in the formatting because of tumblr's limits of how long a single block of text can be).

Faran

I'm starting with Faran because she is both my personal favorite, and because I think she may be the simplest to talk about. So while it does feel like Faran's gotten to grow this season, a lot of her story is really an internal journey for her character development, and I think a lot of it isn't super directly linked to the BR plot. Despite her character getting a lot of physically strenuous scenes, I think her confidence/emotional strength was what was really tested this season. So like I said, aside from being linked to the church through the characters outside of the girls that she interacts with the most, Faran doesn't feel super tied in to the BR motive. I've really enjoyed Faran this season (and relate to a lot of aspects of her personality), but her story does feel a bit peripheral to the main events of the season (which is fine, tying to deeply tie villain motivations back to each of the girls in this plot seems like a lot. It worked with their moms, but would be harder to do repeatedly). That being said, there are characters and plot lines attached specifically to her, so let's take a look at those.

Henry - I think he's irrelevant. He was mentioned one time this episode. I think this is just a character (or maybe more the relationship) they just wanted to cycle out. He's felt doomed (figuratively speaking) all season, and if he doesn't make any kind of appearance in 2x08, that doesn't feel like a loose thread. I've never hated or loved Henry (and I think that's a bit of the problem and the reason they've basically written him out), he's just kinda there. And now he's just kinda not there. If they have a third season, I could see him possibly making very minor appearances (depending on the availability of the actor), but it does just feel like the show is pretty done with him. Considering his connections to Kelly's church, it is possible he "sold the girls out" in some way, but that just feels unnecessarily complicated, tbqh. This is probably the last time I will talk about him at all, unless he pops up in an important way next episode.

Coach Rhodes & Stringbean - It feels like this storyline was here to close out Faran's arc of finding herself and feeling confident/comfortable in her strength, both physically and mentally. Obviously Coach Rhodes has Faran's number, and they still haven't explained the info showing up on SpookySpaghetti, but that always felt like a distraction anyway (Coach Rhodes, I mean). I'll be surprised if he has any kind of important role.

Greg - I guess it's time for me to really talk about Greg, because I've mentioned him and Faran/Greg a little over the course of the season, but mostly in passing. It now feels like it's time. Listen... Greg is (I think) in my mind benefitting massively from the fact that I didn't bother to rewatch season 1, because I don't think I have as many negative feelings about him as people who that season was fresh for. I barely remember him in season 1, so I've forgotten a lot of the stuff he said/did, so basically season 2 Greg exists in my mind by himself. BUT, please don't get me wrong, he is still annoying and problematic and I think they've rushed (and cut) key stuff they really needed for a good redemption arc for a character like him. And I do think he needs a redemption arc if they want to move forward with him as a protagonist, even a background one. In the scheme of the show, sure, Greg is probably not the literal worst (I don't think he's murdering anybody, anyway), but the show has also made him intentionally an example of toxic masculinity, misogyny, etc. etc. etc. and because the show has chosen to center a lot of these topics, then ignoring that Greg has spent the majority of his screen time as an embodiment of all those things, just having him say a few "Sorry, I'm better now," kind of lines just doesn't cut it, imo. I actually really respect the idea of taking an incredibly privileged, toxic, and even harmful character and deconstructing them, to show that it's hard and it's a process and that people can change, but it's not easy to unlearn all that stuff. It can be fascinating, and also a reminder that, as hard as it might be for us to like someone like Greg, the message that "once a shitty person, not always a shitty person," is ultimately, if executed thoughtfully, a positive. So yeah, I think that kind of storyline can be done well, but it takes time, which is something this show lacks in a lot of ways (lots of characters, lots of elements, very few episodes). Personally, I think they should have played the long game with Greg, if they really wanted to turn him into a protagonist and possible love interest. I don't know why they wouldn't, except maybe that he's going to be sacrificed to add to the body count of the finale and so they knew they didn't have time to do a developed arc with him.

Faran/Greg as a ship - If you told me I had to write a follow up to season 1 and make Greg a love interest for Faran, here's what I would have pitched- Use season 2 to show that he's questioning things and people around him (maybe we introduce his gay cousin [I know that was a Riverdale reference, but that could have been anyone] who's visiting for the summer and he's someone Greg already loves/respects who calls out his inappropriate comments and toxic masculinity). Show him listening and absorbing the thoughts/behavior of the people that he's now surrounded by (his cousin at home, Faran and Ash [and Shawn if he existed enough to be anything] at work), instead of his usual group of friends from school. Show him becoming unsatisfied and embarrassed with the way that he's been acting. Make him realize, now that he's starting to open his mind a bit, that he does really respect Faran, shown through interactions of them working together. Have them clash at the beginning of the season, but also have them talk and have friendlier moments, because they're stuck together at work and there's a lot of just sitting around, basically. Let us, the audience, watch him change, while Faran maybe doesn't see it that much, because the change is slow. If you have to have Faran/Greg "romance" in season 2, make it casual. Faran will have spent enough time with Greg by mid-season that she's friendly-ish with him, but after her breakup with Henry, she's just looking for a FWB kind of situation and, now that she's seen a slightly better side of him, she thinks Greg's kinda hot. She sees him shirtless all day, she finds that their bickering has evolved into less serious topics and now it's evolved into some sexual tension, she doesn't see him as a real romantic option, but he and Kelly are broken up (which I would have had happen earlier), so why not? Get them to a point by the end of season 2 where you've set up a "he's completely smitten with her, but she thinks it's just casual and it doesn't even occur to her they could be a real couple," dynamic for season 3. If you get a season 3, great. If you don't, that's okay, too. That way, you still get your ship in season 2 (and it's PLL, they tend to have to have their ships), but it doesn't feel entirely unsupported, and you can continue to have that relationship evolve into something deeper, OR you can have it fall apart easily, whichever direction you want to go if you get renewed because there's groundwork for either (scenario one, Faran develops feelings, scenario two, she doesn't and realizes he has and that ends things). So that would have been my pitch if you told me I have to try to make this ship work (would I have pitched this ship in the first place? no, I wouldn't have, but that won't stop me from trying to retroactively work out how it could have been handled), anyway.

As it is, I really don't get the Faran/Greg thing from a pacing/storytelling/character POV. I get the tropes that they're leaning into with this relationship. I get that there's limited time. I think I entirely get what the intent was. I just don't think they've done enough with Greg's character or his relationship with Faran to support where we are now with them. Mostly. I said last week that I thought it was good they cut the 2x06 kiss, because while I could see where they were trying to go with things, it just didn't feel like they'd managed to actually get those characters to a place where it makes sense, but now I kind of want to take that back because I think this felt even weirder? Like I don't know what was said in the 2x06 conversation that led to a kiss, or what other Faran/Greg content they might have cut from earlier in the season, but I just didn't feel like they'd had enough legitimately friendly interactions (yeah, Greg apologized to her that one time, but they've not really talked about anything of substance with each other, ever) for them to suddenly be legit hanging out and hooking up. When Greg said, "You know why," I thought to myself- Yeah, I do, but what if I didn't know about the cut kiss from 2x06 and/or I haven't been paying that much attention to the show, would I? That conversation makes a lot more sense with the context of that not being the first time they've kissed, but since that scene was cut, I guess it canonically is and hhdfjshfkjsdfs. Because romance is not central to the plot, and you have 5 main characters, this is the perfect opportunity to plan multi-season romantic arc that doesn't ruin anything if it's not resolved, and I just think they should have taken that. Y'all, I want to be very clear that my critiques of the show come from a place of fun for me. I like thinking about how things that I believe are particularly weak elements could have been different. If I weren't enjoying myself, I wouldn't be watching, and I definitely wouldn't be making posts like this. So when I say I think something is done poorly, that doesn't mean that I'm horribly upset or I don't like the show. I just like talking about what could be done better. The only time I am legitimately annoyed (and it's more frustration than anything) is when I feel like I just cannot understand what/why/how the creative decisions were made. I don't think Faran/Greg has been handled particularly well (too fast, too unsupported, not enough change on Greg's part, etc.), but I do think I understand what the intent/goal was, in this case, and so it doesn't bother me as much as it easily could.

Kelly

I'm giving Kelly her own section this time, and I think it makes sense for it to follow Faran's, since their plots are tied together this season.

Kelly's actions are quite interesting to me this episode. She seems to be genuinely investigating the Bloody Rose plot, and she seems genuinely suspicious of her mother. And also she could be dead now. (I do not think Kelly is dead, because if she is, then Faran didn't have to find her right away. I assume Faran will be able to save her, tying up the "Faran rescuing people from drowning," arc).

The question remains- is Kelly genuine? She does a lot of things in this episode that point to "she doesn't know what's going on," like calling Sandy's mom and asking where she is, questioning her mom about who she blames for Karen's death, locking her mom up and fleeing her house. All these things are consistent with actions a character would take if they don't know what's going on and are trying to find out.

My problem with this is... I think that there is a plan from the BR team (I'm calling it a team, because I think it's minimum 2 people and likely 3 or more) to frame someone (or someones) for the Bloody Rose attacks, so also all of those actions (along with a possibly faked attack intentionally witnessed by Faran) could be part of Kelly setting up her mother as a fall guy (so in this scenario, Kelly is playing out the "concerned friend & investigator" role by doing things like calling Sandy's parents to establish actions that would make her seem innocent). When you think about it, it would make sense. A lot of the BR stuff ties back to the church, which her mother has a major role in. Whoever BR is, they were able to convince people that their victims are still alive and not trigger a murder investigation or search parties. Whoever BR is, they are covering their tracks. Mrs. Beasley would be a great fall guy if Kelly were involved, and Mrs. Beasley is abusive towards Kelly, giving her motivation to frame her.

So, for that reason, I haven't cleared Kelly from my list. That being said, her behavior this episode does more likely point to her innocence, as it's a simpler explanation and allows her to stay in the show as a sometimes protagonist, sometimes antagonist. I also think this episode makes it pretty difficult to think Mrs. Beasley and Kelly are involved. If they were, a lot of their conversations don't make any sense.

However, if Kelly is involved, I can't help but wonder if her BR attack was staged (I mean, she may really be injured à la Billy and Stu) because she was tipped off about the girls beginning to close in a bit by Faran's conversation with her. She could also be pissed at Faran for her thing with Greg (though since the show seems to have cut a lot of that, it's probably not that important to the plot) if she somehow found out about that.

Mrs. Beasley is obviously incredibly suspicious at this point, but since PLL properties favor twist villains, she may very well be too suspicious. She blames the girls for what happened to Karen (and what warped thinking, that this happened to Karen because of the video is. Ma'am Karen's doom did not start with a video, it started when your husband r**ed Angela), which is certainly motive. She also specifically ties Karen's death to The Orpheum, which is another arrow pointing at Tabby's storyline. Anyway, obviously she's growing roses (but literally anybody could go cut some) and she's connected to the church and we know she's hurting Kelly, so... But those reveals are all pre-finale, and also all of those things would be a great way to frame her.

The timing of Kelly's attack is difficult to pinpoint. It looked like it was daylight when she locked Mrs. Beasley up, and Kelly is attacked after dark. It's not totally clear, but I think the only side characters with alibis during this particular attack are (actual Rose, Mouse's grandmother, Shawn, & Greg). Since I believe that there may be multiple people dressing up as Bloody Rose, this isn't really helpful. (Finally a BR attack where it seems like Shawn has an alibi, though).

Mouse

This is probably going to be a pretty short section, since Mouse doesn't have a ton going on, though there are some interesting implications in her story this episode.

So... how did Mouse get exposed on SpookySpaghetti? It still feels like there's someone with inside info on the girls (phone numbers, their redemption house info, now this), but as far as we know the only character who knows Mouse made the Angela video is Ash. Are we supposed to believe people just recognized her/her voice (which tbf, was not particularly disguised)? Or was the laptop she was brought a trap? (or even if it wasn't, could someone have remote access to Mouse's computers?) Is someone tracking her digital info, and possibly even watching her through her webcams? It's interesting because we've only seen this happen once, but Mouse accepted that video chat with Bloody Rose, so could the point of that have been for Rose to gain access to her computer? That's never come back around.

Speaking of Mouse's computer, we did meet her "computer teacher" this episode, and he is clearly a character who would be capable of all that, but it feels waaaay too late for an important introduction.

Ash - Again, I don't have a lot to say here. The fact that he knew about the Angela video does look not great for him, particularly with the leaked phone numbers, since he's someone who probably had all the new numbers at that point. The girls say they didn't give the numbers to anyone, but I think they mean new people, because they were all still talking to their boyfriends, so I assume they were excluding people they really trust. But... I just don't see how Ash fits in as a good villain for this season. He's been very background and the biggest part of his story is Pride vs Hell House, and that just feels really genuine. He's nowhere near the top of my predictions.

Mouse's Grandmother & Rose - I am glad that this plot point is going to get addressed to some degree, because I've been wondering why they had Rose jump off of a bridge. It would have been really easy to just have her be unwilling to speak to the girls or not coherent when they found her. Whether or not she actually is Rose Waters, and what her connection to stuff might be, does still feel like it needs to be resolved. I don't have much new to say about Mouse's grandmother. I suppose she might have known Rose back in the day, since her daughter obviously knew Angela.

Imogen

There are a few elements to Imogen's storyline this season that need to be addressed in the finale, the most obvious being if BR is pretending to be her mother and why.

I still think we're building to Imogen stabbing someone (quite probably Johnny), just not sure whether that's going to be a hallucination, a bad guy, accidentally a good guy, etc. I don't think the fact that she's had two meltdowns where she's grabbed knives and Johnny has talked her down from both of them is in any way an accident (rule of threes).

I'm still unsure why they introduced Rebecca, when it's had absolutely nothing to do with anything (I guess it's informed Imogen's mental state and kept her relationship with her mother at the surface). I just don't see how they tie it in with any sort of satisfaction because we've literally met this character one time.

In general, I'm honestly really not sure how Davie ties in to everything, unless she doesn't, really, but it's part of the storyline BR is crafting for a film or something.

Johnny - He's continued to be super chill about all the stuff Imogen is throwing at him. Out of the three new love interests, he is the least developed, which I think makes him the least likely to have a big twist reveal (though I do have a theory that includes him, but we'll get to that later because there's a lot of other stuff I need to bring up first), but that shot of what appears to be Imogen dragging his body across the creamery floor is something. I've thought it is most likely a nightmare that she has (because if he was revealed as a villain and killed or injured, why would she need to move his body? Surely under those circumstances she'd just call 911, like do we think Imogen is going to hide a body this season???), but I also kind of expected it to be in tonight's episode. I think I also instinctively discredit it a bit because if it is real & what it looks like, that feels very spoilery and I would never put something key like that in a trailer, but also sometimes they really do put stuff in a trailer that you probably shouldn't. Since I have no new information on his character, this is about all I've got for you on this one.

Imogen/Johnny - Johnny has one point in his favor with me, and it's a small point, which is that he got the 2x06 Greg treatment this episode, AKA they gave him a shot were Imogen leaves and then he's all smiling and smitten. There's literally no one there to see it. But I only give that a tiny bit of weight because it could just be editing. The choice to linger on him in this moment feels weird if he's going to be evil, but weird choices happen sometimes. It also makes me very nervous that Imogen keeps talking about how safe she feels with Johnny. That seems like terrible foreshadowing. I just really want Imogen to not have to relive the trauma of dating people who have literally always had an ulterior motive.

Small note, but- "Stop analyzing me." Imogen, I love you, but do you know what a therapist is for?

Dr. Sullivan - Okay, this is still a big thing, even though we got some kind of explanation out of her in this episode. It's hard to know how honest she's being. Even without her vanishing and the rose petals appearing, her past with this situation didn't feel resolved. Archie murdering her son for revenge against Dr. Sullivan for simply not reporting his situation doesn't totally line up to me. Like I get that she should have done something, but he had apparently already escaped at that point, so... She's from Millwood. Did she know the girl's moms? Did she know Davie? We know she knew Rose. Also Imogen couldn't find anything about her son online. He has a gravestone, so it feels like he's real (though she could have scouted the cemetery and found a Sullivan and then used that person's first name in her explanation to Imogen), so that makes me question if Dr. Sullivan is Dr. Sullivan. I mean, I know that Dr. Sullivan is a character from the original and she is definitely actually Dr. Sullivan, but with all the theories around twins, could she actually be Dr. Sullivan's twin, impersonating her to gain access to the girls (would also explain why she was so willing to risk her license by recording the girls without their consent)? But that feels overly complicated, too.

Obviously Imogen has that dream where Dr. Sullivan is BR and impersonating her mother. But Imogen's story is so intertwined with motherhood, she clearly spends part of the season looking up to Dr. Sullivan as a kind of stand-in mother figure, and Dr. Sullivan and Davie do look a little alike. This is clearly unresolved, but I'm conflicted in where I think it's going. It could be more about Imogen's personal journey, and I would probably assume that if BR hadn't (probably, we didn't actually see it) been wearing a Davie mask.

Dr. Sullivan's flashback scenes were weird, like tv (or film) recreations, rather than legit flashbacks (another SpookySpaghetti film? Or possibly the movie BR might be making?) and what was with Archie's mask in the flashback??? That looked like a Christian monster mask, rather than the A mask we're used to seeing. That's another reason I wonder if the "flashback" might be a dramatized recreation for the film. And is that supposed to be Archie's "real" face?

I still haven't forgotten that someone pushed her down the stairs (according to her) and we've just avoided bringing that up again.

"Something about Rose compelled me," is a very interesting wording. It's also very "The power of Christ compels you!" feeling.

And then, obviously, she disappears and the rose petals are left behind. So presumably she's either been kidnapped by BR or she's in on it. I'm still very conflicted about this character.

Noa

Here we are again. That's it.

Okay, no, I'm actually going to talk about it. I'm not going to continue to go on about all the stuff leading up to this episode because I have discussed it in length in previous posts. Yes, I'm still frustrated with this storyline, and yes, that's still mostly because I cannot figure out what the show is trying to say/do here. Either Noa is getting set up for a big fall/surprise, or they genuinely didn't see how this arc was going to be received. It's one or the other.

While I can understand why Noa would feel so connected to Jen and why she might grow apart from Shawn and why this love triangle situation happened in the first place, what I struggle to understand (from a character perspective) is how she'll go from casually discussing the fact that she's been cheating on Shawn (those are her own words, it's not like she's in denial about her actions), then crying and seemingly genuinely feeling guilty, but then she'll turn around and think she's justified in smashing up his car because... he was angry at her and Jen for their affair?

Characters respond to things emotionally, and I do think Noa is someone who operates on her gut instincts, rather than spending a lot of time thinking things through, but what in holy hell was she thinking? Of course he's gonna be really pissed, Noa. You cheated on him (and it's not even addressed if he's aware this happened while she was in juvie, too), literally moved the person you're cheating with into your house under his nose, asked him for 2k to bail out the person you're cheating with, continued to instigate a sexual relationship with him instead of breaking things off, didn't actually do anything when the person you're cheating with literally robbed his own house (which he may also still not know), then dumped him without even being honest about why. But he's the bad guy because... he yelled at the person you were cheating with a put a hole in the wall? Wild. And like... listen, someone putting a hole in the wall in anger is a red flag to me (irl), but considering the circumstances and his lack of a history of violence, if we are supposed to think this in any way warrants Noa then smashing his car (which like... at least equally big red flag irl as punching a wall) then I don't get it.

So that brings me to the fact that I'm not convinced Shawn actually did damage the wall (he does not specifically deny this when confronted, but he's also a little distracted by the fact that his ex is smashing out his car windows). I mean, who the hell knows? We literally only have Jen's version of events and she's got a history of lying and twisting situations around to suit her ends. We also don't know what her reaction to being confronted by Shawn was. Her pattern in confrontation that we've witnessed is to get angry and accusatory with the person confronting her. She also basically taunted Shawn to his face with the comment about not getting much sleep, so why would I believe she didn't intentionally escalate that situation as well? She hardly seems like a character who would sit there and be all shaken up by it.

All that being said, if Jen is going to get majorly exposed as a villain, then this storyline will make a lot more sense to me. I'm frustrated with this storyline because I feel like I don't feel the emotions they imply we should with things like the cinematography, lighting, music, editing, etc. but if that is an intentionally contradictory choice, then that removes my frustrations. I mean, it's still a trope I don't particularly enjoy the journey of, but at least it will have been on purpose. And that's the thing I've been asking myself this season, is this on purpose? If it is, then great. It's not my kind of storyline, considering I really dislike love triangles, but they did what they wanted to do. If it's not, then someone missed the mark big time.

I'm going to discuss Jen further in a later section, so I'm not going to give her character too much attention here, but I do have one thing-

"Some lies are helpful," 👀 okay, Jen, are we gonna find out about yours? Is this going to be a "Well, yeah, I originally came here for nefarious purposes, but now I actually love you, so it's all good, right?" type of thing?

Shawn - If he's not a villain, then sorry bro, this has been a rough season for you.

Tabby

We've made it to Tabby! Our ultimate final Final Girl of season 2! At this point, it very much does seem like Tabby is at the absolute center of all this (which is why I am the most suspicious of characters directly tied to her) and that probably means some really not fun things in store for her in the finale.

We already know (from the trailer) that she's going to fall down the steps at Christian's house. She's also MIA from the riot at the Orpheum scenes (Riot At The Orpheum sounds like a PATD cover band or something, lol), so I think she's getting a lot of solo screen time in the finale.

This may not matter, but I wanted to note it here that Wes calls the owner of the movie theater "Mrs. Orpheum," which stuck out strangely to me. "The Orpheum" is a super common theatre name, so I have to assume this is a nickname (and not her actual name) Wes is using to refer to their boss, so then... considering how much is centered around Tabby this season, who actually owns the theater? And could they be behind the LLC that turned Imogen's house into Redemption House? Clearly whoever owns this place has a ridiculous amount of money, considering they're running a 35 mm capable theater that appears to have practically no customers.

Wes - So. Yeah. How likely do we think it is that Wes is dead now? Or at least kidnapped? His storyline is clearly completely unresolved (masks in his apartment, mysteriously missing for days, no BR attack alibis, his relationship with the film festival stuff, etc.) and he pretty much either has to be evil or is being framed. Him suddenly moving away (I mean, I don't think he's gone, but he did clearly tell Tabby he was leaving, so it's not like that was entirely fabricated) makes me wonder (assuming he's not BR) if he's been threatened to do so somehow. I also have no idea how Tabby is not suspicious of him. He's been acting weird, you have no idea where he is most of the time, you know he's a total asshole, and you found masks at his place and evidence he was using SpookySpaghetti, but he's not on your BR suspect list??? He's ridiculously suspicious! So suspicious, in fact, that it makes me slightly less suspicious of him. But the fact that no one has brought him up as a suspect circles me back around to being super suspicious of him again. While I'm considering some other options heading into the finale, if he were behind BR (though it has to be more than one person, imo) I wouldn't be shocked. He certainly has potential motive (I mean, if you're a terrible, terrible human being, which he is) with his film storyline and his "things are so hard for straight white men these days," mentality. I just don't love this theory as much as I did before the show started pointing at him so hard.

Mrs. Langsberry - I don't think I need to talk much about this. If she is part of the BR plot, we all know why. She has also been confirmed as a member of Kelly's church, so she does have links there, and it seems like someone on the BR team must be directly involved with the church.

Christian - I didn't want to be so suspicious of him, but we're here now. Also, Tabby, I love you, but someone is dressing up in special effects makeup and masks, both a horror mask and a hyper realistic one (we think) and your response is, "I'll ask Christian if he knows anybody," with absolutely no suspicion of him?? Like, WHAT??? And then you spent the night at his house??? I absolutely could not sleep in a house I knew had all those terrifying masks in the basement, particularly if someone was dressing up in masks and trying to kill me and friends?? I also think we spend a lot of time with Christian this season (without learning much about his past or him having his own separate arc), which makes sense if Tabby's the center of the story, but also if Tabby is the center of the story, then the villains are more likely to be directly connected to her. I also wondered why Tabby didn't question Christian suggesting they leave town together (don't you think some parents might have some opinions on this?), and because I am very suspicious of anyone the girls are not suspicious of, it made me think, "Are you trying to set up a situation where people won't think to miss her right away?" Like with Sandy or Pastor Malachi.

When Tabby asked Christian if he would help her make her movie, I thought, if he is part of the BR plot, and if that plot does involve making a movie, wouldn't it be absolutely wild if he responded to this with, "Already done." (like saying it in a friendly, 'of course' kind of way, but then meaning it literally). I feel like that's the exact kind of fun/silly thing this show would do. And if he's not involved, what a missed opportunity to creep your audience out and make them spiral (but I'm doing that anyway, so) about his character.

I want to be super fair, since I just wondered how Tabby is not suspicious of Christian and how she felt comfortable staying at his house (also where are anyone's parents? Like at least with Noa we understand why there's no parental supervision, but everyone else just stays over at their SOs place anyway?? this is one of those things I just have to not think too hard about because I don't think there is a good explanation), all of that applies to Imogen with Johnny and Noa with Jen, as well.

While horror has always been referenced in this show, it really does feel like horror films are making a huge appearance in different ways, and it just feels fitting for this to be Tabby-centric.

Speculation & More

With the "trio of villains" imagery on the poster (that has literally predicted the first 4 tests, so seems very relevant), I can't help but wonder if it could be as simple as all 3 of the new love interests. Johnny, Christian, Jen, all in it together. They're all new in town and we haven't met any of their family, so they're all pretty mysterious. I have at least one big thing about each of them that bothers me.

With Johnny it's simply those shots from the trailer (well, plus my incredibly far fetched theories about set decor and his line about his dad, but I wouldn't call either of those things compelling evidence), which make it seem like he may die in the finale (or at least be incapacitated), and since it seems to be Imogen that is possibly trying to cover that up, that doesn't bode well for his innocence. I can't think of anything that's been mentioned about him that would indicate motive, so I would have to assume that he's related to someone (like Chip) and has a revenge motive. But the shots from the trailer could still all be a dream.

With Jen it's the contradictory ways they've portrayed her storyline with Noa, and the fact that we know that we cannot assume she's being honest. It's not been specifically brought up a lot, but she could easily have a financial motive to be involved. Her stealing has been a consistent part of her character, and she says this is because she and her mom need the money. I don't know whether or not to believe that, but regardless of why she needs/wants money, it seems pretty clear she is a character who could be tied to the events of the season for financial gain (or it started that way and she regrets it, but is in too deep). It's also possible production just didn't realize how unpopular this love triangle would be (but it's hard to imagine, when they were emphasizing how loving/trusting Shawn is all season, like it feels very intentional, but then sometimes it doesn't) and the contradictory tone is not intentional.

With Christian it's his special abilities (horror makeup), the fact that he fits well into the "someone is making a movie" theory, and that he's directly tied to Tabby this season. His motive would presumably be film related (though there could be a personal element as well, since we know basically nothing about his past). But he could be a red herring or a fall guy.

Anyway, my problem with these three as a trio of villains is that it doesn't obviously connect back to the church in any way that I can think of, and I think it needs to. I guess all three of them could be supporting villains with someone else as "Rose," or maybe only one or two of them are involved.

Another consideration is that any of the love interests could be secondary antagonists, not in on the BR plot (or aided it without realizing how serious it was) and they will have a separate villain reveal (like Chip last season).

I certainly haven't forgotten about the online faction of the BR cult, particularly since it looks like they're rioting next episode (The Reckoning?), but how specifically they tie in, I don't feel confident in predicting. If the film theory is true, then I suppose their purpose could be to provide a "grand finale" for the film. I mean, it's kind of hard to get extras when your film is also an actual murder project, so brainwashing people into creating a big action sequence for you is the next best thing, I guess.

Dr. Sullivan's past just really feels like it also needs to come back around and be resolved, and I keep forgetting about the fact that she vanishes in this episode because I'm thinking about so many other things.

I'm bothered that I don't feel confident about where they're going with the Davie stuff.

I am putting a certain amount of faith in the show that they heard the criticisms of season 1 and the villain reveals will be characters we've spent a lot more time with. They have seemed to take other feedback (like the Ezra thing) and apply it to season 2, so I'm hoping this is the case for this, as well.

Anyway, I think this is all I've got right now. If you're still reading, thanks for sticking with me! I know this was a long one. I probably didn't need a whole "if they had to have Faran & Greg as a couple, here's how I would have done it," section, but Faran is my favorite and I've criticized Noa & Jen loads this season, so I gotta be fair and call it like I see it. If I think of anything else, I'll do a part 2, because this post is clearly long enough.

EDIT:

This literally doesn't matter, but I forgot to mention it & didn't want to make a whole new post about it, but I just now noticed Christian's movie on his name tag is Attack the Block, which is a absolutely ridiculous, underrated film, imo.

CLARIFICATION: I called all of the 3 new love interests "new in town," but I'm not sure that's really accurate. Christian is new in town, Jen (I think) lives elsewhere but reasonably near by because she mentions having to come to Millwood for summer school and clearly does not usually attend their school, and Johnny we really don't know. I didn't get the impression that he's recently moved like Christian, but we don't know where his house is, and none of the girls seemed familiar with him (and Millwood seems pretty small) and he mentions Rosewood when he's asking that girl out, so I kinda assumed he might be more from the Rosewood area. Anyway, "new in town" might only technically apply to Christian, but the point that all their pasts are pretty unknown still stands.

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fountainpenguin · 1 year ago

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Riddle's Traffictober - Batch 2

More of my Traffictober one-shots are up on my AO3!

Full series - Find full list and tags here

Batch 1 Post - Traffictobers 1 to 7

Batch 2 Post - Traffictobers 8 to 14

Batch 3 Post - Traffictobers 15 to 21

Batch 4 Post - Traffictobers 22 to 31

Below are T-rated Traffic SMP fanfics (one-shots) of various lengths. Give them a whirl if you think you may enjoy:

8 - “Dog Biscuits” (Link) - The strained relationship between a dog man and a cookie moth, both of whom have been making alliances with other people.

Double Life - Sharing souls with BigB leaves Ren super itchy, so they cuddle up together while BigB rubs him with itch-relieving salve. They try to talk things through, but it looks like they might be needing Scott's Relationship Ranch after all.

9 - “Grian's Room” (Link) - If Scar weren't overtaken by the red life mindset, he'd probably be more concerned that he can't feel the softness of Grian's blankets.

3rd Life - Grian tries to shoo the very red (totally scary) Scar out of his room. Scar keeps touching Grian's blanket, in that early phase of 'trial and error'ing through the different sensations of being on red life. It's true what they say... Reds don't feel a thing unless it's the rush of a kill.

10 - “Canadian Idiot” (Link) - That one 'fic where a grumpy Joel gets a million platonic hickeys because Etho keeps aggroing on him

Double Life - Joel losing hearts keeps setting off Etho's fox hybrid aggro. They try to work it out, it goes very wrong, and Etho is very in his head and desperate to reel it in. Ft. bonus Bdubs and Impulse with their love heart crowns.

Also probably my favorite of the entire Traffictober series; I don't think we're gonna top this one <3

11 - “Get Your Fingers Burned” (Link) - Joel and Scar were once giggly friends. By noon, the boogeyman curse has them screaming and dueling above a lava pool.

Last Life - A dramatized retelling of the moment where Scar tried to get a boogeyman kill on his base partner Joel in Episode 2, not realizing Joel was the other boogeyman. Ft. bonus Firefly Hybrid Joel jealous of Scar's pecs, which a man with an exoskeleton will never get to have.

12 - “Like Newlyweds Do” (Link) - Bdubs, now soulbound to a man who's been walking around with 1/10th of his soul: "Dude you live like this??"

Double Life - Impulse comes clean about his chronic bed-sharing habits and he and Bdubs talk about what it means for Impulse to be simultaneously sharing souls with Bdubs and Skizz. Or... they try. Impulse keeps getting hung up on the whole unresolved betrayal arc from 3rd Life.

13 - “Scary Stories For Young Fox Hybrids” (Link) - [NW AU] - Skizz takes young Scar and Bdubs out on a Solo Skizz adventure to give their mom (Cleo) some space. They stumble across a wounded stranger in a game show studio.

Neighborhood Watch AU blends the roleplay and mechanics for the first 5 Life seasons into a single timeline. A battered Martyn, burned from his years in the Nether, is shocked to encounter "his" (soulmate's) kids in person for the first time.

14 - “Walking on Cluckshroom Shells” (Link) - Cleo lets themself into BigB's portal room with the spare key, looking for something they left when they and BigB broke up. Grian is there. He throws a little fit.

Double Life - Slice of life study on Grian and BigB's dating life in this world where time moves differently in the Between and Overworld dimensions and Grian bemoans the fact that it's time to go offline and he has to spend a month alone.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

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indistarlight · 2 months ago

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you know i really get why dean had his whole 15 season arc to being the "angry man". putting aside his very sympathetic motivations in each individual conflict in later seasons, it was damn near predestined. he starts off as john's effectual parental unit partner. sam is the person they both need to protect, so john puts more and more responsibility on dean's shoulders, and calls it trust and love. sam believes the lie, dean uses the lie as a buoy in the water. so he doesn't fight. dean somewhere by the time he goes to sonny's, has now shifted to pushing what he truly thinks about john under the rug, and keeping sam and saving people as his life's calling, his mom would've wanted him to be brave. (his mom wanted him safe, but he doesn't know that, yet.) sam is arguing more with john, for good reason and bad reason alike, but dean's already made it his mission to keep them together and alive, first and foremost. there's no room in the house for dean's hurt, when sam's anger and john's grief take up all the space. by the time sam leaves for stanford and john is even more unattached, dean's reached some level of apathy in his hurt. his worst fears have basically been proven about his family. so hunting and saving people, the family business, becomes his last link to his family. "dying young and bloody" becomes the preferred ending, not a tragedy, because it's the only way he can face it. when the show starts and sam comes back, the first two seasons have dean prioritizing keeping sam alive above all, it's why he tells sam they can just let go of their vendetta and why having sam with him was more important than finding john. he'll still snap back to john's soldier when john is there, but there's a bite to it now. he's doing it consciously. when john dies, that's when dean's anger is free. his father spit in his two decade long work to keep john alive and sam safe, and did it in the name of keeping dean alive. that's where dean can make that distinction freely, that wasn't love, his father was an obsessed bastard and dean didn't deserve what was put on him. but now dean's life is the outlier, he's not even supposed to be alive. so of course he'll save sam. of course. he dies young and bloody, but not even half as satisfied with it as he would've been years ago. s4-s8's beginning is dean getting betrayed again and again. betrayed by people he put his trust in to love him, to appreciate him, to trust him. sam tries his damndest to save dean, listens to him about hell, takes on the memories from the cage to come back to sanity. sam tell him he went to ruby partially to get away from dean's overbearing nature, he tells him dean's too weak after coming back from hell, he doesn't look for dean in purgatory. castiel respects dean despite and because of knowing about hell, he betrays heaven trusting dean's morals, he becomes an equal confidant in ways even sam can't be (maybe even more-). cas punches out dean for being hopeless about the apocalypse, he doesn't tell dean about pulling sam out of the cage, he goes on to work with crowley against the other angels to devastating results. he has so so little, and he keeps losing even more. but he's still not angry. not until purgatory.

i think people underestimate just how important purgatory was as an experience for dean. the two major reasons for dean to keep his cool (keeping up his facade with sam and the inherent moral gray of hunting) are gone. in addition, cas is missing and now he has a very very clear goal. dean comes back after a whole year of being single-mindedly invested in coming home with cas to a sam who, out of grief and exhaustion and a recurring escapist trend, didn't respect dean's major principles. to look for family, to save people. cas on the other hand, comes back guilty and needing to make amends with heaven, which breaks down him and dean even more because it comes right when dean is unequivocally sure of cas's position in his life. i need you. in my opinion, this was the last straw for dean's usual peace-keeping tendencies. because it was clear they weren't welcome.

s9 has dean so guilty and self-destructive, he gets the moc, enabling what he believes are his worst tendencies at this point (hell's torturer is a major undertone here). he's not actually what the moc makes him, but goddamn nobody tells him that. s10 has him come back from being a demon and being treated like a powder-keg that needs to be able to fire like sniper. he has to hunt, but he can't be vicious. he has to kill, but he can't be too bloody about it. s11 has him all the more guilty about what saving him cost, and numbness is now the addiction of choice with amara (insert "i wish i couldn't feel a damn thing", insert my bloody valentine famine's speech). god is real but he doesn't care, so what's new there. (plenty actually, but just wait a few years.)

s12 brings mary back. she's even better than dean could've imagined, so much like him and there. but she can't process the grief of all she's lost when technically her sons are right in front of her, so she leaves. she doesn't know what she became in their family in her absence, mother mary, the unarguable reason for john to do all he did for his kids, to his kids. dean can no longer be angry at john, but he can be angry at mary for not wanting to understand them. but they make some headway from this, even if it's a more distant relationship than dean may have wanted, but she's gone again. cas breaks his heart by walking away again and they get no time to deal with it, because he's gone too.

s13 dean. so much has been said but do you get it now? he's been grieving and hurting his whole life, and nobody respected that in a way he could feel. and now the boy who's responsible for his worst hurt yet, the one who may have brainwashed people from the womb, the son of the man who ruined his brother, is in front of him. sam tells him to not grieve because there may be a way to bring their family back, and it alienates dean. so he gets angry instead. but cas comes back and mary is alive and jack is pure good in a way dean can care for. michael comes back in s14 to destroy any security dean built in his life up to this point. daddy's blunt instrument, hell's torturer, the sword of michael, cain's descendant. his body was supposed to be his own now, but it isn't. at this point, dean's sure now. death comes to him and tells him there's only one way, and dean will never bet on his own life being worth risking peace for. he tries to make amends and close doors, but his family loves him too much to let him go. he doesn't sacrifice himself and mary dies for it. there's no hope anymore, and the boy he finally trusted so much is the one who did it. the man he loves didn't tell him there was danger in the first place. jack is playing god, the same way every damn person he loves has tried to. there's no space for grief anymore. but even then, he can't pull the trigger. god is real and he's far, far worse than jack. s15 is a lesson in tropes. dean's life has been written out for him and any possible thing he could have a semblance of peace in has been rendered unstable. his urge to save people, the people he cares about, his own choices. dean's been given the role of the angry man who will die in his hamster wheel. there's no way out. there never was. it's not safe to grieve, not safe to open up. he's cries alone now. dean and cas tremble under the weight over every mistake they have both ever made, and dean can only be angry. but still, he breaks out of that and apologizes. jack comes back and dean doesn't know what to do with that. later, later, after it's all over, it'll be safe to think, to love. (john used to say that.) we all know what happens at the end. the biggest tragedy of supernatural was that the promise of an after was never real in the first place.

#im sorry in advance if i accidentally wrote out a point verbatim that someone smarter than me and has been here far longer than me has said #this was me rambling to avoid thinking. in general. don't read into the fact that i chose to ramble about anger and grief and parents #god this is so all over the place in retrospect lol #spn analysis

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meltotheany · 10 months ago

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hi friends! happy spring and happy april! i hope you are doing well and being gentle with yourselves! i feel like i am a little all over the place with wrapping up march, getting my first quarterly post of 2024 ready, prepping for some kpop comebacks, and just getting back from a wonderful vacation! but first things first – i need to talk about the eight books i read in march! (spoiler alert – i feel like i was handing out four star ratings left, right, and center this month haha!) down below will be mini reviews, some with links to full reviews, with content and trigger warnings! ✨ ✨ Bride by Ali Hazelwood ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley “I would take anything she chose to give me—the tiniest fraction or her entire world. I would take her for a single night knowing that I’ll lose her by morning, and I would hold on to her and never let go. I would take her healthy, or sick, or tired, or angry, or strong, and it would be my fucking privilege. I would take her problems, her gifts, her moods, her passions, her jokes, her body—I would take every last thing, if she chose to give it to me.” i feel like all my friends who also loved this one, were all by my side here on goodreads, back in the early 2010s, reading all the paranormal romances known to man (or that our moms kept on their bookshelves). the nostalgia for books like riley jenson, black dagger brotherhood, kate daniels were so very felt. yet, this book completely stands on its own and is a really good book that i highly recommend. content warnings from the author (please use caution for potential spoilers): death of several people within the context of a war between different species (vampires, werewolves, and humans) is mentioned, several mentions of blood, kidnapping, mild violence, poisoning and attempted murder, attempted kidnapping/harming of a child (she is unharmed), death of a parent (off page in the past and off page in the present), explicit and graphic sexual content, knotting (the mmc’s apparatus is not quite human?), cursing and vulgar language other trigger + content warnings i found while reading (ali’s books really do have such good tws – i am always so thankful and impressed): missing friend, mention of sickness of child (she is fine), spider mentions, brief mention of death during childbirth, brief mention of loss of a partner in past, mention of vomit, parental abuse and neglect, and violence ❤️ full breakdown review HERE ✨ The Prisoner’s Throne (The Stolen Heir Duology, #2) by Holly Black ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1.) The Stolen Heir ★★★★ “I need no protestations of your feelings. Love can be lost, and I am done with losing.” let me just start this mini review with a big preface: you all know holly black is one of my favorite authors of all time, and her world of faerie is one of my favorite settings of all time, so just reading a new world by her, and being in this world again, was truly a joy to me and will be one of my favorite reading experiences of the year. in the first book in this spin off duology starring oak, we get to go on a quest line adventure alongside him and Suren, while they both are contemplating the person they want to be versus the person their birthright is trying to lead them to be. i really enjoyed it and could not wait for this second book, especially because we all know holly black loves a good cliffhanger ending. yet this second and final installment, despite picking up right where book one left off, felt so unlike the first book in this duology. i feel like a lot of people picked up the stolen heir wanting more of jude and cardan’s story, and were a little upset when they were given something completely different. and i almost feel like that sentiment was very heard, therefore this book feels way more like a continuation of jude and cardan’s story with oak struggling to be the main character alongside the plot that ultimately felt like a new set up for what is to come. and i don’t really know if this is a complaint or praise, b...

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#2024 #ana huang #Book Blog #Book Blogger #Book Review #Book Reviewer #book worm #carrisa broadbent #hafsah faizal #meltotheany #Reading Wrap Up #robin hobb #Sarah J Maas #Throne of Glass #Wrap Up #yona of the dawn

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arcplaysgames · 2 years ago

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OH WOW THANK GOD I LEFT THIS NOTE TO MYSELF BECAUSE I TOTALLY FORGOT I WAS THINKING ABOUT THIS LAST NIGHT

so I finished the Hanged Man and while I like Iwai a lot, I did NOT see why he's the Hanged Man at all? I.... literally could not tell you what qualities of the Hanged Man he has, even in a cursory sense. I am baffled.

But i liked him, though as I finished his arc and maxed him out, I was struck by how Persona feels about single parents in Japanese society.

Because in both P3P and P5R, multiple characters are raised by single parents, which I understand is more contentious in Japan than it is in the US. (Which is remarked on by Iwai himself actually, how adamant he is about ensuring his son Kaoru is not stained by Iwai being his father, as Iwai has that trauma from his parents.)

But off the dome, we have

Yukari's mother, negative portrayal and she's never depicted on screen

Junpei's father, negative portrayal, never on screen

Nanako and Dojima, a positive portrayal and very much on screen

Kanji's mother, kind of on screen but only briefly, positive

Ryuji's mother, positive, off screen

Futaba's mother, very positive, but off screen bc she's dead at time of game

Futaba's father, very positive, very on screen

Akechi's mother, negative (if sympathetic), off screen

Iwai and his son, very positive, fully on screen

I might be missing one or two, but my point that I began to notice is that Persona as a series seems to be very sympathetic to single parents, which is good

but at the same time, it just LOOOOOOOVES single dads and doesn't really care for single moms. Almost every mom is a point of exposition. We don't have a social link hanging with a single mom to my knowledge, but we have three with dads. (wait does Temperance in P4 count? she's..... not actually a single mom she's a stepmom..... i dunno if that counts)

With one in the last game and two in this game, I'm just kinda getting sick of how great single dads are and want to see some portrayal of single moms, because they definitely exist in the Persona universe, but the game never asks the player to get to know them and help them, and that gap sucks.

Anyway. /pops gum

Going to sleep but note to self, persona's sympathy for single parents vs only dudes get portrayed on screen

#p5 #persona liveblog #i almost wanna say Hifumi's mom counts since her dad is only mentioned #but her mom is central to her plotline #but eh whatev

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onetwothreefarkle · 3 years ago

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PLEASE go off about the parallel arcs in iCarly, I never noticed them and I am fascinated

Alright, so it took me some time to organize my thoughts here, so I’m sorry about the wait! It turns out I have a lot to say. You made the mistake of sending this ask to a former English major, so this has turned into a bit of an essay. To make it hopefully easier to digest, I’ve divided this up into three parts. Part one is going to be a more general overview of the parallels between them, part two is going to look at specific episodes that serve to emphasize these parallels, and part three is where I attempt to tie it all together and make some kind of point here.

Under a cut, because it got seriously long.

Part One:

This first bit is pretty obvious, I think, but I’m saying it anyway. Sam and Freddie both come from dysfunctional single-parent households. The show loves to point out their dysfunction whenever it can, to wringe comedy from it. It’s different for each of them, of course. For Sam, her father abandoned her, and she is neglected by her mother, and as we see in iSam’s Mom, Pam Puckett is verbally and physically abusive. For Freddie, his father is never mentioned, and his mother is controlling and emotionally abusive, restricting every aspect of his life and violating his bodily autonomy in the name of “taking care of him”—Marissa’s behavior may not come across as blatantly toxic as Pam’s, but trust me, it is.

Sam and Freddie also deal with their home lives in very similar ways. First, and most obviously, they both run away. It’s a running joke that they’re always at the Shays’ apartment. Just think about that for a moment. They both spend as much time as they possibly can away from their homes, at the end of the day, neither of them wants to go home. In this way, iCarly becomes an escape for both of them and in some ways a lifeline. The Shay apartment is a safe space for them, where they are free from their dysfunctional home lives.

The other coping mechanism they share is obbsessive behavior. For Freddie, it’s technology. For Sam, it’s food. They throw themselves into their respective interests/hobbies, building their personalities around them. I think for both of them these intense interests are reflective of their dysfunctional upbringings. Marissa is obsessive and controlling, and Freddie is interested in technology and videography—tools that can be linked to surveillance and control. On top of that, the internet is a way for Freddie to have freedom while trapped inside, given the scope of what one can do online. Sam, on the other hand, is obsessed with food, and it seems to me this comes from her mother's neglect. At one point, we see the lunch Pam packs Sam for school, and it’s a brown paper bag with batteries in it. Sam, who doesn’t always know if her mom is going to be able to feed her, eats as much as she can elsewhere.

But the parallels between Sam and Freddie don’t end with their parents. They also share similar social issues. Neither one is particularly well-liked outside of Carly. Freddie is a nerd and a geek, especially early on, and Sam is intimidating and aggressive. For both of them, you can count the number of friends they have on one hand. Sure, Freddie is in a lot of clubs, but we only see those characters every once in a while, when it’s convenient for the plot of an episode, so I doubt that Freddie is particularly close with them. They’re not the kind of people who would be popular if it wasn’t for iCarly.

And this affects their romantic relationships, too. Unlike Carly, who is shown easily flirting with boys and going on dates, Sam and Freddie seem to have worse luck when it comes to relationships. This is probably most exemplified by the reveal in iKiss that neither of them has kissed anyone, something that not only surprises Carly, but is presented as being embarrassing and shameful within the internal logic of the show. The expectation is that by their age, they would’ve kissed someone, and they’re behind their peers, behind Carly.

And this leads us very nicely into part two of this analysis, where I’m looking at specific episodes. (I put iKiss in part one because the other episodes are pairs, rather than singular episodes that parallel them)

Part 2:

I’m going to do this in chronological order, which means starting with season one, episode nine, iWill Date Freddie. In this episode, Freddie dates a girl named Valerie. At first, she seems to really like him, but by the end of the episode, it becomes clear that she is only using him. Valerie wants to create her own web show to compete with iCarly. It frames Freddie as someone who wouldn’t be able to get a real date. This episode is also important because it features the first moment where we see Freddie standing up for himself, when he feels underapperciated by Sam and Carly, which I will touch on more later.

Sam’s parallel episode is season one, episode fifteen, iHate Sam’s Boyfriend. Sam dates Jonah, who I think genuinely likes her a lot, and she likes him a lot, so much so that she begins to blow off iCarly to spend time with him. By the end of the episode, it becomes obvious that Jonah is kind of a tool, especially when he tries to kiss Carly. The episode frames Sam as someone who attracts obnoxious guys, and as someone who is always going to be in Carly’s shadow romantically.

Both of these season one episodes are about basically the same thing at their core: dating someone who turns out not to be what you thought they were, and showing Freddie and Sam as two people who have bad luck when it comes to romance.

I already talked about iKiss, but I think it’s worth mentioning again because it really does show just how much they have in common. The episode didn’t have to be written the way it was, and I think every choice they made was extremely deliberate. When Sam and Freddie talk on the balcony, once Sam has apologized, and Freddie realizes that Sam wasn’t lying when she said she’d never kissed anyone, they share a moment of complete understanding. Despite their apparent differences, they’re struggling with the same social pressures, and the same loneliness, if we’re being perfectly honest. And they both come up with the same solution to it, at the same time. It’s a really beautiful moment of vulnerability, and it comes from their similarities being made explicit.

I’ve talked a lot about their romantic relationships in this section, so it’s time to get back to those dysfunctional home lives, which we get some parallel episodes about later in the show. First, in season three, we get iMove Out, so named because Freddie moves out. He reaches his limit with Marissa’s controlling and overbearing nature, and he gets his own apartment. Sort of. The resolution of the episode is that he agrees to move back in, if she agrees to give him more freedoms. And in season 4, we get iSam’s Mom, an episode where Sam gets so fed up with Pam and her neglect and abuse that she moves in with the Shays. The episode ends with Carly taking Sam and Pam to therapy and trying to get them to work out their issues.

Both of these episodes show the characters eventually forgiving their parents, because this is a sitcom, and the status quo must always be achieved by the end of the episode. But both episodes also showcase the toxicity of Marissa and Pam very well, and show that Sam and Freddie both want the same thing: escape. The difference is that Sam seeks stability (the shays) and Freddie seeks freedom at any cost (his tiny horrible apartment). It’s the balance of their similarities and their differences that creates such an interesting and complex dynamic.

But why does any of this matter? Who cares if Sam and Freddie have all these parallels? Why am I reading so far into a Nickelodeon sitcom from 2007? Well, it matters a lot, actually, and I really want to try to explain that as best I can. Hopefully it makes sense and I’m not just Charlie Day in IASIP in front of the conspiracy board.

Part 3:

Sam and Freddie are narrative foils. I don’t think this is a hot take to the people who know what that means. If you don’t know, foils are characters who contrast each other. Oftentimes this takes the form of a hero and a villain, or a hero and their sidekick. Arguably Sam and Freddie are both Carly’s sidekicks, and while you could say that Sam is a foil for Carly, I don’t think you can say the same for Freddie. The key purpose of a narrative foil is to highlight something about the other character—the name comes from foiling gemstones to make them shine brighter. Sam and Freddie do that for each other (Sam highlighting Freddie’s nerdiness, pragmatism, organization, and book smarts, Freddie highlighting Sam’s aggression, messiness, and street smarts), and Sam does it for Carly (Sam’s tomboyishness serving to emphasize Carly’s girliness), but Freddie doesn’t really do that for Carly.

And we could leave it at the very basic observation that Sam and Freddie are contrasting characters. But the whole point of this is about what they have in common, not the things that make them different. It’s a lot more complex than that. They aren’t just opposites, they’re paralleled opposites. Two sides of the same coin. They challenge each other, but they also understand each other on a level that none of the other characters can, and they know it, too. When they break up in iLove You, they acknowledge the special “connection” they have. And I think because they have the paralleled arcs, them being together makes the most satisfying narrative for them, the one where they could grow the most.

Now, remember what I said about coming back to Freddie standing up for himself later on? Well, it’s later. In my opinion, the crux of Freddie’s arc—or what should be the crux of Freddie’s arc—is him learning to stand up for himself. Freddie starts the show entirely under Marissa’s thumb, but he also lets himself be manipulated by Carly, and pushed around by Sam. And as the show progresses he doesn’t just learn to stand up to his mother, he learns to stand up to Carly and Sam, to respect himself, especially when his crush on Carly fades. In iSaved Your Life, we see Freddie choose to end his relationship with Carly because he knows she isn’t actually in love with him. Season one Freddie never would’ve done that. And it was Sam who pushed him to do that, it was Sam who made him realize that Carly loved him for the wrong reasons.

On the flip side, I believe that Sam’s arc should be about allowing herself to be vulnerable. She has had to fight to survive for so long, and has put up wall after wall to protect herself. She rarely lets herself be open with her feelings. Even when we know she must be hurt at the end of iHate Sam’s Boyfriend, she doesn’t show it. She just physically injures Jonah to get back at him. We see more and more vulnerability from her as the show progresses, with Carly, but just as often with Freddie. My favorite example of this is in iReunite With Missy, when she confides in Freddie about Missy trying to sabotage her and asks him for help. Before this, the only time she was vulnerable with Freddie was in iKiss. And Freddie does help her, giving the school at sea trip to Missy to get rid of her.

Going back to Sam and Freddie being foils, we can see that in both of these situations the show uses that to propel their respective development. In other words, they help each other grow. And I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking, but these arcs are the exact opposite. Freddie is learning to stand up for himself, to be tough like Sam, and Sam is learning to open herself up, to be emotionally available, like Freddie. And yeah, sure, maybe on the surface. But both of their arcs can be traced right back to those dysfunctional parents. The reason Freddie needs to learn to stand up for himself is that his mother never let him, and the reason Sam needs to learn to let people in is that she could never rely on even her own mother.

And the reason they’re able to help each other grow is because they understand each other. For Sam, Freddie is a safe place for her to be vulnerable, the stability she seeks, as much as they fight, she knows she can trust him. And Freddie understands her insecurities and loneliness, understands that underneath the rage, there is hurt. Because he’s felt that same hurt. And for Freddie? Sam is the freedom he seeks. She understands what it’s like to be pushed around, to feel helpless. It’s why she works so hard to be tough and intimidating, so she doesn’t have to feel that way.

There are a lot of flaws with the seddie arc, but in my opinion, the biggest one is the decision to have them break-up because she’s too abnormal and he’s too normal. It’s just not true. Yes, they are very different. But they are also very similar. And the way for both of them to grow the most is with each other, because they can both understand each other and challenge each other.

#iCarly #seddie #Sam Puckett #Freddie Benson #reboot who? I don't know her #this whole thing clocked in at approximately 2.3k #honestly squidubus I'm sorry #this is insane #but you did ask me to 'go off'

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itsclydebitches · 2 years ago

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I'm very curious about the conflation of anger with violence in rwby. Specifically with Yang since it is (literally, even) such a defining part of her. Her eyes turn from lilac to Raven's red ones when's angered, suggesting its her similarity to her blue-eyed father that keeps her "balanced". I guess I'm surprised her red eyes never come up? Whether it's in battle or normal conversation, they're supposed to invoke fear and that's the end of their utility.

While I get that Yang’s eyes began as just a Rule of Cool style choice to cue the audience in to when she was going Remnant Super Saiyan, I’m surprised that nothing came of the change later considering the importance of Ruby’s eyes. I mean, we literally have a MAJOR plot-reveal that boils down to “Some people possesses special powers whose existence is directly linked to their eye color” and not only did Ruby ignore that for about three Volumes (never over it), but she ignored it as a character with direct access to someone in a potentially similar situation. It’s amazing to me that there was never a conversation where Ruby went, “Wow. Uncle Qrow says I’ve got a unique ability because of my silver eyes. Yang, you (kinda?) have a unique ability when your eyes change to your mom’s color. Isn’t it wild that both of us carry this connection to our mothers? What do we think about these inherited abilities tied to eye color of all things?” Imagine if Ruby actually got to connect with Yang over this, sparking Yang's desire to seek out Raven, helping her work through her depression, and setting Ruby on a journey to discover more about SEWs out in the wilds of Remnant. Instead of, "Recovery arcs are boring and we're seeking revenge on the villain who killed our friend except oh wait, never mind, we're just hanging in a safe house now because there's cool war stuff going on. What were our motivations again?"

Not only does the show not thematically engage with what it’s put out - such as Yang’s anger and double-edged strength being directly connected back to her bandit, betraying, cowardly mother - but it doesn’t even acknowledge this stuff on the surface level either. Qrow despises his passive semblance but never talks to Ironwood about his own semblance that, apparently, causes similar, debilitating problems off screen. Ruby is traveling with another SEW and is partnered with, as far as we know, the only other fighter with a genetically inherited ability (Weiss), but she only has a single, vague conversation before “mastering” her power. Oscar’s entire arc is supposedly about holding onto his identity in the face of the merge, but he’s never allowed to ask what the merge is, or what happened to the hosts that came before him, or anything, really, right down to, “Oh wow, we have a nuke inside our cane? Cool! No reason I would have asked about our weapon in the months we've been using it.”

The characters don't talk. Not about anything important. And yeah, that includes Yang’s dropped arc regarding her anger and penchant for violence. I hate that the last season took us backwards in the most obvious way possible - Yang charges an enemy without thinking in an effort to save a loved one, just like what happened with Adam, and this time she dies, the exact thing Tai feared would happen if she didn’t take a more strategic approach and worked to keep her emotions from getting the better of her - but I’ll be shocked if the writers realize that, let alone incorporate that revelation/a response to the backslide in Volume 9.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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ellesliterarycorner · 4 years ago

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What My Followers Want to See More of in Female Characters

My favorite thing in my WIP is all the badass female characters I have. I love writing about the bonds, friendships, relationships, and rivalries between them. It makes my little heart so happy! And, I will be the first person to admit that I hadn’t even thought of some of the things you guys suggested on our little instagram poll, but I cannot wait to add some of them to my story! Even though we’ve made so many leaps and bounds with the way female characters are portrayed, I still think we’ve got a long way to go, and if you guys include half of the stuff you suggested in your stories, then I think we’re gonna be okay. Once again, I didn’t change anything that you guys wrote, so there are gonna be some repeats on the list, but this time just because the list was getting so long, I did take out a few things if I saw that several other people had suggested it!

“Nerdy” or sporty girl who gets a love interest without a makeover or changing herself

super girly femme characters shown as a complex person

making her own decisions, if good or bad

a strong female character without a tragic backstory

gender non conformity!!

Being openly children and not changing her mind about it

chubby and flaws and not having a crush with every cute boy they see

girlie girls who are still really powerful

self reliance but still having emotion, not being ice cold but not needing a a man

lesbians who’s entire character arc isn’t about them being a lesbian

having body insecurities eg wanting to be flat-chested

women in politics and women that have classic “man” as well as “woman” characteristics

independence

be less oblivious lol and more like real people who pick up hints

not dead caring moms.

comic relief female characters

not minding about liking “girly” things/ having a bunch of friends who are boys but there is no romance between them

being a mother doesn’t mean giving up ur dreams and settling for less,

having mcs that actually make smart decisions

a bad ass character that loves kids and wants to have them in the future

not taking abuse cause they think it’s love

ball gowns and pretty stuff for themselves and not for a mission or anything

more bold female characters since many females are shown as shy

having a big appetite

female characters who can be cool without having to wield swords

willingness to do domestic work with a cheerful heart

women whose strength is their intelligence

women who are not afraid to be feminine or strong

strong mother figures

girls that are the lead in their relationship over the boy

more actual girly interests

the women you least expect to sing the best

strong women who like feminine stuff

being happy without a romantic relationship

black females being protected or vulnerable for once

ending up single

hanging out with male friends with no romantic subtext

females who aren’t super pretty

ultra femininity (pink, dresses, glitter, makeup) that isn’t seen as bad/evil/weak

allow them to look up to/admire male peers rather than feel inferior or as if they have something to prove

traditional “femininity” isn’t regarded as weak! Can cook/sew/clean and it’s normal : )

Female characters who are funny and make quips

soft, kind women, who are still powerful. I don’t like the mean strong girl stereotype : (

Not forced strong women. Just relatable and human ones. We all have strengths and weaknesses

less insecurities. Yes, we all have those, but it’s becoming stereotypical, mostly in YA

I want them to be strong without being upright bossy

strong women who also embrace their feminine side

a girl with menstruation

ego actions- I feel like only male characters can throw ego actions while fem characters are classified selfish

nonbinary female characters

has a twin

sarcasm and general impoliteness without making them the bady guy

them being warriors or soldiers and that’s normal, nobody questions it

villains and manipulating

autistic female characters

being single throughout the story. Some people like being single, thank you very much

not being the perfect pretty little thing. Having an interesting personality and thoughts, dreams outside of relationships and being a badass

a morally grey female character like y r those only men

girls and women in healthy relationships with personalities aside from their S/O

girls who can be strong and confident while still being emotionally vulnerable

also, girls who own huge “aggressive” dog breeds

groups of girls doing really impulsive things together like all guy friend groups do

strong, but not jerks about it and not looking down on things like sewing/cooking/etc

shyness that doesn’t need to be “fixed” or overcome

well written romances- straight and gay (ie not ones that objectify one partner or the other)

“strong female characters” who are gentle and caring! Tough doesn’t mean heatless!

women who care more about the plot than their inconvenient love life

girls who empower other girls and don’t play into internalized misogyny

i’d love to see women putting forward their ideas and having their voices heard more : )

Strong in their own way, not just hands on fighting stuff. Like mentally strong

less who are arrogant and rude to the male protagonists who they fall in love with anyway

More LGBTQ+ women!

Oh and more female protagonists who stay single

being average looking, not a hot model and being okay with it

Not falling for “bad boys”

saving herself or another character from a dangerous situation

not wanting marriage or children and people being okay with it

not obsessed with looks

being good at math and sciences

not being sexualized constantly (or at all)

being just friends with straight male characters

being like other girls

having a life outside of romance

to not need a man, but also not to be a stereotypical “bad girl, I don’t need man” authors need to find a medium between the two

drinking, swearing, anything deemed “masculine”

confident women who embrace both their femininity and masculinity

empowering other women

somebody with variety of interests and skills that are shown to be important to her badass female characters who are genuinely kind/even loving

strong women who don’t discredit the model of the ideal woman of the time in historical fiction

older women protagonists! I’d love to read about middle aged female heroes

females that aren’t afraid to be themselves

strength without being a “baddie” or at the expense of others

emotional sensitivity that isn’t linked to mental illness, men, or a weakness in character

a chaotic neutral female protagonist

physically strong/skilled female characters that remain feminine and aren’t femme fatales

female characters that don’t particularly fit into a trope as that’s not really realistic

#writing women #writing female characters #creating characters #characters #writing characters #writing resources #writing ref #writing reference #writing references #writing tips #writing tip #writing advice #writing #writers on tumblr #writblr #writersofig #writers of ig #writersofinstagram #writers of instagram

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reaction2whatever · 3 years ago

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Agents of SHIELD season 2 thoughts

Finally finished with agents of shield season 2 and ahhh I think I'm falling in love with this series. It's definitely a good and strong season. Imma divide my thoughts into two parts and ramble my way through in each part

Plot

I think season 2 has a much stronger plot than season 1

This season's plot revolves around a single character Skye and I don't think there is any question about that. Every plot thread comes back to her and boy do I love it.

It is so common and so standard for a man to be the main protagonist and be in the eye of the storm of a story that things like the Bechdel test exist. (Bechdel test asks whether a story has two named women talk to each other about something other than a man.)

See, it is so ridiculous that whether a story has two named women talk to each other about something other than a man is a question. It was so standard for woman to be the background noise that I was pleasantly surprised that in season 1 Skye seems to be the protagonist that represents the viewer's perspective.

And somehow in season 2 the production and writers make Skye, an canon half-Chinese girl be the focus of the story.

That is a rarely seen breathe of fresh air and I loved every second of it.

I think this season can be roughly broken down into three arcs: the alien writing was actually a 3d city/Skye getting her power and two shield/showdown between inhumans and shield

It is very clever of the writers to layer their story in this way because let's face it, 22 episodes are a LOT for a single story. If they put in too much filler/ irrelavent episodes, the show will feel very tiresome and boring to watch

These arcs were also very much linked and intertwined together. each arc progress into the next seamlessly and I love that very much

It is also very satisfying to see a lot of the questions be answered step by step, and they really tried to give a logical reasoning behind the stroy.

I was pleasantly surprised that the show answered the questions about Coulson's impulsive writing in the early episodes of the season when I thought they'd for sure drag this mystry on and on for many episodes

I was truly invested when Skye gradually discovered and learned to control her powers. The introduction of her parents didn't feel forced and both parents contributed to how the story progressed.

It also answered the question of why is Skye an orphan and why she is an 084 quite nicely

The final arc is probably the most questionable out of the three? Because I still think Skye's mom has some good points and I still think they probably wrote her mom to be more evil than she needs to be to have a intense finale.

Overall I think the plotting of this season is pretty crazy and pretty logical at the same time, which is ideal for a show like this. It keeps the viewers engaged without seems all over the place or have too many loopholes.

The questions that I had after season 1 have all been answered now and that's very satisfying for me

Characters

Skye

She transitioned from the new girl in a big organization to a superhero in this season and I was in awe during the whole process.

Like I said earlier, she for sure is the star of this season. The obelisk and the alien writing plot lead the team to the temple where Skye got her power. The main villian of the first half, Whitehall, was the man who tortured Skye's mom. May's background story was about two inhumans. The alien/Skye related plot made two shield fight each other and the final boss villain of the season is Skye's mom

Almost every plot leads right to her heritage, her powers and her growth.

I really, really love this.

I never got into marvel movies because I've seen fans defending the franchise by claiming things like "half of the mcu movies passed the Bechdel test" and it's a good/positive thing.

But guess what? I don't think that's good enough. Or at least i don't want to settle for movies that focuses solely on male characters

I love myself some strong women characters and Skye is a very good example of that.

At the beginning of the season I was cheering for her sliding down a rope and at the end of the season I think of her as one of the strongest fighter in shield(when she uses her power, of course).

I think the writers make her grow without making it seems abrupt or too sudden. She acquired the ability to fight well during the course of two seasons and I think it's way better than some training montage.

She's gotten more serious in this season. She still cracks jokes, but not as much as before, and I guess she also doesn't hack as much as she used to.

I love hacker Skye but I guess she's got so much on her plate and afterlife doesn't look like a place that has good internet services lol

This season she found her parents, she got a new super power, her two families fought a war against each other. She's went through a lot and I hope she got herself some therapy with May's ex husband lol

May

May's background story was finally introduced in this season and I love that for her.

I was worried after season 1 and the beginning of season 2 that May was going to become blindly loyal to Coulson. I really didn't want her character to revolve around Coulson and it didn't happen and I liked that

May has her own judgement and opinion, which was very much fleshed out in that fight between two shield and the way she pursued the truths when she found out Coulson has lied to her

I do think the writers didn't use her character to its full potential. Partially because they introduced a new character Bobbi who is more or less taking over May's "kick-ass specialist" space

A lot of the things that Bobbi did on screen like some fighting scenes or interrogation scenes would have been perfectly fine if it's May's character too

I hope in season 3 she gets more screen time

Also please get May to fight more. I love kick ass May

Simmons

Simmons really changed a lot this season. I loved her arc of undercovering in Hydra.

I guess I didn't really want her to be so against alien but I understand her reasoning.

I was pretty surprised when she was so ready and planned out to kill Ward, but yeah I don't blame her. She's got good reasons.

I do think it's a shame that in season finale, Simmons's appearances were either to help Bobbi or talk about the FitzSimmons relationship.

How come Simmons didn't have anything to do with the season finale plot when she's supposed to be one of the main character.

Fitz

First of all I want to say that the actor who plays Fitz can act really well. He totally sold the whole brain damaged act. His acting was very on point

Surprisingly tho, this season I enjoyed his friendship with Mack with Skye more than FitzSimmons.

He is the sweetest for helping Skye with her power when everyone else was so afraid.

(sidenote:)I do hope FitzSimmons get together next season. But Simmons is who knows where and I feel like that experience will definitely be used as a plot device to make FitzSimmons angst even more

Coulson

I feel like Coulson is more interesting this season than the last? he's got more layers to him now. He is not just a good boss character.

This season I almost was concerned that he's gonna become crazy.

He dealt with a coup relatively with grace

He got to be the director of a once massive organization and he's got more responsibilities.

Ward

He is a good villain. Gotta give it to him. It is very rare that a fictional character can get under my skin this much like Ward did.

He is a deflecting son of a bitch who always has someone to blame but god damn it he got me frustrated

Bobbi and Hunter

Love them. Badass/Funny supporting characters

I feel like Bobbi is one of my favourites now. She's so cool

Trip

Man I was so sad he died. I love him. He could have been a great ship with Skye. Like I always said, he's a upgraded good guy Ward. He's a good man. I'm gonna miss him

Mack

I guess I didn't pay much attention to him? His friendship with Fitz is nice but he's annoying in that two shield arc. I like him in the last episode and I don't know if he's really quitting shield.

Koenigs

They are adorable lol. Just how many of them are out there? are they clones? robots? what are they?

Cal

Man Cal's actor can act!

His character is soo interesting and fun. He walks the line of black and white.

He is a murderer and killed many people. But somehow I understand his pain and I know he loves Jiaying and Skye very much.

I hope he lives his life in peace as a vet

Jiaying

I think she has solid points about shield

It's a shame that she died, but I guess it's a good thing that she died in the arm of Cal

Lincoln

He's so obviously a tailored love interest for Skye lol

It's nice. Usually in superhero shows, there is a woman character who does nothing but is the love interest of the hero

in agents of shield, it's a single, handsome, doctor man who mostly helps/supports Skye and gets rescued by Skye

It's nice lol

Gordon

No-eyes-man!

I didn't remember his name even after he died lol I googled him for his name

ugh sorry it's just that I remember him as no-eyes-man and that's that

I don't feel negative/positive for him lol he's more like a plot device who doesn't have much personality besides being loyal to Jiaying

Gonzales

See, he is supposed to be "the good guy"

But I just am annoyed by him and I like Cal a lot more than him

and Cal is supposed to be a monster

IDK, i just feel like if he was standing in front of me he'd give me lectures about how he's morally superior to me lol

ANYWAYS

my season 2 thinking thoughts is so much longer than season 1

man I'm falling for this show hard

anyways imma binge season 3 now lol bye

#agents of s.h.i.e.l.d.#agents of shield

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ashdumpsterpile · 3 years ago

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I've literally never seen a single episode of stranger things tell me your opinions

Here's some stale cold takes from ur local fandom blog:

Stranger Things is actually really really good show all the way up to the end of season 2. Thereafter it becomes a kinda mediocre show that only gets as much hate as it does because the first two seasons (especially the first) is so strong.

Steve Harrington did nothing wrong in season 1. At best you can nail him on an accessory to slutshaming that lasts like a few hour before he backpedals. (He also did nothing wrong in season 2 or season 3 for that matter, not that I'm seeing people say that he did.)

Mike Wheeler starts being unbearably annoying starting mid-season 2 and I can already tell by his haircut that he's going to be even more unbearable in season 4.

Nancy Wheeler is one of my least favorite characters, but literally every piece of criticism I hear about her is sexist and stupid and you're all wrong.

Actually the entire Wheeler family is annoying.

Eleven peaked in season 2 and she's only going to get worse. Her character arc was interesting and Millie Bobby Brown is an exceptionally good actress, but after season 2 her character is completely trashed except for a few cute moments between her and Max.

Byeler is cute but it never going to happen. Yes I ship it. No I'm not delusional.

As long as we're talking about ships, there isn't a single canon pairing in the show that I enjoy EXCEPT for season 2 Jopper and season 2 Lumax.

If we're talking noncanonical ships, Steve x Nancy x Jonathan is big brained and if the writers had balls they would make it canon. Again, Byeler is cute. Elmax is even cuter.

Noah Schnapp is the best child actor on the show and they're wasting him. Kudos for giving him something to do in season 2 though.

Billy isn't interesting stop pretending he's interesting. I'm kidding we don't know each other you can do whatever the fuck you want. But he's not interesting.

Literally every outfit they put the characters in post season 2 are ugly as fuck. ASH IT'S THE 80S-shut ur fuck everyone looked FINE in the first two seasons. The only outfit in season 3 that I liked were the gayass uniforms Steve and Robin got to wear. All the season 4 promos are disgusting and make me want to throw up and NO I'M NOT BEING DRAMATIC GIVE THESE KIDS A HAIRCUT AND BUY THEM CLOTHES THAT DON'T LOOK LIKE WHAT MY MOM THINKS I THOUGHT SHE WORE IN THE 80S.

Robin and Steve were the highlight of season 3 and I can’t remember a single goddamn thing from that season (I’m lying the Byeler breakup plays on repeat in my head 24/7 I mean when Mileven broke up in that season, Mike looked a little bummed out BUT in the Byeler break up they’re literally standing IN THE RAIN and Mike all but CALLS WILL GAY and the looks on BOTH OF THEIR FACES ARE ABSOLUTELY TRAGIC AND-) is the interactions between Robin and Steve it was literally so good and the only in character dialogue.

If you don't read Will Byers as queer, you weren't paying attention.

Actually, on that note, Will Byers is the most interesting character on the show besides Eleven. They literally had so many parallels and there were so many links between them and the fact that they aren't best friends and don't already have sibling energy was siblingphobic of the writers. Do better in season 4 or else.

#if i say a single goddamn word about h*rringrove or whatever i'm gonna get shot #but i do also have opinions on THAT #anyway #stranger things #discourse.#except not really #these are mostly cold takes #ash speaks.#anyway i really like stranger things BUT [insert stupidly long post about things that annoy me]

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everyothermouse · 3 years ago

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every day I see people or mutuals of mutuals and I Must Resist Befriending them because this exactly thing happens so often. congrats you're the newest victim!! please ramble about your stories my eyes and ears are open and ready to receive the inevitable magnificence of your writing ability

OHG HII ok imma talk abt my 3 fav stories rn under the cut leta go

Tws for hunters: implied suicidal thoughts, implied homelessness

Tws for unspeakable: sex mentions and implied sexual abuse

Tws for boiling over: abuse, murder, drugging, assault, self harm ment, self hate

OK first is hunters, I used to never shut up about this story (it still is my most full story tag 💀) but I haven't talked as much about it lately I feel? Here's main cast my beloveds

Hunters is a monster of the week style monster hunting story about 4 humans protecting their city from magical threats! Honestly pls read the s1 villain summaries after this they're my beloveds even if I don't have any extra interesting things to talk about with them on this post 😭💞

Anyways THE HUNTERS THEMSELVES from left to right that's gabby, an 11 year old girlscout who has a sword and is super motivated and wants to do EVERYTHING but can't cus she's 11 and ppl won't let her 😔

then there's peter who a 40 year old depressed museum worker/weaver who honestly didn't ask to be here but who gets dragged along by gabby and genny. They hang out with gabby because they has a cookie addiction, are a mentor figure to her (for girlscouts related volunteer reasons), and also cus she was kind of the only thing keeping them alive pre-story (gabby doesn't know this tho and peter ain't telling her.) Peter is kind of the kind of person who likes to lone wolf their own things, so they struggle to get along with genny and gabby who both have very dominant leaders personalities.

Next is hash, ultra anxious 15 year old girl, she's an artist a lesbian and a nervous wreck but she likes monster hunting because shockingly it makes her feel more in control of her life (she's scared out of her mind of monsters, but she's also terrified of her home life and at least monsters she can like, hit with a sword or genuinely run away from.) She ends up being the introvert adopted by all the other three, gabby becomes her best friend, genny metaphorically adopts her cus she's baby (genny was originally mean to hash cus she saw herself in her, but at some point gens was like 'wtf am I doing this is literally just a pathetic incredibly stressed teen I should be protecting her not making her life worse'), and peter LITERALLY adopts her a little ways into s2 (she kind of starts living with them late s1 but adoption wasn't a super easy process :P.)

And finally genny tall queen, single mom of a 3 year old (and then later a second fish baby who she found dead in a sewer who got resurrected with fish magic, long story) who is very very sweet to kids being a tutor and mother, but who will absolutely kick adult villains asses lol. She's honestly generally kind of mean at first, but it's mostly cus she's self conscious and needs everything to be perfect so she can kind of put others down to try and make things everyone's fault but her own. Ah don't worry, she gets character developement :3

Peter also gets a boyfriend at the end of season 1 (said boyfriend being the villain who was trying to seduce peter by fighting his "family" (the other hunters) for the first season. I'd say he has bad taste by that description but tbf prince has a whole arc or whatever. Why am I saying or whatever he's literally my favorite monsters223 character 😭 ohg this post isn't about him tho.) Prince is a ghostly boi from the underworld whos just absolutely head over heels for peter. Hes a demon history and language nerd, a romantic dork, and a good cook although he's not always up to it cus he has ~chronic pain~. Yeah hes in that villain post I linked if u wanna look at him beautiful face [edit: WAIT U HAVE SEEN PRINCE I FORGOT HIM FACE IS MY ICON :O ]

Universe tag: monsters223

Story tag: hunters223

Character tags: gabby garner, peter, hash brown, genny, prince

Blinkie:

Ok NEXT imma talk about unspeakable my beloved it's main character is peck who uve probably seen cus pea likes him but here's the beloved him

He is a character I used to plan on never talking about but then randomly became a deranged amounts of obsessed with (/pos) and then drew 8 million times and like wrote out his whole life story and stuff which u do not have to read cus I wrote it one night at 3 am and haven't double fact checked since so it's probably a mess LOL

He's a lil succubus lad who goes on adventures and seduces ppl, he's peppy and somewhat silly and def has a bunch of unprocessed childhood trauma (this is why I put his old math teacher on the punchability list <3) that caused his hypersexuality (not every succubus is hypersexuality, like his best friend bray is actually very sex repulsed because of being a succubus.) He has a couple longer term partners: his life partner wings whos a short ancient angel he found out sleeping in the woods when he was like 14 and has stuck with since. They're repairing a house together over by the beach (unspeakable main setting is a town in a forest which has farmland and a beach a short walk through the forest land.) There's his boyfriend Red who he's just constantly been on and off with since they were in highschool, hes a gamer boy who likes frog and is currently studying to become a highschool teacher, although that's not super important since I haven't got too much into writing adult red yet. Then Angel has been pecks boyfriend since he was like 18, but they're like part time boyfriends lol, peck visits when he can but it's taken him a hot while to convince angel to ever come back to town with non-angels and angel still isn't fully sold on spending good amounts of time there (tbf to him he is nine feet tall and kinda has overheating problems outside his part of the forest, like human society isn't exactly convenient for him.) He's a real sweetheart, he adores peck and peck adores him. Pecks most recent boyfriend is mail, who's currently my fav unspeakable character 😚 kitty mailman but not exactly in a cute little cat boy way, this is him:

So big boy!!!! Also vaguely cryptid boy, cat species generally grow up in the woods and his lil racoon face with the sideburns just adds to that vibe. Anyways hes the one of the longtime bfs (and general love interests) who peck has the hardest time seducing bcus hez very much like, a tired 40 year old man who isn't interested in sex and romance he just wants to deliver the mail and stuff buuuut he slowly starts to grow fond of peck :3. Next partner isn't a boyfriend as much, it's more of an alterous relationship but peck still calls him his boyfriend, vinnie/vignette. Mail and him are sort of partners in work (and later just partners in life in general) and he's a lil satyr mail deliverer! He's demosexual and his getting with peck was slow, he was oblivious of the fact that peck was like, ACTUALLY flirting with him at first cus he just thinks (kind of rightfully so) peck is just like that with everyone. At some point he suddenly gains consciousness and is like "wait a minute he's kind of hot hh?????" and that leads to yknow. Things. So yeah they go on dates and stuff but like I said ~alterously~ cus vinnie doesn't feel exactly romantic things in general he is just? Idk who needs labels he's just him. Also ngl I'm obsessed with mail trio lately so fuck it look at vinnie too he's cute

BABY U ARE MY ANGELLLL

Yeah anyways unspeakable has story arcs and plot things tasty worldbuilding (look at species chart I lov them even if I missed sirens and unicorns and what not) but at the moment my brain is just consumed by the peck polycule so that's all u get to hear about lol

Universe tag: n/a (no other stories in universe)

Story tag: unspeakable

Character tags (not everyone has tags yet cus barely anyone has names 😭): peck, red, mail, vignette

Blinkie:

LAST STORY u might like this one cus ik you've reblogged some pics of cayanne, my beloved boy who's ass I constantly kick, whos from this story 😚💕💞💞💞

He never did anything wrong and yet he gets this shit 😔 I just like destroying him lol

Boiling over is a horror (well it's half horror and half parody horror, once we get to victim gang I'm more just having a fun time bein silly with horror tropes than anything lol.) I'm not actually gonna talk about victim gang rn cus I'm mostly in a kai and vanilla mood, so I'm gonna talk about them :3

Vanilla: very cute little guy who's Marshall's beloved baby brother who would definitely never hurt anyone! Except he does 😇

he's actually the absolute worst to cayanne with a big ol smile on his face. He really likes control, he's incredibly obsessive over his brother marshall and best friend/joyfriend kath. He likes having Marshall under his thumb, not to even do anything really, he just needs his comfort person around. What leads him to do not so great things is the fear of losing his favorite people, he has frequently purposefully and secretly poisoned or injured Marshall to avoid him going on trips and to keep him trapped in the house where vanilla can take care of him and make him love his little brother more. Marshall is totally oblivious, he honestly believes that what's making him get sick is just the stress from becoming more popular and successful in his baseball career and having a lot of pressure put on him, if anything he's just so glad his sweet baby brother is helping him get through it! Kath is less oblivious, I won't get into what vanilla does to kath cus I simply do not want to, but kath is very happy to punish him which vanilla actually loves partially because he thinks he deserves to be hurt but mostly because he's a masochist. (Ps kath also sucks lol they murder and torture people :]))

Cayanne is Marshall's boyfriend, he's also a baseball player. He plays up his big ego and acts like he's the hottest shit ever, he's always confident and totally doesn't have an incredibly fragile self esteem that relies entirely on winning /s. Hes a bit of a mess and super competitive and kind of hates himself, but he always has got to be strong and cool and never break. Vanilla absolutely hates kai, because he finds kai pathetic and Marshall loves kai, which makes vanilla very jealous (of how much attention kai gets I mean, not in an incestuous way ew. Vanilla is ew in general but not in that specific field.) So umg he ends up sort of, hurting kai and threatens him not to talk abt it with black mail. But kai kind of has a very difficult relationship with pain and ends up sort of coming back to vanilla, because despite how gross he feels vanilla was the first person who made him feel like the part of him that was pathetic, a sore loser, etc. was something not just worth acknowledging but something to be prioritized and given room to be expressed. They have a veryyy unhealthy relationship to say the least, cayanne feels very guilty for it but vanilla doesn't really, frankly as far as he cares if anything ever comes out about it he'll blame kai for everything and finally get to have Marshall cut kai out of his life. To be honest Marshall would probably side with cayanne if he found out, but cayanne honestly doesn't think he would so he's afraid to speak up about anything <:)

Yes very sorry for not talking about kath and the gang 😔 to summarize the rest of the gang:

Luke is kath and vanillas friend who's spent his whole life in danger and can basically turn off his humanity because his existence is so buried is defense mechanisms. He does have a personality tho, he's pretty flirty, he likes food, he's just your average casual cool guy who you are screaming at your screen to his non murderer friends that he is OBVIOUSLY leading them on to betray them.

Kath is a depressed bastard who likes digging around in garbage and torturing people cus hearing people scream is basically all that makes xem feel anything anymore. Xe especially takes a liking to kai and nessa, but they're glad to fuck with Emory and Jake too, equality. They dont touch Marshall cus vanilla would be pissed at xem and they want to keep vanilla around. Besides Marshall is teaching them to bake, it's the first hobby they've felt any real interest in years. Oh yeah they're also with kai and Marshall on the whole baseball thing.

Victim gangggg Jake is a repressed trans lesbian who's eyesight is shit and who as such is constantly recording everything cus they see better looking through their phone camera than with their eyes (get this kid some glasses please.) They have a crush on vanessa, who's ur average scaredy cat horror girl, she likes statistics and hanging out with her gang exploring scary places. (What? She likes being scared, she may be easily freaked out but that doesn't mean it's not fun for her when she's not Literally Being Murdered lol.) Luke is also in victim gang but I already sorta talked about him, and the Emory is nessas big step brother/sibling, they're a peer pressure king and just wants people to think he's cool and brave, but because they're an absolute dumbass this leads them to dangerous stupid ass situations. Also kai is an unofficial part of the victim gang, hes their supervisor since they're all like 16 or 17 or whatever and Emorys mom is tired of him going out and getting hurt so she's patronizing them and nessa by basically forcing a babysitter on them lol.

Universe tag: n/a again

Story tag: boiling over

Character tags: cayanne, vanilla, marshall, kath, luke, emory, jake, vanessa

Blinkie:

To tell you the truth I don't even like boiling over that much, I just happen to be in a mood for it rn lol.

#peck #mail #vignette #hash brown #gabby garner #genny #peter #kath #cayanne #vanilla #marshall #luke #🌵#SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVER I TYPED MORE THAN EXPECTED 😭 its not that often someone just says like 'talk abt ur ocs!' lol #i mostly just summarized characters but yeah #if u have any questions abt anyone here feel free to ask #but i must warn u theres a possibility it wont get answered til tommorow morning since it is like 3 am rn lol #ohgs gxof OH GOD ive been to distracted rambling about stories i havent though of an emoji tag yet #im sorry ur too new im not prepared to properly kin assign an emoji to u ill come back and add one when i make the decision #usually people lurk for months before i have to tag assign them lol #i am regretting mentioning vanilla was a comfort character on that last post considering ive now immediately launched into talking about hi #m being an abuser 😬😬😬 woops #im not a vanilla apologist vanilla and kai are just my vent characters so they're also comfort characters 😭#promise i dont talk this much in the tags normally im just very talkative today for some reason lol #i am glad i have kidnapped u as a mutual. i love stealing peas mutuals its like when u make friends with one person and then get the rest o #f your friends by just hoping u get absorbed into their friendgroup lol #monsters223 #hunters223 #unspeakable #boiling over

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postmodernmulticoloredcloak · 4 years ago

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I'm sorry is the Mary Sue writing an article actually critiquing Supernatural after it told fans that they were nuts like 4 weeks ago? The title appears that way but after being compared to QAnon I'm not exactly reading their articles. Can you tell me what the idea of the article is about?

It’s not a bad article at all (link), obviously it says what we’ve been talking about all this time so it’s not really for us, but I think it’s a pretty clear read for someone who’s not neck deep in this stuff (I just sent it to my mom who’s never watched a single minute of either spn or the mcu...) or simply someone who’s into one of the fandoms and is interested in how the two stories did something similar.

I don’t know who the author (Rotem Rusak) is but they’re saying that expecting a narrative to fulfill a promise its makes (like bringing something major up and... actually following that bringing up, instead of dropping it in the nothingness forever) is not fans being “entitled” because entitlement is when you expect someone to do something YOU want, in these cases the STORY brought things up so fans were disappointed because... they were just... expecting... the story... to deal... with something the story did! Both Supernatural with Cas’ confession and the Avengers series with... pretty much everything, the focus of the article is on the traumatic impact of the snap and on Bucky but it also mentions the rest. The article also mentions the Jaime/Brienne plot in Game of Thrones.

But instead of saying, yes, you spent all this time watching these scenes, feeling these moments, taking this in—you grew with this character, with these relationships (grew in many cases away from the set starting point)—here is your promised meaning, again and again, these properties snatch the rug away and then pretend blithely they cannot understand why “entitled fans” are so upset.

And just to be clear, this is not “just about the ship,” it is about the story. In many cases, the ship and the story are, indeed, inextricably linked, because the story is the basis of the ship. [...]

While it is not “just about the ship,” it does not feel coincidental that the reneging of narrative promises happens to characters and relationships that orbit queer ships so often. In fact, it feels purposeful.

At the end of the day, it takes two to tango, and though it’s true that properties can do whatever they want, it doesn’t mean they should. There’s a reason why shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Hannibal are so universally loved by their fans, and that is because they tell the stories they promise to tell and unfold satisfying arcs and resolutions—and not out of the desire for shock value, nor for spite, nor fear, do they stray from them.

Simply, they give to fans the one thing that is owed to them: respect.

#turbo mega hell finale #not mcu friendly #anon

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glassesandkim · 4 years ago

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ok so anon sent me a rant that i asked for and I want to answer it but under a cut so we don’t have to spam the dash.

Click under the read more if you want to read me and anon’s rant on grey’s anatomy s17 finale

anon said: “Magston... what the hell lmao. They literally had a whole plot in 1716 about postponing their wedding so they could do it right (with family) and then winston was getting all mad about it and thought maggie was backing out (even though its a pandemic and theyve only been engaged for like what? 3 months tops). Then they flew their older parent/grandparent out (in the middle of a pandemic and severely affects old people), only to have them object to the wedding at the ceremony and then they postpone anyways???? What???? They couldnt have done that over the phone lmao like I liked the idea of magston a lot in s16 but their arc this season made me hate them so much lol. Sometimes I think theyre less developed than schmico (like which writer decided to marry them this season ????? Fireable offence imo considering they have no previous relationship history Im pretty sure and Im pretty sure they were only dating/engaged for like a year???? Even if the show was ending a moving in together/dating/engagment endgame would have worked for them? Anyways).”

First of all: what the fuck is grey’s obsession with marriage?????

It might just be me, but take it from someone who worked in the wedding industry for 3 years, and lemme tell you: weddings are fun, beautiful, amazing, but they’re also hella for the privileged. YOU KNOW IT CAN COST UP TO $700 CAD TO HIRE AN OFFICIANT??? So the job Richard had? He could’ve made an easy few hundies.

I really hate how fucking fake and badly acted that scene was when Maggie’s dad and Winston’s grandma objected to the marriage. Why did they wait until then and EMBARRASS both of them???? Like you said, what the hell was the point of last episode’s whole debacle???? They could’ve just not done that plot in ep 16 and had them get married anyway in ep 17 and had someone object to their marriage.

Can’t believe Maggie flew two old people around the country during a goddamn pandemic. How irresponsible is it???? Again, I don’t know if it’s because they’re just way more relaxed in the states than where I’m from but wth....

anon said: Okay and then amelink. I LOVED how amelia was written this episode, but in the context of the time jump it was kind of weird? Like amelia was feeling this way about marriage/more kids for 8-9 months and never even hinted to link that she wasnt interested? And I like to think link respects amelia a lot, so why didnt he bring up marriage again before proposing? Or ask mer/maggie what they thought about him proposing? I can understand her not talking to link about her concerns but I find it hard to believe she didnt bring it up with mer/maggie once in that time frame? Idk it was just rushed and weird. And amelia clearly wasnt okay with the fostering thing and he still went with it anyways lol.

I can’t remember and I don’t care enough to go watch the ep, but did Amelia and Link move out of Mer’s house?

The only good thing about this episode was Amelia, especially her conversation with Richard (in that not very Seattle courtyard rofl HONESTLY GREY’S PUT SOME EFFORT IN YOUR SETS. YOU KNOW YOUR ENTIRE SHOW IS SET IN SEATTLE RIGHT/???? LIKE MAKE IT RAIN IN THAT COURTYARD TO REFLECT HOW AMELIA FEELS IDK GAWD)

I also can’t believe Amelia would just be like, welp! I guess I’m a double mom now of my own child and this random crotch child that my baby daddy promised to his best friend. And oh ya, I don’t want anymore children but shhh its a secert.

I mean, I know Amelia technically fostered before but ............. (i’ll continue this in the next segment)

anon said: And the fostering thing... Jo’s plot was weird this ep too lmao. Like maybe Im just dumb but they never explained why she failed her background check? Idk this plot would have been a much better season long arc than a one episode arc lol. Although I think the single parent thing might be fun next season (the weird jo/levi friendship will be worth it if we get schmico babysitting)

They didn’t really explain why she failed her bg check. I also don’t know how money can fix her failed background check.

Also how fucking shady is it that Link and Amelia fostered a child? Wouldn’t the foster people want to give a child to a stable family who, let’s think, ARE MARRIED and HAVE A HOME OF THEIR OWN?

Who’s the dumbass in the writer’s room that thought of this ludicrous convenient solution for Jo? Only people with that much money and power can steal children.

I really thought Jo’s fight for Luna should’ve started earlier and when it didn’t start, I thought it would bleed into next season. It’s not easy to adopt a child.

anon said: Also is our last jackson appearance on this show really a random facetime with jo? Would have much rather had a face maggie to congratulate her on her marriage (why wasnt he there???)

Maggie’s kind of his step sister or whatever the f they are. Jackson could’ve taken a break from solving racism to attend his family member’s wedding, right?

anon said: Okay and then the interns... we never actually saw mer teaching them? Im hoping that theres a bigger intern/resident focus next season because of mers new job but now Im not optimistic haha. And why are the residents and interns grouped together? And why was levi so involved with mer’s patient that he wasnt pulled from the wedding to help???????? Its a double lung transplant get the upper year resident in there PLEASE!!! Or at least let him take over the surgery when mer passed out. Cristina would have been doing this shit in her intern year. I assure you he would much rather be at the surgery than the wedding of someone he has never interacted with. And Surely that surgery would have been better if more than 2 surgeons were working on it?????? my ONLY hope is that the time jump means we’re getting helm and levi aged up to 5th years and we get some chief resident/specialization/boards plots for them next year.

i hate grey’s and their ridiculous time jumps and blatant disregard to HOW THIS WILL AFFECT THE CAREERS OF THEIR RESIDENTS.

I bet, like Teddy’s child, Levi and Helm are gonna be residents for 10 years and never choose a speciality. I want to revoke grey’s rights to call themselves a medical drama. There’s nothing medical about this show.

JUST WATCH MER TOUCH A DIRTY ASS BASIN AND THEN TOUCH A WHOLE HUMAN LUNG WITH THE SAME HANDS

YOU KNOW HOW DIRTY THAT BASIN IS SITTING ON WHATEVER THE FUCK IT WAS SITTING ON??? GET A NURSE TO HOLD THE BASIN. YOUR HANDS ARE STERILE

(Okay, I’m also sure the basin would be sterile but I can’t. I can’t believe in real life, they’d have the same hands hold a basin and a human organ. Someone who’s a doctor or works in the OR, tell me if I’m right. I need to know. )

Also, Bailey taking off her mask when she’s hugging Mer after the surgery. Right TO JAIL!

anon said: And finally... not half of maggies wedding guests ditching the wedding to go stand in a hallway and clap for mer LMAO like they couldnt have done that the next day??? Like I said before, most of this episode was comedy lol.

it’s COVID. Why are people going into the hospital unnecessarily??????

Yes, but you’re right. I gotta watch these eps like it’s a comedy or I’ll LOSE MY FACKING MIND

anon said: Redeeming parts of this episode: merhayes still has potential, need them to stop having the same scene over and over again though. Nico ily and alex get that cheque for sitting there, dancing, and clapping for ellen. Jo selling her shares to koracick... lmao. Bokhee and the other nurse getting their vaccines :’)

LOL @ merhayes having the same interaction. I was telling some people that I’d love for Hayes and Owen to have some scenes and for Hayes to kick Owen’s ass. Because like @schmico-ing said, Owen is a child collector and Hayes would absolutely fucking hate him.

YES ALEX LANDI GETTIN’ THAT DOUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHH. What an amazing job. I hope he gets paid in the 6 figures for his time at grey’s.

I don’t know how I feel about Koracick. I love caring Koracick. I hate asshole Koracick. I feel like they’re two different people.

BOHKEE <3

Anyways, love your rants. I look forward to them when s18 starts or even whenever you have the odd urge to rant!

#i would go more in depth but it's been almost a week and the process of purging my mind of grey's has already begun #grey's anatomy #gk asks

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