#cell analysis

[whoisspence]

of course i don't have any favorites in the bau i love them all equally....

[scarletdreamers]

''Is Hannibal in love with me?''

To which Bedelia answers her famous quote that ultimately ends with: ''Yes.'' Yes, he is in love with you. (You righteous, reckless, twitchy little man)

Now many people (myself included) heard this for the first time and thought, yes of course Will. Jezus fucking Christ, you only realise that now? NOW?

The thing about that scene is that Will knew. Of course he knew. He knows Hannibal better than any other person in the world. Of course Will knew that Hannibal was in love with him, he knew it wayyy before that little talk he had with Bedelia. Will is far from dumb, neither is he oblivious. He knows Hannibal's mind like the back of his hand. Their entire relationship is built on that unnatural and extreme understanding that they have of one another. The ability to see right through each other's person suits and armours and look right into one another's hearts.

So, no, of course Will didn't finally realise it during that 'therapy' session with Bedelia, but why did he ask her? Because he needed confirmation. Will is a man with a lot of doubts. He doubts everything, about himself and about others. He's torn between two personalities, two sides, constantly. Two versions of himself. Of who he is, who he wants and who he's supposed to be. He doubts everything and his relationship with Hannibal is also built on mistrust. Unaltering loyalty, yes, but mistrust because of everything they went through. And, mind you, he hasn't seen or spoken to Hannibal for three years during that session. In his mind, Bedelia can tell him whether the things he used to be sure of but doubts now are still true. He needs to hear the answer said out loud. He needs confirmation. Will has been mistrusted, disbelieved and made out for a liar and mentally unstable man so often that his self doubt goes far enough to reach his idea of the way Hannibal perceives him. He needs to know for sure before he goes and choses what he's going to do. Whose side he will take. He is going to let Hannibal escape, knowing that it'll destroy his own life which he built up in those three years, and he needs to know if what he does is right. He needs confirmation that Hannibal really is in love with him and is not just using him to escape or as an experiment. He thinks Bedelia is the person to tell him that, because she's second on the list of those who know Hannibal best. And since she isn't a part of the 'pact', of the relationship, she can comment on it as an outsider.

That's why, at the very last, Will asks Bedelia if Hannibal loves him. Not because he doesn't know it, or because he didn't believe it, but because he needs to be certain before he went and chose Hannibal's side. He knows there's no way back. He needs to know that, even from an outside point of view, the feelings are mutual and that it's right to, in the end, choose him.

[gingersp1ce547]

Q!pac’s goal of becoming his best self, a stronger version of himself being displayed by this new archer skin makes me feel crazy because look

Look that the similarities between these two skins. The crossbody strap that covers up the logo’s of their shirts. Fingerless gloves on their right hands and a more bulky almost gauntlet like glove on q!pac’s that emulates q!fits prosthetic arm. The jeans.

Q!pac’s idea of his best version of himself is one so innately and intimately tied to q!fit as if to say that he cant fully be that version of himself without q!fit.

[mishy-mashy]

Got my hands on a Ultra Analysis BNHA book from a library

Some points I liked (I focused more on 1B since they don't get a lot of attention)

1B once had a Tetsutetsu BBQ. They heated him up and cooked food on him. He proceeds to ruin it when he declares his sweat is the salt to their food

Yui is canonically the prettiest first-year

Mineta has no sex appeal at all, but he thinks being a hero will make him lucky

Class B does respect Monoma. He's sharp-minded, witty, and has a way with words

Monoma sometimes wanders into 1A's dorm just to throw down a mean speech, and heads back to 1B

Juzo probably isn't helping Monoma's confrontations with 1A, since he just always asks him why he can't say it to their faces whenever Monoma complains about them

Shiozaki tries to be polite even in a fight

Pony hosts anime parties, so 1B knows a lot about anime. Vice-versa, they teach her Japanese, and everything nasty is Monoma's fault

Tokage was a gyaru

Tsuburuaba, Kaibara, and Kuroiro get worked up whenever they talk about girls

Manga likes Kenranzaki

Awase's family runs a small factory. He also restrains Monoma whenever Kendo isn't available

1B likes hearing Rin say "Aiyah", so he does it for them

Kamakiri is obsessed with cutting into things

Class B's play was really successful

Tamaki is scared of Kirishima's energy

1C was planning a send-off party for Shinsou for his upcoming hero transfer. They didn't doubt he would make it, ever since the Sports Festival

Shishikura (meatball Shiketsu boy) might've chosen Shiketsu because he likes the uniform's hat

Nakagame and Yo are dating

Tsuyu's family gets to spend a lot of time together now, since their parents' busy jobs have calmed down

Tsubasa (devil wing kid in Midoriya's memories) suspiciously lost touch with Midoriya and Bakugo in middle school (his Wiki page confirms Garaki - his grandfather - turned him into a Nomu)

Torino likes goofy gags. This rubs off on All Might (ex. when Midoriya thought he died when Torino fell with ketchup. People don't know whether to laugh or be concerned)

Nighteye has yellow streaks in his hair as a homage to All Might

Nezu likes worming into tight, dark places, so he likes Aizawa's scarf. They went into detail, describing why Nezu likes it, such as material to crawling in, etc.

Recovery Girl has to travel around Japan regularly to help people with her Quirk (as in, she uses her Quirk to help them. Healing Quirks are SO rare)

Hojo, Tabe, and Sestuno are kept in the same jail, so at least they're not separated

[anachronistic-falsehood]

i just. love qpac and qcellbit and their weird complex relationships. like when I hear celltw i think of cannibalism and the prison and all the fucked up implications of just. everything that went on there. when i hear pacbit i think of cellbit telling pac e mike that he loves them and that he’s no longer cell and that that monster died, and cellbit telling pac after the happy pills arc that he’s not alone anymore and he’s a hero, and them raising a kid together and joking about their past. like. it’s insane that one character can change so fuckijg much that two different ship names can make me think of two completely different dynamics, even though cell and cellbit are the same exact character in different points in time and celltw and pacbit are essentially the same ship

LIKE cellbit has changed so much but pac has stayed more or less the same and i just wonder what the hell cellbit must look like from his eyes. yk. how one person can change so much that your entire relationship has flipped on its head and now you’re family but you still find yourself scared of who he used to be sometimes regardless of how he’s changed. the duality of these fucking guys. i’m going to eat the floorboards

[ilk-insolence]

Raph and Leo Analysis: Hot Potato BrainCell

Thinking about it, Bug Busters and Jupiter Jim Ahoy! were parallel situations for Leo and Raph. They were the only brother that voiced concerns about following a charming but suspicious stranger into their headquarters, were both ignored, and ultimately proven correct for their wariness and had to go rescue their family. What’s even more ironic was that their concerns were blown off specifically by each other in those episodes.

Obviously, this was a result of Raph and Leo being well-written complex characters with amazing contradictions (and the differing variables), but I wanted to understand the specific mechanics and rules behind their game of hot potato with the brain cell.

(long post!)

A pattern that I’ve come to see looking at different moments of “common sense” for Leo is that they’re all instances of him being worried for the safety of his loved ones. The most well known examples, found in this post that the majority of the fandom has seen (therefore I can avoid rehashing them all), are all Leo just trying to keep his family safe. Some additional moments are when Leo asks if sticking Splinter in a plastic ball is cruel or not in Down With the Sickness [15:51], him being the only one worried about the by Albeartos in Al Be Back [16:11], and when Leo remarked that it’s kind of messed up to use Donnie’s game addiction against him in The Purple Game [18:00]. Occasionally, Leo’s concerns even spread to people he didn’t know, like with Bullhop in Bug Busters, and when he asked April if she still had the orb holding the people of New York in Finale Part 3: Anatawa Hitorijinai [6:35]. Outside of that, Leo has the exact same batshit, reckless decision making skills as the rest of his brothers. (Should I even list examples--?) Air Turtle (bought the obviously demonic bridge), Clothes Don’t Make The Turtle (he pushed all his brothers into a pit without a plan because he was so excited), Bad Hair Day (agreed to grow hair to get into a discriminatory retreat instead of, I don’t know--getting a wig), The Evil League of Mutants (willingly went to New Jersey), Flushed But Never Forgotten (tried to replace his brothers with googly eyed rocks), and so forth. Leo being reasonable is Leo being worried, displaying a level of understanding and tact that the rest of his brothers kinda skip over. His common sense is from his protectiveness and care.

However, there are times where Leo’s common sense/worry gets pushed to the side when Leo pursues an agenda. Pizza Puffs, Minotaur Maze, and The Gumbus are some examples. It’s also what happened in Jupiter Jim Ahoy!, where Leo dismissed Raph’s desire to leave Moncrief’s house because he wanted to hang out with one of his favorite movie star heroes (and avoid Splinter). Even though Leo is shown to have a healthy sense of stranger danger, his worry was overridden by the allure of a real life Jupiter Jim.

Raph’s general good sense is similarly powered by his love and worry for his family. However it’s also powered by responsibility; not only as the oldest brother, but as a hero to New York City. Out of the rest of his brothers, it’s clear Raph is the most dedicated to the duty of protecting people. It’s why situations like Pizza Puffs (the mission chart), and The Longest Fight occur. It’s also why he’s the one that repeatedly gets his brothers to focus on the fight, like in the hypnosis in Clothes Don’t Make a Turtle [15:32]. However, being responsible and worried isn’t exactly the same thing as making reasonable decisions. Raph’s dedication to hero work can sometimes turn on him, make him too excitable to make sensible choices. It’s why he was chill with going after the spine-breaking/mangling bad guys for the Mad Dogs’ first mission, or create the whole FAB situation in Stuck On You, or immediately begin fighting the Foot Clan in Mystic Library [6:32], or why his solution to The Mutant Menace problem was to go outside and “‘smack people in the face with good deeds!’” [12:22]. Raph’s eagerness to being a hero can occasionally push him to behave rashly. (Kind of like his anger.) This is what happened in Bug Busters, where Raph got so swept up with the concept of catching the oozequitoes, of Big Mama’s help assisting him to do better hero work, that he completely dismissed Leo’s concerns surrounding Big Mama’s motives [7:45]. Admittedly, Leo’s suspicions is also due to him just being better at reading people, but Raph’s complete dismissal of his concerns shows that he was being stubborn around the subject too. Conversely, in Jupiter Jim Ahoy! Raph’s protectiveness over his brothers was greater than his love for Jupiter Jim, which fell in line with his responsible nature as the big brother, making him be the reasonable brother for that episode.

And that’s how A-team played hot potato with the brain cell.

oh god I didn't even touch on the movie at all wow.

[bluebobatea]

if sasuke was the main character then he probably would've been a LOT more sympathised with than he is now (which is to say rarely). like the narrative wouldn't even need to change to show his pains or 'his side of the story', bc it does that plenty. it's just that he is not the main character. and idk what it is about our human minds but we tend to sympathise with main characters automatically (unless ofc you go off the rockers insane and do something like obliterate almost everyone from the planet *cough* eren yeager *cough*)

an instance that comes to my mind where this does happen is with lelouch from code geass. while i don't agree with his character motivations, people generally do sympathise with him as he is the mc and as viewers we know he isn't inherently evil. sasuke's goal towards the end is slightly similar but ofc people love to hate him so they don't even try to understand where he is coming from.

my point is, most people while engaging with the naruto story don't read between the lines and so don't see how traumatised and in pain sasuke is and hence don't understand his character motivations. heck, they don't understand a single bit about him and so they automatically hate him, as he is supposedly going against the main character's goals.

which is really sad given all that he has been through.

[behindthesefangirleyes]

“Heartstopper is about love only.”

Heartstopper is not remotely about love only. The love it does discuss isn’t strictly romantic, either.

Heartstopper is about self-love. It’s about platonic love. It’s about mental health and self image and exploring your identity and finding your voice. It’s about being your own champion and holding your friends’ hands as they navigate their own journeys or face unique obstacles.

If that type of comment were just an opinion, I’d say it’s reductive. Based on what we actually see on our screens, it’s plain wrong.

[im-smart-i-swear]

can you remember being born? were you born at all

[magentagalaxies]

Kids in the Archive: Episode 10

welcome back to kids in the archive! to celebrate my college graduation + KITA's 10th installment + finally honor the request i received from @oliviaskithworld multiple months ago (thank you for your patience!) today i'm going to be showcasing the classic s1e3 sketch "Citizen Kane"

even if there are other sketches that i would choose as my personal favorite, i respect "citizen kane" so much as a feat of comedic timing. the premise and dialogue are funny enough, but what puts them over the top is the perfect rhythm kevin and dave establish - fast-paced dialogue that's occasionally repetitive in its text but each repetition leads to escalation in the performance.

Citizen Kane: June 3rd 1989

I actually have two copies of the script for Citizen Kane: both dated 06/03/89, and nearly identical, to each other and to the version of the sketch that aired. There really aren't many differences to point out: some sentences are shorter or longer for the purpose of timing, and there is one specific line missing from the "white" pages that's present in the "pink" pages

i assume the version i have may not be a first draft - this was likely a scene performed at the rivoli for years before making it to the screen. or perhaps this scene was mostly created via improv, so the first time on paper was less an act of creation and more documenting what already existed. the only "big" changes are removing a section of brief physical comedy before picking up the newspaper (which was not being held by another customer).

honestly, as much as i wish i could've honored this request in a timely manner, the wait has allowed this episode to be so much better. this could have been it. i would have had to stretch these tiny differences into 3 bullet points because i just couldn't show you how the sketch evolved. except, as i write this on december 21st 2024, now i can. but we have to push a bit further...

Citizen Kane: ~2002

the kids in the hall tour-film "tour of duty" was unavailable to stream for most of this year before finally being reuploaded by a fan in november. i've previously put out a full essay with general thoughts on tour of duty, but let's examine the show's version of citizen kane.

tour of duty's "citizen kane" barely changes, especially compared to some of the other sketches in this show. sure, the words don't always line up exactly and the rhythm is a bit slower (a product of enunciating for a large theater vs recording a sketch for television), but most changes are physical. in the original sketch, a fake-arm was made for dave foley for the purposes of stabbing his hand. in this one, a prop-knife was used for the effect, freeing up both hands for motioning. most notably, this version ends with dave falling out of his chair and flipping 360 degrees before landing on the floor.

immediately following the sketch is a transitional scene with bruce and mark, where they essentially replicate the "citizen kane" bit of forgetting a name and refusing to admit you're wrong, only this time they're trying to remember the name of the sketch they just watched. it's cute.

Citizen Kane: November 25th 2024

so that's all well and good, but still not a lot of differences to parse through. what would it take for them to take citizen kane in a completely different direction?

well, what if 22 years later the kids in the hall reunited to put on a show in support of paul bellini's medical expenses, but dave foley wasn't able to attend due to pneumonia and the other kids barely had time to rehearse?

a high-quality version of the full show will be available in the new year, but recently i found a fan's uploads of a few iconic sketches from the november 2024 show, including the perfect finale to my citizen kane post, because oh boy did they go off-script. for starters, the original "citizen kane" as uploaded onto youtube is 4 minutes and 16 seconds. the "tour of duty" version (not counting bruce and mark's tag) is just under 6 minutes long. the november 2024 version is NEARLY TEN MINUTES LONG

and uniquely i am actually in a position to explain how these changes happened: scott was chosen to take over dave's part in the sketch the day of the show. they added mark walking on as "constable bobby" as a way to acknowledge dave's absence (and i was actually riffing with mark, kevin, and scott when they decided the character's name. in rehearsal, mark improvised a bit about his character going undercover as a teenager). but scott responding to kevin's "was it citizen kane?" with "yes"? bruce walking on as another officer? kevin kissing scott's forehead when scott apologized for forgetting his line? that was all truly improvised, and i was standing backstage watching it happen.

prior to the show, citizen kane was one of the sketches scott was the most nervous about since it's actually quite difficult to memorize: so much of the comedy relies on repetition and timing. i've probably watched the sketch more times in the past year than he has and even i wouldn't get it word-for-word. but once you're out there onstage, you can't beat yourself up over forgetting a line. you make that part of the gag, and suddenly the sketch becomes citizen kane on top of citizen kane: a sketch about someone forgetting something and ignoring their friend's corrections becomes about scott forgetting his lines and ignoring kevin's corrections.

there's no way the kids in the hall could've replicated everything about citizen kane on the evening of november 25th 2024: the sketch was at least 35 years old, it was being performed with minimal sets and costumes in a 1500-seat theater, and the person whose comedic voice it most represented wasn't around. but in my opinion, citizen kane 2.0 reflects exactly what a live version of a pre-existing kids in the hall sketch should be: using the well-known framework as a basis for improv while still being grounded to the important beats. this attitude carried over into the night's other sketches, even ones which didn't feature dave at all like "salty ham." it gives fans new and old something new to appreciate, and allows the KITH to focus on making each other laugh. after scott got off the stage, he wasn't upset for flubbing citizen kane. he was smiling ear-to-ear, whispering to me "i forgot how fun this was". i would take this over "tour of duty" any day

or maybe i'm just saying that because i now own 2024 citizen kane's prop-knife

oh, and don't think i've forgotten the one line that changed between my two scripts, both dated 06/03/89.

"that's a hayley mills vehicle, that's not even close"

and because of scott's role in the 2024 show, i now know that's the one line HE contributed, leading me to believe the "white" pages were just kevin and dave's writing, and the "pink" pages were after the input of the other KITH on the same day.

god, i love how things become full-circle.

...

PREVIOUS KIDS IN THE ARCHIVE EPISODES:

Episode 1 - armada finale ("do we make it?") Episode 2 - fran & gordon: the vacation Episode 3 - comfortable Episode 4 - cathy & kathi: is he? Episode 5 - danny husk: kidnapped! Episode 6 - trappers Episode 7 - sizzlers & the bank Episode 8 - darcy & francesca Episode 9 - show within a show

thanks for reading!

[trashnotfound]

ARCANE WRITERS EXPLORE VIS MENTAL HEALTH AND TRAUMA CHALLENGE

If you really think about it Vi has never had the time to process her truama properly( I mean she’s literally been in fight or flight mode since she was like 7) and I’d love to see them explore that more in depths with how it would change her as a person but also how it would impact her actions. Would she be less guarded, not be a prone to fighting

We’ve seen how she handles mental breakdowns ( with alcohol and fighting, which kinda mimics her childhood surroundings. With her dad owning a bar and her constantly fighting) she automatically diverts her attention to the one thing she is 1 good at plus has known since she was very young. It’s almost like her comfort of sorts ( once again very BAD comfort she is not mentally OKAY)

But when you think about her and what she’s been through, it’s too much for a young mind to handle ( as we saw with jinx)

First she’s thrown into a prison, beat, tortured and isolated for god knows how long. By the time she’d process what has happened more would be on the horizon ( as we know she got beat almost daily) plus it probably lead to some stint in her development either mentally or physically ( which is a whole other can of worms to process)

then when she FINALLY gets out she learns her sister is a war criminal, her uncle has drugged the under city, she gets stabbed and beat up repeatedly, almost dies, gets kidnapped, mentally tortured and then witnesses her sister commit and act of terrorism

The only time in the show she could of mentally processed what she’s been through is the weeks after the attack on the council ( since she was staying with Cait * it’s assumed) but I doubt she would have since she was probably too busy making sure Cait was okay plus thinking about how to stop jinx. Or when’s she was a pitfighter but as we saw, she just drunk her issues away and when she felt that anger towards people she went and fought individuals who had no connect to that feeling, just to have an ounce of control over her mental state.

I’m getting the sense too that she was only taught how to protect others and not herself. She’s kinda self destructive ( in the nature of getting into usless fight, putting her self in danger and being impulsive) she doesn’t know what to do when mentally crashing, she doesn’t really know how to read her emotions properly and that leads to her impulsiveness because she thinks she’s feeling a specific way and thus acts upon that feeling. Not taking the time to process her emotion and figure out her thoughts!

I just think Vi is the most interesting character in arcane when you REALLY sit down and study her character. So much underling lore exists to her when you dig deep into her actions specifically and I’m so sad the writers didn’t focus on that this season. They could make her one of the MOST complex characters but just stick with “anger issues and she likes to fight” but they never explore WHY she does those things. I know a lot of it is *show and not tell* and as I said if you actually use your brain you can figure this out and use just general knowledge. their putting to much trust in the viewer to read between the lines. When most just wanna be told what’s going on and how characters feel or think.

I just really like Vi guys….

[good-beanswrites]

My thoughts on how the Milgram mv machine works based on the evidence we have:

(I know there’s been discussion about where exactly the interrogations take place, but wherever they are,) the prisoners are made to sit in a specific chair near the wall that houses the machine.

It’s ordinarily hidden, but the wall panels shift aside to reveal it when the mechanical sounds play in the dramas. As well as the walls moving, the chair transforms to restrain the prisoner and attach whatever it takes to access their brain. The fact that none of the more frightened prisoners try to run or break it makes it seem like they physically cannot. This is why Fuuta sounds so panicked, and why Amane is suddenly helpless in front of Es in their T1 vds.

(My mind conjures very classic sci-fi mad scientist machines with wires, pipes, lights, nodes, needles, etc, but I’d love to hear how other people visualize it.)

In some vds (maybe all? I’d need to check,) you can hear Es take some steps right before their iconic line -- it would make sense that for safety reasons, the power mechanism is placed across the room. Once again it could be anything, but the sound effect makes me think of one of those giant wall-mounted levers you have to pull down.

The voice dramas don’t really provide the type of crime details that an actual interrogation would reveal, and it’s odd that they’re placed before the extraction rather than after Es gets to see the new details. This leads me to believe the machine functions with priming. All Es needs to do is get them talking about their murder, so it’s on their mind.

The video produced is much like a (non-lucid) dream. Even if the prisoners figure out that this is how it works, they can’t control it just by thinking really hard about something else. The murders produce the strongest emotional affect, and that’s what it picks up on. If someone else used the machine, it would default to whatever gave them the strongest emotional reaction in the ~15 minutes beforehand, hence why Es’ video focuses on their daunting task ahead. (The Undercover theory is still a bit loose, though, given the private shots that Es wouldn't have known about). It’s why the videos are usually closely linked to the vd topics/beats. I also like to think that the reason their prisoner colors appear so much is because they’re looking at those colors on their uniform 24/7.

The bell rings to inform Es that it’s the optimal time to use the machine -- the prisoner has been thinking about things for long enough that the video will be about their crime, and if the conversation lasts much longer they’ll start thinking of other things. It’s at a different time for each prisoner because it’s based on the specific conversation. I guess Jackalope is listening in to the interrogation, timing it perfectly. (The only one that kind of messes with this theory is Yonah, because they just keep talking afterwards lol, but it could just show that the interrogation is still in Es’ control.)

Their “Sing your sins” is the final priming nudge to get them to think of their actions as a sin, revealing their guilt.

Once activated, the prisoner enters a sort of trance/sleeping state. It’s very much like REM sleep, with the machine forcibly activating neurons and recording the output. The prisoners have asked Es what they saw, meaning they don’t remember the mvs. I like to think the prisoners do experience the mv in real time, acting as the major version of themself that appears, but can’t remember it afterwards. It’s when you experience a dream, but as soon as you wake up you’re just left with fleeting emotions and memories right on the tip of your tongue.

The video plays immediately upon extraction -- whether on a huge projection or little screen depends on which room it’s in. It simultaneously saves the memory so that Es can rewatch it later (on those old TVs in the jailbreak mix). The machine downloads the song and video together, but requires special parts to retrieve them. The technology is pretty new and fragile, so if one is broken, there might be a delay between when Es can hear the extracted song and see it with the video. (That’s my justification for Kotoko’s delays -- after 9 prisoners the parts wear out, or maybe Mikoto himself overheats it with his complex situation.)

Based on the lack of conversation we get afterwards, I picture Es leaving before the prisoner wakes from the trance. The machine adjusts their brain back to normal before they awaken, restraints freed and able to return to the rest of the prison.

It’s very much like a dream, so it’s not harmful despite the amnesia/head injuries the prisoners have. It does, however, exhaust them. Brain activity alone takes a lot of energy, so forced brain activity with added emotional strain would cause them to feel pretty drained the rest of the day.

[gingersp1ce547]

So when are we as a society gonna talk about when q!pac was with richarlyson in prison that one time and asked for a cellphone because thats where the power is? When are we gonna talk about how in purgatory 2 he told gauxnim he was gonna take out his organs and eat them like cell, not to long after making out with him? When are we gonna talk about how q!pac still calls q!cellbit queridinho sometimes? When are we gonna talk about how one of those times was laughing while leaving him stranded on that island, another was when reading the notes on him in the resistance base, and another was when q!cellbit confronted him during purg 2?

[shannonsketches]

also REALLY love that super's manga continues the old manga's relationship between Vegeta and his title of Prince as something he's distant/passive with and it's either only brought up by other characters or when he's having a self-worth breakdown

shout out to Toya/Toriyama for using Toei's "I'm the Prince of All Saiyans!" as a line Vegeta throws out when he's intentionally trying to annoy his opponent, I laughed very hard about that

[daily-hanamura]

[housepilled]

sorry for the horrible screenshot but this line (said by house, directed at wilson, from 5x17) got me thinking about their dynamics psychologically!! (i mean, when am i not. they’re a psych student’s wet dream. but specifically in the context of carl jung’s archetypes because i had to do a presentation on this and i think it’s really interesting)

house is right — wilson’s all persona. he doesn’t have a developed sense of self; he’s built his entire life on being what other people need and now he can’t differentiate between his persona and his real personality. (high masking autistic <33) house is the only time he reveals his shadow, the side of himself he hides from the world. he’s snarky and honest and he drops the façade of a perfect kind person to tell the truth in all its ugliness to house. (he still performs a bit for house because like i said no concrete sense of self but i digress.) house is the one time he allows himself to better realize his self and indulge in his shadow.

but house is being a little hypocritical. he’s all persona too! on the surface, he seems like he’s the archetype of the shadow. he’s abrasive, rude, pushes people away. he’s animalistic, like a snarling dog snapping out at anyone who gets too close. but that in itself is a persona!! he puts up a front of rudeness to keep people at arms length because in his childhood, when our core personality traits are developed, he learned that he got hurt less that way. in reality, his shadow is most people’s persona; he is capable of empathy and kindness but he’s scared of vulnerability so he hides it. it’s easier if he can control how people leave him. but wilson’s the only time he consistently presents this kindness, and this episode (the social contract) is such a good example of it! he takes care of wilson and he’s sweet by all accounts and he doesn’t fear that wilson will hurt him for it. (just like wilson, he still performs his persona somewhat for his friend because just like wilson he is like 31 different kinds of fucked up and his persona, just like wilson’s, is a defense mechanism to make sure people don’t hurt him. wilson makes sure no one can hurt him by being exactly what they want. house makes sure no one can hurt him by pushing them away before he gets “close enough to care”. this is in quotations because it’s not an effective defense for either — again, 31 kinds of fucked up — but it’s their defenses nonetheless)

they’re each other’s inverse; wilson’s shadow is house’s persona, house’s persona is wilson’s shadow. (this isn’t to imply there isn’t some kernel of truth to each of their personas. house is not always a very nice person and he’s not always empathetic. wilson’s a kind and caring person. they have just exaggerated these traits to their extremes.) together, they can truly achieve unification of their persona and shadow and be the fully realized self but they are the only people that can do this for each other. they are like next level toxic yaoi dude