#episode 7.1

[wimbledon2008]

just got hit with a 4.0 earthquake. as if i'm not going through enough today

[riverdale-retread]

Riverdale s7 e1

There is a lot of commentary about whether the show is bad or good, and among those who hold that it's bad, a debate about whether said badness is intentional (It's camp! It's satire! It's  commentary on culture and/or our times!) or brought about from a lack of talent or planning by the producers, writers and/or actors.

What I say is this - I love the care with which Riverdale is made.  Starting with the S7 opening sequence!!

Archie’s painted hot rod is shown, then as the song plays Archie spins into view, his face framed in a little circle. He's doing something with his eyebrows. His smile is just a little off. Not a LOT off. Just off.  Immediately after that we see him press a kiss to Mary Andrews' cheek. We know it's all wrong because Mary Andrews is wary of the violence of this son that she regrets mothering and can't wait to get rid of.  They are not this affectionate.

Next up is Betty Cooper, short hair in the cutest ringlets, smiling sweetly, looking wholesome.  Betty Cooper found the pressure to be sweetly wholesome unbearably suffocating all six seasons of this show.  Immediately after her is Veronica with the most spectacular bangs,  looking pretty and hard and insincere.  These are things that Veronica hates to be thought of as.  

Then comes Cheryl, severely annoyed to be there, giving an evil eyed false smile.  Assuming arguendo that this is Jughead as world-maker as well as narrator, the fact that Cheryl gets to have a do-over of her intro in the montage, a doubling-up if you will, is noteworthy.  Everyone else gets the one shot in the juke box, but Cheryl gets a twofer, wearing the Lolita-Grundy sunglasses and pouting over the door of a great looking convertible. Kevin, looking gormless is up next and it makes me feel worried. Toni Topaz is looking ultra heterosexual with her long ponytail up-do. She winks at the  audience.  This is not edgy Serpent Queen Toni at all. But she and Veronica both look spectacular with bangs.  Tabitha in white cats’ eye glasses and white gloves, blows a kiss to the audience, looking sheltered and innocent when we all know she's a weirdo and not above cosplaying a truck stop hooker to catch a killer.  

The only person who looks like "himself" is Jughead, who comes last.  Worried, frantic, concerned and unhappy - basically, fail-adult Jughead without Tabitha.  Poor Jughead.

The year, he says, is 1955 and apparently people didn't mind when couples executed complicated dances involving swirling skirts inside a diner where people are trying to eat.  Jughead is narrating as he clatters away on a huge typewriter at the Diner.  Apparently the patrons don't mind that either. Does he keep it there?  Did he commandeer the one in the office?? Does he haul it around??

As Jughead narrates, speculating about where he is - Not sure if he's in the past or the past of an alternate universe -  he speaks faster and more frantically, sounding more and more like Bunker Jughead of Rivervale.  He tries to sound unhappy about living in a railcar with Hot Dog (". . . which actually tracks" sighhhh) but we all know he's relieved he's not homeless and couch surfing. Having a dog and a residence of his own is more stability than he's had since graduating high school and before Jabitha began cohabitation.

They're all juniors in high school again!  Betty and Kevin holding hands down the hallway, Betty in excellent patterned pants with eyes only for Kevin who won't look at her.  Jughead looks at the two of them with an expression of suppressing in indigestion burp but neither notice him.  Jughead is worried for Betty, all the time, nonstop, in every universe.  Plus Bughead were the horniest little fuckers in any high school on American television ever, and so the fact of Betty dating a gay man worries Jughead.  He doesn’t want to have sex with her anymore, yet Jughead wants Betty to have good things.  And Jughead has never liked Kevin much, but he’s worried for Kevin too. Betty wasn’t and isn’t a girl who takes not getting her way with grace.

Cheryl still has a twin brother, but she is completely not at all in love with this one.  The face she makes is not of a girl dominating the halls of her high school with her soulmate.  Jughead feels very similar about this iteration of a Boy Blossom, noting first and foremost that this kiddo is Cheryl’s twin, then second that he is not Jason, before introducing us to his actual name: Julian.

Julian like the possessed doll, the chimera twin that got eaten by Cheryl in the womb, etc, that Julian. Who actually knew this Julian name, other than Toni?  

Jughead’s thoughts turn directly from Cheryl to Not-Jason to Reggie then on to Archie.  This is the first of several pings back to earlier seasons, which I am sure I’m not going to be able to catch in a perfect way.  But!  Reggie and Jason were constantly in each other’s company in Jughead’s hallucinatory reminiscences of Jason during S1, even though Reggie barely ever mentioned Jason, and Cheryl has never been shown actually discussing Jason with either Reggie 1.0 or 2.0.

The key thing that Jughead notices about Archie is his body, in the same way the key thing he notices about Julian is that he is not Jason.  Archie being wholesome enough to kiss his mom on the cheek goodbye every morning being into body building in 1955 is very progressive (and gay) of him, isn’t it?  That sort of muscular build was still sort of a niche thing, I thought.

Jughead has been frowning at all these people for quite a while, long enough to confirm that they have no recollection of their S6 selves.  He hasn’t seen Tabitha, who he helpfully explains is chronokinetic and the town’s literal guardian angel AND his girlfriend.

Just in time, Pop Tate announces that the bus from Mississippi has arrived.  Tabitha, looking very sad, is accompanied by Toni, equally sad, and a third person, who I assumed was Chuck even though the actor has changed because that wouldn’t be Munroe.  Sadness from having to witness an act of racial injustice and hatred makes people move in slow motion into the Diner.

Jughead watches Tabitha slowly walk past him before he calls her name.  The way he says “Tabitha” is so cautious, because she might reject any conversation with the guy wearing a bulky sweater with the S stamped on it AND a felt crown making very loud tappity tap noises at her grandfather’s diner, and hopeful, because maybe they’re friends, and maybe hearing Jughead will make this Tabitha remember season 6.  The guarded, questioning response he gets from her makes Jughead change tack fast, to discuss the Emmett Till hearing verdict as something he heard “on the radio.”   When Jughead says the verdict made him “sick to my stomach” Tabitha frowns slightly, wary of where he might go with this, perhaps.   Tabitha saying that she and her friends are trying to figure out what they should do next, Jughead isn’t even breathing.  He’s watching her so hard, so hopeful that Tabitha will give him some hint that she knows this is the wrong universe, and so worried she might not.

When she asks him to confirm that his name is Jughead in a way that indicates they aren’t even friends in this universe, Jughead is so hurt that his drops out of his careful, speak-in-full-sentences 1950s speech, and stutters.  His eyes get much, much sadder, right before he says it’s overwhelming and heartbreaking.  He looks like he might cry.   Poor Jughead.  

The cruelty of his fate is astounding.  He was a kid who was left behind and rejected by his mother, let to live homeless by his father, rejected by Fred Andrews, routinely forgotten by his girlfriend during what he thought of as their shared childhood memories, and now, the singularly stable adult friendship and relationship of his life is like it never existed.  Jughead Jones is someone who hasn’t ever been without a girlfriend, it seems since starting one with Betty Cooper, but now when he needs a relationship the most, Tabitha literally doesn’t know him.

Simply because Tabitha Tate doesn’t know him, Jughead hates everything about the 1950s. (Whoever said the 1950s was the greatest decade should have their head examined, he deadpans.)

Archie is trying to skip out of the house when Mary calls to him.  Archie grimaces so hard at his mother’s summons that I can see it through the back of his head.  This did give me a small twinge of hope that maybe he does remember S1-6, and that Archie is putting on this wholesome teenager act, same as Jughead, until he can figure out what’s going on.  He puts on an evidently false face of doe-eyed innocence when he gets it together to go talk to his mother. He’s literally never made that face before in the past six years.

Mary Andrews is very upset about the photos of James Dean’s car accident in the papers, so she confiscates the keys to Archie’s “hotrod” with “fire painted on its sides.” Archie tries to talk his way out of this but fails.  He longingly looks at his “barely above a jalopy” vehicle before turning to face the reality of having to take a very old looking bicycle to school.

Archie has never been this cute to me. His little face!   Then he’s peddling uphill, getting honked at, and so mad .  Just, adorable.  I wanna give him a cookie.   He gets to school just in time.

Meanwhile, Betty in her very excellent 1950s pants is sitting with Toni in the Blue and Gold room.  Her sweater says Betty on it in a curly font.  With her short blonde curls framing her sweet face Betty looks picture perfect. She and Toni both have such enormous eyes that I keep getting distracted from the serious topic they are discussing - how to get past the school censors to properly cover the Emmett Till travesty.  When Betty says she will throw her weight behind getting the story told, Toni smiles at her in a small cheek scrunching way that she’s never done before.  She looks amazing, by the way - the bangs, the big hoop earrings, the scarf /headband thing in her hair, the Southside Serpent Jeans jacket.

Cut to a class where a 1950s tv announcer voice is explaining what a mill is (a souped up hot rod or jalopy) in a film the class are watching  when the principal (Warden Norton repurposed as Principal Featherhead!) bursts in to make an announcement.  Archie is wearing an R sweater, with Jughead in the S sweater seated nearby.

What do these mean??

Veronica make an iconic entrance, complete with heralding blues horns.  Yellow heels, yellow belt, black dress with white polka dots, black purse,  sunglasses, big black sunhat trimmed with the same fabric as her dress, and red lips.  Lace gloves with little black polka dots.

OMG SHE LOOKS SO HOT.

I want this whole thing.  I make a vow to only wear yellow heels with black dresses.

Archie, getting his first look, drops his pencil.  (Kevin, right behind him, has no reaction whatsoever.)  Jughead, Tabitha-less, looks constipated as he notes:  “Damn.”

Girl, that’s what I said!

With everyone else in some sort of sweater or jacket, buttoned up to the neck, Veronica’s plunging neckline and sleeveless dress makes her look practically naked.   She’s a Hollywood scion - Hermione and Hiram have “Amercia’s number one rated television program,” and of course they’re going to call it, Oh Mija!

I LOVED this in-joke, because it functions as a tribute to Hiram.  Mija was the word he said the most, after, maybe, Archie.

For some reason, this whole situation - Veronica’s appearance, introduction, presence and existence- piss Cheryl off entirely.  She is huffing, rolling her eyes, and generally extremely antsy.

Seated right behind her, Archie is just in heaven. Veronica is being very alternative-universe here: her self introduction is very pompous.  Real Veronica Lodge actually hates pomposity.  Her vocabulary is still very Jughead-huge though (“opportune” and “raven haired.”)  Veronica says that she’s trying a method acting type of thing (de rigueur for the age perhaps - another thing she might actually say) of experiencing small town life so she can better portray the “innocent ingenue” in the upcoming production of “Our Town.”

Longtime viewers are meant to know that she is lying about staying with an aunt-and-uncle, mostly because these people have never been introduced in the past six seasons.  As far as we’ve ever been told about Hiram in the competing lores of his life, he doesn’t have siblings. We have almost no lore about Hermione, other than FP hit on her almost once in high school and she had the affair with Fred Andrews as an adult.

Both Cheryl and Betty do not like that Veronica called them “small town lifers” basically.   Archie is entirely entranced with her, laughing at every little joke that Veronica makes, and even Cheryl pointedly turning in her seat to glare at him can’t make his besotted grin falter even a little bit.  

Veronica purrs and preens when she calls herself “the scion of Tinseltown royalty.”  I’m surprised she doesn’t roll her Rs.  When she winsomely says Thank You, Archie, whose face has been lit up like a christmas tree this whole time, bursts into solitary applause.   Cheryl is still very mad, but Archie gets rewarded with an extremely sexy wink by Veronica for being such an immediate fan.  

Is that a blush I see on Archie’s face?

I love this Archie. He’s so cute.

The table that Veronica chooses to try to join is Cheryl, Betty,  Kevin, Julian and Archie.  This is a weird fricking cluster of people.  Cheryl and Betty? And what the heck would Kevin and Julian have in common?   When Veronica asks to sit, Cheryl wants to say no but she is betrayed by both of the other redheads, who clear the space immediately.  Veronica comes to perch gracefully between the two redhead boys.  

Veronica says she caught all their names in the class they were just in.  Of course, Betty having BETTY embroidered into her sweater probably helps with that too.   Remembering that the R wearing Archie is Archie might be more of a feat.   Veronica shows that she took Cheryl’s eye rolls to heart by pointedly asking Cheryl what her name was.  Cheryl is extremely displeased, yet again.   This seems to know exactly what just happened between Veronica and Cheryl- he is trying very hard not to laugh too much.

Cheryl tries to explain that that they’d been discussing James Dean’s death, very self-importantly adding that she is president of his fanclub, when she gets undermined by Julian, who interrupts with a very weak joke about the Oh Mija! show being “high-larious,” to Veronica.   He says that the Blossoms “tune in every week” which must be a lie, because Cheryl’s whole face sours.  Betty and Kevin seem like they’re on the same wavelength.  They project the same calm, almost bovine energy when they ask Veronica where she lived in LA (BelAir) and if she knew James Dean.

Cheryl sharply tells Kevin off for being “so provincial,” then goes off to sideways disparage Veronica by implying that she wasn’t important enough to be a friend of James Dean, a person who was friends with Elizabethe Taylor.   Turns out Veronica Lodge was ‘friendly’ with Jimmy, “friendly” enough to go skinny dipping together at the Chateau Marmaduke (standing in for Chateau Marmont).  

This makes Archie choke.  Literally.  He focuses on “skinny dipping” -Veronica! Naked! She does Naked things! - while Betty and Kevin (Bevin? Ketty??) are entranced about being that friendly with James Dean.  Julian is more in Archie’s camp - he wants to know if Veronica has done the naked thing once or more than once.  I so appreciate the asshole energy that Julian projects nonstop.  He reminds me a lot of Bret Weston Wallis that way. You know on sight that he’s a dickhead, which is 180 degrees different from the angelic way that Jughead used to hallucinate Jason.

When Cheryl plays with her hair to sarcastically ask if Veronica will claim that she had dated Jimmy Dean, Veronica says no, but then drops a bombshell.  James Dean “played both sides of the net.”  In case the small town rubes don’t get her meaning, Veronica clarifies that this means both girls and boys.  Kevin has a milder version of Archie’s choking reaction from seconds before at this thought.  He’s smiling, and Betty is frowning.  Oh?  Oh???

When Kevin wants Veronica to name what James Dean was, Archie interrupts. This made me wonder if there  was a 1950s term for bisexual, that everyone would’ve known, that you can say on a CW show in 2023?    I guess not because Kevin never gets to finish his question.

Archie has a confused reaction, which fits canon so far and why Jarchie hasn’t happened yet even though it should.  He finds the concept of regular guys who are almost cowboys (all American? Is that what he means to say?) being anything other than 100% proof heterosexual incomprehensible.  Cheryl reacts with homophobic anger - it’s besmirchment, it’s foul, to say Jimmy Dean was not straight.   When Veronica calls her provincial, Cheryl slut shames her.  Nobody cares that Cheryl has flounced off, so now Kevin wants to know about Sal Mineo.

Kevin is definitely not straight in this universe.  Veronica knows it, apparently immediately. Poor Betty.

In science class later that day we see ETHEL is Jughead’s lab desk partner. Jughead is miserable to be back in high school.  He has an Asian American science teacher, who wears nerdy round glasses and has a bit of a lisp.  The teacher says Bailey Comet is due to arrive in two years.   He sounds vaguely Singporean, his teacher.  

Cut to Cheryl screaming GUYS as she floats in the air, trying to ice the comet.

Cut to the end of school, where Archie winsomely offers Veronica an escort home.  He has no ride, however, and Veronica isn’t the type of girl to walk. (She also just can’t, not in those high heels.)  Julian has offered Veronica a ride, ditching his sister wholesale.  JASON WOULD NEVER. Archie and Cheryl can’t bear to look at each other in the face of this rejection they’ve suffered.

In the waning light, Betty and Veronica are trying to talk to two old white men.  Dupont from Stonewall is here in Riverdale now as Werther a ‘child psychiatrist’ who fully backs Warden, I mean Principal, Featherhead that the Emmett Till murder and trial are not suitable subject matter for the school paper.

Toni tries to advocate for publication by saying that people need to know what happened “so that it doesn’t happen again.”  That is so adorable and incorrect.  Knowing something terrible happened again does not in any way ensure that it doesn’t keep happening.  I think the better way to think about it is, We owe it to the wronged to mark their stories.  Featherhead shoots her down by saying that “these sorts of things don’t happen in Riverdale.”  He also says a wrong thing - that “change doesn’t happen overnight.” Actually all change happens overnight.  That’s where there’s always a backlash to any progress, because those who can’t keep up want to turn it back. A lot of the time, they succeed.  In any case, Featherstone patronizes Toni by telling her take satisfaction in how ‘well written’ in article is.

Later, at family dinner in which Polly and Charles don’t exist, Betty tries to push her parents into reading Toni’s article on the air at their nightly broadcast on RIVW.  15 minutes is what they get, of which Toni’s article would take a whole minute.   Hal’s 50s persona is very hilarious.  He looks extremely shifty and chipunky, reminding me quite a lot of Peter Pettigrew of all things.  Alice has absolutely killer eyebrows, sharp enough to slice your face open.   They both repeat Featherstone’s line about the article being ‘well written’ but have no intention of rocking the boat.   Betty is angry but she is overruled by the power of the Blossom money and her parents not wanting to upset their only sponsor.

1950s Archie is still the cutest.  He is working his car, underneath it, as he breathlessly narrates his ove for Veronica Lodge.  He actually says SHAZAM!  persuasively.  Hit with a thunderbolt indeed.  He’s so 1950s in fact that the things he says and the way he says them feel suspicious too perfect. “How’s a guy like me gonna get anywhere with a girl like Veronica Lodge” and so  forth.  Jughead is perched like a depressed crow in his S sweater that seems to get darker and darker as the day goes on, looking off to the side and not listening to this earnest puppy love talk.

Jughead’s narration takes over. He is just so anxious.  He’s talking so fast, thinking about Bailey’s Comet, trying to harness that to get back to the future. “But I needed [ pause ] help.”  He sounds increasingly like the wigged out Bunker Jug of Rivervale.  Archie asks for his dad’s hammer, which sets off Jughead’s memory - that Archie buried the hammer in the time capsule.

The capsule they buried in the year 2020 when they graduated from high school, not to be confused with the year 2020 when they were 6 years after graduating from high school, might still be in existence in 1955 even though they were sent ‘back’ to this time from the first but not the second 2020.

Jughead seems to think this is a logical leap and I am very tickled. I kind of find it annoying (sorry, anti-intellectualism incoming, mea culpa in advance) when time travel stories get too precious about theoretical physics, so this made me very pleased with the wild swings they take in narrative on Riverdale.

So! Jughead asks for a shovel to Archie, who gives him an odd look. Is it because Archie thinks “Can I borrow a shovel?” is a really weird response to “Have you seen my dad’s hammer?” or is it because Archie knows something?

Later that night, Jughead is digging something out of the ground again. Grave robbery is one of his leitmotifs, I suppose?   He hits something hard, and guess what! It’s the time capsule.  Jughead is out of breath as he says “Thank God” but he seems just as frantic and scared as before.  And dun dun!! Someone is watching him do all this from the shadows!  The hairline looks vaguely like Tabitha.

Veronica is going to school the next day, wearing  more modest neckline and weather appropriate warm clothes.   Archie has somehow gotten his car out of the garage, so now he’s able to offer her a ride home. She’s very pleased, but Jughead walks right in between the two of them, carrying the time capsule ice box. Summarily, he insists that the two of them come meet him in the music room. Veronica has no idea who he is.

In the music room, they’re all holding their 2020 self’s contribution to the time capsule.  Toni has never seen the Pretty Poisons jacket.  Veronica thinks the Pop’s menu is an only passable prop.  Betty finds the headlines to be “like Dr. Seuss” meaning amusing gibberish, perhaps?   And Kevin keeps asking unanswerable questions - he wants to know what the “inch” is in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  Archie wants to know when Jughead buried Fred’s hammer in a cooler.

Jughead tackles that one first, saying “YOU did.”  Archie genuinely looks like he has no idea what Jughead’ is talking about, but I’ve sussed it out now - 1950s Archie’s response to confusion is to smile about it. So he smiles.  Jughead can see that his attempt to “shake something loose” in his friends’ minds isn’t working, so in his frustration, his presentation starts to get very garbled.  He tells them they buried all these things 67 years ago IN THE FUTURE which, given the tenses, doesn’t even amount to English.   He says they need to get back to ‘our present, our future’ before full on stuttering.  Betty is concerned, Cheryl is annoyed, Toni and Kevin look embarrassed for Jughead, Archie is smiling because he’s confused.  Veronica, however, is very entertained.  

Archie wants to know what Jughead buried.  Jughead knows it was his “yarn beanie” but then says it wasn’t in the time capsule.  For some reason, this takes the fun out of this exercise for Archie, the fact that Jughead didn’t include an item of his own in the ‘cooler.’

Veronica says she’ll play along, and asks if she or Elizabeth Taylor is more famous in the future.  Cheryl, not to be outdone, cuts in with a request to give a bird’s eye view of the future.  Jughead has not thought this far in advance, so his answer is (adorably) piss poor.  he just throw things out - smartphones,  text messages, spotify, the internet - in THAT order which is the most confusing thing of all time.  Betty tries to help him out since he’s getting frantic during this speech that makes no sense to her - she asks Jughead to describe everyone’s Season 6 selves.

Jughead’s summaries are as follows:  Archie was in the army, fought in a war. Betty was in FBI hunting serial killers.  The way Betty practically salivates at the word serial killer, which doesn’t exist as a word yet, is VERY interesting.  Veronica owns a casino, and before that a speakeasy.  Toni bought the speakeasy, turned it into a biker bar.  Both Veronica and Toni are charmed by this story.  

Jughead positively chokes when he tries to summarize Kevin’s life.  He can tell, by this time, that this is going very sideways, which won’t be helped by how out of sorts Kevin’s life became by the end of Season 6.  Kevin is summarized as directing some musicals, after which he joined an organ harvesting cult.  Not wrong, but not very fulsome.  Cheryl, Jughead says, was possessed by an ancestor and became a witch.  She is not a happy customer, at all.

Archie says a fascinating thing- that he wouldn’t want to go back to the future because “we” sound miserable. Well, given that he was just told he joined the army and went to war, this is true for him, but not all the futures are miserable.

Veronica wants to know how the whole ‘going back to the future’ thing will happen, to which Jughead’s entire presentation falls completely apart. When he says that one of the ways might be a comet, Toni (who has tried very hard to be polite so far) gives a What the fuck look to Betty, who answers it with a Oh he’s just like this smile.   Jughead is fully in frantic world-maintainer Bunker Jughead mode now, and starts shouting about having Archie and Betty make out on Archie’s bed and then “BLOW  UP A BOMB UNDERNEATH THEM.”

This is so funny. I love with Jughead gets all Bunker-Jug, with the shouting and the extreme hand gestures. Is he perhaps channeling Hiram??

Everyone thinks this is very funny, but Archie has had enough.  Archie tries to make Jughead ‘take five’ which puts Jughead fully into feral motormouth mode to ask “YOU’RENOTGONNABEATMEUPAREYOUCUZYOU’REREALLYVIOLENTINTHEFUTURE”

The whole sentence is spit out as one long word.

When the two of them are alone in the gym, Archie lets it rip.  “People are going to think you belong in the looney bin with the other nutjobs!” and “It’s hard enough without your crazy stories” etc.  Jughead is coming down from his frantic mania so being called a ‘nut job’ is not helping.  His eyes actually start to glisten with tears.  “You think I’m crazy?” he asks, in a more normal, much sadder cadence.   Jughead is so upset, and so lonely, and so despairing.

This is a big change from his mid teens, when he took on being not understood, being isolated, unique and alone, as a badge of honor.  This Jughead understands the horror of being trapped in a solitary reality.  He can’t even stand to look at Archie, because that would mean confronting how trapped and alone he actually is in this universe.  Archie tries to be kind, telling him to keep using his ‘overactive’ imagination by channeling that energy into creating fiction.  When Jughead gives up altogether, and agrees, Archie actually skips a couple steps (something he’s never done in any of the other universes) before leaving Jughead standing in the gym.

At the very red, very depressing Blossom mansion, Penelope, who has the most fascinating hairdo (it’s both ornate and simple, hideous and perfectly coiffed) while dressed like the nightmare camp version of the English queen wants to know why  her twins look so sullen.  The way the Blossom twins of this universe bicker seems much more realistic, and, accordingly, much more dull.   I think this is post facto validation for the way the Cheryl-Jason relationship is in the S1-6 canon. It’s so much more interesting than this mundanity between Julian and Cheryl.

Penelope delivers movie magazines to Cheryl, and on the cover is someone not Veronica Lodge being cast in Our Town!

Meanwhile, Veronica is on a date with Archie at Pop’s!  She loves the food. All her attempts to make lighthearted conversation with Archie fail.  He has no idea who Gloria Swanson is.  This literally breaks Veronica’s spirit.   So she changes her line of questioning - “Tell me everything there is to know about Archie Andrews.”

His life is so boring.  “Work on my car. I like sports. I come here to pops. And i hangout at sweet water river.  mostly to fish.”

Then Archie reveals that Fred didn’t make it back from the Korean War, making him one of the 33,000 American servicemen who died.  Thank you Fred Andrews for your service, I guess? I’m slightly peeved that they didn’t make up a different war like they did for Archie to go fight in during the 2020 that lasted for seven years, but then they used the real Emmett Till story so they might as well use the Korean War, I suppose.  Archie is very used to people being upset about having asked, as well as not knowing what to say, so he is very smooth in the way he assures Veronica that “It’s OK” when she tries to apologize for prying.   In this universe, Mary Andrews works part time at the dress shop (no lawyering for her, alas).   I’m shocked she doesn’t work at Pop’s.  Though I guess maybe this economy is better.

Archie has never had a serious girlfriend by his Junior year of HS, about which Veronica is shocked.  Two days after meeting Veronica and in the course of their first real date, Archie more or less says that he wants to be Veronica’s boyfriend. He looks so starry eyed at her, that Veronica is extremely charmed. (So am I.)

But Veronica can’t be let to have nice things, so in comes Cheryl, shouting “J’accuse!”  Cheryl hates Veronica SO MUCH.  Just the ad hominem insults - “lying liar of a spoiled brat” and “banished by your parents!”  - and she insists on shouting the fact that Veronica employed a bit of puffery when she was introducing herself to the class.  

At the Pembroke, Veronica is weeping while consoled by Archie.  Archie tries to say nobody takes Cheryl seriously  Veronica fesses up that she was in fact banished, and she was a problem for her parents.   Veronica says she was ignored and sidelined since the Lodges started Oh Mija!  This is fascinating actually because Veronica’s persistent problem during her high school years was that both her parents were completely obsessed with her- and when she acquired a hitherto unknown older sibling halfway through her years in high school, Hermosa exhibited the same Lodge trait - obsession with Veronica, wanting to love her, wanting and willing to shoot at people on her behalf, and hating her just the little bit.  Now, in this universe, she’s an inconvenient burden neither parents cares much about - which indicates that Veronica was so the object of her parents’ focus because the two of them didn’t have sufficient creative outlets.  “The show is their real baby, not me.”    

This happened in a slower way during S5-6.  When Hiram finally, FINALLY killed off Riverdale and began his SoDale giant real estate project, he stopped being as invested in Veronica per se.  And when Hermione found the semi-acting gig of being a “Real Housewife,” she disappeared entirely out of Veronica’s life.

It turns out Veronica’s deep dark secret, the thing that got her banished to Riverdale by her parents, was that she was in fact tangentially involved in James Dean’s death.  She was one of several good time girls who formed a sort of racing fandom for Dean, and were going to meet him to cheer him on during a race.  

After consoling Veronica, Archie gets home late, to be immediately yelled at by Mary.  Mary is traumatized by the loss of Fred Andrews - which she honestly wasn’t very much in S4-6. Maybe this is why, if he does remember, Archie prefers to stay in this universe.    He has a mom who cares deeply that his father died.  Mother and son bond over their shared loss.  The compromise is that Archie is allowed to drive as long as his car goes very, very slow.  I will also note that his question about how he took HIS car out in a drive is a very unteenager thing to say.  So the question remains - what does Archie know or sense about this alternate universe?

In a fit of masochism, Veronica watches her parents’ show.  The kid cast to play the Mija is Tillie Temple (aka Shirley Temple, perhaps??).  Veronica hates Tilie.  Of course, right now is when Hermione calls.   Turns out someone is keeping a strict eye on the guests that Veronica has over at the apartment.  Veronica wants to go home for Thanksgiving, but Hermione doesn’t say she can come.  She has Orson Welles visiting.  Veronica is so lonely.   This is also new for Veronica - Maternal rejection has never been her problem.  That was usually reserved for Jughead, Cheryl and to a lesser extent, Betty and Archie.

Betty reads the Emmett Till newsletter which show the pictures of what Till went through.  It radicalizes Betty  into wanting to publish the article Toni wrote.  But Toni wants to read a poem out during the morning announcements. There’s an echo of the larger theme in S1 through 6 here.  In previous seasons, Cheryl took it upon herself to make up for her ancestor’s sins. In this one, Toni wants Cheryl to make it up to - who? Toni? the world? - someone for her parents’ cowardice in not wanting to cover the Till murder.   Toni is planning an ambush.

Tabitha immediately approaches Jughead She asks for help.  NAACP is taking Emmett Till’s mother on tour, so Tabitha is going with them.  What Tabitha needs someone to help her ‘stay on top of’ school while she is on this tour.  It’s really not clear to me what that will be, but Jughead - though he is crushed that this Tabitha doesn’t even seem to know him at all - agrees immediately.  His eyes get all sad again, as he looks with wistful tenderness at this person who is exactly like his girlfriend but isn’t, at all.   He smiles and says “Awesome!” which he corrects to “Swell.”

Meanwhile Toni ambushes Cheryl in the bathroom with Betty.  Cheryl doesn’t mind letting Toni borrow her platform, but points out that Featherhead has pulled the plug before.  For what, I wonder? When??  She’s otherwise very easily persuaded.

Tabitha has fainted, Featherhead is tending to her, Miss Bell is off, and so now, Toni can take over the morning announcement!

As Toni was reading the Langston Hughes poem I realized with the Rs and Ss stand for on those sweaters. R is for Riverdale.  A bunch of other students have Rs emblazoned on their sweaters and sweatshirts.  So the S must be for Southside.  Jughead wears a Southside High sweater all the time to attend Riverdale High, and they just let him!

So anyway Toni exhorts everyone to ‘talk to each other’ about it, and this is the third weird lie propagated in American society.  The emphasis on dialogue as somehow a catalyst for systemic change, which it is not

The four girls get a telling off from Featherhead, who tries to call them liars -but Tabitha has an answer for that (she felt sick! but felt better!) and insubordinate - but Cheryl has an answer for that (there has not been a rule that poetry can’t be read during the morning announcement or that they have to pass censorship).  

In the classroom later, the teacher does open up the discussion to the topic, but see, this is the problem.  It puts the burden on the three people of color - Tabitha, Toni, and the unnamed guy I have assumed is Chuck Clayton- to explain reality to everyone else, who can be passive recipients of information and responsible only for articulating their emotional responses.

Later that school day, Veronica is offered a ride by both Julian and Archie, and rejects them both in favor of walking home!

Late at night, Jughead is freaking out by himself in the diner, no typewriter.  He is cracking up.  Maybe seasons 1-6 were the dream and he finally woke up!!  

Tabitha slides into the booth and Glory Hallelujah it’s HIS Tabitha!  “The Tabitha who remembers and loves you.”  He reaches out to grasp her with both hands.  He’s so happy to see her, he says, covering his eyes with one hand, trying not to burst into tears.  Tabitha says that the comet hit because Cheryl failed, so they had their extinction level event  after all.  This isn’t the Sweet Hereafter.  She instead used her life force to send everyone back to 1955 to try to change the future.  She has to be ALONE to untangle all the messed up timelines.  “You have to make a go of it here in the 50s.”

So she parked Jughead here in 1955 to be safe, but because he kept remembering the actual reality (and could drive himself insane or further corrupt the safe timeline) she had to come back to make him forget, so that he can “live in the present, in the moment.”   Oh, but Tabitha.  Jughead was already so bad at that!  And now that’s his part of the mission? To hold it together without her while she fixes the universe?

Jabitha may be the MOST EPIC relationship in scale which doesn’t quite make up for the tiny amount of screen time we’re likely to get if Tabitha has decided that she has to solve this universe sized problem ALONE.  Jughead was willing to die a LOT.  Tabitha went through every single scenario where Jughead died to see how to make that not happen.  And now, Jughead is going to endure having the happiest time of his life wiped from memory - the time when he was a stable adult, who knew who he was in the world, when he was in a relationship and family unit of people who accepted him and supported him, when he had a real home - because Tabitha says it’s “for the best.”  He decides to trust her with erasing the thing that any of us hold the dearest - his memories that constitute his sense of self.   And can we talk about Tabitha’s self sacrifice?  She’s going to do this very difficult work of setting the UNIVERSE RIGHT while voluntarily, entirely, completely forgotten (by her own hand!) by her significant other who adores her,  all her friends in the community she chose to become independent from her parents, all alone.  

Holy shit.

Jughead’s sprint home after their kiss, which rightly seems to freeze time to be everlasting before Tabitha steps away, is so desperate and frantic.  Jughead who was terrified of being forgotten is beginning to forget the most important person in his adult life. All he has are the words “bend. toward. justice.” and the sense that something terrible has just happened to him, without the ability to remember what it is.   This isn’t the Sweet Hereafter.  This has to be hell.

I am LOVING this.  It’s so BIG.  I wish they could SHOW it though.  But I think eventually, because the universe does in fact bend towards justice, someone will write me the fanfic that will have me lain flat on the floor from devastation.  Because omg the Jabitha relationship has SCOPE.

And the final kicker-  Jughead doesn’t recognize his stupid hat.  Ha!

P.S.  The title reference, “Don’t Worry Darling”  if it’s to that movie that came out this year, in 2023, then it’s very twisty and fun.  Because that movie is about a man manipulating a woman’s mind for his own aggrandizement, and this episode is the mirror of that - a woman manipulating a man’s mind, with his explicit agreement, to save the universe.

[kiss2012]

and what if i rewatch my favourite 911 eps

[apparently-artless]

blushing sakura in every episode (◕‿◕)♡ [7.1/?]

[stagefoureddiediaz]

911 and the Wizard of Oz!

So I’ve written a couple of times about the wizard of Oz connections that 911 has had in the past. Well after 8x03 and the trailer for 8x04 - everything has become much clearer to me and boy oh boy is Tim pulling a blinder with this one!

I need to start by saying he is playing on lore from both the original books as well as the film, so much of this wouldn’t be evident if you had little to no knowledge of the book series. I however do - because I loved the books as a child and I have also long been interested in the link between the books, the original film and the queer narrative that runs through them. Especially because of my yellow and blue and then blue and green colour theory and its use in telling queer narratives in cinema and television in the aftermath of the 1939 film.

For those who don’t know the background of it, you can read my post here about the wizard of oz and its queer narrative and the yellow/blue colour theme, but for a brief run down the wizard of oz and its themes have been a key part of the queer narrative since they first appeared in print and then on film. Yellow blue colour theory stems from Dorothys dress and the yellow brick road and became a film short hand for queer narratives in film, during the hays code era (1934-1968), and has continued on to this day. the most recent and most obvious use of the blue/yellow blue/green coding has been in heartsotopper - where it is very heavily and very cleverly used to help tell the queer narrative, but it is its use in films during the hays code where it was doing a lot of work to ‘secretly’ provide queer narrative in film. (this is a specialist subject of mine and I could write about it all day - I really would love to do a phd in it, but I do not have the money or time to do that so I write about it at any opportunity on tumblr!)

Many of the nods to the story are subtle, but they are there and I am going to go through a good number of them with you - especially the ones we’ve had in season 8 so far, the main thing to note right off the bat though is that they all connect in to Eddie and that is very telling to me - especially when we take 5x01 - 5x04 into account. the rest is below the cut becasue it's long!

The very first reference to the Wizard of Oz we get is in 202 - 7.1. We have the entitled woman (that is the name they gave the character in the credits!) with her dog - Paisley.The entitled woman is wearing red shoes and we get shown her with just her feet sticking out from under the rubble in a clear nod to the wicked witch of the east being buried under Dorothys house in Oz.

Kat the little girl who gets separated from her family and ultimately reunited with them is a nod to the overall story of Dorothy in the wizard of Oz - and Paisley is a nod to Toto - Dorothy’s dog. I will also mention the fact that we get a heart metaphor during this disaster - Jeff - the heart of a champion. 

We get a further nod in season 2 in 207 - Haunted - where we have the girl at the halloween parade dressed as the film version of Dorothy. I don’t think there is a huge amount to read into from a Wizard of Oz perspective, beyond the fact that it is referenced - we don’t actually need to see anything further in regards to the Wizard of Oz - its all about making the connection.

This episode is a big episode of Eddie and his storyline and this is a way for 911 to link Eddie into the Wizard of Oz theme without being massively obvious about it and his absence from this scene is a key part of that.

There are other key elements in this scene that we’ve been seeing come into play over the seasons for Eddie and that is what makes the wizard of Oz reference especially interesting. First up it's important to note that this is the episode we see the return of Shannon in. We have the horse and his rider - being separated by the death of the horse and the officer describing the horse as his friend. There are two things this is playing on here - the first is the foreshadowing of Shannons death, the second is that the show has then reused this metaphor of partners being separated by death, this time making use of the police aspect as a part of Eddies breakdown in season 5 - Mills’s - Eddies partner while he was in the army and her death. These two elements are why Eddie absence is key - Eddie becomes the officer and Shannon or Mills becomes the Horse and having Eddie present in the scene waters down the metaphor.

The fact we get a lot of wizard of Oz references in season 5, makes this a really interesting and clever connection to draw. The other aspects of this scene in 207 is the pretty important reference about the horse needing a sedative to stop him thrashing around until his heart gave out. Bearing in mind this is the first really intentional heart metaphor we see on the show and it’s a pretty key episode for Eddie in relation to his heart, his absence from this scene becomes louder, especially as he is off with his heart (Christopher) enjoying halloween. It makes it clear that the Eddie and hearts metaphor has been there since very early on - and has been (at least loosely)connected to The Wizard of Oz.

Remembering what I said above and in my other post about the wizard of Oz being very heavily connected to queer theming and storytelling in media it makes it likely that this is the show putting in early building blocks for a queer Eddie arc gif they wanted to then go down that route later on. (this makes the season 5 theming I’ll talk about shortly even more interesting to me!)

The last thing to mention is the is the emphasis on the devil, a priest and a drag queen at the parade- all things we see appearing in Eddies arc through season n7 and into 8. The drag queens from the bachelor party - in which we really see Eddie letting go and have fun for the first time. The priest and the devil are a metaphor for Eddies struggles with his faith - the idea of temptation (in the catholic church - especially the devout catholic church, being queer in any way is seen as being tempted by the devil), and with us having knowledge of Eddie going to church and likely talking to a priest in some capacity in the next few episodes, we have yet another tie back to this storyline from 207.

Now I obviously have no proof with what the intentions were for ~Eddie in season 5, but I’ve long had my theories and now, knowing that they had originally intended to have Bucks bisexual arc take place in s5 but it got shut down by the higher ups, I can make some pretty educated guesses based off what we did get early on in the season.

Season 5 opened with the blackout and then we led straight in to 5x04 ‘Home and Away’ with all its yellow and blue colour theming. Can you see where I’m going with this? How does the opening of the film version of the Wizard of Oz start? Yup that’s right - in black and white and then when Dorothy finds herself over the rainbow everything is in colour and the use of yellow and blue is very strong with Dorothy’s blue gingham dress and the yellow brick road with the green colouring coming later on when they reach the emerald city.

So I think 911 was intending to play on that concept in season 5 - the idea that the black out is a nod to Kansas being in black and white (not to mention the use of green for the hackers!) and then 5x04 is a play on Dorothy following the yellow brick road - hence the heavy use of yellow and blue and the way it winds through the narrative of the episode (along with the use of the bluejay as the schools animal emblem - which is a symbol of communication, curiosity and confidence - seeing a bluejay is telling you to be bold and chase your goals!). What is the other thing we get a huge number of references to in season 5 - especially connected to Eddie - hearts and heart metaphors.

We do also get a nod to the wizard of Oz in season 6 and the zeppelin disaster - which is a nod to the hot air balloon the wizard crashed into Oz in. The zeppelin is yellow and blue and the conversation on board refers to one of the pilots mother in law - whilst she isn’t stated to be a witch, the implication is there. the 110 is also closed in roughly the same place as we get it closed in 8x03. along with the fact that Eddie is the one to go into the zeppelin - Chim and Buck only partially go in - and the parallel storyline in the episode is about a heart issue, we once again have The Wizard of Oz being tied into heart metaphors.

Let’s move on to season 8 now and look at the vast number of Wizard of Oz references we have seen so far and appear to have coming up in 8x04. I will say the sheer number of references in season 8 compared with the more subtle ones from seasons 5 and 6 is one of the reasons I’m so very sure we have a queer Eddie arc going on - that they’ve finally been able to pull that trigger and move things forward for him.

Just remember that things don’t have to exactly follow the story of the wizard of Oz to be relevant - its not about the narrative following the same path, but more about the use of recognised aspects and tropes from the book and film to convey information and aid the storytelling. It is often more about the concept and meaning behind something and a 911 character may share the traits of more than one wizard of oz character because it is their traits that are relevant not necessarily TWoO characters full journey through the book or film.

The bee-nado is a literal reference to the tornado that sent Dorothy to oz - its one of the reasons we don’t see more of the bees - they serve their purpose in the same way the tornado does so we don’t need to see them again.

Gerrard building ‘his 118’ with a security fence around the firehouse and cast iron plumbing is a reference to the wizard building the Emerald city - which has a wall around it for security. In Oz it is the place full o the most up to date technology etc. So Gerrard is building his Emerald City.

The mother in the car falling asleep due to anaphylaxis is likely a reference to the poppy field in the film version of TWoO, along with the flowers at the perfume launch and Bucks statement that ‘smoke worked last time’ - because the smoke did make the bees sleepy like the poppies made Dorothy and her friends sleepy.

Bucks plan to have Eddie run and attract the the swarm of bees is a reference to an event that happens in the book. The wicked witch sends a swarm of bees to sting them to death. The tin man and scarecrow had seen them coming and scarecrow comes up with a plan - he has Dorothy, toto and the lion covered in his straw to hide them from the bees who only find the tin man - they try to sting him but it breaks their stings and kills them instead without hurting the tin man as he is impervious to bees by nature of being made of tin. What we see happen in 801 is very clearly placing Buck into the role of Scarecrow and Eddie into the role of tin man - Buck comes up with the plan and Eddie undertakes it successfully - his turnouts protecting him from the bees just like the tin man being made of tin protected him.

Gerrard hitting his head is a reference to Dorothy hitting her head in the tornado and waking up in Oz - its a reference to Dororthy’s line  ‘Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore’ - its a play on the fact that the 118 is a very different place to when Gerrard was removed first time. Gerrard represents the black and white world - outdated and not up with the times (which he wasn’t back in the day either but that’s kind of the point), the world (the 118) is now in glorious technicolour since his departure and Gerrard will end up back in a black and white world in the end while the rest of the 118 will remain in colour and move forward. This places Gerrard in the role of the Wizard, but it is more akin to the book wizard than the film wizard - originally in the books (it was later glossed over as it didn’t go down well with readers) the Wizard arrives in a hot air balloon and becomes ruler of Oz by usurping he King and handing over the princess to a witch (more on this later!). As is shown in the film, he leaves Oz to return home in a hot air balloon.  If Gerrard is the wizard, this makes Bobby the king (usurped from his throne at the 118) and Hen becomes Ozma (this is something I will talk about a bit later as it deserves its own section!) which fits with how we are being shown Hen being given the 118 captains role on a more frequent basis - suggesting the show is transitioning her into becoming the captain down the line.

Tia, her dog and Jordan are an interesting trio - they are a very clear parallel serve as a multi layered allegory as they play on several aspects of the film and books, as well as linking to aspects of 911 and especially on Buck and Eddies storyline. 

Firstly we have the dog - who is the same type of dog as Paisley from season 2 - right down to the red bow in the hair (which is encouraging us to draw parallels with the earthquake disaster). Both dogs are a nod to Toto - Dorothy’s dog in the Wizard of Oz. The dog is also a representation of Buck, but I’ll go into that when I talk about Buck below!

Tia represents both Dorothy and the tin man, we see her initially as, not heartless, but guarded, but she softens especially when we see her following the instructions Hen gives, and bonding with various people on the plane including Jordan, in much the same way we see the tin man do for Dorothy and scarecrow. She is also a representation of Eddie (again I’ll go into this more later on) 

Jordan is a reference to both the flying monkeys (through his telephone conversation he is implied to be a business monkey which is in turn a play on monkey business - behaviour that causes discomfort our annoyance) and the cowardly lion. He is also a reference to Chopfyt who only appears in the books and is a man made from the parts of others and is a reference to Tommy, which I will explain later as well!

its worth pointing out that Jordans viagra fuelled boner is hidden under a rainbow towel and when they get off the plane Tia, Jordan and the dog are sat on a yellow tarpaulin - the implication being that they are still in Oz and over the rainbow, but that isn't real life - its fake - a dream - and reaity will set back in once they are able to go home.

Buck has 2 red flares to bring the plane home - symbolic of the red slippers - click three times and say there’s no place like home.

There is a lot of yellow and blue lighting used in combination - especially around Buck and Eddie.

The green lighting on the plane after it has landed - a reference to leaving the Emerald city and Oz and going home.

Im sure there are others that I may have missed, but these are the key ones, and most of them will likely remain in play in some capacity in the upcoming episodes.

As for the potential upcoming oz references, we have the following

the tiger in 804 is likely a reference to lions and tigers and bears. Oh my! from the film, but may also be a reference to the hungry tiger from the books - who is a tiger who is never full and desires to eat a fat baby but never would as his conscience would never allow him to. He is described in the books as the largest and most powerful of his kind and is one of Ozmas chariot drivers and is friends with the cowardly lion. The Tiger reference coming in no place like home and the books connection of the tiger with Princess Ozma and the cowardly lion makes me feel like Karen may be represented by and paralleled with the tiger, and the idea that Karens conscience won’t allow her to metaphorically eat Ortiz (the fat baby) but that is purely speculation on my part!

the pumpkin stuck on a head storyline that’s been hinted at coming up in 805 - in the books there is a character called Jack pumpkin head who is made by the Princess Ozma when she is Tip and then brought to life by magic (Ozma is the rightful ruler of Oz and was given to the Witch Mombi of the North by the wizard in order to prevent he rightful ruler of Oz ascending the throne. Ozma is transformed into a boy called Tip by Mombi, but is later turned back when Glinda discovers what has happened). Im expecting this arc on the show to play into Jack’s storyline in the books. Jack refers to having lost a father when Tip is returned to being Ozma. I think we’ll see it played as a reference to Mara, Chim and Hen, because Hen is Very Ozma coded which I’ll explain a bit more later on!

Masks. with 805 being titled masks it feels very loaded towards the Wizard of oz and the fact he wears different masks (in the book) depending on who he is meeting with. He appears to Dorothy as a giant head (as we see used in the film), to the Scarecrow as a lovely lady, to the Tin Woodman as a terrible beast, and to the cowardly Lion as a ball of fire. He does this with the intention of scaring them all, but in all cases has chosen the wrong image to make the desired impression. there is of course the fact that the mask slips (the curtain gets pulled away by Toto) and the truth of the Wizard is revealed - that he is a fraud -  merely a man who has been using magic tricks to make himself seem great and powerful.

these are just the ones we know about, there may very likely be more revered once we’ve seen the episodes, for example we might get a play on Eddie in church and going to confession - the idea of hiding ones identity behind a screen.

I want to talk a bit about the specifics of the firefam, and how they fit into the concept in a more detailed way. Obviously all members of the firefam fit into multiple aspects of each of the 4 main characters in Oz, but they each have one that has a stronger pull than the others. Each one of the characters in the books and film have specific traits that form their personality and a key part of their narrative - Dorothy wants to get home, The lion wants courage, the scarecrow a brain and the tin man a heart. These are all allegories for the bigger picture. 

Dorothy wants to go home, yes, but that is part of her bigger desire to belong - the books reveal much more about her past and upbringing in Kansas. She is also the first person in the wider story - it is her journey that sets in motion all of the other ones.

The cowardly lion is in fact not cowardly, but incredibly brave, and a loyal friend, he is just full of self doubt because he believes his fear makes him inadequate as lions are supposed to be the king of beasts. we see him overcome that self doubt and go onto succeed - becoming a well respected and important member of Ozma'z court.

The scarecrow wants a brain but is in fact shown to be the smartest of the group - coming up with clever plans and sharing a great depth of knowledge the also becomes the ruler of the Emerald city - appointed by the wizard when he leaves, and it is stated by the tin man in one of the later books the he is ‘probably the wisest man in all Oz’

The Tin man wants a heart, but in fact is one of the most tender, emotional, considerate and caring people in Oz as well as being extremely competent and practical.  He is also shown to seize up and rust due to either the rain or his tears. In the books he is given more backstory - his axe was enchanted by the wicked witch of the east and it causes him to chop off his body parts limb by limb. The witch does this because he is win love with her ward Nimmie Amee. when he chops out his heart he feels his could no longer love her and so left. he does later try to find his long lost love but is left disappointed when he finds her married to a man made up of his body parts and those of another tin man called Captain Fyter who had also been enchanted by the witch for the same reason. she refuses to leave her man of parts and tin man and scarecrow return to the emerald city together.

The Tin man and the scarecrow sit very much in parallel with one another in both the books and the 1939 film, they are very much a pair and shown to be each others foil and in the books especially spend a long time debating with one another about the relative importance of the brain and heart, but in combination with one another form a perfect whole. 

With the main characters of Oz covered we can explore the way 911 is using their traits to tell the stories of our firefam, but before we do that I want to look at a few other key 911 characters and how they relate to the wizard of oz!

Bobby in my opinion is Glinda the good witch - he shares a lot of traits with her. It is Ginda who helps restore Oz (the 118) to its fully unified state - something that had ceased to be under the Wizard and the wicked witches rule in separate counties. She also tends not to meddle or interfere in Ozian matters unless requested to do so. This fits with bobby’s traits very well - he doesn’t tend to get involved in things unless pushed to do so or asked directly. Much earlier in Oz’s history Glinda also helps redeem the tyrannical king of Oz through the creation of the forbidden fountain and the waters of oblivion - the king drank the water and then forgets his cruel and nefarious intentions. bobby replacing Gerrard at the 118 fits fairly well into this theme.

Ortiz is an interesting one - she fits into bot the role of The wizard, as well as the wicked witch of the west. I think that Ortiz is the wizard in part because the name Ortiz can loosely be read a s a play on ‘wiz’ as in wizard, but also because she is the most powerful person in the show right now - and it is all built on lies and corruption - much like the wizard is in Oz! However as the film unfolds we are shown that the witch is in fact more powerful than the wizard, but is also eventually easily brought down. This is why I think she is also a reference to the wicked witch, but also because the witch controls the flying Monkeys - who serve as her lackeys and undertake her bidding.

Gerrard is both  the Wizard of Oz and a flying monkey. I wrote above about the wizard hiding behind screens and masks and and Gerrard and I wrote about Gerrard building fences around the 118 being reference to the wizard building the emerald city. The flying monkey connection is obvious - he is working under Ortiz.

Tommy fits into a couple of different characters. He is in my opinion most closely connected to Chopfyt and Nimmie Amee, but he also fits into the meaning of the flying monkeys. Chopfyt is made up of the parts of the Tin woodman and Captain Fyter (the tin soldier) who are rivals for the attention of Nimmie Amee who is married to Chopfyt but was at one time courted by the tin man and the tin soldier.  Captain Fyter and the Tin Woodman  become friends during their journey to find Nimmie Amee. The flying monkey connection is perhaps a more obvious of the three, the monkeys are subservient to the wicked witch of the west and in the begins episodes we are shown Tommy being very much under Gerrard wing through his behaviour. It is also worth nothing that the flying Monkeys in the book drop the tin man over shape rocks leaving him so dented he could not move and they pull the scarecrow apart, scattering his straw and throwing his clothes up a tree - Dorothy is able to repair them both with the aid of the Winkies (the people under the control of the wicked witch of the west) and Dorothy then commands the flying monkeys to take them to the Emerald city. 

The meaning of these character connections is clear to me - Tommy as Nimmie Amee courts first the tin man (Eddie) and then the Tin Soldier (Buck) but chooses Chopfyt in the long run. Tommy is made up of parts of both Buck and Eddie in the same way that Chopfyt is made up of parts of Tin man and Captain Fyter. The fact neither Tin man or the Tin soldier succeed with Nimmie Amee and that she choses Chopfyt is telling and possibly gives us clues about the eventual demise of Buck and Tommys relationship and suggests that as tommy fits both characters parts (both characters who are fairly small roles in the books and are plot devices - much in the same way as Tommy is in 911), he will ultimately choose himself (as we’ve already seen him do in 705).

Onto the 4 remaining members of the firefam, and I believe Chimney is for the moist part, meant to be Dorothy - he is the first member of the firefam in the same way Dorothy is, he fits a lot more of the Dorothy tropes from the book than the film shows, he is described as the heart of the 118 - which is basically what Dorothy represents in the books and film - she is the one who keeps everyone together, or brings them back together when they have been separated. And if we follow the theming of Gerrard being the wicked witch of the west, it becomes more apparent - in the books Dorothy is enslaved by the wicked witch and forced to carry out menial cleaning tasks - in much the same way we see Chim being treated by Gerrard in Chim begins. It is Chim who we are shown supporting Hen, Buck, and Eddie as they begin their careers at the 118.

The other thing of note - which currently doesn’t fully work, but will if, as I suspect, the wizard of oz references around Eddie are a part of his Queer journey - is that Chimney is the only one of the four members of the team (we are not including Bobby as he is the captain) who has no queer coding in any way and is in a heterosexual marriage. The reason this is important and plays into the idea of Chim being Dorothy is that the term ‘Friend of Dorothy’ is coded speak for being queer - I explain it further in my meta which I linked at the top of this post - the play is that Dorothy herself is not queer, but that her companions on her journey down the yellow brick road are. Which fits Chimney perfectly - with Hen and Buck being Lesbian and bi respectively and with the Wizard of Oz connections to Eddies storylines across the previous seasons and again in the current season being very loud, it feels fair to assume that Eddie will also sit somewhere on the queer spectrum before too long (and really is the reason behind me writing this insanely long post!) 

Hen is the cowardly lion. We are shown Hen doubting her abilities at several points throughout the show, but she is arguably the bravest of the 118. The cowardly lion’s favoured companion is the hungry tiger (as I wrote about above - we may well see Karen paralleled with the tiger in 804)

But Hen is also Princess Ozma and this is a far more powerful connection. Ozma is the rightful heir to the throne of Oz and spent much of her childhood in the form of a boy called Tip as she had been enchanted by the witch Mombi until Glinda the good witch discovers the enchantment and forces Mombi to return her to her true form and take her rightful place as ruler of Oz. With Bobby filling the role of Glinda, helping Hen achieve her full potential and the allegory of Hen having to hide herself for much of her life until she becomes a firefighter - the wig we see Hen wearing in Hen begins plays into this idea perfectly - that Hen was disguised but has been freed from that disguise and become her true self.

Buck is the scarecrow. But he is also Toto and Captain Fyter. I explained the Captain Fyter connection above in the section on Tommy so I won’t repeat myself here. Buck is toto for a couple of reasons. Firstly we have the connection to the dog in the plane in season 8 who growls at Jordan and Tia tells him that the dog doesn’t like men, he then becomes friendly when Jordan is ill, but we see him returned to Tia when they leave the plane. this is all a allegory for Buck’s bi arc. Tia is Eddie in the scenario and Tommy is Jordan . The dog growling and being protective is akin to Buck growling and becoming jealous over Eddie and Tommys friendship, trying to keep Tommy away from Eddie, but then becoming friendly with Tommy in the same way the dog becomes friendly with Jordan in a therapy dog kind of way before returning to Tia at the end, implying that Buck will always go back to Eddie when it comes down to it. the therapy dog aspect is also interesting as it implies BUck is providing some kind of therapy for Tommy - this could be read as Buck helping Tommy learn and grown (likely in connection with his still undressed past behaviour) - makes him a better person, before they part ways and Buck ‘returns’ to Eddie. 

Then there is the wizard of oz references - it is Toto who sets much of the plot of the wizard of Oz in motion - by biting Almira Gulch in Kansas in the film version and by hiding under the bed in fright in the book version. It is Toto who reveals the truth of the Wizard of Oz being just a man, and it is Toto who leads The lion, scarecrow, and tin man to where Dorothy is after she has been captured by the wicked witch (in the film - he is less involved in the book!) and it is toto who stops Dorothy from leaving with the Wizard and ultimately leads to Dorothy learning the slippers she wears can carry her home if she clicks her heels together 3 times and wishes to go home. All of these events either play into Bucks arcs in 911 or will potentially going forward. Bucks impulsive ways could be said to mirror Toto’s impulsive actions in TWoO and it will be interesting to see if being taken under Gerrard wing leads to him gaining information that helps Hen take down Ortiz!

The biggest connection though is with the scarecrow. The scarecrow has long been associated with bisexuality - due to his line in the film ‘of course some people go both ways’. in the book the scarecrow also reveals that he lacks a brain but greatly desires one - he is in fact only 2 days old when Dorothy meets him so he is essentially just naive because as the book progresses it becomes increasingly clear he actually is very intelligent and knows many things. One of the other aspects of the scarecrow is his ability to know his own limitations and in the books he becomes ruler of Emerald city, but hands the crown over to Princess Ozma enabling her to take up her rightful position as ruler of all Oz, becoming one of her most trusted advisors. Most of these are traits that Buck shares with the scarecrow - we see season 1 buck reflected in the naijvtie of a 2 day old scarecrow, but once he hits his stride, we see that Buck is actually very intelligent, full of knowledge (random facts wiki Buck!) and comes up with great ideas - things that are being very clearly demonstrated in season 8 so far. He is also becoming much much better at knowing his limitations and that is something I think we will continue to see develop in the way it does in the scarecrow across the books.

And finally we have Eddie. Eddie is the Tin man through and through. The heart metaphors that surround Eddie - especially in season 5 are a very obvious and direct link to the tin man. and Like I said above the Tin man is the most compassionate, sensitive and tender and caring people in Oz. He is incredibly practical and competent as well and undertakes the scarecrows plans readily. He and the scarecrow pair up a lot across the book series and go on adventures together, their heart and brains combining to lead them to success in nearly all cases. The tin man also becomes a trusted advisor to Ozma and is considered to be a fair and wise person in Oz. These are all things we see portrayed in Eddie. He has this tough exterior, but inside he is very soft and tender and he only reveals that side of himself to those he can trust. Eddies heart is a key part of Buck and Eddies dynamic especially in combination with Bucks brains - we are so often shown Buck having an idea and Eddie carrying it out because he trusts Buck - the perfume bee run is just the latest in a long line of them and it is a key aspect of the Tin man and Scarecrow in the Oz books. I’ve spoken above about the other aspects of the tin man and his connection with various characters, but it really is the tin man and scarecrow dynamic that is at the heart of things in the wonderful wizard of Oz book especially (pun intended!!).

All of it plays into the Oz theming we’re being shown in 911 having an important meaning and it is very much connected to Eddie far more than any other character. One can argue that the books - at their core - are about following your heart and letting it lead you to your truth and to home and that is the very heart of Eddies story. Carla’s line about making sure he’s following his heart and not Christophers rings very true, and we’ve reached a point now where Eddie has to follow his own heart, because Christopher is not in the picture and they’ve chosen to go very very hard with the wizard of Oz metaphors - building on the foundations they already created in previous seasons and now being able to bring them to fruition.

I could literally write about this all day, but this is already ridiculously long and I'm not sure it even makes sense at this point! It was only supposed to be a short post! So I’m stopping here and letting you all go back to your lives - thank you for reading especially if you've made it this far! and let me know your thoughts!💜💜💜🐝🌪🌈

Tagging a few random people just in case they're interested! @buddiediaz118 @buddie911abc @fruityfirehose @sunflowerdigs

@spotsandsocks @livingwherethesidewalkends @satvojihusana @inell @eddiedisasterdiaz @lemotmo @courtjestermerlin @lover-of-mine @lovecolibri

[lover-of-mine]

Buddie in Every Episode:

2x02 - “7.1”

[911bts]

Looks like Brad Buecker is directing the episode they're filming.

He previously directed:

1x01 "Pilot"

1x04 "Worst Day Ever"

1x06 "Heartbreaker"

1x10 "A Whole New You"

2x02 "7.1"

2x03 "Help Is Not Coming"

2x10 "Merry Ex-Mas"

2x14 "Broken"

2x17 "Careful What You Wish For"

2x18 "The Life We Choose"

3x02 "Sink or Swim"

5x01 "Panic"

5x02 "Desperate Times"

6x10 "In A Flash"

6x18 "Pay It Forward"

[agentoffangirling]

Season 1 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is not bad. It really isn't. To both a longtime fan and a complete newcomer to the MCU, it would not be seen as a bad show if they just did more than surface research on it

If you look at the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes for the show overall, it has a 95%. 89% for s1. On IMDB, 7.5/10, with their lowest episode being only 7.1/10. Critics like it, audiences like it

So why is it that it is viewed so negatively by a large majority of Marvel fans? And to that I say: they never stuck around till the end of the season

See, when AoS was coming out, there was massive hype around it. Marketing would have you think that it was some type of Avengers crossover, with people like Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff showing up every other episode (but hey, this is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Not Agents of T.H.O.R.)

This is what led to the massive turnout of 11 million viewers for that first episode, but when it turned out to be a show about S.H.I.E.L.D. featuring new people, like it always was supposed to be, people very quickly tuned out

(Even tho, hey, it's a SPY show and you only watched 1 EPISODE. Give it some time)

But most didn't give it time. They wanted to see Hawkeye and Fury and Maria go on adventures that would stand the test of time, fighting Loki and essentially just being mini Avengers, and when that didn't happen, they left. They wrote early reviews claiming that the show didn't meet expectations and wasn't worth the time. You get a very sharp dip from episode 1 bc marketing claimed this was an Avengers show, and people felt that it fell short

Those reviews are what Marvel fanboys use now, without ever watching the show themselves or pointing out that they're literally 11 years old. They bring the idea that the show is boring and lazy, putting aside the fact that basically everything else from it is called innovating and jaw-dropping. They praise the use of THEIR ideas in other Marvel shows, but call it plain in their home territory. They don't bother

So hey, if you're planning on watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., please ignore literally everything those fanboys say. They haven't watched the show, those early reviews couldn't stand watching past episode 2, just ignore them. Trust the fandom when we say that not only is season 1 perfectly fine, it's truly amazing fun, and so many of the plotlines they executed in that season are incredible

Because if we all stopped at season 1, there wouldn't be any shows

[thebestofoneshots]

Gilded Constellations | wolfstar x reader

Series Masterlist | Previous episode

Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 7.1 K Warnings: Graphic descriptions of violence. (Reader discretion is advised). Basically, it's a rough night. Prompt: Time to use the last trick you've got This IS a wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it.

Chapter 21: Fox On The Run

2:00 AM, 23rd of November, 1976

Moony’s claws dug deeper, and you emitted a cry, Prongs tensed as if he was preparing to gore the wolf. And that’s when it downed you: Werewolves don’t attack animals, and clearly, they didn’t attack animagus either. Finally, you smiled, recalling one last trick you had under your sleeve. 

The next couple of seconds went by too fast for you to process, but your actions had been almost instinctive, as if time had slowed down. You started shrinking, becoming smaller and smaller until you managed to free your shoulder from the wolf’s claws. Your skin turned into red furr, your nose grew into a snout, and once you had fully transformed into a fox –your animagus– you rolled around on the floor and scattered away towards Sirius’ direction, your fluffy tail waving behind you as you did. 

The wolf was confused at first, as if it didn’t comprehend what had happened as you nestled between the huge dog’s legs, he looked even bigger and more imposing to you now, since you were so small. Your arm, which had now become your leg, hurt massively as you ran his way, especially since you were now using it to walk. Sirius, or rather, Padfoot, had kept his eyes on you as you did and instantly placed himself over you in a protective stance. You were still pretty alert, now your own hair standing on end as you looked at the wolf, he was staring at you, and he looked pissed, as if the fact that you had gone and hide under the dog made him angry; because he did look angry. More so now than when you had used the stupefy charm on him, even more than when he howled at the moon after being hit by the whomping willow. 

In fact, you’d go as far as to say he was having fun hunting you, playing a sadistic game only he could enjoy, toying with his prey before ending with its life. But now, he was pissed. You could feel it, maybe in the way he breathed, or in the way it was growling at you, or perhaps it was because you were canine now, your senses enhanced potentially by your animagus form. The wolf bared his teeth, Padfoot flinched but held his stance, instinctively you leaned towards one of its pows, rubbing your snout softly, reassuringly. He seemed to feel better after that, leaning closer to you too while he still held his protective stance, so close you could feel the way he breathed. That only irked the wolf further.

Padfoot stared at the wolf attentively, and then he barked at you, you instantly knew what it meant, and you turned around and took off running. The wolf had jumped over Padofoot, but Prongs had been quicker, and he had gored him on the side. The wolf cried out in pain as it was pushed to one of the trees, the deer’s antlers had struck the same spot the Whomping Willow, causing its already broken rib to move around. You turned when you heard the wolf’s cries, he was still staring at you attentively, even as he struggled back to his feet. 

The dog turned back, barking at you again, stronger, more desperate, he wasn’t sure how much longer they’d manage to keep the wolf in check since it seemed absolutely result in his commitment to get to you. You stared at him still, like a deer trapped in headlights, and then you felt a nudge at your paw, it was Wormtail, urging you to move. One last look and Padfoot barked again, so you finally turned your head and ran. The small brown rat was falling behind, so you used your snout to grab it, careful not to hurt him, and kept running. 

The wolf had finally gotten up, and he had managed to pass through both Padfoot and Prongs, running straight in your direction. They were trailing behind, trying to keep up with the wolf, the deer did it first, catching up with him and pushing him with his body, trying to coerce him off track. But his efforts were futile, the wolf was deadset on getting to you. You ran as fast as your paws allowed you to, breath heavy as you skipped through branches and rocks. 

The wolf was catching up, and you were starting to run out of ideas, that was until you found a small creek, and a big holed-out rock on the other side of the stream. You Jumped straight to the water and almost dropped Wormy (still in your snout) from the hiss your body instantly emitted. The water wasn’t cold, it was freezing. You swam through the small stream, shivering as you felt your limbs start to go numb. At least your arm injury didn’t hurt as much. But the cold water, attempting to size your movements was much worse. Not even your thick fox fur was enough to keep you from trembling as you fought to reach the hole in the rock. 

Once you reached the other side, you went straight inside the rock. The hole was barely big enough for you to fit inside, so you had to squeeze in, crying out as the cold stone rubbed onto the gush the wolf’s claws had created when he had you pinned down on the ground. The cry caused Peter to fall from your snout, and he scrambled inside as fast as he could, looking at you pityingly as you continued trying to squeeze yourself inside. 

And then you felt it, a sharp pang, clawing at the end of your now wet tail, pulling the part of your tail that you hadn’t yet managed to get inside the rock and dragging you out, even as you struggled, claws digging on the wet ground. You turned, shivering as the wolf stared at you. There was bood staining his fur, just as much staining yours, where his claws had been mere minutes ago. The wolf was leaning down on you, looking at you angrily when prongs appeared out of nowhere, jumping over the stream and goring him on the side yet again. Padfoot was just above you, shielding you as you scurried back to the hole. 

This time around you pushed harder, taking the pain of the stone peeling your open wound with nothing more than tightened jaws. Somehow, you’d managed to squeeze in and walked as deep inside the rocky side as possible. Not that there was much space inside either. Wormtail was there, looking at you preoccupied, your wound was bleeding now, staining your entire leg with I. You looked at it, and let yourself fall on the ground. Safe, you thought, for the first time tonight. 

Peter dragged himself closer as you placed your snout over the cold rocks, wincing as the sharp pain from your arm returned with the movement. You were shivering, you realised, as you tried to wrap your tail around your body for warmth. The rat –Peter– got just close enough to place its small little hand over one of your paws, giving you a look that you could only interpret as pitiful, perhaps worried. The wolf was still outside, you could hear him growling and pacing. You could also listen to the hooves of the deer, hitting the floor every now and then, and even the faint sound of Padfoot’s breathing. He was still tense. Both animals watching the wolf pace around as if waiting for you to get out. Because you would have to get out at some point. 

You had already closed your eyes when you felt a desperate little hand over your snout. You opened your eyes lazily, and saw the rat again, looking preoccupied. Peter knew you weren’t supposed to fall asleep. Probably because of the amount of bIood that was stuck to your fur, already getting sticky and starting to dry. You shook your head and stared at it. And he started to do a little dance, attempting to entertain you. You stared at him for a while, and it worked, you were laughing in your head as the rat continued to tumble around. Whenever your eyes started to close again, Peter would gently tap on your snout, keeping you awake throughout the night. 

After a couple of hours had gone by, Peter finally allowed you to fall asleep, keeping a close eye on you to make sure your breathing wasn’t ragged or your heart beat too fast. Eventually, a low grunt woke you up, you squinted to find Wormtail sleeping, lying on his back with his mouth wide open, you looked to the side, there was a little light coming from the hole that led outside, so you leaned in and nudged the little rat with your snout, first it only stirred a little, still in deep sleep, and after the second nudge, he woke up, looking around panicked. You tilted your head to the side pointing at the opening, a bit of a worried expression showing on your fox features as another grunt came from the outside, this time accompanied by a wail. 

Peter knew those sounds well, Remus was turning back. He gave you a warning look and slowly walked outside, peering through the hole for a second before going back inside. Motioning for you to get out. When you peeked your head out, snout and eyes barely out of the hole. You saw Peter turn back, and James, who was already himself again, drop a cloak over a shivering mass on the floor. When you realised the wails and cries were actually coming from Remus you panicked, trying to fight your way out only to feel an extremely sharp pain over your arm. Now it was you who emitted a sharp high-pitched whimper. 

Then, out of nowhere, Sirius appeared in front of you, a soft look on his face as he placed his hands over your paws “Hey Starshine,” he said kindly “It’s ok,” he reassured “Remus is all right. We’re all okay, James and Peter are going to take him back to the shack before anybody notices he was out.” 

You struggled to get out again, only to whimper as the rock graced your injured arm. For some reason, it felt just as fresh as it did yesterday. 

“Easy there,” he said, “I’m gonna lift the rock and help you out, ok?” You nodded, Sirius took out his wand and performed a spell wordlessly, lifting the rock from its spot. Once the space was high enough, you stumbled out, limping as you walked closer to him. You completely missed the horror in his expression when he realised the bIood clinging to the fur on your leg, but you were still trying to walk towards Remus, needing to make sure he was all right. Desperate to make sure he wasn’t hurt because of you.

“Wait luv!” you heard Sirius say as you scurried away towards the boy, using your snout to lift the cloak James had thrown over him, getting out as fast as you’d gotten in when you realised Remus had no clothes under the cloak, you should’ve known. Sirius shook his head with a bit of a diverted smile. And leaned in closer to lift the cloak off of Remus’ head. “He’s all right, see?” He told you as you used your head to nudge the passed-out boy. 

“It often happens when he’s had a rough night,” Added James, “And yesterday was pretty bad, you know.” 

You winced at that statement “But it wasn’t your fault sweetheart,” Sirius added, “Pads and Wormy will be taking Remus back now, I’ll stay with you, try and find a good reason to give when I take you to the infirmary.” Just like Sirius explained, both Peter and James lifted Remus’ arms over their shoulder and started dragging him through the forest. Finally, you leaned towards the small stream, and dipped your paw, attempting to wash the wound before turning back, since you knew it’d be easier. Sirius leaned over beside you, sitting over his shins as he placed a hand over your back, stroking gently before leaning over just a little and pouring water over your leg. You let him, Sirius’ hands over your animagus form felt just as nice as they felt over your human self. 

He accidentally let some cold water fall over your wound and you winced, “Sorry sweetheart.” He said as he continued, now carefully rubbing his thumb over your paw, making sure to unstick the thick clogs of fur the bIood had caused. “So… you did it as well,” he said “Turned into an animagus, just like us.” 

You just let your head fall on the ground comfortably, enjoying the way Sirius continued washing you up “And you ended up a vixen of all things,” he said with a laugh, “fitting.” 

Shut it Puppy, you thought as you turned to nudge his hand in protest, which just made him laugh more, in turn you gave him a small soft bite. 

“Hey! I didn’t bite you when you were helping me a couple of moons ago, huh?” He told you, and you remembered the way the big black dog had only placed his head over your lap and urged you to pet him; like Sirius sometimes did. I really should have known. 

“All right sweetheart, you’re done.” He said with a light scratch over your ear that had you almost melt. “I need you to turn back so I can get a closer at that shoulder.” 

You did not want to turn back, the bruises from last night would probably be a lot more noticeable in human form, but the sharp pain on your shoulder blade as you tried to pull back made you figure it really wasn’t an option at this point. 

So slowly, you went back to your human form, ending up in a sitting position just in front of Sirius. His face, which had looked diverted until that point, teasing and playing with the fox, turned into one of absolute dread when he realised the state your face was actually in. 

He placed both hands around it, which had you wince when his thumb accidentally brushed over a section Evan had grabbed onto a little too harshly earlier, “Sweetheart look at you.” 

“‘m fine,” you managed to muster, the pain on your parted lip stinging as your lips stretched to talk. 

Sirius sighed, his frown only deepening as he brushed his hand lightly over some of the bruises, small dots, forming the shape of thick fingers, a thicker one on your left side, two over your right cheek and the rest going down your neck, “Who was it?” he asked bitterly. 

You shrugged, “Evan,” you told him simply “I probably fought back too much.” 

Sirius rubbed your cheek softly, “He’ll pay for this,” he said darkly, as he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket dipping it in the cold stream, before bringing it to your face, cleaning off the dirt that had stuck to it when you fell to the ground due to Barty’s spell. “Just you wait, we’ll tell Dumbledore and–“ 

“–We can’t.” 

“What are you talking about? We can–“ 

“–Sirius. Why are we here and not at the infirmary?” You asked, grabbing onto his wrist, holding back a wince as a peeled part of your palm graced over his soft skin.

“Well, I have to tend your wounds because we can’t let people know you were out, let alone about Moony being the one to–“ 

“–Exactly,” you nodded “If we tell Dumbledore they will tell him it all happened in the Forbidden Forest, they can even say they held me down because I refused to listen when they told me not to walk inside–“ 

“–Dumbledore wouldn’t believe them.” 

“Either way it won’t matter,” you told him as you shook your head lightly, “If we were to tell him I’d have to explain why I was in the forest in the first place, and then he’ll find out I know about Remus and he’ll probably wonder how the hell I survived the night and I won’t be able to explain it without telling him I’m an illegal animagus and that my other illegal animagus friends helped me.” 

Sirius’ face fell, you were right, you couldn’t tell the teachers, “But Starshine, if you were looking at the same thing I’m looking at right now–“

You let a dry laugh out “–I look like shit, don’t I?” 

Sirius shook his head and leaned over to place a soft kiss on your temple “You look like you’re about to break apart. And I haven’t even seen your arm yet.” 

You turned towards it, wincing as you saw the way the fluff of the sweater had stuck to the dry bIood “That’s gonna hurt.” 

“Can I?” Sirius asked as he toyed with the hem of the sweater, you nodded, and he slowly lifted it off your body, you hissed as he started to slowly peel the last bit off, the fabric had actually stuck to the wound, so he was essentially reopening it as he tried to take the sweater off. 

“Why were you in the forest anyway? We told you it wasn’t safe.” You winced, you probably deserved that “I told you so” but it’s not like you liked it anyway, especially since the reason you were there had come from truly good intentions.

“I wanted to get Moonflower… ouch,” you complained as he removed a particularly stuck bit. 

“Moonflower? For the herbology project you were talking about with Moony?” 

You shook your head “That was a lie,” you admitted “It’s for a potion’s project. I accidentally met Damocles Belby a couple of weeks ago, he thinks a bit of Moonflower may aid him develop a potion that will help werewolves remember who they are once they transform… I– I was trying to help Remus.” 

“Ah…” he said in realisation “How did you find out about him? There’s no way Damocles knows.” 

“No, he’s clueless, he thinks I’m obsessed with werewolves…aaaaah Sirius!“ you trailed off, when he peeled a particularly stuck bit. 

“Sorry love,” he said, “we’re almost getting it completely unstuck.” 

You bit your lip to try and hold back a cry as he continued “I found out on the last moon,” you admitted, “did some research too.” 

“Is that why you were at the library that day?” You nodded “I knew you were off for some reason.” 

“…sorry.” 

“For coming to the forest?” 

“For lying,” you added “I should have told you when I found out… I didn’t want you to think I was butting in your already-established dynamics.” 

“You could only make things better by butting in Starshine, you were reckless last night though. I was barking and you just kept staring at Moony like you weren’t scared of him.” 

“I was worried, he had already been hit by the Whomping Willow because of me, and then Prongs was goring him, I– his cries Sirius…” 

The boy nodded, he knew exactly what that worry felt like, he had felt it before, several times for Remus. And last night, he felt it for you.  

“Remus is strong,” he reassured “He’ll be like new soon enough.” 

You sighed “I just hope I didn’t hurt him too much.” 

Sirius let out a breathy laugh, “Knowing him, he’s probably thinking the same thing right now. And he’ll probably be angry too. Why did you drop the wand?” 

“You saw that?” you asked with a gasp. By now Sirius had managed to remove the sweater and started to pull on the seams of your already tattered shirt sleeve to try and break it apart to remove it, to make it easier, and hopefully less painful for you. 

“Of course I did, James and I were thinking of a plan of action when you did that.” 

“Remus told me to use it against him. I wasn’t planning to hurt him, no matter what.” 

“That was dumb.” 

“You would’ve done the same.” 

“Yeah, but I’m the reckless one in the relationship.” 

You turned to him with a raised eyebrow, wincing when his hands brushed against the cut “You sure about that?” 

He finally ripped the shirt off, which had you digging your nails into your leg to hold back a cry, your entire arm was bare, the sharp marks of the claws visible, along with deeply scraped sections caused by the harsh way you had squeezed yourself inside the rock. Sirius was the one to wince this time, not even sure how to approach the tattered skin, the worst part was that it still looked way too fresh, “Maybe we’re both the reckless ones in the relationship.” 

He dipped his handkerchief in the water again and washed it out lightly before letting it saturate in water again and squeezing it over your wound, you hissed when the cold water first landed upon your warm skin, but then you sighed, it was numbing and that felt nice, you then laughed breathily “We’d need someone like Remus to join our relationship to keep us in check,” you joked. 

“Remus would just let us be reckless and watch.” 

“Nah, he’s got a bit of common sense, he’d stop us before it got too dangerous,” you countered. 

“Yeah, probably, but only when it’s really dangerous,” Sirius agreed, now lightly cleaning the wound.

He moved his wand closer and placed it just above it, whispering something, but only half the wound got better, the scratches healed, but the section where Moony’s claws had dug into was still open. Sirius frowned and tried again. 

“It’s not working.” 

You looked at the side, and remembered your notes again “Dittany…” you added. 

“What?” Sirius asked with a frown. 

“Silver and dittany, that helps with werewolf wounds,” you added “…read it in a book.” 

“I’ll get some and–” he said, you placed your hand over his forearm, pulling him. 

“Please don’t leave me,” you said, almost in a whisper, you hated being so clingy, but after the night you’d had, the last thing you wanted was to be alone again.  

Sirius’ expression softened, “We can’t go in the castle with you like this,” he told you “and we can’t use Honey Duke’s passage either, they’re already open…” There’s a secret passage at Honeydukes? you thought, “…maybe I can send a message to James so he brings over the cloak or we could do some spell to…” 

“Take me as a fox,” you suggested. 

“What?” Sirius asked, confused. 

“Take me as a fox, tell Pomfrey you found me in the forest when you went out flying in the morning, and that I was hurt. While she’s distracted, get some dittany from her supplies and then we can find somewhere else to use it. Foxes are common enough in this region for them to believe you.” 

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to take you to Kettleburn?” 

“If you were actually helping a fox, would you take them to him?” He shook his head, “Exactly, the plan will work.” 

He seemed to think about it for a second and then nodded, “All right, let’s go then, little vixen.” You rolled your eyes but turned back into a fox. He seemed hesitant at first, not knowing exactly how to pick you up before placing his hand under your belly and pulling you up, almost like you would hold a cat. “Is that alright luv?” You rubbed your head over his chest, as an answer. “Great, I’m gonna start walking to the castle, if you feel any sort of pain, wave our tail.” 

Sirius started to walk then, still cradling you in his hands, he kept whispering things at you as he continued walking through the Forbidden Forest, “We’re about to reach the grounds,” he informed “We’ll be there soon, just hang on,” he told you, when you finally reached the edge of the forest you dug your head deeper on Sirius’ chest. He was warm, and the way he was holding you made you feel at peace, safe, safer than you’d felt the entire night, safer than the rock. 

Eventually, the two reached the castle, and he walked in through the side gates, walking in and carrying you along with him, people were looking at him weird. You heard a couple of younger girls say things like “Awwww…” and “Look at Sirius, he cares for animals, that’s so hot.”

You wondered if he was used to girls acting like that all the time, of course he is, this is Sirius we’re talking about, he probably basks on the attention.  

You half dug your head deeper into him when you heard them, which just had him chuckle slightly, “What is it Starshine? You jealous?” You nibbled on his shirt in response but whined when you realised the movement had been too harsh, straining your arm and therefore causing you pain.

Sirius frowned then, looking at you with worry and picking up the pace “‘m sorry love,” he mumbled. 

Even if people kept staring at him, no one dared to approach him, not until you were already a couple of halls away from the library and Lily pretty much stopped him dеad in his tracks “Where is she?” she asked, panic edging on her voice. Sirius looked over her shoulder, he wanted to just skip past her to get the dittany, but she wouldn’t budge. “Sirius!” 

“She’s ok,” he said, “We’re taking care of her.”

“We who? I saw Peter and James earlier, and you’re here running to the infirmary with a fox!”

“She needs help!” he said, still trying to avoid the redhead. 

“I don’t care if your fox is a girl Sirius! You either tell me where she is or I swear–“ 

You nudged the boy with your snout, nodding slightly. He understood, you were giving him permission, “She’s here.” 

“Where?” she asked looking around, “Does she have the cloak?” 

Sirius shook his head, capturing Lily’s attention again “Here,” he said, moving you up just slightly, you hissed from the strain in your arm “Sorry love,” he whispered. 

“You turned her into a fox?!” Lily said with a gasp, straight up covering her mouth from shock. 

“She kind of did it herself,” Sirius explained. 

“Wait does that mean she’s an a–“ 

“–Evans! If you keep shouting the entire school will know, now help me get some dittany.” 

She looked shocked, and terrified all at the same time “Did he… did he bite her?” She stammered.

Sirius shook his head,  “He scratched her, but it’s not healing.” 

She took a deep breath, calming herself down “Ok, you take her in, I’ll raid the cupboard for some dittany and silver essence, and maybe some Mugwort, or comfrey root, whichever I find first. If you can, sneak out some beeswax,  do it. She does not keep it in the cupboard. And Sirius, one last thing. We need to be fast. Werewolf scratches are harder to heal the more time goes by without treatment.” 

Sirius nodded, you were impressed by the way Lily had taken control of the situation, but mostly by how willing she was to break the rules and steal ingredients from the school in order to help you. Your mood, however, dropped to the ground the moment you heard Remus’ wails as you entered the infirmary. Your hair stood on end and you attempted to wiggle out of Sirius’ grasp but he grabbed on to you tighter, planting his own feet on the floor. You turned to him exasperated as you continued to wiggle, but he knew Madam Pomfrey was busy with Remus, so he went to the other side and started looking for the beeswax. 

You managed to escape his grasp and limped your way to the curtains separating the room. Leaning close to a corner and only dipping your head inside, Remus had half of his body covered by the white sheets, the rest of him was in full view, and you finally saw how much damage you had done to him.  His wails were because Madam Pomfrey was accommodating some of his ribs in place with her hands. You winced, almost pulling back completely just from the way it creaked. 

He had a few scratches and a slightly deep cut, probably from Prong’s strong antlers. But the worst part was probably how bruised he was, there were bruises going down his back, already turning a dark purple from when you had used stupefy and his left side, where the Willow had struck, was even worse.

You winced when he cried again, you wanted to reach out for him, but you knew you could not let Pomfrey see you, so you stayed there, watching quietly. At some point, Pomfrey turned Remus around and he spotted you, you gave him a look, but he just dropped his gaze, avoiding you entirely while clenching his jaw, to avoid crying in front of you. You were about to lose all prudence left and jump all the way inside when you felt Sirius pull you back again, holding you just like before. You didn’t try to fight him this time, allowing him to drag you outside the infirmary, both trailing behind Lily. 

He caught up with her after a few long strides. “Where are we going?” he asked in a low tone. 

“Common room, she’ll stay with me, in your room so Mary and Marlene don’t notice, you’ll have to get to class.” 

Sirius shook his head “No way in hell I’m leaving her,” that made you feel at ease, nuzzling into him a little. 

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea you stay, you’ve been missing a lot of classes lately.” 

“Don’t care about classes,” he insisted. 

“Sirius, it’s not about that, we don’t want to raise more suspicion, don’t you get it?” 

“She asked me not to leave her,” he admitted, almost reluctantly, as if he knew how hard it had been for you to ask. 

Lily sighed, “We’ll talk about it later.” 

Eventually, the two of them arrived at the common room, Sirius taking the lead and opening his room, letting Lily walk in. “Do you have a mortar?” she asked as she started taking things out from her pockets and placing them on a trunk. 

Sirius had already walked all the way to his bed and gently laid you down there, “There should be one on  James’ dresser,” he said pointing at it without really turning to look. “All right love, we’re here, you can turn back.” 

You hesitated for a second, looking at Lily before finally turning back, you were sitting on your shins when you turned so you had to accommodate yourself, to sit properly. Sirius was sitting just on the edge of the bed, looking at you with a bit of a worried expression. He was not expecting the first time he had you on his bed to be like this. 

Lily, who was a little surprised at how neat James’ stuff had been arranged, found the mortar in about half a minute, turning to look at you and almost letting it completely fall on the ground after that, her expression turning into one of absolute worry now “Look at what those stupid boys did to you luv,” she said as she fastly approached. 

“Should’ve seen the other guy,” you joked. Even if the other guys were pretty much perfectly fine, probably. Lily sighed in response, and walked to the trunk, right in front of her, grabbing some of the ingredients she had gathered, and started to crunch them inside the mortar. “How did you find out?” you asked, you had been curious about that since she stopped Sirius in the hall, in fact, you were still a little confused of how Sirius, James and Peter had found you. 

“Severus,” she said bitterly. 

“He tried to warn us, we didn’t care to listen to what he wanted to say and he went to Lily instead.” 

“He told me Barty had locked you up in the Shrieking Shack, he already knew the place was Remus’ hideout. And he also knew it was full moon.” 

“He knew about Remus?” You asked shocked. 

“Found out last year, it was my fault,” Sirius admitted, dropping his face as shame filled his delicate features. In fact, it had taken a good deal of time and effort for the two of them to make up after that time, “We should’ve listened to him, perhaps we would’ve gotten there earlier.” 

You shook your head “Severus could’ve been setting up a trap for you, it was wiser to ignore him,” you responded simply, “Stupid slime head, didn’t do anything when they were locking me up in the Shack, had it not been because Remus hadn’t turn yet, and because he gave me his wand–” 

“–You used his wand?” Lily asked, turning to you a little amused. You nodded in response, “She’s never been too keen on working when I’ve tried.” 

“Yeah, his wand’s picky,” added Sirius, “it’s wonky when James and Peter try to use it too.” 

“Not with you?” Lily asked, looking at Sirius, still shaking her hand furiously to crumble the ingredients into a paste. 

“No, I thought I was the only one,” he admitted, turning to you. 

“Looks like Remus’ wand likes us very much,” you said with a shrug and winced when you felt the sharp pain again, at this point, it was becoming as painful as it was annoying. 

“It’s ready,” Lily said, standing up from the floor and walking towards the bed, Sirius moved slightly to the side, and you tilted your head so your hair wouldn’t fall on the wound as she applied it. But Lily didn’t place the mixture yet. And she instead looked at your shirt, tattered, broken and a little dirty, “I– I think it’d be best if you took the shirt off entirely,” she said, “to work on the wound better and make sure it doesn’t get infected or anything like that.” 

“Oh, right,” you said as you went for the hem of the shirt. As you attempted to take the shirt off with one hand, Lily gave Sirius a look, who turned slightly red before he turned around, eyes facing the wall. 

“Here, lemme help,” Lily said, as she helped you pull the shirt off. The moonflower that you had hidden during the night, fell to the bed. You gasped, a huge smile appearing on your face.

Lily looked at it with a frown, “Why did you–“ she started, not quite understanding why you were so happy

In the end, the whole ordeal hadn’t been for nothing, the Moonflower survived! “–I thought I’d lost her, or perhaps she had been crushed when Moony… Either way, it doesn’t matter, this is great!” 

She looked at you, still confused,  “But… why do you need Moonflower?” 

You gave her another smile “I’ll tell you all about it! I promise, but for now, would you mind taking it to Damocles Belby when you go back to classes? He needs it.” 

Lily nodded and took the flower in her hands before carefully sitting it down on the side table.  Finally, she placed her hand on your cheek, gently moving her hands to have a good look at your face as she directed where she wanted you to tilt it towards, “I’ll bring you something for those bruises too, luv…” 

“I see why you wanted me gone,” Sirius said in a tone you knew all too well, “you wanted to have my girlfriend all to yourself.” 

“Well, she did say I’m a great kisser,” Lily added as she finished pulling the shirt over your head, leaving you in a simple sports bra… Sirius turned his head around to look at her, completely surprised by her teasing, but she threw your shirt straight as his face “Don’t turn you perv!” 

“She’s my girlfriend!” Sirius said, turning back and slowly taking the shirt off his face, it smelled like you.

“Yeah, that doesn’t make you less of a perv,” she retorted, and finally leaned in closer to you, looking at you attentively “This might hurt,” she warned, to which you nodded. If it didn’t you’d be more surprised. 

She brought her hand to the paste and took a good amount in between her fingers, bringing it straight to the sharp claw lines on your arm. Your breath hitched in your throat and your jaw clenched with the contact, you blinked rapidly, trying to hold back the tears. 

“Sorry,” she said as she noticed your stance “It won’t take too long, I promise,” Lily was being honest, she took another bunch of the paste, and swiftly went over the other opening, working light and fast as you held your breath. She did it one more time and then she was done “There we go,” she told you with a smile “You’re done.” 

You let a deep breath out and used your hands to wipe some of the tears that had stubbornly fallen from your face, “Thanks,” you told her as you sniffed “for helping me, even if you had to steal ingredients from the infirmary.” 

“That’s what friends are for,” she told you with a wink as she wiped her fingers on the mortar. “You should probably rest. I can keep the girls out of our room for the day if you–“

“–She can stay here,” Sirius interrupted, “The boys won’t mind.” He was still looking at the wall. 

“Will you be comfortable?” she asked with a little frown. 

You nodded, “I’ll just steal one of their sweaters when it’s time to go back,” you added, “since my shirt is all tattered now.” 

“I can bring you some clothes later,” she responded “So you can take off those,” she said, looking at your mud-stained jeans. 

“I can borrow her some pyjamas for now,” Sirius added. 

Lily nodded, “I’ll come back in a couple of hours to check up on it,” she said pointing at your arm “I’m sure I can whip something up in potions to help with the pain too. Sirius, keep a close eye on her, if she falls asleep, monitor her temperature. It doesn’t look infected but it’s always a possibility.” Sirius nodded, which got Lily to nod herself, bobbing her head up and down almost nervously as he gave one last look at you, “take care, Luv,” she said, placing a hand on your shoulder before turning to pick the mortar up and walking to the bathroom to do some cleanup, giving you one last look before looking at the clock and rushing out. 

You sighed as you saw her red hair disappear, you wondered how it was possible you’d gotten so lucky that you got to have Lily Evans as your close friend. Eventually, you let yourself fall on the bed, carefully keeping your arm over your stomach as you did. Sirius stood up from the bed and walked towards his dresser, pulling out the same pyjama pants you’d seen him wear when James had brought you to their room before the quidditch match. 

“These ones might fit,” he said, handing them over. 

“Thanks,” you said as you went to unbutton your pants, managing to do it without much fuzz and then going for the zipper, struggling just a little then. Sirius turned around when he realised he was actually looking at the colour of your undies now. That made you raise an eyebrow “Sirius, you’ve seen me in a swimsuit,” you said as you struggled to take the pants off with one hand. 

“That was two years ago,” he said, sitting down on the bed with his back towards you, “you’ve changed.” 

“Not that much,” you retorted, finally getting the pants halfway down your tights. 

Sirius shook his head “Very much,” he insisted, while he cleared his throat “your, erm… proportions are different.” 

You laughed at that, it was always surprising to see Sirius’ shyer side. Eventually, you managed to take them completely off.  “And you’ve touched too.” 

He nodded “Yeah, in broom closets and forbidden sections, that’s how I know you’ve changed a lot. But you know what those have in common? They’re dark.” You laughed again, pulling the pyjama pants up and standing on the bed to press a soft kiss to the boy’s neck, which had him perk up from surprise “Lily said you should rest.” 

“Yeah,” you nodded, leaning into him “I’m resting.” 

Sirius let out a diverted huff in response, “Aren’t you tired?” 

“Very,” you admitted “but you’re warm… and comfortable.” 

Sirius smiled, shaking his head as he did. Most of the time he felt like the needy one, leaning into you, asking you to play with his hair, or even reaching for your hand, it was nice to know you enjoyed the contact as much as he did. Even nicer that you’d ask for it. 

“Wouldn’t it be better to lay down on the bed?” he asked, finally tilting his head to look at you, cheek squeezed a little on his shoulder, the soft skin of your neck completely visible. He almost hated how thrilled the sight made him feel, knowing full well –since he could see the bruises still– the reason you didn’t have a shirt was because you were hurt and scratched and all banged up, on what had probably been the worst night of your life. 

You smiled, looking up at the boy, prettiest boy in the world, you thought, before nodding and leaning back, slowly moving in the bed till you accommodated yourself. “You want a blanket?” he asked, turning his head just a little. You nodded and he opened one of the drawers from his side table, pulling out a fluffy red blanket and carefully placing it on top of you. 

“Thanks,” you mumbled, and he sat on the bed again. You looked at him, as if you wanted to ask him something. 

“What is it, Starshine?” You made a small frown, Sirius couldn’t think of anything other than how adorable it looked, “Whatever you want, just tell me.” 

You looked to the side “Would you mind cuddling?” you ended up asking, mushing the words together from how fast you had actually spoken. 

Sirius smiled, and leaned closer to you, levelling himself to lay his head on the pillow beside yours “You can cuddle me whenever you want,” he responded simply. 

You instantly leaned into him, a contented sigh escaping your lips “You’re really warm,” you whispered as you hugged him, leaning on your good arm and letting the one with the wound and paste lay over his torso. Sirius adjusted himself, accommodating his arm under your head and bringing you even closer to him. 

“Comfortable?” 

You nodded, way too much, “Yes.”

He smiled, placing a soft kiss to your forehead, at some point he started rubbing soft circles to your back, soothing you to sleep. 

Sirius and Vix after the bad moon

Series Masterlist | Next Chapter

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A/N: Some people are so going to be really happy about this chapter. We've had theories about this for weeks, and guys, you're all Sherlock Holmes, brilliant!

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[jeeyuns]

hand-focused shots in in every 9-1-1 episode 2.02 - 7.1 (24SEP2018) 2.03 - Help Is Not Coming (01OCT2018)

[loveemeanyway]

BUCK IN EVERY EPISODE 12/?

2x02 "7.1"

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

Favorite Buddie Moments Per Episode: 2x2 7.1

+Bonus

[bi-and-bewildered]

gifing every episode of 9-1-1: season 2, episode 2 “7.1”

[evanbuckleydaily]

911 HIATUS REWATCH One Scene Per Episode - '7.1'

[introverted-bard]

Fact: The first 6 episodes of Agatha all Along have an IMDb score ranging from 7.1/10 - 8.2/10 and Death’s Hand in Mine (episode 7) has a 9.2/10

Fact: Given that information, the 46K people who voted generally agree that this is the best episode in season one.

Opinion: I thought episode 7 was phenomenal, I enjoyed it the most and I wish that the previous episodes were as well written as the final 3.

Are people not allowed to have opinions anymore??? I said this on tik tok and people lost their minds 💀 As a queer woman and comic Wiccan fan I genuinely liked the show and found it fun… I just think that there was a jump in writing quality in the last 3 episodes 🤷‍♀️