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I can't stop thinking about the Doctor's reaction at the end of "Dot and Bubble." That penny drop moment, the stunned laughter followed by the scream of futile anguish followed by the silent tears. Fantastically played by Ncuti Gatwa, and for me, it's a reaction that absolutely makes sense for this situation and this Doctor.

First of all, of course the Doctor wants to save them and gets desperate when they won't let him. Of course he does--that's just who the Doctor is. We've seen them save vile, self-serving humans before, we've seen them offer Sycorax and Rachnoss and Daleks a last chance. No matter how these people have treated him or what they think of him, he still wants to be able to save them.

I keep thinking about how his laughter gives way to a scream. That's very fitting for his Doctor in particular. For all of Fourteen's "rehab," it's clear that Fifteen still has his issues, and I've seen them in the moments where he shouldn't be smiling. The way he briskly tells Ruby that Gallifrey is gone, the way he seems to shrug off not knowing whether Susan was killed with the rest of the Time Lords. It makes a lot of sense to me that he would laugh before he would scream.

Then too, there's the laughter being in part due to his surprise. The Doctor knows they've been Black before, because Thirteen met the Fugitive Doctor and saw the hints of their pre-One past in the Matrix, but he doesn't have those actual memories of the experience of being Black. He's not used to walking around in this skin, with this face. I'm sure he noticed how rude and distrustful Lindy was to him, but he didn't catch why. Not until the end. And it's so dumb and hateful and pointless and absurd, and she's going to die because of it, so in that very first moment, what can he do but laugh?

Finally, I've also been thinking about Ruby crying for him, wanting to comfort the Doctor but knowing she can't make it better. Millie Gibson does a beautiful job as well, capturing Ruby's reaction to a tee without drawing focus from Ncuti's powerhouse performance.

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I love them so much for this. The ship comes through, not just in the big pivotal moments, but in dozens of little ones like this.

Rhys and I just delicately took care of each other in those moments. Throughout the shoot, we improvised little touches on each other’s shoulders, little tugging on each other’s sleeves. Some of it was even out of frame, but I do think it reads. - Taika Waititi (x)

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Mel's return to Doctor Who has made me so happy. She was never the most widely-embraced companion--she traveled with two different Doctors but wasn't the "main" companion for either of them, and over the years, it seems that a lot of fans consider her loud scream her most notable quality.

But in modern-day Who, she's arguably had the nicest reunion with the Doctor out of any classic series companion. Sarah Jane, Jo, and Tegan all had old hurts to deal with, and Ace hardly got to see the Doctor at all (neither did Tegan, for that matter.) But while tragedy gets thrown into Mel's personal life, she and the Doctor are nothing but good with each other.

In "The Giggle," they're both thrilled to see one another, taking a bit of time to catch up even in the middle of a global crisis. And when the Doctor's about to regenerate bigenerate, Donna isn't the only one at his side. Mel is right there too. Seeing her back this season, interacting with Fifteen, has been lovely.

I just...I love that for her, and Bonnie Langford. I love that I'm so excited every time she pops up. And especially in "The Legend of Ruby Sunday," I love that she's really there to do full-fledged companiony things, getting the lowdown on Susan Triad and helping the Doctor when he's spiraling over Col. Chidozie's death. It's been wonderful to see her get her due deference.

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It's a little thing, but I love that injuries matter on Andor. Cassian gets a blaster burn in "Reckoning," and he's still dealing with it two episodes later. He binds the wound immediately afterwards on Luthen's ship, and it's cleaned, bandaged, and checked/redressed in the camp on Aldhani. The other rebels immediately notice that he's injured and worry that it'll be a liability during the mission. People ask about his arm and how he's doing.

I realize part of it is that we're looking at a ramshackle fledgling operation without access to bacta tanks for quick healing, so instead we get patch-up jobs without pain relief because they need to ration their meds. But in a galaxy where we've seen people take a lightsaber to the gut and be up and walking the next day, it's good to see a show where even something as comparatively minor as Cassian getting shot in the arm can't just be shaken off as nothing.

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I love how everybody at AFC Richmond treats Roy a bit like their own personal Oscar the Grouch. It's like, "Yeah, that's Roy--he's grumpy, it's fine." I like how they tease him, like when Ted exclaims, "You hear that? Roy said y'all did a great job!" and Beard pretends to faint. Or when Roy demands, "Does my face look like it's in the mood for shape-based jokes?", and Ted just grins sweetly and says, "No, Roy, it does not." Or when Ted's mom hears Roy yelling and thinks someone is in trouble, but Trent replies, "No, shouting is Roy's love language."

But at the same time, they're not not afraid of him, at least a little. I think of when Ted and Isaac are supposed to meet him over by his childhood flat, and they're joking about Roy's crankiness--Isaac calls him "24/7 hangry." But then they get a jumpscare when Ted texts Roy and they realize he's right in front of them. Or when Rebecca storms into the locker room after he skipped the press conference and everyone goes, "Oooooh!" like he's just been called to the principal's office. But then Roy turns and glares at them, and they all go dead silent.

It's such a fantastic dynamic. I love Roy, and I love how the whole Richmond family reacts to him.

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In college, the LGBTQ alliance I was in did one of those "privilege vs. marginalization" exercises. "If you spoke the same language at home and at school, take a step forward," "If the way your hair grows out of your head is considered 'unprofessional,' take a step back." That kind of thing.

One of the statements was, "If you can go down the street holding hands with your romantic partner, take a step forward. If you can't, take a step back." My aroace ass had no idea what do to. I knew I couldn't step forward, because there was never gonna be a romantic partner whose hand I could hold. But it didn't feel right to step back, because there wasn't a romantic partner whose hand I couldn't hold either.

In the privilege vs. marginalization activity, this was a statement that didn't seem to account for my existence, and I didn't know what to make of that.

The duality of "If you even imply that being aro or ace condemns someone to a sad and lonely life I will fucking fight you"

and

"being aro and ace is the most isolating thing I will ever experience"

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My god, Cassian is just so young in season 1 of Andor. On this last rewatch, it kept jumping out at me everywhere. Especially at the start of the show, which makes sense--he goes through a pretty intense education over the course of the season and transforms before our eyes. But there's just so much in Cassian that comes from being young, traumatized, and desperate.

We see it in his moments of unabashed fear, like when he's stopped by the two corpos in the pilot, the first time he sees the TIE fighter fly past on Aldhani, or as the prison transport takes off for Narkina 5. Even when he tries to hide it, we can see it in his eyes, the parts of him that are still that scared kid from Kenari.

We see it in the chip he has on his shoulder, like the attitude he cops with Luthen in their first meeting: "I don't know you." He's not just guarded and distrustful, he kind of actively resents this guy trying to get too familiar with him. When he's scared, uncertain, or guilty, he tends to push others away, a product of having to fight most of his life and of losing many of the things and people he's cared about. I also think of him coldly telling Bix, "You won't have to worry about me anymore," at the end of their argument in "Announcement."

And yet, by the same token, he can also be surprisingly open and earnest in his affections. For me, this is most apparent in his scenes with Maarva in "Announcement." There, we see his naive optimism that the money he got from Aldhani can solve all their problems. He's so buoyant and hopeful and loving as he suggests running away, saying, "What do we need but the three of us?" Later in the episode, we see that same naivety when he insists, "We'll find a place they haven't ruined yet." But it crops up in other places too. On Aldhani, he chooses Clem's name as his pseudonym, even though he already realizes Luthen has a lot of intel on him and will probably recognize it--in that moment, his distrust of Luthen is outweighed by his desire to go into this dangerous mission carrying a small piece of his dad with him. Then there's that beautiful hug with Brasso in "Rix Road," especially those few extra beats past when you'd expect them to part. When he hugs Melshi in the previous episode, Cassian is rushed, on the brink of falling apart and not wanting Melshi to see. But with Brasso, Cassian needs that touch for a few extra seconds, and he's not afraid to hold on a little longer.

Most of Cassian's dumbest mistakes in the season are very youthful ones. He's an incredibly smart and observant guy, so he's not dumb very often, but when he is, it tends to come back to being young, traumatized, and desperate. We see this especially in the opening Ferrix arc: insisting on bringing an unsecured comm to his meeting with Luthen (oh my god, the way he bickers with B2EMO about them beforehand!) and trying to go back for the starpath unit when the shit hits the fan, even after Luthen repeatedly tells him to leave it. With the starpath unit, part of it is naivety--"What if it's just one guy left?"--and part of it is growing up poor and scrappy. This box represents more money than he's ever had at any one time, and he simply can't process the idea that his buyer would just leave it behind.

Finally, every now and then, Cassian has this subtle but impeccable "little shit" energy. We definitely see it when he messes with Timm in the pilot, deliberately goading him instead of trying to defuse the situation when he sees that Timm is jealous. It's a dumb, petty moment of cheap satisfaction that winds up with some intense blowback when Timm IDs him to Pre-Mor. And I love Cassian's refusal to give up on Kino on Narkina 5, always believing he can be brought into the fold no matter how many times Kino tells him to forget about it. It's a great reflection of how Cassian rejects the Empire's attempts to divide the inmates by pitting them against each other, but part of why he's able to keep at it is his annoying-kid tenacity. I love the scene where Kino brushes him off by saying how many shifts he has left and Cassian immediately responds with, "So...tell me what you know before you go."

It's simply wild to compare the Cassian we see in "Kassa" to the one in "Rix Road." He goes through so much in twelve episodes and really comes into his own, and it's fantastic to see some of the qualities he displays in Rogue One starting to peek through. He's already come so far in his character growth--I cannot wait to see how season 2 gets us from "Rix Road" to Rogue One!

Oh yeah, and Diego Luna is simply stunning. You can really feel how he traced Cassian's life backwards to this point, see how different the Cassian of "Kassa" is from the Cassian of Rogue One and yet still fully believe that this is the same character. All the little hints he drops, all the tiny moments where you can see Rogue One Cassian starting to gestate. It's such beautiful, brilliant work!

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The thing about Shadow and Bone season 1 is that, while there are definitely changes, Alina's story plays out fairly similar to the book, and bringing in Nina and Matthias early pretty much just gives us their Six of Crows backstory in real time. But bringing in Kaz, Inej, and Jesper early gives us a storyline that's cut out of whole cloth. There are certain nods and touchstones that are critical to their duology--their famous “no mourners, no funerals” mantra, snatches of Inej’s backstory, hints towards Jesper's secret--but their actual plot is none of the things they get up to in Six of Crows.

Both stories involving them pulling an elaborate (foolhardy?) heist, yes. But they’re completely different heists in different countries, under different circumstances, with different complications, for different payouts.

Jesper expertly shooting all the volcra attacking the train on their journey through the Fold? Inej making a deliberate choice to take a life in order to save Kaz’s? Kaz facing off against Kirigan/the Darkling and living to tell about it? Milo the goat??? That's all Shadow and Bone.

But for all that, the show nails the characterizations for all three. Even with slight changes and certain things that don't get revealed until season 2, the writing and acting work together to bring these characters to life impeccably. Each is very specific and very true to who they are in the books, and that’s managed while taking basically none of the things they do and hardly anything they say in the books. In a way, it’s televised Crows fanfic, and the show has all three of them down cold. It drops them in a new situation but captures the sorts of things each of them would say and do, how they’d react, and how various developments would shake up the group dynamic. That takes talent, and the show deserves props for it.

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David Tennant's performance as Crowley is such a fascinating mix of intense and languid. He's often so focused, so intent, that he's practically brittle, electric with purpose as his careens through the city in the Bentley or races to avert disaster. Those fiery eyes, that clenched jaw. But in almost equal measure, he slouches and saunters, projecting such indifference that you start to wonder if the production crew had to pour him into that chair, that's how fluid he feels.

My favorite part of this is that we see the exact same two opposing qualities from him in the before-the-Beginning flashback, but as an angel, both look completely different on him. The intense side is pure joy and love, his enormous toothy grin as he ignites stars and elation radiates from him in waves. Meanwhile, the languid side is his relaxed unconcern, cheerfully shrugging off Aziraphale's worries as he considers questioning God's plan and "putting a note in the suggestion box." I love that flashback anyway, but when I noticed how Crowley's usual contradictions were filtered through an angelic lens, I could've eaten the whole scene up with a spoon.

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This was my thought process as I scrolled through these pictures:

Wait, what are these?

OMG, are they doing a play together? What is it???

Oh man, could it be Rosencrantz & Guildenstern? These pictures are giving me Rosencrantz & Guildenstern vibes!

And then I saw the caption, and it was Rosencrantz & Guildenstern!!! My kingdom for a proshot recording!

Next thoughts:

OMG, but who’s playing whoooooo? I need to know!

The Merry-and-Pippin dynamic would lend itself to the assumption that Billy Boyd is playing Rosencrantz, but I feel like Dominic Monaghan is giving Rosencrantz in those pictures.

Must find out!

So then I looked it up and I was right! Dominic Monaghan as Rosencrantz, Billy Boyd as Guildenstern! Be still my nerdy LOTR/Tom Stoppard fangirl heart!

Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.

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At the end of "The Devil's Chord," I figured the big musical number and the Abbey Road crosswalk making music were lingering aftereffects from the encounter with Maestro. It's like at the end of "The Giggle," where Fifteen was able to double the TARDIS because they were "still in a state of play" after defeating the Toymaker and could claim their prize according to the laws of his realm. Here, they're still in a state of music before everything goes back to normal.

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Rewatching season 2 of Ted Lasso, and I really loved how they play the "Keeley is turned on by vulnerability" subplot in episode 2. Obviously, the whole thing is great, with her masturbating to the press conference where Roy announced his retirement and broke down crying. (Side note: there's zero drama over the fact that she still masturbates while being in a happy relationship, you love to see it.) I love learning that Roy's kink is people doing it in the woods--"Because I could never be that free!" And the resolution, with Roy having Keeley put in her headphones to play the video while he goes down on her, is *chef's kiss*.

But what really stuck out to me this time is how they play the scene where Roy discovers that this is Keeley's kink. When he walks in on her masturbating, she panics and throws her phone across the room. And Roy picks it up, walks across the room, and hands it back to her, asking, "Show me."

You could play a similar storyline on dozens of shows, and all of them would have the SO looking at the video without permission, probably over their partner's protests. In a lot of them, the phone would probably still be in their partner's hand and the SO would get in their space and take it from them.

Hell, in a different context, this very show does something similar: Isaac discovers that Colin is gay when he takes Colin's phone, insisting that he's not kidding about everyone on the team deleting their saved nudes to protect against leaks.

But in episode 2, Keeley doesn't even have her phone. She threw it. It's across the room, and there's no way she could keep Roy from looking at it if he was determined enough. But he doesn't look without her permission. He's curious, sure, and he may be anticipating teasing her about it a bit, but he also points out, "I should know what gets you going." He gives it back to her, asks to see what she was looking at, and then lets her decide whether or not she's going to show him.

Such a small shift in how you'd normally see this kind of scene play out, but the difference is huge.

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Thinking about Ned Low, and thinking about "creative" killers in pop culture. The characters who need to torture or kill in increasingly inventive ways, who turn corpses or body parts into their "art." Thinking of various killers we see on Hannibal, Dexter, Sherlock, and I'm sure many more.

This is what Ned Low does, and it sucks. There's nothing truly creative or artful about him. His crew is bored and discontented as they go through the motions of his grand vision, and his big "symphony" is just his lame attempt to give purpose to a bunch of people screaming. He can sneer that Ed is a "lowborn" generic pirate (even though Ed "got it in one" re: his brother,) and he can call Stede an amateur, but his art is simply embarrassing.

What's more, it doesn't hold a candle to the wonder and beauty created by a ragtag group of misfits who made up a religion purely for the sake of having a big party. For Calypso's birthday, the crew invents traditions on the fly, everyone coming up with their own little twist on these timeless traditions that are only happening now for the very first time. They fill their ship with paper lanterns and pirate-themed bunting, and they fill the night with fireworks and dancing. Wee John serves drama with every brush stroke as Calypso the sea goddess holds court, while Izzy Hands sings a love song 200 years ahead of its time. Even Stede, the rube they tried to dupe into throwing this party, is fully aware of the con and doesn't care, because he's creating something too: he's turning poison into positivity.

This is art. Ned Low is just a sad, pretentious man grasping for importance.

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Rewatching Andor now, and I'm being reminded all over again how incredible Diego Luna is here. He's an actor who really rewards your attention--this is such a non-showy performance, and he doesn't have many Big Moment Acting!!! scenes. (I think this is partly why he hasn't gotten as much award attention as he deserves. For me, his absolute best moments in season 1 come in "Narkina 5," where he spends most of the episode not speaking at all. How are you meant to put that in an Emmy reel?) And he's a very generous performer, leaving tons of room for all the other fantastic actors in the show to shine.

But when you really watch what he's doing, it's just amazing. All these hundreds of little choices in his line delivery, facial expressions, and body language, all adding up to make Cassian Andor. Everything he does just exudes Cassian. Absolutely masterful.

the powerhouse that is diego luna’s acting is just astounding. and never overshadowed by all the character actors who are doing completely stunning jobs acting their hearts out alongside him (the casting director is fucking AMAZING. no Ls whatsoever), but one thing natalie watson and austin walker pointed out in the AMCA podcast is that luna is in every single episode where almost no other actors in the show are, and he’s basically carrying the entire show, which in a show of this scale is… very impressive. a LOT of screen time is spent studying his face in close up shots and having the audience look at his reactions and he’s really doing an incredible job. so much of the narkina 5 arc is us watching andor watch what’s going on around him and it’s just perfect. most other actors would have a hard time being noticed or telling a story while in these intense moments with serkis or skarsgard but luna fucking carries it.

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Some Random Galinda/Elphaba/Fiyero Thoughts

Note: This is mostly based on the musical, looking at the movie in particular--while I love the book, Fiyero is so different between the two versions that he needs to be viewed as two separate characters. Also, my shipping thoughts go hand in hand with my neurodivergent headcanons. For the purposes of this post, we have Elphaba (autistic,) Galinda (high-masking autistic/ADHD,) and Fiyero (ADHD.)

For as long as there have been love triangles and shipper wars, there have been fans who've pointed out the obvious solution of "So-and-So has two hands!" I've certainly seen the appeal of various OT3 ships in the past, but after watching Wicked: Part 1, I'm not sure if I've ever seen a love triangle as much in need of an OT3 resolution as Galinda/Elphaba/Fiyero.

Any way you look at it, it's clear that Elphaba is the apex of this triangle/polycule, so let's start there. The Elphaba/Galinda and Elphaba/Fiyero ships are both rock solid. Both have certain similarities, the popular hottie paired with the gorgeous outcast whose beauty can only be seen by them. But the road to how they get there in each case is a little different, so we'll take them one at a time.

Elphaba/Galinda

We have to talk about them first, obviously. That's why we're all here, right? The relationship so iconic, you can build a whole marketing campaign purely off the colors green and pink. These two have a classic love/hate setup, the old I Hate My Roommate, Oh No I Love Them! routine. But with both characters, it goes so deep. Being seen as a good person is crucial to Galinda's sense of self, and from the moment she meets Elphaba, who sees through her self-aggrandizing vow to use her not-yet-developed sorcery skills to "help" her, that sense of self is challenged. The image Galinda presents to the world is so carefully controlled and precise--her popularity is thanks in part to the fact that she's constantly performing "personhood" for those around her. But Elphaba immediately sees through her performance, calling her out in front of everybody.

That, I think, is at the heart of their early conflicts. It's not just that Galinda is pretty and popular and Elphaba is green and weird. It's that Elphaba has no issue pointing out that Galinda isn't what she pretends to be, and that rattles her. At the same time, it probably burns her up that Elphaba refuses to give in to what other people think about her, at least giving the impression that she doesn't care about their opinions. That isn't true, of course, as Galinda rightly recognizes at the Ozdust Ballroom.

When Galinda steps forward to dance with Elphaba, it's a revolutionary moment for her character. It's an unspoken acknowledgment that she had been cruel in giving Elphaba the hat, willingly admitting that she's not as "good" as she likes to think she is. But at the same time, this dance is the first truly kind thing Galinda does in the story. Like Elphaba, she hasn't stopped caring what people think about her, but for the first time, doing something right means more to her than just giving the appearance of it. So she stands with Elphaba among the stares and whispers, following her lead and doing her dance regardless of how it looks.

"Popular" is more than just a recompense, a genuine way to try and help Elphaba after tricking her earlier with the hat. Even as Galinda tries to make Elphaba more like her--ultimately giving up when she realizes how lovely Elphaba already is as herself--this is Galinda at her most unmasked, which actually makes her a little more like Elphaba. She is extra as hell throughout this whole song, delightfully goofy and hyper and excited. It's in stark contrast with Elphaba, who doesn't know what to think here, but this is who Galinda is when she's not performing for everyone around her. Elphaba is always 100% herself and never lets anyone take that away from her, and in "Popular," Galinda lets Elphaba see her.

When the break happens between them in "Defying Gravity," it has nothing to do with how they feel about each other. Their angry/frustrated accusations of "I hope you're happy" give way to their sad/wistful farewells of "I hope you're happy." Their essential breakdown is about, not who they are but how they are. Elphaba doesn't know how to go along to get along, even for the sake of playing a long game, so she immediately blows everything up with the Wizard and Madame Morrible because she knows how wrong this all is. She shows her hand without a second thought and is instantly prepared to throw everything else away for her ideals. Galinda, meanwhile, has spent her life being who other people expect her to be, and she doesn't really know how to give all that up--including her dreams of becoming a sorcerer and her chance for real power and influence--to take what feels like a shortsighted stand. Elphaba has no plan beyond "I won't do this" and "We have to get out," and as much as Galinda loves her, she's not ready or able to take that leap. They're both caught on diverging paths, reaching out for each other even as they're being pulled apart. Gaaaaah!!!

Elphaba/Fiyero

Even though Elphaba/Fiyero plays with similar archetypes and some similar themes as Elphaba/Galinda, their interactions and relationship are different, which is valuable. This isn't just a case where the canon M/F ship gets to "go there" while copying the F/F ship Because Compulsive Heterosexuality. I will say, the movie in particular gives me lots of Fiyero feels that I don't necessarily have with the stage show, so my thoughts on both Elphaba/Fiyero and Galinda/Fiyero rely heavily on Jonathan Bailey's interpretation of the character. In this version of the story, Fiyero does feel important to me, not just a shoehorned-in love interest for the sake of it.

Like Galinda, Fiyero is a character who masks/performs a lot. A key difference between them, I think, is that Fiyero has much more self-awareness about his. He knows what he's doing when he plays the role of the shallow party prince, essentially "giving the people what they want." But as hard as Galinda works to maintain the image she projects, I'm not sure if she entirely realizes that it isn't the real her. Both characters are trapped behind the masks they've made, but Fiyero definitely knows it, and I'm not sure if Galinda does.

At any rate, that's what we're working with when Fiyero meets Elphaba. In this instance, he clocks her before she clocks him--Fiyero easily defies her expectations when she rattles through her standard "no, I'm not seasick" list, and he immediately treats her like a person, something that not many people in her life do.

Elphaba quite can't see that at first, though. I don't know if she initially buys the performance Fiyero sells everyone else, but she's pointedly unimpressed by it. While everybody else is tripping over themselves falling for his charms in "Dancing Through Life," Elphaba huffs and rolls her eyes, even when Fiyero specifically meets her gaze in the middle of the number and gives her a little "hey, I know you!" wave.

So even though we get a bit of a love/hate trajectory again, it's not mutual this time. Fiyero is intrigued by Elphaba from the start, though not particularly because of her greenness--rather, he finds it interesting that she's immune to his charm. He likes that she speaks her mind and causes "commotion," and post-"Popular," he tells her she doesn't need to change herself. The unspoken implication? He likes who she already is. Elphaba is the one who holds back here.

It's not clear exactly where and how the change happens for her. Obviously, the rescue of the Lion cub marks the moment where Elphaba realizes her feelings for Fiyero, voiced in "I'm Not that Girl." But her opinion--and understanding--of him had already shifted. As he points out, some part of her chooses not to knock him out with the poppy spell, recognizing him as a potential ally to help the Lion. And it's in that scene where she acknowledges that he just pretends to be shallow and self-absorbed, adding that he's unhappy within that performance. So she's already made those observations about him. But when did it happen? For me, that's the part I'm not seeing on the screen, and it's an interesting question to wonder what causes Elphaba to reevaluate Fiyero in the first place.

With both Galinda and Fiyero, I think it's important to note that loving Elphaba doesn't change who they fundamentally are. This isn't character growth via The Love of a Good Woman. Both of them already are the people Elphaba comes to know and love, but the parts of them that she values are the parts that they tend to hide. Loving Elphaba makes them want to let themselves be seen, at least by her. By the end of the movie, Fiyero's feelings about how he wants to show himself are already changing, while Galinda is torn, breaking her own heart as she's dragged back into other people's expectations.

Galinda/Fiyero

Mileage on this one varies, I know. Plenty of fans will argue that this "triangle" really only has two sides, that it's Elphaba/Galinda and Elphaba/Fiyero. That Galinda/Fiyero is purely fake performative comphet. If that's your interpretation, that's cool.

For me, though, I do think there are real feelings there, on both sides. Galinda lamenting, "I don't even think he's perfect anymore, and I still want him!" feels major for her character, and I see Fiyero's care in how gently he responds when Galinda is knocked out by the poppies. And it's just more interesting to me if they both care about each other. I'm not saying their feelings for each other are the same as what they feel for Elphaba, or as intense. But in a hypothetical OT3 resolution for this story, I think their relationship would add up to more than just passing each other coming and going from Elphaba's bedroom.

I find Galinda/Fiyero very interesting because, even though they're the only "official" couple within the triangle by the end of the movie, there's far more potential in what their relationship could be than what it actually is at this point. In an OT3 scenario, I feel like their dynamic requires the most speculation or imagination. It's very clear what Elphaba/Galinda or Elphaba/Fiyero would be like romantically. But what would Galinda/Fiyero be to each other?

The way I see it, their canon relationship is hampered by two chief points: masking and outside expectations of monogamy.

Because both of them are performing most of the time, that extends to their relationship. Fiyero and Galinda start dating because each is very much The Sort of Person I'm Supposed to Date. When they flirt with each other, it feels like you're watching a play, two master performers "yes and-ing" their way through a relationship that's far more about the image they want to present than what they themselves really want.

Again, they're both drawn to Elphaba in part because she sees them for who they are and makes them want to be who they are. Fiyero's mask makes him actively unhappy, and at minimum, Galinda's puts her under a lot of pressure to maintain it and forces her into heartwrenching choices. So as they date one another--largely because other people expect it of them, because they're "perfect together"--their relationship is tied up in this thing that brings them misery and stress.

Furthermore, they're not really dating one another, they're dating one another's masks. We know that the real Galinda and the real Fiyero are both great--Elphaba wouldn't like them if they weren't! But in in their relationship, they don't really get to see the parts of each other that Elphaba loves.

That brings me to their other main hindrance. If Galinda and Fiyero are artificially forced into monogamy, then of course it's not gonna happen for them. They're just not it. Neither of them would choose the other over Elphaba, and if only one of them can be with her, than one person's happily-ever-after is the other one's loss.

In that way, I think a real Galinda/Fiyero relationship could only be possible inside an OT3. If both of them were free to date Elphaba, free to love and be loved by her, that could give them space to love each other, in whatever form that would take. Maybe it'd be romantic, maybe not (Lesbian!Galinda truthers, I see you!)--maybe they'd both have a romantic/sexual relationship with Elphaba and be platonic partners for each other. I'm not sure. But I do think they genuinely care about each other, and I think they'd be able to figure out what that looks like for them if they were both comfortable and secure in their relationship with Elphaba. If they didn't 1) feel forced to compete for her or 2) feel that, not being with her, they were one another's "consolation prize." And since I also think being with Elphaba would help them both feel more comfortable in dropping their masks and being their authentic selves, they'd have a much better opportunities to actually get to know one another.

[fallenrocket]

Did my Werewolf by Night rewatch for October, which just hammered home how much I love Jack Russell. We stan a hero who's surrounded by cynicism and ruthlessness but chooses to lead with optimism and kindness.

He's definitely one of the gentlest heroes in the MCU, in a cool contrast to how lethal he is as a werewolf. I love that he infiltrates a den of monster hunters to rescue Ted. I love that his first instinct is to help Elsa when she's hurt. And when he's exposed as a werewolf, I love that he pleads with his captors on their behalf, not his--“Just kill me as I am. Otherwise, there will be no mercy, I promise.” :chills:

And my god, the scene where he realizes that the hunters are going to force a transformation while he's caged with Elsa and starts frantically sniffing her in between instructing her on what to do once he turns:

JACK: I need to remember you.

ELSA: Does it work?

JACK: Once.

That single word was enough to make me want a Werewolf by Night trilogy/show/whatever Marvel can give me. (But let's do Midnight Sons too, please--I need to Jack meet Marc, Steven, and Jake!)