#glee episode concept

[darkesttimelinesblog]

Community’s better than glee (particularly when it comes to directing, acting, writing, singing, diversity and representation) and you all know it.

[fvckyouimaprophet]

these are all huge compliments

[antialiasis]

Icelandic Fact of the Moment: Words Named After People

Sometimes, a person's behaviour becomes so iconic that they get permanently associated with that thing. Accordingly, Icelandic has some compounds where the first part is someone's first name, forever tying some lucky/unlucky individual to an abstract concept.

Gróusaga (gossip)

This one is admittedly not named after a real person. Instead, the namesake is Gróa á Leiti, a character from Jón Thoroddsen's 1850 romantic novel Piltur og stúlka, often considered the first Icelandic novel traditionally published in Iceland. Gróa, who in the book lived at the farm of Leiti, would spread salacious stories around, always keeping the source anonymous. Ever since, anonymous tales of gossip have been called gróusögur, or "Gróa stories". The word is generally used dismissively, to suggest a story is not true.

Þórðargleði (schadenfreude)

Schadenfreude is a fun German word encapsulating an important part of the human experience, namely the idea of taking joy in others' suffering. English just wholesale borrowed the word from the Germans. In Iceland, instead, we call it þórðargleði, or "Þórður's joy". In the 1947 memoirs of an Icelandic priest, Árni Þórarinsson, he explains how one day he met this one farmer Þórður, who was laughing uproariously about how in the north of Iceland it hadn't stopped raining all summer and everyone's hay was ruined, and he'd love to see the looks on their faces. Árni promptly coined a new word, and it stuck, forever immortalizing this guy as the epitome of a special kind of asshole.

Höskuldarviðvörun (spoiler alert)

In April 2016, the Progressive Party was in disarray after their chairman Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson finally very reluctantly resigned after being implicated in the Panama Papers. The party called a meeting, with a slew of reporters waiting outside to hear who would be the new chair and thus prime minister. MP Höskuldur Þórhallsson exited the meeting early and walked down the stairs into the crowd of reporters, who asked if he had anything to say, probably expecting a "No comment" at best. Instead, Höskuldur thought they already knew the results and were just asking for his take on it, so he told them he was fully behind the selection of Sigurður Ingi Jóhannesson in the prime minister position and more. The video is gloriously awkward.

A week later, Stöð 2 aired an episode of the sitcom Modern Family, in which a character saying "Spoiler alert" was subtitled with Höskuldarviðvörun, or "Höskuldur warning". Everyone took to this with glee because the incident was very funny and also something about the sound of the word feels very satisfying and appropriate. The translator, Arnór Hauksson, had been stuck on how to translate the term, which didn't have a good Icelandic equivalent at the time, and was then apparently inspired by tweets suggesting Höskuldur should have said "Spoiler alert!" before he started speaking. Today, höskuldarviðvörun has stuck and is legitimately used in, for instance, newspaper reviews of films that are about to discuss spoilers.

[silviakundera]

what makes Perfect Marriage Revenge such compelling tv? (for a certain segment of the audience, including me)

Protagonist has a very clear goal & motivations from the 1st episode

Justifiable revenge narratives with a vulnerable & damaged but resourceful lead are just fun

Main otp has very strong chemistry and the argument for why they are right for each other is clear in the narrative

All the main characters are very vivid - they're messy as hell and they're motivated; they want things and they have strengths, weaknesses, and fears

The viewer learns more & more about the cast of characters' weaknesses, strengths, fears, and values as the episodes progress. The plot is driven by human emotions & desires, not external forces

The show knows exactly what it is - it's going all-in, no shame. I love shows that own their genre and all the associated tropes with unabashed glee... that just try to execute on the template perfectly. Don't try to follow other trends or what's hot, don't go meta. Don't mock the genre & tropes, embrace them. (There's a place for trope subversion and flipping a genre on its head! It can be fantastic. But there is also a space for committing fully to the concept.)

Also what solidified for me after a few episodes is how much the viewer begins to thirst to see the FL get to be truly happy with people who care about her, because that's what Evil Mom, with divine, demonic pettiness, especially doesn't want. It's such a simple thing to desire... and yet seems so out of reach. And again, not due to external plot forces... not because of complicated politics or corporate war games. But because of who all these people are & their history. Compelling!

[scribble-brain-aced]

Nightmare’s Gang Headcanons

Dust and Error are both schizophrenic.

Error once took a buzzfeed quiz out of boredom and discovered that his mental age is 9-12, much to his annoyance.

Killer is basically legally blind because of how his tears blur and tint his vision.

Cross is dyslexic. Also, he’s terrible at remembering the names of colors. He once tried to describe blue, mixing it up with pink.

Horror actually kinda sucks at cooking because it had been so long, he didn’t care about the little details in flavor. As long as it was edible and wouldn’t kill you, he’d be fine with it. His cooking is better now, but probably not something Gordon Ramsey would like.

Dust’s only hobbies are observation, playing sound effects to screw with people, and sleeping.

Nightmare is actually a really good actor. If you’re gonna have shapeshifting powers, you’re gonna have to be convincing. Although, he only feels comfortable acting when he’s shapeshifted.

Cross has crippling anxiety.

So does Nightmare, he can just hide it better.

Error is obsessed with the concept of black holes, and he also looked up every possible way to die in space. Killer will just send the most random, out-of-context texts ever, and will not elaborate.

Also, Killer’s a sociopath.

Dust once played ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ during breakfast, Killer sang along, and Nightmare had it stuck in his head for the rest of the week, much to his annoyance.

Their favorite show was Sherlock and in the middle of each episode, Dust pauses it, asks ‘okay, so who did it?’ and watches in evil glee as everyone begins to fight both physically and verbally. Dust is no longer allowed to speak during the show or else he’ll start a civil war.

[burnwater13]

Concept Art by Ryan Church depicting the interior of the Razor Crest bridge filling with water as the Mandalorian stands within it. Image from The Mandalorian, Season 2, Episode 3, The Heiress.

Back in Reality

It took every beskar enrobed fiber of  Din Djarin’s being to not laugh as Grogu walked back and forth, waving his arms, stomping his feet and then shaking his little green fist. The kid wasn’t having a tantrum. Not really. It was clear that he was angry about something, but he wouldn’t slow down enough to explain what he was angry about. 

The best information the Mandalorian had gotten from his apprentice was when Grogu began to curse in Mando’a and he heard something that could be roughly translated to ‘stupid Sith ruin everything’. Djarin couldn’t disagree with that. Mandalorians might have spent a huge amount of time fighting the Jedi, but the ‘darjetii’ were considered an even bigger problem. 

But why Grogu was ranting about that while they were just having a pleasant afternoon on Nevarro completely eluded him. They hadn’t had any problems with Imps lately. They’d been planning some trips to visit friends like Peli Motto and Cobb Vanth on Tatooine, with a possible stop over on Sorgan or even Takodana. The only thing he’d told Grogu was that he really didn’t want to visit Trask this time. 

The last time they were there he’d found seaweed and a couple of those ridiculous looking, but tasty octo-crab critters. He hated when that happened to the Razor Crest, but it was even worse in the N-1. The stupid thing was scuttling around his seat and managed to get a good pinch in before he had a chance to deal with it permanently. Djarin was glad that he had a small supply of bacta, but he’d had to wait until they actually reached Nevarro before he could apply it. 

He didn’t think that Grogu really cared about missing out on Trask. Niebla and her husband, along with Tad and their other children, were actually off planet visiting family on Glee Anselm. Djarin had checked because Grogu had really wanted to Tad to see how much taller he’d grown since they’d last met. Djarin supposed that every centimeter counted when your species fell somewhere between Anzellans and Jawas on that parameter. 

No, it must be something else. Grogu hadn’t liked Trask very much even when they were just there to visit their frog friends. It had been smelly, cold, windy, and unfriendly, except for Niebla and her family. Even the other Mandos they had met there hadn’t been on anything like their best behavior. He wasn’t really surprised at Axe Woves or even Koska Reeves, but Bo-Katan had been less of an ideal leader and Djarin hadn’t really forgotten that, even with all the time that had passed since that visit. 

Maybe that was the problem that Grogu was ranting about? Djarin had suggested that they make a visit to Mandalore. Axe had asked him to visit and they really didn’t have anything better to do. But between the comments about who Mandalorians were and weren’t, what the Creed demanded and what it apparently didn’t care about as long as the former Mand’alor did it, Grogu had expressed, more than once, his general frustration with all things Mandalorian. 

Grogu had summed it all up in one of his rare comments in Gal Basic. “Not fun”.  He wasn’t wrong. Nothing about that trip had been fun. Djarin still had pains in his back and shoulders from that wretched mech-using critter, among other things. Having to fight so many warriors and then protecting him and the former Mand’alor when Axe crashed the Imp ship into the planet to destroy their dank farrik hidden base there… that hadn’t been fun for either one of them. 

“Hey, buddy, are do you have a minute? I thought we could talk about our next trip.”

Grogu looked up at him and Djarin was certain that he’d seen a brief glimmer of irritation. When Grogu ranted he liked to just do it and get it over and done with. It was pretty clear to the Mandalorian that Grogu was in no way, shape, or form done with whatever internal monologue he was engulfed by and wouldn’t be for a while.

“You know what, I’m sorry I interrupted you. Carry on.”

Grogu trotted off and continued with his silent diatribe and again Din Djarin had to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing. He was pretty sure he’d just fall down and roll on the floor because there was just something so comical about his son’s behavior. Instead, he went back to the food prep area in the multipurpose room and began to make them both something to eat. 

That was always the best thing to cure Grogu of a bad case of the internal monologue. Feed him. As soon as he’d had a flash frozen froglet, or a gorg on a stick, or even a fire stack, he relaxed and whatever tension had been causing the rant seemed to leak right out of him. He slowed down a little. He actually chewed his food. He grinned at his dad. And as long as he didn’t forget to keep his mouth closed while he did it, Djarin found it kind of endearing. On the occasions that didn’t happen, well, he and Grogu spent too much time searching for errant frogs and cleaning up after them. 

Just as he was heating up a small pot of bone broth for them to share, he felt a thud against his right leg. Grogu was hugging it as if he might never let go.

“Hey, buddy. It’s okay. Everything’s fine.”

Grogu was looking up at him with tears welling in his eyes. 

“Love you, Dad”.

“I love you too, Son. I love you too.”

Dank Farrik! Now Djarin’s eyes were filling with tears. 

This is the Way.

[inbarfink]

It’s kinda funny to me how the Fandom Concept of ‘Pilot Dib’ is mainly characterized as more sadistic and cruel than Canon Dib. I mean, I guess it makes sense but also I think Dib in the show was a character who can kinda fluctuate on his morality and sympathy. Sometimes coming off as more genuinely heroic, and sometimes coming off as more petty and cruel. So like… ‘Pilot Dib’ is less of a distinctive change from the final product and more like you tried to interpolate Dib’s whole personality and moral system from one of his crueler episodes without looking at the wider picture. 

Like, I think in an alternative universe where the Pilot swapped places with… maybe ‘The Wettening’... but everything about the plot and Dib’s behavior remained as it was- people would still characterize Pilot Dib in pretty much the same way??

But mostly... the thing is that, from my POV, Dib’s glee at Zim’s suffering or his creepy smiles are not the most notable Difference between the Pilot and the Actualy Show. It’s actually… how friendly Zim and Dib can be with each other.

This exchange is really the One Thing in the pilot I cannot see any other canon versions of Zim and Dib do. You know, Zim unironically genuinely complimenting Dib’s technological skills without making it into some sort of a backhanded insult or a way to praise himself? And Dib actually taking it as a compliment instead of assuming that it must be some sort of trick? This is honestly very hard for me to imagine.

It’s not that they’re incapable of acting in a comically-friendly way towards each other, it’s not an uncommon IZ joke - it’s just that the way that it usually works in canon is that only one of them is acting friendly, while the other remains hostile and Dramatic as normal

For both of them to reciprocate at the same time is pretty bizarre in the context of their usual dynamic. I wonder if that was something that was consciously changed in the shift from Pilot to full series - they just decided it’s funnier the pettier and more personally hateful the Zim-Dib dynamic is. Or if it just happened to come off as more actively and consistently hostile by accident while writing the full show and eventually they realized they couldn't pull off the Friendly Enemy Exchanges they originally planned to do?

[leconcombrerit]

Phee is lying

I mentioned a theory of mine a few times (or is it hopeful thinking ?) and I decided I could share the big outline. I don't feel very legitimate making this post given that I'm one episode and a half behind, but then again I'm pretty sure I'd earn my clown costume either way.

Phee and Non's relationship : a carefully rushed framing

The cute montage at the beginning of episode 6 never sat well with me. DFF knows how to take its time ; how to develop characters, hint at dynamics without having to spell it out. And suddenly one of the most important relationships in the series is summed up in a five minutes montage ? Are you kidding me ? After that we get one scene (the bracelet one by the river) before their relationship starts to crumble upon the weight pressuring Non.

In other words, we get nothing. Most of my attachment for this couple stemmed from a) boundless joy at finally seeing someone, anyone on Non's side and b) Ta and Barcode eating ever single one of their scenes. Aside from this cute beginning, it's just Phee trying to help Non and Non not being mentally nor emotionally available for anything.

They could have done better. They could have shown us more. But they didn't. I know a common conception is that a montage with the occasional slo-mo fits the "first and naïve love" theme buuuuut I don't like it because I don't like it, sue me.

Let's see what they did show us first ; when you give so little, there's no room for triviality. And then I have just a few details I picked up on (or excavated and extrapolized like a mad scientist) that come feed my "Phee is a lying liar that lies" theory. But first, here goes a montage breakdown.

One : first in person meeting

There are several interesting points here. Phee is standing and bending to Non's level, Non is acting cute and waving his hand like a child would ; the groundwork of their relationship is laid down. Phee is the one taking care of Non. But what I found truly noteworthy is this :

"Do you wanna meet up ?"

Phee is taken aback by Non's suggestion. He clearly didn't expect him to do that. Except you don't have expectations for strangers or vague acquaintances. By that point, Phee and Non have been messaging for long enough for Phee to know Non quite well and for the both of them to smile like idiots upon meeting. How long exactly ? Nobody knows.

Two : perfect date and the start of a series of promises

Three or four shots of a traditional, happy date, what more could we ask for. Genuinely. Sad Non, abused Non, crying Non is brought back to a softer world. He earned this level of cliché and happiness. There's also the pinky finger promise ; that's what interests me the most, not as a singular instance but as the start of a pattern. Promises are a running theme in Phee and Non's relationship. As willing as Phee is to take oaths, he's quick to fail them -hell, just one episode prior he wasn't here for Non and it resulted in a suicide attempt. The situation with Keng isn't Phee's first failure.

Three : Non's home

Here Non is letting Phee in his home, his room -his life. And he does so with glee. We've seen beforehow Non tends to keepto himself. Jin has to try a lot and try hard to get him to open up a bit, so whatever happens here is meaningful.

Phee taking his manga from Non could be read as them not sharing common interests (unlike Jin, my imaginary public argues with a nod). I personally saw it as them being comfortable enough to do their own thing while sharing space, until Phee got bored. Or horny. Or both. No sex scenes are shown, which has to be intentional. Phee gets a graphic sex scene with Jin, Non gets a graphic sex scene with Keng -but none for Pheenon. There's enough suggestion that the audience will get the idea, and I haven't pinpointed what lies behind that choice, but it's definitely there. They go back and forth between tooth-rottingly cute and buying a house in the bone-zone.

Four : being each other's whole world

They're both giddy and running to find each other. Their families don't understand because they haven't told ; it's their own little world (and in Non's case probably his only happy place with no worries).

Five : the kiss scenes

The sensual aura that built up in all previous scenes reaches its peak here. Once again nothing is shown in terms of sex, yet you can feel the physical attraction just as well. I might be getting off the rails by saying that while they're honest, they also virtually keep things private. They show us the truth, but an amputated, rushed one.

Just like I suppose Phee gives Jin an amputated and rushed version of what happened.

Six : The river

Ah, yes, the river scene. I won't be talking about the longer one with the bracelet yet cause it's separate from the little glimpses we got so far (it has dialogue, for one). But this ? This is gold to my brain.

An apple. Not only are they both biting it, but Non's eyes are open and staring right at Phee, while Phee's are closed. Non is holding it too. Now I know the apple symbolism is a Chrisitian one and we're in Thailand, but that little detail struck me as odd when Phee and "Tan" were introduced :

We're entering full clown territory cause the cross was probably hung there like the curtains are probably just goddamn blue, but I added a badly drawn plan of how our brains read images, starting from top left corner (where the cross is) to skim over the middle in a downward axis to the bottom left (Fluke, Jin, the more innocent ones actually I just realized) and then to the bottom right. The cross is what we see first.

And then, wouldn't you know, our lovely apple comes back as New and Phee are discussing the boys -and where New is out to get them, Phee is already giving even Por the benefit of doubt. He's also keeping his left hand behind his back. I'll get back to Phee's left hand, but the apple comes first.

If the cross is any indication, and that we get two apples, then the first one that's set in the past, a flashback in a flashback, could be the Old Testament version, a fall from heaven ; and the second one that Phee is eating by himself, not blindly this time, could be the New Testament version as redemption from the original sin. Not to mention the greenery around them, almost like a garden.

"But then doesn't it mean that Phee, after falling for Non, starts to get redemption for failing him by saving the boys from New ?"

You know what, MAYHAPS. It could work, I guess. But same as the manga reading scene, it could go many ways. I personally think the redemption he longs for is redemption for having let Non down so badly. Besides, I don't think New is ready to kill people yet in that scene. He's just trying to gather evidence for now, and Phee knows it. So why defend those boys ? Jin I could understand, but Por ? And protect them from what, exactly ? Getting justice served and truth exposed for something they actually did ? If they're innocent, what's the rush in getting New to let go ?

Why wouldn't Phee be trying to keep New safe ?

Look it's not that far-fetched I swear. First I'm going with the fact that Phee knows Non is alive and got in contact with him somehow. One because I stand by my words, this is a face that calls for murder.

And two, the ring tattoo. I don't think it's a continuity error. And he just so happens to keep his arm hidden behind his back when trying to stir New into giving up on his search. As a sign he's actually carrying on Non's wish ? I'd love that.

Then someone in the group has to be in contact with the masked man, the ninth person, or else they wouldn't have known when to expect the group. Unless they literally live in those woods, which is also possible.

There's also a long post I'd started about how the show always plays by the rules, not even trying to be surprising in the decision it takes (A guy dying early on in a slasher, Phee being Non's boyfriend, Tan being New, both of them being part of the scheme) but pulling the rug off under our feet in the execution (no one else of importane having died after Por, quiet Tan being the one to murder people while decisive Phee is crying about, etc). Which gives me the feeling that it will be the same here and that Phee is much more of a mastermind than he's been whining on to Jin.

Speaking of Jin, it would also explain why Phee has been investigating him specifically. They might have been trying to determine if he'd done anything, had leaked the video or not. When push came to shove, Phee played the honesty card to get him to confess. And. He. Did.

Not to say Phee doesn't have genuine feelings for Jin, and that it doesn't make him feel torn and confused. But the fact that they banged right after Jin reminded him of Non more strongly also isn't something I'd ignore.

Anyway, I'm getting tired, short version :

Tl;dr :

I think Phee and Non's relationship was actually much stronger than we've been shown, that Phee knows Non is alive because he's the only person Non would have contacted and works with him. He was tasked with keeping New away from all this because Non doesn't want him to get hurt, but also doesn't trust him enough to tell him anything (remember that New was defined by his absence prior to Non's disappearance, only there to serve as a hurtful point of comparison, and that he wasn't close at all to Non to begin with, regardless of how much he regrets now ; I don't think Non factored New would go that far for him in his plan). The revenge plot is already underway for Non, and Phee is trying to keep things going the way they should.

Here it is. It was itching my brain and I slept very badly because of it, but I AM NOW FREE.

[monmelia]

Monmelia Analysis Part 1: Challenge, Timing & Soulmates (20x03)

Fourteen years ago, my love for shipping began with Brittany and Santana from Glee. They were my first ship—foundational to my experience as a closeted teenager—and while they might not have been perfect, they were everything I needed at the time.

Now, in my thirties and confident in my sexual identity, I didn’t expect to feel that invested in a ship again. I’ve enjoyed seeing other wlw couples on screen, but none ever stirred the same level of attachment—until Monica and Amelia from Grey’s Anatomy (Monmelia) came along. Their dynamic brings me back to those early days of following every hint of a storyline. Watching them, I find myself excited by the possibility of watching a meaningful, slow-burn romance unfold.

I love writing, and I love analysing, so I figured while Monmelia are still in their early stages, it’s a good time to start up an analysis blog of my own. Back in my Brittana fandom days, I used to love reading stuff like this, soaking up all the content I could get and living off the mere breadcrumbs the writers gave us. This feels no different. I plan on writing a blog per episode (where they feature) and just giving my potentially delusional but hopefully insightful thoughts on all of their interactions/scenes etc. But like I said, I love analysing, so if there’s anything I miss that you want me to analyse, just ask! I’m excited to go on their journey with them, so if you’re reading along too, enjoy, and hopefully the writers are kind to us!

So taking it back to the start of Monmelia, all my feelings and observations are below.

As a long-running character on the show it makes sense to start with Amelia. She seems to be a controversial character amongst the wider Grey’s fandom, but having binged all of her Private Practice backstory and really getting to understand her, she’s undoubtedly one of my favourites. She’s loyal to her loved ones, resilient to the core, super caring and incredibly misunderstood. Her history with love has been pretty tumultuous, and I, like many others, just want to see her settle down and find her person. 

“I have fallen in love so many times in my life, and it feels like a roller coaster. It feels thrilling and consuming and sickening and desperate, and this did not feel like that. This... I think I felt seen? I felt known. And, I didn't fall in love... I kind of slid into it, like two puzzle pieces that just kind of fit.” - Amelia Shepherd (18x20)

Taking Amelia’s own analysis on her love life into consideration, it’s safe to say her relationships have always been somewhat chaotic. Despite best intentions, the relationships haven’t provided the grounding stability she so desperately needs. At the point when Amelia makes this observation she is talking about her relationship experiences prior to Kai Barley. Relationships that were fuelled by passion and urgency, often amplified by her own emotional struggles and history of addiction, which brought both intensity and instability into her romantic life.

Amelia’s reflection on her relationship with Kai highlights a different kind of connection—one based on mutual understanding, acceptance, and emotional safety. She highlights the feeling of being “seen” , indicating a love that acknowledges her as a whole person, flaws included. It suggests a level of emotional intimacy and stability she hadn’t experienced before, where she feels accepted rather than overwhelmed. The metaphor of “sliding into” love, like “two puzzle pieces that just kind of fit,” captures a sense of natural compatibility, a relationship that feels right without force or drama. A kind of love that is comforting, subtle, and enduring, contrasting with her prior experiences that were more about immediate intensity.

We of course know that this relationship with Kai didn’t work out for Amelia in the long term, but I think it’s important to discuss, as it shows Amelia’s growth in her concept of love. Instead of chasing exhilarating but destabilising relationships, she finds herself pursuing a love that feels effortless and affirming—a connection that brings peace, mutual respect, and a sense of belonging, rather than an overwhelming rush of passion. However unfortunate it is that it didn’t work out, it still feels like a turning point in Amelia’s personal journey with love. 

Admittedly I’m not a huge fan of Amelia’s relationship with Kai, and I feel Kai led Amelia on and that Amelia looks at the relationship through rose tinted glasses when making that statement, but my own personal feelings aside I want to look at the relationship focusing solely on Amelia’s part in it. Because although Amelia describes it as a love that doesn’t make her feel desperate, we see her exhibiting needy behaviour towards the end of the relationship when Kai is moving to London. As soon as the move is announced, Amelia’s sole focus is on finding a solution to help Kai stay, without taking Kai’s desires into consideration.

“From the minute I told you about London, which is the biggest career opportunity of my life, you have made it about you. There were no words of encouragement or congratulations. No acknowledgement of how hard I worked for this.” - Kai Bartley (19x15)

And listen, I get it. It’s not that Amelia is being intentionally selfish, it’s that she’s so crippled by her deep fear of abandonment, an issue that has shaped her relationships and reactions throughout her life. For Amelia, the prospect of losing someone important triggers a defensive, almost desperate response to hold on tightly—a reaction that often leads her to prioritise her own emotional needs over her partner’s happiness and success. And again, it’s not that she doesn’t care about Kai’s success, but the abandonment is at the forefront of her brain, and so all she can think about is providing solutions to prevent that from happening.

Another layer to this dynamic is Amelia’s tendency to seek validation and stability through her relationships. She craves reassurance that her partner will stay, particularly after facing so much upheaval and loss in her life. This leads her to focus on her need for closeness, security, and continuity in the relationship rather than allowing space for Kai’s achievements and aspirations to be celebrated. Her behaviour in this situation highlights a recurring struggle to balance her own needs with those of her partner—a theme we’ve seen in her past relationships as well.

I guess my overriding point here is that I don’t think Amelia has met a partner that has been a true equal for her yet. It’s been more about how they’ve made Amelia feel, and less about how Amelia has added value to their life. She frequently looks to her partner to provide validation, security and love instead of doing the inner work necessary to cultivate this herself. She becomes attached quickly, often without considering her partner’s needs or how she can contribute positively to the relationship. 

For instance, with Owen, Amelia’s trauma and issues around motherhood led her to rely on him for emotional support, but she struggled to communicate openly, which hindered any real connection. Her fear of vulnerability meant that instead of showing up for Owen in the way he needed, she frequently pulled away, avoiding conversations about her trauma, motherhood, and her real needs.

Similarly, with Link, Amelia found someone steady and reliable, and she leaned on him during a time when she was navigating pregnancy and the uncertainties of motherhood. Yet when the relationship demanded a deeper level of self-awareness and mutual support, Amelia’s insecurities resurfaced, leading her to withdraw. She questioned whether she wanted the stability and family structure Link offered, revealing her ambivalence and a lack of personal clarity. Rather than growing with Link, Amelia leaned on him as a source of comfort and stability without fully committing to the relationship or working through her underlying issues.

And then with Kai, whom Amelia felt “seen” and “known” by, her attachment quickly became about what Kai could do for her emotionally, providing her with a sense of affirmation. When Kai’s career goals and reluctance about parenthood clashed with Amelia’s desires, her initial reaction was to convince them to stay rather than supporting Kai’s achievements or seeing things from their perspective.

And this dynamic illustrates a common theme for Amelia: she seeks out relationships as a means of avoiding loneliness, filling emotional gaps, or validating her self-worth. The result is often an imbalance where her needs take precedence, leaving little room for her partners’ needs or her own personal growth. 

For the record, I love Amelia, and I’m absolutely not saying she’s the problem in all of her relationships. Believe me I could talk at length about the various failings from her previous significant others, but this blog is focusing on Amelia and Monica, and so I think it’s important to reflect on where she’s at when Monica comes into the picture. 

Because what I want for Amelia more than anything, is to see her confront her traumas and insecurities independently and build her self-worth from within rather than relying on a partner to provide this for her. I want her to do the work so she doesn’t need to be dependent on others to feel whole. And then I want her to find a lasting, healthy love who challenges her and embraces her flaws, and loves her for exactly who she is. And I want her to do that for them in return, and to show up for her partner in ways I know she’s so capable of (because duh, she’s so damn loyal and caring and loving), because her own insecurities will no longer be in the way.

And this is exactly what I think Monica is going to be for her. And it’s the reason why I love them so much and why I plan to analyse every little moment, because call me delulu, but I’m so sure the arc is setting them up for this dynamic. I’m sure that Monica is going to be Amelia’s end game, and she’s going to enrich Amelia’s life in ways we can’t even imagine right now (and vice versa).

And I’m sure of this, because we’ve already seen snippets of this, because at the time of writing this they’ve just aired 21x05 which was so pivotal to their story IMO, but this is an ep by ep blog so more on that later.

But in essence, we already saw growth from Amelia in changing her concept of love during her relationship with Kai, but with Monica I feel we’re going to see even more growth in terms of a truly balanced partnership due to the fact Amelia is going to shift the emphasis of finding fulfilment via someone else.

Because when we meet Monica in 20x03, Amelia is already working towards being in that space. She light-heartedly tells Meredith that she’s got a cat because she’s given up on finding a human soulmate. This is important because it shows that since her fairly recent breakup with Kai, Amelia has opted to do something for herself that will meet her emotional needs, outside of a romantic relationship. It would be easy for Amelia to seek happiness from a meaningless rebound or jump into another relationship, but instead she decides to heal and directs her energy on doing something for herself.

The other important factor of that scene is the timing. And timing is something I feel will be discussed a lot in this blog. Just as Amelia is talking about giving up on her human soulmate, we get our first proper introduction to Monica as she beeps her horn at Amelia. In the context of the scene, she beeps because Amelia has taken her parking spot, but I can’t help but think that this is foreshadowing. As viewers we see Monica beep loudly right after Amelia’s statement of giving up on love, as if to say “Don’t give up yet, I’m right here!”. When someone honks their horn at you, it’s often startling and unexpected, much like Amelia’s romance (or crush for now) with Monica is. I don’t think Amelia is planning on finding love. She’s healing, seemingly working on herself and has declared she’s given up.

It’s apt (but also always the way it happens because there’s no better time for a relationship than when you’re hyper focused on yourself) that Monica would come in at this time. Nothing can convince me that the timing of Amelia announcing she’s given up on her soulmate coinciding with Monica’s first scene isn’t significant.

I could further deep this by analysing the fact Monica is distracted on her phone. She’s not paying attention until Amelia takes her spot. She only notices the spot becomes free when Amelia takes it, and then she gets all mad at her. It could possibly foreshadow the wider dynamic of Monica being too distracted by her divorce to pursue anything with Amelia, and perhaps like with the parking spot situation, Amelia will have to do something to get her attention (not necessarily intentional) and prompt Monica to realise her feelings and make her notice. It would be an interesting future parallel if this plays out. Of course this is all just speculation and we have no idea where the writers are going to go with this. And do I think the writers put this much attention to detail into callbacks and parallels? No. But I definitely think there’s a lot of intentional set up between these two. The soulmate line at the very least. And Amelia stealing Monica's parking spot like she's about to steal her heart.

Then we get to the scene in the hospital and both Monia and Amelia are surprised to find they’re working together after the earlier parking incident. Amelia is visibly embarrassed and it shows in her demeanour, and there’s clear tension in the air, but they put it aside to care of their patient. Monica immediately challenges Amelia, she talks over her during the consult and it clearly catches Amelia off guard and causes her some frustration. Monica is new to the hospital, so it could be that she’s trying to establish her authority. It sets a precedent of tension for them in their first few scenes, but more importantly it sets a precedent of Monica challenging and pushing Amelia further than she’s used to being pushed.

We see this dynamic explored further when they’re discussing surgical options for their patient. Amelia immediately dismisses Monica’s idea and Monica retorts by telling her to take a minute to think about it. Though Amelia is initially defensive to the suggestion, and Monica is seemingly unfazed by Amelia’s admission that she’s the Chief of Neurosurgery (plus the fact she doesn’t know Amelia), we can surmise that Monica is instantly confident in Amelia’s surgical abilities. She’s confident enough to challenge her and push her boundaries, and she knows she can get more out of Amelia. When we translate that to a future romantic relationship, it’s a good dynamic to have, and I think Amelia would really benefit from a partner who isn’t afraid to challenge her and push her to go deeper than she’s used to going. 

When Amelia is reluctant, Monica notes that impatience must be her thing. From the minute I heard this I assumed it was going to have deeper meaning to their arc, and knowing what we know now about Monica going through a divorce and not being ready for a serious relationship, I’m sure this is going to be significant for them. My initial thoughts at this point are that it’s going to be a slow burn and Monica isn’t going to be ready for a relationship for some time. They’ll undoubtedly grow closer, and Amelia is going to inevitably feel some impatience waiting for the relationship to progress. Perhaps she’ll even move on herself. I feel like this comment from Monica will for sure be a future parallel in which Amelia just needs to be patient to get her girl.

Amelia later confides in Richard that she is being pushed by the new peds surgeon to consider an alternative option that has more risks. Could that be foreshadowing Monica pushing Amelia to consider alternative options to love with more risks? Because with soulmate love, of course comes more risk of being hurt. He also notably points out that Monica is a boundary pusher, and draws comparison between her and Amelia. This has to be symbolic and perhaps a sign that both of them are going to push boundaries and open up new depths in each other.

Monica’s pushing works and Amelia figures out an alternative option. Yay for cute girlfriend knowing her full potential.

“Finally!” Amelia says as Monica and Blue enter the room.

“You do know we were waiting for you, right?” Monica flirts playfully responds.

The delusional deep thinker in me wants to say that this could be another potential foreshadow into their arc. Because although we know Monica isn’t going to be initially ready for a relationship with Amelia, it could be that the dynamic switches and in true Grey’s style, Monica will realise she’s ready just as Amelia has either started to move on (albeit casually) or maybe she’s just decided to stay single and focus on herself (which tbh would be huge growth for her), Basically, by the time Monica comes around, maybe Amelia just isn’t going to be available anymore (whether that be emotionally or physically). So when they finally get it together, it could be that they both had to do an element of waiting but in different ways. So for Amelia it’s like “Finally!” since she made the first move, but maybe it’s actually Amelia who delays them actually being together, hence Monica’s “You do know we were waiting for you.” But again, this is all just speculation. It could just be that the scenes are what they are at face value and there’s no deeper meaning. But I definitely think all this talk around patience and taking time has to mean something. There’s too many references to it.

The whole episode centres on Monica influencing Amelia to take time and have patience, and the success that follows when she does that, so it’s interesting to think how this could apply to a romantic relationship between them. It’s even more pivotal given their dynamic, and the obstacles between them on both sides (Monica’s divorce and Amelia’s own issues she needs to work on).

Time is clearly going to be of the essence for them, and I kind of hope that if they do go down the route of Amelia holding them up getting together that it’s because she’s decided to work on herself as opposed to her moving on with someone else, because that would be the ultimate growth for her. For her to have Monica finally want to date her but for her to be strong enough to say no until she’s ready and healthy in her own self, just like how Monica waits to date Amelia until she's ready and had dealt with the issues that came with her divorce. That would be symbolic of the message in this episode around patience and timing and how taking the alternative longer route can lead to the more successful ending, so I hope that’s what this episode was foreshadowing.

If Monica and Amelia could translate the way they work together, communicate and find solutions as effectively as they do in surgery to a romantic relationship, I’m telling you, they’d be a dream team!

“I’m thinking you’re much more effective when you take your time.”- Monica Beltram (20x03)

Could that quote from Monica be in relation to the context of the episode with Amelia finding an alternative option to the surgical procedure? Yes. But the deep thinker in me wants to believe it foreshadows Amelia either  a) Taking her time in waiting for Monica to come around by being her supportive friend during her divorce in the meantime, b) Taking the time to work on herself before pursuing a relationship with Monica, just like Monica has done with her by not jumping into anything.

Or it could be both?

Or neither.

Even the lighter scenes in this episode feel meaningful. Whether it be the bashful back and forth of “go ahead” when they reach for the same scrub brush, the persistent challenge from Monica or the lingering glances during surgery, there’s a clear set up of underlying tension right from the start with these two.

After a successful surgery, they’re told they make a great team, and Monica glances at Amelia. Before Amelia can fully acknowledge this, she hears the door slam and Monica has left. Perhaps a metaphorical sign of things to come with Monica not being ready to embrace everything between them?

But I can’t help but agree that Monica and Amelia are a great team, and as you can probably tell by my ramblings, I think that their dynamic at work could absolutely extend to a romantic relationship. 

And I’m optimistic enough to say I think this could be the relationship that Amelia needs. But also, one that Monica needs. And I’m excited to find out more about Monica as a character. But ultimately I think it will be a relationship that is going to equally push them both to grow. A relationship that’s all about challenge and timing and patience, but most importantly, about soulmates.

So Amelia, I hope you haven’t given up on finding your human soulmate. Because Monica is right there!

I hope you enjoyed reading my ramblings, I try and make it as cohesive as possible I swear. I’ve already started writing up my thoughts on 20x04 so I hope you stick around for that, and for whatever else the Monmelia journey brings!

[cityelf]

My brain is trapped in a box labelled "worst hypothetical episodes of Glee based on the concept of the show existing at an earlier point of time in history"

It's September 1997. The world is mourning the People's Princess. Schue inexplicably decides the best way to pay tribute to Oor Di is by compiling a jukebox musical in her honour. Rachel is immediately furious at the baseless assumption that Quinn will get the lead role based on looks alone. Naturally this is solved by auditions being held blindfolded, culminating in the horror of everyone involved when Kurt's pearly pipes snag him the role of Princess Diana with a gut-wrenching rendition of Don't Cry For Me Argentina

December 1969. Schue gives everyone the assignment to pick a historically significant event from the 60s to inspire their performances for a big NYE bash they've been invited to perform at, for some reason. The writers shoehorn Mercedes into celebrating MLK JR's I Have A Dream Speech, obviously. Finn picks the assassination of JFK, but confuses him with Abraham Lincoln and dresses accordingly. Brittany and Santana do a gorgeous tribute to Marilyn Monroe. Rachel, highly inappropriately, picks the Vietnam War. Kurt does Stonewall. Almost every single song is a Beatles cover.

The Ides of March. Yes, the original one. Exploited travelling band of Greek entertainers, Νέες κατευθύνσεις, are roped into the plot to stab Caesar. They do the ancient Greek equivalent of Hit Me Baby One More Time as good ol' Jules gets got.

The crucifixion of christ is low-hanging fruit

Although, Lady Gaga's Judas is right there,

[hotdamnitsmoony]

what i think the marauders favourite tv show would be - based on my favs :)

james - stranger things. he’d watch it because everyone was raving about it and then become emotionally invested in the characters. he thinks the concept of the monsters is really cool but also very terrifying. he’d definitely make everyone else watch it too, and he’d be mouthing along the lines while they did. his favourite character would be steve harrington, because i think they’re pretty similar. the episode he’d like the most would be s4 ep6.

regulus - the rain on netflix. it’s a kinda disturbing show about an apocalyptic world where the rain literally kills you if it touches you and there’s a whole thing with sibling betrayal and i just feel like he’d eat it up. his favourite character would be lea or kira. he would really love dystopian and apocalyptic shows in general tbh. his favourite episode would be the cult one, because it explores religion in an apocalyptic world.

sirius - greys anatomy. i’ve said this before but he would secretly LOVE greys, even if he won’t admit it. his favourite character is addison montgomery, closely followed by mark sloan. the episode he likes the most is the musical episode but if you ask him, he hates it. also he would so do the superhero pose amelia shepherd does before her surgeries before he does anything important.

remus - the society. it’s a dark, weird and kinda obscure show that only had one season because of covid but he’d love it. he’d bring it up in conversation with everyone and ask them what they’d do if all adults suddenly disappeared, which would obviously have varying responses. he’d complain about not getting a satisfying ending to it all the time. his favourite character is sam or kelly definitely. he can’t choose a favourite episode because literally so much happens in every one.

lily - the good place. i’ve also said this before, but i just genuinely think she’d love it. it’s a show that she would watch while knitting or studying, because it’s easy to follow and funny. she’d definitely quote it a lot and it’d create some great & healthy conversations between the marauders about mortality, morals and death. her favourite character is janet!

pandora - a series of unfortunate events. she’d love this show wholeheartedly. it’s so messy and reminds her of the odd things that seem to keep happening to her. she’d know the “that’s not how the story goes” song and sing it all the time, though she’d change the lyrics to fit whatever situation or drama is going on. her favourite character is sunny, and she started wearing more bows in her hair because of violet! her favourite episode would be s2 ep3!

mary - desperate housewives. she would love the drama, the betrayals and the overall storylines. she’d know every little thing about it, from all the names of lynette’s children to mrs mccluskey’s backstory. her favourite character is gabby solis and she will take no criticism. her favourite episode is the one where carlos’ mum falls down the stairs.

marlene - glee. i genuinely believe she’d know every single big song and wouldn’t stop singing them. you hear “Don’t Stop Belivin’” being sung (badly) in the hallway? it’s marlene. her favourite character is santana lopez and she knows the entire monologue that she says to kurt in season 6. she constantly complains about this show but really does love it. her favourite episode is the klaine & brittana wedding!

dorcas - heartbreak high! she’d love the petty drama and storylines that happen in this show, and she’d so create her own “map” but put concealment charms on it because unlike harper and amerie she’s smart enough not to get caught. her favourite character would be ca$h or harper, and the episode she likes the most would be ep4.

barty - how to sell drugs online (fast)! this show is so hilarious and i really think he’d enjoy it. he’d smell the plot twists coming a mile away but he’d still love it, and probably make evan watch it with him. his favourite character is moritz because he’s just such an idiot and he sort of reminds him of himself, though i feel like he’d love lisa too. he would say that he doesn’t have a favourite episode because he loved it all.

evan - the umbrella academy. he would compare the dysfunctional family to the marauders nonstop. he’d love the way it explores time travel and superpowers, and would spend hours in the library researching if it was possible because he’d get hyper fixated on it of course. his favourite character is klaus (no surprise there lol) and he literally cried during that one episode in season 3. his favourite episode is the first ever one.

(as always, these are my own opinions!! i’ve personally watched all these shows and love them all very much!! this took a while to make but we move who needs a sleep schedule anyway. )

[faafi]

I know you mentioned your favourite episodes, but do you have a favourite scene or favourite moment from Loonatics Unleashed? Or a favourite villain?

Admittedly, while writing my response, I realized that my all time favorite moments of this entire show are from fanfictions (LOL). I think that this says a lot about the creativity of the Loonatics Unleashed fandom; this fandom is very willing to experiment with the show's concepts and characters. I love how much this fandom has added to my enjoyment of this show. It fills me with lots of joy to read other people's interpretations of this show's characters and setting...

Okay. With that out of the way, here is my actual answer:

One of my personal favorite moments of the entire show is in the episode Going Underground (season 1, episode 5).

Here is some context for why this is my favorite LU scene:

I became interested in general Looney Tunes via The Looney Tunes Show (specifically the reactions by Spilling the Milk, a YouTube trio that watches cartoons).

My first exposure to Loonatics Unleashed was through this video (Rev and Tech's Best Moments). This scene (shown above) was the third clip of the video. And I vividly recall the SHOCK that I felt when I first watched it.

My jaw was agape. Honestly, I think that I screamed. Even if I didn't scream, I was definitely shocked.

At this time, I still wasn't used to Rev talking so quickly, and so I was caught off guard by how much Rev said in such a short time.

I have replayed this scene an inordinate amount of times, and I can't stop loving it. Everything is perfect. The vocal delivery from Rev's voice actor (Rob Paulsen) is HILARIOUS. This scene clearly shows Rev's best qualities: he is talkative, nice, and accomodating. The other Loonatics walking to view the scene is COMEDY GOLD. Here, Rev's dialogue is PERFECT. LITERALLY PERFECT.

IT'S SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This clip solidified Rev x Tech in my mind.

Other than this scene, pretty much any TechRev interaction is a favorite of mine (especially in The Family Business and The Heir From Up There). I can recite certain portions of Rev and Tech's interactions since their banter is really fun.

Furthermore, most of the scenes that include Rev are my favorites, too. However, there is a special type of Rev scene that vivifies me.

All of these scenes include Rev being overjoyed while he is stimming:

(top: The Comet Cometh; bottom left: Weathering Heights; bottom right: Sypher)

I can only partially describe the glee that I get from these scenes, but I will try...

I LOVE HIM SO MUCH I CAN'T HANDLE IT

FJIRKPHMKFSLJMBLJPQJFDFSDFWETJQPEEJGMXZB

JUST LOOK AT HIM

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EVEN ACE IS HAPPY TO SEE REV'S HAPPINESS

IT'S SO PERFECT

MY CHILD DESERVES TO BE HAPPY

LET HIM TALK!

(my live reaction to seeing the these scenes for the first time)

*end rant*

As for my favorite villain, I think that it's a toss-up between Melvin the Martian and Mastermind.

Yes, I know that these two villains are from my favorite episodes, but they both are so good in their respective roles.

For Melvin, it is incredibly apparent that Melvin has full capability of destroying Acmetropolis. And so, the Loonatics needed to use more than their powers or Tech's technology to defeat him.

As for Mastermind, her previous connections with Tech's past and her manipulation of technology is really well done. Her infiltration of the Loonatics HQ is really smart, and if Tech did not have the EMP, then Mastermind would have won.

To summarize, both villains have actual stakes; they can't only be beaten by Tech's technology. This is way better than an episode like Loonatics on Ice, where Tech's "Retro Fire Master Blaster" just fails to melt the iceberg. I have no idea why Tech's technology failed to melt the iceberg. If anything, this just feels like it is discrediting Tech's knowledge.

In contrast, both villains' powers requires the entire team to unite together. It's great.

Also, both of these villains are just iconic. At least to me. They are A LOT more iconic than other villains like the Ice Vikings or Adolpho.

Thanks for the question!

[thegeminisage]

wow it is star trek update time. last night we watched ds9's "blood oath" and tng's "journey's end," which is one of the strongest quality ricochets we've had yet.

blood oath (ds9):

okay, so the summary said "three klingon legends" but what i didn't realize is that they were all REAL KLINGONS FROM THE ORIGINAL SERIES

i have to pain this picture for you, whoever is reading this. the three klingons in this episode appeared in "errand or mercy" "the trouble with tribbles" and "day of the dove." like, they really came back to reprise their roles almost 30 years later. i'm going to paste a picture but uhtw 60s blackface

now, if you're a tos viewer, you may recognize that fella in the middle as also having played the titular squire of gothos in. "squire of gothos." now, as an episode, i find "squire of gothos" to be pretty mid, but there is one specific scene that really did something for me. to me? it did something TO me. what it did to me was send me off the fucking deep end, i wish i could convey the depths of my madness with human words

(still screenshot grabbed from this infinitely more amazing gifset, give it up for @maulthots for enabling me, no literally please go through her gif tag and reblog her gifs)

anyway, before my good and wonderful friend so kindly made this gifset for me, i did maybe sit in front of my pc and replay the clip upwards of [mumble] times a day because i was very, very unwell. when i watched this scene for the very first time what happened to me in that single instant was the bone-deep realization that james t kirk (tos and aos) ate fascists on tarsus iv, probably, and he'd fucking do it again because nobody tastes better than a fascist! i wrote an entire fanfic about it, sorry for the spoilers.

what does squire of gothos and tarsus iv have to do with ds9? well first of all every star trek episode is secretly about tarsus iv so jot that down

but secondly, i've watched this clip so many times i have to hide my face when this man shows up in trouble with tribbles. now, i'm not so good with faces, but i KNOW THAT VOICE. but i know him AS the squire of gothos. i frequently forget entirely that he also plays a klingon, so i didn't recognize his name. so when i heard the squire of gothos's voice come out of a random klingon's mouth in ds9 my immediate kneejerk reaction was "no i am hearing things that can't be--" BUT IT WAS. i PAUSED the episode so i could look iy up, realized that the guy in the drunk tank was kor or "do you have a tongue you will be taught to use it" fame, and then to my eternal glee, kang shows up next

i remembered reading once that kang came back later and i was like ??? no one comes back later on tos BUT HE DID! I JUST HAD TO WAIT FOR IT!!!!! mystery finally solved...........

once i recognized them this episode was a blast. absolutely loving these 100 year old klingons getting ready for a rip roaring rampage of supercentenarian revenge. i was VERY sad that they died at the end but at least presumably they all died together (didnt see the last one go down but im just assuming he lived long enough to eat the albino's heart and then die)

(the albino is a really funny concept by the way like he's not even albino he's just a white klingon)

other notable things about this episode: firstly, quark hiding behind odo at the beginning. classic. secondly, dax actually being a good fighter ?!?!?! and finally, a true passing of the bechdel test where dax asked kira some alarming and upsetting questions about killing people and kira immediately took her aside and MADE her talk. i love. Women. and also women who murder people. i support womens wrongs.

i even love that the ONE time sisko doesn't back up one of his people it's for a good reason (doesn't want the 27yo reincarnation of his father figure to die on a klingon suicide mission)

10000/10, absolutely stellar ep, zero complaints

journey's end (tng):

oh boy.

just about the coldest bucket of fucking water...

you know, we tried to give this episode the benefit of the doubt actually. we were like "maybe this was progressive in 1994. i mean they ARE saying that moving these guys forcibly would be bad" and i mean like what would we know about what was progressive in 94? we were 5. so we checked and um i don't think anybody liked it in 1994 either

devastating that THIS has to be a wesley episode bc i wanted a better sendoff for my boy. "i had a vision and now i'm leaving starfleet" and yes they said the word vision in the most derogatory way possible. jesus christ

TRAVELER ALIEN RACEFAKING? HE PRETENDED TO BE NATIVE AMERICAN TO GIVE WESLEY THE VISION? and then he was like haha don't you know all that stuff is fake. (picard earlier in this episode "i am sooo respectful of your beliefs")

furthermore when picard was like "oh yeah this guy blames me for the crimes of my colonizer ancestor" girl at no point did he say that. idk if white people should go around accusing other white people of white guilt so i don't say this lightly but jesus christ captain picard can you tone it the fuck down buddy

i came across a gifset today of picard from season 5 (idr the episode) going "starfleet doesn't want officers who blindly follow orders sayign you're just following orders has been used to justify too many tragedies in our history" and then smash cut to this episode where he's like "well i tried but yeah i'm gonna have to move you sowwy :/" like good lord.

anyway it's a bummer these last few eps of tng have been less than great bc ik tng is capable of good episodes and i was hoping this series would go out on a high note. but it's going to end the same way it began with us waiting for something good to happen and throwing popcorn at picard

TONIGHT: ds9's "the maquis part i" and tng's "firstborn." i am Braced. for trouble.

[backjustforberena]

I've been thinking since yesterday about the purpose of revealing the truth about Corlys's betrayal to Rhaenys, especially just before dying: there will never be enough time to truly understand the repercussions of such a wound. Furthermore, the fact that Corlys will still welcome his children into his family, legitimize them, and name them heirs, despite these being his last conversations with Rhaenys, makes me even more uneasy.

What are your thoughts on this?

Hello! Firstly, just to say I'm typing this on my mobile so apologies for any autocorrect mishaps or spelling errors I fail to spot.

I'd also like to preface this by saying, I'm taking it as it comes. I'm not speculating or assuming anything to come to any concrete opinion before an episode airs or events happen. It's easy to say Corlys will do all of these things but it's bad to claim to know how, why or what will actually occur. We don't yet know the motivation, headspace, emotions, concerns or politics that will drive any of these future events with Corlys and the Hull brothers.

For example, there is the nuclear option: Rhaenys dies, Corlys rubs his hands in glee and thinks "now I can do this, I'm so happy to finally bring my sons into the picture, this solves everything". I do not think that will be the case for many, MANY reasons.

An alternative, which may happen or may not, is that Corlys, deeply hurt by yet another loss, sees war coming and seeks to secure his seat in the case of his death: both prospective heirs from his discussion with Rhaenys are inexperienced, untested, too young and also far, far away. If he falls in the heat of battle, then the Velaryon Fleet would be leaderless and faltering. However, a terrible yet prudent option is a sailor with his blood. Alyn is a good option on merit. And the only way to secure that is to legitimise him. Perhaps it's even Jace's suggestion. Or Rhaenyra's. It doesn't HAVE to come from Corlys, only accepted by him. And perhaps he just wants blood around him: people he can trust, after a pillar of his life has been taken away. Folding this decision into the grief of losing his wife isn't an insurmountable challenge, to me. Is that blasphemous?

My point is, there are many ways to go about it. It doesn't have to be intrinsically against the memory of his wife. It's doesn't have to be a game plan or a callous action. It doesn't negate the deep love he feels for her or the fact that he would probably want it any other way.

Corlys is a deeply flawed man. He will no doubt do things that Rhaenys may have disagreed with as we move forward. But she won't be there. And that very fact changes everything. He will not be able to cleave and cling to every idea and wish she had. If she spoke to him of showing mercy to someone or not being overly violent or reckless in war, and he does something she would have opposed, is he spitting on her memory then? Or only in this?

My larger opinion on the conversation that he and Rhaenys have is that it's not to do with the succession at all, simply Corlys's headspace and mortality. He's not in that conversation thinking about Addam and Alyn because it's not an option because it only becomes an option due to Rhaenys dying. And Corlys cannot fathom her dying. He pushes the conversation away for reasons other than some secret plan to hopefully install his secret son on the Driftwood Throne.

We don't know what Rhaenys will know. We don't know how she will feel, how Corlys will feel, how everyone will feel (like Rhaenyra, Jace, Baela). We don't know how the Hull brothers feel. We don't know the circumstances surrounding their conception. The relationship they have with Corlys. From what we have seen, Alyn does NOT seem eager for Corlys's approval, nor does he seem massively ambitious at all. He doesn't want a thing from Corlys.

Like I said, I'm taking it as it comes. I know that's a bit crappy if you wanted a bombastic answer, but there we are.

It is heartbreaking that Rhaenys and Corlys will have this right before she dies. The line that stuck with me in the last episode was: And if there is no time? But that's the point. You're right, we won't know the repercussions. It will never be solved or settled or worked through. Rhaenys is dead. Whatever could have been... won't. It's ended.

This is a tragedy.

You asked about the purpose. That is the purpose. Tragedy. The fascinating thing for me, coming into this series, is that, actually, for three episodes... I don't think Alyn and Addam have affected Corlys and Rhaenys's relationship at all. I was expecting them to be a real wedge, very present, with it all being there from the start with Rhaenys. An elephant in the room. We haven't had that. Rhaenys has visited the docks once. She's met neither Addam or Alyn. Corlys has only interacted with Alyn and the relationship is only hinted at.

Instead, their issues comes from everything else: from their individual arcs and flaws as well as a shared pressure on them both. I don't know if I'm articulating this very well... it just surprised me, I guess. It's so much more subtle than I thought.

Corlys's fear to engage with Rhaenys isn't the dramatic idea of trying to hide this from her or worried she'll find out. Rhaenys's defenses aren't up and she isn't trying to have these tricky conversations with Corlys because she doesn't trust him or she suspects anything. They're just being human.

Sorry. This is a messy ramble that jumps all over the place. I hope that's of use, though. Thank you for sending the ask in. I hope you drop by after the episode airs.

[cyberphuck]

Assassin’s Apprentice Abridged: Part Two

Read Part One (My friend Razz wants to understand my Farseer Trilogy shitposts but doesn’t want to have to actually read the books, so I decided to summarize them. This turned out to be much harder than I thought it would be! Here’s part two of ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE: ABRIDGED!) When we last left our hero, Fitz was a little baby following an old man into a hole in the wall.

"Gosh, Chade," Fitz says, after a wholesome montage of him learning how to steal things and poison people, "I love hanging out with you. It sure is neato to have a friend. I get to do all sorts of pranks around the castle, and once in a while the King even calls me to his rooms to remind me I'm a tool of the Crown!"

"You know what would be really funny?" Chade asks, eyes alight with glee.

Jump cut to Fitz's Twilight-esque depressive episode. He lays in bed for days, staring at the wall, refusing to get up. Burrich comes up to his rooms to ask Fitz what the fuck is going on with him and assumes he's dying.

Fitz can't tell him that Chade asked him to steal from the King and he refused, because everything about Chade is a secret. Burrich doesn't know that Chade told Fitz that if he wasn't game to yoink something from Shrewd's chambers, that he could get the fuck out and never come back.

"Watch this, Shrewd! You can actually pinpoint the second when Fitz's heart rips in half!"

(Burrich tries to cure Fitz's ailment by introducing him to alcoholism. He's like ten.)

Sitting in his room alone and drunk, Fitz starts wailing. He cries and cries until Chade finally comes back down through the secret wall-door to hug him. "Me and Shrewd wanted to see if you were really loyal," he says. "So we traumatized you. We really wanted to introduce you to depression, alcohol, and abject betrayal at a young age and this was the quickest way to do it."

"I want my mommy," Fitz sobs.

"There, there," Chade says, drugging him and leaving.

Later, Fitz is summoned to speak to King Shrewd again, who explains that it was all his idea to give Fitz borderline personality disorder and absolutely does not apologize for it. Fitz takes a knife from the breakfast table in Shrewd's room, brings it back to Chade, and stabs it into the mantle above the fireplace.

I like to think that every time Fitz throws himself into needless danger for the next ten books, Chade looks up at that knife and goes "lol. lmao."

--

"Hey Lil Accident," says Head Scribemaster, "you're pretty good at writing. You wanna be my apprentice?"

"Gosh. I'd get to go places and do things," Fitz marvels. "And almost none of them would involve poisoning people!"

Chade Mission-Impossible drops from the ceiling and hangs above Fitz for long enough to tell him that no, he can't be a scribe's apprentice, for one thing he's already learning to be an assassin, and for another Fitz is kind of an important political tool, being a bastard of a Prince, and someone would definitely murder him.

"Sorry," Fitz tells the Scribemaster, "my uncle said no."

"But you can go down into town and buy some stuff for me, since you've been good," Chade says, reeling back up into the rafters.

Fitz jumps to his feet. "Oh, boy, social interaction! I haven't seen my hoodlum friends in a year! And you know who ELSE I haven't seen in a long time? MY MOM!"

He strides happily past a sad woman in the street wearing an anime mom side ponytail, completely ignoring her in favor of his old friend Molly Nosebleed, who goes by Molly Chandler now that her dad has stopped punching her in the face.

"You're the only girl I know, besides that hysterical woman over there screaming that I'm her son," Fitz says. "I think I have a crush on you."

"Neat," Molly giggles.

Lovestruck Fitz gathers his groceries and heads back up the road to the keep. Princes Verity and Regal ride by, carrying a banner that says "CHIVALRY'S DEAD. THE PRINCE, NOT THE CONCEPT. I MEAN THE CONCEPT IS ALSO DEAD, BUT THE MAIN POINT OF THIS MESSAGE IS THAT PRINCE CHIVALRY FARSEER HAS FALLEN FROM HIS HORSE AND"

Burrich shaves his head. And his beard. And his eyebrows. And his dog's hair. And Fitz's hair too, for good measure. Fitz, rubbing his new buzzcut, says "God, if you loved him so much, maybe you should have married him," and Burrich flings himself into the sea.

"We should be careful," Chade says, later. "Because Chivalry was probably murdered. Anyway, you're going on a road trip. tl;dr one of the dukes isn't properly manning the watchtowers that keep vikings from viking the coast, and Prince Verity has to go deal with it, and you're going with him."

"What's a teal deer?" Fitz asks.

Wandering around outside the castle later, Fitz runs into Shrewd's Fool with a capital F, the albino freak-child that cartwheels around in the King's wake all day.

"Oh no," Fitz says. "Are you lost, little freak child?"

"fjdaklfdafds," says the Fool.

"Come on little fella, I'm not gonna hurt you," Fitz smiles.

"FDAJKFDLALSDFAS," the Fool repeats, louder.

"Do you need an adult?"

The Fool steps up to Fitz, grabs him by the shirt, yanks him down to eye level, and says, "Fitz Fixes a Feist's Fits. Fat Suffices, you fucking beautiful dumbass."

Fitz stares at him.

"I thought you were too dumb to know how words worked," he says finally.

The Fool flips him off and cartwheels away.

"...Weird," Fitz mutters. "Whatever, time to go to NEATBAY! I hope I get to kill somebody!" On the way to Neatbay (in a riding party consisting of Prince Verity and like half the staff of Buckkeep), Fitz pals around with stableboy Hands, and meets Mysterious Old Person Lady Thyme, who is a person that sucks in every way possible.

Hands whispers to Fitz that everyone in Buck knows that Lady Thyme sucks and avoids her. Lady Thyme shrieks that you whippersnappers better not be liking yourselves up there!

Fitz and co. finally arrive in Neatbay. It's a walled city like the place in Attack on Titan, with concentric fortifications like an obstacle course that Vikings have never been able to Vike all the way past (this will not be important again until the next book). It's ruled by Lord Kelvar and his trophy wife and if Kelvar doesn't get off his ass and start manning the watchtowers Fitz might have to poison him to death.

They have dinner. Fitz hates rich people. He eyeballs everybody at the table.

That night before bed, Verity calls Fitz into his room. "What's going on with Lord What's His Face?" He asks the boy.

Fitz explains a very complex situation about how Lord Kelvar is clearly trying to impress his Young Hotness Wife with lots of jewels and shit and his Young Hotness Wife is trying to impress everyone else with her jewels and shit and meanwhile all those jewels and shit could be going to pay to man the watchtowers and the roads, and Kelvar has to take some pride in doing it or else he'll become embittered and...

"I'm going to tell Lord Kelvar to stop being a puss and man the watchtowers," Verity says, and turns over to go to sleep.

Fitz facepalms.

Late in the night, Fitz wakes up starving and ninja-sneaks down to the kitchens to grab a midnight snack. While he's there, a woman comes in with a little doggie wrapped in a blanket.

"My poor little doggie is dying," she sobs. "This type of dog is a small hunting dog called a 'feist,' by the way."

"Hack," says the dog.

"I think your dog is choking on something," Fitz observes, whipping out his stethoscope. "Yeah, there's definitely something jammed down there. Let's get it out. Hold your dog steady."

Fitz finds a long hook, slathers it in butter, and wiggles it down the dog's throat while the dog yowls and pees and scratches the Mysterious Blanket Woman. It takes a minute, but eventually he manages to dislodge a chicken bone from doggie's gullet and they all sit back, panting, while LeVar Burton comes onto the screen and lectures the audience about never letting your pets eat poultry or fish bones and the importance of limiting table scraps and keeping them on a healthy diet. Thanks LeVar!

"You saved my doggie's life," Blanket Woman says, and pulls back her blanket to reveal that she is actually Lord Kelvar's Young Hotness Wife! "I shall repay you in any way you wish."

"I'm thirteen," Fitz says.

"Any way you wish," the woman repeats.

Fitz scratches his head. "Oh! Tell your idiot husband to man the fucking watchtowers before you get Vikinged to death. I mean," he amends, "I had a prophetic vision that a strong and graceful trophy wife spread out her arms to protect the laaand wooooo~"

Then he goes back to bed.

...And is woken up YET AGAIN by a servant telling him that Lady Thyme is demanding his presence down in town.

Oh. Joy.

Fitz gets dressed, saddles up Sooty the horse, rides to the inn that Lady Thyme is staying at, knocks on the door. "I heard you're calling for me," he sighs. "Are you dying or something? Please say you're dying."

Chade opens the door. "Fooled you, boy," he cackles. "I am Lady Thyme! And we have to go to Forge right now."

"You made me empty out a pot full of your shit every single morning for five days," Fitz says.

"Get on your horse," Chade orders, and they're off.

"You know, I've never actually seen you outdoors before," Fitz says as they gallop down the coast. "It's-- are you snorting coke right now?"

Chade sneezes, wiping his nose. "Stay in school."

They ride hell-for-leather for Forge, a little town known for two things: iron exports and being raided by Vikings. They manage to get there twelve hours after the nick of time because Chade had to return some VHS tapes, and find little more than a completely burned-down village and some zombies.

"Chade, are those slow zombies like in Dawn of the Dead, or fast zombies like in the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake?" Fitz asks, watching the zombies shambling around and fighting over pieces of rotten bread and pairs of pants.

"Run," Chade advises, and they do.

On the road out, they pass a bunch of non-zombie survivors moving all their slightly singed possessions to another town. Nobody wants to stay in a town infested with zombies, which the people of the kingdom start calling Forged people, or just Forged, because one of the rules of zombie movies is that none of the characters can say "zombies."

Over the course of the next few months, more and more people are kidnapped by Vikings and Forged, but no one can agree exactly what should be done about it.

And then one night, Fitz is picking his nose alone at a table in the kitchens when another mysterious woman approaches him…

[garoumylove]

The celebratory nature of 'heroism' and why it disgusts Garou and drives his development into a monster

So in my previous text post I talked about how Justice Man was not a good show. Perhaps not objectively, but definitely in Garou's mind. I discussed how Garou did not see Crab Demon as an evil monster but as someone who was misunderstood just trying to do good in this world.

To Garou, Justice Man seems to have confirmed his lived experience and world view that you can do anything and hurt anyone as long as you're strong and popular. And if you're not cool and popular, you will always be beaten and humiliated. Not for any good reason, not for anything you've done, but just because you don't happen to be handsome/popular/strong/charismatic etc.

I'd like to continue in this vein and talk about the celebratory nature of defeating a monster.

As we know, in fairytales, in children's stories, the monster being defeated is a cause for celebration, a celebration of good triumphing over evil. Often, the monster, or its dead body is jeered at, humiliated as it is being defeated and I think this is a very important concept to discuss.

I have already talked about how to Garou there are monsters and there are 'monsters'. @mrzardark made an excellent point to me about cartoon monsters being an established concept but the real living breathing monsters in the OPM universe are a relatively new phenomenon that did not exist when Garou was a small child. Garou, as a child, was rooting for his cartoon monsters that didn't seem evil to him. They were just outcasts like him. He cheered for the monster not because he wnated evil to win, but because he wanted an outcast, an underdog to win. Evil was what everyone else called those cartoon monsters and so he decided he was on the side of 'evil'. Not because he relished in evil but that's because that's what the outcast and underdog was labeled as. I'm not going to go on this tangent now but it's pretty clear that as he grew older and life experience made him more bitter he did begin to have dreams of revenge and the actual concept of evil started to creep in there but as a kid, he wasn't rooting for evil. He was rooting for the outcast who had been labeled evil by society and he took that label upon himself in a reclaiming sort of way.

So...in my view, something that disgusts Garou very strongly is how public and celebratory it is to defeat monsters. I think that if in Justice Man, the monsters were defeated and disposed of quietly and anonymously he would have still been frustrated and angry at this but it may not have turned into such a psychopathic obsession and hate for him. He would have still railed against this seemingly inevitable fate of monsters and outcasts but it may have been more tempered.

But what he hates most in heroes is their narcissism. It is their 'showing off' as he sees it. Showing off how they can beat, kill and defeat anyone and anything they want.

When we think back to that flashback of Tatcchan et al. discussing the Crab Demon episode of Justice Man, we notice how Tatcchan and co are excited about it, they speak about it with glee at how the Crab Demon was eliminated. They laugh about how pitiful he looked. They openly and laugh and celebrate the defeat and humiliation of a being Garou empathised with. Monsters (who Garou empathizes with as outcasts) aren't quietly being disposed of and disappeared, it is that their destruction and humiliation seem to be so entertaining and so celebrated. And I think to a sweet natured kid like Garou this is horrifying.

As heroes come on the scene in society, to Garou it seems the same thing is being perpetuated. The heroes kill monsters and are rewarded for it. Celebrated. Given popularity and celebrity status for ruthlessly killing. The thing is though, Garou feels no pity for the actual monsters that they kill. To Garou's eyes, these celebrity-heroes can and do get away with whatever they want simply because they are strong and beautiful and popular. His beef is not that they are killing these real monsters, it's that they are lauded and praised for being, in his view, pompous asses like Tacchan. Because as we know, secretly Garou has his own very noble and idealistic view of what a hero should be, and it's definitely not a narcissistic pompous ass.

Garou's views on the world remain underdeveloped and stunted in this respect. As he grows older, he hasn't let go of that simplistic view of 'heroes are just bullies' and 'monsters are just misunderstood beings'.

I think one of the biggest tragedies of Garou is that it is his kindness and empathy that eventually drives him to this mad rage and monstrous desires. It is because he is so empathetic that he sees Crab Demon as more than just a hideous monster, sees him as a creature who just wanted to protect something precious. It is because he sees the good in what others consider evil or ugly or disgusting or pathetic that he develops such a strong sense of justice. He cannot understand why someone should be abused just because they are different. He cannot understand or accept that this should be his own fate just because he himself is a quiet, gloomy, lonely kid. He feels the unfairness and he comes to a decision that he's not going to be another one of society's whipping boys. He is not going to let himself be defeated or humiliated while others cheer on his downfall, his persecution. And so he decides to first reclaim that outcast/monster role and make it something strong and fearsome. Something that no one would ever want to mess with. He will be the beacon of hope for the strange, the lonely, the pathetic, the weak. He will turn the tables on those vapid, popular heroes and other members of society. And then he will, in this monstrous form, become a twisted force for good. He will take away the power of the strong and popular by becoming the strongest himself so in society there will no longer be the weak and the strong. There will only be everyone united against him.

It's a strange sort of martyrdom. In his head, it is noble. In his head, in theory, it works.

But unfortunately for him, it's nothing but a pipe dream because his behaviour amounts to not much better than the heroes he despises: just crush anything you don't like.

Despite his bravado and cockiness, inside he carries a deep insecurity that prevents him from taking the real noble route of leading by example. He dare not strive to become a hero who could embody the ideal he imagines. He has no confidence of this. But also, at this point heroes have become such a dirty word and concept to him that he would disdain to become one. He is stuck between a rock and a hard place. But luckily, Saitama is there to finally knock some sense in to him and free him from this self-imposed psychological cage. He is finally free to see that the world is not so simple and black and white as a silly show like Justice Man and I am happy he can start exploring the world and himself in a much more healthy and sane way.