#god!!! i also watched a few interviews of the writers. in the later seasons. yeah. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

o-vera-nalyzing · 9 months ago

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aksjdjfjgg i have so many let’s go

he eventually starts growing out his hair and oml if u thought there was a lot of edits before…. good lord he nearly breaks the internet

also every year when the exy season starts there like a whole resurgence of new and old edits and non kevin day fanatics (the few that there are) complain about how they can’t search anything related to exy without them coming up

he tries to control his asshole-ness in interviews but as he gets older and feels safer he gets more expressive- he’ll never be neil but there s a lot of ‘kevin day being cunty to reporters’ compilations

also somehow he breaks out of the like ‘sports player’ famous and is like invited to the fucking met gala and some other big celebrity parties and daydreamers (the self chosen name for kevin’s fan) pass away en mass at the photos

(also just IMAGINE his glambots like…)

aso one time a clip of him talking to one of the foxes at a bar goes viral because he didn’t see the person recording and was saying to one of the foxes ‘yeah and the way i didn’t blow up at that reporter tonight… god i should get an oscar’

#givekevindayanoscar goes viral within minutes of the video being posted

he doesn’t *actually* get an oscar unfortunately but he is invited to host and surprising nearly everyone he accepts

he’s very funny and charismatic and just cunty enough that people love him and he starts getting a lot more minor acting gigs, a lot of which he doesn’t take (he’s busy ok) but he does do some small consulting work with movie/tv writers to make exy in films more accurate

also speaking of exy and movies eventually he says yes to selling his story to some movie place and they make one of those ‘fighting through adversity and coming back stronger’ movies based off a real story type things

obviously 90% of the juicy bits are left out but there is allusion to his injury not being an accident and like they do in a lot of the movies, he has a very minor role in it as a coach because the story is based off his life

(i’ve watched a lot of those sort of movies so i know a bit too much about the format lmao)

anyways after that he gets like five fucking billion documentary offers about his life and unfortunately turns them all down

but he’s basically just getting increasingly more and more famous with nearly no effort because the daydreamers are literally insane like rivaling bts level insanity

the fights between diehard raven/riko fans and daydreamers start dwindling to nothing because daydreamers come so hard at anyone who says something bad about kevin on twitter they just don’t try anymore

kevin rarely ever makes statements about what other people say about him or anything in general (the exceptions being andreil/jerejean coming out and a few other select things) but daydreamers have made multiple news/talk show channels make public apologies to kevin without him or his team ever reaching out because of how vicious they are defending him

and one notable time they literally got a talk show host to ‘retire’ (be asked to leave) after saying something about kevin (he said kevin only said his injury wasn’t an accident for clout and then instead of apologizing after being flamed on the internet he doubled down and said riko was a better player)

yeah that guy didn’t ever work on tv again…

anyways daydreamers are insane and protect kevin with their literal lives

some people say they just like him cause he’s hot (which is certainly a certain percent of them and most of them wouldn’t deny he is a snack) but most of his fans are also exy fans mainly because kevin day talks about exy majority of the time and his passion is contagious

there are a lot of ‘i only started watching exy for this sexy kevin day guy but now i’m a hardcore NEL fan’ daydreamers

or like a million tiktoks along the lines of ‘pov you watched a single exy game cause kevin day is hot and now a year later are yelling at your tv cause williams can’t throw a fucking ball to save his life god just give it to kevin and get out of the way idiot’

a lot of daydreamers try to respect kevin’s privacy and don’t take pics/vids of him without his consent but obviously there are ones that still do it which kevin hates, but he’s never had so many people be so ride or die for him he can’t really hate them (and the biggest culprit is still paparazzi most of the time)

one time a vid of kevin singing karaoke gets leaked and his voice is so good daydreamers go to all their favorite artists dms and tags and comments and bombard them asking them to do a song w him

eventually he sings on a song on mariah carey’s classic christmas album and on one of hozier’s songs a couple years later

(kevin and hozier become close friends though most of the general public doesn’t know that because they’re both fairly private people)

the only inkling they have is from another one of hozier’s private story/main story slips with kevin in the background mid laugh

the quality of the photo is so shit but it’s the most genuine laugh that’s been caught of kevin so daydreamers zoom in and cut hozier out (sorry) and it becomes like *the* photo and is viral for weeks on end

also side note andrew (minyard) complains constantly to kevin that there’s only room for one andrew in his life and he has to cut out the other andrew (hozier)

andrew actually really likes hozier he’s just a dramatic bitch <3

anyways that’s genuinely just off the top of my head i love this man so much if anyone wants more i am more than happy to provide he already lives in my head rent free (i’m actually paying him) so i might as well share

Kevin is literally an exy star so here are some hcs about him being famous

whenever he goes out in public he has to give autographs at least two times and his signature is literal perfection because he probs practiced it a ton before he was even officially a raven (Tetsuji knew he was going to be a star, why waste any time??)

there are so many edits of him on tiktok

like when he makes cool goals or just of him looking tasty in interviews

probably so many slowmo edits of him taking off his helmet after games with chase atlantic songs in the background

so many "trilingual king" compilations

there are those youtube videos that are like "kevin day being a drama queen for 8 minutes straight"

he would be one of those celebs who would just never captions their insta posts

imagine he does photoshoots for clothing brands????

fans rush to buy the magazines that feature kevin

so many paparazzi pictures

lmk if you want a pt 2 🥹 or feel free to add on to these 🤞

#kevin day the man that you are #i just think daydreamers is the perfect name for kevin stans #kevin day #aftg #daydreamers #andrew minyard #hozier #this is technically a reblog but i feel like this counts #original overanalyzing

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raifenlf · 3 years ago

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Why Loki’s Sylvie Is A Mary Sue

So I am firmly in the camp that Sylvie on the Loki series was/is a Mary Sue. The last episode made me feel better and like maybe the show was doing a thing where they were faking you out that she was a Mary Sue only to show she was actually sort of a bad guy and I liked that. But all the recent interviews make me think the show wants to go back to her being a Mary Sue.

But I feel like when I call her out for being a Mary Sue people tell me what are you talking about, she’s not a Mary Sue, bad things happen to her, etc. But that doesn’t actually make her not a Mary Sue.

Also, before we start, I know some people find Mary Sue sexist. But I personally use the term for guys and girls. I don’t use the term to belittle women. I use the term to criticize a poorly written character.

And I know Mary Sue is often used to describe fanfic characters. But to me, this series is kind of like a fanfic because the writers took a character who had been in canon MCU material for ten years and then created characters around that character. So, I kind of review it like I would a fanfic. It’s very different than if the writers had created a brand new show with all of their own new characters.

Anyway, if you are not totally familiar with the Mary Sue term, then check this out:

I know the term Mary Sue probably means different things to different people. But I have always used these guidelines when I write my own fanfic to make sure my characters never come off as a Mary Sue.

This article really gives you a full scale of what a Mary Sue is. If you start reading it, you’ll immediately see why Sylvie is. But I’m going to take out the parts that most fit Sylvie just to highlight why I believe she is a Mary Sue. I apologize for this being so long.

Mary Sue Character Traits

Personality

Erm... what personality? The typical Mary Sue doesn't have one per se, because she isn't meant to be a character; rather, she's an entity by which the author makes cool stuff happen.

I feel like that is Sylvie in a nutshell. She doesn’t have a personality. I feel like even though she ate screentime, I still don’t really know her at all. The writers love to say she’s badass. That’s not a personality.

Sometimes when I am writing stories for fun and creating new characters, I like to take surveys as my fictional characters. Like the kind of surveys you’d see in a magazine, like personality types, what’s your dating style, etc. I figure if I don’t know what my character would do in any of those situations, then I need to keep working on my character. And if I was trying to fill out a survey pretending I was Sylvie I would have no idea what to answer because she doesn’t have a personality. She’s just “cool”.

What little personality a Mary Sue has isn't as important as how other characters react to it. No matter how shy or socially awkward Mary Sue is supposed to be, other characters will be inexplicably drawn to her

This is so Sylvie. Loki falls in love with her...why, exactly? He falls in love with her in the big Nexus event moment...why? Because she had a tough childhood? Mobius spends like two seconds with her in a car and goes from hating her to saying she’s his favorite Loki. For. No. Particular. Reason.

She's extremely persuasive; everyone finds her opinions to be better than their own

She enchants Hunter B-15 and then immediately Hunter B-15 makes it her whole entire life mission to back Sylvie up.

And occasionally she'll be a complete asshole...This can manifest itself in several ways...The author wants to write a badass but doesn't know how. This leads to a character who mistreats everyone around her and is never called out on her abrasive, casually abusive behavior.

Sylvie talked down to Loki and treated him like garbage for all of episode three, but it was never portrayed as a bad thing and we never got any impression Sylvie later felt bad for the way she treated Loki

The author doesn't know how to hold back the character, meaning that she will succeed at practically everything. This means that when she encounters rules or authority figures who would otherwise prevent her from doing what she wants to do, she rolls right through them (and they praise her for her "boldness" in defying regulations). If a bad guy is violent and aggressive, she can beat him by being more violent and aggressive (with all that entails). It's impossible for her to go overboard because she's protected by Protagonist-Centered Morality.

Sylvie is shown as a kid to immediately be able to grab a Tempad and run away. And she can kick ass way better than Loki, for no known reason. She is always able to fight back against the TVA when they attack her. And she can kill lots of innocent TVA agents but it’s okay because TVA bad, Sylvie good.

Skills

She will always be superior to the canon characters, regardless of what canon has established they can do or whether it makes any sense.

Whose skill was needed to defeat Alioth? Sylvie’s. Of course. Sylvie needed to teach Loki her skills in order for him to succeed (!). And again, she is literally called the superior Loki.

Relatedly, there's no effort to her skills. She never actually trains or learns anything to become more powerful; she just wins the Super Power Lottery, or is a freakish natural learner, or is just Inexplicably Awesome

We’re told Sylvie literally taught herself magic. She literally taught herself to enchant people. That. Makes. No. Sense. Like, I have so many questions. Like, why would it even occur to her to teach herself that? And how???????????? This is really lazy writing.

Canon Character Relationships

Mary Sue is often designed to hook up with another character, often as a form of Wish Fulfillment. This isn't that bad in and of itself (okay, it is kinda weird), but Mary Sue accomplishes this without any sense of realism. She just grabs her lover's attention straight away, and their relationship will never face any obstacles or tension; it's true love from the start and nothing else. The biggest giveaway is if the love interest is explicitly the author's favorite character, and she essentially "cures" him of all the angst that ails him (at the expense of his characterization).

Yeah, so...this one should be pretty obvious to anyone who watched the show. Loki literally falls in love with Sylvie immediately, and then he suddenly turns from “villain” to “hero” just because of loving her. And this was definitely at the expense of his characterization. And Loki just knows he falls in love with her. There’s not even any moments of hmm what do I feel for this person? It’s just true love, immediately.

She will be related to a canon character in some way. This (marginally) helps explain such phenomena as her being a Copy Cat Sue and other characters accepting her so easily.

Sylvie is a Loki variant. They use this to help explain why Loki is drawn to her and why their falling in love immediately “makes sense”.

Most characters give her more heed than they normally would. The good guys never stop praising her

Seriously, it was so over the top and OOC for Loki to gush over her. He literally tells her she’s amazing. They don’t even make it subtle.

Characters' previously established personalities change in reaction to her. Proud, arrogant gimps suddenly acknowledge her superiority in everything. Reckless youths will listen to all her advice. Responsible leaders will defer to her instead. Villains will obsess with her to the detriment of all else. Extremely competent characters will become stumbling buffoons who require her help to do anything. Sweet, mild-mannered characters whom the author doesn't like turn evil and insult her. They all become unnaturally focused on her in some way.

Again, Loki’s whole personality changed in reaction to her. He became a buffoon who needed her help to enchant the Alioth because of course he couldn’t do anything without her! Hunter B-15 goes from doing whatever the TVA said to fighting the TVA just because of Sylvie.

Story Elements

Mary Sue is without exception a single-person Spotlight-Stealing Squad. The entire story hinges on her existence; if you removed her, there would be no story.

Sylvie undoubtedly drove the whole story this season. It all became about HER meeting the TVA heads because of HER trauma. Loki’s life was only saved at the beginning because the TVA was trying to capture HER. And SHE was the one who started the whole multiverse (!).

Mary Sue is The Chosen One, even if the setting already has one. There are many ways she can accomplish this: she can be a Sailor Earth type who "shares" the position with the canon hero; she may be vaguely "destined to help the destined one fulfill their destiny" (i.e. do all the work except the final blow so that the prophecy is still technically correct); or the canon hero may be revealed to be a Fake Ultimate Hero all along. Being the Chosen One doesn't necessarily involve her being a God-Mode Sue, especially as authors become aware of the phenomenon and try to avoid it, but it does make her critically important to the world and allows her to continue stealing the spotlight without the "god mode" label.

HWR wanted Sylvie to come with Loki in the end, like she was chosen all along right alongside Loki. Like one of the most important characters in the entire MCU is now this character who we only met a few episodes ago.

Most Sues have an unusually Dark and Troubled Past. It's often used to create a Sympathetic Sue, but any type of Sue can have one

They tell us, over and over, how hard Sylvie’s life was because she was kidnapped by the TVA in order to create sympathy for her.

She almost never does anything wrong. In the rare instance that she does, it's usually; (a) a way for the author to disclaim her being a Mary Sue by introducing a single imperfection (that has no bearing on anything anyway), and (b) designed to show her smarts by making her feel instant remorse, and she'll be Easily Forgiven anyway:

So this one hopefully will not come true, as a lot can change between now and when the show is taped. But if the show goes on the way the behind the scenes team is talking, Sylvie immediately felt remorse for betraying Loki, and Loki has already forgiven her and is desperately looking for her. Ugh.

Alternatively, she is more than capable of doing something wrong, be it in general moral terms or something that goes against whatever code she abides by, and she maybe even frequently does so, but don't expect the other characters or the narrative to ever acknowledge or comment on it in any real capacity. If the other characters do call her out, expect them to be treated like they're the problem for daring to criticize her at all.

Mobius calls her out for killing people, but Sylvie immediately says he’s a bad person and then Mobius agrees, because, of course.

She will often suffer from Special Snowflake Syndrome; i.e., she has a trait or backstory that sets her apart from her group or race.

She is the only female Loki, thus making her the special one among all the Lokis in episode five.

Presentation

In visual media, the camera just can't stop staring at her.

The camera would follow her in fight scenes rather than Loki.

Mary Sue Tropes

Okay, so there are specific Mary Sue tropes that Sylvie is. One of those is Copy Cat Sue, which I think was referenced before.

Copy Cat Sue

A lot of fanfic writers...start to write something because of their passion for this character, but they find something about the character that doesn't mesh well. Maybe they're the wrong gender or are otherwise not close enough to the author's expectations...In any case, rather than put them through the Possession Sue process, they just get a Clone-O-Matic™ and out pops a Copy Cat Sue...the character might be intended as a replacement for the canon character, but without whatever icky traits the author hates. They'll then rob the spotlight, prove the canon character to be unworthy of his/her position, and either relegate the character to obsolescence or, perhaps, even remove them entirely.

Sylvie is basically a clone of Loki, she is a variant. But she absolutely robbed the spotlight of Loki’s, and they literally call her the superior Loki. I mean, they are literally not even being subtle about this. And there was a feeling by myself (and a lot of other viewers) that Sylvie might ultimately replace Loki in the MCU.

Black Hole Sue

Much like a black hole, this is a Mary Sue who "sucks in" the plot and characters to her. Characters will behave outside their personalities, logic will be defied, and rules will be broken for her sake.

Sylvie really does suck up all the plot and Loki definitely behaves outside of his personality just to fit the Sylvie show.

Jerk Sue

A Mary Sue who is mean or maybe even cruel, but are still treated as an ideal person.

Once again, Sylvie is basically a jerk all of episode three, but you’ve got Loki falling over himself to call her amazing in just the next episode.

Relationship Sue

A Mary Sue who exists to be the perfect mate for a specific character...this character has everything in the plot conspiring to enforce this One True Pairing...in Fanfiction, they are the perfect beloved of a canon character.

They literally have Mobius speculate that Loki falling in love with Sylvie is so extraordinary that it causes an entire Nexus event, that’s how huge this One True Pairing is (!). And Sylvie is the love interest of Loki, the only character who had been around before the beginning of the series

TLDR: Sylvie has all the tropes of a classic Mary Sue character. So calling Sylvie a Mary Sue isn’t being sexist or just randomly hating on the character. If you use common Mary Sue characteristics to examine the character, she just has too many of these characteristics to ignore.

#loki negativity #antisylvie #loki critical #loki criticism #antisylkie

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lokiondisneyplus · 3 years ago

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Most Marvel post-credit scenes hint at the future. Loki opted for a blunter approach: the God of Mischief would return in season 2.

Based on the final turn of events, there was really no other choice: Loki (Tom Hiddleston), having journeyed to the furthest point in spacetime with his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) to meet the founder of the TVA, a scientist-turned-survivor-of-multiversal-war known as He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), finds himself zapped into a new reality when his lady self slays the omnipresent being. The mind reels!

Creator Michael Waldron takes delight in the endless possibilities of Loki’s core premise. And as a veteran of Rick and Morty, he knows what anchors a mind-bending show, and what will keep Hiddleston’s character hurtling through his chaotic, rewritten future. Below, Polygon talks to Waldron about landing on the key choices of Loki season 1, what to expect from season 2, and a bit on his next project, the wrestling drama Heels, which is set to premiere on Aug. 15.

Did you know there’d be a second season of Loki from the beginning or was that choice made later in the process?

Michael Waldron: We always knew that it was a possibility. We always knew that we wanted to propel Loki and these characters out into the MCU after this, into further stories. But that didn’t really crystallize as a sure thing until we were in production and everything. And as we were really figuring out the finale.

So you were still cracking the ending as you shot the show?

There was a hiatus due to the pandemic. So things were constantly being retooled because of that. I think, by and large, everything with He Who Remains and the Sylvie-Loki conflict was always there. But that cliffhanger was the sort of thing that suddenly became a really appealing opportunity, a chance for that to lead into a second season.

What element of the series helped you crack the macro story of Loki, and made all the other pieces fall into place? Each episode almost feels like a standalone adventure, similar to Rick and Morty, but what helped it all click?

The first couple of weeks in the writers room was just laying out the individual episodes. It was very important to me that each episode stood on its own, and you could say “This is the Lamentis episode,” “This is the apocalypse moon episode,” “This is the Void episode.” I didn’t want it to just be cut up chapters and have one long continuous story. Obviously, we had to figure out the time travel for things to slot into place. I think a big idea for us was the way you get around the TVA by hiding in apocalypses. That felt like such a big, cool, exciting idea that it drove the action of episode 2, episode 3, and in a way it’s like Alioth is the ultimate apocalypse that He Who Remains is hiding behind. That sci-fi idea cracked a lot open for us. I know that after we had that I went home and I slept a little sounder.

Did adding the multiverse to the Marvel Cinematic Universe feel like blowing something up or expanding it, in terms of narrative possibilities?

In the same way that after the first couple Iron Man movies, and with the first Avengers, suddenly these movies were kind of going to space. Then we had Guardians. I think of the multiverse as another version of that. It’s new ground to cover, and particularly interesting because characters meeting other versions of themselves and other versions of people they know is... cool. That’s just a cool sci-fi concept! But I think with anything, as you expand outward, it only works if the humanity remains. It’s exciting to watch characters dealing with big crazy multiversal conflicts because we can see ourselves in them. I think you just have to hold on to the humanity that makes these stories work in the first place.

Did you go back to the Thor movies for Loki? Was there anything to find in the past of Marvel as you were paving the future?

Absolutely. I mean I watched them many times, contrary to what Twitter might think because I did some bits on there saying that I’ve never seen Avengers and I upset some people [laughs]. I have seen it many times. “Confirmed: Loki writer has seen Avengers and saw it before writing Loki show.”

In fact, I was watching all these movies on a loop in the writers’ room. I gleaned so much because you watch the evolution of the character. Avengers was particularly informative because our story picks up Loki right after that, but I also I found a lot of inspiration in Thor: The Dark World, a maybe sometimes maligned movie that I actually really enjoy. I just think there’s great stuff with Loki being tangentially responsible for the death of his mother, how he reacts to that. That is the start of his journey of that version of Loki’s redemption, so I was inspired by that.

What’s propelling the characters into season 2? Where are you headed in basic terms?

In season 1, you saw a lot of characters reckoning with and questioning their own glorious purpose, and that glorious purpose changing, [characters] realizing that that can change. Everybody except for Sylvie. I think she holds onto hers, which is vengeance, and to the detriment of us all, perhaps. And we’ve got a Loki who, at the top of our show, assessed himself as a villain and, I would argue, at the end of our show, has become a little bit of a hero. There’s nothing more heroic to me than fighting for the right thing and losing. You see that washing over him as he’s there back at the TVA, after Sylvie has knocked back there. And then he gets up because that is what heroes do — they keep going. So I think that you’re gonna see a Loki that looks at himself in a different way certainly that at the top of this.

Do you hope to explore more of Sylvie’s backstory in season 2?

I guess we’ll see. We certainly have our own rich backstory for her, stuff that didn’t get to make it into the show. Elissa Karasik, our episode 2 writer, wrote a lot of amazing backstory for Sylvia and everything. So those ideas exist out there.

And her version of Thor?

Tune in.

How did He Who Remains come about? Did you bring the character to Marvel or was that a character Marvel hoped to introduce?

I was pushing and our team was pushing early on in the writers’ room that it should be a version of Kang up in that Citadel, sort of fusing the mythology of He Who Remains with a little bit of the Immortus mythology. And that was a thing we were excited to do. And it became clear that it actually made sense for our story. The only way we were going to do it was if it made sense, but it was like, who had a better argument for creating the TVA to prevent other versions of themselves from existing then a guy as evil as Kang the Conqueror?

You wrote the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — did Marvel hire you for that after Loki? Does the movie feel like a continuation of the show?

Yeah, that opportunity came as we were getting ready to start production on Loki. It was a pleasure. I got to work with Sam Raimi, a hero of mine. I was in London for five months making that movie at the top of this year. We had a blast. I think that it’s a continuation in as much as ever every Marvel movie is to some extent a chapter in an ongoing story, but these things are meant to stand alone and the most important thing about Doctor Strange too is making the most kick ass Doctor Strange movie we could.

Is Loki a two-part show now or are you invested in telling a longer story with future seasons beyond season 2?

Time will tell, but I do my hope is that season 1 stands on its own. We always wanted to tell a complete story there. And in whatever the next chapter may be will stand on its own as well.

Your next show, Heels, is already on the way. We got a big preview out of Comic-Con this year, but I’m curious about the scope of this story. You’re starting with two brothers running an independent wrestling franchise, but you’ve dropped the name “Vince McMahon” a few times — is this about the building of an empire? Would you liken it to The Godfather or Breaking Bad?

I always thought about it a little bit of a Scorsese-sort-of rise, and we’ll see if there’s a fall. Starting from humble beginnings and trying to build some crazy. Wrestling was certainly not always the empire that it is and that’s what’s interesting, to watch the evolution of a family-run wrestling business from something you do in your small towns and perhaps a national, even global empire. That would be a really compelling arc for a show over the course of several seasons. I’d be excited to explore that.

What’s the most dramatically fulfilling wrestling moment you’ve witnessed? What’s the bar for the wrestling drama of Heels?

It’s gotta be Hulk Hogan turning heel in the WCW. There was an invasion storyline, these guys from WWF, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, came over and they were the bad guys. It was at a Pay-per-view and and they were beating up on the good guys that you love, and here comes Hulk Hogan in the yellow and red and he’s the hero. “The Hulk’s gonna get ‘em! The good guy’s here!” And then the Hulk just leg drops Randy Savage. That was the original Red Wedding. I just think about the boldness of turning him heel. To a little kid... I wasn’t even like a massive Hulk fan, but he was just such a mythological figure. What a chance that Hulk Hogan took as a performer, as a bankable kind of movie star at that point. That was bold, risky storytelling and it set off two years of amazing storytelling with Hogan just playing a craven, cowardly heel and just being so evil. I really respect the hell out of them for doing that. That was a great storyline.

#michael waldron #interview #loki #s1 #s2

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leeenuu · 4 years ago

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Apparently it’s an open ending for Detective Anna??? Russian fans were pretty pissed because they thought it was going to be a happy ending. And maybe there’s a season 3?? Man I knew I got m hopes up for nothing

you and me both, anon. i mean, i mostly clicked through the last four eps but just i’m like???

i don’t even know where to start bc what the actual fuck was that?? idk if you have read the interviews but the head writer and the actor who played pyotr said basically we’re gonna get a happy ending but also a storyline which could be explored in a potential s3. i think the words “happy ending” mean something totally different in russian bc that final was the farthest thing from a happy ending.

(spoilers for the final four eps)

anyways, turns out i was partially right that polina was one of the bad guys but they killed her off real quick and the real krutin was revealed to be skryabin. and ofc skryabin kidnapped anna b4 she could get married to yakov. like i’m actually pretty mad abt the ending bc this show has been my comfort show for like four months and basically the writers just were like "get rekt, leenu, no happy ending 4 u" but i feel for the russians bc they were waiting for s2 for four years (!!) and they got this clusterfuck.

i went to twitter and the russian fans are very mad and rightly so. one user basically said “i waited four years for this?? fuck that, i’m not gonna watch s3, fuck the writers”. and that is so sad bc that ending lit feels like a slap in the face. like you’d think that the writers learned from s1 bc s1 had yakov disappearing without a trace in the final and then the show was cancelled and some years later, they were picked up by another channel, basically getting a second chance, so it would make sense that s2 is gonna be closure for the long-time fans. but noooo. like the chances for s3 are quite high, i guess, but to be so ballsy and have s2 end like that... imo that was just so unnecessary.

they could have done something like this: anna and yakov getting married, the final scene being them dancing together, overjoyed bc they have been waiting for this moment for so long and then the camera pans outside where in the shadows is a dark figure who is focusing on anna and says something like “one day you’ll be mine“ and the camera shows skryabin’s face who is grinning ominously and then end credits. you see, anon? now that is a happy ending with also something to explore in s3.

and also what is gonna happen in s3, huh? bc anna is hypnotised and i don’t think yakov is gonna find her in a few days. so is yakov gonna find her after some years? and during that time so many godawful things could happen to anna. honestly, i feel sick if i think abt all that. and that final scene with nina (who ofc faked her illness and later, death) who was sailing into sunset and reading the news abt anna. that makes the clown in me think that nina is gonna save anna bc she owns yakov for helping her son and also her son is in zatonsk and i’m pretty sure nina would’ve kidnapped her son and moved away from russia with him.

and also there were two things that bothered me but they’re not that important. first off, anna and yakov had almost no scenes together in the final two eps. in ep40, they were just staring at each other for like 15 seconds across the street and that was it. sure, their eyes were killing me again but still the writers could have thrown me a bone or something. like they could’ve given us the actual moment when yakov proposed or maybe a dinner with anna, yakov and the rest of the fam but no, we flash-forward a month to the wedding day and then all that fuckery happened.

and the second thing that bothered me was that there was a new character in the final two eps and i was very confused why did he get so much screen time, lit had more scenes with anna than yakov had with anna. bc i was clicking through the eps i didn’t hear his name so i went to twitter and found out his last name was ulyanov. that name told me absolutely nothing but then i saw that his first name and patronymic was vladimir ilyich and i just went “oh no... oh no, nononononoooo”. i googled ulyanov and sure enough, ulyanov also went by the name lenin... they brought in fucking lenin into the final. and i ask for what?? no, what the actual fuck is this fucking fuckery?? basically that was the final straw for me bc i was already quite pissed off abt the ending. but this made me lit fume bc lenin ofc was the first head of the soviet union and the soviet union occupied my country for more than half a century, mass-deported more than 20,000 estonians and ofc killed god knows how many people. so yeah... i may be overreacting but i lit do not understand why there was a need to bring in lenin, maybe when i get to see the scenes with subs i will understand but right now i’m just like 😐😐.

anyways, if there is a s3, i’m def gonna watch it bc i just wanna know how will it end but i hope that s3 will be the final season bc ffs just let those characters be happy for once and maybe they could get the s1 writers back as well. and if there isn’t, well then i hope the russians will write a lot of fix-it fics. but in conclusion, overall i did enjoy s2 but yeah... the final just broke me. but also... i found out that alexandra and dmitriy are doing another show together and honestly i’m kinda excited for that, even if there is not gonna be any subs. and if u are still reading this, anon, then i'm so sorry you had to read all of that and also u deserve a pat on the back <33

#detective anna #анна-детективъ #answered

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hellyeahomeland · 5 years ago

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[Assuming I can count right, this is the tenth and last debrief. Thank you to everyone who participated. These questions are harder than they seem! See you all on the other side. --Sara]

Name: Sara (@carriemathison)

Answered on: various days over the last two weeks

1. What is your idea of a perfect Homeland ending?

It needs to feel right. I need to look back and think, “yeah, that was right.” What is “right” though?… I mean, I have no idea. I’ll know it when I see it and I’ll know when I don’t see it. How’s this for not answering a question?

2. Which Homeland character do you most identify with?

This is a tricky question because I don’t really relate to any character on this show. Their lives and circumstances are all so extreme. That said, I’ve spent the better part of a decade thinking about and trying to understand Carrie Mathison in all her maddening complexity, so at this point I do identify with her.

3. What has your experience as a fan of the show been like?

A rollercoaster, start to finish. This fandom has gone through so many iterations. It’s evolved in much the same way that the show has. I could never in 400 gagillion years imagined that after seven years we’d have amassed over 22,000 posts, five seasons’ worth of podcasts, and so many friends from all over the world. It’s been a ride. We really did have a time.

4. What is a moment on Homeland that made you sit up out of your seat in awe or shock?

There have been quite a few over the years. These stand out most vividly in my memory.

Carrie going New Car Smell on Brody’s ass in “New Car Smell.” I have vivid, vivid memories of watching that in my apartment in college. This was before the days of the blog and the only place I had to discuss this show was TWoP.

Brody dying. I remember watching that episode at my desk, in that same college apartment, and having an actual physical reaction to him being hanged. I think I started to shake. That hasn’t happened before or since.

Strangely, the end of “Long Time Coming” really caught me by surprise. I felt that ending was actually kind of cliffhanger-y, because when the screen cut to black amid that familiar jazz music I think I stood up and screamed. It might also have been a delayed reaction to The Kiss, which was legitimately shocking at the time.

5. If you could have the writers redo one storytelling decision, what would it be and why?

The popular answer seems to be that they should have killed Quinn in season five, which is correct. But let’s just assume they’ve already done that since we all agree they should have.

I’m going to go with a left-field answer and say that I want a redo of the storyline with Carrie’s mother. In two straight season finales (“The Choice” and “The Star”) there are allusions to Carrie’s mother and to Carrie feeling abandoned. They set up all the right pieces in season four, a season that is largely centered around Carrie coming to terms with being a mother herself, with being a mother to this child she kept for a number of reasons that felt more and more tragic (and ill-advised) each day.

Instead of focusing on the resolution of Carrie’s own anger and resentment toward Ellen Mathison in light of Carrie finally understanding what it means to abandon a child, they decided to make it about Carrie’s secret half-brother, her mother’s series of affairs, and the revelation that Ellen didn’t leave Frank because he was bipolar. The last, by the way, is important, but it’s framed in such a way as to provide context to her initial rejection of Quinn post-The Kiss (“I’ll just fuck it up”), and it all adds up to a jumbled, overwrought mess. We all deserved better. That scene is I think the only time while watching this show that I thought, wow Claire seems to be really struggling with this.

6. If you could be a Homeland character, which one would you like to be?

I would like to be Carrie for... let’s say a month. It would be supremely painful and dramatic, but imagine being that fucking awesome? That smart and powerful and fearless?

7. What is your favorite episode of Homeland?

“Marine One” and that’s been my answer for over seven years. I think it’s my favorite episode of television ever. Beyond it spawning twin years-long sartorial obsessions, I think it is really a masterpiece. I love the structure of the episode. It starts off very quietly. Brody’s tape is haunting and then the scene where Saul visits Carrie is disgustingly heartbreaking (“But Saul…” … I will never get over that). Then it ramps up into this anxiety-filled clusterfuck. Carrie realizing what’s happening but no one will listen (yes, I know all the words in that phone call scene, what about it?) except Dana. That’s irony. The Carrie and Brody cat/mouse game continuing outside the police station, Brody just digging and digging even after Carrie cries uncle. Carrie remembering who Issa is right before they erase her memory. These are all sentence fragments because I’m bad at articulating my feelings about this episode. Except that I can basically only ever watch it on an airplane because I have nowhere else to go. I build up some episodes of this show in my head, remembering them as better than they actually are. This is one of the few that is just as good. Legendary, iconic, will never be topped.

8. What is your least favorite episode of Homeland?

There are some episodes of this show that are boring and nothing to write home about (or blog about, for that matter). Other episodes have gotten a reputation over the years as being some of the show’s worst (“Broken Hearts,” “Tower of David,” “America First” -- all of which are better than you remember). I can deal with all of those episodes well enough. In fact I’ve been quite shocked at all the “Tower of David” slander in these responses over the last few months, but now is not the time for me to defend “Tower of David.”

In keeping with this blog’s motto for the last seven years, I’m gonna go rogue on this one and say that I absolutely hate the double whammy of “Why Is This Night Different?” and “Better Call Saul.” Those episodes suck. In all our years of podcasting, the only episode that I have outright refused to do a podcast episode for is “Better Call Saul.” (At the time I made up an excuse, but guess what I LIED because I hate that episode.) Quinn leaning pathetically on Carrie’s shoulder after he gets shot and later tying himself to a cinder block to drown himself in a river will never not be legitimately, horrifyingly terrible. The only saving grace of these episodes is HAIR IN A BUN but they had to fuck it up with that awful wig. Bad.

9. If you could bring back one character, dead or alive, from the Homeland graveyard, who would it be and why?

David Estes. Gone too soon and we deserved to see a Carrie/David romance redux.

10. What will be your most enduring memory of Homeland?

I’ve met so many amazing people as a result of this show and this blog. Real and true forever friends. There are so many fantastic memories, and not-fantastic ones that will nevertheless endure.

Of them all, I will never forget going to Chicago the weekend of the season six finale with Ashley; seeing Hamilton on Saturday night; realizing that there was not an HDMI-equipped television in the Airbnb; buying a television at Best Buy on Sunday morning; going to a Chicago White Sox game where we proceeded to get pretty tipsy on alcoholic root beer; buying lots and lots of alcohol at a liquor store, including some trademark Carrie pinot grigio, because we were having a great ol’ time; maintaining the buzz throughout the finale; whispering “oh my God they killed him” when they killed Quinn, after which Ashley reflexively replied “no, he’s not dead”; recording a drunk podcast in the immediate aftermath that is sadly lost to the sands of time; realizing that everyone was freaking out about the episode; calling it a night at 10:30pm; groggily waking up a few hours later to Ashley telling me she was leaving the Airbnb; being hungover the next day and listening to Ashley tell me about how she did some light breaking and entering the previous night; driving back to Madison while we tried to make sense of anything Rupert Friend was saying in his post-finale interviews; and keeping the aforementioned television in the back seat of my car for the next six months before I finally sold it to a friend (“only been used one time!”).

#*#by: sara #homeland debrief

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canaryatlaw · 6 years ago

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okay I should write, but it’s officially been my birthday for 40 minutes!! So that’s fun. sadly I’ll have to entertain myself for most of the day, but I’ll probably sleep in and then maybe go out to some of the shops on main street (like Francesca’s) and do some shopping, and then later on I’m gonna go to Olive Garden with Jess and then to see Captain Marvel and then get ice cream for part 1 of birthday celebrations, part 2 will be on Saturday when we can go up to where they have the cheesecake factory and the fancy movie theatre where we will go to eat and see Shazam, so I’m excited for that. But anyway, today. I was in and out of sleep for a bit before getting up around 1ish. I spent a while just getting breakfast and checking things out on my computer. When I was done with that, I grabbed the receipt the dry cleaner’s had given me to get their phone number, the clothes were supposed to be ready by today but the receipt said “ready by 5 pm” on that day, so I wanted to call and make sure they were ready before I came down there, so I called and they said they were so I got ready and started walking there. It was like high 30′s today which is colder than the last few days at least so I grabbed my winter coat, but that was definitely a mistake as I started overheating very quickly. I made the walk down and stopped at the chase bank along the way to get cash since the dry cleaner’s had signs saying “cash payments are appreciated” and Chase is my bank so I get free ATM use, so I stopped in there and got some cash from the ATM before continuing on. The whole transaction was easy enough, I gave them the receipt and they brought the clothes out, I paid the amount specified and was good to go. Since I was now carrying a decent amount of clothing, I was gonna see if I could catch the bus back instead of walking the half a mile or so it is carrying the clothes, but this would depend how close the next bus was since it’d be pointless to wait for it for like 10 minutes. so I checked the bus tracker and it said the next one was only 3 minutes away, so I was pleased with that. the bus was kinda crowded and stopped at every stop along the way, but it was at least less physical exertion and knowing that my arms would’ve been killing me if I walked home. so I got home and put the clothes away, and then started my next task of dyeing my hair. I do dearly love my bright red hair, but I’m at the point where I can’t let something as stupid as hair color jeopardize my chance of getting a job, especially when I have *the* interview on Wednesday, so it had to go. I can’t even remember the last time I used a box kit on my own hair, but it got the job done. It was like a auburnish color, brown and red mix kind of. I was a little worried it wouldn’t quite turn out that color because the hair it was going on was so bright, but that didn’t end up being a problem. but yeah, I’ve done this enough to know how it works, so getting it in wasn’t an issue. it said to only wait 25 minutes before rinsing which seemed kind of short to me, but I kept to it pretty much. They said no shampoo for 24 hours, just rinse and use their conditioning thing, the same basic stuff, so that was no problem. Once I was done with that I set out to do my final planned task for the day, which was cleaning up the kitchen, mainly by taking out the trash and doing the dishes. The trash was WAY overdue to be taken out, to the point where there were some paper bags outside the trash bin also filled with trash. so I tried to pull the overstuffed bag out, only to find the bottom of it had ripped, and leaked god knows what all over the bottom of the trash bin. WELL CRAP. so I had to grab another trash bag and stretch it into the trash bin, then lower the first one into it and over it so it wouldn’t leak everywhere. it was....difficult lol. But I took that out along with the paper bags and the cardboard for recycling. I did my best to clean most of what I could out of the trash bin, but some of it I just couldn’t reach despite my best efforts, so I ended up just putting a new trash bag in and figured we’ll deal with it at some point in the future. From there I started doing the dishes, putting away the clean ones and washing through the dirty ones, then putting those away, so everything in the kitchen was handled. It was fairly close to 7 when Arrow was on at this point so I got some dinner and went to the den and turned the tv on for that, set to livetweet for the dctvpodcasts twitter account. Interesting episode, probably kept my attention more than most of the episodes so far this season, but that’s not saying very much I suppose. It was fairly obvious to me that Emiko was all in with the bad guys, not being coerced into it. I was NOT PREPARED for the reveal in the last flashback regarding the queen’s gambit, though I was a little confused as to who exactly was pulling the strings and who did the actual work there, was she working with Merlyn or what? weird. Otherwise in the plot, my lawyer brain had to jump to the obvious 4th amendment issues with Felicity’s proposed tracking system. not that they would care about silly little things like constitutional rights here. The whole subplot with Dinah and Laurel was?? weird?? normally I enjoy my girls interacting but this week was just kinda funky. I am of course looking forward to what next week will bring since it of course features the return of Sara which I am eagerly awaiting, so here’s hoping that will be a great episode. After Arrow was over I switched over to 9-1-1 which had just started, which was a pretty good episode. I swear this show makes me cry every damn week lol it plays on my emotions very well, but I very much enjoyed the plot with Howie the firefighter guy (still terrible with character names) and his journey as to how he got where he was and of course for it to end with him being stabbed and unconscious after encountering Maddie’s violent ex-husband who was coming to kidnap her. So I guess we’ll have to wait until next week to see how that plays out. After that I switched over to The Fix since that was airing then. It was a decent episode, I’m not totally in love with the show but it’s had some good moments. It’s VERY obvious they’re closely tracking the OJ case and what might have been if he had ended up in this situation (which is of course to be expected given that one of the writers/producers is the OJ prosecutor). It’s interesting for me to see the tactics the defense attorney was using and how they blew up in his face so badly this week, and seeing them play the secret tapes Jessica had made for the media to see and them cutting to his daughter when he had just promised to her that he had never hit Jessica and now she was finding out that was a huge lie....that was very well done. so I’m still on board for now, we’ll see where it goes from here. After that I just watched the news for a bit and then some Jimmy Kimmel before starting to get ready for bed, didn’t need to shower since I did so earlier when I was getting the hair dye out, so I took my pills and grabbed my computer to start writing this and now I am here. It’s 1:16 am and I am getting a bit sleepy, so I think I will end this here. Looking forward to birthday fun tomorrow. Goodnight peeps. I hope my birthday is a great day for you too.

#daily journal #March 2018 #Rachel watches Arrow #birthday

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thenightling · 6 years ago

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When fandom becomes... Just dumb...

A few months ago I said that the fandom for Neil Gaiman’s Sandman was probably the nicest, warmest, most inviting fandom I had ever become a part of. And this is still true now.

I was also in the Lucifer TV series fandom. The show is what made me finally decide to give Sandman a chance last June. (Better late than never!)

Ever since the cancellation however I have seen the Lucifer fandom kind of deteriorating...

Before Lucifer was canceled, the dumbed thing I had seen in the Tumblr fandom was bearing the occasional “headcanon” that Lucifer and Chloe would one day rule Hell together as King and Queen and they would live happily ever after in this way. I have tried to rebuff this, explaining why I don’t believe Lucifer would want to go back to ruling Hell and why someone like Chloe could never rule Hell, also using quotes from the shows star that it’s “the ultimate redemption story.” this all indicated to me that there was no chance Lucifer would go back to Hell. But explaining this perspective earned responses of “They have a right to their opinion!” Yes, and I have a right to disagree with that opinion and to counter it with my own. Having a right to your opinion does not mean it cannot be disagreed with. “Right to my opinion!” is not a magical shield that protects you from the opinions of others. I hate when people use that to shoot down or dismiss discourse.

Yes, you can have your own “headcanon” but I’m just explaining why I don’t think it really works with the canon as we know it. And I have a right to feel that way as surely as you have a right to feel contrary.

No one can tell you what you can or can’t imagine. That is always your choice but I have a right to explain why I don’t share your vision. I have a right to disagree with it and imagine things my own way. That’s what right to opinion actually means, it doesn’t mean “I get to make anyone who doesn’t agree with me shut up forever.” I get to disagree with you, you get to disagree with me. That’s freedom.

Ah, but that was the worst of it for a while. Nothing too serious really. But then... Then the show got canceled. And I made the mistake of joining several “Save Lucifer” facebook groups. And... things got dumb quickly.

First there were / are people who literally reply to everything with #SaveLucifer and #PickupLucifer. And they even write it on meme pictures... Because Somehow Twitter can read a picture you posted on Facebook now?

Besides the general lack of understanding of how hashtags work there were a few people out-right discouraging mentioning the source material. “I ignore any post that mentions the comic strip.” If you try to explain the difference between a comic book and comic strip you’re told you’re “Butt hurt.” One woman with utter authority decided to say “Show fans are not comic book fans and fans of the show would never read a comic book.” Umm... Excuse me?

A few “Most people don’t know it’s a comic. I only know because my kids told me.” It’s in the opening credits of every, single episode. Do you cover your eyes when the text is on the screen?

Then there were the constant sharing of express(dot)co(dot)uk articles, no matter how many times you tell them they’re a clickbait tabloid. Stories that distort simple things like Tom Ellis doing an interview with BBC News and twisting it into “Is BBC Entertainment buying Lucifer?” The trusting of Express is still on-going.

One posted about how in the Lucifer comics he doesn’t even quit Hell. I tried to break it to this person that they were reading the wrong comics and he most certainly does quit Hell. They have to read Sandman first and then Lucifer’s solo comics by Mike Carey. He quits Hell in Sandman. Later They posted something similar (about how Lucifer doesn’t even quit Hell in the comics) a few days later. When I, again, tried to tell them that they were reading the wrong comics, they replied with “Are you done trying to spoil the whole story? I’m not reading replies because I don’t want spoilers.”

What part of…

YOU ARE READING THE WRONG COMICS

Do they not accept? If someone knows this person please break this to them.

One recent incident I had was trying very hard to explain to an “expert” that the two Lucifer bonus episodes are NOT leftovers from Season 2. That the season 2 episodes held over for season 3 had aired much earlier in the season. Though I had linked a Q and A with Dan’s actor (director of one of the episodes) and a recent question response I saw on Neil Gaiman’s Tumblr, also confirming that the filming had been relatively recent- this person insisted they had done their “Research” and was refusing to accept that they were confusing old, several-month-old stories about the season 2 hold over episodes, and the two bonus episodes actually filmed for season four.

People like that had been confusing and misleading fans and even commenting on articles about the bonus episodes because they couldn’t grasp that episodes filmed in season 2 and used for season 3 are NOT the same episodes shown AFTER the season 3 finale. They were shown after the finale because they weren’t actually intended for season 3.

Here’s the common sense thing: Season 2 Lucifer was filmed in Canada. You can spot the Hold-over season 2 episodes easily because they are still using the Canadian sets and passing Vancouver off as LA. Those bonus episodes are using the authentic LA sets. It’s not that complicated.

It would be one thing if this was just one person but several people were making this mistake and or repeating the misinformation. Claiming, with absolute certainty, that those bonus episodes were filmed back in season 2. Despite the fact that those two bonus episodes were still being sound mixed only days before they aired and were always intended as “stand alone” episodes for season four. That’s also why the show had ended on a cliff hanger. They had thought they were definitely getting a season four.

This particular one argued fiercely, this on particular “researched” person, and tried to explain away why she wouldn’t click the links I’d provided and wouldn’t read my ‘essay long” replies “because (she) has a life”. Yeah, it became “That” kind of an argument.

And there was at least one comment of “I wish Morgan Freeman had voiced God and not some random British guy.” (That had earned sixteen likes...)

Then there were those who insisted Fox was going to buy Roseanne, that they had proof Fox was buying Roseanne (Satire articles and random Twitter posts from strangers) and that Roseanne would replace Lucifer. After that came the conspiracy theorists that “One Million Moms got it canceled.” One Million Moms was protesting Lucifer before it even aired. If they were successful it would not have had three seasons...

Then came those that posted screen grabs of the show now airing on Mondays at eight. Saying “This is what they replaced Lucifer with!” Umm... I shouldn’t have to explain this to grown ups. The season was over. That means even if Lucifer had gotten a fourth season, that show currently in the timeslot, would be there. That’s called a “Summer replacement” or “Summer filler.” But again, it wasn’t just one or two people. It was lots and lots of people all saying things like “This is why I’ll never watch Fox again!” “I can’t believe they think THIS will do better than Lucifer.”

One poor girl suggested that she would have liked it if Azrael dressed like a Goth girl like Death of The Endless only to get horrible responses of “lol I think Angels predate Goth.” Yeah, and? Angels predate Nightclubs, Armani suits, and Piano too. And “No, I like her nice and sweet.” and “No, I like her nerdy.” What exactly do they think Goth means? Due to so much anti-Goth commenting the girl eventually deleted her post.

Some of the weirder ones (that feel like they never watched the show) are people talking about how they’d happily go to Hell to be with Tom Ellis as The Devil.

And a few posts saying “I’d sell him my soul” with several agreements. But in the comics and TV show he repeatedly says he does not buy souls. You were told this IN the show. He doesn’t like this sort of thing. He’s all about free will, remember?

In the two weeks I’ve been in these groups I’ve seen more obnoxious fanwank than nearly any other fandom I have ever been a part of. I had never seen fandom so bad in such a concentrated way.

But the last two days I’ve seen the worst of it...

First I witnessed one of the head writers ask William Shatner if he’d be willing to play God if the show comes back. (This happened on Twitter and then spread everywhere.) This bothered me a little bit since I had just heard Neil Gaiman would be happy to return to voicing God. Apparently Neil had even said “Just try and stop me.”

Now if it was another “Dad is possessing someone” story, sure. I could have accepted it but it still didn’t sit right for me. And it was the comments that followed that really got under my skin. “Yay! I didn’t like Neil Gaiman as God anyway!” and “Good. Neil Gaiman sucked as God.” Wow... Such nice fans. so polite about the guy who created the thing they love.

Neil Gaiman has stood behind SaveLucifer along with William Shatner. And suppose this was a temporary “possession” thing (as I was starting to suspect it would have been) and Neil Gaiman was set to come back after that? You think posting that he was awful is a good idea? This should be common sense but bashing the voice of the man who created the character is rude.

I know she (the writer) was trying to rile up the fans at the exciting idea of William Shatner making a guest appearance but immediately after Neil Gaiman said he’d happily come back, and not giving context to how “Dad” would be Shatner caused problems in the fandom, not unity and cheering. And weird, senseless, sudden insulting of the man who created the character. I really don’t like that.

The writers have made some really horrible decisions in trying to manipulate fan reactions. That drawn out “Will Chloe ever learn the truth’ and then last minute cliffhanger come to mind. Along with the whole “Will Chloe choose Pierce(Cain)?” NO! Of course she won’t pick Cain! Tom Welling told everyone who interviewed him that the role was temporary. Everyone knew it wouldn’t last.

My experiences today though top the cake.

An anonymously created fan art is circulating of a fake season 4 poster. “One Man. Two faces.” And it even says #SaveLucifer ON the poster but there are fans mistaking it as real. It’s a fan art photoshop job not even of the tone of the first three season posters! It literally says “#Savelucifer” on the poster! It looks almost like a poster for a low budget horror movie. But they are mistaking it as real.

And finally, there is mild- very slight- not taken too seriously, rumor that Neil Gaiman’s Sandman might finally be adapted. I know what triggered this rumor. It’s because Matthew Cable is going to be in the new Swamp Thing series for DC’s streaming service. And today Matthew is more well known for his role in Sandman than Swamp Thing.

And for the first time in my entire experience in the Lucifer fandom I saw true anti-Sandman comments. Not anti comics (I was starting to get used to those even if they felt like 1950s level ignorance), but actual anti-Sandman.

“If they do Sandman but not Lucifer their streaming service is gonna fail!” and “Boycott Sandman!” “It’s our Lucifer or no Lucifer!” You don’t even know what’s IN Sandman! You might even like it! It’s not a competition. The Sandman didn’t make Lucifer get canceled.

They don’t even realize some of their favorite lines IN the Lucifer TV show are direct quotes from the Sandman comics that they are now bashing!

When the fans start bashing the character’s creator, and the source material I tend to lose interest. It’s like when I saw that the director of Victor Frankenstein had said the Mary Shelley novel was “as dull as dishwater.” Yeah, how’s that working out for you, pal?

At this point if Lucifer is saved I’m not sure I’m going to watch it.

The facebook portion of the fandom is really rubbing me the wrong way. And most are thirty-somethings acting like children or newbies to the Internet.

In closed (private) Facebook groups replying to posts with a nausea inducing chorus of #Savelucifer and #Pickuplucifer (and jpeg pictures of the hashtags as if that somehow works!) is not going to DO anything. And many are literally replying to everything with those tags or adding it to every post and when people try to explain that is not how the hashtags work in a private group on Facebook they get angry and accuse the person of not actually wanting to save the show. It’s demented.

I admit I was already a little bitter the third season of the show focussed on the “ships” too much and ridiculously stretched out the “Will Chloe ever find out the truth?” only to leave it on a cliffhanger, and the writing in season 3 felt inconsistent to me. - (Cain wants to be mortal and then after a very short conversation decides he wants to be immortal. As if he never considered the pratfalls of being mortal in his thousands of years of life? He “loves” Chloe but opens fire on her? And don’t get me started on what they did to Mazikeen, or Trixie accidentally giving pot brownies to her elderly teacher until she couldn’t feel her legs. And Maze “hilariously” - and treated like it’s no big deal- throwing male strippers into traffic...) - but I was willing to fight to try to get the show a fourth season, in the hope that a fourth season could go back to the quality of the first two seasons. However after all the stupidity, rudeness, and assholary I’ve witnessed in the last two weeks I don’t think it’s worth it. I know none of them will read this as they seem allergic to “long” comments.

I’m getting seriously burnt out on the behavior of too many Lucifer fans...

#Lucifer #Lucifer Morningstar #Lucifer on Fox #Fox's Lucifer #anti fandom

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canonicallysoulmates · 6 years ago

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I watched this years SDCC panel. I learned nothing new about s14.

Let’s jump into it; this are just going to be my opinions on the panel btw, I’ll do a separate post about some of the sdcc interviews later once I get the chance to watch them. So if there’s anything “big” that was discussed at the panel but is not mentioned here (ie. Sam’s leadership role) it’s most likely cause I already know it was discussed with more info in an interview.

Before the panel there was a teaser clip of s14 that I have not come across, if you know where I can see it let me know, and there was also a montage before the panel and that I did see.

It was actually pretty well done, they managed to make s13 look good...with the exception of the Dean/Lucifer fight scene but there’s no saving that scene. The song they used is beautiful, I loved it.

And I really liked the...I have no idea what exactly it’s called I guess it can be considered a poster that they showed at the end, I find it pretty, and I love how Sam looks in it with the scruff:

(this should have been the poster for s14 lbr)

It almost makes you think s14 is going to be good don’t it?

The panel itself, just like last year barely had any information relevant to the upcoming season. I will be fair and say if you don’t watch regular j2 con panels and follow the fandom then perhaps the little information given will be new for you but for someone like me, who does watch the regular con panels and follows along, the information given is not anything I didn’t already know.

I believe I had commented this before, but I was really hoping that SDCC would give me some sort of information of s14 that would make me excited and look forward to it, and I still have to check out the interviews so maybe I’ll find something there, but this panel did the opposite, I want to watch s14 even less. Dabb, Singer and BuckLemming sound like they have no clue where they’re going this season; I actually still don’t know why BuckLemming were at the panel when they contributed so little, and Dabb even looked as if he didn’t want to be there, which I completely understand because I didn’t want him there either.

Speaking off, I hate the way Dabb and BuckLemming answer questions, they answer without answering in the most annoying way.

Like near the beginning of the panel Dabb was asked what it’s like crafting the show, balancing what Dean is as a character vs. what he becomes possessed by Michael and his answer is: “I think when he was possessed by Michael he is Michael. Dean is there and he’s aware of what’s going on but he’s not really coming to the fore so Dean’s Michael”

That to me is not an answer to the question he was given, and it’s a repeat of what Jensen said as an answer to a previous question: that Dean is riding shotgun, Michael’s driving the car.

(I did like Richards follow up question, and I feel like he pointed something out Dabb might not have realized: “But in terms of the rhythm and like the word choices when you guys are working with the writers and developing that character there’s obviously- Michael’s gonna have a different entire pattern of speech and word choice than Dean I would assume; so that goes into a struggle does any of Dean ever seep out? is there ever a mix of the two in this creation?”)

BuckLemming [and Dabb-Singer] were asked: what’s michael’s plan? what’s his agenda?

Buckner tried to pass the question on to Lemming then Lemming passed the question back on to Buckner and I’m gonna rough summarize his reply and leave a timestamp if you want to listen to the whole thing cause he gave a long-ish answer and I am not going to listen to it 20x just to transcript it:

That Michael’s agenda was in a long list of do not reveals. That we saw what he did to his world and that he’s curious as to what humans want and that we’re going to see him recruiting people for his team and that it’s going to unfold very quickly in the first few episodes. TIMESTAMP

You really gotta listen to it to understand why I say this man sounds as if he has no clue what Michael’s agenda is; and I’m calling bs on that being on a ‘do not reveal’ list cause these questions are pre-approved. And he pretty much revealed what Michael’s plan was going to be anyways: Apocalypse!world 2.0.

The panel was asked about the longevity of the show: about what they think it is that makes the recipe still work, still stay fresh (they’re re-doing a storyline from s5, oh yeah they’re real “fresh”), and still engaging fans.

Lemming’s answer:

“we bring everybody to the brink of something, we push all our characters to where they think they can’t go any further and somehow on the other side of that they are redeemed. i think there’s a lot about redemption and loyalty. Whenever you see loyalty you see betrayal, so this are sort of time honored themes that we play with in the bodies of real likable and available characters that everybody loves.”

Lady what the fuck are you talking about? Since when is this show about redemption? If anything the whole betrayal schtick is one of the most tiring things of this show, also ‘whenever you see loyalty you see betrayal’ what kind of bs...

And ‘likable and available characters that everybody loves’? I can think of a good number of characters from this show that I don’t love.

By the way Buckner’s answer to this question was also 🙄. TIMESTAMP

I did like Alex's and Jensen's answer to this question.

On a more positive note cause I don’t hate everybody’s ways of answering questions, y’all already know I absolutely love the way j2 do it and yes j2 were wonderful but I actually want to talk about, Alex! I am liking this kid more and more, and I really liked the answer he gave when asked about how his characters relationship with Sam and Dean will change now that Castiel will (supposedly) be taking on a more parental role in the absence of Dean:

“Well what’s really cool about this show is you know I guess kinda like Scooby-Doo is you can break up the relationships and you guys can kinda like have different people go on a journey so you know investigate this part of the...you know the mansion- I don’t know. But for me and Cas it’s very cool that we get to have this kinda sustained celestial bond, but I think the ultimate thing is getting Dean back, that’s I think everyone’s kinda drive and motivation we wanna get him back into the fold.”

That is such a professional way to say Jack wants his other dad back 😂

But really I did like how he answered the question and I like the way the question was worded too:

“Your relationship with Sam and Dean last year was very much-they were very much paternal figures to you since you sorta come into the world. Castiel seems to be falling into that role a little bit as the season begins here, especially in the absence of Dean so where do you see your relationship going with Sam and Dean now? How does the Cas parental role change your relationship with Sam and eventually Dean?”

There was talk of the 300th episode, Singer is set to direct it, Jared said Jensen wants the 300th episode to feature the boys in togas, which would be a hell of fun to see but that’s all the info that was given. It seems Dabb is going to be the one writing it, which god help us; I will say I was not amused by Singer saying Dabb has a plan but he hasn’t told him what it is yet cause I don’t trust that man and I already think there’s a severe communication problem in that writing room.

Random thoughts:

Jared saying Jensen’s Michael performance gave him chills ❤️

Jensen’s coat flip 😂

I hope the writers don’t ruin Sam and Jack’s relationship simply to squeeze in Castiel

"the show hasn't lost its energy, it hasn't lost its steam, it hasn't lost it's unique energy that attracts the fans" - Richard before asking about the show’s longevity. I disagree with this opinion.

Dabb has got to let WS go. You tried, you failed, let it go!

Overall, I found the panel boring and kinda forgettable, it wasn’t even funny like last years was; if you’re looking for s14 information, you can find it summarized online and there’s more info in the interviews. I don’t think you’re gonna lose much if you skip on this panel, but I also don’t think you’re gonna lose much if you do watch it.

Supernatural 2018 SDCC Panel

Supernatural Montage

#spn negative #spn critical #anti bucklemming #anti andrew dabb #anti castiel #just slightly #mine #spn sdcc

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pebblysand · 4 years ago

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Author Interview Tag

Author Interview Game

Thank you sooooo much for the tag @tessiete this has actually made my day! I fucking love writing about writing (bit self-indulgent, I know) and reading other people’s writing about writing and oh, god, I’m so excited!!

Name: pebblysand

Fandoms: from beginning to end - Without A Trace, House, Spooks/MI:5, The Good Wife, Silk, Harry Potter (although, technically, that was probably the first one - my mum’s best friend said she had to read HP because from age 6 to age 10 it was all I ever consented to talk about).

Where you post: AO3 and FF.

Behind the cut cause this post is loooong.

Most popular multichap:

(Full disclosure, I’ve only ever written two multichaps, both happen to be listed here)

AO3: Children (Silk)

My baby. My love. On and off, between writing, first posting, then editing and reposting - 2.5 years of work. It is a ridiculously niche fandom but sure look, I’m so proud of it. I’d always thought I was a one-shot kind of girl, that I was incapable of writing and framing a long-form story, and yet, here I am. I am madly proud of this.

FF: Castles (Harry Potter)

Sheer force of numbers, here, to be honest. It’s only two chapters in, and already two kudos short of overpowering Children on AO3, which I’m guessing will make it most popular across the board, just because the fandom itself is so large.

I will say this: I’ve had this story in my head for years and I think part of the reason why I’m only writing it now is that after years of writing in nice, niche fandoms where you could easily read all the fics available in a few days and make friends with readers because everyone kind of knew each other, I finally have the backbone to face the Potter fandom. Because fuck, as much as I love the books and have gotten absolutely lovely, thoughtful comments on this throughout the past few weeks, God can that fandom be brutal.

And, don’t get me wrong: I’ve had constructive criticism on a number of my fics in the past, including very niche ones. Even if it does sometimes hurt a bit, it’s always helped me better my writing. I remember for instance one chapter of Children where someone wrote in that they were confused and couldn’t follow the narrative. I was a bit annoyed at first but in the end, it made me rethink the chapter and rewrite it, and they were 100% correct. That’s the whole point of constructive criticism/debates in comments.

The Potter fandom has that, no doubt. I’ve had super interesting discussions in comments and overall the response and feedback has been incredible, like I’ve never even dreamt of before. This being said, I’ve also gotten more shit than I’ve had in any other fandom. For instance: the story picks up after the war (starts in May 1998). The summary reads: “To him, the spring of '98 is about sex and funerals.” - which is a line taken from the fic itself. When you labour over something for hours on end and the first comment you get is: “first learn when spring season starts and ends before writing a story about it. what a joke.” it’s a bit disheartening, to say the least.

And, I know. First of all, yes, that person is an idiot and clearly doesn’t know when spring ends and summer starts themselves because summer only technically starts on the 21st of June. Secondly, even if I’d gotten it wrong, I didn’t write a story about the seasons, you idiot. It’s clearly a line taken from the story. Lastly, learn how to punctuate and spell. Now, I’m 27. I know that. I can disregard that. But even then it still feels like shit. If I’d gotten that kind of trolling when I was younger, I’m not sure I’d still be writing today. I really admire younger writers who start out on Potter - I was very afraid until now, tbh.

Favorite story you’ve written:

This, I really don’t know. I was trying to pick one but I think my favourite one is almost always the one I’ve either just written or am writing now. For a long time, I really loved Once. I also really liked Daisies and Dreams. I obviously love Children although I think I’ve spent so much time writing and editing it that it’ll take a bit of time for me to really appreciate it without also self-editing in my head, if that makes sense.

Right now, though, I love Castles. I think it’s the best piece of writing I’ve ever written. When the next one comes around, I hope that’s the best piece of writing I’ve ever written. That means progress.

Fic you were nervous to post:

Castles for reasons explained above. I love HP but I don’t think big fandoms in general are my thing. I like decent-sized fandoms. Like, TGW-size, back in the day, was perfect. Even as a reader, it’s also fucking hard to find good fic due to the sheer mass of stuff out there. Where do you even start?

How you choose your titles:

Castles, Children, Daisies, Truth, Mistakes, Dreams, Before, Once, Cannonballs - hello, do you detect a pattern here :D?

Jokes aside, yeah, I like one-word titles. Believe it or not, though, it hadn’t occurred to me that I always seemed to gravitate towards them until @orbythesea on AO3 pointed it out to me. To be honest, even the fics that don’t materially have one-word titles have one-word titles in my head. Like, Horses Made of Sticks is actually just Horses, in my head. I should probably have called it Horses.

How do I choose? Depends. Sometimes, they come from songs (Castles, Children, Daisies). Sometimes, it’s quotes, concepts from the show/book, or sometimes it just fits. Like, Once, Dreams and Truth couldn’t really have been called anything else, they’re just what the fics are about.

Do you outline?

Yes, always. For one-shots, I usually have an outline on my phone or part of the word file I’m writing the fic in itself, just a list of scenes or quotes that come to me at random points during the day that I will forget if I don’t write them down. I am very forgetful of my own brilliance hahaha.

For longer stuff, I usually have the general plot in my head from beginning to end before I start writing. Then, chapter by chapter, I plan with a blank A4 sheet of papers that I fill with post-its describing different scenes, a little bit like a paper version of those boards they have in writers’ rooms. It helps me physically see where scenes fall, where holes are. I do the same thing for original fiction.

For reference, one for Children (chapter 9) would have looked like that. They’re definitely not set in stone, though. Lots of times I’ll change stuff on the spot, big or small. Scenes that pop up randomly or get deleted because they worked in my head but not on paper, sometimes moved (sometimes moved to other chapters even). Here, “Alice” later became “Charlotte” and that “eye-fucking” (LOL) scene never happened.

Complete:

I think they’re all complete? I never completed that alphabet-based collection of House one-shots but it was a collection and they were shite anyways. They’re not missed, lol.

Of course, Castles is incomplete, but that’s just my current WIP.

In progress:

As I said, Castles. Also a piece of original fiction that I’m not sure where to post. Like, what do people do with short stories? Where do you post that shit online? Can anyone help?

Coming soon/not yet started:

No idea. I’m a one-project-at-a-time kind of gal.

Prompts:

I love prompts. Send me all the prompts. Especially three-sentence-story prompts. God, I miss those.

Upcoming Work You’re Most Excited About:

I mean, again, Castles.

No pressure tags: I have no one to tag because I’m not really in fandom anymore but if anyone sees this and wants to do this, please be my guest. Again, I love reading about other people’s writing and writing processes because we’re all different and it’s fascinating.

Also, if anybody’s got theories about ff v. AO3 tastes and readership, hit me up, I could speculate for hours.

And thanks again @tessiete for tagging me

#writing #fanfiction #the good wife #Harry Potter #Harry Potter fic #ao3 #ffnet #theories #writing about writing #stuff #very long pointless posts

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entergamingxp · 4 years ago

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The Last of Us Part II’s Shannon Woodward Discusses Playing Dina and the Importance of Having a Sense of Humor in the Post-Apocalypse

June 24, 2020 8:10 AM EST

The Last of Us Part II’s Shannon Woodward talks about being allowed to keep some of her jokes and how humor can deal with trauma within the game.

It feels strange to not start off the beginning of my The Last of Us Part II article with how long before we get our hands on the game and its release date as it’s finally here. In what felt like forever, The Last of Us Part II hit home last Friday, 19 June to much anticipation. Many of us right now have either completed the game or are slowly making their way through it, absorbing every detail, moments, and becoming accustomed to Dina, Ellie’s love interest. Shannon Woodward who voices Dina weighs in on the significance of humor within such a dark game and being a huge fan of The Last of Us before getting her role in Part 2.

You may have already seen Shannon in the highly acclaimed futuristic Western-themed TV show Westworld where she plays programmer Elsie Hughes in season one and you may also have noticed in the show’s credits that The Last of Us Part II‘s co-writer Halley Gross wrote some episodes, too. In an interview with Variety, Woodward talked about being a huge fan of The Last of Us and having already played the game three times before knowing anything about the sequel. Reminiscing about the first time she played The Last of Us, Woodward says that she was in her house with her younger brother, and whilst trying to get to sleep, she could hear him crying loudly.

“You’ve gotta stop, it’s so loud.” And he was sobbing, he was like “I’m so sorry! Shannon, this game is so crazy” Woodward continues “This girl — you spend all this time trying to protect her, and I just killed everyone!” I was like, “What are you talking about?” That was the first time I’d heard about the game, and he was like “You’ve gotta play it,” and I played it. It had a really profound effect on me.”

Woodward goes on to say that The Last of Us was the first time she’d “ever played a game that felt like it elevated the nature of storytelling that I’d ever experienced, in the sense that, when you watch a show or movie or read a novel, you’re an observer.” and also the first time a game made her feel like she was “making active choices as a player, so I felt complicit in those decisions. In the same way that a magician makes you pick a card, and you really feel like you chose that card, but that’s why they’re really good at their jobs. And that just really felt profound to me.”

It’s not unusual for people who have worked together previously to then run into each other at industry get-togethers so seeing Halley Gross again was almost like the stars aligned for Woodward. During one of these such parties, Woodward asked Gross what she was currently up to with Gross replying that she was working with Naughty Dog. Being a self-proclaimed gamer and a fan of The Last of Us, Woodward asked Gross excitedly if she was working on The Last of Us 2.

“She just went really pale and was like, “I can’t talk about it!” And I was like, “Oh my god, I am such a big fan. You don’t have to say anything, but just tell [writer/director] Neil Druckmann that I’d die to have a line in the game.” Woodward continues “And we went back and forth for a couple months and her being like, “Oh, he really likes ‘Westworld,’” and I was like, “I really like everything he’s ever done,” until a few months later, when she was like, “There is a role, but you have to audition.” And I was like, “Oh my god, you’re going to let me audition?” So then I auditioned, and then they hired me, and that’s how I like to say I stalked my way into being part of the game.”

Throughout the interview, Woodward talks about how amazing Ashley’s (Ellie) performance was and how much realism she brought to the character, so much so that it made Woodward believe that Ashley lived in this world in a real way. For the longest time, players have known that The Last of Us Part II would be a dark and grim place but in the interview, Woodward touches on the importance of still maintaining a sense of humor even in the character’s darkest moments. “In a lot of post-apocalyptic stories, I feel like people really lose their sense of humor.” Woodward says “People are really focused on, like, “It’s a hard life,” and yeah, but that’s been their entire life. People are still people, even when things are incredibly difficult.”

“I’ve talked with Neil a lot about what I said earlier about general humor and what makes people feel whole is how they deal with trauma, and I think a lot of the ways people deal with trauma is through levity.” Woodward states “And obviously within reason, but I think when it’s there, it’s not only a sense of release, but it makes people feel really human.”

Woodward was also allowed to keep some of her own jokes within the game after Neil Druckmann finally gave in to Woodward and allowed her to let loose in the studio. “So there were definitely places like that where I would think of a joke and I’d say, “come on, just let me say it!” And then they would. And there were some times in the booth, in the dialogue, they would’ve written jokes and they’d be like, “all right, Shannon you can have 15 seconds to go ahead and roll on your own jokes,” and some of them made it in.

Naturally, a game with hard-hitting topics and out of the box thinking that many developers shy away from, The Last of Us Part II has and will continue to divide players. You only need to look at how it got review bombed before most of them had the chance to play it or even finish it, but Woodward believes that The Last of Us Part II will have “a myriad of responses to it” and that she thinks that that is purely “a testament to what I think is really special when people have a visceral reaction, and I think there’s a lot of visceral reaction, and I think that’s exciting.” continuing “And I hope people enjoy it. I played the game for the first time a couple of months ago and I’m still thinking about it, and I love the game. But it’s a lot to think about. It’s a lot to digest.”

The Last of Us Part II is available exclusively for PS4 right now, and you can order the game on Amazon.

This post contains affiliate links where DualShockers gets a small commission on sales. Any and all support helps keep DualShockers as a standalone, independent platform for less-mainstream opinions and news coverage.

June 24, 2020 8:10 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/06/the-last-of-us-part-iis-shannon-woodward-discusses-playing-dina-and-the-importance-of-having-a-sense-of-humor-in-the-post-apocalypse/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-last-of-us-part-iis-shannon-woodward-discusses-playing-dina-and-the-importance-of-having-a-sense-of-humor-in-the-post-apocalypse

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reactingtosomething · 7 years ago

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Reacting to The Good Place: “Dance Dance Resolution”

Eleanor’s Moral Continuity

The Setup: Find our reaction to the season 2 premiere of The Good Place here.

SPOILERS for episode 203 below!

KRIS:

Well, that escalated quickly. (Said the guy who’s never seen Anchorman.) In The Good Place’s Chapter 16 — written by noted pun enthusiast Megan Amram (also on Tumblr) and directed by executive producer Drew Goddard (a Lost alum and excellent writer in his own right, who ran the first half of the first season of Daredevil and wrote the screen adaptation of The Martian) — Adam’s prediction about an alliance proves largely correct, Liz’s and my theory that Eleanor was actually retaining her ethical/spiritual growth proves (sadly) incorrect, and Eleanor and Chidi are confirmed as soulmates, even if Michael didn’t know it. PLUS: the returns of lava demon Todd, the Medium Place, and — thank you, universe — Janet’s reset button!

“Is that possible, Janet? Can you just chill out a little?”

“Dance Dance Resolution” goes Groundhog Day (I haven’t seen that, either, but I have seen the terrific Edge of Tomorrow) with an accelerated/abbreviated chronicling of Michael’s hundreds of attempts to engineer a perpetual torture machine that Eleanor won’t far-too-quickly outsmart. He hits rock bottom when the epically stupid Jason solves it first (“Yeah, this one hurts”). Eventually, when all the other demons go on strike and Vicky (f.k.a. Real Eleanor) brings him a list of their demands, Michael finds himself reduced to seeking advice from a man who died because he locked himself in a safe and thought he could still breathe because he brought a snorkel.

Meanwhile, in what might actually be the episode’s B-story (how did the rest of you read it?), Eleanor and Chidi overhear the truth from some of the striking demons on a smoke break, and flee to the Medium Place, where Mindy St. Claire is really tired of Eleanor and Janet showing up on her doorstep with various combinations of the other doomed souls. We get good gags out of Mindy being the only one who remembers any of the 14 previous visits, and hear a few of Eleanor and Co.’s failed plans to outmaneuver Michael. But this episode’s emotional power comes from Mindy’s revelation that Eleanor and Chidi have not only slept together several times, but once even confessed their love to each other. (“It’s like anti-porn.”) Shaken, Eleanor — who has just been really mean to Chidi, even for her — rallies the team for the 700-somethingth time (we see some versions where Michael gives up after just a few seconds) and delivers an ultimatum to Michael… but thanks to that aforementioned advice from Jason, he’s (still) one step ahead of them. He wants to team up. This seems to mean that Tiya Sircar’s Vicky has just become our season villain, which is a pretty glorious reversal of the dynamic she originally had with “Fake Eleanor.”

Surprising no one, I’m now even more invested in learning more about Janet, who is clearly so essential to the operation of afterlife neighborhoods that even through 801 resets Michael could never fully control her. (Does this mean that in “Tahani Al-Jamil,” Janet’s wild personality swings were also to some degree unintentional? I’d love that. They weren’t essential to making Chidi despair over the awfulness of his book and pushing him out of his comfort zone.)

Anyone have hopes, fears, favorite moments (I think I can guess one of Liz’s), or a lead on some coke for poor Mindy St. Claire? As a former fledgling Nietzsche scholar, I’m pretty happy that William Jackson Harper delivers what I’m convinced is only the third or fourth time an American TV show has correctly pronounced “Nietzsche.”

Click through for sports analogies from Adam, a philosophy digression from Kris, and a quality Twitter recommendation from Miri:

MIRI:

Well I’m officially done trying to predict The Good Place. (This is a lie, and I’m not even sorry. Feel free to mock me for how wrong I am in future.) We knew they would twist us again soon, but not this big this quickly. Damn, Schur & co. Just damn.

I have questions about Janet’s level of self-awareness. Or I guess accumulation/memory of previous resets? Her conversation with Michael as he’s about to reset her suggests she knows somewhat what has happened in the past. That may be due to him explaining it to her over the course of that attempt, but I’m not sure. Does Janet have the capacity to retain change even if she loses memories? Clearly Eleanor and co can, but Janet is not human. But is she a being? Does she have the ability to grow? (Sidebar: Perpetually in love with D’Arcy Carden’s performance. That sequence of falls!)

I genuinely love The Good Place’s relationship to absurdity. When you run 800+ scenarios, you’re going to get to some weird places and a two second farm reality joke is exactly what I never knew I needed from a tv show. They have a damn clam chowder fountain, which is insane but they play it as if it isn’t and that is what works so beautifully. Everything they’re doing is bonkers, but if enough people do the same bonkers thing with a straight face, it’s very hard to question it. That’s what worked in the demons’ favor in the first season, and I think what will work in Eleanor, Michael, etc.’s favor this time around. (I told you I was lying about the no predictions thing.)

Jumping back to the chowder fountain for a moment: Manhattan clam chowder would be more demonic to have around than New England clam chowder in general, but a (proper) dairy based chowder is more horrifying to have in a public fountain, so I believe they made the right call on that.

A few smaller thoughts to wrap up:

JUST realized that Mike Schur and Michael the demon have the same name and I don’t know what that says about Schur or about what Shur thinks of himself. It’s a good name in general, though.

I’m quite excited to see more from Vicky. She’s a really volatile mixture of blind enthusiasm and legitimate shrewdness, plus Sircar is just a joy to watch.

How high is the demon to bad person ratio, y’all? Is it really this skewed or is this a gross misallocation of resources?

Highly recommend this delightful twitter

ADAM:

A slight disclaimer: I have been a little busy with the move and without internet living like some early 90s sap. I'm currently at my local Starbucks writing this (Spectrum hooks everything up later today). Now back to the show.

It's hard God Damn work being this right all the time! I mean I figured that the team up storyline would happen later, but well played Mike Schur for just getting to the point (more on that in a minute). I watched the episode at a Holiday Inn Express in Kingman, AZ and I'm pretty sure Kris could hear me patting myself on the back from his apartment in Hollywood. It is a good feeling when you just nail a plot development or future storyline. I mean some could liken my figuring out the plot twist to Jason figuring out that everyone is was in the bad place. Okay, enough of the gloating time for more serious talks because I've got great news for everyone, especially Mindy St. Claire, I didn't forget the cocaine!

I will say that even though I called the team up angle, I did not expect it to happen at the end of episode two. The Michael storyline of nothing working and being blackmailed by fake Eleanor (or whatever you want to call her) did have a mid-season or end of the season storyline to it. After letting everything settle in now, however, it makes sense that Schur would pull something like this-this early on. If you look back to the end of season 6, and all of season 7, of Parks and Recreation he takes massive time jumps. Leslie had triplets and we never saw them except for short moments. He essentially did the same thing with “Dance Dance Resolution.” He showed that we can keep doing the same thing over and over again (ala case of the week) seeing how everyone figures it out. In a recent podcast interview he did with Andy Greenwald, he explained how he likes to dig himself a hole and figure a way out. This episode shows that he's crazy like a fox and like "The Good/Bad Place" anything is possible to happen. I like the fact that with this Groundhog Day kind of episode that Schur and Co. are saying that no matter the different variables that the outcome is the same. Ergo, even though these might be bad people they can still learn and grow to be good. Which then leads to the question of: What really makes a bad/good person? Kris, since you are the philosopher I look to you to answer that question. I will say that with the team up now happening that Eleanor and Co. will grow attached to Michael and vice versa (a bit of a stretch).

Disclaimer: This portion is going to be heavy with sports analogies.

Eleanor, Chidi, and Janet have some very funny moments in this episode showing that they are getting more freedom to handle more of the comedy on their own (I touched on this last episode). The episode, however, truly belonged to Michael. “Dance Dance Resolution” felt like Ted Danson was playing iso ball. We never really truly got to see him shine, except only during last season's finale. This was his moment and he did not disappoint. He was essentially LeBron barreling down the lane where no one is going to stop him. His ability to set others up (his interactions with Janet and then Jason in particular) so they get their moment is great. How he can work in the scene is great and his comedic timing is on point that it just seems so effortless. I am curious to know how much direction is given to Ted Danson or if it's just give him the ball and get the hell out of his way.

I would say to Kris and Liz that you are both correct that Eleanor keeps her ethical and spiritual growth. The reason is that even though yes she does lose her memory every time there is a reset, if you look at every reset she still does the same thing. She seeks out Chidi for spiritual/ethical growth. While she may not remember what happens she always tries to do the responsible or ethical thing. The question may be that instead of wondering what Janet retains with every reset, we might want to start asking what Eleanor and Co. retain with every reset. The characters’ memories are wiped, but how much are they truly retaining? Even when Eleanor and Chidi visit Mindy St. Claire for the 50th or whatever time, she explains to Eleanor that that is the first time Eleanor has told Chidi that she loves him. Even though they have had sex dozens of times before she never said told Chidi that she loved him. That would mean that even though their memories keep being erased their connection continues to grow stronger. This is going to be a storyline that Eleanor and Chidi are going to continue to grapple with throughout the show because with them trying to fool everyone Eleanor and/or Chidi is going to get jealous (or try to make the other jealous) while they are with their "soulmates." I mean let's be real it will be Eleanor trying to make Chidi jealous by hooking up with her "soulmate" and Chidi trying to get back at her, but failing in a miserable yet funny way. I really hope they stay away from a Will They Won't They sexual tension between Chidi and Eleanor.

Finally, I would have to disagree with the notion of Janet knowing and or retaining information. I think that Janet is just an actual computer trying to understand how the world works. I think that with every reboot I would compare it to a hard reset if someone formatted their computer. In the season one finale Michael says they stole a good Janet and reprogrammed her. She may have a backup drive that Michael does not even know about, which then, said backup drive will eventually be used against him by Shawn to retire Michael. I would also like to see Tahani get some more run. She hasn't had as much space to play as the rest of the co-stars. She has mainly just been involved in the B, sometimes C plot or the occasional runner.

KRIS:

Since now two of you have asked, my leanings as a former-almost-philosopher are Aristotelian, which is to say that A) I’m generally more interested in character traits — virtues and vices — than in hard universal rules or in what you could call the “moral math” of utilitarianism/consequentialism; and B) I tend to think one’s character is shaped by one’s actions (as Chidi has explained to Eleanor), and that therefore one’s moral sense can be — indeed, must be — trained. As my existentialism professor Iain Thomson once phrased this view, “Aretē is a technē. Virtue is a skill.” (The Greek root of the word “technology” is “technē,” which can translate roughly to “skill,” but also to “science,” or even to “art” in the sense that (an) art is a practice. Which is why the website name Ars Technica is a little strange.)

Virtue ethics, then, may be the main ethic of The Good Place as a show. It’s worth nothing, though, that in “Dance Dance Resolution,” Chidi for the first time identifies himself as a specialist not in virtue ethics but in deontology, i.e., ethics based on rules and duties. (This explains his interest in contractualism and Scanlon’s What We Owe to Each Other, and also why he was so excited to have meals with Immanuel Kant.)

Appropriate response to a Kant superfan I’M KIDDING (mostly)

I’m not yet totally sold on Adam’s read of what I’m going to call Eleanor’s moral continuity, but I like it. (I literally applauded alone in my studio apartment when Adam’s prediction came true.) This brings me to my biggest… I don’t know if “concern” is the right word? But like I said last week, I’ll miss watching Eleanor grapple with her past dirtbaggery, which wasn’t just hilarious but often moving, and often a mirror. Think of when Eleanor’s boyfriend wanted to boycott that coffee shop. Dirtbag-Eleanor decided that because perfectly aligning all of one’s actions with one’s principles is impossible, we shouldn’t bother trying. As a specific scenario, this is something we all struggle with. And in general, the theme of “How Do I Be(come) a Good Person?” is creepy-targeted-Facebook-ads-level Pandering to Kris.

Vox’s Caroline Framke observed that this season reminds her of how Community changed a lot in its second season, shifting from a show “about college” to something supremely strange and toweringly ambitious, all for the better. I definitely don’t object to The Good Place undergoing a similar change, as seems to be the case not only in this episode’s structural ambition but in the increased focus on Danson/Michael. But while I do love Danson (who is everything Adam says he is), maybe because this is actually the first thing I’ve seen him in, I’m less invested in TGP as a Danson Delivery Mechanism than I was in its being — by circumstance if not by design — a show about women and people of color trying to find (or make) their place in the universe.

More importantly, the increased Michael focus is also what signals that TGP is no longer primarily about being a good person — though the team-up suggests it may still be about building a good community. And that’s a Schurian theme I love, partly because it’s an antidote to the distinctly American ethos of radical individualism: Americans like to believe in superheroes, in the Great Man theory of history, in “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” as the answer to everything, in the power of a single person to change the world through sheer will. But that’s not how the world works. It takes a village. This is indeed the point of Aristotle’s ethics, and of Aristotle’s Ethics, by which I mean the book Nicomachean Ethics, whose last chapter all but explicitly sets up his Politics, a work about how we organize communities to serve the ends of human happiness. An old classmate thought it was insane that political theory students read the Politics without necessarily reading the Ethics, and something like the reverse is also true: the goals established in the Ethics cannot be achieved without politics.

In The Good Place, Eleanor can’t become better if the world around her doesn’t provide conditions that make striving for goodness feasible. A key idea in philosophical ethics is that “ought implies can.” If a moral framework is going to make sense as a human project, and as something that can be enforced, following it has to actually be possible. In life this is what discouraged Eleanor from even trying to be conscientious about how she spent her money, and in afterlife it’s what Chidi agonizes over when Mindy reveals they’ve all been here before: “We are experiencing karma, but we can't learn from our mistakes, because our memories keep getting erased. It’s an epistemological nightmare!”

(For a much cleaner, sharper take on where this may all be going in a larger thematic sense, read Todd VanDerWerff on how he sees The Good Place as a self-conscious repudiation of Parks and Recreation’s optimism.)

ADAM:

I think TGP is still about being a good person though. While yes there is a team up there still is the suggestion about what characters, mainly Eleanor, will do to figure out how they are good. Everything Schur has created deals with the optimism within not just people, but a community as a whole. This optimism is then brought forth by a conduit (Leslie Knope in Parks and Rec, Terry Jeffords in Brooklyn Nine-Nine) that shows everyone around them that they can either make a difference or can learn to be less selfish.

Do you think that because Eleanor might retain some sort of "Goodness" that she then tries to make the neighborhood good? Do you think the Eleanor does retain some of the goodness that she has learned from all the resets (hence my theory on her telling Chidi that she loves him for the first time) that she, in fact, will help both Michael and the rest of the neighborhood become good? I don't see TGP as a repudiation to Parks and Rec's optimism, I see it as the optimism shining through the chaos within. Not to belabor the point, but even after all the 800+ resets Eleanor always seeks Chidi out to learn ethics/morality, as she feels guilty that she is not supposed to be in the "Good Place." She never deviates or goes down a different path. Couldn't you say that even in the chaos as a whole Eleanor and Co. still show resolve and that good can still shine through all through the chaos?

KRIS:

I'd like Lemon and/or Miri to take a crack at these questions, and I'll maybe come back to Eleanor when I close this out tomorrow morning, but I'll venture briefly that there's a distinction between the optimism of Parks -- Change for the better is inevitable, we're on the winning side of history -- and the specific, America-in-2017 brand of hope (or maybe that's not even the right word, but something hope-adjacent) that can be read into TGP, in which you try to change things for the better without assuming that you're going to succeed. In the case of Eleanor and Co., it's not like it can get any worse; there's nowhere to go but up, and thus nothing to lose by fighting even an unwinnable battle, but there is a toll on the conscience for giving up.

MIRI:

Point of clarification (because it matters to the questions Adam brought up, not just because I'm a pedantic ass)—I'm pretty sure this was not the time Eleanor said she loved Chidi. Mindy was showing her tape of another time. They overheard the striking demons only a few days into this reset, so they barely know each other this time. Which is why Eleanor was horrified to learn of the love—she doesn't feel that way about Chidi. Yet. And I think that goes to an important point—Eleanor's progress is not a straight line. She's evolved as a person overall, but she's still somewhat who she used to be and has her old memories. The circumstances of each reboot affect how she reacts somewhat. And that's realistic—no path to self improvement is simple or linear. She's going to have backslides and incremental progress. (Also I'd argue that she goes to Janet for help staying under the radar for her own safety and Janet brings her to Chidi. Eleanor doesn't go directly to him out of love or guilt. BUT she does find her way to him and is willing to learn from him over and over and over, which is what matters to me.)

I think that Eleanor's character has improved and that she retains some of that, but that the job is far from done—and that is the most important part. Each time she must choose to do better (not for the best reason to start, but still) and then work at it. Being good in a vacuum is easy and not particularly worthy of commendation. Eleanor is still on her climb out of dirtbaggery, she's just a bit farther along than in the first season.

Also: IT DID NOT OCCUR TO ME until Kris pointed it out that literally none of the non-demon protagonists are white dudes. That's amazing. I have come to expect Fremulon shows to actually look like the world (women, people of color, many things are garbage but not ALL things, etc). But damn, that is worth taking a moment to appreciate.

Also also, I would like to [again] direct you all to the twitter @nocontexttgp because it is a damn delight on my twitter feed and we all deserve that.

KRIS:

I wonder how much we should consider the question of Eleanor's moral continuity in the light of the sitcom "law" that your characters can't really change. Mike Schur and his collaborators (Dan Goor on B99, Greg Daniels on Parks) have pushed this law to its limits, but have they ever really broken it? Jake Peralta has grown up enough to be a worthy partner to Amy Santiago, but he's still definitely recognizably the Peralta of the pilot. Even the increasingly Woke Peralta is seen in season 1, when he punches out guest star Stacy Keach's old school detective for being homophobic. Leslie Knope started out kind of as a hapless Michael Scott clone, but she was never as outright awful a human being, and Poehler's sunniness lent itself to a different direction, so that Leslie became a hypercompetent moral authority, but she also retained her Too Much-ness and her blind love for and faith in her friends.

From the beginning Schur has been clear that The Good Place is intended as a heavily serialized show, so Miri's observation that Eleanor and Chidi seem to flee to the Medium Place relatively early into version 802 gets at a big question I have that this week's inevitable twist will probably prove I'm overthinking BUT STILL: Are we supposed to assume that Eleanor v802 has had roughly the same amount of moral maturation as version 1, that she’s had roughly similar experiences to what we saw last year? It seems like we have to say no, right? And if that's the case, this is on one level a pretty interesting commentary about network sitcoms: in a way it really doesn’t matter what happens to these people week-to-week, as it really didn't matter exactly who Joey was dating or exactly what Monica was yelling about on any given episode of Friends. But more specifically to the serialization of The Good Place, who/what exactly are we rooting for, if not for the Eleanor whose trials we followed last season? This reminds me, weirdly, of one of the big problems of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, in which the lead character was a repeatedly reset blank slate and we spent far too long knowing much more about her world than she did. (Echo actually figured out the truth by the end of the original pilot, but Fox wanted more weekly sexploitation, and forced the show into a procedural rut which eventually saw Eliza Dushku in bondage gear for like 30 seconds, apparently just for the hell of it.)

If Adam is right, then Eleanor's situation is something like "10 steps forward, 9 steps back" in every reset, and maybe last season did "matter" in-universe. But if Adam is wrong, then I guess what we're rooting for has to be in Eleanor's nature rather in her nurture -- maybe her fierce insistence on setting her own course, driven home as a fundamental drive with last season's revelation that Eleanor emancipated herself from her parents as a teenager -- and/or the very notion of moral perfectibility itself. Not perfection, but the potential for it. That is, we're rooting for Eleanor not because she becomes better but because deep down she wants to. I could live with that.

This isn’t relevant to my point, I just really wanted to include it

Lastly: I mentioned last week that I’m a little down on twist-driven storytelling as a concept or approach, but part of the reason it works so well here is that by going to the team-up so early — despite, as Adam said, having the feel of mid-season significance — the show is telling us it’s not “really” about the twist. Whereas something like Westworld builds really slowly and deliberately to a revelation that’s supposed to be earth-shattering, here the twist seems to be a means to a character-driven end, rather than the end in itself.

We’ll try to keep this up all season!

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#The Good Place #Dance Dance Resolution #Eleanor Shellstrop #The Good Place season 2 #ethics #Ted Danson #Michael #Kristen Bell #TV #reaction #Miri #Kris #Philosokris #(thanks Ron)#guest reactors #Adam

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arazialotis · 7 years ago

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Pinch of Nutmeg - Part 4

Pairing: Jensen × Reader

Word Count: 2900

Summary: The reader is a young and upcoming chef who takes up an opportunity in Vancouver where she by chance befriends Jensen. After several years apart and seeing each other at a convention. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Obviously I intend no hate or ill wishes to him or his family. This is purely just for writing and wasting my time.

Again, this is purely for a hobby and my enjoyment. Maybe some of you will enjoy it too. I am by no means a writer so I apologize in advance for any mistakes or grammatical/spelling errors.

Special thanks and shout out to @misguidedconqueress for reviewing, editing, suggestions, and as always putting up with me.

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Scott was anxious to get back to Vancouver. He had been on a tour of the restaurants in the States and had been busy with a few TV promotions. He arrived early to check on the kitchen and dining room. It was rumored that this site may soon be privileged with a visit by a Michelin star inspector. Although, he didn't want to overthink it, everything had to be in exactly the right place. He was expecting to start this morning by working on a seasonal menu in order to give the restaurant that extra notch it needed.

He was walking through the dining room when something across the street caught his attention. An old competitor's restaurant was being gutted out. “What is that?!” He yelled at his staff. “Why was I not informed?!” He demanded.

He became more furious when no one answered him. He ran his fingers through his wavy red hair. There was so much work he had to catch up on if he would even be considered for a star but a new competitor could jeopardize the entire process. He threw down his apron and headed out across the street to get a better look.

Although he had seen workers going in and out with materials, the windows themselves were lined with butcher's paper so the public could not view inside. On one of the parchments was scrawled ‘The Spotted Zebra - Microbrewery and Eatery - Coming Soon.’ He scoffed at the name. On top of a new menu and a barely functional staff this was the last thing he needed.

He pulled at the door which was unlocked and walked in. Wood floor was being laid down, and a bar spanning the east wall with cabinets made from French doors. The workers seemed occupied and he walked through unnoticed. He continued to make his way to the back discovering part of an open kitchen and another portion hidden in the back. Although most was up and running, some appliances were being replaced and updated.

“No shit,” He said when he saw you working with another chef, writing down a recipe. You turned around and smiled. “Was it always your plan to stab me in the back?” He joked, relieved it was you.

“Scott!” You yelled ecstatic. “Took you long enough to find out, are you losing your edge?” You teased back.

“I should have had you sign a contract about becoming competition.” He said joyfully with a little bit of seriousness.

“Oh no, no, no. We are going to help each other.” He raised an eyebrow waiting to hear your scheme. “You see once customers realize your entrees that could fit on a spoon won't fill them up, they'll waltz on over here for some real food and wash away the guilt of spending too much money at your place with a beer.”

“That seems more parasitic than mutual.” Scott commented.

“But it's not! Because those who start out here will have lowered their inhibitions and I'll send ‘em your way to empty their wallets.” You played.

“When I said you'd come back to work for me, this is not what I had in mind.” He confessed.

“You gotta let me take flight, Chef… speaking of flights, come here.” you said leading him into the building where you had also purchased the first floor for the brewery.

You led him through the maze of fermentors and kettles. “I think I want to turn this wall to glass so customers can see the process.” You described.

You led him to a testing station. “We have a sour and a saison ready to go.” You said pouring them out into a couple small glasses.

“No bias in that decision, presumably?” He asked knowing they had always been your favorites.

“Of course not.” You smirked before sipping on the sour.

Scott's brow furrowed as he caught a glimpse of Jensen walking down the sidewalk and into the other part of the building. “What's he doing here?” He asked with a sense of urgency and protectiveness in his voice.

You had avoided telling Scott that you and Jay were together, afraid of how he would react. “We flew the yeast in from Belgium, it gives a unique flavor throughout all the brews. Can you pick out what we used to flavor the sour?” You tried to divert the conversation.

“He has done nothing but break your heart time and time again.” Scott lectured.

“Just be nice okay?” You pleaded quietly seeing Jensen walk into the brewery. You poured a tasting glass for Jay too.

“Coste.” “Ackles.” They both greeted each other coldly as they shook hands in what you could only assume was a contest for dominance.

Jensen came to you and planted a kiss on your lips without saying a word. Out of respect for Scott, you tried to sneak out of it by handed Jay a beer. “Here.” You took another big sip of yours.

Scott set his untouched beer down. “I have a busy week coming up, I'll try to catch up with you later.”

“Scott, “ You called after him, but he didn't turn around. You sighed in frustration.

“What was he doing here?” Jensen asked you.

You rolled your eyes at the antics of both these men, so similar. “We discussed this when we picked the location, he is nothing but a mentor and a friend.” You reminded Jensen, leaving out the ‘best’ that should have gone in front of friend.

“I don't know if he thinks the same of you.” Jensen argued, full of jealousy.

“He only has my best interest in mind. If you stopped acting like a jerk around him, maybe he would loosen up.” You suggested.

“You think I'm being a jerk?” He asked slightly offended.

“To him… yeah.” You confessed, to which Jay tensed further. “Listen, this is not some love triangle. You and only you have my heart. But Scott is family, I don't want to have to give that up.”

You glanced back out the window as the first few snowflakes of a new winter storm started to fall. “Can I show you the progress or are you still going to have a sour attitude?’

“Hey, sour beer, sour me.” Jensen finally started to lighten up.

“Then try the saison.” You directed switching his cups.

“Huh.. nutty…” He commented after taking a sip. “So we are on schedule?” He asked following you back into the kitchen.

“Yes, construction should be finished by the end of the week. I’m just putting the final touches down on the menu along with rotating weekly specials. As for the beer the rest of the batches should be finished in another two weeks.” You explained to him.

Not only were you and Jensen dating now, you were also business partners. Jensen technically owned the restaurant as you could never afford such a location. He hired you on as the head chef, and for now you filled the managerial role until a fitting applicant came along. Yes, in the back of your mind you knew this could extremely complicate already complicated things such as your boyfriend paying your salary, your future if the relationship went south, and disagreements about business strategies. You were probably just overthinking it at this point.

“And the beers are the ones we sampled earlier this month?” Jensen questioned for clarification snapping you out of your thoughts.

“Yes, just in much bigger batches. Here try this.” You handed him a slice of cheesecake with orange blossoms and coriander. “It should pair well with the nuttiness of the saison.”

“God.” He said, mouth practically still full and already shoveling in another bite. “My trainer is going notice if I keep coming around here. I’ll never hear the end of it.” He said, taking another bite.

You couldn’t help but feel some pride. “Guess that means I’m doing my job.”

“Okay, what else do you got?” Jay asked.

“Hmm… tonight… I think I finalized the recipe for what I am going to call a curry.” You handed him a spoon. “It’s vegan to make our restaurant more VC friendly. Black eyed peas, potatoes, coconut milk, various spices.” You watched his reaction.

“It’s got a kick to it.” He said, immediately picking up on the berbere.

“Too much?” You asked.

“Perfect for the winter menu, warms you to the bones.” He responded.

“Okay, let’s see.. Oh of course, veggie samosas with a cucumber sauce.” You gave him a small bite. “Which will go perfectly with the lamb. And I don’t have any right now, but we will have risotto and poutine which will be daily selections based on what needs to be used up in the kitchen.”

Jensen kissed you on the cheek. “Everything is perfect.”

“Other than food, I do have a few interviews lined up for a managerial position tonight if you want to sit in on them?” You offered.

“I trust you, you know this better than me.” He assured.

“I also need to finalize my recipes with my sous, I’ll see you at home?” You asked, unsure if he would be at the apartment or if he had an early morning on set - making the trailer a much more convenient option.

“Always back to business with you. I’ll be at home, please make it home before 3:00 am tonight.” He urged.

“I’ll try.” You smiled and kissed him. “But no promises.”

“If it becomes consistent, I may just end up sleeping here.” He threatened lightheartedly.

“I’ll get a cot for my office.” You playfully challenged back.

When Jensen finally left, you couldn’t help but sigh in relief, feeling at peace again. Yes, you loved both of them to death, in different ways, and enjoyed your time with them individually. But balancing both relationships was exhausting - especially when they collided. You gulped down the rest of Jensen’s beer that he had left on the counter hoping it would help distract your mind from them.

The next two weeks flew by in a blur. You did secure a manager with extensive experience, which had thankfully relieved a load of off you. Opening day you were the first to arrive to the restaurant. The 12-plus hour days had been taking a toll, but you knew opening weeks could make or break the entire business. You and the staff had prepared most everything last night, but you wanted to inspect every last detail.

As you were folding more napkins, a task that always need to be done, your phone buzzed.

“Hello?” You answered.

“Hey gorgeous,” Jensen greeted you. “Did you sleep in like I suggested?”

“Mmhmm.” You lied.

“You are already at the restaurant, aren’t you?” Jensen called you out.

“Yup.” You answered briefly, still focused on folding napkins.

He sighed a little before suggesting, “Would you want me to tweet something about opening day?”

You put down the napkins, thinking about it for a moment. “Only if less than 5 people show up.”

“I’ll wait for your word then. I am positive it will go great.” He encouraged. “I’ll bring Jare and Misha down tonight too, after we finished for the day. “

“Don’t expect any special treatment though.” You laughed.

“I know better than to expect that from you.” He joked. “But seriously, good luck tonight. I love you.”

“Love you too.” You ended before hanging up and immediately diving back into work.

Staff started trickling in throughout the day to help clean, polish, review the menu and pairings, dice, simmer, and anything else that was needed. A few minutes before the time was here, you and the staff had a celebratory moment tearing off the butcher’s paper from the windows. There were a few people waiting outside in line - not a remarkable number by any means - but still a small victory.

“Okay, I just want to be a sap before we open those doors.” You started with the staff gathered around. “We’ve all worked really hard to get where we are right now. Over the weeks, I’ve selected each one of you by hand and have gotten to know you as family. I am fully confident in the success of this restaurant because I am fully confident in the abilities of everyone of you. Tonight will be business as usual, we’ve had our practice runs and worked out the kinks. Mistakes may happen but that is how we learn. Nothing will be different in tonight's service than from the training we’ve had together. However, if we make it through alive, let’s break open the bottles with a little celebration after we close shop for the first time.” You toasted your staff before signaling to the manager to open the door.

The first few hours were busy but you had open tables. It wasn’t until after five that the lobby started filling up at which point you encouraged your wait staff to pursue a faster turnover rate. By 7 o’clock, there was a line out the door. You made the decision to offer those waiting in the cold, coffee or a sample of soup. Throughout the night you jumped between the open front and hidden back of the kitchen, making sure recipes were being properly executed, helping out if someone was behind, and plating. You were in the middle of carving a rack of lamb when Jensen caught your attention from across the dining area. He had been intently watching you the entire time. Jared and Misha were with him chatting over drinks and entrees.

‘Is it good?’ You silently mouthed to him with a thumbs up.

He signed okay with his hand mouthing back. ‘Perfect’.

Part of you knew he was just saying that to ease your mind but it really did help make you feel better. You quickly went back to work as orders kept piling in. And there was no rest until you closed the kitchen even though the bar would be open for a few more hours as groups finished up their drinks and appetizers. It gave you and your staff time to clean up and get prepped again for tomorrow.

Finally, when the last guest left and the restaurant was scrubbed clean, you celebrated with your staff, having ordered in a few boxes of champagne. You had invited Scott to join you for the after party but lost hope when he didn’t show up an hour after the lights at his restaurant went out.

Eventually your staff trickled out and only you remained. You went through the pantry, the fridge, and the freezer counting up inventory to put a list together of what supplies you’d have to pick up from the market tomorrow. You also wanted to get a head start tracking orders to gauge the popularity of dishes. You were working on a spreadsheet when Jensen came into your office around 3 am. You were hardly shocked, so many people had been in and out the last couple of weeks it felt normal.

“Hey, am I ever going to see you again?” He softly joked.

You shut your laptop and looked up at him with tired eyes. “When we are old and retired, I suppose.” You joked back with a weary smile.

“You know, we could find someone else to take your role, freeing up time, giving you more managerial responsibilities.” Jensen suggested.

You thought about it for a minute but didn’t agree. “Jay, this is my one shot to see if I have what it takes to be up there with the big players.” You could tell he was still unconvinced. “Just give it a few more weeks. The crowds will settle down, staff will learn the flow and take up more tasks.”

“But where does it end? You make it here, so you have to try out New York, and then host a show on Food Network.” He hypothetically made up.

“I would never ask you to give up your ambitions for me.” You defended with a furrowed brow.

“You’re right. I know.” Jensen admitted. “It’s just I’m tired, and it’s late and I miss you.”

He walked around the desk and started rubbing your shoulders. He eyed the nape of your neck and bent down to softly kiss it sending shivers down your spine.

“Jensen?” You asked, embarrassed. He responded by rubbing his hands up your neck and down over your collarbone. He kissed you again, behind your ear. “Seriously, I’m sweaty and sticky, and probably covered in food.” You giggled.

“Then it’s a good thing I like your cooking.” He flirted slowly starting to unbutton your chef's jacket.

His continued advances and deep voice made him impossible to resist. You calmly set the laptop into the drawer. “Only if I can clear the desk in one swipe.” You stated giving him an ultimatum.

“It’s your office…” He reminded you waiting for your answer.

A sly smile crossed your face as you used both arms to clear the desk of folders and paperwork hardly caring of the mess you would be required to clean up. You laughed as you jumped around to face him. He closed the gap between you causing you to slide onto the empty desk. His waist locked you against the hardwood as he continued to kiss your neck and finished unbuttoning the jacket. You laid down on the desk exhausted but equally excited for what was to come. Jensen followed you down, deeply kissing your lips.

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Forever Tags: @nanie5 @sea040561 @crushing83 @mogaruke @deanwinchesterforpromqueen @ginamsmith

Pinch of Nutmeg Tags: @doctorholmes221bbakerstreet @procratsinator

Jensen X Redaer Tags: @girl-with-a-fandom-fettish @jensen-gal @be-amaziing @mizzzpink @akshi8278 @beatlesobsessionlove @tiffanycaruso

#jensen ackles #jensen x reader #jensen x you #spn #spnfandom #spn fanfic #supernatural

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theclacks · 8 years ago

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Buffy (Season 4) & Angel (Season 1) Thoughts

Whoo, so watching two seasons at once makes a giant dent in my viewing speed, but it’s kind of awesome. The “new series” rush I had in season two is mostly gone I think, replaced with a steady comfortability, which is good, because whenever a series is short enough that I reach its end/catch up before the rush fades, then I feel incredibly listless.

Anyway. Thoughts below the cut.

Buffy - Season 4

On how it compares to other seasons...

So season 2 is still my all time favorite. I think season 4 is tied with season 3 for me on like-ability. I think season 3 was strongest toward its end and season 4 was strongest towards its middle (hello, Spike pseudo-redemption arc). I think killing Professor Walsh as early as they did was a mistake; she and Buffy had a great antagonistic relationship. The greatness of season 2 was the relationship between the heroes and the villains, especially once Angel turned darkside. My biggest problem with the mayor was that he and Buffy never met until the very end of the season and that’s kind of my same issue here. They traded out an AWESOME antagonist (works for “good” like Buffy, but sees her as a uncontrollable threat! there’s some age/generation issues going on, defined career woman vs unranked youngster! science vs magic and prophecy! they used to hold each other in high esteem but now don’t!)... for, well, Adam. Who was very season one-ish in terms of flat personality and “I SHALL RULE THE WORLD MWAHAHA.”

On Oz leaving + Tara entering...

I read an interview/comment part way through that said Joss’s original plan was to string the Oz/girl!werewolf/Willow drama over the whole season, but then Seth Green nope’d it out of there and thank fucking god. I hated girl!werewolf. I don’t even remember her name and I’m fine with that.

I loved the introduction of Tara. I loved the episode where Oz came back (although I spent the whole episode fearing for his life) and Willow came out to her friends and Tara expecting Willow to leave her and asking if they could still be friends and I WAS CRYING DURING THAT SCENE. I HAVE NO SHAME. I think it was first scene in Buffy I cried at. Willow and Tara’s actresses just knocked it out of the park.

Also, it was weird for me since all I’ve ever heard from people about Willow is that they retcon’ed her sexuality into being a lesbian, and... unless something changes in the future, that’s totally not the case because she’s obviously bisexual. Like mentions loving Oz AND loving Tara in the same episode? And if talking about retconning her into being bisexual, umm... that shit doesn’t need foreshadowing... unless people are talking about something that happens in a later season with Willow saying straight out she doesn’t like men... and you know what? I’ll just see it when I get there.

On Riley...

He’s okay. Like, just, okay. I liked the episode where he told Buffy not to hold back during sparing, she kicked him across the room, and he’s like “it’s okay, i told you not to hold back”, and later she confesses (to Willow?) “.......I held back.”

IDK. I didn’t like the episode where the frat house sucks them into being a kind of sex battery thing... well, I liked the Xander, Willow, Anya, and Spike parts, but yeah.

On Spike...

I think the weirdest character development thing was him hooking up with Harmony. I mean, really? BUT it was awesome seeing Harmony eventually kick him to the curb, so there’s that. I got spoiled for the headchip thing, but I didn’t know it was coming this season, and his conversation with Willow immediately discovering his “impotence” was one of the best things ever. Oh, and “Something Blue” I didn’t know that episode was going to be a thing and it was AWESOME. I also liked how he didn’t immediately turn good and was mostly an annoying hinderance to the main characters; that fit him much better than a straight heel-face turn.

On college vs high school...

It’s weird. I have more nostalgia for college than high school, so I really enjoyed the first few college eps. Like, the way I’ve seen people talk about their love for the high school era of Buffy... I think that was me during this season. (People who used to hang outside the student union delivering flyers for whatever, I MISS YOU.) I did like the episode where they revisited the high school’s ruins. That was a nice touch. And I like Faith a lot better this season, especially when she realizes it’s been months and months since graduation. (Oh, and speaking of the Faith/Buffy bodyswitch episode, their actress did such a good job.)

On Giles...

Nothing too much to report. I do think more than any of the other characters, he’s lost his groove. Hopefully he’ll re-find it in season five.

But enough about Buffy, it’s time to discuss...

Angel - Season 1

General thoughts

OH MY GOD. I think I actually ended up enjoying Angel more than Buffy for these two seasons. I thought it was going to be something I’d slowly have to sit through episode after episode until I grew to like and then LO AND BEHOLD Charisma Carpenter’s name popped up in the credits. And suddenly Angel went from “Angel interacts with random LA strangers I don’t know�� in my head to “OH MY GOD CORDELIA IS IN LA BEING BROS WITH ANGEL AND FIGHTING DEMONS AND SHIT.” And it’s been awesome since.

On Doyle and Wesley (and Cordelia)...

I was not expecting them to switch season mains halfway through, and although I’m still sad that Doyle left the show so early, I’m kind of cool with it because it meant Cordelia getting his visions. And honestly, if you’d told me after the first episode of Buffy that Cordelia Chase was eventually going to become bros with Angel in LA and with god-given vision superpowers and a ghost as a roommates, I’d... well, I don’t know what I would’ve thought, but it definitely would’ve spoiled the wild, amazing journey. Of course, Cordelia was already my favorite character about four episodes into watching Buffy, so... yeah.

One of my lesser favorite parts of season three was having Cordelia vanish for a whole bunch of episodes after her breakup with Xander, so seeing her rise like this and be a central character and have AMAZING heart-to-heart conversations with Angel... like, Buffy and Angel have their super love but at this point I feel like Cordelia and Angel are stronger friends? Like they treat each other as brother and sister and it is the best damn thing ever.

Also along that line, the reintroduction of Wesley was great. Probably the best replacement they could’ve gotten for Doyle. It really strengthened the team, especially for the Faith episodes since she was someone they ALL had history with. And since the Cordelia/Wesley UST got resolved in the final season 3 buffy episodes, his friendship with cordelia was awesome too. JUST ALL THE FRIENDSHIPS FOR CORDELIA KTHXBAI.

On LA vs Sunnydale...

If college era of buffy is nostalgic, angel’s LA setting is straight up “THIS IS MY LIFE RIGHT NOW”. I’m past Buffy’s concerns about class schedules and straight in the thick of Cordelia’s concerns about finding a decent apartment for a decent rent, balancing work that pays the bills with the true passions you live for, having to pay bills, be an adult.

And I think Cordelia really is angel’s greatest strength right now because of how much different her life is from all of her classmates’ back in Sunnydale. She’s had to grow up the fastest. Even Xander who’s ostensibly in similar shoes (straight to work/no college) has a kind of flat dotted-ness to him. He picks up random weekly jobs, he stays in his parents’ basement, he feels the world moving on without him because it is. Contrast that with Cordelia, moves to LA, gets a rad (albeit possessed apt), gets a job with Angel’s firm (basically starts Angel’s firm), gains Doyle’s visions, making her an even more integral part of the team... Their respective paths over the course of the same year couldn’t have been more different.

On “I Will Remember You”...

Holy damn that was an awesome episode. I knew it wasn’t going to last because Angel being a vampire is, like, his whole thing. I was like Buffy going “let’s wait before diving into all this” but then they crumbled and then they were in bed eating ice cream together and it was THE CUTEST THING EVER. And then even after Angel decided to turn back, I was like “that’s okay because at least they’ll have their memories and then it was suddenly all NO. NO. NOOOOO. THIS IS NOT OKAY, ANGEL NO. BUFFY MY BB, NOOOOOOOO.” The juxtaposition between Buffy in tears, clinging to him, and then 180 degrees, being back in his office completely tense and cold was traumatically beautiful and well-done.

And a part of me really eventually wants her to remember down the line, but I have no idea whether or not that would ever happen.

On Faith...

So. I’ve decided that my favorite part of Faith is when she completely breaks down into self-loathing. It happened when she was in Buffy’s body and then again when she was squaring off against Angel in the rain. She sold it so well, that I’m cool with her again.

On evil!Angel...

Evil!Angel is my favorite, the humor that just drips out of him while he’s killing everything. And I love that there are hints of it even when Angel’s “sober” so to speak. And while I never want him to turn fully evil again (season 2 played that the best way it ever could), I do like the way the writers are able to tease it back. First with the buffy season three episode where he faked it, and then again in this season of angel where it was kind of drugged out of him. And once again, I’m super happy that Cordelia and Wesley are his buddies because they can recognize that history of his in an instant (granted, Cordelia more than Wesley).

On Gunn and Lesley and Wolfram and Hart...

So Buffy/Angel crossovers excluded, my favorite episode of the season by far was when Angel and Lesley joined forces to infiltrate Wolfram and Hart and they also pulled in Gunn for good measure. Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for heist episodes, but I think (I hope) that episode marked a turning point. Like “this is the world of angel. these are angel’s allies and these are his foes and this is way it comes together.” I’m looking forward to more with all them.

On Kate...

I have conflicted thoughts about Kate. I like her as a character. She’s been used somewhat inconsistently re: episode and screentime-wise, and still very distant from the main characters. I hope she’s used more in season two.

On LA’s demon sub-culture...

The thing I’ll end with is that I love how angel introduces us to a whole bunch of other demon, both good and evil and somewhere in between. With the exception of Willie’s bar, buffy doesn’t have that? Like I feel half the demons from LA could wander into Sunnydale and Buffy would start beating them up before they could talk. Or like if they put one toe out of line, she’d try to kill them.

Take for example the episode with Doyle’s ex-wife. Her fiance tried to eat Doyle’s brains, but the ending to that wasn’t “kill the fiance” it was just “that’s not okay, demon, and you broke my trust by trying to do it and if that’s a requirement for us to get married, then the engagement’s off.” And lo and behold, they broke off the engagement and thus ended the episode. No killings. And I don’t know, there’s just something ridiculously refreshing about that.

#buffy the vampire slayer #btvs #btvs meta #meta thoughts #/////#clacks from the clacks

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movietvtechgeeks · 8 years ago

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Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/shoshannah-stern-brings-kickass-hunter-eileen-back-supernatural/

Shoshannah Stern Brings Kickass Hunter Eileen Back to Supernatural

I’m not alone in loving the return of Eileen Leahy on Supernatural a few weeks ago, so I couldn’t wait to interview Shoshannah Stern again. She’s crazy busy right now (with all good exciting things) but still took the time to answer my questions – which just proves all over again how awesome she is. In her most recent Supernatural episode, the character of Eileen gets to flirt with Sam Winchester, prove what a badass hunter she is by singlehandedly taking out a demon, fire the Colt, and accidentally kill a particularly annoying British Man of Letters, for which she needs a Sam hug. As you do. Lynn: Eileen was a fan favorite by the time that first episode in Season 11 (Into the Mystic) was over, and fans—me included--were so excited to have her back. What is it about the character that you think has clicked so much with fans? Shoshannah: I know that for me, when I got the first draft of the script for Into the Mystic, Eileen leaped off the page and into my heart. There were just so many dimensions to her. I love that both of her episodes so far haven’t really been about her taking down monsters, but the different sorts of emotional baggage that’s left behind in their wake. There’s a side to her that’s hard, and I think that’s the side you see first, but then there’s another that’s vulnerable, and it’s kind of surprising. I also love that she can take some things seriously and take the piss out of others. And yeah, she’s deaf and shoots a Colt. None of these things are exclusive. Lynn: I'm a huge fan of Robbie Thompson, who created the character of Eileen. In fact, everyone knows I'm still massively grieving his departure from Supernatural. He wrote some of the most iconic, memorable, fully realized female characters the show has had. What was the impact of his initial characterization of Eileen? Shoshannah: Oh, so am I. I think that impact is still being felt. I’ve been lucky enough to have had several truly spectacular conversations with him that I sometimes replay parts of in my mind. One reason for that is that I think he may understand the importance of representation better than maybe anyone else I’ve ever encountered in my professional life. Another is that when you come on a show as guest star, it can sometimes feel as if they were born when they met the main characters and once they’ve served their purpose, they cease to exist. But Eileen felt so fully formed that it was easy to understand where she’d been and where she was going. He breathed life into her, and her being deaf was just one small part of that life. Lynn: That’s a great way to put it – I feel like Robbie breathed life into all the characters he created for Supernatural. Where are my tissues? (composes self…) So, I've spent the last decade studying fandom, and one of the things that is unique and valuable about the fan community and the people drawn to that community is the sense of being different in some way and thus respecting difference across the board. How do you think that intersects with your own views on the importance of representation, and how does it impact fan reception to Eileen? Shoshannah: I’m sure most people are fascinated when they encounter people signing in the wild, but what they don’t realize is that, at least for me, I’ve always felt pretty much the same way about people who speak. That might be what attracted me to film and television in the first place. I loved that I could see people having all these passionate, intense, funny and crazy encounters, but unlike real life, they were accessible to me because on my television, they were captioned. I think it’s part of human nature to be curious about other people and their lives. We’re all so different and yet so similar. But for anything on television or in film to be successful, it has to feel authentic. Like, if someone seems like they’re acting, then they’re really bad at it. I think the same thing applies with representation. If it looks like you’re trying to represent something, you’re probably not. It’s so easy for me to tell when actors who aren’t deaf are playing characters that are because I can see in their faces that they’re thinking about how being deaf would affect everything they do. In reality, you don’t think about it. You just live it. Representation just is, and I think that’s why people respond when it’s authentic. Lynn: That makes so much sense. And the actors on this show, you included, make it authentic. Fans definitely love how badass Eileen is too, and she got to show that off in this episode -- I particularly loved your delivery of "Demon" in response to the demon's "Hunter." How do you decide on the inflection to use in dialogue like that, when so much rests on the way the line is delivered? Shoshannah: I really don’t think about stuff like inflection, just because stuff like that just isn’t in my vocabulary. Hearing and speaking aren’t things that come naturally for me. I’ve spent years and years sitting in speech therapy and audiologists’ offices learning how to do these things and mostly wishing I could be outside playing soccer. And I’m still not that great at it. Inflection is a very fine tuned and precise thing. You have to be able to pick out specific intonations and syllables, and I just don’t have that facility. When I take on a role where I’m voicing for myself, I deliver the line the way it makes me feel. And if that doesn’t land, the director tells me to do it again. And sometimes again and again. But that didn’t happen in that particular case. Lynn: That line totally worked, everything about it. One of the things I love about Supernatural is that the cast and crew and writers -- everyone -- really cares about the show and works hard to 'get it right.' I noticed that every time Sam or Dean was having a conversation with Eileen, they made sure that she could see them speaking. I remember you told me last time that part of your characterization of Eileen was that she was very good at reading lips. Is that attention to detail something you discussed, or just Supernatural and its cast being good at what they do? Shoshannah: I always make sure I bring stuff like that up in my initial conversation with the director, so we won’t run into a problem if they have this big fancy idea for a shot later on. But it happened to come up with Jared because I’ve never had a problem reading his lips in any of the conversations we’ve had. But anytime we happened to improvise on camera; I would have absolutely no idea what he was saying. I mentioned that to him when we did Into the Mystic, and he said oh okay, so Sam is an asshole. I said, like, well, that’s better than the other way around. And then when I came back to the show, one of the first things he said to me was, you know what, I watched myself on the show after you said that and you’re right, I didn’t even know I speak differently when I’m playing Sam, but I guess I do. Lynn: That’s true, he does – Jensen and Misha do too when playing their characters. Shoshannah: Most people don’t ever stop and think about that stuff because they don’t have to. I thought that was pretty cool. Lynn: I guess that is the Supernatural cast being good at what they do – and caring about what they do and who they do it with. That’s a great story. I also really loved that Sam was given the opportunity to sign something again and this time to get it right—at least I think he got it right. I also loved that he got to sign 'mistake,' which seemed to refer back to Sam's difficulty signing in the first episode you did. Was all this scripted, or was any of it added to or embellished by you or the boys? Shoshannah: This time around it wasn’t scripted. We shot that fun scene in the war room right before that other heavier scene, and we were all playing around with some signs I had taught them. Both of them were actually pretty good at it. And our director John Showalter is just the sweetest, most collaborative person. He was pretty much like if you see anything in the script you feel should be signed, then just go ahead and do it. So I was just like hey Jared, listen. You need to sign this one thing. He didn’t really have a choice. But he was like, please please just tell me that what I’m doing here really means what you say it does. He was petrified that I might be pranking him. I was like dude, ask my interpreter! And she came around from behind the camera, and he wouldn’t really let me look when he showed her in case there was this big conspiracy. He was like, does this really mean mistake? And she was like yes. Even then I don’t think he was completely convinced. Lynn: (laughing) That’s the price of playing pranks a lot, I guess. You live tweeted the episode when it aired, which is always awesome -- care to share any of the (not G rated) things the boys learned to sign? Shoshannah: On my god, no! I can’t. I’d be embarrassed to say. Not only because they were really random and bizarre things but also because it was wholly and completely me who instigated all this. But it’s also their fault because they bring out some kind of inner frat boy I didn’t know I had. Lynn: I feel like they bring that out in a lot of people. There is undeniable chemistry between Sam and Eileen - it was obvious even in the flirty way Eileen says "bye Sam." Was that scripted—like, Eileen says in a flirty manner--or was that your take on how Eileen would probably have said it? Shoshannah: All that was scripted. It was on the page. I was so bad at it. I was asking John [the director] if I could be funny with it, and he was like, no, listen, Shoshannah, you need to try to be sexy. And I was like right, the key word here is: try. Lynn: I think that’s part of Eileen’s charm, so you weren’t bad at it at all! I loved that little moment. And while I actually hope that the show never tries to add an actual romantic relationship to Sam or Dean's lives--because I just don't think it's that show or that it makes sense for the way the Winchesters live--I do really hope that Eileen survives and returns. And I wouldn't mind more of that flirting. Do you think the character's chances are good considering what an experienced hunter she is, or is the British Men of Letters' death sentence likely to do her in? Shoshannah: I agree. It’s a show about a world that has a lot of darkness in it. I think that’s why it’s cool to see the lighter side of these characters, particularly two hunters, like Sam and Eileen, whose job is to go up against that darkness everyday. But the difference between that world and ours is that we can’t always fight the kind of darkness we have in ours. But in their world, that danger is always real. It’s not imaginary. While I think Eileen is probably one of the more capable and skilled hunters out there, I don’t know how you could not worry about anyone who exists in that world. But the cool part is that in their world, there are no rules. Anything could happen. Lynn: So true, you never really know with Supernatural. I enjoyed that in this episode, Eileen got to interact with both brothers. I got the feeling that she now feels close to both Sam and Dean. What has been the impact of getting to know them and seeing their closeness on Eileen, who has always had to go it alone? [caption id="attachment_45202" align="aligncenter" width="598"] Photo: Twitter[/caption] Shoshannah: I think you’re right about that. I know that a part of her initial and immediate connection with Sam in Into the Mystic was that she was questioning the hunter life. And then she quickly realized that for better or worse, it’s not the kind of life that’s easily left behind. I’ve said before that at first I didn’t feel like Eileen being a love interest for Sam made sense in that kind of world. But then again, friendship is absolutely one kind of love. How do you define what a love interest is? Having a one night stand with someone isn’t necessarily going to change your life, but having a real connection with someone who shares your experience can. Leading a solitary life is lonely, even if it’s by choice. I’m happy Eileen has the Winchesters there with her in that life now, and that it’s pretty clear they have been since Into the Mystic. Lynn: I agree with that totally. I’m gonna cross my fingers for that. You also got to spend some time being hugged by Jared--and from your tweets, apparently being hugged by Jensen too. In your opinion, how would you rate them as huggers? Personally, I think they're pretty good - except when they don't know their own strength! Shoshannah: I mean, they’re okay. I wasn’t mad at it…. Lynn: That’s very nice of you. (ahem). So, the SPNFamily is known for their support of causes which resonate. Can you say a little about the Eileen Leahy scholarship (to help a Supernatural fan attend Gallaudet University, Shoshannah’s alma mater) through the #SPNSignLanguage tee shirt campaign? Shoshannah: It’s more of an attempt at a cause than anything else right now. A scholarship is a pretty big goal to have, but I mean, why not try? Like I’ve said before, I was dumbfounded at just how many people reached out to me and said they saw a part of themselves in Eileen. A lot of people don’t realize that 9 out of 10 deaf people are born to hearing families. And so, like Eileen, they don’t always necessarily know that there are other people out there that share their experience. It isn’t always easy to find deaf communities around you. You have to really seek them out. Sometimes that means leaving home, and not everyone has the resources to do that. So after I saw how many members of the SPNFamily reached out to me with questions about how to embrace that specific part of themselves, I just wanted to try to see if I could help do that for one of them. I hope that I can. Lynn: I hope so too. And I'm hoping the big news you mentioned to me is about your new project, The Chances?? I wrote about Fridays, as it was called at the time, quite excitedly in our first interview, so I was thrilled to hear the updates. If there's anything you can share, please do! Shoshannah: I feel like creative things tend to happen in clumps, and so all the stuff that I’ve had happen with The Chances has been weirdly integrated with the stuff I’ve had happen with Supernatural. I feel like they have both fed off the other in some way. I wrote the first episode of The Chances in my trailer when I was shooting Into the Mystic, and I did The British Invasion almost right after it premiered at Sundance. I feel like playing Eileen had a lot to do with that. I kind of had to tap into a side of me that I didn’t really know I had, and because of that, I feel like I need to thank Supernatural and the SPNFamily for helping me make The Chances. I can’t wait to share it with you as soon as I’m able! It’s all very exciting and very cool. Lynn: Something to look forward to. I had also invited Shoshannah and some other SPN actors to the book release party for my new book, Family Don’t End With Blood: Cast and Fans on How Supernatural Has Changed Lives. If any SPNFamily would like to join us, info and tickets are at familydontendwithblood.com. Lynn: And I’m hoping you’ll still be able to come to the book release party for Family Don’t End With Blood on May 10 in LA too. Fingers crossed! Shoshannah: Oh I do too! Keeping my fingers crossed for the return of Eileen to the show too. Who’s with me? More information on The Eileen Leahy Scholarship: http://www.shoshannah-stern.com/blog/?page_id=457 More information about The Chances: http://series.superdeluxe.com/thechances/

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#Featured #Interviews #Jared Padalecki #Jensen Ackles #Shoshannah Stern #Supernatural

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