#he really just summarised half the plot of s2

[laniakea314]

“Nobody’s at war. You ✨idiots✨ sent an ✨idiot✨ to lead a gang of ✨idiots✨ to attacK a BoOkShOp. Those ✨idiots✨ there want their archangel back so that they can fire him.” *frustrated demon noises*

Good Omens s2e6 | Every Day

[tonydaddingham]

sideburn theory strikes again

idk if its just that i have been fully driven around the bend by this show or is this is Big Brain special, but if all fails this is the lore of a crossover you might not have known you wanted.

so i posted way back in the bygone era of pre-s2 that i felt that there was something potentially behind the different sideburn lengths in the trailer and first promos, and my darling @theeminentlyimpractical added into this, plus the added spot of crowley's sunglasses changing. now this appears to have been debunked by further s2 content (and indeed s2 in its entirety), because there didn't appear to be rhyme nor reason to the sideburns, but there was to the sunglasses. so we kinda left it alone (although people keep rb'ing the original theory, frankly god knows why).

now we kinda came up with some explanation for this, which ive summarised in this ask earlier, but then. then. we saw this brilliant observation by @rebeccasteventaylor, and thought - well, fuck it, let's take another look.

note: reference screenshots of nearly every crowley scene, per episode, at end of post.

so main observations so far:

crowley seems to exclusively wear the silver sunglasses in ep1 and ep2

then switches to the new grey sunglasses from ep3 onwards

he has a mix of long and short sideburns ep1 to ep4, and switches sideburn lengths in those eps between scenes

then seems to exclusively have long sideburns in the 'second half'* ep5, and in ep6.

then i have the following thoughts from both seasons:

we know that crowley is a singular demon in that he has an imagination

we know that he is pretty powerful, including the ability to stop and hold time

there are indeed plenty of doctor who references which - absolutely, may be an innocent homage to david tennant - but seem so pointed in s2 that it's almost unnerving

two quotes! first: "if any harm comes to aziraphale because of this, i will... oh, it doesn't matter, it's too late for that now, isn't it?... its always too late."

second: "i know... looking at/working out where the furniture isn't..."

the crow road by Iain Banks is introduced at the very end of s2, being read by muriel, and has very prominent features on screen when metatron asks them about it. crow road plot involves the main character piecing together notes/sketches left by their late uncle. (by the by, very purposeful feature in s2 that aziraphale keeps multiple diaries, and can sketch real good - including specifically a picture of gabriel)

now, before i start parsing out the theory (though tbh, by this point, i imagine you can see where im going with this), i will add that as i said in the above linked ask, im fully on board with the sideburn thing being bc of AP/confines of filming in COVID, and so it may just be a detail that had to slide or was missed. but that isn't as fun as putting on the tinfoil hat.

the main thing for me is that the long sideburns seem to consistently appear on screen after aziraphale and crowley talk in justine's restaurant in ep5*. once crowley goes over to the bookshop to confront gabriel, the long sideburns seem to remain. this is also where crowley appears to be at his angriest which, tbh, is kind of at odds with how he seemed to speak about and treat gabriel in ep3 and ep4.

let's start with ep3 (ill come back to ep1 and ep2*). in the vavoom scene, crowley almost seems quite chummy towards gabriel, perhaps slightly condescending, but warmer than he is after shax arrives. now, shax turning up to remind crowley of the stakes involved (ie threat to aziraphale) is completely trackable against how crowley then speaks to gabriel afterwards. but it is this quote that has baffled me slightly:

"if any harm comes to aziraphale because of this, i will... oh, it doesn't matter, it's too late for that now... its always too late."

and the reason it baffles me is because... well, i don't really get what crowley is talking about? he's rescued aziraphale on plenty of occasions, and seems to always be in the nick of time (or stopping it, if you consider 1793), and aziraphale has previously rescued crowley back with impeccable timing.

aziraphale hasn't actually come to much harm in any of the story we've seen so far; the only time crowley wasn't on time was with the bookshop fire, and whilst that was resolved, it would match up with what crowley's saying about being too late... but 'always too late'? ie, more than once? seems like there's been a pattern where crowley is too late.

the other thought i had on this is that crowley says "too late" in reference to saving morag in the same episode (but in the resurrectionist minisode within) but that was on aziraphale himself for dithering - why would crowley talk about it? so it seems to me that there are other instances where crowley himself has been too late to save aziraphale. the only time i really think this happens, where aziraphale ends up in danger, is the Domestic at the end of ep6 when crowley is too late to tell aziraphale how he feels - which probably would have influenced his decision to stay and not walk willingly into the clutches of the metatron... but in the s2 narrative, that hasn't happened yet.

furthermore, @theeminentlyimpractical brought up this little detail up from the book:

which doesn't necessarily mean anything in this theory's context, that crowley has one of his watch's clocks programmed to hell's timezone, but appears to be a detail specifically related to crowley nonetheless; futile fight, helplessness, the concept of always being Too Late.

the last thing however to mention about ep3 is that there appears to be a very clear before and after where the sideburns are concerned. where muriel turns up, and crowley and aziraphale talk in the back-back room, crowley is sporting shorter sideburns. but after aziraphale leaves, crowley comes down from upstairs carrying books, and has longer sideburns. i don't necessarily have any explanation for this, but do observe that it seems quite deliberate for the episode that he has the longer ones once aziraphale leaves, and continuing into ep4 when aziraphale comes back from edinburgh.

ep5 however, crowley arrives on whickber street, and is back with ye old short sideburns again. the only time this changes in the beginning half(ish)* is when he and aziraphale visit Arnold's. once again, don't really have any theoretical explanation for this, but one thing i will say is that when crowley and aziraphale approach the archway/alley that goes to Arnold's (just after "can i watch?"), they're in step with each other... but when aziraphale gets to the window, he's alone for a good few seconds and crowley doesn't appear - he might be out of shot, but then does appear just as aziraphale enters the shop... just an odd amount of time to have not followed aziraphale to the window.

in any case, crowley then follows around, gets waylaid and epiphany-slapped by nina, gets somewhat pissed in justine's, and then heads over to the bookshop. where he next appears upstairs, and suddenly sporting long sideburns again. it then seems somewhat pointed that this is where he really lays in to gabriel - now, contributory factors here are he's just been hit with the realisation that he loves aziraphale and aziraphale loves him, and he's probably about five sheets to the wind.

but it's particularly venomous and angry which - yeah, tracks - but i wonder if this is in response to something more? that crowley has more to be angry at gabriel over, more to be resentful of, than just that gabriel's presence in the bookshop could bring harm to aziraphale, and gabriel's involvement in the botched execution?

add to this, the line that we're all losing our heads over?

"i know... looking at/working out where the furniture isn't..." (subtitles conflict on amazon re: the first bit vs what im personally hearing, but neil has confirmed it's at least 'where the furniture isn't.')

now this all relates in the conversation back to gabriel's analogy of his missing memory feeling like a house with missing furniture, and trying to work out what in fact is missing. many have speculated that crowley might have gone through the same predicament of forcibly losing his memory (and s2 certainly does set it up like that), but i do wonder if it in fact twists that crowley is actually investigating the missing furniture, piecing together his own clues?

his tone being resigned and bitchy, even mocking, could well just be him laying on gabriel again, or indeed he could be empathising because he too has lost his memories, or because he's in the same boat and trying to piece things together... just, not in the same way?

so let's come back to what im actually getting at here; does crowley expand on his time-stopping powers, and does he essentially step back into his own timeline? and has to piece it together à la crow road?

was there an alternative timeline that still resulted in aziraphale going to heaven, but under different circumstances, and crowley comes back to change it to no avail, and that's where we leave s2? or, in this aborted (?) timeline, does aziraphale get got by hell, or gets taken out of the BOL (and falls?), crowley is trying to work out how/why, tracks it back through to the events we see in s2, ends up helping to hide gabriel (eg. he comes back after the So Did I argument), but then that leads down the path of losing aziraphale to heaven anyway, just in a different way? "it's always too late"?

now, don't let it be said that i won't poke holes in my own theory, because this is absolutely crazy and relatively baseless... and is so easily explained as just being One Of Those Filming Things (i simply felt it was slightly remiss to not mention these thoughts floating in my noggin).

the main issue of course is that *ep1 and ep2 are literally a mess where this theory is concerned. there are some short/long sideburn differences that can't be explained away, because the scenes literally follow in succession to each other - eg. ep1 goes from leaving the coffee shop (short), to the gabriel reveal (long), to So Did I (short again). another eg. ep2 goes from leaving the pub (long), to the walk across the road (short), to the job segue (long again). i could try to explain this with "oh crowley stopped time and switched", but that would probably be a bit of a cop out, however possible it might technically be within the narrative.

i don't even really know where to leave this off, but im still just of the mind that for a show where attention to detail is Everything (take the neil ask about the records, for example; he immediately spotted that the holes weren't right for jukebox compatibility, but they had to accept it as a good regardless), this feels like a pretty Big Goof?

alternatively yes, it might be AP whereupon david was going into another job fairly shortly after reshoot work was needed, or there were COVID related filming issues, but a) seems like a lot of reshoot work/pickups, and b) couldnt they have just trimmed the 'burns/be able to fake the length? idk but my brain is scrambled and im so confused.

screenshots!

S/L (red) - short/long sideburns, S/G (grey) - silver/grey sunglasses

episode one:

episode two:

episode three:

episode four:

episode five:

episode six:

[woodface]

Supergirl S2: United we stand, divided we fall (aka Strong Together)

The past few days I've heard several people tell me that they have or are considering to stop watching Supergirl and just enjoying the gifsets that tumblr throws at them. I can't say I'm surprised, but it does sadden me at how much the show has changed. It's a shame because I know people still enjoy the characters and (most of) their relationships. I think we all know why, but it's Sunday and if you know me, I tend to ramble on Sunday. I've been meaning to give a review of the first half of the second season and now seems as good a time as any.

Now, Supergirl has been all but a perfect show. Season 1 had its flaws: the writing was wonky in places, throwing characterisation overboard to fit the plot and the pacing of the season was terrible. There was something there, however, that had many of us turning in. (More than an amazing cast.) Supergirl was a story of hope. It was a story centred around the women in the show and their journey of becoming heroes. It was a story about found family and how after losing everything, it is still possible to heal when you open your heart for the people around you. At the heart of the show were Kara, Alex and J'onn. The three people who formed the core of the show and who despite the conflict thrown at them, were always there for each other. Stronger together.

When the show changed channels, we all saw the writings on the walls. We all held our breaths as marketing didn't seem to realise what it was that made people tune in. While the second season started a little shakily, by the third episode I was appeased. The show was still there, the Danvers sisters were fighting side by side, still being each other's back up and then… 

I miss the old days where ships were a thing that happened in the background. When subtext was what had us rooted to our screens, or what we could easily ignore when we aren't interested. Romance has been the bane of this season. But Jara, I hear you say, romance was present even in season one. You're right, and it was a tad embarrassing how many men the show threw at Kara, but it also always went back to the heart of the show. Take the finale. James and Kara get their screen time, but when the action is going, when the chips were down, it was the found family that ran through everything. The show told us how much Kara cared about everyone in her own unique way. It was J'onn who walked out with Kara to defend this earth that had become his new home. It was Kara who struggled to say goodbye to Alex, and Alex who refused to give her up. Where movies and other shows would have focussed on the romance, this show put family at its heart. Romance was secondary. Kara was learning to become Kara Zor-El before anything else. Being a girlfriend was second or third. 

Much has changed since then, and nothing was more painful to me than seeing the last episode and having Kara say she always has to fight alone. She's almost desperate to have Mon-El become a superhero was so she would have someone with powers fighting at her side, conveniently forgetting that J'onn had always been there, that Alex will fly into space or jump to an alien planet to get her back. In that one sentence, the show summarised exactly what has been wrong with its second season: romance is no longer second place. It has become first place and found family is taking a backseat to everything else. 

It took them ten episodes to give us a decent moment between Kara, Alex and J'onn. You could argue that this is natural, that conflict keeps things interesting and we'll get there in the end. I have no doubt that we'll see glimpses of our found alien family, but this used to be the glue that held everything together. Stronger together has been hollowed out as Kara, Alex and J'onn are isolated in their own stories and their lines seldom cross. 

The Danvers sisters rarely get moments together, and when they do, it's generally to talk about the romance. Alex is no longer Kara's mentor. They don't hit the training mats anymore, and while they're still supportive and the actors make certain that we see their bond, the show is no longer putting it central to its story telling. 

Kara has become isolated, her actions more and more fuelled by protecting Mon-El and getting him to become the hero she thinks he should be. While this could be an interesting take, after all, it might be evidence of Kara struggling to go back to not having Clark there, this is not what it's about. It's not Kara's struggle, but it is Mon-El's. That in itself wouldn't be so bad if only Kara did have her own storyline, but she doesn't. We don't see Kara growing as a superhero, she's trampling in place and getting isolated as the show puts her in function of Mon-El. Meanwhile James is learning to be a superhero as well, which in a way removes how Winn and James would be what reminded Kara what it was like to be human. 

Now, CatCo has always grated on me so I admit that I was glad to hear Cat Grant was gone. I was hoping her removal would mean that the show would have an easier time to balance out Kara's plot. The division between the DEO and CatCo was always superficial to me and diluted storylines where it shouldn't have. Episode 3 to me is the best example at how well the lesser attention to CatCo works. Sadly, TPTB seem to enjoy juggling too many storylines at once and we're still getting too much plot crammed into one. I keep being reminded of @racethewind10's mantra: this show needs to pick character over plot. My hope was that less CatCo would help with this, but so many new characters have been added, each with their own separate storyline that it hasn't happened. Character moments are so rushed and hamfisted in its delivery, it's almost painful to watch. 

While the plot was suffering in season 1 as well, we got some amazing character moments. I'm thinking of Kara facing the robber without her powers, Alex screaming and begging at Kara to come back to her, Alex and Kara supporting J'onn as his past comes back to haunt him. There were so many strong moments that were truly moving, but season two has had very little… The few we did have were tied to Alex and her journey of self-discovery. They were delivered between Kara and Alex. 

The difference between how Kara and James were treated versus how Kara and Mon-El is treated is huge, where James was always a player in Kara's story, this isn't the case now. Never mind how the change in romance was handled. I actually could completely understand when Kara broke up with James. Her realisation that she needed to find herself first fitted well. I bought it and could actually applaud it. However, that character moment (one of the last Kara was allowed) was completely retconned when TPTB decided to throw Kara at the next available guy that crossed her path. 

How can we believe that after barely any time between her breakup, Kara who had no other character development whatsoever, can suddenly come back and be interested in Mon-El. Such is life? Perhaps, sometimes loves hits us at the most awkward moments, but the way Kara has been treating him like a little brother (or a replacement for Kal-El) to suddenly this arc where Kara is only fighting for him and can only think of Mon-El as her backup when the going gets tough… It comes out of nowhere and is completely out of character for the girl who would always turn to her found family and would live by the creed of Stronger Together. 

It's true that Kara has been isolated, however. J'onn is a bit in a world of his own and Alex has her own romance story that has been monopolising her time, and here lies the rub. I don't want to make light of the importance of Alex's character development (at least she has some). Representation matters and the message the show is sending with Alex is powerful and so much needed. I want to look beyond this for a moment, however, because this has been another key part of how the show has changed. 

Alex's romance is not a natural development within the show. We all knew Alex was gay without needing to be told, but the show runners decided to treat this as a completely new discovery. That in itself should not be a problem, but they brought in a completely new character who has no other purpose to fill than to be Alex's love interest. As a series regular, this is problematic because Maggie had no natural place within the storyline. She's a cop and has no ties to anyone else. To make this work, TPTB changed the universe of our show (I'm sure there's more it than that, but it does seem to be a part of it). Maggie knows about aliens, has been friendly towards them all her life and has a job at the NCPD handling said aliens. That's the common ground the worked into the show to have Maggie and Alex meet. 

However, in order for them to continue meeting, they had to come up with ways to have Maggie show up. So what happened is that Alex and Maggie got their own plot, separate from everyone else's. Kara would get drawn in occasionally (because you really can't separate those two completely), but for the most part, Maggie's only point of contact with anyone else is Alex. Furthermore, to have an excuse to have Maggie around, the role of the DEO has been lessened and with it, J'onn's role as well. Now imagine if the show had used Lucy or Vasquez and given a more natural progression for Alex's self-discovery, where the romance would fit right into the main plot and not water down the importance of the DEO. 

Instead Alex gets her own storylines while Kara and the others have their own. While I love seeing a different side to Alex, it means that she was effectively replaced in the main Kara storyline by either Winn (when it involves science) or James and Mon-El when it comes to fighting scenes. Alex's relationship with J'onn got watered down as she no longer was there for much of the big plots, and Alex no longer is Kara's main backup. Yes, there's been exceptions, but this is a trend where the men replace Alex as our kicking ass human hero. 

After all, James is now the human who gets to beat up bad guys and wants to make the world a better place. M'gann and Kara have had a stronger bond with J'onn than Alex does. Danvers sister moments are replaced by Alex hanging out with Maggie. While this might balance out as Alex's sexuality becomes a simple fact rather than a huge revelation, I'm not confident that we're going to return there. After all, Mon-El has been slowly taking over Alex's role when it comes to Kara. Alex was always the one with one foot in reality, evening Kara's goodness and innocence out. (Remember her threatening Lord.) Slowly the show has been pushing Mon-El to take that position because Alex is too tied up in being in love. 

Don't get me wrong, I love seeing Alex happy. I love that we got such a positive storyline on television. I love the moments when Kara gets to be supportive of Alex. I want Alex to actually think of herself for once, but that does not negate the fact that it's another part that has the glue of our show crumbling down. 

Alex's romance story has effectively removed her from the main plot where she used to be at the centre with Kara. Do you remember how many times they'd end up fighting and checking in at the middle of the fight to make sure the other is okay? We've had so little of these moments because Alex basically rarely gets to be there anymore as the side characters take up her space. 

The show has screwed itself over by bringing in too many new characters and wanting to tell too many stories at once (the latter is an old issue that's gotten worse). They've separated the main three characters from each other and have removed what was the heart of the show. It's still there, but less so and the moments that we should see are rushed or simply don't happen because a romance scene gets precedence over them now. 

Supergirl is simply not the same show anymore. Kara was a different superhero. Not only because she's a woman, but because she knew she shouldn't do this alone. Because she had her friends around her, her found family, which kept her going and saw her through. She was working through so much pain and suffering, but she managed to hold on to her kindness. 

Supergirl was a show about Kara, but they're trying to turn it into an ensemble show where the female heroes are defined by their romance stories and the men learn how to be heroes. That's not the show I signed up for. That's not the show I fell in love with. I am disappointed and saddened any time I see those pictures of all those little girls excited to meet Melissa Benoist, to meet Supergirl. I am saddened because they deserve better and so do we.