#honestly i don't give a fuck about the whole love triangle thing

[harrowscore]

i'm sorry, what? '''katpiss'''? what are you, 5? also, peeta is the one who's too boring for katniss, who's actually a great protagonist for a ya series. but yes, let's keep on shitting on "flawed" complex female characters to lift up your bland fictional boys

[reyreadersblog]

My unpopular TIG opinions.

Since y'all are expressing opinions out here..who am i to leave out? Now have in mind that these are MY opinions, some of these are unpopular some of these are NOT, some of these are even underrated facts but let's just ignore that..

(Please don't hate me)

1. I DON'T CARE ABOUT EVE, and i don't want her to be with Grayson..bcs APPERANTLY and very unfortunatly there are people out there who ship Gray and Eve..crazy..i know, i really don't care about her, i already made a whole post about why i don't like her at all, she's a manipulator, she's a liar, she's a backstabber. She traumatised poor Gray and threatened Ave. I respect your opinion if you like her and i truly understand where some of you are coming from, but i just can't manage to like her, don't hate her i just dislike her. Even if she gets a redemption arc..i can't seem to understand how i'll like her character after what she has done, but if i will..."forgotten but never forgiven"

2.underrated characters, there are so many of them in this books, for example Zara Hawthorne. I love her honestly, i could never hate, i understand she may have done some wrong things...but i love her nontherless♡♡ and same goes for Alisa Ortega.

(Honorable mention) also come on, give my man Oren some appreciation he deserves, you think following teenager around is easy? Even if it's his job and he gets paid, it's still tiring..😔

3. Uhh..i am scared to say this...i prefer Nash and Alisa to Nash and Libby...WAIT, WAIT, WAIT...DON'T KILL ME YET..LET ME EXPLAIN FIRST🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻, i saw @hawthornesbiggestfan 's post, and that encouriged me to say this, read that post bcs that explains exacly how i feel. I love Nash and Libby, they're super cute, i can't wait for their wedding and think they are going to have a very happy family...but..i'm still at the restaurant😔, EVEN THO we never got to know Nash and Alisa's story, smtg about those two had me invested in them from the beggining, like imagne Alisa growing up and Nash slowly developing a tiny crush on them..young love..passion..childhood lovers...love confession..ughh, also the fact that Gray, Xan and Jamie already saw her as their family, like an older sister. Such a shame we never got to see their story. Again, i'm not saying i dislike Nash and Libby tho if it had been love triangle between Nash, Libby and Aliso...i would choose Nash and Alisa...

3.Avery is freaking underrated, yk what's sad? SHE IS THE MAIN CHARACTER, and she doesn't get enough hype (i've made a post about this too) meanwhile people are swooning over Hawthorne brothers, and yes i am one of them but i love Avery to death, i even saw someone comparing Avery and the brothers saying "oh she's so boring..Hawthorns are way better than her..blah..blah..blah" technically they were saying fuck poor people, i know for a fact NONE of the brother would last an hour from where she came from (iykyk), she's a girlboss, and a main character for a reason.

4. As much as i love Averyjameson, i have to say their story is pretty much over, We'll probably get some cute moments from them in tgg or in games untold, but they ARE NOT a main couple anymore.

5.TGG IS A NEW SERIES, please understand that it's new book series with new characters (at least most of them) stop attacking JLB, it's her books, it's her choice.

6.Lyra Kane's haters don't make sense to me, especially those one who mock, and laugh at her lovers saying "you don't even know her, i'm gonna laugh at y'all when she turns out to be Eve 2.0" uhm...sir..miss..shut it. I respect your opinion if you're a Lyra netural bcs it's true we don't know many things about her and i totally understand if you can't love her yet, but don't hate, we know we're delusional most of the times, but that's what headcanons is for, for fun, alight, let people have fun.

7. Will all due respect i have...Averygrayson shippers are...dumb..yikes..sorry, but it's the truth, i'm tired of talking about this, it's been 4 books, Avery is happy with Jamie, they're perfect for each other, their relationship status is great and Gray is most definetly getting a new love interest..but of you still ship and have faith in them..do so..who am i to stop you? Just don't be disappointed when it won't be ture.

8.i may be judging too early but Savannah and Gigi being in the game..doesn't sit right, tbh honest it'a NEPOTISM at it's finest, i love both of them so much..but..nah. again, idk for sure..it may be some trick, it's JLB after all.

9.there are too many repetitive charcter traits..Jameson and Rohan, Grayson and Savannah, Gigi and Xander, Eve and Emily, every single dad, exept for Isaiah.

10.Speaking of Isaiah, he is extremly underrated, i mean he is the best dad in the series and somehow people talk about Sheffield Grayson more than him.

Sheesh...don't kill me in the comments please, i'm too young to die🙏🏻😔

(I'll probably do a part 2...

[gayboysteve]

Genuinely why do people think Steve can't be a fully actualized person and a love interest at the same time? Do you guys just passively consume media without, like, paying attention? Steve has been his own fully developed person since season two. We don't need to know ever detail of his life to know who he is as a person. We know the moral fiber of his character and the strength of his will. We know he loves passionately and will do anything to help. We know he's a catty bitch that doesn't get along with his dad.

Not... everything has to be shown to us for Steve to be a real fleshed out character. There are definitely places where things fall flat (letting him even feel pain after his many beatings or torture of being eaten) but being a love interest is not one of the things where the Duffers have fucked up on him. Besides Nancy, he has the most character development out of the teens and he has an actual character arc that's been percolating since season one.

You don't need to ship Stancy or like it. That's not necessary. I personally wasn't a shipper until recently (though I never hated it like some people, I've just always focused more on the Steve and the kids or Steve and Robin) and I have to say it makes a lot of sense in the scheme of things for the love triangle to be reignited. Steve and Jonathan are not just contenders for Nancy's love, they both represent something for her journey and her picking one of them will be indicative of the path she's taking. Steve's speech about learning to crawl forward wasn't just about him, that was a display of what Steve's character can offer to Nancy's character as a romantic partner. The ability to learn to MOVE ON. TO CRAWL FORWARD.

Nancy as we know is still trapped in her grief from Barb and while Jonathan has helped her get justice from that tragedy he never helped her move PAST the pain of it. One represents moving forward, and Jonathan sadly this last season, represented regression.

Personally, I think it's Jonathan more than anyone that needs to not be in a relationship. It hasn't ever seemed to make him happy. I don't think Jonathan will ever be happy until he's allowed to get away from his family a little bit. The parentification Joyce did to him really fucked that boy up and he needs, in my opinion, to focus on himself more than anyone.

Nancy has expressly stated before that she doesn't want to be alone! Steve has expressly stated he wants love and romance and a family! They're still young they can work out their future later, why can't they find some happiness in coming back together stronger and more fully self actualized? More mature and developed? I think it actually makes for a very fitting end from a narrative standpoint which is, honestly, what convinced me to switch over to the ship in the first place.

Neither Steve nor Nancy have ever been reduced to just love interests. Even in season one when Steve is explicitly introduced as only a love interest, he actually has his own character arc going on. All following seasons Steve and Nancy (whether dating, broken up, or flirting) have all had plots not related to their romance. No one is being reduced to just a romantic interest. Unfortunately, poor Jonathan is the one that got that treatment. He's the one that needs to have something devoted to just him; something that isn't just being a brother or a boyfriend. Giving him a friend was a step in the right direction. Let's give him a dream now and not just something that we hear from Joyce. A real dream from Jonathan's mouth. Because all we've heard from him are the things he DOESN'T want for the future.

Also Stoncy supremacy anyway. Let all three fuck nasty.

(Let's not bring up the whole six nuggets things. I highly doubt Steve is actually going to expect six children from his future partner. It was a reference to the party. It was him lightening the mood and trying to bring some levity to a serious, and frankly, terrifying, situation. It was him trying to make Nancy laugh while laying his heart on the line. He's not expect six literal children.)

[payidaresque]

I’m curious to get your opinion on two things. 1) do you think the buzz around haladriel/PR recognising it’s profitable will have any effect on the show itself (keeping in mind both seasons were written before they realised how popular it is) and 2) what do we think they’ll do about celeborn, if he does reemerge in Galadriel’s life. Considering that the lead director and exec producer confirmed Galadriel was in love with halbrand (=sauron) they clearly don’t give a damn about The Lore saying elves only love once (much to the chagrin of those insisting that celeborn is Galadriel’s one true love). The books also do not portray her and celeborn as some great passion either. Like no matter what happens that marriage is always going to be overshadowed by saurondriel ??? But I could be wrong!

Okay. i'll break this one down: 1) Honestly, I don't know, it's hard to tell. Mainly because the thing with those big franchises is when you start to "predict" things, you might end up being dissapointed because big companies don't think like their viewers unfortunately (or do it very rarely), so i try not to make any theories not to get my hopes up. HOWEVER I do think that taking lines from the book and giving them to Sauron, of all charactrers, was a delibarate move. Some might say "they took those lines just to be closer to canon" and they might be right, but why giving them to SAURON? That is an interesting question. Plus, they basically just acknowleged Haladriel fandom. Did they do it just for bait? Or because they planned something? Nobody knows, and nobody can know. However, i do think that if they did it for marketing, the blacklash is gonna be huge, cause the fandom will be really mad. The question is: is that the risk Amazon is willing to take? Especially considering that since they sort of "spoke to the fandom directly", i do think they realise what affect we have on the show

2) as for Celeborn... man, this is hard. Before i say anything, it might be fair if i say this: i am not a tolkienist, i never took any interest in his universe, and i watch the show as a completely new and, most importantly, separate project. Separate both from the books AND the movies. Of course, keeping in mind some of Galadriel's background, as it's important to the story. So everything i say further comes only from my personal opinion

Now, what i learned from the movies, is that Celeborn is a Mary Sue type of character (god, i beg u on my knees, don't let lorebros read this LMAOOO) whose main purpose is "to be Galadriel's husband", and nothing else. The moving force, the main character is Galadriel. And if i'm honest, if amazon plans to introduce Celeborn, they're gonna try very fucking hard casting wise cause (and i might sound biased) the chemistry between Sauron and Galadriel is off the charts, and if they fail to find someone who can keep up to the game as Celeborn, and if bring someone who fails to do it, then it's gonna look a bit awkward if u ask me lmao and raise a pretty reasonable question of "how the hell did they manage to make Celeborn (who IS Gal's husband) look like a loser?" and, as u perfectly put it into words, will make him stay in the shadow of Haladriel

But to be honest, i don't want Celeborn to be introduced: not only because of Haladriel, and i know they're a doomship, but also because i don't want any "love triangle" energy surrounding the show, and i don't want more discosure. I mean come on, we have lorebros to deal with every day 🤦🏻‍♀️

Besides, showrunners already said bye bye to the lore with the whole elrond/galadriel thing lmao

[velvetblackness]

I just finished season 17 and omg I have so many thoughts...

Spoiler ahead:

First and most importantly: Emily has a sister?? Wait what? Maybe she just made it up to get to know more about Bailey...still kinda weird though

Second: I think season 17 was way better than season 16

Third: I still don't like this whole Bau Gate thing

Fourth: I need more of high JJ and Emily

Fifth: I love Rebecca and Tara together

Sixths: Anyone else gets the feeling that Emily and the Director fucked and some point or will in the future? I mean not like relationship material, more like hate sex kinda but not really hate...I don't know

Seventh: I need to know what will happen with Will, since the actor apparently isn't up for the role anymore

Eighth: I kinda like the Jill and Rossi idea but honestly give that man a break

Ninth: Rossi really shouldn't be in the field anymore he will get hurt

Tenths: I need to know more about this Luke/Penelope/Tyler triangle

Eleventh: is Sergio still alive?

Twelfth: I feel so sorry for the gold stars and I'm glad Jade was able to save Mila

Thirteenth: Please talk to me about this season, give me all the crazy theories and stuff

[mrs-monaghan]

Ok, but like why does Yoongi do Jk dirty like that? Lol Yoongi doesn't LIKE Jimin like that (does he?) and it's obvious that Jk does and the members know it.

Like in the behind the scenes of the xylitol Christmas commercial where Yoongi touches Jimin's ear and Jimin looks at Jk, Yoongi also looks at Jk's reaction. And a lot of other times where Yoongi is just waiting for Jk to react and Jk does and Yoongi just stands there without anything to do anymore.

Yoongi knows he is ruffling Jk's feathers by touching Jimin lol but why does he do it!?!

Could be many reasons

1) He doesn't care. 😂 At the end of the day he's older than JK so this could be a hyung card at play here. Who knows? (RM too stopped caring. He used to pull away from Jimin in the past when JK got bothered but at some point he said "fuck it")

2) Suga respects the Jikook relationship. (This should be number one but his behaviour is the reason we're talking about this so...😂)

Contrary to popular stupid beliefs, BTS wouldn't be BTS if they were dating eo willy nilly. Some of the things I see under YT comments are insane! V used to date JK but then JK left him for Jimin and now he's trying to win JK back. Or When JK rejected Jimin, Jimin started dating Suga and then Jimin left Suga for JK and now bla bla bla I mean, i see this shit everyday and I'm like;

I think it has to do with fanfiction, but it also has to do with the kind of TV shows we watch where a group of friends date eo and break up with eo all inside the group and somehow they remain friends and life goes on?? That's not how real life works. At all.

If any of that fuckery 👆🏽 actually happened it would affect the dynamic of BTS as a whole, big time. They wouldn't have been together all these years as a group if this was the case. Especially considering how possessive JK is. How attached to Jimin (satellite Jeon) he is. You really think Jimin getting with Suga would not cause some bad blood???

When they were young BTS were given scenarios where they were asked what they would do if 2 members wanted the same girl. Jimin said he would find another girl while JK basically said he would fight for his girl till the death. (I'm paraphrasing 😂) but yeah, JK said he would never give her up. Then couple that with JK's "mine mine mine" thing he's got going on and you know that man ain't about sharing, loosing Jimin, or none of that shit.

Another time Jimin said he wants to fall in love with one person for the rest of his life.

So these are the men we are dealing with. Those are their personalities. So this fanfic drama, love triangles people make up are just that, fan fiction.

3) Jimin is the only member he's comfortable having skinship with. This is because Jimin is very attune to people's feelings and u can see the way he initiates skinship with Suga is not how he does it with JK or Jhope. With JK he will just throw himself at him and call it a day. With Suga he will take a beat and actually make sure Suga is okay with it. And I believe Suga appreciates that.

Idk why Suga does what he does, anon. But there is one important thing we have to remember. JK doesn't have an issue with ALL Yoonmin moments. He could have an issue with them on Monday then on Wednesday he won't care. A good example would be this episode.

During this game Suga spent a good chunk of it all over Jimin and JK did not bat an eye. Not even once.

He wasn't bothered even for a second. Which fascinated me honestly. So just coz we don't talk about Yoonmin often, doesn't mean it happens all the time.

Also JK trusts Jimin explicitly and knows nothing is ever gonna come off whatever Suga feels. So it is what it is.

Bonus

Proof that Jimin knows about JK and his anti Minimoni agenda.

RM pinches (or almost pinches?) Jimin's nipples (which is a Jikook thing btw; to randomly nipple play on official content 😂😂) and what does Jimin do? He looks at JK. And what was that face Jimin??? 👀

Seems to me like someone was relived another certain someone did not see what just happened. He he he hee!

Oh. If u didn't get what i meant by Jikook have a nipple thing here u go. Nipple Nipple Nipple (Jimin actually looks like he felt that one 😏) another Nipple. Like i said, its a Jikook thing. 🤭

[justatalkingface]

Just finished reading your Momo answer and... hoo boy do I have some things to say about Hori.

With how he writes his female characters, to be all soft, pretty faced, and waifu shaped cutouts, it just feels like the author is being a pervert.

(Looks at how Hori has claimed Mineta is his self insert in some way)

This is the kind of stuff that you should've grown out of doing AFTER puberty. To not think or write women this way because it's just feels misogynistic.

Sure there can be some exceptions to SOME degree. Like Uraraka, Mina, or even La Brava.

But they always tie back to something, to either be a love interest, a damsel in distress for a male hero to save, or just be mistaken to being in a relationship with someone older than her.

And I just have a funny feeling that even if BNHA ends and make more, this won't be the end of objecifying women and just making them gentle waifus.

Yeah. And the sad thing is, it started off so much better.

It's hard to remember these days, but between Momo getting hyped as a recommended student who is clearly smart, Uraraka saving Izuku right back in the Entrance Exam, and Asui being an integral part of getting off the ship in the first villain attack, it's like Naruto if Sakura took out the second mook ninja in the Wave Arc with Sasuke instead of just standing there the whole time.

It wasn't the best, sure, the guys clearly had more focus, but they were doing things, actually participating in fights, which really was more than girls got in most shonen, and that's the reason, I think, people clung so hard to the idea that, 'MHA does women better' even as it grew more and more clear that wasn't the case.

But now... it feels like they've all regressed. Uraraka has turned from the girl who interned with someone called Gunhead, eagerly learning some kind of MMA style, to being the Token Female Teammate, coded to support The Main Character and to be his waifu in the future... when she's not being randomly thrown half assedly into whatever the fuck is happening with with Himiko Toga and The Completely Bullshit Love Triangle. Momo is now rather meek rich girl who only stands out because she doesn't have to buy the things she gives everyone else, and Asui is... Ochako's appendage into the Toga story, so... what. Implying a harem for Izuku? I'm not sure Hori has even thought that far ahead with her beyond giving Uraraka some back up when she tries yet again to talk down Toga.

I mean, hell, for all that she's a living fetish wearing a skin-tight suit, at least Mt Lady won originally. Ever since that first chapter, though, I honestly don't think she's won a single fight she's been in on screen. These days she exists to hold back Gigantomachia while the more important people do literally anything else, before she inevitably fails because he's basiclly the Super Nomu version of her.

And just... at least back then, even if she was Default Unsavory Hero, she was a character. At this point, Mt Lady feels more like an somewhat sexualized background Hori puts up every once and awhile rather than a person.

That's not even getting into Mirko. From a broader perspective, Mirko is such a mixed bag, because on one hand, she's a brash, aggressive hero who brutally beats up her enemies, and as bad a fit as that is in setting for someone we're supposed to wholeheartedly support, she's a breath of fresh air compared to how passive and soft every other woman feels at times.

But on the other hand, she's a literal bunny girl that Hori seems to delight in using as a chew toy, and there's so much messed up with her seeming to exist solely to be his plaything.

Then, to top it off, post War Arc every new female character introduced seems to be made to fulfil one role before being discarded.

The longer the story goes on, the less they feel like people, and more like one or two character traits (unless you're Asui, who literally seems to be a prop at this point) in an aesthetically pleasing shape made to display them.

And considering how these final parts of the story seem to be nothing more than just the most basic plot points, made without the padding required for a decent story, the fact that they've all been reduced to these empty things is just so telling. If these are all women ultimately are in this bare bones vision of Hori's story, it doesn't feel like a woman will ever be anything more than that, no matter how much time he may spend on them in the future.

[freeuselandonorris]

diff anon but as someone who thought saltburn was garbage i REALLY loved challengers! impeccable craft and lots of interesting ideas about relationships and desire and power. love the sports yaoi aspect as well although i was getting into tennis rpf at the time so take that with a grain of salt LOL

HEYY so thanks anon and other anon for nudging me into finally watching this tonight!!

for the most part i REALLY enjoyed it and it def hit on a lot of my favourite things: endless delayed gratification slow burn, weird toxic dynamics and in particular the absolutely unhinged arrested development hyper-competitiveness of professional athletes.

further thoughts under a cut for spoilers

i think my favourite thing about it was the parallels it drew so neatly between that kind of relationship/love triangle/whatever you want to call it and the competitiveness and hunger to win and how inextricably linked they are. like that's SUCH a delicious topic and it mixed the two together so effectively. i thought the scene in the hotel when art tells tashi he's going to retire and then asks her to hold him until he falls asleep was brutally well done - like of COURSE that's what drives her into the spiral again, he's lost his competitive drive and become sexless to her. and then patrick immediately calls her a milf! inspired. i found tashi's character interesting, even though in some ways she's powerless and trapped in her mostly-unwanted role as peripheral figure, she's also making that work for her (and it's a nice callback to the way she effectively orchestrates the kiss in the hotel scene).

i also really just love the way the homoeroticism is woven through it without necessarily needing to be made particularly explicit, again perfectly reflective of male-dominated sports. the phallic snacks (banana! churro! squirty tube of electrolyte gel to suck!) and the way they're constantly staring at each others' dicks and speaking about an inch from each others' faces! sooooo good. favourite scene in the whole thing was the dick slap lmao godddd

also the soundtrack fucked but that's natural bc it's trent and atticus

i really loved the colour grading and also weirdly the level of product placement? that is nottttt something i have ever said before about a film but it worked so well here bc the brands were correct to how it would have been irl, so it heightened the realism rather than feeling jarring like that level of product placement usually does. also thought that using real players' names in the background was cool!

downsides: i guessed the twist with patrick using the racket/ball tic about halfway from the end (and i usually suck at guessing twists unless they're extremely well telegraphed) which made it feel fucking AGONISING when they dragged it out for about ten minutes before he actually did it. also what in the name of fuck was all the weird editing in the last 20 minutes or so. it honestly took me out of it SO much. i don't need a pov you're a tennis ball shot?? stop it?? all the weirdo slo-mo and now we're upside down and now you're playing an FPS and now we can see up their shorts and now there's choral music and now we're lowering the framerate... luca, chill tf out. honestly knocked it down from a 9/10 to a 7/10 for me which is a shame!

final thought: sooo much of what's explored in it is similar to what i was exploring in pull out the incisor and some poor sucker at the bottom of the lake! esp that feeling of the competing against each other being part of the foreplay, and the burning it all to the ground moment. i also think it would've been so much stronger if the movie had also ended with art clocking the ball/racket tic, but that's just me 🤷

anyway ramble over, v rare that i give a shit about a movie enough to write this much about it these days so that in itself is a recommendation! tysm anons for the prod to watch it 🫡

[politelymenacing]

If they're not doing a reboot where they're married, and Henry gets to live happily in England with his two dads and go to a better school than he could go to Kansas???? then why are they showing us this?

APPLE TV EXPLAIN!!

Is that not what happened....?

Must've just been in my head, damn. 😛

OK. Here is my pitch to Apple to make it happen (because is just makes sense):

Why do the bit about Henry acting out and bullying a kid?

Why have Henry failing science (scandal!)?

To me, that should have nudged them in the direction of 'maybe he would be better at a new school in England?' rather than 'he'll be fine just as soon as Ted returns to Kansas'.

Then we have the whole Dr. Jacob of it all... they were clearly hinting at his and Michelle's relationship breaking down (thank god. I can't even go into how much that angered me). To me, that was freeing her of her ties to Kansas so she could move with Henry to England. But instead they just kind of maybe left it a bit ambiguous. Are we supposed to believe that Ted and Michelle would ever get back together? Because no.

Also, it was clear that Henry didn't really like him and would benefit from being closer to his Uncle Beard (ugh that bit outside of the pub with them two absolutely got me 😭)

There's also Dottie. Now, I will admit that that episode fucked me up a little (yay, mums...), so I have only rewatched it once, but if I were Ted her attempt at manipulation would have just made me want to get Henry away from her, so even more reason to bring him to England.

Now Ted:

He's doing better. Ok, not amazing, but he is getting regualr thearapy and he can control his panic attacks

He knows the offside rule. He (re)invents Total Football. He is finally understanding the sport he came over to coach.

He is starting to use British terminology for things! He's acclimatised! Honestly, if he'd been there any longer, he'd have been drinking tea.

They specifically show him interacting with his neighbours and the community.

And then you tear him away from all of that. It is beyond cruel.

Also, even though Sassy was not right for him at all, he was maybe starting to show that he could move on from Michelle and let someone else into his life. (I do not have enough time to lay out the Bi Ted agenda, I'm sure people have done excellent metas about it, but let's just say the Bi Triangles will haunt me forever.)

Which leads us to Trent.

I am definitely missing things because I'm just rattling this off the top of my head, but:

Are we just going to forget that Trent got fired for Ted? And then following his bliss lead him straight to Richmond to write a love letter book about Ted.

What was the whole thing about the right idea just sitting behind a couple of the wrong ones?? In the red string of fate episode, no less!

Whatever was going in during Girl Talk with Rebecca.

Why did Ted tell Henry that it was "good to have people in your life that are excited to be around you" literally the episode after Trent was SO EXCITED about Total Football and how Ted got them there. Like. Seriously.

TRENT’S LITTLE FINGER STICKING OUT IN THE RED STRING OF FATE BIT THAT WAS POINTING DIRECTLY TO THE RED STRIPES ON TED'S JACKET ahem.

Trenthouse magazine. TRENTHOUSE MAGAZINE.

The Robert Redford/Dustin Hoffman thing. Followed by a sodding wink.

And then there's the fact they are both middle aged single dads who have so much baggage. They get one another.

Finally. Because this is turning into a bloody essay. The ending. Ted was FOR SURE asleep and dreaming at the end. I don't give a fuck what Brendan said.

You can't get that close to Stonehenge, it all looked too fake, there's no way Ted wouldn't be there, Jane needs to get in the bin.

How did Sam manage to get into the Nigerian team? (Don't get me wrong, I desperately wanted that for him, but it seemed like it was never going to happen??)

Ted thinks Trent will agree to change the book's title, and even dreams up someone he knows (Shannon) to get a copy singed.

OH AND THE GLASSES. Trent has new glasses. Why? Because Ted doesn't want to imagine him with the ones from before because the first thing he said to Trent was a compliment about the glasses.

Basically, what I'm saying. Is that that is what makes most sense from the ending. HOWEVER, Apple TV, if you are convinced it was all real, here are some ways you can keep that ending (more or less) and still have the Romcommunism ending we deserved that will lead to you picking up this reboot idea:

Ted goes back, gets a final copy of The Richmond Way, the dedication says something about how Trent changed the title because he asked, but it was always about Ted, of course it was. Ted realises his huge mistake. (Maybe he goes to rush to the airport, only to find Trent standing outside his door.)

Trent didn't say goodbye to Ted because he was already on a flight to Kansas to wait for him with a sign that says 'Coach Lasso from England". (OK, this doesn't quite fit with the ending, but you know it's a cute AF idea so shhh)

Trent is singing copies of his book and asks who it's for without looking up and just here's Ted say his name.

In all these scenarios someone says "Is this a fucking joke?" END.

And now you are ready to start your spin off/reboot/series 4 with the footage of Jason and Jimmy at the Emmys. You're welcome.

You can have all of these ideas for free (plus whatever other headcanons you get out of me), Apple TV, if you let me play one of the minimal acting required background players in the AFC Richmond Women's team (Because that is a part of the finale i can get behind and I have credentials if you need to verify I can actually play)

[will80sbyers]

I like how gay mike truthers claim bi mike truthers have 'no evidence' when the majority of their evidences are coming from reaches like mike forcing himself to kiss el while imagining will's painting on the wall, mike supposedly only loving el whenever she is 'bald' even though he was mesmerized by her when she was feminine, mike supposedly not giving a fuck about el at all when they first met even though he insisted on protecting her and they formed a quick connection from the start, pointing out that conan poster supposedly proves mike is gay while ignoring the woman on the poster collectively because it doesn't suit the intended take that mike also might be attracted to women, etc. and do not get me started on all the 'closets' thing and minuscule details like shades of the sun shining on mike's shoulder that points to him being gay which do not even point to a specific sexuality info even if they are taken as non-hetero mike evidence.

but apparently thinking mike might be into girls and loving el/being attracted to her is a reach even though the show uses explicit scenes to prove that they had/have genuine feelings each other both in the scripts and on the screen, them being promoted as a couple for years in an outside the show with explicit scenes that show their attraction. not to mention how mike's positioned in the love triangle which is already a BISEXUAL love triangle in itself and the love triangle thing is what can point to mike being attracted to both el and will but ultimately going with will because they are more fit for each other. and people collectively ignoring the evidence that mike is paralleled to the other canonically bisexual character in the show aka Vickie because it doesnt count as a 'proof' apparently is honestly astounding.

Sorry not sorry for saying this but gay mike truthers need to get a grip and bi mike truthers have the right to speak up against biphobia and ridiculous takes in the fandom because it is getting tiring and annoying af.

Luckily not all gay Mike truthers are like that, there are many that acknowledged those things and still consider bi mike a possibility and those are the people I personally want around

but yeah that's not a valid argument because it's just not true, I think everyone should be allowed to make all the reaches they want personally I am the first that enjoys and does that sometimes, but at least don't say we "have no proof" ... I think we just think the gay Mike proof is not convincing enough for us and the bi mike is more convincing because we have a different point of view on Mike's character... That's it, a different interpretation.

And I mean... We even have literally a script that pretty much explicitly states that Mike liked El romantically in s2... so it's a really weird take to say bi mike truthers don't have any reason to think he's bi... It's confusing to me how people can seriously believe that tbh

And as I said many many many times you can even not believe the script or think they changed stuff if you want, that's not a problem for me because nothing is confirmed yet and who knows, maybe they did decide to make Mike gay after s2... I have no idea because I'm not the writers!

I just would like for people to stop being randomly biphobic in the tag because that does trigger me and makes me feel like I can't enjoy byler in peace without feeling like I have to defend my whole identity when I'm reading the tag

[strangersteddierthings]

Trope rating game

tagged by @zerokrox-blog. Thanks so much!!!

rules: How much do these tropes affect your decision to click on a fic? -10 -> very dissuaded  0 - don’t care either way  +10 -> very enticed  nope -> if it’s a hard no and you’d never click on a fic with that tag or or you even have the tag blocked or you’d insta click out of the fic if it wasn’t tagged.  Bonus points for explaining the rating and whether it’s conditional.

Age gap: 0

It becomes an immediate -100 when one character is underage and the other isn't.

Codependency: 0

It becomes +10 if it's Platonic Stobin but otherwise I'm pretty neutral.

Obsession/Possessiveness, jealousy: -3

Honestly the other tags would have to sale this for me. I don't mind a bit of jealousy, but a lot of these I've seen lean into Dark!fic, which isn't for me. I like angst, yes, but it's gotta be leading towards Angst with a Happy End.

Opposites (grumpy/sunshine etc): 0

Here's the thing, in a lot of these opposites fic, they aren't actually opposites. It's like... their outward appearance is opposites, or they approach things in different ways, but at the core, they aren't opposites. Having just opposites tagged wouldn't get me to click on your fic.

Enemies to lovers, Enemies with benefits: +3/-8

Duel ratings here. Enemies to lovers, yes. Enemies with benefits, absolutely not. This is just me as an ace person who can't contextualize sleeping with someone you don't even like??? Couldn't be me, I'll never understand it.

Friends with benefits: +3

I like it only if it ends with them together. I'm a hopeless romantic that way.

Sex to feelings: -5

Same at the enemies with benefits. I gotta know at least one of the characters is already halfway in love for this to work for me.

Fake dating/relationship: +10

Oh the angst!!! I love it. Especially paired with the Mutually Pining tags, so good!! So, so good!

Friends to lovers: +1000

This is top tier to me.

Found Family: +10

YES! Let the families be found!

Hurt/Comfort: +10

Yes. I want them to hurt and then be so so comforted. Every time. All the time. ^ Zero wrote that and I agree.

Love Triangle: -5

Ugh. No.

Poly, open relationships: 0

I'll read Poly, but not open.

Mistaken/hidden identity: +3

This hits my misunderstandings/miscommunication desires well, so I do like it.

Monsterfucking: 0

It will not deter me from a fic, but I don't really read PWP because it doesn't hit for me. I need the plot. I gotta know that the character loves the monster their fucking or I just click out. Listen, judge all you want, but I will click into a PWP fic and scroll to the very bottom and read the ending first. I gotta learn if it ends with love or not! I'm not wasting my time to be disappointed :/

Pregnancy: -9

Not a -10 simply because the tags CAN persuade me to read but rarely.

Second Chance: +8

Second chances lends itself so well to the Angst with a Happy End, miscommunication, and misunderstanding tropes I adore. I won't read if the second chance is for abusive relationships but otherwise yes, I love it.

Slowburn: +2

Here's the thing. I like this in theory. I want to like it. But it's got to be well done. There's only so much suspension of disbelief I can do before I'm eye-rolling at how these two won't just talk??? This is especially double for fics that give us the POV of both characters. If I can see they're both in love and stupidly obvious to everyone around them, I can't. I will skip whole chapters to find where the slow burn ends. I'm not sorry.

Soulmates: +10

Soulmates!!!! I love this trope. However, I think it is at its best when the soulmates are platonic, OR the thing that makes you soulmates (like words appearing on skin, or images, or seeing color, etc) happens only after you've fallen in mutual love. I'll read fics where this doesn't happen, of course I will, but there's something special to me about the "we found each other, and without knowing if we'll be soulmates, I've decided to love you anyway. I love you, soulmate or not" and it's through that decision to love that the universe grants you each other.

I'm going to tag: @i-less-than-three-you @nburkhardt @afewproblems @rebelspykatie @steddierthings @a-little-unsteddie @skepsiss @localinsaneman

[the-gene-mile]

hi!! if courtney got an episode about her/centred around her what would you want it to be about?

OH AN OPPURTUNITY TO TALK ABOUT MY GIRL THANK YOU THANK YOU.

just. ANYTHING about her mum. where is she. iirc we saw her once in the unbearable like-likeness of gene and then never again. what's up with that. i'm pretty sure they've confirmed courtney's parents are married so is she like a business mum that goes away a lot or something?? the writers really need to update the mrs wheeler lore

if we wanted to get actually serious about her i feel an episode focussed on how people obviously find her annoying could be something (they did somewhat retcon that since like. the gene and courtney show but not the point). we never really properly saw her with her friends from her first appearance so there is the potential to do something with that; maybe they were spreading some dumbass rumour about her or something and she tries to do something about it (maybe like a mix of some like it bot and itty bitty ditty committee? idk.)

ALSO the THINGS I WOULD DO for a proper gac peck episode. i fucking love roller i hardly know her and the gene mile (obviously) but the former forces alex and courtney together (in-universe) and the latter just kinda has them stand next each other like twice. making them do a group project is the obvious setup here and maybe they go to each other's houses or something and the whole bit is how their families are like. complete opposites. no love triangle shit (affectionate) either like we have roller for that just let them be best friends and annoy everyone in their grade is that too much to ask

also an episode about her but not about music. don't care what but we've had two and dance is just music's cousin so roller is basically another music episode. even half the episodes where she just appears for a single scene are music-based (wag the song, gene's christmas break, the plight before christmas). like let her have more than one hobby PLEASE oh my GOD.

honestly thinking of hypothetical episodes with her is tough bc we don't actually know that much about her so there is a LOT we can do w her. she's kinda just used as girl gene in a lot of episodes she has like 3 total personality traits. the easy answer is to have her interact w tina and louise properly, ESPECIALLY tina since she wasn't in the a-plot of the gene mile. idk they could do something where they split the school into girls and boys for whatever reason and she talks to louise and tina about whatever the fuck kinda situationship she's got going on with gene at that moment. louise can try and sabotage it and tina could try to steer her in the right direction? that's something right? (and it could give us more gene and zeke content but this isn't about them)

alternatively they confirm her trans mtf and that's the whole episode the end

[yallemagne]

Why do folk call Dracula thee book about repression when the strange case of men of inhibitions: the novel is right there

I'm so fucking angry I was writing a whole thesis in response to this and tumbles ate it.

When it comes to repression found in men, the typical stuff you see is the Oedipus complex and the idea that all men are feral animals in a perpetual rut. Not really sexy concepts.

But you know what people find sexy??

LYING ABOUT WOMEN!!

What are we even gonna do with J&H? There are no women to project the Madonna and Whore complex onto. Adapters literally have to add a love triangle in order to slutshame women, too much work. But Dracula comes prepackaged with two women to grossly misrepresent.

Blah blah, men find it sexier to lie about women than about men, most people misinterpret the whole basis of Jekyll and Hyde anyway, so they don't realize it's about repression, yada yada yada.

Gross old men like the idea of female sexual repression. Though, not in a way that they would vouch for women's reproductive rights or a female sexual revolution. They love the idea of a "good girl" who secretly wants/needs to be corrupted by their unwelcome advances. It must be a secret! She must not reciprocate! Otherwise, she'll be seen as a whore. Women with internalized misogyny feed into this too. Hate all other women because they're "sluts" but you still want sex? Write a story depicting a good girl being assaulted but paint it as "good" because "she secretly wanted/needed it".

But there's no women in the book J&H to give this treatment to. Adaptations will give Jekyll two girlfriends to match his duality or something, but they're not the focus of the story. It's all about Jekyll.

Most takes I've seen on J&H take the "the true monster is man" approach where they don't explore the themes of repression at all. We get a line about how Jekyll wants to separate good and evil, but it's either never explained or twisted around in an attempt to make him seem more sympathetic. They just simplify it to "spooky potion makes nice doctor mean :0".

Now, male sexual repression. is a fucking doozy. The common misconception is "we're all rapists but we just keep ourselves in check". People who have this viewpoint need to stop. But honestly, I haven't seen a J&H that is explicit except for the Wildhorn musical, and they make him straight in that one. There's no interest in adapting the part where... well, Jekyll is a repressed gay man who just wanted a little relief from his own repression but things all went horribly wrong. They make it more about how Jekyll is a bit of a prude, and then he drinks rude boy juice and becomes a monster.

I don't know if you've heard... but academia is scared of gay people, and Jekyll's unspoken crimes scream gay shenanigans. RLS dangles the idea that Jekyll's been sinning over our heads but won't tell us how. He says "fill in the blanks" and like??? OKAY WELL, WHAT IS STRANGELY MORE CONTROVERSIAL THAN MURDER IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND! HOMOSEXUALITY. He sneaks in the implication that everyone thinks Hyde is Jekyll's lover. Jekyll deciding from a young age: "I cannot be myself, I have to hide everything about me" is a closeted queer mood.

But do you expect people to talk about that? In this society? They just don't get it. Most people misinterpret Dracula being a story where good girls get seduced by a bad man. And then? Jekyll and Hyde is about a good boy who drinks bad boy juice. People fail to realize that Jekyll is originally a mix of good and bad and instead paint it as if Jekyll manifested some daemon with his potion. So then it isn't a story about repression in the eyes of most, it reads more like a possession story.

Also, I'd just argue Dracula is more popular. People find it sexier. There's not a swath of artwork where Hyde is skulking over a sleeping Jekyll in a suggestive manner. But look at any Dracula book cover and there's a good chance it's an illustration of Lucy's boobs. People are hornier about Dracula so they project their poor ideas about repression onto it.

[altschmerzes]

Thoughts on the new ted lasso episode?????? I have so many conflicting opinions re: zava

well first of all this is how i enjoyed it:

i will be repeating the experience weekly. cannot more highly recommend cosymode ted lasso.

as for the episode itself- [shrieks into my hands] i'm gonna put some thoughts under a cut, both generally and re: zava specifically, thank you for asking. these thoughts are not going to be at all organized and mostly composed in run-on sentences i am so sorry.

IM ALSO.... CONFLICTED ON ZAVA I THINK though it's interesting bc as i was watching the episode i kept getting like, OUTRAGEOUSLY distracted by..... [checks notes] not knowing what his first name is. this is not a joke. it was ACTIVELY distracting for me. i kept telling myself sometimes people are like this. like cher. you don't need to know his first name. and then two minutes later someone would mention him again and i'd be like What Is The Man's Fucking Name Though. it was so bizarre lmaooo.

honestly re: the man himself i'm like!! idk!!! jamie is clearly already way in his feelings about this and i can only imagine it's going to get worse which is gonna be. fucking delicious if we actually get to spend some time with and unpack it because 'i feel like i'm being replaced and i'm getting anxious/upset/lashing out about it' is one of my favourite sources of Angst Plots. we shall see. i am as always a combination of hopeful and anxious.

the dude playing him really did a great job striking a very specific and identifiable vibe for someone who had like Three Lines of dialogue and whose face we saw clearly like once.

i feel like i have two diverging paths in front of me with this guy's arc and it's either gonna be 'i'm riveted and having a great time' or 'please get this dude out of my face' and no in-between

and now for some general thoughts:

didn't realize this was the chelsea episode and somehow still had 'chelsea dagger' on repeat while cleaning up and getting ready to go cosymode. (i am stealing that song from its association with the chicago hockey team. it whips too hard to be left to them.) enjoyed the accidental reference when i turned on the tv and saw the title. also kept remembering a couple irl friends who are chelsea fans and having myself a giggle.

speaking of 'great time' vs 'get this out of my face' how relieved am i that they've now bait-and-switched me TWICE with fucking. love triangle bullshit. with roy and keeley and jamie. when he followed roy and not keeley i was like. oh thank fuck. the ensuing scene was both very sweet and very funny. they are welcome to continue bait and switching me on this as long as the switch Continues To Happen but if this goes in a Direction i am not gonna be thrilled.

something is brewing with keeley's company. it's not gonna....... go well, i think. something is gonna come to a head there, i got the feeling from the drop, and i'm not sure what or how yet but something's gonna give with that. all those scenes have this weird like. tension to them that i can't quite put my finger on and im intrigued to see where it goes.

i actually really like the CFO woman? she seems like a very interesting character and i think she and keeley could balance each other very well.

my jamie and dani besties agenda is flourishing. so is dani's hair. it's fantastic and i want to braid it.

oh speaking of hair back to zava for a second. beard pulled up the footage of him and i literally said out loud, pronouncing the letters not the word 'motherfucker': "oh this mf has my haircut"

AND SPEAKING OF DANI when he said "fuck off trent crimm" i think i shriek-laughed so hard the whole block heard me. dani my fucking beloved. i adore you.

y'know who else had a good episode here? isaac. his body language thing was so good. it made me laugh and also was a SPECTACULAR look into him as a person. every time we get a scrap of characterization on one of the secondary richmond player characters i dance around like the soot sprites with the candies in that ghibli movie i can't recall the title of off the dome.

i probably overblow this in my head, right, because everyone thinks their own perspective is like Super Unique or something but i really do think being an enormous irl sports fan is enhancing the experience i'm having with this show so much. watching the fans unfurl that banner for roy and cheer for him like that was like... immediately a half dozen welcome back tribute videos and player homecomings i've watched raced through my head and i was literally in actual physical tears. both bc of what was happening on screen and bc of All The Rest Of That in my head.

speaking of. oh my gd my heart hurt so much for roy as soon as he pulled that fucking. newspaper clipping from his wallet. i liked that he ripped it up at the end but i do wish it had come a little harder. he's been carrying that thing around for 20 years i'd have liked to see a biiiiit more of a battle over letting it go. still. holy shit and the bit at the end? about leaving chelsea? winded me. WINDED ME.

to be honest this was a rough one for him all around. i cannot imagine everyone i know making my breakup front page news in THEIR life too. which is like- they mean well and it's obviously coming from a good place and the people talking to him directly - jamie, ted, etc - are like. trying to be kind and supportive but if i were him i'd want to run away and also die in a hole about it so. big #felt that whole thing. even so, i do also have to say-

the roy's hyperbolic violence/threats thing is Back With A Vengeance! we know how i feel about this. i had a whole post about how i feel about this. it's a Bit, i know, it's a goof, this being a comedy show and roy being The Angry One but still i just. i feel like they take it a liiiiiittle past the pale in this ep, in general and also with jamie specifically. roy flying at him in the locker room during the big 'who's on first' round robin was a Bit Much for me - and i know i harp on this a lot but i maintain my stance here - given their history to this point. ted saying to roy near the end of the episode that like, he needed to get his act together or he'd be ruining more than one match was a good touch that did a lot to defuse some of my unease with this running thread but. it was still there and i was still a little [oh boy.gif] about it.

anyway so now i'm knee-deep in a fic about That.

overall it was spectacular, i really enjoyed it. knocked out of the park episode thank you so much.

i have many more discrete thoughts but i have to clip it here my keyboard is starting to lag lmaoooo

[maysxn]

A Scorch Trials rant Pt. 2

Hello, it's me again. I just finished the book and I don't know what to say (I'm lying, this is gonna be a long rant…again).

After finishing the book I thought maybe I was the crazy one because I had only seen good reviews about it and maybe I was being way too harsh and critical about it after a quick search, Goodreads showed me that some people agree with me. I give this book a score of 1.5 stars out of 5. I'm honestly disappointed.

The Maze Runner was an amazing book, with good characters, fast pacing, a mystery, and a lot of questions. It was exciting, it was thrilling and I wanted to know more.

The Scorch Trials almost made the burning flame of my curiosity disappear. This book was like a long filler episode, they just walk, and walk, and walk, and eat and pee and continue walking through the desert, you have a little action sprinkle here and there and then we continue walking, only to have Thomas passing out every five seconds.

After three hundred pages when we finally arrived at the finish line, we found the most absurd thing I have ever read in my life. Wdym that some weird capsules emerge from the ground, creepy monsters come out from them, they fight, they get rescued and then Thomas just wakes up in a white room?? Are we still in the same book??

The character development I was hoping for, was nonexistent. If Thomas was already annoying because he could not stop thinking about Teresa, then we added Brenda to the mix and it became a whole new mess that I felt was unnecessary. The world is already hard as it is and you want to create a bland and underwhelming love triangle that is all over the place with characters that barely have an ounce of personality to distinguish from one another.

Honestly, I thought Thomas was making fun of me on the final pages when some of the Gladers didn't make it to Save Heaven he literally says "I didn't know them well anyway", no shit Sherlock.

Then the questions, we have a lot of questions that are still unanswered, I read almost four hundred pages for nothing??? Not even ONE answer??? What is WICKED actually doing? How do they get money and manpower to do everything? Is money still a thing after the fucking apocalypse? How does the economy work? Are all countries controlled by WICKED? All the areas are secluded? How does WICKED spy on them in the middle of the desert? What is the purpose of having everything planned? What makes Thomas that special? and I could go on.

At this point, WICKED is almost like an omniscient god more than an evil corporation/government/laboratory. They almost feel like fucking wizards, they have teleportation portals and eyes everywhere, they can heal people in an instant, they can alter their senses, they create monsters, etc. They can do all that but they cannot find the cure to a virus.

Wouldn't be more efficient, controlled, and cheaper if they just did what they did to Minho in the movies?

And to finish this long rant with another pet peeve of mine, Is Thomas Spiderman? Or why does he always know when something bad is about to happen?

[mourningcandles]

I made this post about The Reluctant Director&Furnace&Cornelius, but I think I'll make a new one to keep talking about them. It needs to be a separate posts with tags like this.

#thinking about that time the Reluctant Director tracked Cornelius across the Hinterlands just to accuse him of a crime he didn't commit #despite having proof of crimes he did in fact commit #because they didn't care about the other crimes #they just really pettily thought he was involved in a different crime because they were jealous (platonic) #meanwhile Mister Fires was right there#both of them mid-stand off like ''where's Furnace Ancona and what did you do with her- wait I thought you had her'' #''I will make your life a hell'' what are you two #what is up with your rivalry #this post was brought to you by: Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine being on their platonic love triangle playlist #okay fine they did care about the other crimes but Furnace said fuck off when they brought it up so they did because they're a simp

There's a marked air of jealously between The Reluctant Director and Cornelius. It shows quite plainly in their interactions. It's a bit miserable, actually.

Speaking with Cornelius [...] "Did she show you her face?" Cornelius asks. "Perhaps I should show you mine." He unwinds the bandage around his head. His face is covered with tiny mouths, none of them bigger than an eye. When his first mouth is silent, the other mouths speak, or grimace. All these mouths give him a strange cadence; he speaks with one voice and another, like verses of poetry.

He has no way of knowing that Furnace has removed her helmet in the Director's presence. That is an assumption he makes, and that assumption is that Furnace trusts the Director. With that assumption comes some measure of disdain. But he doesn't know the context.

For reference, the timeline for this character's run is:

Start investigating Cornelius

Bring evidence of embezzlement to Furnace

Be annoyingly persistent (autistic) until she reveals her faces (plural) out of frustration and anger

Never bring it up again

Furnace goes missing

Finish investigating Cornelius and confront him

They wouldn't have ever learned what was beneath the mask if it weren't for Cornelius and his nonsense.

Hear him out His need to speak is electric in the air. Confessional The mouths speak: "This is what the Masters made of us." "Of Furnace and me." "Not because they have such power. Not because they even noticed us. But because in opposing them, we unmade ourselves." "The masters did not make the law, they did not make the Bazaar, it is best to ignore them, do not even bother to unbuild them, just ignore them and follow a different rule –" "– and here you are –" "– and the Devils took the Red position, neutral, both sides –" It goes on like this, on and on, a litany of thoughts from all the little mouths. At the end, Cornelius' central mouth says, "It was my fault. I called on the Discordance, I read the law of ice, I tried to enter the Adulterine Castle." He looks at you and you see a man who is, on the whole, sane. "I don't speak this way to everyone. But she trusts you, I think. And so I trust you, even if I should not."

It's honestly such a leap for him to extend even the illusion of trust towards a Director of the GHR who also has evidence against him (which he suspects) but such is the nature of their weird rivalry, I suppose.

Ask him where Furnace is Does he know? Lightning glance The tiny mouths and their many stories collapse into silence. "Does she love you?" Cornelius asks, with the one mouth at the centre of his face. "Because all the stories I'm hearing, the gossip on the rail �� she's taken your side a stupid number of times." His eyes bore into you. You have an intuition: he does not know where Furnace is, but he would remove your liver with his hands if he thought that would produce her location.

The only thing preventing these two from throttling each other is that they both love Furnace. They are to some degree fighting for her affection despite both knowing full-well that she doesn't care about them that way in the slightest. The only thing preventing these two from throttling each other is their uneasy alliance, formed with the purpose of saving Furnace, perhaps even from herself, ultimately. Their methods and how far each is willing to go vary, but it does prevent them from throttling each other.

Also the Reluctant Director neither knows nor cares whether this feeling in romantic or platonic, both in their own case and in the case of Cornelius. In the end they like Furnace and they think Cornelius is a prick and a freak. They will admit that they are also a freak, but they are under the illusion that they are less of a prick. They are not.