#i j hope that team succeeds and doesn’t leave hating each other

[solace-seekers]

trying not to sound like an engineering major but all my thoughts are just about my robot course

[dangerous-disposition]

On Tragedy vs. Bad Endings

[Image ID: user @frostyfrogz​ replied to your post “my mag171 #thots: I fully agree with. I love jonmartin I want nothing but the best for them. I know my answer today was an obvious twisting of dialogue but its just frustrating sometimes because it seems like people dont understand some sort of tragedy will indeed happen. I have never and will never suggest that something will happen to Jon and Martin’s relationship I’ve just been saying the shows not going to end well no matter what.]

So I have a lot of thoughts about this very subject, and too much for the replies on my post, so allow me to try to articulate what I mean, and what a lot of us mean when we say “it does not make sense for either Jon or Martin to turn evil in the end,” even in a show that has been advertised from day one as a tragedy.

First of all, no one thinks this is going to end happy. The few who do are usually unaware that this show is billed as a tragedy, and are quick to be corrected. I didn’t know it was a tragedy until I was on season 3 and someone told me. It’s overall just best to assume that the OP knows it’s not going to be a happy ending, because “reminding” people or “explaining” to people that the ending is going to be sad is a fast way from people to get annoyed and defensive.

Anyway! It appears, above all, that people have either fundamentally different ideas of what a tragedy is or accomplishes, or that people have a fundamentally flawed understanding of tragedy and it’s place as a narrative device/theme.

My thoughts are that tragedies hurt, and tragedies can be devastating, but they have to have a message and they should not be cruel to the audience.

A cruel ending would involve leading the audience to believe one thing for the entire book, show, movie, podcast, what have you, just to rip it away at the last minute like a big “fuck you” to the audience. Those sorts of endings are inherently mocking of the audience, and ultimately disrespectful. The only people in the audience that “benefit” from this sort of writing are the cynics who spent the entire show talking down to everyone for seeing the silver lining in the impending tragedy, even if, up until the finale, the silver lining was always part of the narrative. Like it took actual twisting and outright ignoring of the narrative as it’s written to be cynical and sceptical all the way until the end.

That is, plain and simple, bad writing. Jonny Sims is not a bad writer.

Now tragedies often have “happy endings,” they just also have an element of sadness colouring that ending. A good, tragic ending should, in my opinion, feel bittersweet. We should see it coming, we should know it will hurt, but it should be for the greater good and should further the narrative that has been told from the beginning.

I said a few weeks ago that a tragic ending without a silver lining is just torture porn, and I stand by it.

Now, if Jon or Martin are revealed to be Actually Evil in the end, where is the silver lining in that? What narrative has even possibly hinted at this outcome, without putting on cynic glasses?

Every single plot point and plot “twist” in TMA has been clearly detailed, never relegated to pure subtext that you would have to comb through a single interraction and analyzing the tone in which it was said (which could easily be actor shortcomings or error). They have always been obvious, at least in hindsight. This is why, for a while, I subscribed to the Web!Martin theory, but due to recent episodes I’m more inclined to believe those “obvious things” were red herrings.

Throughout The Magnus Archives, the common theme in every. Single. Season finale is that “we are stronger together.” What do I mean by that? Well, here’s the general idea:

Season 1: The one time someone gets separated by the group for any significant length of time, like I mean the main group, she gets killed by the NotThem and replaced.

Season 2: Jon is alone, due to his intense paranoia and his reluctance to reach out for help. This leads to a disastrous series of events that leaves him a suspect of murder, and his friends even more doubtful of his character.

Season 3: In the episode just before they deal with the Unknowing, Jon literally says that isolation was his downfall, and he was going to work on trusting his friends more. When they got separated during the Unknowing, things went to shit. When they found each other again, they were able to rally and they “succeeded.” Conversely, they are also teamed up with Melanie and Martin who hung back to bring down Elias. They were successful, working as teams on separate objectives, etc.

Season 4: This is, by far, their most “successful” feats while simultaneously their least. The whole season was again showing the downfalls of isolation. In the season finale, Jon has Basira and Daisy’s help, and while bolstering himself with their strength, and the strength in his conviction to save Martin to be with Martin, Jon was successful in stopping Peter Lukas and saving Martin. Conversely, Martin and Jon’s isolation in Scotland could be, theoretically, implicated in how Jonah Magnus was able to succeed in the end like that.

Now evidence of this same train of thought in season 5? Jon literally says it: Gertrude would not have done well in this post-apocalyptic world, because she had no friendships, no anchors, no reason to stay human. And then Jon says “you are my reason” to Martin.

It is in the text of the story that the only way to succeed, or win, or survive, is through trust, friendship, and love. One of the main factors in so many of the statements, on why the statement givers succumbed to the fear in their story, for even a moment, had to do with very little personal ties to anyone else. Many of the statements feature isolation and, as Jon put it, “lack of corroboration.” On the flipside, many of the statements that ended with the statement giver escaping successfully, and surviving long enough to be reached out to for follow-up questions, involved them having close personal ties to someone else that kept them safe, somehow. Like the girl from Italy; remembering her mom saved her from the Lonely. Or, more ridiculously, the guy and his dog that escaped the spiral because he was so distracted by his dog and had to be home for dinner. In MAG170, it was Martin’s love for Jon, and his trust in the love from Jon and his friends, that saved him from the Lonely again. Jon’s incredible amount of love, and respect, and trust in his friends is what’s kept him from becoming another Jared Hopworth or Jude Perry. In MAG155, Cost of Living, he expresses open disgust in how that particular avatar of The End justified her actions, killing and killing and killing again because she viewed herself as more worthy of life than that person. In that same episode, he talks of not blinding himself because he hopes to use his powers to protect his friends, that without them they’re too vulnerable. Honestly, this is the same reason Peter Lukas is unsuccessful, because Martin only helped him at all to protect his friends. The fact that he didn’t see his failure coming was hilarious.

Gerry said in Family Business that there is no “entities of love”, and that might be true, but love and trust is literally what saves you from fear. How many of us deal with things that are scary in our lives, if only because we have some level of trust in the people or things around us. How many of us have been brought out of a panic attack by someone we love and trust?

So all of this has been presented to us, over and over and over again, which is what I, and others, mean when we say “it does not make sense for one of them to be evil.” That’s what we mean when we say “it would be Bad Writing to make one of them evil in the end.” The entire show has driven home the message that we need love, we need personal connections to survive fear. To rip that away from the main characters at the last minute and call it “tragedy” would be a spit in the face of every single listener who took the story at face value, without picking it apart and reading lines out of context. And Jonny Sims and Alex J. Newall have both said they hate lazy writing.

Now, none of the JonMartin fans I follow are deluding themselves to think this show will have a happy ending outside of very self-indulgent fix-it au fanfics.

The way I see this going down is that Jon and Martin will figure out how to put the world back to the way it was, but Jon will not be able to be part of the new world with Martin. That’s the tragedy; that the world gets saved, and Jon helps save it, but he doesn’t get to benefit from his efforts in any way. The tragedy is Jon loves Martin so much, and they deserve their happy ending, but they don’t get it. But, they still saved the world so others can have their happy endings.

Idk about you, but between the “Jon turns evil in the end” and “Jon stays good and sacrifices himself to save the world” endings, only one of them has me in tears right now as I type this out, and it’s not the former.

I’m not against sad endings,I’m against bad endings that punish the audience for having even a bittersweet hope. I’m against sad endings that are just sad for the sake of being sad, with zero pay-off or reason to happen, especially when those endings throw out 5 years of hard work.

And hey, I might just be forced to eat my words in the end, but not before I fly all the way to England and make Jonny Sims eat a knuckle sandwich.

This was a lot longer than I meant for it to be, but I just have a lot of feelings.

[chilly-me-softly]

Coparents (Part 3) • Ben Chilwell

Part 1 and Part 2 here if you haven’t read them yet! Hope you like it x ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One week. Seven days to get caught.

She would have liked to have been more careful, but it was not for her son's sake or for all the bullshit she continues to fill her brain. The reality was that yes, she also wants to understand if she and Ben are made for a real relationship before she even let her son in. But that came later. First she wants to enjoy the boy without having to share him with anyone, she wants to be able to kiss him or take his hand away from prying eyes.

And they thought they had been as careful as possible with everyone, careful not to exchange too many looks at dinner with friends, careful in saying or doing things too compromising in front of Ryan. Rotate the people with whom they left the boy because the excuses wouldn’t hold up. Behave normally, you know.

But it was difficult to do so when their child seemed to be in the middle of the ‘I want my parents together' phase and he thought he was acting like Cupid for the two of them. Not that they were bothered when he tried to keep Ben stay the night or when he interweaved their hands together when they all fell asleep randomly on the couch watching a movie or when he pretended to have a nightmare -always when Ben stayed at home- and forced them to sleep together in her bed. In fact, they should have thanked him for the moments he was inevitably making them go through together and to tell the truth, they felt a bit guilty because they saw the sadness in his eyes when one of them go home or when he doesn’t succeed in something he had put on his head.

But that day had been different, and then things had fallen apart from there. Ben had come home with some doughnuts and they had breakfast all together as a family, then they had taken him to school on foot. And Ryan had printed a huge smile on his face on the way, happy for once to be able to walk through the school gate hand in hand with his mom and dad. Together. And he almost didn't want to take their hands off when they arrived, almost fearing they might disappear at any moment. And when they picked him up that afternoon, Ryan literally threw himself on his father’s arms seeing them together again.

In his little head everything was already settled, the pair only need one last little push before finally becoming a permanent family and throw away one of the two houses. And they’re on the field at the end of a game, Ryan runs to James who takes him in his arms without batting an eyelid when “Uncle James can I come to sleep at yours tonight so mom and dad can make a baby?" says the little one as if it were the most natural thing in the world, leaving the boy somewhat stunned.

The two parents turn with their eyes wide open, caught by surprise as well as the others around them. “Honey…” had tried the girl by extending her hand to caress him, but the boy removes from her touch and hides his face in James' neck. He knew that look, she used it when she had to tell him he couldn't eat fries at dinner for the third night in a row and put meat and salad in front of him.

Never in his life Ben had seen that look in (Y/N)’s eyes, the one they exchange quickly watching the scene that is full of ‘my son hates me, I'm a bad mother'. She doesn't know how she manages not to burst into tears there at that moment. So Ben tries, stroking his back but the baby twists again. And then with a nod James takes them all into the locker room and they follow him without saying a word, Ben's hand squeezes hers as if to instil courage into each other.

“Hey, little man" James tries to get him to come off by whispering in his ear, but Ryan holds those slender arms around his neck so tightly he gives it up. And Ben looks at him shaking his head slightly, kneeling down in front of his son who gives him his back, telling him that it’s okay. They could face it with him there too, if only they would have avoided repeating it a second time.

"Ryan" (Y/N) calls him, perhaps a little too sternly because the child unconsciously clings to James even more. And that small gesture adds to the weight she feels in her chest. She sighs, sitting next to James, "Can I know why you said that to Uncle J?"

The only thing they receive in response is an incomprehensible mumble due to his pressed face against James' shoulder, but it's understandable he's crying. For a moment even her eyes fill with tears but she bites her lip so hard she resists. Taken by an act of courage, Ben stretches out to snatch Ryan from his friend's arms but the child begins to kick and Ben loses his balance, finding himself on the ground. The baby in his arms crying inconsolably.

They just can't figure out what might have brought them to that moment. They are sure they haven’t kissed when he was around or behaved differently from the usual, but somehow in their plan there was a leak and now they were back to the wall. They had to reveal the truth, and then they'd think about the consequences.

“I just wanted a kiss" hiccups the baby in his father's arms when he realizes he won't get his uncle's comfortable chest back. The faces of those present are softened and a spark seems to illuminate her face. Make a baby. A kiss. Of course! She remembers the conversation about his friend's brother, as not ready to address the issue yet they hadn’t commented. And now there they are, dealing with a hysterical child who somehow understood that something had changed.

"Oh love" she sighs more softly this time, but she still doesn't dare to approach for fear of another refusal, "why did you want it so bad?"

"You brought me to school together" he sniffles leaning on his father's chest and Ben passes a thumb over his cheeks to wipe away some tears, which had fortunately stopped falling.

"Can you keep a secret?" Ben whispers, looking at her who nods. Time to drop the bomb. The child looks up at him, his blue eyes looking at him curious. "Mom and I ... we have already kissed"

Silence. The child looks at them without saying a word. Then he smiles widely and jumps out of his father's arms. The locker room is filled with cries of joy this time, the baby looks like a loose cannon jumping all over the room.

"Ryan" she calls him signaling to approach her and he does it with pleasure this time, going to crash into her mother's legs. "Easy" she chuckles. He's too happy, he climbs on her legs to leave a kiss on her cheek. A gesture to apologize to her, a gesture that makes her forget the bad feelings of a while ago. "I want you to be clear about something, young man. This doesn’t mean mom and dad will have a baby. Just that they are together" and this time she wants to clarify, in order to avoid other problems in a few weeks.

"Madders" Ben recalls his friend who has since been enjoying the whole scene, surprised by the news but also amused by the child. They will have a lot to do while growing up.

"Ugly bastard" he murmurs before hitting the brunette who is still on the ground, and pretending to struggle to mess up his hair while he does nothing but laugh.

***

"How's you doing?" Ben sighs, leaving a light kiss, with his eyes closed, on her temple. She leans lightly on him and sighs in turn, following with her eyes their son who is trying to take possession of the ball and James who enjoys making him jump from one side to another, “A baby takes a lot of energy" he chuckles.

"Mommy, daddy come play with us!" the boy screams as he comes running and standing between her legs, she is sitting on the bench in their garden with a glass of lemonade in her hands.

"Mommy can't little man" she cooes passing her hand through his hair and the baby puts on a lovely pout before getting picked up by Uncle James who makes him squeal. "Come join my team RyRy, we already have a ball to play with"

"No Uncle J, mom is beautiful. And my little sister is in there" the child points out her figure proudly, happy to finally have his wish fulfilled, to then be dragged farther away from the blonde.

"Our little Stella" Ben murmurs laying a hand on the seven months belly now.

"Daaaaaad" the child calls him almost complaining and then passes under his uncle's legs, taking advantage of the height difference.

"Go, we'll cheer for our men from here" and he leaves a last kiss on her lips and belly before joins the group.