#i just really miss good long tv shows with filler episodes

[autistic-danieljackson]

Not to be all 'back in my day' but I think the problem with TV today is that shows don't get 100-200 episodes anymore.

[physalian]

A Guide to Productive Filler

I was going to write this post about the wonders of fanfic and how it does not do the “forced miscommunication for cheap drama” trope, and it did not stay that post for long.

I’m sure it’s out there, but it’s not saturated in the most popular fics and I think I know why: Fanfic exists in contrast to the established canon, and the canon has forced miscommunication, thus fanfic looks at the perpetual failure of those plotlines and ignores it.

Nobody likes this trope, yet it keeps happening. In TV, at least in the old days when we had full seasons with appropriate and satisfying filler episodes and actual good stories and such (you know, before Disney +) TV shows were contracted to fill a minimum number of episodes and didn’t always have enough content to fill it, especially CW shows.

Enter filler episodes, which, when productive, still entertained the audience with off-beat side quests or gave more screen time to beloved side characters or explored more of the world and the lore. Filler plots meant that you could casually check in on your favorite show once a week, or miss an episode, and not feel completely lost because the plot wasn’t super tight and lean. Some of my favorite episodes of all my favorite TV shows are filler plots and just because they’re “filler,” as in, not a plot-heavy element to advance the narrative, doesn’t mean they were lacking in story.

That was good writing.

Bad filler elements were sh*t like forced miscommunication for cheap drama and it still exists even in the “mini series” that are really just long movies extended to keep people from canceling their subscriptions. TV shows may have one or two head writers, but they’re still written by committee and producers and production companies trying to milk as much from a profitable product as possible, which means they couldn’t write an efficient, epic romance that ended too quickly. They had to faff about for a few seasons before delivering to keep butts on couches tuning in to generate sweet, sweet ad revenue.

Forced miscommunication in TV shows have always made sense in that light. Yeah it’s a product of bad writing, but I can’t point at the head writer or even the staff writer alone and criticize their writing ability because it likely wasn’t their decision.

Forced miscommunication in books, however—that I have no excuse for. Books aren’t written by committee. In this case, I really can just blame the author for their bad choices, which, in turn, maybe came from their favorite TV shows and how they executed similar plot lines.

Fanfic does not do this, usually. It’s not written by committee and has no quota to fulfill to beef up the narrative with extra chapters.

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So. You want your story to be longer, fanfic or otherwise, but you’re struggling because your plot is too thin and you don’t know where to go from here.

First, a disclaimer: Novellas exist and can be as short as they need to be.

“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter,” means that  just because it’s long doesn’t mean every word serves a purpose. With enough time, the writer can trim down their thoughts for conciseness and clarity, and say the same thing with better impact with less beating around the bush.

So just because it’s short doesn’t make it bad, just because it’s long doesn’t make it good. It’s about what you do with the words you’ve written.

However, if it really is a thin story lacking substance and oomph, here’s some suggestions that are not sh*t like “forced miscommunication”. These are not meant for generalized application and should be considered heavily before implementing, because any one of them can change your book for the worse by adding in unnecessary detail that distracts from the main story.

1. Consider multiple narrators

Now. I just read a rather bad book that could have lost about ⅔ of its story for a variety of reasons and told the same story in a fraction of the page count. One of those issues was giving the villain several POVs that ruined the suspense and the tension because the reader became privy to their grand plan long before the protagonist and instead of having all our questions dying to be answered with the protagonist, we were waiting around for them to stop fooling around and figure it out already.

With that said, if you have a character of second importance to the protagonist whose perspective would benefit and enrich the story, consider giving them POVs to explore either when the protagonist couldn’t be present, or in contrast to the main narrator’s thoughts on the story and conflict.

I’ve never written anything without multiple POVs and still get carried away sometimes just trying to fill in all the missing time that didn’t add enough to the story to make it worth it. I have deleted POVs from ENNS that were better left up to audience interpretation then all laid out on the table.

This technique very much necessitates restraint, but giving your foil character, your deuteragonist, even your villain some narration “screen time” might help you beef up your word count and tell more than just one biased side of the same story. Fanfic tends to be very efficient with this because, again, one writer working for free tends to want to be efficient and not give pages upon pages of useless prose.

2. Side-quests and character studies

My all time favorite filler episode of any TV show is LOST’s “The Constant”. It focuses entirely on the side character Desmond. He’s an unwilling time-traveler and throughout season 4, struggles to control his temporal displacement and risks dying if he can’t find a “constant” to anchor him to the correct timeline.

This episode is often praised as one of, if not the show’s finest hour. Desmond spends most of the runtime flipping erratically between the past and the present as his romantic relationship spirals for other plot reasons. He ends up making his “constant” his fraught relationship and is able to revert to the past with knowledge of the future to get his then-ex girlfriend’s new phone number so he can call her at an exact date in the future to prove he won’t have given up on them. When Des finally makes that call 8 years later, it’s so emotional, so full of catharsis, so exciting to see him finally reach her after struggling since we met him.

And it has absolutely nothing to do with the plot at large, only Desmond’s arc. It explores some of the world’s lore but doesn’t answer any of the main plot questions or progress any other major character, and Des is the only time traveler so all the risk surrounding time travel is only for him. Critically, it still adheres to the themes of the show and fulfills much of the promises of this character’s role in it.

The show’s worst episode, “Stranger in a Strange Land,” is also filler about protagonist Jack’s tattoos. He makes a relationship with a woman nobody cares about and spends the entirety of the episode’s flashbacks, which is most of the episode’s runtime, dicking around in Thailand. With this quasi-wise woman’s tattoo techniques. Nobody cares what they mean, they didn’t connect with the themes of the show, didn’t tell us anything substantial about Jack or the world, lore, or story, and just felt like a massive waste of time.

If you’re going to write side quests, be more like “The Constant” and less like “Stranger in a Strange Land”. 

3. “Slice of Life” moments

A repeat of referencing this scene and this movie but I don’t care: “Doc Racing” from Cars is just one example. Adding in scenes like these won’t give you tens of thousands of words, but maybe you only need a couple hundred to feel satisfied.

Slice of life moments slow the pacing down, so place them wisely, and just let your characters be people in their world. Small things, human things. In Cars, it’s an old man letting himself enjoy life again when he thinks nobody’s watching. I have a scene in my sci-fi WIP series where two brothers, plagued by their family’s social status, take a drive and pick up greasy drive-thru food to park on a mountain overlook and just watch the city while licking salt off their fingers. I think Across the Spiderverse is about 20 minutes too long, but that scene of Miles and Gwen upside down on the roof before the plot ramps up is another quiet, human moment.

It could be a character who needs a break from the breakneck speed of the plot and the stress to listen to music, walk away from the project and enjoy the sun, anything. Do try to not get overly pretentious trying to make it super metaphorical and poetic, let the audience do it for you. These quiet scenes could end up being the audience’s favorite.

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If you’re trying to make your book longer, don’t be like Bilbo Baggins, okay? Don’t let your characters be spread thin, like butter scraped over too much bread. Add, don’t stretch. If the romance is on track to come together sooner, let it, or figure out a more meaningful way to delay it than throwing in a dumb argument that won’t mean anything in 20 pages anyway.

This wasn’t an exhaustive list, just what I think could be the most effective with the widest applications across genres.

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

honestly in light of another show getting cancelled after one fucking season despite being very loved and full of potential recent events i'm thinking a lot about the current state of TV and how it relates to the Gravity Falls renaissance going on right now with the new content (the book of bill/thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com). i'm thinking about how this show was adored as it aired and how it's still loved now, a decade later as it's audience has grown up. i think about what led to this story being so loved and adored so far past it's end.

and I think one of the biggest reasons for that is that Gravity Falls lasted long enough to tell the story it was made to tell.

While there are still fans who wish for a new season, it's largely agreed upon that the show lasted just long enough to tell it's story without dragging on. It finished in such a way that most major plot points were resolved with good pacing and not being rushed out of fear of cancellation. It goes down in television history as one of those shows where people think

"did it end at just the right point? yes. would I love more of it if the creators/crew wanted to do it? ALSO yes."

(definitely! ABSOLUTELY!)

So when new content was released and it builds on what was already masterfully established, people have ran back to it like it never left and are engaging with the story they love all over again.

And I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Gravity Falls is one of what feels like the few modern shows (especially since the last few years where everyone can name a show they loved that they're angry got cancelled after one or two seasons) that has gotten to just... come to an end. It wasn't cancelled prematurely because of nonsense streaming criteria or censorship; it didn't get a cut-down final season that forced half-completed plotlines to be thrown out or pruned to a shell of what they were meant to be; it came to it's natural intended end when it was meant to.

But it was also given time to breathe.

While the overarching mystery was constantly present throughout the show, it was also paced in such a way that it was mainly hinted at early on and not explored in detail until later, after we'd seen how the characters act in mundane, self-contained situations; episodes that focus on the main plot (mainly those in season 2) often happen after a good number of "normal" episodes that focus on the day-to-day hijinks of the Pines family, where we don't have to focus on the plot - we can just watch what the characters do and enjoy the ride.

And it's the presence of silly episodes about a merman being broken out of the local pool and dipper cloning himself via a copy machine to be able to party and two elderly ghosts who haunt a convenience store being appeased by dipper dancing in a lamb costume that make the episodes like the one where a recurring "crazy ol' hillbilly" was revealed to have been a highly skilled and intelligent scientist who was so haunted by the harrowing otherworldly horrors he'd seen that he drove himself insane so daunting and memorable. There is a balance to the pacing and tone that is a rarity in newer shows.

And honestly? I think one of the other reasons Gravity Falls is still so loved today is because it encompasses so much about TV shows that people really miss in today's era of how shows are structured.

"I miss when shows had 15-20 episodes a season." Gravity Falls did that.

"I miss when shows had filler and didn't rush through the plot so fast." Gravity Falls did that.

"I miss when we got to watch the characters do things besides The Plot and just got to watch them do funny hijinks that don't lead to something big and Plot Relevant." Gravity Falls did that. Gravity Falls did that. Gravity Falls did that and it was so much fun.

And I think about how if it were being aired now, we might have gotten that iconic and unforgettable years-in-the-waiting "The author of the journals... my brother." reveal as early as episode six out of eight.

Or even worse - it would have happened at the very end of the first season, and the second the credits rolled, fans would have had to scramble to write PSA posts to watch it as soon as possible and play the season on loop and tell everyone to stream it; they wouldn't have been able to just revel in the excitement of a well-paced reveal that was years in the making; they most likely would have had to immediately get to work and jump through hoops and fight like hell for a chance at the story to be completed.

And worst case scenario - it probably wouldn't have worked.

TLDR; Gravity Falls is a well-loved masterpiece bc it got to do what so few new shows get to do and have enough time to tell the story it was meant to tell and I'm so relieved it aired before the shithole that is 8-episode seasons (read: only one 8-episode season before the near-inevitable cancellation) became the norm for new shows.

[crimsoncosmic]

The Eight Episode Formula: Binge Watching, Filler Complaints, Streaming TV Services & The Consequences

Does anyone else remember how there used to be a certain point in time where TV shows used to have at least 23 episodes per season and each episode was about a maximum of 45 minutes long? Where each episode would be released weekly and everybody would talk about it the next day? If you ask me, that was the golden age of TV in my opinion. The seasons had plot lines, character arcs and development and occasionally, a good filler episode to give us a break from the main serialized plot point.

Unfortunately, a lot of new shows are lacking these same things, and I think it’s not just a downgrade in writing or quality in general, but I think it’s got something to do with the new formula shows use by dropping 8 episodes per season, each of which being an hour long, which majorly damaged the pacing and the overall writing of the show.

Now, it’s worth noting that this formula could work for some series, depends on the type of show it is. But, most producers aren’t considering this aspect and trying to apply this formula to every series possible, which is making TV shows more boring to watch, as now, TV has become a lot less enjoyable.

While it’s not exactly easy for many to put their finger on why this is the case, I have a few possible suggestions as to how this formula makes shows less enjoyable to watch.

Disclaimer: This is a matter of personal opinion and is not intended to attack any specific people. This is only centered around criticism.

1. Binge Watching

The first thing that I think of when it comes to this topic is the influence of binge-watching. Now, I understand some shows are better off being binge watched within the span of a few hours. But, that can only apply to so many shows. A show like Avatar: The Last Airbender isn’t meant to be watched and finished in one day. It’s not written for that sort of formula. But, nowadays, shows are all trying make their shows binge-able that can be finished within a day. And, it’s not really making shows more enjoyable.

For one, the writing itself is rushed. Even if the episodes are an hour long, it still feels like there’s too much being crammed into one episode more often than not. There’s not much time to develop characters or do any world building because they’re too focused on working on the main plot. There’s little to no subplots, no character arcs, no side quests, just this one plot point that’s the only purpose of the entire story. There’s no underlying theme or anything, which I guess is fine, but if the story has little to nothing else going for it besides a singular plot line that they rush through, than what’s the point?

Now after you binge watch a show, you don’t feel the same way you would when you would binge to catch up on the most recent weekly episodes you had missed of a show you liked. Now, it’s just over with and that’s that. The story barely sticks and half the to, you probably can’t even remember what it’s about because it rushed through everything and there was too much to take in.

Because they’re trying to make shows to be binge-watched rather than just watched at a normal rate, they’re not working on actually making a story worth watching or caring about. They’re just making a quick cash-grab that will have its fifteen minutes of fame before everyone forgets about it.

Which is another reason why binge-watching has an effect on shows, mainly their ability to continue them. When everyone binge watches a show, everyone has seen it all and its popularity is short lived. They don’t try to keep the audience invested. When they made weekly episodes, it increased the interest because everyone would wait to see it, and then they’d be intrigued to get to the next episode when it airs. Its fame lasts longer when everyone would be exposed to the same amount of content at the same time and they’d all be on the same page to talk about it. Now, everyone talks about it for at least a month or two and then it dies down. So, even if they did make a second season, it wouldn’t get as much viewers because nobody was anticipating it or even cared about it.

So, it was almost as if it was all in vain.

2. Streaming Services

Arguably streaming services and the binge watching thing go hand in hand, since it’s streaming services who mainly advise this formula. With streaming services, there’s no wait, since all of the episodes are dropped at the same time. So, naturally, they get binge-watched. But, that’s mainly the thing that Im referencing in their context. When I mention streaming services, I’m focusing more on their lack for care of shows.

Along with binge watching leading to the fast fashion of shows where they only trend for a few weeks but then eventually become irrelevant and everyone moves onto the next trending show, it also causes streaming services to not care for their shows anymore. A lot of times, streaming service have a habit a canceling shows that made a lot of money and earned a lot views, that would gain even more had there been a second season. But, due to their tendency to rather follow trends as a cash grab than actually continuing a pre-established enjoyable show with a wide audience, they cancel it.

And, it’s a shame, since they usually cancel shows that are genuinely good, with good stories and good characters and a lot of potential. Only because it doesn’t fit what’s currently trending. These streaming services seem to care more about what they think the people want than what they’d actually prefer. They don’t treat these forms of media as art pieces (even though they are) they treat them like products to sell.

And as I mentioned before, there are some shows that were originally intended to have a minimum of 15-20 episodes. But, due to them being produced by streaming service companies (Netflix for example), they’re forced to cut it down to the 8 episodes format, which ends up causing writers and actors to make adjustments to their pre-planned work, which leads to more working, it also makes it difficult for them to write it properly since the show might be cancelled after the first season. They try to get in as much as they can as possible out of fear that they might not get a chance to continue the story and even if they did, they won’t be allowed to do it the way they originally planned to. And it often ends in the writing becoming a bit sloppy.

So, in the end, there’s no benefit to it. Their work has been ruined compared to what it was originally supposed to be and it’s most likely going to be cancelled, so the struggle would be all for nothing.

3. Filler Episodes Complaints

Okay; This one might be a little obscure, but I felt as if it was worth referencing. When shows actually were making the 20 episode seasons, there was a common complaint. At least 1/3 of those episodes were filler episodes or episodes that didn’t dwell on the main serialized plot point. They just served as little breakaways from the intensity of the main storyline. And, people hated that.

There was a never-ending hatred for filler episodes, as many believed they didn’t serve any purpose in the story and that they were useless. So, instead of just skipping filler episodes, the more reasonable thing to do, they instead advocated for shows to stop doing filler episodes as a whole. Only have episodes that center around the main plot, since filler served little to no purpose in the quality of the story.

Except, now that there’s a severe lack in filler episodes, in fact, they practically don’t do filler episodes anymore, it becomes more apparent just how important they were. When watching shows now, it’s more common to find it hard to care about any of the relationships or the characters or anything. Now, a lot of shows feel hollow, incomplete. Practically unfinished.

There’s no character development, no backstory, no arcs, no world building, none of those things despite them being key factors to making a good story. And, that’s when it became obvious as to why filler episodes are important.

Filler episodes give the writers time to flesh out the characters and show other sides of them that we don’t get to see during the main episodes. It shows us how the characters are when they’re actually in a normal situation, and gives us insight to their personalities. Filler episodes could also be used to flesh out characters backstories as well and could be used to give characters more development.

They also allow for little side quests and subplots, that allow for more world building. Filler episodes could give writers a chance to explore the world outside of the main plot, and main characters. It gives us a chance to fully indulge in the world and fall in love with it. Develop an attachment to it, so vital moments within the story are much more impactful.

Filler episodes helped further develop worlds and characters as a whole. But, due to people complaining about filler episodes, since they wanted to only focus on the main plot, studios have decided to eliminate them altogether, making the shows shorter. And the effects became obvious within the writing.

Filler could contribute to the writing just as much as other episodes. They make the audience develop an attachment.

TL: DR

The 8 Episode Per Season TV Format has become a repeated pattern amongst newer shows now, and it’s having an effect on the quality and enjoyability of shows.

[voidsentprinces]

FFXIV feels like a weird tv series in terms of how I feel about each expansion

1.0 is the pilot season that people agree was bad but there was charm to it. It had its moments and if given a better writing staff and perhaps more budget. It could of been something great. But the season’s cancelled now so we’ll just have to post on the forums about missing its charms.

ARR feels like the reluctant second season after they got cancelled after the first season. It airs on SciFi (or however the fuck they’re spelling it nowadays) at a 1am dead block in hopes to never see it again. Its rough around the edges, the writing has some spots to be desired, the costuming is iffy but functional and all it all it becomes a cult classic.

Post-ARR is a lost season, extra materials, some unconnected filler but a few episodes that actually link back and boy does the finale really shake things up. Causing a massive fandom to grow around it and pester executives for a third season.

Heavensward is the return of the king. Final Fantasy XIV is back, it has budget, production, and cast and man with the special effects blow you out of the fucking water. After the Post-HW you hear stories about the cast loving their time on set and with the directors and really getting invested in the “characters”.

Stormblood is the unlucky season which has big shoes to fill cause its coming up after Heavensward and like thats like being the Dark Knight Rises after the Dark Knight right? And while it comes close to Heavensward. Some studio heads got involved and wanted to change stuff up because they saw another TV show do it and thats super popular so why don’t we do that? It returns to being a bit rough around the edges but the new villains really are here to chew the scenery and be memorable as all get out.

Post-SB is uneasy, it feels like the execs aren’t happy it didn’t bring in billions like the Heavensward Season did. Some actors go on to different projects and its really up in the air where its going to go. Are we going to stay in Ala Mhigo? Are we going to stay in Doma? Going to Garlemald is on the table. And this new Solus character just seems like Lahabrea but then BAM! The Call Episode happens and everyone is fucking LOSING THEIR GODDAMN MINDS! There are leaked trailer footage online and Y’shtola is now Master Matoya, Urianger is half naked and IS THANCRED WIELDING A GUNBLADE?! WHAT THE FUCK!?

Shadowbringers hits and it is the best thing on television since sliced bread. Everyone is invested, the budget is back, the writing hits hard, the Solus character is changed and given new dimension. Everyone is up in arms about fist fighting Thancred over his initial treatment of Ryne. There’s fan art of Runar and Y’shtola even though the actors are just good friends. And that Finale? Holy shit. There is some sleeper episodes like the second Amh Araeng arc but the emotional pay off of seeing Minfilia return for a last cameo is well received.

Post-Shadowbringers is making the most of the new world sets. Tying up lose ends, here and there. Setting up the next big bad with this Fandaniel dude and Zenos being back by fandom demand. But the mid-season finale has everyone hooked, I mean after the Seat of Sacrifice arc, who can top that?

Endwalker hits, a love letter season. Some stuff feels overtly long, like was an entire half an episode necessary to show extras turning into monsters. But the baby rescue episodes has people emotionally invested, the loporitts are beloved, everyone loses their shit that Zodiark is introduce and fought only like five episodes into a 24 episode season. Speculation flies left and right and then they get the Elpis and the Ancientsona Fandom from Shadowbringers’ initial season is reignited. People are getting into fights whether to fight or protect Meteion and everyone cries at the finale of the Ultima Thule arc.

Now we’re in the after season of Endwalker, its had sort of monster of the week villains. We’ve seen some cool set design in the Thirteenth Shard and this Golbez character seems like a stand in until they figure out what to do next. But everyone is absolutely LOVING this Zero character. Nidhana’s fandom is also reignited. And there is some debate over Vrtra and his avatars but everyone is also absolutely losing their shit on whats going down in Pandaemonium and with the Twelve. Though its getting close to the end of the season and people are wondering where we’re off to next.

...if that makes any fucking sense whatsoever.

[thestobingirlie]

Absolutely we can’t blame them for the pandemic/writer’a strike but it’s so weird with streaming services shows, cause they take so long but back when the shows had like 20 episodes the actors had like 2/3 months hiatuses so they could get back into characters, but it’s mainly due to streaming companies being all about profit and focusing on way too many shows at the same and cancelling them in same breath, I also miss crossover/filler episode it gave ideas of character development, look into home lives of the characters, and friendships that are considered “crackship” and cool events like Halloween/Christmas so much has changed.

I love stranger things sm❤️ but one thing that frustrated me in s4 was the cgi sorta (bluer chi scenes in the van were the most convincing but the other car scenes with cgi weren’t that convincing but that’s just small details and as you said the flashbacks that were overused in s4 mainly, or the scenes where the actors were staring at each other for whole minutes with no dialog to fill the space😬 just small details overally I enjoyed the ride though i preferred when the show focused on the sci-fi/fantasy rather than horror/romance genre

oh my god yes!! bring filler episodes back!!! i want to get to know characters, i want to see them interact and joke around. see their houses, and meet all their friends, and learn about the shit they do when the world isn’t ending.

streaming is killing tv shows and it’s actually really sad. tv shows just get treated like they’re movies nowadays, and it just doesn’t work.

the effects in stranger things… sometimes it’s good, and sometimes it’s godawful, and there’s really no inbetween lmao. i don’t mind the show diving more into horror, because i think it makes sense with the direction the plot is going, i just wish it was written better. i do love stranger things, i really do! there’s just a lot of small things that i don’t like that kinda build up.

[lexloveade]

my only one ( a comfort oneshot)

twitter @lexloveade <3

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You've been doing practically nothing all day other than rotting away on your couch binging on Business Proposal again. It’s probably your 3rd time watching it, but you can't help that you're a sucker for cliches, they're good for a reason. Just as you were about to press the “Next Episode” button to start, you hear the master bedroom door open. Alex walks out noticeably fresh out of the shower, it was pretty hard to miss considering that he still had a towel in hand trying his best to dry off his wet hair. 

“Hey,” he says with a warm smile on his face

“Hey,” you reply back

“Whatcha watching, still watching that show?” He asks as he comes over to sit down alongside you on the couch. He had already changed into his sleeping clothes which consisted of just a loose shirt and some shorts, but you didn't put much thought into it considering that you use your pj’s as just house clothes too.

“Yeah, it’s just now starting to get to my favorite part” You respond, the male lead was just about to pretend to be the female lead’s girlfriend, through a fake relationship contract of course.

“Can I watch too? It must be pretty good considering you’ve been neglecting me all day,” He says jokingly

You giggle at his words, he wasn't wrong, you really haven't moved from here ever since you got up in the morning. Still aimlessly rubbing the towel on his head in a poor attempt to dry his hair, he gets comfortable on the couch in preparation to watch this show until you call it quits. Growing impatient about his hair not drying fast enough, he shakes his head around like how dogs do when they’re getting a bath, unconsciously spraying you with his hair water. He notices you flinching at the mini shower he’s just given you, “Oops, sorry I didn't mean to,” he says in a snarky tone. You giggle and playfully hit his shoulder, you honestly didn't really care that he got you a little wet, you were just happy he was around. Alex eventually gives up trying to dry his hair, accepting that he’s just going to have to leave it slightly damp until it dries by itself. The episode starts to autoplay and the intro flashes onto the screen. Alex gets comfortable as he begins to stretch his arms out to lay on the headrest of the couch accompanied by an over-exaggerated sigh. He looks over in your direction only to see you completely focused on the TV screen as if he wasn't even there ‘Wow, she's really into it,’ he thought to himself, he was amazed at how you could stay in a single spot for so long without getting sore or at the very least changing positions. 

You hear a faint heavy tapping noise, you look over to Alex patting his thigh, signaling you to lay your head down on his lap. You scooch over to get closer and lay down accordingly, your hands pressed together so you could form a makeshift pillow to rest your face on. Changing how you were sitting didn't break your focus; at that moment you were completely immersed in how the fake couple was going to keep up their relationship, the fact that the male lead had an actual crush on her made your heart flutter seeing how he would treat her if she were to accept his feelings. Suddenly you feel a soft gentle touch meet your head, warm fingers stroking your locks of hair. His loving touch was enough to distract you from the show, you turn to sneak a peek at him. Your eyes met with his wet hair, scattered moles on his face, and you take a second to really appreciate his visuals. You felt lucky that you were able to land someone as great as him in your life, the love between the two of you was pure, and his touch told you everything you could ever want to hear without needing words.

You turn back around to the TV screen, the characters were now in a completely different location and had gotten themselves into another predicament at this point; You didn't really care that you missed some of the filler in between, nothing came close to taking your focus away like how Alex did, but it wasn't a bother, rather it was just something else that kept you entertained. He didn't stop playing with your hair the entire time you were laid on him, he just kept twirling his hair between his hands for the entire episode, and the next, and the next, and the next. The warm buzz you got from him playing with your hair made you relax, you weren't even paying full attention to the show and the scenes became nothing but a blur amongst each other while they played one after another.

You feel your eyes start to get heavy, barely being able to stay awake this entire time from being so comfortable. You didn't even know what episode you guys were on, the fuzzy feeling of your hair being played with for hours made your attention drift from the screen, this entire time you were just focusing on the comfy warm tingles you felt in your head. You glance up at the digital clock you had on the TV stand, it reads ‘9:34 PM’, you look out the windows and realize the sun that was once there when Alex first joined was now gone. You let out a small groan and get up from his lap to let yourself stretch your arms and legs out a bit. 

“Oh, you're awake? I thought you fell asleep so I couldn't really move much, the show is pretty good so far though,” he joked

“Ha ha very funny,” you say sarcastically “I’ve spent wayyy too long sitting here, I think I'm gonna go take a shower before it gets late,” you say.

You start to get up, still stretching your limps and turning your neck to try and loosen up a bit,

“Wait,, you know what actually,, just go get your clothes and meet me in the bathroom. I got the rest,” Alex chimes.

You turn to look at him surprised, “Oh uhh,, sure why not. I'll see you there then,” you say in a slightly curious voice. You wanted to know what he was up to but you just decided to let yourself be surprised by him this once. Usually, you’d keep asking what it was until he spit it out, but you were surprisingly worn out from doing nothing all day so you're just going to let it happen today.

You make your way to your dresser and pick out some mickey mouse pj pants, then sneak over to his side to pick one of his shirts so it would fit oversized. You grab some other essentials like your hairbrush, some skincare, and hair serum so you could take care of yourself once you got out. And with everything you could think that you need in your arms, you make your way to the master bathroom.

Opening the door to the bathroom you're greeted with Alex crouched down next to the tub swishing the water that now had a soft pile of bubbles on top. Hearing the door open he turns around,

“Oh hey! I did a little something special for youu~,” he says happily, making sure to drag out the ‘you’ as he got up and came closer to you

“Woah, it looks nice! But what’s all of this for though?” you ask,

“Woww can I just not do something nice for once?” he teased,

“Nah I'm kidding, I saw that you were pretty tired back there when you were getting really into your show, and when I thought you were asleep I remembered that I had bought a bubble bar a while back and I thought now would be a good time to use it”

“A bubble bar?? Who taught you what that is?” you question,

“I saw it once on a post you liked that came up on my feed. I looked it up and saw that they sold it at this store called lush, and a couple weeks ago I ran into one by surprise when I was out, so I decided to pick one up,” he explains.

A smile breaks onto your face, blushing from seeing his efforts to try and make you feel cared for. It was the tiny things like this that made you head over heels for this boy, his attention to detail was so pure and you just knew he was always trying his best to make you happy.

A short silence falls over the steamy room from the hot water in the tub,

“Uhp, I should probably let you get in. Let me know if you need anything!” Alex says as a quick flush of pink runs over his cheeks, his voice starting to fade away as he approached the door, closing it behind him.

Your gaze meets with the bubbly tub filled with hot water, you begin to undress letting your clothes drop on the floor momentarily before you toss them in the clothes hamper. As you slowly submerge your body in the bubbly bath, you can feel your joints relax and your muscles loosen, the sensation of the water felt like a warm hug that wrapped around your whole body not missing a single bit of skin untouched. You let your inner thoughts take over your head, ranging from ‘What should I make for breakfast tomorrow?’ to ‘I wonder what my future is going to turn out like’. Though you didn't let your thoughts get too deep, your battery was low which meant only shallow thoughts were going to be crossing your mind tonight. Then what Alex had said earlier popped into your mind, 

“...must be pretty good considering you’ve been neglecting me all day…”

You felt a sinking feeling fall over you, you couldn't even recall any other interaction you had with him today other than when he first got out of the shower. The show was good, but you felt bad that you almost didn't pay any mind to Alex. ‘Well, it’s never too late to try and make things right,’ you tell yourself. 

“Alex!!” you call out, your voice echoing off of the bathroom walls.

You turn over to the door as you hear a creak, 

“Y-yeah? Do you need something?” He said, sounding like you caught him off guard.

You see him peeking through the tiny gap in the door, you let out a laugh upon seeing that his hand was covering his eyes. 

“It’s fine, you can uncover your eyes loser. Plus the bubbles cover me up a decent amount so it's not like anything is showing, and we literally live together too?? Stop acting so modest” you tease back at him.

He lets his eyes peek through his fingers, now gazing upon you with your hair up in a hair clip, bubbles up to your chest, your cheeks along with the tip of your nose, moistened and slightly red from the steam rising out of the hot water. He makes his way towards you and sits on the edge of the tub, leaning against the wall.

“So,” you start

“How was your day so far?” you ask

You notice that Alex was slightly taken aback, maybe he was busy with something? Maybe he thought you needed help? Whatever it was you could tell that he wasn't expecting for you to strike up a conversation.

“Well, I was mostly in meetings a majority of the day, most of them were virtual but I had to drive up to this office for this one merch meeting so I could see the designs and fabric options in person. After that, I came back home and I wound up in another quick meeting about the new SMP. I don't remember all of the details exactly but it had something to do with the mod that we use. I'm pretty sure that was my last meeting of the day, after that, I just went and took a shower and then spent the rest of my day with you.” He said a majority of his words just staring into space, but you noticed in that last sentence he looked down to see you. Feeling his stare you look up to meet your eyes with his. You could tell he missed you, his words were empty with no emotion up until you were brought up, changing his tone and more caring than a couple seconds ago. 

“What about you? I know you watched tv all day but do you have anything planned for tomorrow?” he asked as he reached for your hair clip undoing your hair and letting it fall into the water. 

“Well, I don’t really have anything planned, but I know for sure I’m not going to watch TV, I’m sick of it for now” you reply. 

“Lay your head back a bit,” he gently asks

you follow and lay your head back slightly, almost having it rest on the edge of the tub. Alex starts to cup water into his hands, bringing them up to the top of your head and gently letting it flow into your hair. He repeats this a couple times until your head is wet enough, and then reaches over to grab your shampoo that was beside him. He pours a bit out onto his hand and rubs it together slightly so it could begin to foam up. Then he starts to gently shampoo your hair, making sure to give you a small scalp massage while he was at it since he figured that your neck and head must hurt like hell after being so still on the couch all day. 

As he was shampooing your hair you felt the same feeling you had back when you had your head in his lap, all that you could think to yourself was how grateful you were to have Alex in your life. To be blunt, sometimes you thought you didn’t deserve him, that for some reason you weren’t up to his standards, maybe that you two would eventually not work out and become strangers who know every detail about each other over time. But Alex's warm, pure touch made it feel like all those thoughts that ran rampant fear through your head were slowly dissolving into the water around you.

Alex foams up your hair a decent amount, finding a good stopping point, and begins to rinse the bubbles off, once again cupping his hands into the water to rinse off the suds on your head. As he’s busy doing back and forth, he says 

“The water is starting to get cold, I’ll come back in a bit so we can brush our teeth together once you’re out, but don’t take too long, I don’t want you to get sick from the water being too cold,” he warns concerningly

it was touching that he was keeping track of small things like this, first making your bath, then shampooing your hair, now he’s making sure you get out on time so you don’t get sick? It's as if every day this man gives you more and more reasons to fall deeper for him, and it’s working. He finishes washing your hair, making sure there’s no shampoo left behind. 

“Alright I’m done, call me if you need me for anything, and remember to not let the water get cold!” he says as he starts to get up and leave

“Thank you!~” you chirp, coming back to reality after talking to yourself in your head this entire time.

You let yourself marinate in the lukewarm water for a couple more minutes before deciding it was time to get out. Looking around the bathroom you realize that there wasn't a towel within reach, and then seeing that there actually wasn't a towel at all in the entire room. You let out a small sigh, feeling like you're bothering Alex because he had just left and now you're calling him again. But you didn't have a choice, you had to get out and dry off somehow and you were pretty much stuck.

“Alexx!” you yell out

You hear quick footsteps approach as Alex opens the door, not covering his eyes this time.

“Missing something?” he says, the tone in which he said it made you think something was up but you couldn't put your finger on it. 

“Yeah actually, there isn't a towel here, can you get me one real quick?” you ask expecting him to just turn back around and get you one. An excited smile forms on his face and makes his eyes close slightly, pulling his arm out from behind him revealing a towel already in hand.

“Ta-daaa,” he says jokingly,

“Wait? So you just left me in here to begin with knowing there wasn't a towel?” You ask perplexed

“Nuh-uh, this is a special towel that I had sneaked off to get ready when you were picking out your clothes,” he says

He approaches you, his arm extending out with the towel clamped between his hands. As your fingers make contact with the towel, you realize that it was warm and maybe even a little hot.

“Did you put this in the dryer?” you say with a surprised expression,

“Yep, told you I didn't want you to end up getting sick if the water got too cold, so I thought a warm towel would be nice” he replies with a caring tone, you found it cute that he went through the trouble of sneaking around to toss it in the dryer so your body wouldn't get shocked when you got out of the bath. You take the warm towel lightly grazing your fingers alongside his,

“Well, I'll leave you to it. Come meet me in the kitchen when we’re done so we can start closing for the night okay?” he says as he makes his way out the door once more. You two came up with the term ‘closing for the night’ when you first moved in together as a way to clean up any last things around the house before the both of you went to bed. Your closing routine usually consisted of you two playing some music on your Alexa while cleaning, you even had a dedicated playlist for when you two closed. The playlist consisted of an even amount of your songs and his songs, letting it shuffle and most of the time you got an even distribution of each other's songs. You make your way out of the tub to dry off with the comfy towel. The warmth made you feel slightly drowsy but you tried your best to fight it since you still had your night routine with Alex to look forward to. Letting the tub plug loose to let the water drain, you dry off whatever excess water was on your skin and put on your pjs, using the now slightly damp towel to wrap around your head to help dry your hair a bit. Making your way out of the bathroom, you pause to take a look at yourself in the mirror above the sink. Admiring how Alex’s shirt was just the tiniest bit too big on you draped over your shoulders, and finding funny how at your age you still owned a pair of fuzzy mickey mouse pj pants. 

You make your way out of the bathroom into the living room, finding that Alex had already started closing by giving the floors a brisk vacuum. He had just finished so by the time you walked in he was already putting it back in the cleaning closet, he notices your presence and quickly puts everything away and walks over to you. 

“Hey,” he says with his soft, kind voice, looking down the slightest bit to meet eyes with you, “did you like the bath? Hope it wasn't too hot,”

“It was really nice, and the temperature was perfect, thank you Alex. You ready to start closing?” you say gazing into his eyes while the corners of your lips begin to form a subtle smile. 

“Yep, I already got started while you were taking the bath, all we have left now is to just tidy up the kitchen a bit,” he says cupping your cheeks with his big warm hands, soon letting go to undo the towel you had wrapped around your head to let your less than dry hair droop. “If you get to see me with drenched hair, I get to see too so we’re even.” he kids, “Let me just go put the towel up, ill be back in a bit,” he says as he walks over to the bathroom once more to let the towel hang dry. You go to turn off the TV you both irresponsibly left turned on when you left for your bath, then make your way over to the kitchen sink, seeing only a couple of dirty dishes that needed to be washed along with some clean ones that needed to be put up. Also taking note that the kitchen rag needed to be washed when you were done so you could clean the sink and the countertops. It honestly wasn't that much compared to other days where closing felt like the last thing you wanted to do because of how bad the place looked, but those days were rare to come by and only really ever happened if you hosted a party or if both of you were really busy that day. 

Alex enters the main area again, seeing you start to dry off any traces of water and put up the clean dishes. Noticing the quietness of the place, he realizes that you’re missing your playlist,

“Alexa, play my ‘closing playlist’ on Spotify please,” are the first words to come out his mouth, followed by the room being filled with the melody of New Light by John Mayer, one of Alex’s songs. Making his way to you on the other side of the sink, letting the water begin to run, and starts to wash the remaining dirty dishes. You two just being in each other's presence made you both feel at home, though it was something as small as doing house chores together it was still nice memories being made together that made you smile whenever you thought back on them. Time seemed to fly by whenever you were with each other, before you knew it your closing routine had been completed, leaving you two leaning your elbows on the kitchen island, with your head leaning on his shoulder. The both of you spent a couple minutes in that position, just savoring each other's company knowing you'll have to head off to sleep soon. You weren't keeping track of whatever songs were playing because your mind was in space thinking about the blessing in your life that is Alex, when suddenly you hear a familiar tune play from the speaker. Only by LeeHi, it was probably one of your most played songs recently since it reminded you so much of your current love life, You didn't need to know the exact words of what LeeHi was saying for you to understand the meaning behind her lyrics, you could just feel that it perfectly embodied everything you've ever felt with Alex with her harmonies. 

The instrumental intro begins,

“You look cute in my shirts, you should wear them around more often,” Alex says, breaking the silence as his hand makes his way over to hold yours. You feel a slight tug from him pulling you along to the space in the middle of the main area. Stumbling your way over to stand in this new location, Alex guides your head to rest on him, placing your arms over his shoulders, with his hands laying on your waist carefully.

 “Alexa, turn the volume up” He announces. 

The two of you begin to slowly sway back and forth, lightly slow dancing in your dim apartment while the music fills your ears. A couple steps at a time, making slow and gentle turns as the song continued onto its chorus. One of his hands lifts from your waist to meet with the top of your head, gently caressing your still half-wet hair. You could hear his heartbeat from his chest, it wasn't going noticeably fast, it was a steady strong beat that seemed to even slow down as the song continued, signaling that he felt calm and at peace. You dug your head in slightly more into his chest, you loved being close to him and feeling his touch. You felt safe around him, the kind of safe where you felt protected from any harm and had the freedom to be who you really were. Freedom to allow yourself to be vulnerable around him, letting him see your highs and your lows. Dancing together felt like discovering a new kind of intimacy, the type of intimacy that was pure with intentions of making things last, the kind that made your eyes tear up because you just want to sincerely say ‘I love you,’ making you happy that he was ‘my only one’. The gentle sways made you think about all of the things you’ve yet to experience alongside him, all of the sunsets you’ve watched together and the ones you haven't seen yet, and how together you're going to experience the many stages of what people call love. 

“Lalalalala.. my only one…” you hear as the song fades to an end. Silence fills the room, Alex lifts your head away from his chest, planting a light, loving kiss on your forehead. 

“Let's go get ready for bed,” He whispers softly as he takes your hand so the both of you can go brush your teeth before you go to sleep. He guides the way, turning off any lights along the way in the rooms that’ll be empty for the night. He gets your toothbrushes ready and you both start cleaning your teeth, it was eerily silent, you were still sensitive from all of the emotions you felt back there. Alex noticing your slightly uncomfortable gaze, puts his hand on your head, giving you small pats as you brush your teeth. It was something small from him, but his touch always helped. The two of you finish up and start getting tucked into bed together, Alex pulling back the sheets so you could get cozy first then he soon followed. He turns off his bedside lamp, quickly washing the room in darkness, and turning over to face you buried among the sheets. Alex reaches out, pulling you in closer to him so you can rest your head against your chest, letting you begin to drift to sleep in his arms. Your mind starts to unwind, as you feel your eyes get heavy and your body starts to melt away into the early stages of sleep. The only thing left on your mind is thinking about how you’re happy that he’s the first thing that greets your eyes every morning. Waking up beside him was something you always looked forward to and it was your favorite part about starting a new day. Your thoughts begin to slowly dissolve as you feel yourself give in to your exhaustion from the long day.

“Goodnight... I love you..” he whispers as he gently strokes your hair.

“Goodnight Alex... I love you too…”

[fruitsofhell]

I'm about halfway through a long overdue rewatch of Steven Universe as I never finished the whole thing nor have I really watched anything since it finished. Like I used to love the shit out of the show, and I owe a lot of myself artistically to it. So like I was totally expecting to rewatch it and see the cracks in it I missed when I was younger, or to get bogged down by "filler episodes" people complained about but like, fuck that, this show's fucking amazing.

Like I can't believe there were internet wars about whether this show was actually any good, yall were insane. Like I said, halfway through and there has never been a bad episode or episode that I felt wasted my time, those people just hated fun and worldbuilding its crazy. Then on top of that the story is even fucking better now, the show has a nice subtly to it in places, and the nuance in the characters ages well. Especially Pearl, I remember just seeing her as obsessive and mean when I was younger, but man is she going through shit... Oh God and all the foreshadowing, it is such a rewarding show to pay attention to and rewatch, very well planned out.

Anyways I loved this show and now I love it even more again, best animated TV show of the last decade (from someone who hasn't watched most of them honestly).

[thewanderingace]

Things that are annoying me about the new production of Doctor Who

1) Getting really tired of all this information for Doctor Who being released for the new seasons when Ncuti's first season hasn't even aired yet. Like we're getting guest star and episode plot spoilers for his second season and now I'm seeing that Millie is maybe leaving and there will be a new companion played by Varada Sethu? Granted I'm taking this news with a grain of salt cause it's literally a rumor but I wouldn't be surprised because I know they were filming season 15 and companions tend to go for 1 to 3 seasons so she could be leaving after doing 2 seasons. It's plausible.

But my problem is HER AND NCUTI'S FIRST SEASON HASN'T EVEN AIRED YET!!!

I should not know everything that is going to happen! I should not know episode plots and guest stars for season 15 when season 14 hasn't aired yet! I should not know that the companion is already leaving WHEN HER EPISODES HAVE NOT EVEN AIRED YET!!!!!!! This is ridiculous!!! Where is the surprise?! Where is the anticipation?! I don't want to know all of this already!! Jeez!!

2) THERE'S ONLY 8 EPISODES PER SEASON!!!!

I'm so beyond fucking tired of new shows barely having any episodes. 8 is NOTHING!! How on earth is Doctor Who going to do what Doctor Who does with only 8 episodes. This means it's all going to be big plot driven. Good bye silly filler episodes and fun single episodes. There's no time for you anymore. And it'll be blink and the season is over. I so desperately miss the times when TV shows had 15-25 episodes. Why can't we PLEASE bring that back. I am begging you. 8 episodes is fucking nothing and it makes me furious. And now we've learned Millie is only doing one season which means we only get 8 episodes of Ruby?! That's bullshit! She doesn't even a get a real full season!!! BRING BACK THE 13-20 EPISODE SEASON YOU COWARDS

3) STOP CALLING IT SEASON 1! ITS NOT SEASON 1! IT'S EITHER SEASON 40 OR SEASON 14!!! Calling it season 1 cause you think Americans won't watch it if it's called season 14 is not only stupid but also insulting. They really think people will see the 14 and go "oh I'm not gonna watch the other seasons of a show I'm randomly going to start watching so I just won't watch at all." If I see a random episode of show I'm gonna go seek out the previous seasons to catch up to better understand the ones airing now. Disney you could have already posted the last 13 seasons and done a big social media "let's do a full rewatch everyone!" push before season 14 starts. That'd would have been more fun. And less insulting. Now it's 10x more confusing to new viewers who won't have any idea where to start cause there's now 3 season 1. And if they start with Ncuti 14x01 won't they be so confused anyway because all the plots will reference things in past seasons. Like the Flux. And if it doesn't then I'm gonna be mad because you can't just ignore all those years of stories. If there had been a super long break I'd get it. Like how 9th doctors season was a season 1 cause it'd had been like 20 years since Doctor Who had been on air so yeah they had to do a full refresh/reboot. BUT THEY DON'T NOW!

I'm just very annoyed.

[sheacouleecametoslay]

Season 10 (2018)

So Season 10 starts off like a 9/10.... I truly thought it was going to be one of the best. But, after The Vixen left, the last four episodes are like a 4/10, which drops the average down. The Werk Room/Untucked scenes become boring. "Breastworld" and "Evil Twins" are two of the worst challenges in the show's entire herstory. Especially the latter, which forced the queens to reveal their insecurities on TV, and were put in the bottom if they weren't cruel enough to themselves. Not to mention the cringe worthy editing to make it seem like the Good Twins and Evil Twins were on the stage at the same time. AND SHOWING THE GOOD TWINS WATCHING BACKSTAGE. Really...? Also, Ru is as high as kite during his walkthrough with the social media influencers in the Make Over episode, which is actually unintentionally funny. And then the finale has such disappointing lips syncs compared to Season 9, between Asia's dead butterflies, Aquaria's trip being edit out, and "Bang Bang" being a complete clusterfuck as the top 3 try to outdo each other with their stunts.   The Vixen is responsible for like 90% of the drama this season. She had a major intense fight in 3 different Untucked episodes. First she battled Aquaria, then Eureka, and finally her friends. 9% of the drama comes from Aquaria being conceited and Asia going on random rants. The final 1% is Kalorie and Yuhua having an attitude, but it's minimal and they aren't around for long anyways. The premiere also sets up this pre-season feud between Aquaria and Cracker because they apparently look alike. We've already been there with Alyssa vs Coco, and this "rivalry" didn't amount to much after episode 2. As for the other challenges, PharmaRusical might be the worst Rusical. It was so disappointing they did a second Rusical to make up for it! - the Cher one, and it wasn't much better. The Snatch Game was mostly funny, but Asia and the Vixen playing Beyonce and Blue Ivy, respectively, was rough. Bossy Rossy was a solid challenge, but the adult babies creeped me out. The Last Ball on Earth had some good looks though. And the Drag Con panel was a nice new addition. Plus the mini-challenge where they had to sit on items and identify them was stupid enough to be funny. Season 10 continues this new trend of having a big name celebrity guest judge. This time it's Christina Aguilera, who walks the runway pretending to be Farrah Moan as a fake out. I'm not sure when the trauma stories during the make-up sessions became more prominent, but I definitely noticed them more in Season 10. Probably because Season 10 is when production switched the episode length to 60 minutes (90 with commercials). Say what you will about Season 15 episodes being too short, I never had an issue with Seasons 1-9 being only 40 minutes long. I never felt like I was missing anything important. I get exhausted when I try to binge watch these longer episodes, and there's definitely some filler towards the end of this season. Also, Season 10 has 6 main characters (Aquaria, Eureka, Asia, Monet, the Vixen, and Mo) plus Vanjie being iconic, and the other 7 queens don't stand out as much. The unofficial Lip Sync Assassin title kept changing hands - from Monet to Vixen to Kameron, which was pretty cool. I got sick of all the New York mentions though. And the Double Shantay was such obvious riggory in Eureka's favour. I imagine production planned for Kameron to leave at the final 6 instead, but she slayed the lip sync.

Queens Ranking: 14. Eureka A whole season of Eureka... including a sympathy edit, crying in front of the judges, and bringing up trauma stories when she flopped. Just look at everyone hugging her in episode 2. Furthermore, she acted like the Vixen was the problem, claiming that the Vixen verbally attacked her and disliked her for no reason, while Eureka did nothing wrong. Which was BS. Eureka admitted to Mayhem afterwards that she was testing Vixen's reaction. She then lied to the Vixen about the "y'all"/"you" thing and used abuse trauma to excuse her big personality. She also pressured Kameron to sing and accused Asia of overreacting. She took over in every team challenge. Her confessionals were extra ("...buttholes are clenched", "pussies on fleek"). She thought she was judged at a higher standard. She was oddly defensive about her Make Over. Her friendly supportive chats with everyone felt so phony. She walked off on Untucked because they didn't give her attention. Her comments that the Vixen wants power over others, that Asia was jealous of Cracker, that "[the girls] always second guess every time I'm doing well" rubbed me the wrong way. Eureka came off superior, smug, and condescending. The only time I agreed with her was when the Vixen criticized her Snatch Game. But good for her finding body positivity in the baby challenge. In the competition: Eureka flopped in week 2, when she looked "out of it" during PharmaRusical and didn't know the words. But she became a contender soon after. From the "yeah we know girl" line in the End of Days advert, to playing a baby in Bossy Rossy (whatever), to being the audience favourite in the Drag Con panel ("proportionizing!!"), to her Honey Boo Boo in Snatch Game (even if she kept repeating the drawing pictures joke). She's already done Drag Con so no wonder she won that. But then Eureka was tentative in the Cher Rusical, and the hairdryer bit in "Breastworld" fell flat. I didn't like her Best Drag, Silver Foxy and Good Twin runways either. Glitterific was probably her best one. Also, Eureka just did the splits and high kicks in every single lip sync. And so many outfit reveals in the finale. 13. Dusty Ray Bottoms I don't have much of an opinion on Dusty. She gave me Milk vibes. She always had this creepy smile/eyes. She labelled herself as "dark, glamorous and trashy" with a punk style, but I wasn't into her drag. She thought she would've won PharmaRusical if she wasn't on the losing team. But seemed reasonable when explaining her views on situations in Untucked. Like when she called Aquaria standoffish lol. She also had that gay conversation therapy story. Otherwise, Michelle didn't want Dusty doing the dots on her face all the time, which left her feeling torn about it because it was her signature look. In the competition: Well, I did NOT like the dots on Dusty's face. I didn't like her runways either. Dusty's Drag on a Dime Tin Man outfit looked scrappy. While her Martian outfit didn't follow the theme. Her episode 2 runway wasn't bad though. As for the performance challenges, I thought Dusty was fine in both of them. Not top 3 worthy though. 12. Kameron Michaels Kameron brought a unique aesthetic as a tattooed, masculine, muscled queen. But she's too dry and matter-of-fact for me to care about. She didn't have much screen time in the early episodes either; aside from being labelled "the trade of the season" and mumbling while brainstorming. She was a quiet queen, who was conditioned to not show emotion. Her later moments include: not celebrating prematurely, keeping her desire to win the challenge a secret, and saying being eliminated would've been easier than eliminating someone. Meanwhile Asia/Cracker/Monet acted like Kameron was crazy for saying she was terrible in "Breastworld"... when she clearly was. And they didn't understand why she walked off on Untucked. Kameron is an introvert, so just let her be? She also flipped out at the final 5 Untucked. Otherwise, Kameron was one of Eureka's besties. In the competition: Kameron was the unexpected Lip Sync Assassin, beating the production faves in the endgame. She won the Cher Rusical by focusing on the mannerisms, and she was one of the better ones in Bossy Rossy. But she was too exaggerated in PharmaRusical, she was a dry narrator in the Fibstr advert, and I didn't agree with her "high" placement in the Ball - I thought her Martian look was junky. Her "Breastworld" character had the most annoying whiny voice too. Her Make Over was basic. And I didn't like her Evil Twin outfit. My fave Kameron runways were the elaborate feather one and Silver Foxy. 11. Miz Cracker Cracker had a bigger edit than I remembered. Her confessionals came off too self-controlled - like every word was carefully planned out... or corny ("...not even a partridge in a pear tree!"; "Dr Dill is Jewish!"; "American Horror Story: Cher Edition"). Asia even called her robotic. It's because Cracker came from a sheltered, poor childhood with high expectations. She felt dread in challenges, even talking to herself during one of them. And she was vocal in group chats. She slammed her drink down at the Vixen. She gave a learn to love yourself speech and an appreciate what you have speech on Untucked. She built Monet and Mo up. She hard criticized Eureka's Make Over. She confronted Aquaria about her overconfidence in this very indirect way lol. And she disputed Asia's claims of being used. Also lol at Asia and Mo's reactions to Cracker's name in the premiere. As for the Aquaria copycat thing, I don't believe Cracker intended it. In the competition: Cracker's Pickle character in Bossy Rossy was her best moment, but she became a comedy queen who couldn't excel in comedy challenges. She sounded mean in the Drag Con panel and neutral toned in "Breastworld". Still, she tried something with her Ball looks. Her Make Over was beautiful (she waited so long for that win too). And both of her hair headpiece runways were cool. In the end, Cracker's Evil Twin outfits didn't match and she went soft in the self-critiques, but that challenge was stupid anyways.  10. Kalorie Karbdashian-Williams Kalorie was known as a "twerk queen", but her twerking fell into "one trick pony" territory. She didn't have a ton of content on the actual episodes either, aside from her story about being bullied for her weight. She was quite bitter on Untucked though. In the first one, she was upset that some of the safe girls didn't use as much stuff. She proceeded to criticize Monet and Aquaria's outfits, while throwing Blair under the bus. Then in the second Untucked, she took issue with the group not asking her about her critiques. But she had a sweet goodbye after that at least. In the competition: Kalorie's Drag on a Dime money outfit looked sloppily put together. While in PharmaRusical, her foot slipped off the chair lol. Her second runway was basic too. But she was fun in the first lip sync, where she twerked and pulled out dollar bills into the splits. 9. Mayhem Miller Mayhem was the timid and sensitive one. She waited so long to get on the show, and then she cried on the first Untucked because she finally felt validated. She comforted her bestie Eureka on Untucked. She played peacemaker between Vixen and Eureka after their massive fight. And in her final Untucked, she gave this big speech about being grateful for the opportunity. She was at peace with her growth. That said, I don't agree with Mayhem saying that her voice wasn't heard in the team discussion. Mo gave her an opportunity to claim the narrator role, but Mayhem didn't want to be seen as aggressive. I understand that, but this is a cutthroat competition and being passive won't get you far. Indeed, Kameron snatched that narrator role and Mayhem was left with one line. In the competition: Mayhem was solid with runways. She won the first challenge thanks to her black gloves outfit. I also thought she was the second-best overall in the Ball. Her pink cowgirl runway was cute too. But the acting challenges caused Mayhem's premature downfall. She didn't appear in the Fibstr advert until the very end, where her character was confusing. And she was the most forgettable in Bossy Rossy. But she slayed that "Celebrity Skin" lip sync - it was intense in the best way. 8. Yuhua Hamasaki Yuhua had fun responses during the entrances - "you’re not a real woman either!" Then she couldn't differentiate the black queens.💀In episode 3, she offered bad ideas while brainstorming with Monet, and didn't realize their ad already had a name. Then she snapped at Aquaria and Monet for not letting her use a fake nose, while saying "nobody asked for Aquaria's opinion" in confessional. Monet did sound bossy tbf. She also kept giving excuses to the judges - from saying she had something better during the second runway, to feeling rushed during the advert challenge. She still had one of my favourite entrance looks though. In the competition: Yuhua seemed like a strong competitor at first - with her yellow caution tape ankh and her underrated PharmaRusical performance. But she wasn't funny in the Butterface advert and she misunderstood how to be ugly for it. And then she had to go against Mayhem's impressive lip sync. 7. Blair St. Clair The twinkiest twink to ever twink on Drag Race. Blair had the most UTR edit of the Season 10 cast. She had the "so dot dot dot fill in the blank" confessional, she said "yeah I'm a little sneak attack" in this cute voice, and showed her stats notebook. But her personality was kinda... bland (no offence). She was just happy to be there. When Kalorie threw her under the bus, she avoided the drama and told Aquaria she loved the concept. She was sweet to Mayhem in Mayhem's last Untucked. And she missed her mom a lot, so it was nice when she got that video message. In Blair's final episode, she shared her sex abuse story to the judges. And again on Untucked, where she explained that she needed to be a happier person after that experience. I'm glad she was able to move on from it. In the competition: If PharmaRusical wasn't based on teams, I'd mark Blair as "safe" every single week except the round she left. She's a Broadway queen and can act... but she just wasn't funny. I did like her Drag on a Dime sun protector thing, her Ball looks, plus her Best Drag runway was pretty too. But ultimately, Blair's teammates overran her during the Drag Con panel, when she was trying to moderate. And then she had to lip sync after sharing personal trauma. 6. Monét X Change The narrator of Season 10. Monet had these "high horse" or unaware moments. Particularly in the first Untucked where she thought the judges loved her sponge dress, was surprised that the queens didn't get the concept, defended Cracker to Vixen, told Kalorie "mine looks good and yours doesn't", and said that Kalorie is just bitter. Even after that, she sounded bossy to Yuhua, she acted like Aquaria didn't deserve to win Snatch Game, and she called the Vixen immature and combative. But most of the time, Monet interjected with a congenial approach when there was conflict. Like saying she appreciated the Vixen's realness. And she had fun in confessionals, like she was just hanging out backstage. I also liked her "sweep up the competition" entrance. And she was there for Eureka and Cracker when they needed support. Her English accent story was funny too. In the competition: Monét was Lip Sync Assassin #1. The "nope" wave in "Pound The Alarm" and the hairspray cans and smoking in "Man! I Feel Like A Woman" were fun moments. She wasn't bad in "Good As Hell" either, even breaking a stage light. But, aside from the crossed-eye bit in PharmaRusical, Monét had a rough start. The sponge dress was not couture. The Martian outfit looked unprofessional (the cut; the black marker). That cake bit in Bossy Rossy was confusing. And her neon winter, Denim & Diamonds and Glitterific runways were a mess. She was read for her pussycat wigs too. The sagging boobs runway was creative though. But then Monét found Ru-demption. Her Maya Angelou in Snatch Game was good enough to win. And she had those ad libs in "Breastworld". But of course another design challenge ended her run, with that cheap-looking Make Over. 5. Vanessa Vanjie Mateo "MISS VANJIE... MISS VANJIE... MISS VANJIE" is the most iconic exit line in the show's herstory. It was repeated in practically every episode after. Even without the meme, Vanessa had protentional to be a great TV character. She had this very uhhh... vanjie... way of talking that came off as an authentic personality. She compared RuPaul to the Loch Ness Monster, she said "What the- bitch are we on Big Brother?" when they were de-dragging, and she made a "cleaning crew" comment about Monet's sponges. I loved listening to her talk. So I'm glad Vanjie was given a Shangela-style second chance, even though I haven't watched Season 11 yet. In the competition: Vanjie's Drag on a Dime Barbie doll outfit wasn't in my bottom 3, although her entrance look would be. I get it though - it was like her entire upper body was bloated into a clump of clutter. She held her own against Kalorie in the lip sync though. 4. The Vixen Polarizing but Season 10 is empty without the Vixen. Her entrance line "I'm just here to fight" was right. She immediately called people out, and didn't beat around the bush. She said Cracker "faked it to Season 10", and questioned Monet's pushback over that comment. She exposed Aquaria for acting different to Cracker's face. She clapped back at Aquaria for the borrowed wig remark and the "negative" label. While on Untucked, the Vixen raised an important point about the "angry black woman" stereotype, since Aquaria came for her first and now Aquaria's crying over it. Next, the Vixen tore Eureka to shreds after the "can I go smoke" comment ("you are exactly the girl I did not like on Season 9"); while Eureka made the Vixen look like the aggressor (ugh). Then the Vixen criticized Eureka's Snatch Game performance and called her unprofessional to the judges. But she went too far on Untucked, calling Asia and Mo fake and disloyal for saying she should go home, because friends don't do that. Since the Vixen named Eureka for personal reasons, she assumed everyone else made it personal. She also said she wouldn't let them take away her dream. Finally, in her last Untucked, she called out the non-glitter outfits. The Vixen was passionate about doing bold political drag, and that hurt and anger stayed with her on the show (as she said: "It is impossible being a black gay drag queen in America"). The Vixen refused to change for others; saying you should know how she is, so don't "poke the bear". Otherwise, she paired Eureka and Aquaria to sabotage them. She suggested playing Cracker/Aquaria in the challenge lol. She gave facial reactions at Eureka (the air violin lol). She didn't listen to what roles her teammates wanted in episode 2. And she was supportive to Blair after the sexual assault story. In the competition: The Vixen was Lip Sync Assassin #2. I enjoyed her stunts the first time, but it felt repetitive the second time. She was also the star of PharmaRusical; starting things off with that chair kick. But she really struggled during the middle. Her and Asia were a disastrous duo. She broke character during improv. Blue Ivy in Snatch Game was a bad idea. And she didn't emulate Cher in the second Rusical. Also, her 3 Ball looks could've been executed better. Same with the Drag on a Dime pool noodles. My fave Vixen runways were the peacock, the hats and the glitter construction paper. 3. Aquaria Conceited, self-absorbed, and poised in confessional, but in a non-serious way? "Not only am I great at being myself, but I can also do a stupid silly job of being another great celebrity... catch that?" She delivered some WTF quotes too: "keeping your lip-sync straight, your choreography gay, and your characterization bicurious", "I'm like Gandhi", "I'm the Joan of Arc of this challenge, I'm the martyr to Breastworld", "if you pee clear cheer", the "winning" sport response, and confusing seminary school with semen. And she struggled to form a coherent sentence in the Werk Room. Aquaria was off-putting at times. Like acting unbothered to Cracker's face after sharing the yellow dress story. Acting nasty towards the Vixen for interjecting. And her whole anti-Double Shantay rant because it was unfair to HER (lol at her minimizing the double splits though). Aquaria was portrayed as overconfident, and only caring about her own success. Asia called her unsportsmanlike at one point. But Aquaria made an effort to change after everyone confronted her in episode 3 Untucked. She took the last claimed role for "Breastworld". She had this respecting elders moment. She apologized for the Double Shantay rant. And she was sweet to Asia at the final 4 judging. In the competition: Aquaria delivered unique runways all season - the giant nose rings, the bleeding arrows, the bunny ears, the oil slick mermaid, the glittery angel, and her 3 Ball looks. Her final 4 dress was great too. But Aquaria wasn't just a fashion queen. She stole the scene on the losing team in PharmaRusical. She was underrated as the rival baby in Bossy Rossy. She kept delivering jokes as Melania Trump in Snatch Game. She was a believable robot in "Breastworld". And her Evil Twin sounded evil. Plus she was fierce in the "If" lip sync (from what we saw). The Make Over was the only challenge that Aquaria flopped imo. And Silver Foxy was the only other runway that was a miss, because it didn't match the theme. 2. Asia O'Hara The other narrator of Season 10. Asia's confessionals offered insightful observations on the other queens. She had some funny ones too: ie."And I'm not gonna be no part of it, my teeth were too expensive *smiles*"; "SHE DON'T KNOW THE WORDS"; "I'm not done *puts down drink*". Asia was the mom of the cast, but a brutally honest kind of mom. She clocked Aquaria's anti-Double Shantay rant. She called out Eureka for hounding Kameron to sing. And she had that meaningful conversation with the Vixen. Asia always spoke with this determined conviction. Which sounded harsh when she wasn't "wowed" by Mayhem or when she told the judges that Cracker wasn't a star. At least she apologized for the latter. But lol at her random rants - claiming her team had the harder number, feeling used for helping everyone during the Ball, that her Cher role was set up to fail, that she couldn't get through to Kameron, and hating glitter. Still, Asia threw fun shade ("and your talent is in the bottom 2", "you need to take your make-up up an octave"). I loved her reactions, like during Monet's sponge dress delusions or when Ru slapped her. And she had a sweet moment with Aquaria at the final 4. Also lol at "Girl we don't do that no more ain't you seen the Help?" In the competition: Asia had her highs and lows. Her Drag on a Dime outfit was too much, but she was a stand-out on the losing team in PharmaRusical, and she won the Butterface advert by making faces. But then her first two Ball looks weren't flattering, she was oblivious to the Vixen's cues in Bossy Rossy, she played a hostile Beyonce in Snatch Game, and she forgot her lines in the Cher Rusical. Fortunately Asia recovered in the endgame - playing "Parah Salin" in "Breastworld" and slaying the last two design challenges. She had some of my favourite runways too - the Tweety bird, dandelion, mermaid mask and the glitter clown. But then dead butterflies happened... 1. Mo(nique) Heart The bug eyes. The cartoonish laugh. The screaming whenever shade was thrown. The head/hand movements and voice shifts in confessional to give emphasis to everything. The odd confessionals: "She is gonna give you the ooh ah ah sensation honey", "the kind of trade that will throw you on the wall and you be like 'ohh I think I'm into it'", "America, my face is saying everything you need to know dot com", "Miss Aquafina", "Vixen handed Aquaria her ass in a gift bag gift wrapped there you go Merry Christmas", "RuPaul... thank you... but AHHHH", "I surely picked up them little chicken nuggets honey; dipping sauce; hot mustard", plus her reaction to Monet's English accent thing. She'd often address her confessionals to America too. She mistook giraffe print for brown cow. And she always spoke her mind on Untucked. I agreed with her on Mayhem needing to speak up, and it being fair to say Vixen should go home. Her suspicions of Mayhem throwing her under the bus were correct too! Her "pray the gay away" coming out story was memorable too. In the competition: I'm shocked at Mo having ONE high placement (for the wig snatching in Bossy Rossy). Her Drag on a Dime playing cards outfit was the best. She was funny in the Fibstr advert. She was only bottom 3 in PharmaRusical by default. And she was the funniest in the Drag Con panel. I'm not shocked at Mo's Ball outfits being basic though. She made all her outfits in the Werk Room due to lack of money. Her hats runway was also rough, but I liked the Cookie Monster one. Ultimately, Mo didn't have much depth as Maxine Waters in Snatch Game ("reclaiming my time!") and broke character. And then she forgot the words to the lip sync and took her wig off. Favourite entrance look: Aquaria Challenge ranking: 1. The Last Ball on Earth 2. Snatch Game 3. Drag on a Dime (Design) 4. The Bossy Rossy Show (Improv) 5. "American" Ru-mix (Asia > Aquaria > Kameron > Eureka) 6. Dating App Adverts 7. Drag Con Panel (Branding) 8. Cher: The Unauthorized Rusical 9. Social media kings Make Over 10. PharmaRusical 11. "Breastworld" (Acting) 12. Evil Twins Lip Sync ranking: 1. Monét X Change vs Dusty Ray Bottoms ("Pound The Alarm") 2. Mayhem Miller vs Yuhua Hamasaki ("Celebrity Skin") 3. Eureka vs Kameron Michaels ("New Attitude") (Kameron won this btw) 4. Kameron Michaels vs Monét X Change ("Good As Hell") (should've been the double shantay) 5. Blair St. Clair vs The Vixen ("I'm Coming Out") 6. Kalorie Karbdashian-Williams vs Vanessa Vanjie Mateo ("Ain't No Other Man") 7. Asia O'Hara vs The Vixen ("Groove Is In The Heart") 8. Mayhem Miller vs Monét X Change ("Man! I Feel Like a Woman") (I'd like this more if Monet left her outfit and wig on) 9. Aquaria vs Eureka ("If") 10. Eureka vs Kalorie Karbdashian-Williams ("Best Of My Love") 11. Aquaria vs Eureka vs Kameron Michaels ("Bang Bang") (so chaotic) 12. Top 4 Lip Sync ("Call Me Mother") 13. Kameron Michaels vs Miz Cracker ("Nasty Girl") (I remember nothing about it) 14. Mo(nique) Heart vs The Vixen ("Cut To The Feeling") (second-hand embarrassment part 1) 15. Asia O'Hara vs Kameron Michaels ("Nasty") (second-hand embarrassment part 2) Season ranking so far: 9 > 5 > 6 > AS2 > 4 > 10 > 2 > 7 > AS3 > 3 > 8 > 1 > AS1

[thelesbianpoirot]

omg i'm soooo glad you're enjoying scott and bailey. i know the show doesn't really fit the definition of "queerbaiting" as such, but they FEEL like lesbians to me despite the constant scrotes going in and out of their lives. i think it's because they are so normal and look normal and dress normal. there are no fillers or shapewear or high heels or performances of femininity. they're just normal kinda grungey women (who should kiss). it's v refreshing compared to how sexualised and feminised a lot of female characters on tv are (even ones who are meant to be lesbians).

did you ever watch the rookie (or the rookie: feds)? there is a lesbian character who pops up on the rookie and then as the lead in the spin off, and she is squeezed into skin tight cleavage tops and dresses 24/7. she has a full face of make up at all times. her hair is glamorous and silky. she's a lesbian but i felt completely disconnected from her, whereas i do feel connected to scott and bailey (and jill!!!).

can i rec another "wow everyone looks a real human" show to you (sorry, you've got so much to watch already haha). last tango in halifax. it's not a cop show, but bear with me. it's about an old man and an old woman meeting and falling in love (again, bear with me). the reason i'm reccing it to you is their (unrelated) adult daughters who i shipped like i have never shipped anything else in my whole entire life. like it got to the point where i - a lesbian woc - was howling at the tv like "PLEASE break up with your black girlfriend and go marry your white sister in law!!!!" LMFAO. there was so much electricity between them!!! if you watch this after you're done with s&b, you'll notice that one of the daughters is the recurring lesbian from s&b s3 :)

You're right, and the writing is really solid too and the acting is good. But yeah, they look like beautiful women but a real kind of beautiful. And they aren't posing constantly, or being made up when they are supposed to be a mess. Grungey isn't the right word, because they are still feminine and well dressed and thin actresses, but still 10000% percent real. You see age, and lack of padding, and no surgery, and a normal amount of makeup, these women look like they may be your boss, or the lady at the bus stop with you or someone you see buying coffee. For women who have het love affairs I do enjoy them more than the any lesbian character played by a 23 year old straight swimwear model who can't act her way out of a paper bag and is given a story about as complex as "oooh a girl kissed me what do I do?" You're 27 stacy go finger her about it! I quick the rookie early on, the actual cases they went on were fucking stupid, I only got about five episodes in before quitting, I seriously only think this show got greenlit because nathan fillion got a bunch of money from cops to create recruitment propaganda for them. The episode where the tiny women was abusing her massive wrestler husband was pure fantasy. I can imagine they can't write a lesbian character for shit either, or dress her in anyway that says she's for the female audience. I am surprised they didn't let us have any of the women as gay or bi, at least give us gill, but no...Scott and Bailey says you will love these het women and eat these crumps of female solidarity.

Lmao I'll add last tango in halifax to the long list, today I am watching miss marple, so I don't end up marathon all of S&B before my vacation is up, but they love to give them a black girlfriend and give the two characters no chemistry, just boring token rep, so I can see even the sister in law chemistry being more interesting. If you do want to watch a crime show (of course I am predictable) with a interracial lesbian couple, one of my favorites is Pippy and Tara from Rosewood. It's a series cancelled two season in, but they are adorable and I love them. Both really femme but they sell gay to me.

[1d1195]

I'm glad your weekend wasn’t horrible! Though please take some time to recharge! While nothing too bad may have happened, it can still be a lot of being around people! Cleaning is oddly relaxing for me too lol. What are you most excited to cook on your list of recipes?

I used to LOVE project runway when i was younger! Tbh I think I just loved any show that involved creating something like baking,cooking, and even home renovation stuff lol But ngl reality tv shows about dating/love stuff  is something that I can’t get into lol But I can see how you are more drawn towards scripted stuff though and I get it!

Kids are crazy! Sometimes it is wild how they cannot simply be kind or even understanding of others. I didn’t personally suffer from bullying but that doesn’t mean literally interacting with kids my age was easy. Anyways I'm sure giving them reminders is helping even if they may not appreciate it at the moment! Though I get that it can be so annoying because you're kind and it comes naturally to you!

That’s so sweet! And you’re so right about nicknames! Though I am never bold enough to give someone a nickname or use one unless they tell me too lol and yeah I dislike the brand for more reasons other than that obviously but my inner child loves holding grudge lol 

I LOVE when people give context or just share details lol im the same way too! Once I get on a topic I feel strongly for and/or once I'm comfortable with someone I YAP AWAY! But lowkey I miss silly little filler chapters in general! They remind me a lot of my early wattpad days when I was 12 HAHA But yes I do agree filler episodes are so underappreciated now! Especially how most shows don’t even go beyond 10 episodes per season now which I find kind of sad! 

Both of my classes meet twice a week, but both are 3 hours long :( And they both are live zoom sessions so that means that there is no recording happening. Which I totally get but 3 hours is alot 😭But you're right it is so much info 😭 Yeah lowkey my therapist said it wasn’t a good idea to do two summer sessions back to back but I need to graduate on time lol Also how is teaching summer classes goin? Are you almost done?

ALSO I CAN’T BELIEVE IT”S BEEN A YEAR SINCE PROTECTION😭

Hope you can get some rest and have a very calm rest of the week! You don’t have to thank me! Seriously talking to you is never a bother and I enjoy it so much! THANK YOU for constantly giving such thoughtful responses to not only me but everyone you interact with💗Wishing you to have the BEST week bestie!! Love you lots!-💜

My dumb son invited his friend over to stay with us for a couple days so now I'm hiding in my room. I have to pretend to be social and shit and it's the worst. I've barely recovered from my fam. I just want to be quiet and alone by myself 😭😭 No but tbh it's fine. I'm just dramatic. Cleaning was REALLY good actually. I've been trying to do some much needed stuff (like washing walls and baseboards. Very adult stuff lol) Maybe I'll do some more organizing and shit while his friend is here so I can hide and whatnot.

I made this ravioli dish that was really good. It was sort of alfredo-y and had spinach and sundried tomatoes. Honestly? I'm most excited to make these roasted veggies lol. Potatoes, carrots, zucchini hehehe

I liked the first few seasons of project runway but the premise got away from me (and the writers I think). I wish I got more into cooking shows. I do have a serious soft spot for Cake Boss tho 😂

I have this one student who said to me "she never gives up on me" and it honestly kind of melted my heart. She's a TOUGH kid. Like I'm lowkey afraid of her 😭😭 I'm glad she likes me because she's kinda cuckoo 🤣🤣 She has these massive angry blowups, not necessarily her fault because of mental health and undiagnosed ADHD but she doesn't always make the best decisions either. For some reason she listens to me. So I keep trying to help her even though she makes me INSANE. But the point of that was she's a mean girl tbh she struggles to stay out of drama (sometimes not her fault, but many times it is) anyway. She's a lot, can't wait for her to graduate.

An inner child grudge is like no other. I love it tbh. I have a grudge. My mom told me at like age 6 we hate Bank of America and I refuse to set foot in there lol so I totally get disliking the brand.

I can't say I'm surprised, we do send each other lengthy messages 😭 it would be a TIME if we met in person hahahahahaha we wouldn't stop talking for ages. It's CRAZY how there are no filler episodes and the seasons are SO short. So so so crazy.

OMG T W E L V E HOURS of zoom a week. That's so so long. I hope they give breaks. Honestly, this is going to sound super weird, but I think it's pretty cool that you didn't listen to your therapist about this. It's fairly low-stake and it's a lot but you have really good intentions of getting your classes done on time so you can be DONE and graduate. One of the things I'm worried about starting therapy is that I'll want to do it perfectly and I'll want my therapist to think I'm the best lol (can you tell I need it?) so I feel like I would be obligated to do EVERYTHING she tells me to (I want a she because I hate men most of the time lol) and I would overwhelm myself with that if that makes sense. So it's refreshing to know you don't have to listen to her; at least in this instant. Hopefully that all makes sense

One more week of summer school. They're going well. I'm worried some kids aren't going to pass. We offer some classes online and I'm concerned they aren't going to finish/pass. Which is so irritating. Because like, why show up for a month if you're not going to pass? I know there's deeper issues and more to it, but still. We make it PRETTY easy to pass...

I KNOW A WHOLE YEAR. IT'S LIKE OUR ANNIVERSARY TOO 😭😭💕

Hope your week gets easier too LOVE YOU

xoxo

[cescalr]

@yogs21134 :D I love rambling, so I'm glad that works out well!

Also: WHAT.

I admit I never paid much attention to the bts stuff (for a really long time I didn't even know it existed; for example all the stuff Hellstrand put on tumblr for Rythian's backstory was irrelevant to me, since I didn't use tumblr until 2016 - so I only had what was in the series itself, and in the same way I considered authors' word of god for books to not matter, I went the same way with the improv stuff; i think a little differently now, because at least those books are finished products - most of what we're told bts for yogsmc are things that would've actually happened, had they had the chance to execute those storylines to completion. Without any full context for Israphel!TMD, I have to say I'm not..... fond. My knee-jerk reaction is what about my tragic greek hero Xephos :( what about his fall from grace? The hero and the villain of the story? What about all the foreshadowing easter eggs. That would feel kind of left-field, and wouldn't imo be particularly satisfying. It'd feel like one of those twist endings TV show writers do where they panic that the fandom figured out the mystery rather than accepting that they did and their foreshadowing worked. You're supposed to figure out the mystery before the end! it makes the audience feel intelligent! The watcher/reader/etc is supposed to have all the clues to figure out whodunnit roughly at the same time in the narrative as the detective. Similarly, twist villains in fantasy stories are oft better done when you could figure it out. One of my favourite examples is in Keys to the Kingdom - aimed at roughly the same audience as YogsMC, or at least read by a similar age-range as who ended up watching Yogs content back in the day - by Garth Nix. You could figure out what was going on the whole time if you paid attention. But its still a surprise that he went through with that twist, and the ending is pretty bittersweet because of it. I love that series. I just like randomly shoving it into discussions of narrative cohesion, lol. Xephos = Israphel is sooooooooooooo narratively juicy. Any other option imo pales in comparison.

Oh, really? Hm. Good to know! Guess that's why it didn't feel like I missed anything, since I guess watching the end of it was all I needed to see. There are a lot of epsiodes of YogsMC series that you can freely skip, after all, given it's only semi-scripted storytelling and mostly comedy improv silly times <3. I love the comedy improv silly times. Not saying I don't! Shenanigans my beloved. TV cutting out "filler" (character building, dynamic progressing, tone reliving breather) episodes and going from like 22 to 10 a season is just depressing. Bring back MotW damnnit, lol. Still - what I'm saying is that, like a lot of other shows, I guess FB3 is one of those seasons people would call "filler", then?

@fumblemore first of all; congrats on snapping up that username, my guy. Epic. Secondly: Thanks <3 Lal being in SOI fuels so much of my yogsmc brain rot, you have no idea!! I really do need to fully rewatch the series, though; there's probably loads of little things lost to the decade and change since the first (and last) time I did! Alas, I'm in the process of watching EVOSMP for the first time, so that's gonna.... take a while.

Hm.

(EVO's really interesting for what happens to Martyn after the yogsmc stuff dries up imo - he loses one group of friends [to whatever I decide happens to the yogs characts post-series that week; they're probably actually fine, Martyn just thinks they're gone, or the fun option of his whole listener deal including a lack of access to the people he once knew knowing he's still alive.... hehe... angst....] only to lose another, and then end up trapped in a second set of survival (death) games?? crazy. wow. bad luck my dude...)

wait hello?? please elaborate on the green haired lalna, i never watched soi

oh sure!

In... hmmmmm one episode, The Hand? maybe? where Honeydew and Xephos head into an ancient technological ruin (implied to be a giant death robot of some ilk), they find a whole bunch of "evil" honeydew clones that have degraded to mindless violence (implied they're non-sapient, lacking the mental capacity to go beyond base instinct because of how long they've been down there multiplying ad nauseam, each clone generation worsening with nobody to maintain the mechanisms), and tonnes of broken vats. However, one single cloning vat is still working - and there's a guy inside! That guy is fully buttoned up labcoat LividCoffee, with, for some reason, green hair. It's neat :D and fascinating. Lore wise. Extremely fascinating.

I went looking for proof - it's not The Hand (that's the "finale" lol); it's Doppelgängers - for some reason those episodes merged together in my head.

I also appear to be remembering him being alive completely wrong - for a uh, given value of 'alive'. given he's a zombie! and there's two of him. Whoops? I can't actually see good TM (hi, blind here) but people kept saying their hair was green back in the day and i absorbed that information. if it's wrong, I refuse to agree with reality! green haired lalna my beloved.

Also, again, my brain clearly likes to lie flagrantly to me, because while the honeydew clones are made by broken old machinery, that's because honeydew and xephos were fucking around again <3 idiots. I wonder what happens when you stand in the goddamn cloning vat and flick the lever.... buddies..... c'mon.

Anyway - there's two zombie (green haired! I'm not delusional!) Lalna's, which is even more fascinating than my shoddy memory allowed the situation to be, because that implies YogLabs devolved to making clones of clones at some point - along with giant death robots, but they were already doing that - after the Honeydew clone had to replace his original body because Testificate Betrayal Incident, even though Xephos knows with certainty that that's been worsening the quality of the cloning process due to.... well, all the failed Honeydew clones. and the Honeydew graveyard. That he makes Honeydew clones dig up. No he's not gone mental with grief what are you talking about.

Ahem. Judging by the state of SOI!Honeydew's clones, i think it's a mix of SOI!Honeydew being a pretty late-on clone-of-a-clone himself (remember, in Yogs canon all respawns are because of YogLabs, so in SOI for them to respawn - since they can respawn, I should say - they have to be clones.... though the time loop makes me question the metaphysics of it all; do they need vats in the present if the future is the past? Existential. Too existential for me. I like to think they do have vats in the present, in the bowels of what remains of YogLabs, deep in the heart of the desert (imo, it's the source of the desert, given that one YogLabs episode where, surprise surprise, Xephos had his team invent a thing that did the sand-ening process you see in SOI; in SOI, sand is like this organism that eats everything it touches, turning it into more sand, which works with YL lore because, hey, that's what the thing they made did! Tangent. Sorry).) and the machines being super borked. Amnesiac 1st gen clone Xephos* (original Xephos is currently running around as Israphel, imo - protag Xephos is a clone of an earlier, more stable version of the man who did a lil' rebellion <3 because orig!Xeph went. Um. Megalomaniacal) obviously wouldn't know any better than to flick the lever, lol. Just noting all that as I think it corroborates the ideas about YogLabs and cloning the canon gave me. (though i clearly need to rewatch the canon, given all my minor inaccuracies add up pretty heavily towards bad meta, and I hate making bad meta :( I love meta! I have an creative writing degree!!! I don't wanna make bad meta!!!!!!!)

Anyway: Green Haired Lalna! The reason it's so fascinating to see our zombie boy duo is that this is his first and only appearance(s) in SOI; we never meet an alive Lalnable Hector or Lalna LividCoffee. This implies a lot; there's no Lal alive because all his anchor clones are dead, perhaps. Or his clones are the characters Duncan Jones portrayed, made unrecognisable by time, the time-loop amnesia, and mechanical mishaps with the cloning process so they look a lil' different - it could explain why everyone in SOI is.... Like That. (Everyone in SOI acts like a faulty clone(-of-a-clone-of-a-clone-etc); a little not all there, in some respects, and extreme caricatures of themselves besides). There's a bunch of options! All of them pretty valid, 'cause of how fast and loose YogsMC plays with its own continuity, as an improv semi-scripted series with.... plenty of unfinished storylines. More for me to mess with! As a writer i appreciate the sandbox. As an audience member I shake my fist at the sky in great torment! /joke. Am a bit miffed still, though. Over a decade later (jeez. youch. augh. I was 11, holy shit....).

I think I'll have to change what I said in the tags of the Lalnable post, though, because i was working off of bad memory for that opinion.

I still think FB!Lalnable Hector is a direct clone of anchor lalna, but i'm no longer certain either of the lalnas we see in SOI are original lalna - rather, also direct clones of anchor lalna used to created manpower for the operation of the giant death robot; why hire a 12 man crew when you can clone one from the same man at 2x speed? And as we can see in YL 2nd gen (clone-of-clone) clones aren't unstable enough for this to be a bad idea; Honeydew post-replacement may have less.... wherewithal... but he's not entirely incapacitated by clone degeneration - current YL!Honeydew may be a poor imitation friend for Xephos, but he could still pilot a death robot! So I think I'm going with: whatever war YogLabs was fighting in to warrant the death robots (we know Xephos is spending a lot of YL prepping for war with various foreign nations, so this isn't an unlikely event - in some ways he appears to be actively seeking that outcome, because he's speedrunning self-fulfilling time-loop shenanigans i guess.) got desperate enough they used cloning to bulk up manpower numbers, and in typical YL fashion they borked it by cutting corners on the mechanisms of this fact, by using sub-par machinery and clones-of-clones-of-clones, who can definitely pilot death robots but may not have the sheer brilliance of their original (lalnable hector, in this instance, being a certifiable genius, and his clones are smart, but less-and-less so due to the way YL cloning works) so they fuck up more often and thus the systems in place start failing, and lo and behold you have two zombie Lalnas in cloning vats, how did they zombify?????? How??????? What was in the genetic material sludge they were floating in for [time loop confusing the timeline; no actual idea how long it takes for All That to go down] to do that.

Anyway; now i have thoughts!!! So many of them. Thank you for the ask or I'd have gone on with my goldfish sieve memory assumptions about SOI/YL/Lalna and been worse off for it. Also, I just like canon accuracy. Being able to fuck with canon and take it to its logical extremes is what i find fun, personally. Canon complicit, i heard it called - I like that one. Not compliant. That implies bowing under pressure. No no. I'm in on the evil scheme entirely willingly. Enthusiastically, even!

Anyway: Yeah. Green Haired Lalnable Hectors / LividCoffee(s) my beloveds. I do wish one of them had been alive, because I love SOI's silly little grandfather paradox (Xephos = Israphel, and all it's horrible no good brain melting implications) interpretation, and if one of them had been alive then you could infer a second grandfather paradox - lalnable hector's clone is his original existance; wait, what? - because fucking with whatever 'original' timeline absolutely screwed and destabilized this one. And it didn't even work! Xephos, you never cease to amaze me in the many ways you can fail spectacularly at things. Pathetic main character that never wins long-term <3 Doomed by the very narrative he created! Glorious.

... this was a Lalna ask. Lol. Sorry! I never get to talk about yogsmc. I have so many thoughts.

Anyway: that's basically it, I think? Lalnas in vats; do with this what you will! Fascinating stuff, truly.

(That was not particularly well constructed, lol, but i hope it was interesting anyway!)

[limesandcoconuts]

Ranking RTTE Seasons

This list might offend some people 😬😬 here goes nothin

6) Season 1

Season 1 isn't bad - the first episode is actually one of my favourites - it's just it was more of a taster, a dip in the water shall we say. No huge plots or anything, everything's mostly being introduced. But still fun.

Fave episodes: Eye of the Beholder, Imperfect Harmony, Gone Gustav Gone, Have Dragon Will Travel Pt. 2

5) Season 3

Again, nothing wrong with Season 3 - hello?? Buffalord Soldier?? Flawless - but just purely out of the most memorable episodes and most enjoyable episodes, wasn't as much as some of the other seasons. But RTTE is perfect so Season 3 is still top notch TV 😩

Fave episodes: Buffalord Soldier, A Grim Retreat, Defenders of the Wing Pt. 1

4) Season 4

I feel like I'm committing a crime ranking this one so low because this season is so good but somehow the others are even better (idk how no one is talking about RTTE outside of the Httyd random). For me, there were a couple of great filler episodes but there was also great plot related episodes. I just think apart from the the Hiccstrid episodes and maybe one other, i don't think about this season much, I rewatch the other ones a lot more. That's not to say it isn't good because the episodes i do watch are *chef's kiss*. How can we forget this season is the long awaited birthplace of Hiccstrid??

Fave episodes: Gruff Around the Edges, Not Lout, The Longest Day, Out of the Frying Pan, Blindsided, Shell Shocked Pt. 1 & 2

3) Season 6

For me, a lot of my nostalgia for this show lies in the earlier seasons (1-3) so how it went was I lost touch with the Httyd fandom for a couple years (around 2018) and then came back in 2020 after RTTE Seasons 5/6 and Httyd 3 had been released so I kinda missed out on the hype for it which is really annoying because as season 6 is the finale, I feel like it would've been a great high for the fandom. And then Httyd 3 was the ultimate finale but that's a story for another day. Anyways, I enjoyed a lot of episodes in this season, filler and plot. I think the episodes were enjoyable and it was a very well done send off to the show, i mean the final battle/epilogue always makes me emotional for some reason. Plus, all the little Hiccstrid moments were so cute this season, i mean, the hair touches?? Too much. I also liked how they tied everything up to Httyd 2 quite perfectly, with Drago, Valka, the Bewilderbeast and other small details - it was well thought out.

Fave episodes: All Bark, No Bite, A Gruff Separation, Mi Amore Wing, Family Matters, Darkest Night, Guardians of Vanaheim, King of Dragons Pt. 1 & 2

2) Season 2

This was a real toughie because Season 2 is such a great one, I mean it's nostalgic and so enjoyable and funny and there's so many great moments that happen. The filler episodes are so entertaining and the plot based ones were really interesting, I find season 2 to be so easily rewatchable. I also liked the subplots in the season between certain characters and i think it had some of the best stories.

Fave episodes: Team Astrid, Night of the Hunters Pt. 1 & 2, Bad Moon Rising, Snotlout Gets the Axe, The Zippleback Experience, Snow Way Out, Edge of Disaster Pt. 1 & 2, Maces and Talons Pt. 2

And finally...

1) Season 5 - My Favourite Season

I feel like a lot of people are gonna disagree with me on this bc i don't really see a lot of people talking about the episodes in season 5 much but what the hell. Season 5 was definitely my favourite season. The lighthearted episodes were just so goddamn rewatchable and good, most of my favourite episodes in this season are actually fillers. But I don't know why, there's something about the vibe of season 5 that i just love, it feels...calm?? In a way?? I don't know. But this season just has so many of my favourite moments in the show, maybe in the franchise.

Fave episodes: Living on the Edge, Sandbusted, Something Rotten on Beserker Island, Snotlout's Angels, A Matter of Perspective, Dawn of Destruction, The Wings of War Pt. 1 & 2, No Dragon Left Behind, Snuffnut.

And there ya go! Just a quick reminder that this is completely my opinion and how I feel about the seasons, definitely not saying any of this is a straight up fact.

Bonus: My Overall Fave Episodes:

Night of the Hunters Pt. 1 & 2, Bad Moon Rising, Buffalord Soldier, The Longest Day, Blindsided, She'll Shocked Pt. 1 & 2, Sandbusted, Snotlout's Angels, Dawn of Destruction, Mi Amore Wing, Darkest Night and King of Dragons Pt. 1 & 2.

Lemme know what you guys think!

[steveharrington]

Hi! Feel free to ignore this if you don’t wanna subject yourself to possible ✨discourse✨ but I’ve been rewatching s2 of stranger things and I know it’s your fave so I’m just wondering what are your thoughts on the list sister episode/kali? Personally I think it (and kali esp) gets a lot of unnecessary hate. I think the kali plot had a lot of potential and I’m sad they just. Act like it never happened in later seasons :/

i am not a big fan of the lost sister as an episode BUT i think kali had a lot of potential as a character. i think where they episode didn’t land for me was …. literally every character except kali. i hate her little gang so much like i truly despise them. compared to her and el they just came off so shallow and forgettable, the humor was awful, and the duffers trying to earnestly write edgy badass characters will literally always be a miss unless they make them secretly a huge dork like eddie was. also the timing of that episode is a huge reason people don’t like it i think—going from the absolute BANGER of an episode that 2.06 the spy was, literally cutting it on a cliffhanger of hopper seeing the demodogs start to come through the gate, and spending an entire solo episode with el that was very slowly paced and had a lot of comedic filler scenes was just an awful idea. i was so frustrated by it and i still am when i rewatch because 2.06 built up so much tension, like it was truly riveting tv, and then it just immediately cut that tension and made you sit there longing for a resolution for an hour. i do think kali’s plotline with el was good—i think el being tempted with this lifestyle of revenge and using her powers for like a Cause before ultimately deciding against it was a really good avenue to explore. i do think the way the fandom tends to characterize kali and el’s relationship in fanon very much….glosses over what makes it an interesting dynamic. people say they love kali but they mischaracterize her so bad!!! she isn’t like el’s fun nice older sister who paints her nails or whatever, she very much wanted el to follow in the path she chose and went so far as to show el a literal personification of her abuser telling her she’ll never heal in order to convince her. kali is a morally gray!! and that’s GOOD!! she was interesting and different from other previously established characters and i hate that the fandom ignores it. this answer to this ask is so disjointed but yeah these are my lost sister thoughts <3 overall i don’t think it was a well executed episode and it should’ve been placed somewhere else in the season, but it had interesting ideas

[will80sbyers]

I know we talk a lot about Byler being super sweet and sappy and I love and maybe I’m just in a mood rn but I wanna see more of the party in general being sappy. Sleepovers where all 6 of them cuddle and stay up giggling, Mike gushing to Lucas and Max about Will and they don’t even tease him about it bc it’s the first time in a long time they’ve seen Mike smile so big. Dustin stealing Steve’s hair products and playing around with Will’s hair. El and Mike being chaotic bffs and wrecking havoc around town but then going and getting milkshakes and gossiping together.

I just… they all love each other so much I want them to have fun and be teenagers and be the most sappy annoying group of friends in town 😭

me too!!! I really hope we get at least some scenes similar to these in season 5, I really would love to have extra content about the kids in the party... I miss when tv shows had a bunch of filler episodes where they did random "domestic" stuff I think it was a good thing :(