#i love their s2 storyline but i would honestly love it even more if they tweaked it that much to confirm dustin's parents' divorce

[danandfuckingjonlmao]

so five and lila being a thing is going right next to allison literally sexually assaulting luther in the box of things we are absolutely under no circumstances accepting as part of canon right

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

I always think about how in multiple episodes it's basically canon that Blanche is bi but considers dating women to be more hassle (which is a whole rabbit hole to go down - does she struggle with societal homophobia when she's with women? Has she only been with fellow high maintenance femmes when shes really after a Dorothy type? Has she internalized the idea that her attraction to women isn't 'real'? Her reaction to Clayton adds to these questions). Not to mention how this goes together with her relationships with the girls; making to kiss Rose that one time (and Rose multiple times seeming very aware of Blanche's proclivities), begging Dorothy for 'relief' and being convinced she's attracted to women too.

Yes, anon! It’s really interesting to delve into Blanche’s psyche about all this stuff!

I started writing down my thoughts and ended up with a long ramble -- allow me to place it all under a cut, so I don't clog up anyone's dash, haha.

Personally, I think she has some strong mental blocks when it comes to her sexuality because of the way she was brought up. I mean, she grew up in Atlanta approx in the 1930s/1940s — I’m sure I don’t have to detail the kind of casual bigotry she must have seen around her during her formative years! Just look at the story she recounts in S1E13 A Little Romance:

“Now, you have to understand that in those days in the South a lot of things were still taboo. Certain people were not to mix. So Benjamin and I had to meet in secret. Oh, we knew if any of the bigots in town found out about us, there’d be a terrible scandal.”

And all of this because Benjamin was a yankee… can you imagine what ‘the bigots in town’ thought about homosexuality? Yeah, I’m pretty sure Blanche learned to suppress that part of herself very early on. We know she turns to denial when she’s faced with uncomfortable truths and emotions she can’t deal with, so I think she likely just refuses to acknowledge that part of herself most of the time, and it only comes out (pun intended!) when she’s not paying much attention to things, or when there’s something more important going on. See the two examples you point out: when she tries to kiss Rose she’s concerned with not being kissed at midnight, and when she propositions Dorothy she’s, well… she’s desperate to get some, if we can be frank.

When she’s in a more rational state, her reactions tend to be more measured… but not by much. She does advise Rose not to date women (S3E10 The Audit):

“Oh, no, honey, don’t do that! No job is worth having to date women!”

But she’s also really flattered at receiving lots and lots of phone calls from women, after her appearance as a ‘lesbian’ on TV (S7E15 Goodbye, Mr Gordon):

“By the way, Dorothy, if I were a lesbian, I sure would be a popular one. Look at this, 20 calls.”

And of course we can’t forget her reaction to finding out that Jean has a crush on Rose in S2E5 Isn’t It Romantic?:

“Jean has the hots for Rose? I don’t believe it, I do not believe it! […] To think Jean would prefer Rose over me? That’s ridiculous! […] Now you tell me the truth: if you had to pick between Rose and me, who would you pick? Who?”

All of these are (likely) intended to be jokes about her vanity and her libertine nature (in the same way as Rose’s observations are), but considering a lot of the writers of this show were queer themselves, it wouldn’t seem strange to me if they were intentionally peppered in to suggest that Blanche might be a bisexual in denial. It certainly fits her character!

I haven’t spoken about her reaction to Clayton’s coming out yet, but that’s immensely interesting too, of course. I think Blanche has the same attitude towards homosexuality that I see in a lot of (mostly older) people in my Country nowadays: it’s fine as a general concept, but when it comes to her family (or, God forbid, herself) then the problems come out. See for example what she says about Jean:

“Well, I’ll never understand what Jean doesn’t see in the opposite sex, but if that makes her happy, that’s fine by me!”

Which isn’t a homophobic attitude at all! If anything, if you take her upbringing into account, it’s pretty accepting. But then, when Clayton comes out to her (S4E9 Scared Straight) and tells her he wants to get married (S6E14 Sister Of The Bride), this is what she says:

“Oh, Clayton, please be serious. You're just saying that so I won't set you up with any more women. […] Well, then you're saying it 'cause you're trying to get back at me for something. Clay, I know you too well for this. After all, I know it can't be true. You're my brother. […] Clayton Hollingsworth. You look me in the face and tell me you really are… what you just said you are.”

“I'm having a little trouble putting this all together. Clayton, I just feel like I don't know you anymore.”

“[…] Dorothy, that's different. We're talking about going out in public. Oh, what are people gonna say?”

“Will you tell me why you want to put yourself and Doug through this? You know how people can be.”

“Oh, look, I can accept the fact that he's gay, but why does he have to slip a ring on this guy's finger so the whole world will know?”

Quite the difference from her attitude towards Jean, wouldn’t you say? I think there’s three elements at play here.

1) When Clayton comes out to Blanche, she feels disoriented because this is life-changing information Clayton has never shared with her before. While her reaction as a whole isn’t ideal, personally I think it’s understandable. Clayton is her baby brother; she’s known him as straight all his life, he’s been married to a woman for years before his divorce, and she recounts an episode from their adolescence when he was on a date with a woman and very clearly implicated having a physical encounter with her. He's done everything in his power to pass as straight until this point in time -- I don't find it strange that Blanche would be shocked at his coming out, especially given her upbringing (and the fact that this is set in the 80s! We can't expect modern sensibilities from the characters!). Once again, her reaction isn't the best (she can't even bring herself to say the word 'gay' at first...), but the shock per se isn't that surprising, imho.

2) Blanche is scared because of societal implications above all. She doesn't necessarily see being queer as something wrong, but she's been taught it's not socially acceptable and acts accordingly. Notice how she's worried about what people are going to say, and she struggles to accept that Clayton wants the whole world to know about his relationship with Doug.

Societal expectations in general are a big theme for Blanche's character, and often drive her development; another big example of this is her attitude towards Rebecca's decision to get artificially inseminated, but it's a bit of a baseline issue for her, I feel. She has this whole thing about her beauty and her (supposed) youth and her attractiveness that has some inherent elements, but it's mostly an issue of how other people perceive her, I think, and her response to her brother's coming out is easy to relate to this theme. I mean, she even says it to Rose in S7E15:

"Well, I don't mind being labeled a lesbian, honey, but since I'm not, you just ruined my social life."

So yeah. I think it's safe to say her main concern is societal disapproval of queerness: she wants to be accepted and celebrated by the people around her, and she thinks that being openly queer will destroy her place in her social circle (and she's worried about the same happening to Clayton too, of course).

3) This is sort of related to point 2, but it felt distinct enough to treat it separately. I think she might have reacted so badly to Clayton's coming out (and especially to his showing up with a partner) because he's open about his sexuality, and she's not ready to face what that means for her. My lovely mutual @\hecatesbroom recently published her latest amazing work the odd one(s) out, on the relationship between Dorothy and her brother Phil and how Phil's open queerness might have impacted Dorothy; I think a similar situation might have occurred between Blanche and Clayton after his coming out.

Blanche has a sort of advantage on Dorothy because of her bisexuality, in the sense that she has 'passing privilege' (I really dislike this concept, but allow me to use it to make a point): it's painfully clear that she loved her late husband with all her heart, and she's obviously attracted to men as well, so she can pretend not to like women without too much of a hassle (whereas, if you believe Dorothy to be a repressed lesbian, her situation is much more complicated).

The issue with this is that this 'advantage' is a double-edged sword: she might have the comfort of being socially acceptable, but she's had to suffocate a big part of herself to obtain that comfort. And so, what happens when Clayton -- her baby brother Clayton, the one who's always been just like her, who's grown up with her same environment and influences -- begins openly living as a gay man? I'm sure the situation must have had a strong impact on her, even if just on a subconscious level; I've always found it curious that she seems to have a harder time accepting Clayton in S6E14 than she does in S4E9 (she even calls his sexuality a phase), and while a part of it may be attributed to the higher social exposure Clayton's commitment to Doug brings, I think this may be a result of her inner conflict, provoked by watching her brother live openly while she's been suppressing a part of herself all her life.

Here I'm assuming she's never acted upon her attraction to women before, but there's some space to believe she has done so and has decided it's too much of a hassle, as you say -- likely because she'd for sure do it in secret, given her fear of societal condemnation. If she has been with women before, and decided to give up on it, I still think she'd be greatly impacted by Clayton's coming out: it means her baby brother is a) braver than she is, and b) going to openly face (and likely suffer because of) the same social issues she's run away from. In this lens, I find it interesting that she cautions him about how people can be, almost as if they've both experienced it.

Whew. Wow, this was a lot more than I'd originally meant to write, haha! Seems you sparked a big train of thought, anon! I think all of the Girls (with the possible exception of Sophia) are really fascinating to analyze with a queer lens, and Blanche is always interesting to me, of course. As a final note, I'd like to point out that she does come around to Clayton's sexuality and his relationship, in the end: as often happens, she just needs the Girls' help to put things back in perspective, understand she's hurting someone she loves, and correct her actions. I'd like to think living with the Girls might lead to her becoming more accepting of herself, too.

[lucassinclaer-archive]

tags by @lumaxramblings that i felt deserve their own post bc it's such an interesting aspect to talk about:

#ok so.#i'm going to add my 2 cents to this#as someone who has psychoanalyzed dustin (and has friends who psychoanalyze him way better)#i DO think that dustin does see steve in a slightly parental light#except not really?#so. his dad's gone. he either disappeared between seasons 1 and 2 OR they didn't just give dustin's homelife thought until s2#(because he says ''parents'' to lucas when he says he'll get in trouble)#so he latches onto older male figures because he won't admit it but he misses the bond he had with hs dad#so he doesn't see steve as a DAD and definitely more as a brother#but there's DEFINTELY some complicated feelings around his bond w him because of his absentee father

(btw, i think mr henderson actually shows up in s1, at will's funeral if i'm not mistaken, so my personal hc is that dustin's parents got divorced between seasons 1 and 2.)

it's such a shame that this wasn't explicitly stated in season 2, because that could've given us an even more meaningful start to dustin's and steve's dynamic. if dustin is literally dealing with his parents divorcing when steve first really factors into his life, that really adds so much to dustin's character.

season 2 marks the party, and dustin and lucas in particular, actually trying to grow up. it's not forced on them, they're actively going after more "grown-up" things to do. and for boys that does often include their dad's influence. teaching them to shave or asking out romantic prospects or how to dress up are often tropes to portray that in fiction.

steve does, to an extent, take on that role. and for dustin (if we go with these hcs) that's important and probably does blur the lines given that he doesn't have that already.

however, dustin is also the only party member that doesn't have a sibling. even more specifically, he's the only one who isn't or doesn't have a brother, aside from el who eventually comes by two brothers regardless.

and beyond the above-mentioned tropes, steve definitely takes on more the role of a brother. because he doesn't have the actual charge or authority of a parent and is very much portrayed as a teenager throughout the show. (dustin's mother does and isn't. she just doesn't know about the supernatural side of hawkins. but she enthusiastically sends off her son to halloween, is the only one who proudly tells him to show off his pearls, watches tv with him at night, hugs him.)

dustin and steve bicker like siblings, dustin is open with steve in a way people often are with siblings but not necessarily parents (bc they have the responsibility and are therefore often more strict), they're closer in age range than a parent and a child which does make a difference just on a maturity level.

and this is the point where i bump up against the rigidity of assigning nuclear family roles to characters. the point of found family isn't necessarily to project those roles one-to-one, especially bc it specifically goes against the notion that a family can be only one thing. i don't think you need to assign steve one role definitively. like originally stated in those tags, these things can be complicated and that's okay and sometimes they don't fit in a box readily available.

[billpottsismygf]

.

[the-other-art-blog]

I cannot deal with one more Benophie fan complaining about the lack of Benedict's artistic side in s3.

Aren't you guys supposed to like this character and understand him?

Everyone complains about the show's lack of accountability, continuity, and consequences. But here it is Benedict's artistic plot going through ups and downs for 3 seasons and fans complain!

That was one of my main wishes for s3: NO ART FOR BENEDICT. It had to be this way.

Benedict thought he had entered the Academy by himself, for his talent. He was so happy to have received external validation and Anthony's interference destroyed that. He destroyed his confidence. Of course, he abandoned art. He felt like a fraud.

If Benedict had resumed painting in s3, this scene would have lost meaning and weight:

What would have been the point of this dramatic moment if he would have been fine next season?

In the book, part of Benedict's arc is growing confident in his art. He has been hiding his talent forever (even more than in the show) because he's afraid and Sophie helps him realize he's an artist. The show found a way to show his art since s1, and still follow the book.

This was not the final season, we still have to see HIS season where all of this needs to be resolved. His season is when he needs to regain confidence and share his art with everyone again, thanks to Sophie.

Yes, it was sad to see Benedict holding a newspaper instead of a sketchbook, BUT IT WAS NECESSARY FOR HIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!!!!

That brief exchange with Paul said everything the audience needed to know about his art in s3:

Paul asks him if he paints (Paul was being a bit of a jerk here, too judgemental just because Ben is part of the ton, but I get it)

How heartbreaking this was!

He couldn't have said 'yes' even if he talked in past tense because Paul would have asked more. 'Why did you give it up?' And what was he supposed to say: 'My brother paid my way into the Academy'? Of course, he said no. The writers did not forget about s1 and s2, they simply were writing a coherent storyline. Benedict's still not over the betrayal and hurt he felt at the end of s2.

In the meantime, Ben has been filling the hole art left in his heart with work during Anthony's honeymoon. Once that is gone, Ben becomes a jerk (I've talked about this in this post after seeing part 1: x) He's extra grumpy and out-of-character but it makes sense narratively because he's frustrated.

It only gets better when he meets Tilley. She is a temporary solution to his frustration. Once he began his affair with her, he went back to his normal, charming self at balls. This is what he does, what he did for 3 seasons. Sex is like a palliative treatment for whatever turmoil he has inside (see how amazingly appropriate this is for Benophie?)

Moreover, Benedict's sexuality needed to be addressed BEFORE his season. Or would you have preferred to do it while Sophie was there?

Thanks to CVD, who refused to address this matter in s2, Jess had to do it in s3. Honestly, Jess did a lot of fixing this season.

This way Benedict is at peace with that part of himself that had been causing so much anxiety since he met Granville. Not only did Tilley offer a momentary escape valve for his frustration, but she helped him accept a part of his identity AND encouraged him to find love. Honestly, the hate she gets from the Benophie fandom is shameful. She did nothing wrong and only helped and supported Benedict. (Plus Luke Thompson loved those scenes, so 🤷‍♀️)

I shouldn't get so upset about other people's opinions, but honestly. These comments come from people who declare to be stans and queens of the fandom. They also have been in a 2-year tantrum and hate campaign against s3, so not really surprised.

It's so funny because if there's one character that has been written exquisitely, it's Benedict. He's the writers' favorite, 100%. Everything he has done makes total sense and prepares him for Sophie.

[eddiediazismyhusband]

just a caual reminder that eddie does not need to kiss, date, or sleep with anyone other than buck to make his queerness any more valid

queer characters don’t need to hookup a bunch of times and date around before settling down because queer people irl don’t have to do that either

there are other ways a character can “let loose” and blow off steam than just throwing them into a hookup plotline, and doing so with eddie would just rehash the buck 1.0 plotline and would be lazy writing

not to mention it being yet another roadblock for buddie canon

like ik it can be frustrating to see the writers refusing to give eddie any care within the story and giving him some sort of happy arc, but that doesn’t mean that the only way he can be happy is by simply dating a man… just like how bt isnt narratively satisfying, eddie dating a random man isn’t going to be narratively satisfying either… i want queer eddie as much as the next person and honestly, if it had been a few seasons ago maybe i wouldn’t be as apprehensive to this kind of arc, but this show isn’t going to last forever… i don’t want them to keep dragging buddie out convoluting the plot by bringing in more li’s for both of them just because the fans are “okay with stepping stone relationships”

we’re entering season 8. we’re entering the 7th year of buddie being a ship. we don’t have time nor need for stepping stone relationships anymore. i know that jealousy and mutual pining arcs are enjoyable, but atp anything prolonging them getting together is just risking us never getting buddie… i don’t want a repeat of s6 where they wind up with shit engame li’s bc they wasted too much damn time dragging their feet and giving them these rando love interests

we also run the risk of fans jumping ship again if eddie were to get a male li that isn’t buck because there are so many people out there who (like w bt) just wanna see eddie kiss a man and once they get that, they’ll ditch the buddie ship, and we’ll once again find ourselves struggling to stay afloat

yes ik this show is a drama, ik slowburns thrive off drama, but this slowburn has been building since s3 (arguably s2 for some of us) it has been beyond enough time for them to keep it a slowburn; they need to actually go through with it now rather than continuing to bait us bc Ryan and Oliver both deserve better storylines to play than that.

i am obviously trying to remain cautious and will not trust the writers to handle things well until they do, but it doesn’t help our cause to be suggesting storylines this late in the game that will only serve to convolute the plot even more than it already is at this point. these tropes are amazing in fics that have no set end date, but 9-1-1 as a show is not going to run forever— we don’t even know if we are even going to get a 9th season yet. This could very well be our last opportunity to get buddie canon, and cheering on plotlines that would push buddie canon even further back on the roster is only going to dilute our chances even more.

i say this with love, not with spite, but i have seen a lot of people wishing for/posting about how they hope to see these storylines play out and i’m here to say we are not in a position for any of these anymore, and that’s just the unfortunate reality of a show entering its 8th season in a television environment where shows are lucky to get past 2 or 3 seasons.

[miss-eli-starfleet]

My critique of CW’S The Flash

The Flash is one of my absolute favourite shows, and I think it deserves one of these. Yes my favourite shows deserve critiques because there are changes I would’ve liked to see instead. This is all just my opinion on the show, not exactly hating it. Plus.. I saw someone else doing something similar to here goes.

Imma be clear at the start. I don’t hate WestAllen, just really really disappointed with how they were written in the latter seasons sometimes.

Props to every actor in the Flash who put all their effort into the show whether the script was cringe or not.

Season 1-2 was FIRE. No complaints. Loved the WestAllen.

Season 3 was good,

but I think they could’ve done Savitar better. Still liked him as the big bad being depressed/emo!Barry. I’ll say that I got really attached to Harry in S2 which made me wonder why they have HR there at all? The dude grew on me, and he added humour to the team, but honestly between him and Harry, it could’ve easily been Harry. Though it means he would die at the end.. so I’m glad Season 3 had HR Wells instead sorry not sorry.

The relationship between Julian Albert and Barry was so fun to watch. Which reminds me, LOVED Eobard’s appearance as Matt Letscher in 3x01. I have no idea why they continue to use Wells’ face like bruh. Your pretending as Wells is over so like why. GIMME MORE MATT!EOBARD.

I loved Frost???

Season 4 was also great.

I’d say more quality than season 3 because it was their first time against a big bad that WASN’T a speedster yet posed a more than adequate challenge to the team. The plot was nice and unique (I really loved Hazard!). I’ll say that DEVOE was kinda showing some red flags before becoming the Thinker in his relationship with Marlize, like he seemed kinda overly possessive of her. Glad that she switched to helping Team Flash after seeing what her husband had become. Loved her “Thinker’s first victim” line.

I felt like they started focusing on Cecile too much? Her role was vital to the plot at the end with helping Barry hop into Devoe’s mind to retrieve Ralph. And speaking of Ralph, I was neutral towards the character at first, but he grew on me. Also why fire him for sometning he did like 10yrs ago. That made no sense. I’d rather Ralph than more Cecile or Allegra.

LOVED ALL THE BANTER BETWEEN HARRY AND CISCO. And FROST FROST FROST!!! I liked her S4 outfit. I also think Barry’s supersuit was the best in this season.

One of my favourite episodes was “Flashtime”. Awesome awesome filler episode.

Season 5 was also great.

Barry’s supersuit was trash tho imo. He just looks like a weird deformed strawberry.

Above average but not quite as good as S4. LOVED NORA WORKING WITH THAWNE then Barry finding out and tossing her into the pipeline cell lol. Just the betrayal, and then dumping her in the middle of a random street in the future. Loved all the father-daughter moments she had with Barry. Cool to see the writers creativity in “meta-tech”.

However Iris.. bro in 5x19 she has some issues bringing up the fact Barry NEEDED to go into the Speedforce TWICE. And then her telling Barry to his face that she didn’t care that Nora was working with Thawne. Like bro, he murdered your husband’s mother and caused sm problems. And you don’t care about that?? Good to see that Barry called her out in the end.

Imma complain about freaking Sherloque again. Why not Harry? Even after what happened to him in S4, I think he could’ve figured out that Nora is secretly working with Thawne. Like dude’s still smart af.

Nora getting erased from existence at the very end.. sad :( I miss S5 Nora

Season 6.

I feel like this is when everything started going downhill. I didn’t care for Mirror Monarch. The mirror!Iris storyline was interesting to see. Idk what happened the rest of the season. That’s how much I didn’t care for this season lol. I think the other half was about Ramsey and how he wanted to make everyone zombies. Man I HATED Sue Dearborn or however you spell her name. She just took up too much screentime. This is when it started feeling like “Iris & Friends” instead of “The Flash”.

Liked to see how Barry dealt with slowly losing his speed bc he was killing the speedforce lol. Liked how the Caitlin/Frost duo became separate people. It was cool. At least we got that lol.

I think this is when Allegra comes in. I honestly can’t stand her. Like the whole her and her sister trope? Why.

The one thing I did like was Barry’s artificial speedforce gave him speed thinking. Awesome episode to watch. EXCEPT NASH. WHY. His sacrifice is useless in the end because of the whole “Iris is Barry’s lightning rod” thing. Have nothing about a speedster’s lightning rods in the comics, just didn’t like how that was written into the show. It eventually got really annoying.

Season 7.

Where do I even begin. This is when Barry’s “children” became a thing, and then suddenly speedforce!Nora wanting to kill all of them? Like what??? Where did that come from? Dion’s storyline was interesting. The rest were just.. Meh. And the CGI was so cringe.

I loved Abra Kadabra??? Why they gotta kill him off in one episode.

Does Chillblaine start coming in this season? I dislike him in general.

Season 8.

THIS IS WHEN BARRY’S ACTUAL CHILDREN COME BACK.

Now with Nora getting erased in S5, I really would’ve preferred if they gave us Tornado Twins instead. Like you can even use the same actors, but I honestly don’t really like the new Nora. I did like seeing her interaction between her and her family.

Also. Bart. I. Have. Major. Problems. I LOVE Bart but he is supposed to be Barry’s GRANDSON. Give us Don Allen instead. I did like the episode where they messed up the timeline, went back to 2013 and then accidentally reset Jay into the timeline. Also loved the episode with the whole Barry and the gamma radiation making him age hella fast. Bro was basically a zombie at the end and still overloaded the machine with the speedforce.

The. Stupid. Power Rangers godspeed arc was shit and them being Bart’s Thawne-like arch nemesis. Like boy, don’t compare Thawne with your godspeed problems. Don’t even start. Also what is with the “Negative Forces” and “Positive Forces” Power Rangers thing and then Iris’ time sickness? At this point, The Flash just started to feel like a soap opera.

I liked Chester even though he was a “replacement” for Cisco. He was unique. But the whole Allegra/Chester budding relationship where did that come from?? It just seemed very cringe and didn’t do much for the plot besides drama I guess. Khione was meh. Like just give us Caitlin with Frost in some way. I don’t care about Khione and her arc. Pls give us more Barry and not so much Cecile and Allegra.

Season 9

The show should just be renamed “Power Rangers: Iris & Friends” at this point. They made an entire episode without Barry?? Like if I pick up a Flash comic book, I expect it to be about THE FLASH. Not his random friends. Like yes, his friends can make appearances but don’t give me a whole dang episode without Barry THE MAIN CHARACTER. Also how the hell did Cecile become that OP, where is the character development.

Idk where Chillblaine comes in but I just don’t like him, not to mention that I don’t like the relationship between him and Frost. Like what.

Eddie’s Cobalt Blue arc and Red Death arc could’ve been done WAY better. I didn’t see any plot relevance in any way. It was written so poorly. Red Death was just like evil speedster!Batman or something. Please don’t bring our beloved Eddie back if you gonna write him all just jealous of Barry and him somehow becoming the new avatar of the Negative Speedforce. And what does Batwoman have anything to do with this (I believe she appears in the finale villains arc)l

There is legit only one episode I like in S9. The one that comes “full circle”. The one where Barry gets stuck in 2000, gets to chill with his parents for one day, and then comes full circle with Matt!Eobard killing Nora. SEASON 1 QUALITY. They even use the same bg music which awwww. And the “If I can spend one more day with my parents, then what would I say to them?” Line? Chef’s kiss.

Did not like the finale. His final run speech was okay about sharing his gift. Definitely would’ve preferred if Barry became the lightning bolt that struck him in S1 like in the comics.

Idk which episodes: Loved all the Amunet & Frost storyline, and then Goldface time to time appearances. Especially “Officer Chemist” lol.

[my-mt-heart]

Idk how to say this but I am not as bothered about whatever is going to transpire between Daryl and Isabelle (bcoz for one thing - we know what is going to happen in the end- and for another - I honestly believe that the male execs are not at all confident abt their vision for these two as they would like to be and the whole thing would prolly boil down to ambiguity and ultimately- it will fall upon the viewers to dissect how Daryl feels - the Caryl fandom especially is really adept at reading into storylines - even stupid ones) None of this is good by any means. It cheapens the integrity of all the characters involved. It blatantly insults and reduces female characters - I believe that Isabelle deserves better. That a story should hold space for multiple female characters. Also - I am worried about putting the fate and the story of one the best female characters on TV (Carol) in the hands of someone who has proven that he can't be trusted to handle them with care. Reading S2 reviews - I am sort of reassured that Carol is treated well enough in the story - which I believe - has a LOT to do with Melissa McBride's input. Going forward - it is going to be more difficult bcoz once we have dealt with old traumas - we do need to evolve these characters and make sure they don't stay stagnant. I don't believe Zabel has the chops to do that.

sorry for that rant. I am just really frustrated.

What I worry about is the way all of this bts stuff amongst the male execs is going to impact the Caryl dynamic. Whatever the antis may think - and while McReedus has insane chemistry - I do believe that the romantic energy is generated between them by a lot of their acting choices (bcoz the underlying story is teasing a romance). What happens to all that when a romance is completely off the table? When AMC has been pushing this friendship narrative down our throats in a very evident bid to do damage control - the insecure/defensive promo that we have been getting last few weeks is proof enough that Caryl was always more than friends?

The problems were already glaringly obvious from the very beginning. the fact that Melissa isn't billed equally for a season where she is proclaimed to be the major focus? It is not even about Caryl going canon for me anymore. I love Melissa and Carol way too much for me to give up yet but I treasure the Caryl bond primarily bcoz they have always been each other's everything. it is truly a bond that evades definition. Both Carol and Daryl doesn't have what they have with each other with anyone. THAT IS A CANON FACT. I don't think I can watch that dynamic that I treasure so much being butchered - s11 was painful enough - I can't go through all of that and more again.

Going to watch s2 and then my further commitment will depend entirely upon how the characters are treated and their dynamic is portrayed?

It sucks that I am dreading watching Carol and Daryl back together on screen.

been here just for a few months but the way AMC has been fumbling with this promo - have you guys always experienced this whiplash or is it a new thing?

I’m going to include big spoilers in my response, so proceed with caution ⚠️

I respect your opinion, but I disagree with you on the point about Daryl’s and Isabelle’s arc. It seems like the male EPs (Zabel, Nicotero, Gimple) are overly confident that an explicit romance between their male hero and a younger blonde nun who accused Daryl of being like his abusive father just for trying to go home to his family will attract a larger male audience and they aren’t sparing any feelings with it because we aren’t their ideal audience anyway. To them, we’re just a bunch of “hysterical” shippers whose POV’s don’t matter and we can just take their crumbs. AMC is a bit more complicated, but I’ll get to them later.

Daryl and the nun kiss in 202, so there’s little to no room for us to dissect how Daryl is feeling. Isabelle’s death is the furthest thing from a relief because 1) it reduces her character down to man pain like you said and 2) from what I’m gathering, it completely overshadows Caryl’s reunion and then their entire arc. We get another hug that does absolutely nothing to elevate their relationship and then Carol has to face that Daryl didn’t need her to rescue him because he found a new family and become his emotionally supportive friend to help him through his grief of a lost love interest he’s known for a few months. It almost feels like it’s going to be a retread of Beth’s death, only worse. We know how Greg Nicotero views both of those relationships and to be blunt, the man needs to stop projecting his creepy fetishes onto Daryl and making it our problem 🤢

The way the story is framed, it’s not even about Caryl at all. They’re the relationship we’re the most invested in and yet all the emotional weight is given to a highly problematic relationship that developed over a dozen ish short episodes (compared to Caryl’s decade+ of emotional depth) and it’s all for nothing too. Zabel just resets Daryl like the hokey network procedural writer he is. And Caryl fans are rewarded for their years-long loyalty by getting more ambiguous subtext to analyze? Really?

I think you’re spot on about Melissa though. The reason she’s the bright spot of the season, the reason Carol’s individual arc feels true, and her spiritual connection to Daryl stays alive is because Melissa influenced all of that. She’s shown us time and time again that she understands her character so deeply and respects her fans. It really breaks my heart because I think she had a beautiful story in mind for Carol and she deserves all the support in the world, but as I’ve said many times, if damage is done to the character who has been written as her soulmate for over a decade, damage is also done to her. And I can’t watch that. I can’t watch the destruction of my favorite characters and my favorite relationship and put money in AMC’s pockets for gaslighting me. Retconning Caryl’s relationship into a platonic friendship is their way of protecting themselves from backlash. “Daryl isn’t emotionally cheating because he and Carol have always been besties?” “We didn’t mislead you. We told you they were friends, so you dumb shippers are doing this to yourselves. Please watch our slop anyways ✌️” They’re even trying to shift responsibility to Melissa by making her answer the shipping questions despite the fact that it’s Daryl’s arc throwing a wrench in everything and I expect that to continue at NYCC/Palyfest. It’s completely unethical and it’s backfiring.

Zabel cannot write for Daryl and Carol. He keeps showing us that he doesn’t understand their bond nor does he value it. A couple of the reviews mentioned it felt like Carol was shoehorned into certain aspects of the story, which tracks with what I already knew—that he and the other EPs think she’s hindering the story they want to tell about men doing manly things. That’s why they try so hard to challenge her significance to Daryl’s story and that is not going to change just because they’re moving to another location. Somebody like that should not have power to decide her trajectory. Fuck whatever he has planned for S3. I don’t want it. I still want Caryl and I still want to see them get the stories they deserve, but that’s only going to happen if we get a new showrunner who respects them and respects their fans. In case it needs to be said, Gimple is not that guy either (he can fake his enthusiasm on SM all he wants 🖕🖕🖕). A complete rebranding of the show to something that honors the characters and gives Melissa her dues (equal billing, title, etc) is the only way I’m tuning in now🤷🏻‍♀️ I don’t have the emotional capacity to sit through S2, but I will be here, speaking up, to make sure Melissa gets all the necessary praise and those assholes can’t blame her if the show tanks.

I’ve only been here a few years and there’s been a lot of turn over at AMC even just in that time (I kid you not, all of our problems can be traced back to Josh Sapan leaving. He loved Caryl and Melissa). That being said, I cannot for the life of me understand why any of the guys over there (even the misogynistic ones) would approve of the Daryl/Isabelle arc after the PR disaster that Leah caused not even that long ago and at least for that, the arc tied back to romantic Caryl and we weren’t subjected to any uncomfortable physical intimacy. Why the fuck would they make the same mistake? Why the fuck do they have to spend more time cleaning up messes than avoiding the mess altogether at every fucking opportunity they had (and they had a lot). I just don’t get it. And I’m so tired of taking the abuse.

[misty-slays-blog]

Okay I'm going to give my quick, abridged thoughts on Haladriel/Saurondriel this finale (could be better, could also be worse), and some ramblings about the series going forward, before taking a couple of days to let it all sink in.

We have been fed. Was it a lavish six-course meal? No. But I hadn't expected it to be, and it wasn't crumbs either. We did get Sauron admitting he cares about Galadriel (his Queen of Light) and that he doesn't want to kill her. So what Charlotte Brandstrom said - Sauron loving Galadriel - yeah, I can see it. And that gives me hope going forward. Saurondriel isn't dead at all (despite what they may claim on reddit).

I dreamed of a Dark!Galadriel arc but never expected it outside the realm of fanfiction. In fact, what went down is pretty much what I envisioned they would do. I am okay with it. Also let's not forget that they had written S2 already before the release of S1 and before the huge fandom reaction to Saurondriel.

(And mark my words, I think the wound in Galadriel's shoulder will play a role going forward - side note, did anyone else love Gil-Galad's line when Galadriel woke up? He's so done with her antics, bless him, I love them both).

But my critique of the fight is the same critique I have had for the entire season: it's way too rushed. I can see what they were going for, I can stand behind what they wished to convey, but the execution was just way too hasty. It's like we got all the pieces ("his queen", him not wishing to harm her, Galadriel faltering when she saw Halbrand, also really loved how Galadriel actually put up a fight against a literal god and even had the upper hand at one point, etc.) but they just didn't dwell long enough on them to really mean something. This is the result of having too many storylines crammed into too little time. I would much rather have them spread their budget over 10 or even 12 episodes instead of 8 because now, so many characters sadly lost their place in the spotlight, and certain emotional scenes lacked impact.

Another critique that I have is that the women didn't shine this season. Galadriel was captured by a man for a huge chunk of the season and then rescued in the end by three other men. We lost Bronwyn, Estrid only existed as love interest, and Míriel, Nori & Poppy hardly had anything to do. The only female characters who weren't really reduced, were Disa and Eärien.

I didn't really keep track but did they even pass the Bechdel test this season?

Seriously, they would do well to hire more female writers and fix this.

They are rejoicing on reddit right now, that the finale seems to mark the beginning of a "wise" Galadriel who will forever steer clear from the battlefield. Honestly this misogynistic mumbo jumbo makes me sick and I hope, hope, hope that the writers don't think this would be a good idea. Yes to wise(r) Galadriel, character development and growth, no to domestic, perfect Galadriel staying at home while the men around her go to battle. Please let her be flawed, let her be tempted by the darkness, let her be a warrior. She is one of my favorite characters and I dread the idea that they might actually reduce her to a side character.

I know I might be in the minority, but I actually liked season 1 more for that reason than season 2. Yes, it had its flaws, mainly in pacing and editing, but the world just felt more alive and fleshed out.

Overall I'm rating this season not great, not terrible.

[mazzystar24]

Thank you so much for being so kind and replying to my ask! I think I understand it a little better now and I do agree with some of it. There were really sweet moments between them that made me happy but OH how it hurt to see buck just standing outside the restaurant. Yeah he freaked out a little but even lou said it wasn't ok of tommy and he wouldn't have done that. His defenders should really look into that lol judging from his interviews, he is a buddie endgame shipper and I love that

I'm kinda used to people blaming everything on buck but it still sucks. If he "shoved tommy back in the closet", they also have to acknowledge the comment tommy made when eddie was there...thank goodness he was so oblivious

But I do blame the writers a little bit for making tommy seem so...distant? Mysterious? There's potential because he has a connection to their world but we don't know nearly enough about him. We know chim, hen and bobby were good with him when he left all those years ago but now? Show us!!

Most of all, I hope they are not "done" with buck's storyline because he deserves more. He was barely a side character for the remaining episodes and that made me really sad. Oliver looks happier again though, so maybe there's hope?

No problem ofc like as long as you’re respectful to me I’ll always give that back

UGHH YESSS ABT THE COMMENT AT THE DATE LIKE IF TOMMY WAS IN FACT OUT AND BUCK WAS PUSHING HIM IN THE CLOSET AS THEY CLAIM THEN TOMMYS LINE WOULD IN FACT BE OUTING HIM

Like personally I do take it as dig meant for buck only to understand - which brings its own fucking rage to me ngl but these toxic fans’ interpretation is somehow even worse for their fav

Me personally sorry but I’m kinda like just get rid of tommy atp and you know that but I totally get how you feel and would be disappointed in your place too

Also I totally agree and definitely hope that they really delve into and develop Buck’s bi arc further

I think they honestly kinda fumbled last season because of the shorter season and how much shit they tried to fit like I was saying this before but s8 should’ve been treated like s1/s2 where like you have some character building and like personal shit and then keep the rest fairly uncomplicated with like a few big things here and there and a strong sense of found family in it and hitting that balance of not overloading yourself while also keeping things interesting

Instead we kinda had boom big thing boom big thing boom here is an even more complicated big thing boom another big thing and it all felt very frazzled and all over the place and also really fragmented

And cos of all these big things you end up not able to give any one big thing the levity or development or the depth it can have

Leading to a mess of having buck pushed straight to the sidelines story wise after two eps of his bi arc then bobby having shit from Minnesota but also cartel and also house getting burnt down but also him being suicidal but also him nearly dying and us getting no scenes from the team at his bedside and then you have Eddie and his doppelgänger mess and chimney and his enciphillitus and it’s just all gives you a little bit of an overload without ever getting the pay off or the development

Like I love the show and love the writing for the most part but I gotta say s8 had a strong start that I thought it’d battle for my fav season but then it just started slipping when you could feel how limited in eps they were and also the writing style of not planning ahead for a lot of things

Idk if I explained any of that clearly 😭😭

[princesssszzzz]

Brace yourselves, a long rant

Rhaena’s S2 characterization

Baela’s S2 character moment changes

I’m gonna be sooo disappointed if Rhaena’s set up with Daemon not being a good father to her is not expanded in S2 and then her moving to hatch Morning. I already said in multiple post she did have dialogue and it was just ignored by fans. Her claiming vermithor to me is not good writing but luckily that’s not gonna happen. If they want her interacting with Vermithor an attempted claim would be interesting, but that is not her dragon and totally ruins Morning and her connection with Daenerys. One of the theories I had was her having a fear of dragons because of Vhagar burning Laena and while she’s in the Vale she becomes more confident in herself and overcomes her fear, but Daemon is dead before he gets a chance to see that evolution in her. They seem to be dismissing Rhaena’s lack of dragon and just letting fans go without an answer why she still doesn’t have a dragon. Which is gonna be annoying with people making up their own theories or just calling her weak and stupid like they already were. 🙄

And the issue is that goes against the set up they already built for her with the young Aemond parallels, her wanting to claim Vhagar which is not in the book, and her talking to Laena about feeling less than Baela being favored by Daemon. The camera cutting to her in ep.10 and the script saying that scene she feels bad about because she’s supposed to be the “rider” for “riderless” dragons Daemon is referring to. A lot of people want the entire storyline for their favs switched up to give them more screentime and say they’re more important during the dance, but I don’t want that for Rhaena because she’s interesting already and an underrated book character even with the little she gets. That’s why I purposely have post separating her character from Baela and letting them be individuals and not just “those sisters” or “Daemon and Laena’s daughters.”

The characters don’t need to be changed, they need to be expanded on and allowed to be human. She already has a decent foundation accidentally or on purpose 😂 I love the idea of them incorporating Rhaena politically. This actually makes sense and doesn’t change anything from the book, because if Rhaena is devoted to team Black or believes helping makes her safer from the greens then of course she would try to be helpful to the cause even from the Vale and dragonless. Book canon she thinks Aemond is a psycho running around mass murdering and has no problem kinslaying and taking out eyes. I hope they go the Rhaenys route with Rhaena and make it a self preservation thing or attempting to create peace. We already have characters like Jace that are just understandably there to support the team no matter what so it would be nice to have a variety of reasons why other people are doing what they’re doing. Rhaena thinks the greens want her and her sister harmed and dead so she’s compelled to actively advocate for team black is better than her just cheerleading for team black while having almost no interactions with them and they’ve done nothing for her. The set up for Game of Thrones universe to be political and almost everyone does what’s in their best interest vs House of the Dragon every decision is emotional because family and no one is playing the game is not something I like. Such a downgrade in writing and character motivations. Sorry I know Daemon is her dad but they have a strained relationship 😂 I can only honestly see her making emotional decisions for Baela, Rhaenys, younger baby characters since she’s nurturing to them. But she’s not their mother and I don’t want them making her a nanny. Another reason I’m glad she isn’t a dreamer like some people wanted her to be. I want Rhaena to be present with what’s going on for deeper interactions with other characters. If they choose to go the route of engaging with fan theories like Margaery being her descendent they can incorporate some show!Margaery parallels or call backs as long as it makes sense. Because Rhaena has so many parallels and connections to other characters like Daenerys and Sansa there’s so much they can do with her that makes sense, isn’t forced, and without changing anything from how she’s written about in the book. Rhaena can be such a diplomatic character if they take time and energy to put into her arc. She is the most reasonable character, she’s down to marry a Hightower after everything that happens. I love that in the kid fight scene she’s the one who yells at Jace after he pulled the knife out and then shakes her head at Aemond to not hit Jace with the rock. They can really use that and her difference in personality from Daemon at the Vale when/if she interacts with Gerold Royce whom Daemon threatened and totally pissed off and they just moved on like that didn’t happen.

Now this guy probably hates Targaryens 😭

Baela

I do have a concern about Mary Sue characterization of Baela because I already know someone will try to make this into an issue to hate on her. I have a problem with “fans” of Baela cheering that characterization on. Idk seems like some people are totally lacking awareness or intentionally trying to set Bethany and her character up for backlash and to be disliked. An extra fight scene with her would be amazing and I would like to see that but they shouldn’t just throw her character in a fight or a controversial scene like they did making one up Rhaenys just for shock value.

If they’re gonna make Baela a killer early on and shooting people with arrows and training with Dark Sister, they probably shouldn’t have had her acting shocked/scared at Daemon cutting off Vaemond’s head and she should’ve had less of a reaction like Aegon. Idk if they go the fighting route I think Baela should atleast have something similar to Aemond where’s there’s a shock from him killing for the first time and it sets in that this is the first time they’ve been to war and in a super violent situation like this. They aren’t the same as Daemon & Criston that’s already been around violence. Having her go to war killing just totally emotionless to seem badass in S2 is not going to be perceived well. I’ve said this a million times, Baela is a good person, Daemon is not a good person. So Baela being “cool” like Daemon a little is fine because they do have some similarities in personality, but she can’t literally start acting like Daemon like fans claim because then she would be a piece of shit which causes an issue with how other good characters interact with her. Also no one is going to convince me that Laena created a piece of shit daughter 😂 Like sorry Baela and Rhaena cannot blindly co-sign and cheer on everything Daemon or anyone else does because then that’s a bad reflection on their own morals which is more Laena and Rhaenys, less Daemon. Unless the show wants to make it clear they aren’t in a position to question anything like Viserys threatening to cut tongues off for questioning Jace’s parentage right in front of them. For Rhaena especially growing up right by Harwin’s sons probably hearing all the threats for that “treason” I mean there’s a reason she would just be quiet she’s been 10 years really not able to say anything.

But anywho back to Baela I think I actually made a post about this last year and modern producers always do this with young female characters and it’s so bizarre. Trying to create the “perfect” character that has no issues, and is automatically loved by any and everyone, and the contrarian fans start hating on them and writing thinkpieces about how boring they are and the writing makes no sense. And tbh it’s very young fans that tend to cheer on bad or wattpad-esque writing like we’ve seen already from forced character relationships in S1 and relationships people want to happen in S2. It tends to be older fans that critic the show heavily. I’m gonna be very annoyed if Baela gets any hate. Bethany is a great actress and Baela is not a hatable character whatsoever so it’ll be irritating if the showrunners even give those people a reason to complain and nitpick. I don’t mean Baela needs constant drama in her life to be interesting. Baela has wayyy less going on than Arya and I find her more interesting than Arya but the writing has to make sense and not creating questions and plot holes. I hope there’s no sabotage and limiting the actresses opportunities. People have to understand the characters they’re supporting are fictional but the actresses are real, it’s their real career. I used to act and I’m sure especially for a big project like this, more (acting) emotional diversity and range of scenes >> more opportunity to show off acting chops >> more fans >> more opportunities for their upcoming projects

It’s seems like she’s been set up with intentional lackluster writing in S1 but hopefully that’s not the case and S2 the writers will redeem themselves. Having Rhaena and Baela there just smiling, nodding, and saying they support team black is just soooo…..disrespectful to Phoebe and Bethany. Especially when they’ve already added so much to other characters so they are capable of doing it but choosing not to for them. Bethany and Phoebe are young up and coming actresses happy for the opportunity so they can’t and won’t say anything other than they’re happy to be there. Also I’m pretty sure it’s against their contract to publicly disagree with the writers so people who take the actresses nodding their heads or repeating interview lines they were told to say as genuine approval should possibly rethink that. Most of the characters have horrible show writing tbh, and we’ve already seen backlash for this. Most of the characters they changed from the book created plot holes or people just questioning how things don’t make sense. A show with this level of budget and fans should not be having these issues. S1 really made it seem like they just don’t GAF 😂😂 I find it so hard to believe GRRM was apart of that. S2 better not let me down and don’t even get me started on Nettles erasure.

[kittykat940]

byler doubt is this little hobgoblin that lives in the back part of my brain. he's usually asleep but today he woke up and whispered, "yeah, finn is filming with noah way more than he's filming with millie atm, but what if that doesn't matter? what if mike and el are super happy together and they go off on their own storylines regardless? what if the show is separating them because there's nothing to fix in their relationship, thus there not being any need for them to be filming together? if they were filming together, there'd have to be conflict, right? what if he's with will because the show is trying to further repair their friendship, make them completely platonic, and then end the show with mike swinging an arm around el and giving will a fist bump? or worse, what if they don't bring up will's feelings at all? he doesn't expect reciprocation from mike so i doubt he'd be the one to confess. if Mike is straight (I seriously do not think he is, but WHAT IF), then he won't confess either. what if nothing happens?

I'm so sorry to dump this all on you. I know there's probably tons of evidence that nothing I said above is going to happen and I know it would be awful for the story, but today my mind keeps going towards countless "what if" situations and my brain just isn't working. I keep debating with myself and I think it would be so so good to hear from someone else that I don't need to doubt Byler like this. ❤️ Thanks for listening

anon do not apologize to me i have always said bylers can come to me with their doubts even though i never have them i get it but anon the duffers have been separating milkvan since s2 and always pair mike with will...i will honestly be shocked if milkdud is endgame that would be awful writing and make no sense for the characters lol every time i see a byler have doubt i bring up the biggest byler proof to me...the painting lie

not only did wills feelings make mike confess and make him feel loved but we are forgetting the parties main rule...friends dont lie drama is coming for mike and will and i cant wait....the leaks are also looking good for byler endgame we got mike and will on bikes with holly 🥹 we got the church scene they are filming soon so we should get crumbs soon! stay positive anon the duffers are smart they know what they are doing if you are still having doubts after this then here is mike gay panicking over will in s4

[buddiebeginz]

That scene with Eddie and Kim dressed as Shannon is that supposed to be the big emotional scene that was being talked about leading up to this episode? If Tim is expecting me to be invested in a scene like that he's sorely mistaken.

I love Ryan and Eddie but there was too much wrong with that scene for it have any kind emotional impact. I honestly just left it being confused and angry.

In the first place the scene initially came off looking like a dream especially since Kim was styled almost exactly how we saw Shannon talking to Chris in 701. I thought okay Eddie is going to say all these things to dream Shannon that he wanted to say (even get angry with her) things he didn't get to say before she died. Except here's the other problem Tim is trying to prop Shannon up and make her into a better person than she was. He's also trying to make it seem like Eddie had all these huge feelings for her that were never shown previously.

I definitely believe that Eddie loved Shannon and of course he had a lot of history with her and she's Chris' mother but I don't believe he was in romantic love with her. Eddie was always running away from Shannon even in s2. The only reason he even asked her to be with him again is because of Chris and because they thought she was pregnant. And really because Eddie has always done what he thinks he's supposed to do not what he truly wants to do especially when it comes to relationships.

I really can't stand when shows try and rewrite history like this. Shannon was important to Eddie but the show keeps trying to make her relationship with Eddie into something it wasn't and it really makes me hate when they bring her up.

Back to the scene with Eddie and Kim like I said I thought it was a dream so I really wanted to see where they were going with it. But as soon as they kept having Eddie talk about how he can't move on from Shannon because of how much he loved her I'm like nope I'm out. Let this man move on. Let him finally admit to himself that his relationship with Shannon wasn't perfect and let him stop comparing every relationship he ever gets into to something that never even existed.

The bigger problem I had with this scene though is that it wasn't even Shannon. If you wanted the audience to have some kind of emotional response to Eddie grieving his dead ex wife maybe don't have some woman he's cheating with dress up as her. It was all so bizzare. I also fail to see what Kim's motivation is for even doing that. She barely knows Eddie and she knows now that he was only even seeing her as some kind of replacement for his dead ex yet she's still interested in him. Then to top it off we had Marisol and Chris walking in on the whole scene. Having Chris see this woman who looks like his dead mom is just really cruel. I love Eddie but I really hope he's going to have to answer for that. I don't want to see the show just brush this off with some kind of talk between them because the level of so not okay that was is off the charts.

I just wish I knew where Tim is going with any of this because it's all so weird. I thought this Kim storyline was going to be about helping Eddie get closure and move forward but now I don't know what they're doing. I really hope that both Marisol and Kim will be gone by next season. This isn't even about Buddie neither one of them would make a good love interest for Eddie at this point.

Also why give Kim a birthmark like Buck if it's not supposed to make us think of Buck? Far as I can tell it's not a birthmark Devin has or her real hair color so what even was the purpose of that?

What is the purpose of bringing Buck into this storyline? I know Buddie are friends and they had most of the characters busy doing other stuff but I do wonder if Buck will play any more of a role in what's going on with Eddie.

I mean I'm glad they had Buck confront Eddie but tbh I wanted to see him get angrier about it. Buck said something to Eddie like have Marisol and Chris met her because Eddie was saying Kim was only a friend. I just feel like Buck would never want Chris to meet this woman. He just talked to Chris in 701 about how much his mom's death is still seriously affecting him. Why would he want Chris to meet this doppelgänger of his mom?

I know it's a shorter season but some of the writing choices this season feel messy and rushed. I honestly don't anticipate this Vertigo storyline having a satisfying conclusion. As it is they should have started it earlier and now it's being crammed into two already over stuffed episodes. I just hope that Eddie is going to get some better storylines next season because I haven't really been a fan of anything they've done with him on his own this season. Like first the nun and now this. What kind of vendetta do you have against Ryan Guzman Tim because these storylines are awful.

[moistvonlipwig]

top 5 fav buffyverse characters and top 5 fav buffyverse ships!

ok this one's easy i am nothing if not practiced at yapping about the buffyverse!!

CHARACTERS:

Cordelia Chase my queen my cheerleader princess warrior my everything......truly one of my favorite characters of all time. I love her so much. And honestly, I wouldn't actually change much about her arc! I think the fact that she was denied a voice in S4 is criminal, but I like the idea of the possession storyline, and I truly love her ending and find it beautiful.

ANGEL I have no idea how you got here king I cannot imagine telling myself while I was watching BtVS for the first time that he would be my second favorite Buffyverse character but he is!!!!! He's such an interesting and layered and fun character and I think his arc is actually really good and underrated.

Spoike my horrible little guy <333 king of faking his accent and being committed to the bit!!! I don't think his arc is quite as good as Cordy's or Angel's -- I think "Seeing Red," while perfectly in-character, basically derailed both his and Buffy's arcs, and he REALLY needed to have more of a reckoning with Robin Wood and stop wearing Nikki's fucking coat -- but I think "Damage" does a pretty good job interrogating and problematizing his S7 arc and leaves him in a really good place character-wise. Overall, while I have criticisms of how his character was handled, I still generally like his story and I think he's one of the most purely entertaining characters in either show.

Charles Gunn you deserved SO much better ;_; can we get this guy an arc please!!! I love hearing J. August Richards talk about playing Gunn because there was clearly so much thought and care going into his performance and it's frustrating that after S2 it felt like the writers didn't know what to do with him. I personally think keeping vampire!Alonna around would've done wonders for his arc, but there's other directions they could've taken him as well, and unfortunately they just kind of pushed him to the background instead for a lot of S3 and even more in S4. Then in S5 you have this AMAZING setup where Gunn is now working at what he once called a "Mecca" for "evil white folks," he's now complicit in the system he once fought so hard against, and it could've been an utterly brilliant arc for him, and then instead. We get 5 separate episodes devoted to Angel & Spike having a pissing contest and then Gunn's realization of W&H being bad is spurred on NOT by anything having to do with his arc or history but because he signed a piece of paper that fridged Fred and he and all the other men were sad about it and Wesley fucking stabs him over it. NO THANKS. He still gets an incredible final episode despite all that, though, and I love that he's the only human left alive in the end (even if he might not have that long left once the credits roll).

Lilah Morgan. Does any more need to be said? She is iconic, she is a queen, she is the moment, and she will bury you alive next to her house so she can hear you screaming.

and SHIPS:

I mean, Cordelia said it best: there are no people like Angel and Cordelia!!!!! They are BUDDIES and they are so FUNNY together and fun to watch but also their relationship forms the narrative backbone and thematic core of Angel and they are bound together by the joint mission they chose which is also the very mission that ends up keeping them from ever actually getting together romantically and they make each other better and inspire each other and call each other out on their worst impulses and they both love Connor so so much and are the only people who remember him and would choose him over each other every time just as all parents should and in the end she puts him on the path to stand up to Wolfram & Hart in his very final act in the show. Also they both love cars and fancy clothes and money and judging people and neither of them can sing. I love them your honor. <333

Wesley/Lilah is sooo good. One of the few enemies-to-lovers m/f ships I've seen in fiction where the woman is the evil one, which makes it infinitely more interesting to me than your standard cookie-cutter m/f evil-guy-and-heroic-girl ship. The fact that despite Lilah being pretty much just evil and Wesley being so emotionally calcified they still loved each other is just. Gahh!!! He used his one chance to sneak into W&H's files to free her from her contract!!! And he failed!!! Because flames wouldn't be eternal if they actually consumed anything!!! Lilah should've been in S5 and I will never be over it I will be mad about it forever. At least I can take heart in the fact that Wesley's contract with W&H likely had a perpetuity clause as well so he is down there right now in hell with Lilah doing evil lawyer things forever 😌

I like Angel's relationship with Darla a lot, and it retroactively makes his relationship with Buffy much more interesting to me. As much as they claimed otherwise, they clearly did hold a lot of love for one another, and were hugely formative to each other's lives. It's rather remarkable to me that a character who barely appeared in Buffy and whose status as Angel's sire seemed unimportant in that show came back in Angel and was fleshed out to such a great extent that it really colors how I view Angel's entire character on both shows. Bringing Darla back was one of the smartest things Angel ever did, and their relationship deserves more love from fandom.

Oh, the epic highs and lows of Buffy/Spike...I have very complicated feelings about them as a ship, and ultimately my ideal endgame for them is that they end up as platonic buddies, but I can't deny that I do have a great fondness for a lot of their scenes together and I do think the arc of their relationship does a lot for Buffy's character. (Even if it also causes some problems for her character as well. 😬)

Okay in terms of characters who actually interacted significantly in the show it's probably Giles/Anya because their chemistry was weirdly off the charts but also I would just like to say that I think AtS would've been improved if Gunn had dated Harmony. They had a cute flirty moment in "Disharmony" and I think it could've been really interesting for both characters. Just saying.

[the-other-art-blog]

What do you think about the theories going around that they might announce Benedict to be bi by the end of this season? His character has always had queer undertones and the show runners have talked about making more stories with lgbtq inclusivity. As much as I love Sophie, I really don’t think they’re going to include a female lead next season

My short answer is: I've heard the rumors and even if they announce Ben as bi, he's still marrying Sophie. They already skipped Ben season, they're not going to change his story completely.

My long (really long) answer is:

I truly believe that Benedict wasn't supposed to be anything but straight. People saw him hanging out with ONE gay man, who was very much in love with another gay man, and decided he must be gay or bi too. It didn't matter that he went right to a threesome with 2 women. That storyline was merely to show Benedict how difficult life could be for some people and to stop being so judgmental and hypocritical. In the end, it was about SOPHIE BECKETT.

Bton team must have decided to keep Benedict's future open so as not to cause problems with the side of the fandom and press who would call them for supposedly queerbaiting. They consciously decided to pair him up with a woman in s2 and his poem was about a woman (another foreshadowing for SOPHIE BECKETT).

With Jess as the new showrunner, I think she decided to address Ben's sexuality and open a door for bisexuality to appease some people.

Let me just say that a lot of Benophies including me have embraced the idea of bisexual Ben, you just have to read fanfiction to see that. I am just concerned that certain people will be nasty to Sophie because they want Ben to marry a man.

I also don't think that a show whose main audience is women would erase a female lead. That would just be absolutely stupid.

They might experiment with secondary characters, but not the leads.

I'M TALKING POSSIBLE SPOILERS NOW!!!!!

I have heard about a threesome between Tilley, Benedict, and a man name Paul Suarez(?) We saw him in the trailer.

I've heard various versions. It seems Lady Tilley arranges the meeting, but I'm unsure if Ben agrees. Some people say he declines the offer. So, even if he is attracted to men, which he has never indicated in any shape or form, she is not ready to go physical. This is fine, bisexuality doesn't mean you MUST sleep with both sexes.

And honestly, if he does it, I wouldn't blame him. That man is gorgeous.

But again, it's pretty obvious that this is just to appease people. But really they are setting everything up for Benophie. There have been direct references to events from that book:

Violet moving out of Bridgerton house

Benedict losing his art

Benedict being an asshole to debutantes

All the mentions of Benedict excellent dancing skills

She's coming. SOPHIE BECKETT is coming.

Even more, they won't change canon couples because this is a business decision. The books are being republished with a tv tie-in cover. Let's say that Ben gets a male love interest, how would they do that cover? Are they going to bring a random woman to pose for him? It's the same for the other books, and some of them are too specific in the titles. Philip is going to be Eloise's husband in the show because the book is called To SIR PHILIP with Love, same for When HE Was Wicked, and It's in HIS Kiss.

[deandoesthingstome]

Okay, @itbmojojoejo. Mojo, after an evening of reflection, which included some very strange (and dare I say, cursed) dreams, I have the following commentary / Top 5 characters for you.

Under cut to save anyone who isn't following me for off-topic rants.

First, while I have watched, or at least been in the room with, a lot of anime over the years, it's never been an obsession and I don't really think it ever will be.

Don't get me wrong. The imagery is usually very visually stimulating and unique. So pretty/wierd/wtf to look at. And the storylines can be just as deep/intense/thoughtful/emotional as live action, but I think that's the difference for me. I can't quite get past the "pen & paper" of it.

So I'm never gonna ship myself with an anime character. And nothing at all against character shipping, but my brain isn't going there automatically and I'm probably not investing energy.

BUT, I do need something to keep me watching the pretty (or slimey/gloopy/messy) pictures, so let's dive in.

1. Toge. Salmon. (I was going to leave it at that, but...) Look. I'm an adult. Many of these stories are about children. And children can be screechy, annoying things at times. So this guy who only speaks in rice ball ingredients unless he's exercising curses is like a dream come true! Bonito flakes. (Plus, you were 1000% right about seeing more of him in JJK 0 and I really am fond of him, okay? Please tell me I'm still safe from heartbreak. No, don't say anything. I'll find out this weekend when I resume S2.)

2. Gojo. Obviously. He's the best and strongest. He's a sarcastic asshole giving his all to teach his students how to handle their shit and still has to put himself in harm's way and do some pretty unsavory things (killing cursed humans - waaahhhh) over and over. His hair is crazy. He walks around blindfolded. (I still haven't figured out why. Did I miss some dialog about it somewhere along the way?) And he's lost is best friend in possibly the worst way imaginable.

3. Yuji. First impressions. This was the initial storyline for S1 and I love his pink hair and absolutely insane decision to just fucking eat the finger to save his friend! I'm nervous for him because of Sukuna, but the tattoos (I think of the little Sukuna-faces on his face as tattoos, plus all Sukuna's tattoos) are neat.

4. Yuta. (Who I want to call Yutu because the fucking subtitles kept sticking U2 in for his name. And no, not everytime. He also had a million variations like Maki.) Who knew switching to JJK 0 would bring out this underdog? Heard about him in S1, but never met him, really until now. I was about to be torn because what a little shit, to curse his own friend like that. Who dooms themself to be linked forever to another person at like, age 5, even without a curse?? But it sounds like he didn't understand his own power/heritage and so, forgive. And also Rika is bad-ass.

5. Maki. I hated her in S1. What a bitch. But here we go again with backstory and I now admire her tenacity.

Bonus 1: Geto. Fine. Fine! I can admit this character deserves love. I guess. He's Gojo's best friend and a bad-ass technically, but also, what choice, man. What a choice. And, yes, the backstory helped clear up what is now happening in S2 (and S1 really, right?)

Bonus 2: Megumi. I'm sad for him. His father seemed like a total ass. And I love the parallel friendship with Yuji/ Gojo&Geto. Though does that mean...? No, don't say anything.

Sorry, I've lost a little steam on these, and honestly, the more I type, the more I am convincing myself there are other characters to love. Picking 5 (7) was hard. They all have their strong points and weaknesses (Mechamaru you total jerk! But also, the will to survive is so strong!) but I will not get sucked in...

Happy Friday!!!!