#i’m looking at you brightwell shippers

[emmymarieofthedreaming]

I love how any time people don’t like a female character or a ship they are in, they get automatically assumed to be misogynistic (or racist if the woman is a POC). Like maybe just maybe we just don’t like the ship cause they have zero chemistry and don’t like the character cause they are horribly written. Just a thought before you come attacking people.

[missshezz]

By now, we’ve all heard the news that the douchebags at Fox decided not to renew Prodigal Son and that they chose to announce it two episodes ahead of the finale to make the finale the finale. There’s a petition to save the show going around and fans have taken to Twitter to try and pull a miracle.

However, that isn’t going to stop me from criticizing what I feel are obvious flaws in the story. And since I love pissing people off, I am going for broke this time...

*spoilers from here on out for those who haven’t watched the episode*

... by calling out that Brightwell kiss as the most contrived, unnecessary and clear bit of fan service ever.

This will likely get me anon’d, flamed, and roasted on the Brightwell altars but it’s the truth. It was terrible. It expressly showcased exactly what Tom himself has said: that Malcolm isn’t in the right place for anything romantic. Someone who is so in love with someone they suck face at the worst moment and in the worst setting imaginable but then immediately goes back to their main thought?

Ain’t all that much in love.

You also cannot go from a scene last week where Dani essentially admits she’s not sure she sees Bright as a friend to her sucking face with him in a storage locker. It jumps the shark. It shatters the suspension of belief. Especially when you look back at the season as a whole and see how standoffish, sarcastic, and mistrustful she has been towards Malcolm.

Now, I know what some will say: it highlights Malcolm’s impetuousness. Harks back to his one-night stand with Eve. Some will also say it shows Dani has feelings for him.

Still terrible.

Totally a moment that could have been put somewhere else given the tenseness of the situation.

Folks, in short, there is no Brightwell. There’s not even a friendship at this point. They’re basically work friends. That’s it.

And I’m sorry but that doesn’t scream passion to me.

What this scene failed to do and should have done was have an open conversation that resolved some of the issues between them. Especially Dani admitting she blamed Bright and his family for Gil getting hurt and has avoided getting closer to him for that reason. Have we forgotten she essentially destroyed Gilica? I haven’t. That was a crucial moment in the show and it is a huge wedge still (along with, yanno, the terrible idea of Malcolm cutting up a man but I digress).

I know Brightwell folks are desperate for their ship to become canon. It shouldn’t be done at the expense of the story, characters, and the rest of the fandom. We got cheated of a great moment of character building just so you could get a kiss.

And that’s frustrating and annoying as all hell.

People are using Lucifer as their model for getting Prodigal Son saved. Well, here’s one big key difference between Lucifer and Prodigal Son: Deckerstar has been a solid slow burn from the start. Chloe and Lucifer went from combative partners to friends and then lovers. In-between they had conflicts, rad blocks, other relationships.

In short, the couple became real and tangible because they were written as real and tangible (insomuch as one can write a devilish angel). Their relationship grew as THEY grew.

This is simply fan fiction fodder.

Now, I am all for ship as you ship (long as you use tags for those who don’t ship because it is being polite).

When the ship sinks my ship, though?

Then we’re playing Battleship.

And I am a fiend at that game.

This was fan service designed to give the shippers what they wanted, nothing more, nothing less. Again, it came at the expense of the story, characters, and rest of the fandom who would have been fine with the heartfelt conversation the two had and allowed it to build into something more.

@ me, anon me, burn my name in effigy but I stand on my comments.

[fandompitfalls]

Prodigal Son and why Living Shouldn't Be Controversial

Originally posted 1/27/2021

After my last post I wasn’t sure what I would write about.  Several of my upcoming posts are research intensive and potentially controversial so as far as I’ve gotten on them was to put them in my book for blog post ideas and that’s about it.

And then Season Two of Prodigal Son aired. So what am I doing?  A research (not so intensive) and potentially controversial post.  At least I’m on brand.

For those who don’t really know the show: In its second season Prodigal Son is the story of ex-FBI profiler Malcolm Bright who was fired for his risk-taking habits and came back to the NYPD at the request of Captain Gil Arroyo.  Malcolm Bright is also Malcolm Whitly, the son of the influential and extremely wealthy Whitley family.  The Patriarch of the Whitly family, Dr. Martin Whitly, a convicted serial killer known as “the Surgeon”, is currently in a secure psychiatric facility. His son Malcolm put him there.  Malcolm now works for the NYPD under Gil’s team that includes Detectives JT Tarmel, and Detective Dani Powell and Medical Examiner Edrisa Tanaka. While not solving crimes, Malcom must deal with his tenacious television reporter sister Ainsley Whitly and their wealthy, hovering mother Jessica Whitly.  As well as his father who is trying to make his way back into his family’s life via Malcolm by assisting via telephone with certain cases.

Except for the Whitly’s (who while wealthy are probably not very good role models), the entire main cast is made up of people of color:  Filipino, Black, Asian.  While the first season was introductions to everyone and dealing with Malcolm’s lost memories regarding his father, the father/ son dynamic, cultivating a loyal fanbase and potentially starting some ships both purposefully and accidentally (I’m looking at you Brightwell and Maldrisa shippers), this second season started off with a bang.  Something that might have been relegated to a side plot, I feel, had become larger than this season’s overarching plot and will end up and absolutely deserved to be in equal standing.

In the first season, we are introduced to JT, the by the book detective who doesn’t like Bright in the beginning but by the end of the first season, they’re…okay. We also meet JT frankly adorable wife Tally and discover that he’s going to be a dad.

In season two, months have passed, and JT is acting Captain while Gil is out on medical leave.  He brings Bright in on a case involving a justice killer. At the end while back up is being sent to Bright’s apartment for the final conflict, Dani rushes up while backup is on its way and JT is right behind her.  He arrives moments before the back up and when they arrive, he directs them up to the apartment.  What happens instead is something we’ve all seen on the news this past summer. The first cop that arrives tackles JT and presses him against the wall, baton at his throat telling him to stop resisting.  The terror in JT’s eyes is startling as he realized that these officers, the one holding him and the other five who have their guns trained on him are not going to let him explain that he’s a cop.  It isn’t until Dani runs out holding her badge and Malcom following close behind, both of them yelling to stand down, that he’s a cop does the office let go of JT and step back.  Back at the station, Gil is furious and wants to take it to I.A., but JT insists it won’t do any good and he needs to think about it.  He has a family now and he doesn’t want the retaliation.  The scene ends with Gil, Dani and Bright supporting his decision and telling him they have his back.  JT is emotional and for good reason.  The people who are supposed to be working with him just tried to kill him.

Episode two didn’t let up; in the middle of a chase, Gil tells JT to call for back up and what happens is enraging.  As JT calls on his police issued walkie for backup, the person manning the other end tells him that the line if for police use only and uses the term “boy” before disconnecting.  Later, it shows JT and Dani standing outside the office watching Gil yell at the dispatch for not sending officers for a potential hostile situation.  JT decides to not file a report mentioning that he has a family to worry about and he must work with these people. It is harassment and emotional terrorism at its worst.

In the first episode this season, Dani and Bright are talking and Dani mentions the institutionalized racism she’s been dealing with. With this show being categorized as a police procedural, showing this sort of dangerous institutional racism within the police force is both tricky and important.  While police shows have mentioned an episode or two of racism within the force, it’s usually an episode and the one bad cop is taken to task by the white Captain and the entire thing is brushed over.  The good thing about this show is so far, all the people in power we’ve seen on the force have been people of color.  It also makes it harder to pull the “white savior” role as Bright, while on the team, has no real standing with the NYPD and could be kicked off cases in a heartbeat. Jessica, with all of her wealth and ties (or not, make up your mind Jess) to Gil, can’t really do anything expect throw money at the issue.  The brunt of the conflict will lie between Gil and his team facing the police force including these cops who “are just doing their job” and the veil of secrecy that lies within the Thin Blue Line. It’s not something that can be erased in a five-episode arc and I really hope it’s not.  The racism within the department has been established, it can’t be erased with the firing of the cop who attacked JT and it can’t be addressed with the Commissioner coming in to make everyone go to training to make it all magically go away.

The showrunners spent the entire first season introducing us and making us love these characters and given the current climate of the world, this was a bold and correct decision, one that needed to be addressed.  I know there is talk on message board stating that this season is too “political”.  Black Lives Matter, is not political, institutionalized racism within the police force is not political. Men and women of color that are on police forces are risking their lives to do good and make streets safer and do not deserve to wonder if they’re going to take “friendly” fire from one of their own.  This year we’ve heard too many stories of officers who were threatened out of uniform and officers who spoke up only to be removed from duty. This isn’t a new thing. Nobody should be murdered for living their lives, for sleeping, for complying with proper police requests.

Personally, as a white person, watching these scenes hurt.  Watching JT’s reactions hurt. Hearing someone who was supposed to have his back use a term that has racist undertones when said as it was, made me furious.  Which is what it’s supposed to do.  But this is also a dangerous road the showrunners are taking.  There is no clean and easy way out of this, to have it discussed and “fixed” isn’t reasonable nor believable anymore, to ignore it after three episodes isn’t doing it justice. I don’t know how this will turn out, but it absolutely needs to be addressed this season.  To the extent of having it a plot equal to Malcom’s covering up a murder and hiding the body without getting caught.

If you want more information or want to get involved, please look at the websites linked. It shouldn’t take a television show to spread awareness, but if it does, so much the better. People are starting to get involved with activism because media and it’s good (sometimes).  Television should start a conversation, that’s when it’s working best.

[killian-whump]

My relationship with the CS ship is strange. First I didn't care about it. Then one day suddenly I was a HUGE fan, I was eating, breathing, dreaming and living for CS. I was in every group of fans, I wrote FF, I went to ComicCon. Then everything started to fade away to the point that I gave away all my memorabilia. For years I didn't think about CS and just recently I started to feel some nostalgia for those CS years. I'm not a huge fan but I think I'll always look back at them and smile.

Aw, that’s sweet, Nonny <3 Thank you for sharing your story with me :)

I’ve had a bit of a rocky road with CS, personally. I was a Hooked Queen shipper when Hook first came on the show, because... Well, I never really cared for Emma as a character. It was the main reason I skipped out on Season 1. I just hadn’t really liked Jen in House, and I was disappointed she was the lead in Once, because the premise was interesting, but I just couldn’t get into it. Also, as much as I love fairy tale variations (I was a HUGE fan of Fables!), I tend to get antsy when storylines revolve around the audience knowing something (in this case, that they’re all fairy tale characters) that the characters don’t know.

ANYWAY, back on the subject at hand... I loved Hook the moment I laid eyes on his sexy, sassy self. So I was a casual watcher of S2-3, but solely for him and him alone. I basically just wandered into the living room whenever I happened to hear his voice, lol. “Mmm... I hear eye candy in the next room...” XD

Anyway, I didn’t really like him with Emma. I ended up missing their first kiss with my casual viewing habits, or else I might’ve gotten on board when she kissed the ever-loving crap out of him (that’s my jam, don’tchaknow). Instead, I only started to think “I could ship this” when he flung himself into the portal after her in the S3 finale. S4 is when I became a full-time watcher, because there were TWO things I wanted to see at that point: Hook’s smexy face and Frozen.

I still wasn’t super into CS, though. It was okay, yeah, but I still wished he’d been paired with Regina instead. That ship, though, had sailed.

Anyway, I fell completely and irrevocably down the Hook (and Colin) rabbit hole in S5, when the whump-o-rama went on in the very middle of the season. And when I fall fully down a rabbit hole... I always wanna write lots of ridiculously whumpy hurt/comfort fics. But that left me with a conundrum, as I still didn’t really care for Emma/CS - but also didn’t feel right pairing Hook with anyone else in my fics (I’m kind of a stickler for canon compliance).

So I decided to rewatch ALL of the CS scenes from Hook’s first appearance all the way through to the current (at the time) episodes... and that was when I fell down the CS rabbit hole and came to actually enjoy it :) And, as a result, I also came to enjoy Emma, as well. I still wouldn’t say she’s one of my favorite characters... but I don’t dislike her as I once did. She’s cool. She can stick around, lol.

But then S6 happened... and OH MY FUCK was I mad. They took everything I liked about CS and more-or-less ret-conned it and replaced it with all the very things I didn’t like about it in the beginning. Like... Fuck you, show? They literally made me angry almost every episode. I wanted to throttle someone. I felt like I’d invested in a ship just to have someone pull the rug out from under me and be like, “HAHAHAHAHA BITCH, YOU THOUGHT” and I no likeyed that.

And then S7 happened... and I fell back down the Hooked Queen hole in a MAJOR way and I would’ve shipped the fucking hell out of that if the show had continued, but alas... I shall have to be content with the great content we got in the finale and just assume that Wish Hook and Regina totally got together post-series. No, I am not accepting criticism about that at this time ;)

So... yeah. A bit of a bumpy road there for me and CS. But ultimately, I DO enjoy them and I think Colin did a great job playing a romantic lead and I don’t know if he really would’ve pursued that kind of role, so I’m glad it turned into what it did, so everyone can see (including Colin himself!) that he can do it so well :)

But admittedly, my interest in CS has majorly waned as of late. It’s not anything about the ship itself that’s done it - it’s more a matter of me being more invested in Colin’s recent and upcoming roles than I am in Hook... and also the fact that Brightwell (from Fox’s Prodigal Son) has completely taken me by storm and is my #1 OTP at the moment.

Like you, though, I have no animosity for it. The ship’s like a warm blanket on a cold winter night. Or a leather-clad pirate bringing over a space heater and rubbing my shoulders <3

[2am-euphoria]

All I could think about last night was Sunrise and Your Sins and while I loved how the episode turned out it would’ve also been nice if it followed what you imagined! I’m making all 6 chapters be canon prt. 2

This is such an honor! Thank you for saying that!

I think many of us (especially the Brightwell shippers) were expecting 1.) Malcolm to be in the cabin and 2.) for Dani to find him. While that’s not how it turned out I respect their thinking... But also, give us some concerned!Dani becoming relieved!Dani, like pls the poor girl was falling to pieces over her boy being missing.

Maybe we’ll get some good content in the next episode-in the promo it looks like Dani’s talking to Jessica and I HOPE it’s because Dani’s been watching out for him.

[missshezz]

Hi ! I hope you're doing fine. ☺️ I know that it has already been pointed out, but seriously why everyone hypes Brightwell so much ? Dani is freaking abusive to him. She literally punched him while he was having a panic attack, pointed a gun at his head while he was the one being attacked, she watched him get tazed a million times and didn't care, she dismisses his feelings and reduced his Depression, Anxiety, and mental illness to him being "cursed" ! Decline of mental health is no joke.

Hi, anon! I’m doing well and hope you’re doing the same! ☺️

Unfortunately, shippers don’t look at things like that and realize how it goes against their ship. They just see two hot people they like together and that’s the end of it for them. Which is fine. Pool is big enough for all of us here. However, everything you just pointed out is why I can’t get on the Brightwell ship (and is a large reason why I continue writing my own little PSon universe). Season 1 started things right with Dani being wary and cautious but befriending Bright. We learned she has massive trust issues and is rather guarded because of it. There was a foundation there for a friendship to blossom and possibly deepen into something more.

However, her attitude did this 180 from when Bright was accused by Swanson of helping Watkins (and she defended him, along with JT) to when he was accused of murdering Eddie. There was no “this isn’t Bright” from her. It was pretty much “the evidence is” and “you went to see Eddie” so it has to be you. I get being a police officer and the evidence being damning (plus Bright was acting suspicious) but she gave him no room and never stopped to consider that someone like Endicott could have easily set Bright up. Even if we take that was simply her trust issues, they didn’t build things up enough to establish them as anything but work friends. The only time they see each other is at work (or when she takes him home or they’re at a hospital). It’s just not there no matter what the shippers say.

Then we go into season 2 and as you said she’s openly hostile to Bright on many occasions, dismisses him, mocks him, and even holds his family against him (as evidenced by the comments Jessica overheard and which pulled her away from Gil). However, we’re supposed to believe she has fallen in love with him by the time of that horribly placed kiss in the finale and will run off with him to live happily ever after.

I don’t see it.

In fact, I expect we’d have gotten more of the same Dani attitude if we had gotten a season three with her telling him she doesn’t like him. Tom also made it quite clear in a number of interviews he doesn’t view Malcolm as being in love with Dani, either. She’s just comfortable. Someone he trusts (and IMO maybe shouldn’t given how quickly she’s turned on him before and yanno, the entire disastrous Endicott storyline that I maintain is what aided in the death of the show) and doesn’t feel he needs to pretend around. He’s love starved, touch starved, and desperate for normalcy. It makes sense he would latch onto someone who shows him an ounce of compassion and understanding (like his ill-fated relationship with Eve).

As a ship, though, this makes a lot more sense than some I could name but it still doesn’t function enough for me to get behind it.

Thanks for dropping by! 🥰