#i've never seen David be so blatant

[catastrophicdisasters]

apologies, i'm still angry abt TUA S4

so, if we take out all of the blatant issues with the season (character assassination, 'resolutions' that create more plotholes than they solve, rushed scenes that make no sense, side plots that go nowhere, raymond vanishing for no reason, etc etc), what are we left with? let's see:

fatphobia (multiple jokes made about 'chubby Diego', when David just looks hydrated and healthy)

SA played for jokes (it's clear that Klaus having sex while possessed is supposed to be funny, but he's being held hostage and forced to do this for money, when we already know he didn't even want his powers back??)

cheating

problematic / borderline problematic age gaps (either way you spin it, either Five is physically 20-26 while Lila is likely mid 40s, or Five is mentally 70s while Lila is mid 40s; Aidan was 19 while filming, and Ritu was 34)

waiting for the actor to come of age before introducing a romance (we already know what some fans can be like over Five/Aidan, this will not have helped; I would be horrified if I found out the show runners had planned a romance arc with a coworked 15 years older than me and then waited for me to turn legal age to execute it)

sexism (i was reluctant to call it that but i also don't know what else to call it - Lila basically had her agency stripped away to become the love interest two men fought over; Steve wanted Five to have a romance and didn't care who with - use Lila simply because she was there)

complete disregard of character trauma (Klaus being buried alive despite it having been mentioned in every prior season that he was locked in a mausoleum by Reginald, including literally being left to die)

possible overstepping of an actor's boundaries (i've not been able to verify this, but i've seen it said that robert sheehan has requested not to do sex scenes?) (still havent been able to prove this; wasn't an issue with other roles so... hesitant to leave it)

actors requests being ignored (David asked multiple times if the Lila cheating sideplot was required, but clearly it went ahead anyway)

bad cgi

that awful vomit montage

Reginald (im not quite calling it abuse forgiveness but uh. it's not far off tbh)

i don't even know what to call this, but basically told the Hargreeves the abuse they suffered was their fault because they shouldn't even exist??

what did i miss? (im sure there's something)

from the replies:

the song in the ep3 dance scene uses a slur for romani people (and is also about a man and an underage girl)

SA dismissal (it's literally never addressed that Allison SA'd Luther last season. like, at all. everything's just a-okay now!)

more sexism (Allison's arc was also reduced to serving men; there's a single line to explain that Ray left, with no mention of why (i could go OFF about this but this post isn't supposed to be about mishandling of characters); even after everything, all her bonding with Claire comes through Klaus's storyline. also, Sloane is just gone and nobody gives a shit - Luther has one line and that's it??)

so many issues with consent (all of the girls shown in the place Klaus works look drugged / Klaus doesn't want to be there and doing any of that, it's all against his wishes / they all get their powers back against their wishes - although they do tell Ben that wasn't his choice to make / Klaus gets his powers back against his will when Allison is pressured to do it to save his life)

[casscainmainly]

Cassandra Cain and Asian Stereotypes

So I've seen people debating whether Cass is a racist character or not because she falls into certain Asian stereotypes. While this discussion is valid and important, a lot of the conversation (on this website and beyond) is steered by White/non-Asian people, or people who haven't read a lot of Cass' stuff. This is my take on Cass and Asian stereotypes as a Chinese Cass fan. I do not speak for all Asians, or even all Chinese people, who are absolutely free to disagree with any of these arguments.

Stereotypes I will cover here: Silent Asian, Model Minority, and Hypersexuality.

The Silent Asian Stereotype

The most obvious stereotype Cass runs into is the Silent Asian. I would recommend reading the linked article for more information. Silent Asian characters are Asians who are part of a core cast, but rarely speak. Kimiko Miyashiro in The Boys, Lilly in Pitch Perfect, and Katana in Suicide Squad are all examples of this. The article also mentions Ben from Umbrella Academy, who can only communicate with one character, thus limiting his dialogue.

Why does this happen? Removing Asian characters' dialogue reflects the Western conception of Asians as demure, rule-following, and meek, never speaking up or acting out. It also means writers don't have to spend as much time writing these Asian characters, who are secondary to White protagonists.

The problem with the Silent Asian, then, is not the silence itself, but the consequences of silence. Mute Asians exist, as do Asians who don't speak much; in media, Silent Asians are harmful because they indicate an unwillingness to focus on the Asian character.

This is why Cass, even before she learns to speak longer sentences, is not a Silent Asian. While her conception undoubtedly has unfortunate echoes of this trope, she defies it by being the protagonist of the story. A protagonist cannot be a Silent Asian, because a requirement of the trope is being a secondary character. Cass' feelings and actions are the center of Batgirl (2000), so allegations of this stereotype don't actually make sense.

Furthermore, the trope is about passivity and acquiescence to a White authority. From her introduction, Cass is neither passive nor acquiescent - her origin story is literally about defying David Cain, a White male authority figure. Beyond her not speaking much, she ticks none of the boxes for this stereotype. I think it's time for people to stop mentioning this stereotype in conjunction with Cass, who in every possible way subverts it.

The Model Minority Stereotype

The model minority myth is the belief that Asians are more successful and talented than others, particularly other minoritised groups. Like the Silent Asian, the model minority myth paints Asians as obedient and submissive. This is, in many ways, more insidious than the Silent Asian - there are still people who believe this stereotype (and jokes like 'of course you're good at math, you're Asian') is somehow not racist.

Though this myth seems positive, make no mistake that White people invented this tale for two reasons: to put down Black and Brown communities, and to prevent Asians from ever fully assimilating into White culture.

Cass plays on this myth very interestingly. I've discussed in this post how David Cain and Bruce's assertion that she's 'perfect' is a blatant reference to the model minority myth - by describing her as 'perfect' to them, they are centering their own desires, erasing Cass' individuality.

This is partially why I don't like 'Cass is Bruce's favourite' and 'Cass is an angel who can do no wrong' interpretations when people are just saying it without context. Cass being Bruce's favourite, or Bruce seeing her as an angel, is not a good thing - it is a representation of his biased attitude towards her. He is unable to accept her being a murderer because he is trapped within the model minority mindset. This is not saying Bruce is a full-on racist, but that his actions and perspectives are coloured by his Whiteness.

Cass' abrasive personality, willingness to defy Bruce and David, and very real flaws (her inability to see grey areas, communication difficulties, etc.) make her avoid this stereotype. Additionally, her close relationships with Black characters like Onyx and Duke are essential to combating the anti-Blackness at the core of the model minority myth. Her character evokes the stereotype (perfect martial arts silent fighter), but ultimately defies it through being the star of her own story (and also not being good at math. The fact she doesn't have anything to do with tech is actually one of my favourite aspects of her character, because I am TIRED of tech Asian characters).

The Hypersexual Asian Woman Stereotype

Asian women are often exoticised and fetishised as the ideal sexual partner; think of the term 'yellow fever', which describes men lusting after Asian women. The hypersexualisation of Asian women in media once again goes hand-in-hand with Asians being submissive. They are seen as innocent and child-like, while simultaneously being seductive and sexually experienced.

This stereotype is genuinely perpetuated in Batgirl (2000), mainly by the art in Horrocks' run. Where in Puckett's run there is refreshingly little sexualisation of Cass, once you hit Horrocks' run you get a LOT more shots of her lying down, sexually suggestive covers, etc. People have discussed this already, probably to more effect than I will do here.

However, as I wrote in my Gender and Sexuality posts, the writing is actually fairly defiant of this trope. Cass is vocally uncomfortable with hypersexualisation, and neither of her male love interests stick around. The problem with the Hypersexual Asian Woman is the focus on White sexual interests, where the woman is objectified for the White male gaze. Simply because Cass is the protagonist, the writing focuses on her sexual interests, and in the end it's about gaining control of her gender presentation and sexuality.

Cassandra Cain Vs. Asian Stereotypes

The through-line that connects all these Asian stereotypes is a lack of agency. There's a reason passiveness is the main trait for all of these tropes- the Asian body must be weaker than their White counterparts, in order to be tools or weapons against other minoritised groups.

Cassandra Cain, a character born from a choice that defies White male authority, rises above this passiveness with flying colours. The details of her character certainly fall into some of the above tropes, and the way her character is handled later (evil Cass, New 52), is certainly racist. However, the reason she means so much to me is because at its core, her story is a story of Asian agency. And that in itself is unstereotypical.

[popironrye]

Max's reveal at the end of The Lost Boys is another one of those scenes I've been overthinking about. Particularly the few seconds post revelation that the boys were all dead.

When Max and Lucy return home he takes little time to head to where David died. An obvious choice given the fates of the other boys what with Paul being soup, Dwayne blown to pieces, and Marko's body being way back in the cave.

In the background Sam, the Frog brothers, and Lucy are pretty loudly arguing and talking over each other in the other room but this scene is eerily quiet. The scene plays out is a realistic view of mourning. Max's actions here are rather tender and you can tell by the look on his face that seeing David like this does have an affect on him.

There's a blatant pause. I like to think that was Max grieving, coming to terms with what's happened. His boys are gone, probably reliving a lot of memories. It's never revealed, but I choose to believe Max turned David first, and the following boys were slowly turned the same way Michael was, by drinking Max's or David's blood. And I headcanon he was turned a long time ago, meaning Max had a lot of years with the boys. He is shown as hostile in the beginning to them when they come in the video store, but I like to think that's just Max wanting to keep a reasonable distance to keep suspicious eyes from prying (and to keep things a twist for the audience) especially since he's playing the childless bachelor as that's what's has worked for them for so long so far (although come on Max, if you played up the single father to Lucy, you would have totally won. Just saying.)

But what about the rest of that scene? Max recovers pretty quickly from losing his boys. While some may argue it's because Max didn't really care for them, I choose to believe that's not the case at all. I think he's putting on a face to remain calm in front of the others, especially Lucy. Since he still wants to turn her into his vampire bride, even without his boys to mother. Perhaps he could just be thinking he can start his vampire boys over with others boys, but then there's THIS scene!

The scene where Star reveals to the audience that David was hiding Max's involvement from her and Michael. David wasn't just keeping Max a secret, Star declares that he was "the secret David was protecting." Key word being, 'protecting'. Max's identity as the head vampire is important and it's in his best interest for the vampire boys to be seen around him as little as possible. Especially since Sam figured it out early on in the movie he was one of them. And so, David and the boys choose to act on their own most of the time. Not only to give themselves the feeling of carefree freedom, but also to keep Max safe. And it's clearly a situation they all like, or at least tolerate, as while there is no hope in them turning back if Max were killed first, but David and the others had no intention of ratting him out and letting him die.

My favorite part of this scene. Max's smile. After Star says her line, Max nods in agreement, but the smile afterwards is interesting. I think he looks proud. Proud of David. Proud to have heard that David, even as he died, was protecting him. I choose to believe Max cared a lot for the boys and I also choose had he be given the chance later, would feel very lonely without them.

[beemoon17]

My Personal Fox Rankings

I saw @yourleftpinkytoe-blog do this and thought I'd give it a go! These are just my personal rankings and obviously I'd love to talk about why or hear about anyone else's.

Kevin Day (I relate to his mental health struggles and his need for perfection, he's giving gifted kid syndrome, autistic af)

Andrew Minyard (Devoted to his family, enforces his boundaries, relate to his mental health struggles, killing for his brother)

Neil Josten (Most of my love for him is because of his love for other characters, his loyalty and protectiveness over the family he found in the Foxes and his absolute devotion to respecting Andrew's boundaries)

David Wymack ("It's about second chances, Neil. Second, third, fourth, whatever, as long as you get at least one more than what anyone else wanted to give you." I think that covers all my reasoning)

Seth Gordon (We don't get to learn as much about him as the others but Seth hit me a lot harder than I've seen most people feel. He wanted to prove himself, he wanted to be better, he wanted to win. He's the what if. The almost. Every kid who couldn't be saved, Who gave up or was given up on a minute too soon. He was almost there. And then he was gone.)

Aaron Minyard (I have a weak spot for sibling relationships, killing for his brother, the urge to protect your siblings and to stay by your siblings side and at the same time wanting to prove you can be more or different or better than them, not understanding each other completely but knowing you stand and fall together always.)

Matt Boyd (100% projected every urge I've ever had to have a big brother onto him. The way he's always there on the Court to physically protect his teammates, he's big and strong and powerful, but off the Court he is kind and caring and gentle. He loves the Foxes and he has their backs. His relationship with Neil was everything.)

Nicky Hemmick (I loved his blatant and unavoidable queerness, for a character who has canonically been shammed and abused for his sexuality and coming from a world myself where I don't feel safe or brave enough to be unapologetically queer it's so beautiful to read. He took in the twins, he never gave up on them, never walked away. The twins weren't easy, not before the story started and not when we get to arrive in it, but he loves his family and he wants them to have better than he did, and that means something.)

Dan Wilds (Oh Captain my Captain. Dan is an amazing leader and my love for her comes from her devotion to her team. She is tough and she worked her ass off for the role she has, she's more than earned her share of respect. She believes in her team even after years of failing and bullshit.)

Betsy Dobson (The therapist we all dream of having. If Andrew could trust her I can't imagine anyone couldn't with enough time. She is a safe space and a constant, and clearly has patience for days with the twinyards as her clients. The fact that she provides hot chocolate is 100% a huge plus for me.)

Abby Winfield (Always there for the Foxes, whether that's patching them up, giving them a roof to sleep under, or cooking warm meals. She's a safe adult like Bee and Wymack and they are so very important and precious.)

Allison Reynolds (I love Allison, her being this low is NOT Allison hate, I simply did not connect with her as much as other characters, she is still dear to me, all of the Foxes are. She is devoted to the Foxes and found them somewhere safe to run off to and have some fun after shit went down. and even when the worst possible thing happens and she loses the man she loves she comes back ready to fight because she knows it's what he would've wanted.)

Renee Walker (Once again NOT Renee hate, all of those Foxes are dear to me. I had trouble with her "religious angel girl" attitude in a similar way to Neil, I just couldn't trust it. Renee is an amazing force within the Foxes, the bridge before Neil arrived, providing Andrew with an outlet and a friend, protecting the upperclassmen Foxes. I admire her for pulling herself out of darkness, even if I can't connect to the religious aspect, and I admire that she acknowledges and respects her old life, not burying it but not letting it control her future or her present day.

[orionsangel86]

I find it so infinitely funny that the Doctor Who creators were like "well its inevitable that David Tennant will return again at some point so lets just make it easy for him" and wrote it so that 14 gets to go on and live a happy ending but still keep his own Tardis and have adventures if he wants to whilst knowing that The Doctor is still out there saving the universe like... part of me is so mad about it for being such an obvious way to keep David Tennant around because they know he's the golden nugget that boosts the ratings everytime (sorry but he is) but the other part of me is that David Tennant obsessed bitch who squeels with joy everytime he is on my screen and the thought that he may just come back to Doctor Who every now and again fills me with so much joy and has healed some of my trauma from having to say goodbye to him 15 years ago.

At the same time this is ridiculous and as wonderful as Ncuti was (he was seriously brilliant) there will be a subsection of Who fans just itching to see what David Tennant is up to and that makes me feel a bit sad for Ncuti and his Doctor.

I also feel a bit robbed of the emotional moment I was fully anticipating throughout the specials. I was fully expecting to have to watch DT regenerate again and relive some of the pain and sadness I felt saying goodbye to him 15 years ago, and honestly I was sort of looking forward to that because its rare that a show makes me feel that way about a character and DTs Doctor is one of very few that I do feel that way about. Part of me really WANTED to see that regeneration and feel those feelings again.

Also funny that there are now TWO former Doctors with David Tennants face out in the universe somewhere separate from The Doctor. The one with Donna, and the one with Rose. I always figured if DT returned he would play TenTwo. I was hoping at some point to see what became of them but this new canon makes that seem less likely idk.

So I am very split on my feelings over the 60th specials. I love them and am annoyed at the same time. I have already seen grumblings about David Tennant favouritism and well, yeah, I agree, its super blatant, but I also totally am on the side of David Tennant as he's the only Doctor I've ever loved and will continue to love so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I dunno. It was joyful. It was so joyful. I shouldnt complain. It means we could potentially see more of DT in DW again in the future and I will never complain about that. But I can recognise that this is an attempt to revise the popularity of a show that had long since passed its golden age by bringing back its golden boy and there is something a bit cheap and disengenuous about that if you pick at it too much.

So I'll leave it there. I loved it regardless. I am looking forward to 15s era and hope it can recapture my attention the way 11, 12, and 13 never could. But we shall see.

[ingravinoveritas]

The only thing I dislike about this is that we never got to see Michael’s reaction to it...

Power couple

[casasupernovas]

I said I was gonna talk about misconceptions about Martha Jones so now I'm gonna.

The Smith and Jones Tardis scene:

Martha's theme is playing. It's smooth, sultry and very underrated. Everything is going swimmingly, right up until Martha is literally too smart for her own good. She sees the Tardis console, the size of the place and immediately asks if anyone else on board. To help fly this thing? I need to stress here, that it is the Doctor that has a very hostile response and starts adding all these ultimatums to Martha travelling with him. Outside he says "fancy a trip" which every viewer probably did not read as a single trip, as one of the most used promotional material for the newly revived Doctor Who was the "trip of a lifetime". But after Martha asks this, he mentions Rose then says "not that you're replacing her" which seems more a comment to himself than Martha despite it's direction, and Martha smoothly responds that was not her intention "I never said I was" because of course isn't, this is literally the first time she has heard of Rose. Then he snaps that it's only one trip. This only happens because Martha is too observant. And because she is observant, she says exactly what the audience is thinking, or at least, immediately states how this entire episode looked. Imagine watching Smith and Jones as your very first Doctor Who episode. Removing the 'genetic transfer'. Strange man winks and grins at woman he has never met, sizes her up in terms of intelligence and picks her as his 'companion' to investigate the strange occurance of the Royal Hope being transported to the moon. Looks her up and down some more as they stand outside looking at the moon. Suprise! He's an alien! Runs from danger holding hands with this woman he has only just met, (holding hands is definitely a RTD era thing and not exclusive to Martha, but it's not exactly something you just do with a stranger). Skip forward to later in the episode, follows woman to her brother's birthday party, suggestive smile to follow him, then proceeds to go out of his way to impress woman with spaceship that can travel in time.

Even without the kiss, the entire thing is very flirtatious and Martha addresses this in the Tardis. I've seen people say she was being 'too suggestive' and 'sexualising' the Doctor which I think is such a disenegous take, because her comments on his appearance are very clearly an in universe way of commenting on the direction the show had now taken. David Tennant himself had become something of a sex symbol in the UK because of his role in the show, as one of the more 'attractive' actors to take up the role, and the show fed into this too. One of his biggest roles prior to the show was as one of the most famous womanizers in history, Giacamo Casanova. David and Russell T Davies have commented on how some of Casanova's 'isms were used in Doctor Who, and it was through Casanova that David got the role in the first place. They had a whole episode to have a big kiss moment between 'Rose' and the Doctor to play into this more romantic and provacative image. 'The Girl In The Fireplace' is a more blatant example. And all of this runs off the back of 'The Doctor Dances' euphemism. And the Doctor's appearance had changed for Series 3 too. He had his famous brown suit, long coat, converse. But now, he was a in a new tight blue suit. It's very insincere to act like Martha's comments were uncalled for, it was clearly the writers way of addressing his new look and what kind of Doctor the tenth incarnation was. The Doctor fervently denies leading her on of course, almost like a parent scolds a child, and it's kind of laughable that the Doctor denies being aware of how he comes across to others. 'Vanity issues'. This is of course the same Doctor that only looks this way because he wanted to be a younger looking version for Rose. I've seen people say this is a more forward-thinking way of making a male/female relationship as it's mainly the woman who in stories changes for the man, but I don't think this makes that trope any less problematic and Rose ends up assimilating into Doctor so much that even Jackie notices it so she still changes for a man.

Besides, we all know that if we rewind to the moment Martha sees him around the corner, following him, then seeig him leaning against the Tardis, we can see he knew exactly what he was doing. The whole thing looked very 'inviting' let's say. It's annoying though, that in his denial he appears to make Martha feel bad for thinking any of this when that's exactly how it came across. Even when he explains the kiss was just a 'genetic transfer' and had said it meant nothing, it begs the question - why didn't he just kiss her hand or something? It would have been better if he had just licked her face, it would have been funny and worked as a great companion piece to 'barefoot on the moon'. He saw an opportunity and he took it. It's funny, because the Doctor contradicts himself a lot in this season, and the kiss is a perfect example of what the dynamic he would eventually have with Martha would be like - say one thing, then do the complete opposite afterwards.

Of course, all of this is excused from fans because he's acting this way because he's still upset about Rose. Falling for someone nee didn't occur to him as a possibility, we see this in The Family of Blood. I saw a take (think I tumblrd about it too) about how Martha should have realised the Doctor was hurting when he mentioned her, and I need you guys to actually stop and think. Saying that it was 'obvious' that he was in pain when talking about Rose is so untruthful. He just sounded like he was dumped by an ex and is bitter about it. I saw someone say that even Donna knew not to push it so Martha should have. But Donna met him seconds after Bad Wolf Bay and didn't question him more about Rose because the pain there was palpable and besides, she was rightfully more concerned about herself and didn't start being all nice to him because she realised he might be in 'pain'. And Martha didn't push him on Rose, she pressed him on himself and the way he had acted. Not Rose. But you lot are very unfair and blatantly misconstrue things as a way to dislike her so you can wallow in your grief over the previous companion. I just need you to recognise that it's unfair. And the Doctor's behaviour in subsequent episodes don't make it any better. What did he say in Gridlock? That he was showing off? Mhhm.

Part 2 is imminent.

[write-nerdy-to-me]

For someone first getting into the ship, what would you say your favorite captain swan fanfics are? I guess I'm asking you because I've read the tags on some of the captain swan posts you've reblogged, and what seems to draw you to them as a couple hits me too. I lay myself at the mercy of your taste 🙏

oh gosh, i'm honored. captain swan have held a special place in my heart for years, and i'm delighted to hear that you've boarded the ship. but to be honest with you, i only started reading ouat fics semi-recently, so my rec list will be small. even at the mercy of my taste, if you don't vibe with any of these that is totally okay. (i know i am a picky bitch, which may or may not play into why the list is short.)

thank you for the ask, anon! 💜

(fics listed in no particular order below the cut)

something suspiciously like hope | rated G The moment Captain Hook opens himself up to the possibility of love (Season 2, Episode 9)

all love is time travel | rated T Killian has long been a captain, and so he does not show weakness or indecision unless he wishes to. Still, the desire to vouch for their chances of success is difficult to balance with the pressing need to school those uninformed of Neverland’s horrors as to the dangers that lie ahead. All this, under the sneer of Cora’s daughter and the reptile stare of his greatest enemy. All this, before Emma Swan.

wait for the morning (i'll be waiting for you) | rated T When Emma still feels like danger is just around the corner, even after Pan’s curse is averted, she takes to wandering Storybrooke’s streets at night. She’s not the only one. Differences in timing and circumstance can change everything - but some things are inevitable.

keep your heart beating | rated G A short missing/extended scene of Emma returning Killian's heart. A little angst, a little fluff. For anyone who watched that scene and needed it to be a million times longer.

learning how to breathe | rated G Set soon after Dark Hollow at some nebulous point. Emma confronts her parents about Neal, and it leads to a heart-to-heart with a certain pirate.

it would kill me (if you didn't know) | rated M (Blatant disregard of canon to follow--don't make me rewatch the show, please) They saved Henry but all got separated in the process, and when they finally made it back to the ship, Emma realized that they were down a man. She's just gonna have to save him. This features some pretty awesome Emma/David bonding, too. This is a classic 'Killian's been taken while saving them and now he's being tortured and Emma isn't gonna stand for it' fic. I've read them all, and I just needed more. POV switches 3rd person between Killian and the others.

killian, persuaded | rated T AU — Storybrooke — When a stunning betrayal forces Killian Jones to reevaluate his life, he finds himself unexpectedly rescued by his estranged brother. Traveling to Maine to meet the family he didn’t know existed, he immediately comes face-to-face with the woman he pushed away a decade before. This time around he’s determined to be a better man and, if he’s lucky, win back the only woman he ever loved. Basically a Hallmark movie with OUAT characters. (The Romance One)

in the offing | rated M AU - Storybrooke - Emma Swan is drafted to help Liam Jones clear his brother’s name in the disappearance of a former flame. As she digs deeper into the rash of missing person cases, she risks losing more than just her heart as she uncovers the truth. (The Mystery One)

a drowning soul will clutch at any straw | rated T Though this is far from Killian Jones' first encounter with a mermaid, he's never met any quite like this blonde siren. Together, can they break a cruel curse?

sea-foam eyes and a salt-water smile | rated T Killian Jones has seen a lot of things in his job as a private investigator for supernatural beings - but the selkie who walks into his office asking for help is something new and mesmerizing.

[beardedmrbean]

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking flak from Christians who are offended by his multi-state billboard campaign that promotes abortion by quoting Jesus.

Last week, Newsom took to Twitter to tout the billboards his gubernatorial campaign is erecting in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and four other "anti-freedom" states where abortion is restricted or outlawed.

Some versions of the billboards, all of which urge women in such states to come to California to get abortions, advertise the state's easily obtainable abortions by quoting Mark 12:31, where Jesus says, "Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these."

Newsom tagged several GOP governors in his Twitter thread, including Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves. The billboards are also going up Indiana, South Carolina and South Dakota.

NORTH CAROLINA PREGNANCY CENTER DEFIANT AFTER PRO-ABORTION VANDALISM: ‘SPIRITUAL WARFARE’

"The idea that Newsom is using the words of Jesus Christ, the Holy Scriptures, to promote the killing of unborn children as somehow loving and commanded by God is quite frankly disgusting," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law & Justice, in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"This is a blatant, political fundraising ploy to boost his own political profile and presidential aspirations. The people are smarter than that. It just won’t work," Sekulow added.

Many Twitter users echoed Sekulow's sentiment, including Matthew P. Schneider, a Roman Catholic priest who serves as adjunct professor of theology at Belmont Abbey College in Charlotte, North Carolina. He described Newsom's billboards as "one of the [worst] distortions of a Bible passage I've ever seen."

"Shame on [Newsom] and his government," Schneider said. "The most basic level of loving your neighbor as yourself is not killing your neighbor, yet that's exactly what abortion does."

CHRISTIANITY QUICKLY DIMINISHING IN US, ON PACE TO BECOME MINORITY RELIGION IN DECADES: STUDY

"This is satanic," tweeted Ryan Hilderbrand, a Roman Catholic priest from Indiana.

"Imagining the devil in his advertising office at the top of the highest skyscraper in hell giggling to himself as [Newsom] uses Jesus’ own words to support killing babies," said Catholic Answers, a Catholic media ministry that went on in a nine-tweet thread to excoriate the Democrat governor for having "twisted" the words of the Bible.

Explaining how the verse Newsom cited was removed from the context of Jesus affirming the Old Testament command "to love the Lord your God with all your heart" as "the greatest commandment," Catholic Answers tweeted, "No surprise here. Satan, having no imagination, can only ‘create’ by perverting the good not of his making. Likewise, it seems, for Gavin Newsom."

"Wow ... So murdering your innocent unborn child is somehow ‘loving your neighbor,’" tweeted The Christian Outlook, a Christian media outlet. "Let's all pray for [Newsom], that he might get saved and see the value God places on every life, born and unborn."

JOSH BARRO SLAMS GAVIN NEWSOM AS ‘GROSS AND EMBARRASSING,’ SAYS ‘SLEAZY’ GOVERNOR WILL NEVER BE PRESIDENT

"Your religious beliefs have no place in our politics. Except when we want to use them to troll people we hate, that’s fine," tweeted canon lawyer Ed Condon, who also founded Catholic publication "The Pillar."

"'Good Catholic' [Newsom] is now using Bible scriptures to encourage women to come to California to abort their babies," wrote David Giglio, a former congressional candidate who is also a Catholic. "A truly shameful display. Meanwhile, in CA crime continues to skyrocket, the cost of living is out of control, and the state can't even keep the lights on."

The official Twitter account of the Mississippi GOP replied to Newsom's taunt by tweeting simply: "Hey, [Newsom]. Is your electricity back on?"

Newsom's campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment by time of publication.

[ingravinoveritas]

Hello there! I hope you are doing well (as well as someone who has completed watching season 2) First of all congrats on moving into a new house! I'm still having lots of Feelings™ to process after finishing the second season.. oh god the acting, the genuine emotions on the faces of both Michael and David this time around... I'm simultaneously radiating happiness and being utterly destroyed. And the increasing intimacy between them in the interviews is not helping matters either... I think (this has been marinating in my head for a while) one of the reasons they are doing this is to physically reassure each other that they are not apart, they are still a team and still on their side, because after the heart wrenching ending of the season, it would have been very hard for them to come to terms with it, as they had put their whole beings, their whole souls into playing Azi and Crowley, which might have made it difficult to draw a line where the characters ended and they begin... So the touches, their body language became a sort of coping mechanism, something which said 'hey, don't worry, I'm still here.. I have not gone away, we're still together' and this makes me wanna cry again 😭

I hope my word vomit makes an iota of sense (English is not my first language by a long shot, so) and I hope you do find some time to rest and have a warm beverage of your choice while unwinding. Stay safe and blessed!!

Hi there! Thank you so much for the congrats on my move, I truly appreciate it. I've actually had a very rough couple of days, as on top of the move, my Facebook account was hacked earlier this week, and it essentially pushed me over the edge and I was crying for much of Monday and felt like I had a crying "hangover" all day Tuesday.

You do not at all have to apologize for your Ask--your English is very good!--and I'm glad to read your thoughts as I make my way through all the Anons still residing in my inbox. Truly, we are fortunate to have GO 2 and Michael and David to focus on, as well as the abundance of interviews we've gotten after months and months of little to no content.

To start: I absolutely agree with you, re: the intimacy between Michael and David in these interviews. It's been so fascinating to see them get more flirty and touchy-feely with each progressive interview (I know we don't know the order in which they were done, but I imagine the flirting/touching increased as the day went on). And while I can definitely see them doing what you described--reassuring each other, touching and being close as a coping mechanism--my feeling is they already did all that last year, probably right after filming That Scene. (There is actually a gorgeous MS/DT fic on AO3 right now that depicts exactly that, and it's definitely worth reading.)

But in terms of all the intimacy and touching in the more recent interviews (from last month), I think what we're seeing is something else. I think Michael and David are beyond the need for reassurance because they are so comfortable with each other and know they're still together, permanently. There's no more of the uncertainty of parting ways after the promo interviews end--only the promise of seeing each other again as soon as both their lives and schedules allow it.

There have been so many moments of telling body language and touches and expressions, but if I had to pick a favorite (well, a few), one would be them walking arm-in-arm onto The One Show:

And the other would be David leaning so far over and draping his arm around Michael in the Amazon Q&A video:

...And of course (and possibly most notable), Michael and David seemingly unconsciously moving closer to each other in the TV Insider interview:

It's so telling that there is no urgency or desperateness to any of this--only comfort and very much that sense of "on our side" that you mentioned. Walking out arm-in-arm as they did in particular adds to that "us against the world" feeling and the not-so-subtle implication that while they were Michael Sheen and David Tennant on the season one press tour, here, now, they are Michael and David. Inseparable, always intertwined, and having so much more of themselves in the characters of Aziraphale and Crowley than in the first season.

So yes, everything you wrote absolutely did make sense, and I appreciate you writing in to share your thoughts with me. I have a lot more thoughts/analysis about GO season 2 still to share, which I hope to do in response to the numerous Anons still waiting in my inbox. Thanks for writing in! x

[takingturnsatrandom]

Why Alien: Covenant is the most disappointing movie I've ever seen

Spoilers, obviously. Like a lot. Like a full plot summary.

Alright. So this movie was the most disappointed I’ve ever been in a movie theater. Which is to say, a lot. I say the following as a huge fan of the franchise. Yes, even prometheus. Yes even resurrection. Yes even AVP:R.

The first act is enjoyable, even good. The cast all perform really well (which holds up through the rest of the shitfest) and the characters feel pretty well fleshed out. Interactions are meaningful and motivations are clear and understandable. This changes as soon as the plot starts.

I have serious trouble believing in detection AI systems competent enough to detect an oncoming space-flight disaster, but not competent enough to prepare the ship for said disaster, which it totally could have done. The entire “neutrino blast” feels like a fabricated problem. James Franco dies in minutes without ever actually speaking a line (which is a pro, in my book). And then this team of supposed trained professionals decides to essentially abandon their decade long mission to go fuck around on some mystery planet. 

You know how one of peoples big gripes with Prometheus was that “no intelligent scientist would just take off their space helmet on an alien planet”? Well in covenant, these scientists never even put on helmets in the first place. They just sort of play fast and loose with the idea of biological safety, in a really exceptionally dumb way. 

Our team of chucklefucks then decide to march around on a planet with virtually no precaution, and because of this two of the chucklefucks essentially inhale some alien good dust, that moves like a jellyfish because the script said so. In what feels like maybe four minutes, the dust becomes the Neomorph (which is my creature design loving ass’s favorite part of the movie) which is essentially a nude palette spike xeno. when these things are “born” the move around like poorly animated baby giraffes.

bad goes to worse, the neomorph muppet babies do some alien stuff, and the landing craft blows up. Two women, both married to a surviving crew member, and both infinitely more interesting than either husband, are killed and the men feel sad about this for approximately one scene. 

Then the michael fassbender was there. he did a save from the alien. this has about as much impact as this sentence. Fass-bot takes whats left of the crew to his base, which is a ruined Engineer city, and then just sort of goes away? Then the other michael fassbender goes to talk to fass-bot, and they talk for entirely too long about no things. There is what feels like 40 minutes of michael fassbender teaching michael fassbender how to play the recorder. Some pseudo deep stuff about robots or whatever. nothing new. Fassbot tells Fasstron that when he and shaw landed on the planet after the events of prometheus and that the black goo accidentally deployed. we are then immediately shown a sequence of fassbot intentionally dropping the goo onto the city. (which, hey, ridley scott? entirely negates the whole point of Prometheus). For some reason the engineers look like people covered in chalk dust and not the cgi man from prometheus. Fasstron does not appear to understand this, because the script says he doesnt.

The other neomorph then finds its way into the city, and kills some more of the crew. Fassbot attempts to befriend it (which is dumb, more on this later) and then it is killed by one of the crew. David gets very mad and then not mad and then takes the crewman to his secret swamp basement where he made alien eggs (also dumb, also more later). The egg does its thing, and the man is become facehugged.

In like literally the next scene, the crewman dies when a Protomorph erupts from his chest in typical alien fashion. Instead of being a chestburster, it is a tiny alien fetus. The fetus and david do some simon says. yes, really.

It is at this point that fasstron figures out that fassbot is the bad guy, and also shaw is dissected and has some alien tubes, because the script said so. Fassbot then captures the protagonist woman, who I only mention now because scott apparently forgot that this series is about strong female characters, and does an entirely unnecessary and uncomfortable forced kiss thing. Fasstron then shows up, and the two robots do a fight. 

The protomorph is an adult now, and kills some more dudes. Then a space rescue happens, and the surviving crew and fasstron-who-is-totally-not-fassbot try to escape but the protomorph is there. The Perfect Organism is then killed by a crane and some sort of bomb. Hurray! I’m sure nothing else will happen in the remaining 30 minutes of film.

Wait no, the other thing. One of the crewmen has a protomorph in him, which bursts out, kills some people doing a shower sex, and then the last act of Alien happens in about 15 minutes. The protomorph is ejected into space and the crew goes sleepy time napnap. It is then “revealed” that michael fassbender is the other michael fassbender, and he vomits some facehugger paperweights. He monologues and then the movie ends. 

So as you may have gathered, covenant kind of sucks. Allow me to bring up some more bad things:

The CGI is bad. Like, way worse than it had any right to be. Every creature moves like a cartoon, and the attack sequences are really lame.

No part of this movies is scary, or even at all tense

What little plot there is is condensed into the worst pacing possible

The villain of the movie is evil for quite literally no reason, becomes progressively more evil for even less reason

No one cares about anything for more than a scene or two

This movie actively waves away every important takeaway from Prometheus

The reveal of the Xenomorph origin is horrifically lame.

The bad guy wins? and sets up the most blatant sequel grab in the franchise?

James Franco was there

this is the big one: movie does not come anywhere near explaining how xenomorph eggs got onto the derelict ship at the start of Alien, if anything it seems like this is now impossible to adequately explain.

TL;DR ridley scott is a hack fraud who shouldn’t be allowed to make Alien movies anymore

[ingravinoveritas]

What gets me in particular is how open and vulnerable David looks here. His body is completely oriented toward Michael throughout, but when he leans his head back and stares at Michael so adoringly in the second gif, it just makes you ache. And don't even get me started on the first gif and the suggestiveness of Michael rubbing his thigh/knee while David is talking...

These behind the scenes gifs hit so much differently now that we know about the kiss being filmed three times...

[ingravinoveritas]

So now that I have (semi) recovered from David’s appearance on The Late Late Show earlier this week, I need to share a couple of thoughts on what I observed and enjoyed thoroughly about this interview. In no particular order...

- First (of course) is David holding up the giant cutout Michael Sheen head. He did an imitation of Michael’s voice, which was amazing because it immediately confirmed that David doing a Welsh accent/Michael’s accent wasn’t just a thing for Staged (season 1, “Cachu Hwch”; “The Cookie Jar”), but something he’s done in real life and probably on more than one occasion.

- "I have him everywhere now” and “We’ve been locked together through this very difficult time” - Both have more than a ring of truth to them, and in the case of the former, I’m almost certain the cutout or the accent (or both) have been in the bedroom with him and Georgia.

- “He’s my emotional support pet.” Mentioning this for obvious reasons, but there’s so much to unpack:

After doing Michael’s voice/while answering James, David repeatedly looks and smiles at the Michael cutout with affection and love, the same way he looks and smiles at the real Michael;

When the cardboard cutout of Georgia falls over, David doesn’t turn to pick it up or even look, yet he takes care to set the Michael cutout down gingerly each time he’s done with it;

“Emotional support pet” seemed like David’s joking way of saying that he does actually get emotional support from Michael himself (and vice-versa). I’ve thought this was the case since the filming of GO, but to hear something like this from David (who is so good at saying what he wants to say without actually saying it) was truly revealing;

Saying “he” rather than “it,” which makes one think David is talking about the real Michael, not Giant Cutout Michael. Hell, every time he did anything with the cutout head, it gave off gigantic “missing my boyfriend” energy. And again I need to emphasize that David was fondling and lovingly looking at a giant cutout of Michael’s head WHILE SITTING IN HIS UNDERWEAR.

Speaking of which...

- THE. FUCKING. UNDERWEAR. The fact that David wore it. The fact that he posed in it on national television. The fact that he looked like he was mere inches away from turning Georgia into Pinocchio from being so quietly thrilled at his own naughtiness, I mean...WHAT THE FUCK EVEN WAS THIS INTERVIEW.

- David knew exactly how to angle the camera and how to move the shirt aside to ensure maximum cock region visibility, and he threw in a bonus peek of belly button. (It’s always nice when the “giant slut” part of David balances out the “middle-aged technophobe.”) But the fact that he did all of the above so seamlessly means there’s no way in hell that was the first time he’s been in his underwear on Zoom/probably less.

- "Things that before seemed wrong, now seem right." David showing his underwear on camera would surely fall into this category, especially if it’s meant for a particular audience of one that’s currently in America recovering from Covid. That’s where my mind went to, at any rate, and given the (re)appearance of the cutout Michael head, it doesn’t seem like too far of a leap.

So...yes. In conclusion, this interview was an absolute gift to all the Shennant shippers and David fans in general, and whatever has brought out this brazen exhibitionist streak in him, I hope it continues. Bless you, David Tennant...

[ingravinoveritas]

Okay I'm going to say it.

DT's answer to the on screen chemistry question has always irked me a little.

Don't get me wrong, I really like Georgia and I adore them as a couple, because you can really tell (and could tell from the very beginning) how much love they have for each other. There's no doubting that.

I'm also not saying that it's a lie that he feels like he had the most chemistry with his wife. That's obvious. She's his favourite person. Again, in their case, I'm not doubting that.

But... look, as someone who's seen almost all of the bigger things he was in (not even on purpose, it just so happened haha) I just can't agree with that answer at all, because, yes, it's true that he feels that way, sure, but from an outsider's perspective: No!

And that really doesn't mean that he married the wrong person! 😂 But off screen and on screen can make such a huge difference. Not always (see: him and Michael), but in some cases it's just not the same thing. At the end of the day, at their level, acting is a craft. That needs to be considered. I think DT&MS said it themselves, didn't they? You can't really know if it works just as well and as naturally and as clearly on screen as it does off screen, not until you actually do the scenes. Just because you have a natural off screen chemistry with a person doesn't mean that it's going to be just as noticable (from the audience's perspective) when each of you portray characters on screen. I mean, there are also enough pairs who worked really well on screen, but actually despised each other irl.

So, all jokes aside: I think if you were to see it from an objective POV (and I'm aware that that's only halfway possible, because the whole matter is obviously quite subjective in itself, but oh well - call it my subjective objective lmao) the answer would ACTUALLY be Michael. And if it wouldn't be Michael then it would be either Billie Piper or Olivia Colman, imo. Three absolutely outstanding examples for on screen chemistry, that have two actors playing with each other, making each other shine and just doing their craft (with three completely different dynamics for each pair, too) in a way that is or was almost too good to be true.

His chemistry with Georgia was far from off, obviously, but really no match. Just my opinion. But... it's still cute that he said that and feels that way. :) And quite telling that he then immediately had to think of Michael. :P

I am totally with you here, Anon. You’re right and you should say it: On screen chemistry is not the same as off-screen. I was actually once asked who I thought David and Michael had the best on-screen chemistry with (other than each other), and Olivia Colman was one of my picks, too. Interestingly enough, Georgia has actually said in interviews that she’s been told that she “wasn’t convincing” as David’s wife on-screen. And that’s coming from a casting director, whose job it is to look for and read the chemistry between actors, so that is certainly saying something.

Again, like you said, that doesn’t necessarily mean David married the wrong person. But having chemistry off-screen is no guarantee of having it on-screen (though I would argue that actors who are supposed to be a couple having no chemistry either off- or on-screen is demonstrably more awkward than just one or the other). On-screen chemistry, though, is about the characters as much as the actors--what each person brings to the role, and how well they are able to “click” with their on-screen partner. The examples you gave (Billie Piper, Olivia Colman) speak to this, but Michael and David do far and away outshine all the rest on screen, including David and Georgia.

What was interesting to me about David answering this was that there was no discernible reason for him to bring Michael up. He could have never mentioned him, and no one would have blinked an eye. So it seems telling that he first gave what would be the more obligatory response (albeit with a question mark on the end, with the way his voices goes up an octave), followed by what could be characterized as the more “honest” response (again, like you said, he wasn’t lying by saying Georgia, but he also might not have been thinking of on-screen chemistry, because the question wasn’t specific).

It also shows us that David thought of Michael right away all on his own, without prompting or any sort of lead-in. And while it could certainly be argued that he said it as fan service, I’ve noticed a tendency on David’s part to hide a kernel of truth behind fan service. He could have simply said, “Michael Sheen and I also have really amazing chemistry,” but maybe saying it outright like that would’ve felt too...revealing, somehow...so he said something much more outlandish (”Maybe I should’ve married Michael Sheen”) instead. By doing that, he could then use the safety of a joke/fan service to share something much deeper.

That’s wild speculation on my end, at any rate, but the whole thing definitely does give one lots to think about. So yes, I agree with everything you’ve said about chemistry, Anon, and I’m glad you took the same to share it with me. Thanks for writing in! x

[ingravinoveritas]

Hii, It's Anon #2 from the screenshot post. I wanted to say a few things. The first being, I do know that Michael is not a boomer LMAO He's around the same age as my parents so I totally get it. I just said "boomer style" more so as a reference to his texting style and not his age. Poor baby, I didn't mean to age him haha Second thing, holy jesus mary and christ that Budapest picture??? I don't follow Anna (thank god) so I haven't seen any of the stuff she's been posting recently besides that weird text so that picture was a shock to me. What in gods name would possess her to post that picture of Michael like that? I can't get over it. I looked at it for a full minute and couldn't believe my eyes. I've seen the posts you've talked about before, where Anna has posted unflattering pictures of him, and I can't for the life of me grasp why she thinks that's okay to do within a serious post? It feels like a running "joke" that we're not apart of so no one is laughing but her. I could get with it if it was a post where literally all of them were unflattering pictures of everyone with a caption that matched but like you said, it's only ever unflattering pictures of Michael which makes me feel really bad for him. 80% of the time when Georgia has ever posted something of David, it's him making a weird face that he's purposely making, and sometimes even she's in on it too. And while I do think there has been a few times where she filmed David when he didn't wanna be filmed, I would think they talk about it afterwards so she could post it with his permission... And listen, you know I hate to give Georgia credit for anything lmao but that is no comparison to the blatant unflattering, purposely terrible pictures that AL posts of Michael. (i'm getting ahead of the dreamers who are gonna try and say it's the same thing)

Honestly, that picture tells me that she had to sneak that picture because he probably doesn't want her to take his picture. For what reason, we don't know. But if you were in a relationship where everything was fine and you loved each other and liked spending time together, it shouldn't be a chore for you to say, "hey honey, let me take your picture really quick" I think with their relationship it comes down to the popular phrase, "If he wanted to, he would" and it really doesn't look like he wants to, with any of it. Obviously, we don't know what's going on inside but why the hell would you ever want your relationship presented in this way, especially if it really wasn't. It's just strange. I could never live with that. I really think AL is on something if she thinks any of us are gonna think these sort of things equal a loving relationship between the two of them. Trust me, I've seen my fair share of beautiful and weird/unique relationships alike and this doesn't fit either category.

(Link to previous post here, for those who might’ve missed it.)

Hi, Anon #2! Ah, thank you for the clarification, re: “boomer.” Haha. I totally get what you mean now. Much appreciated!

I wish I could say that the Budapest picture was a shock to me as well, but given AL’s history of posting unflattering pictures of Michael (as I detailed in my previous post), it really wasn’t. Like you said, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal if she ever posted pictures like that of herself, but every “selfie” of her is immaculate--glamour pose, makeup done, not a hair out of place. Again the contrast is striking next to Georgia, who either posts a goofy picture of herself alongside one of David, or (hopefully) clears it with him before posting something she’s filmed, and as much as he might dislike being photographed at times, he doesn’t seem to actively avoid it the way Michael does.

I also agree with your supposition that AL sneaked that picture, because there is precedent for that as well, from as far back as during lockdown two years ago. More recently, it’s visible in the post she made for her birthday last month, with this picture of him and Lyra on the beach that you wouldn’t even know was him at first glance:

And in a post from earlier this year, with this photo that was inexplicably posted for Michael’s birthday in February:

Not only was this picture taken from a distance, he looks actively pissed off in it, which...as you said, Anon, why would you want your relationship presented this way, especially if it’s not how it’s coming across here? As “off” as things have felt for the last few years, it seems even more noticeable now, especially given that AL did not make a Father’s Day post for Michael this year after having just had another baby of his a month prior (and which became even more glaring because Georgia did make a FD post for David).

Which brings me to Theory Anon. I saw that “blondie” post the other day and once again found myself in a state of disbelief. So first, here is the tweet from Neil that you mentioned for those who didn’t see it, and here is a screenshot of AL’s Insta post from a few days ago:

Yet again, we find another deliberate Good Omens reference. Like you, Anon, I also don’t believe Lyra actually said this. Now, I will fully admit that I was a hyperlexic toddler myself (I started reading the sides of Cheerios boxes at the age of 3), but it is very much a stretch to ask us to believe that a three-year-old used the phrase “olden days.” But the fact that it is yet another GO reference only adds to how planned and calculated all of these recent posts of hers have felt.

Could she have been asked to start promoting GO? I’m honestly not sure. If nothing else, the purpose here seems to be to keep AL in the public consciousness (the same reason she QTed Michael’s speech on the beach yesterday). She might well have some new projects coming up (most likely in something of Michael’s, as you said), but it seems fairly clear that all of this is being done in the interest of furthering a narrative.

I think what you said sums it up well--that their relationship is in actuality a “beneficial partnership.” I have thought for some time now that NDAs have been signed--which explains the tight hold PR has on both Michael and AL’s social media presences--and that AL is being paid good money (or via promotional partnerships and/or throwaway acting roles) to keep shtum about whatever is happening behind the scenes. Because the closer we look at what has been presented to us in terms of their relationship, the more devoid of substance it seems.

Leaving aside the notion of love and whether or not you think Michael is in love with David (though I do believe he is), what’s undeniable is the friendship that is between them...and that is precisely what is missing between Michael and AL. Friendship is the foundation of a truly strong relationship (which, again, is probably part of why I ship Michael and David so much)...but Michael and Anna aren’t friends. They never have been. They’re two people whose lives got pushed together because of circumstances, who have spent the last three years consequently trying to become friends.

But friendship, like family, isn’t necessarily something you just have or that just happens. It’s something you create, that both people need to be interested and invested in building and maintaining, and like you said, Anon #2...if he wanted to, he would.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts, Anon #2 and Theory Anon. I think we’ll probably have a lot more to discuss as time goes on and GO 2 promotion starts kicking into high gear, so...we’ll see what happens...

[ingravinoveritas]

i've seen atwi80d already and loved it, mostly for the emotions david brought to the character. there's lots of chaos and silliness, but then there's suddenly such depth and so much sadness. (in his eyes especially, dunno how he does it). i'm already looking forward to your review! the series reminded me a little of doctor who, because it really does have a bit of everything, adventure and drama and romance, lots of blatant humour, but also scenes that'll leave you quite touched. (plus david's english accent). and while i never warmed up to verne's phileas fogg, david's version (which is entirely, entirely different, just like most of the plot) made me agressively root for him from the very first scene in the reform club.

(uh and another reason for why i think you'll definitely like it is that david's fogg is the kind of character that has my opinion on whether i would like to top him or be topped by him basically change with every second scene. which, i suppose, is nothing new, regarding his characters. Or david himself, if we're being honest. yeah, it's probably just him).

so these are my thoughts on it. i hope you'll share yours when it's out in the states! next thing on the watchlist would be michael's little christmas movie, i'm sure he'll give just as much to it.

Hi, Anon! Thank you for sending me this lovely message. I wanted to wait until I’d watched all of ATWI80D to reply, and now I have, so onward and forward with my full review of the show!

Right off the bat, I will say that for me, the two biggest strengths of the show were the actors and the cinematography. The settings were absolutely gorgeous (from what I understand, Romania was where they filmed all of the “cold weather” settings, and South Africa was where they filmed the “hot weather” settings). The set designers did a magnificent job of making us feel that we were really at these locales, and were further helped by the excellent costume department highlighting the attire not only of each place, but of various social classes in those places during that era. You truly felt as if you were there.

I also loved the opening credits of the show. The reference to the ticking clock, obviously, but it also reminded me of shadow casters. Shadow casters are metal figures that you put a light in front of, and the shadows that are cast show something you would not otherwise see (and the shadows can even be put together to tell a story). I think that’s a good metaphor for the characters of Phileas, Passepartout, and Abigail. That it’s only in darkness, in challenging times, that we see another side--good or bad--to each of these people that would not be seen under normal circumstances.

The other strength is, as I mentioned, the acting. David is wonderful and absolutely does carry the show, but David is never not wonderful. Like you said, he is able to portray countless emotions--joy, sorrow, anger, fear--just with his eyes and microexpressions. Ibrahim and Leonie also delivered excellent, nuanced performances, which you very much needed for this threesome to work, and played off David beautifully in all of their scenes together.

(Also, the actor who plays Fortescue, Jason Watkins, is the same one who played Brian Masters, Des’ biographer in Des, because of course he is. I love that David literally acts with the same five people in every project...)

In terms of the show/plot itself, overall, I thought Around the World in 80 Days was a little uneven. Initially, I found myself harboring more sympathy for Passepartout than Phileas. Part of this I think was an intentional choice on the show/David’s end, to make us think about who Phileas is and what he represents, and whether that is something to have sympathy for. But while I know the character is meant to be closed off and tightly wound and needy, I have truly never met someone more in need of a prostate orgasm than Phileas Fogg in the first two episodes of ATWI80D.

(Give the poor man some lube and a baguette, for crying out loud...)

HOWEVER...I do love that we got a flicker of the softness under that repressed exterior with Alberto, the little boy on the train in Italy. You start to see that Phileas really is just a big kid dealing with grown-up hurts, and is covering that pain with an existence as bland as the brown soup he eats at the Reform Club. He’s punishing himself, and what he sees in Alberto is possibility, the potential for a future that he thinks is lost to him, so when Phileas sees that potential threatened, he is moved to save Alberto, and in the process, it’s the start of him saving himself.

But it is a very slow start indeed, and it isn’t until our trio gets to India that things begin to take off.

The episode in India had some truly memorable moments, most notably David’s acting when Phileas is drugged, because no one does that type of comedy-to-dramatic acting quite like David does. The manic energy he gave where what he’s doing makes perfect sense to him even if it makes no sense to anyone else was a brilliant combination of the Tenth Doctor and Crowley’s legs vaguely sauntering down the street to commune with a cow. Also, we finally (finally!) get some emotion out of Phileas in the form of him talking to Abigail as if she is Estella, and it’s so heartbreaking, and that combined with his impassioned speech at the court martial was what really got me to start feeling for him.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my other favorite part, which was Phileas having his shirt dramatically ripped open, Roger Daltrey-style, by Passepartout FOR NO GOOD GODDAMN REASON WHATSOEVER:

(Thank you to @somethingjustsouthofbrilliance for this gif!)

I think it was somewhere around this episode that somebody from the BBC or one of the other 5000 production companies behind this show suddenly went, “Eye candy, we need eye candy for the girls and the gays, we have David Tennant here and he's not naked enough, WHAT DO WE DO” and, well...there you go. To quote the legendary Alexis Mateo from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 3: “This is just soft porn. It’s kinda hot.” Even Abigail seemed to be into it, looking from Passepartout to Phileas and back to Passepartout like, “Um...do you boys need a moment? I’ll just be over here in my room behind this thin little curtain, NOT AT ALL LISTENING IN.” Girl...same. You would think that there was already enough gratuitous Phileas flesh in India, but ohhh...no. Because the hijinks got even higher when we were in Hong Kong, and whump, there it is, my other favorite part:

(With thanks to @sic-vita for gif #2!)

Now, I could write an entire paragraph about colonial/patriarchal oppression and the sociopolitical connotations and loss of privilege experienced by Phileas in this entire sequence, as others have so eloquently done. But I’m going to keep it 100% real and say that until this moment, I do not think I understood what the word “whump” truly meant.

Because having David Tennant in chains, shirtless, with miles of pale, freckled skin on display, shoulder blades jutting out with each fluttering breath, and a whip unfurling ominously in the foreground was absolutely and without question a CHOICE. The lashing itself was, of course, difficult to watch, but even in his pain and agony, David/Phileas was beautiful. David acted every inch of that suffering, and the relief when Passepartout and Abigail came rushing in and Passepartout draped the shirt over him was palpable.

The hurt. The comfort. The realizing that Phileas doesn’t even know if he thinks he deserves to be comforted. It was just...extraordinary. Whoever had the presence of mind to include this scene (and I know it very well could be David, because he was an EP on this): Thank you. Bless you. I would like to send you a fruit basket. With flavored condoms.

For me, the strongest moments of ATWI80D took place from the end of India to Hong Kong to the desert island. We go from bottom!Phileas on the continent to top!Phileas on the island, taking charge and nursing Passepartout back to health. But it was also on the island where the dynamic between Phileas and Bellamy and Phileas/Passepartout/Abigail fully solidified for me.I will attempt to break my head canons down to the following three points, as I feel like I’ve rambled on long enough already:

1. Phileas is bisexual.

2. Phileas and Bellamy were boyfriends in boarding school until Bellamy dumped him because he is a jealous old queen who hated that Phileas is so much hotter than he is but didn’t know it yet, and has had to keep putting him down so Phileas thinks he can’t do any better than him.

3. Phileas/Passepartout/Abigail are in a polyamorous “V-style” arrangement, where Passepartout is in relationships with both Phileas and Abigail, but they are not in a relationship with each other.

It’s not until the three main characters are away from civilization that we see the walls between them fully break down. Phileas is humiliated and emasculated in “society” while in Hong Kong. But on the island, the only thing that matters is survival and having each other’s backs (and also not using an incredibly rank fruit like durian as a sole form of sustenance, for the love of God). The bond between Phileas and Passepartout and Abigail is cemented by the realizations they have about each other and themselves and the trials they endure on the island. Phileas draws a line in the sand both literally and metaphorically, and I thought his change of heart and how he speaks to Passepartout and Abigail about how Bellamy only ever tore him down while this journey has lifted him up was just so moving and so well done.

...Which is why, then, I found it really jarring to go from that setting and that emotional apex to the episode in the Rockies. To me, this sequence was not only the weakest of the show, but also belied an underlying problem that I noticed in every episode, which was the script. The script did not serve the show and certainly did not do justice to the actors’ performances. And nowhere was the script clunkier than in this episode, making it feel like a parody of the Old West rather than a genuine portrayal.

It seemed very disconnected from the rest of the show altogether, and were the decision in my hands, I would have scrapped everything in the West entirely...with the possible exception of the female stagecoach driver who so obviously wanted to peg Phileas:

I mean...come on. We all knew exactly what she was thinking at this moment because we were all thinking the same damn thing. This was a self-insert for each and every person in the audience who wanted to put the reins and saddle on Phileas instead of the horses (seriously, what is it with David and saddles??), and my god, whoever greenlit all of this is so clearly one of us and not even trying to hide it. Wow...

Anyway, for the most part, I did enjoy ATWI80D, or least every episode other than 7. I think what took me out of the story most was the weak script, but also when the story tried to do more, but didn’t do it effectively. The two specific examples of that are the gender-related and racial issues with which both Abigail and Passepartout are confronted, respectively. I understand what the show was trying to do by raising these issues, but it seemed to address said issues only superficially instead of on a deeper level, and as a result, did not do justice to Abigail and Passepartout. Leonie and Ibrahim are talented actors, as (of course) is David, but even the most talented actor can only do so much with the material they are given.

David’s Phileas Fogg was the linchpin of the show, and nowhere was that more evident than in the reunion with Estella in New York. There, we see his heart, see the broken boy who has become a man, who comes to understand that true cowardice is not admitting your mistakes and not learning from them, and that the only way to heal from the past is to live fully in the present to make a better future. 

So those are my thoughts on ATWI80D! I didn’t mean to write so much, but I guess I had more to say than I realized. I’m glad you enjoyed it as well, Anon. Thank for writing in! x