#i.e. i will never really understand what the show was going for with the kevin plot

[sleepynegress]

If you finish the Kindred series, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts. I have finished the first 5 episodes and am massively disappointed so far. It doesn't seem to do the novel justice. I wanted to get more of the perspective of the enslaved people and Dana's introspection. I didn't mind the modern setting, but I didn't like that Kevin and Dana were no longer a married couple with shared intimacy and history. I recall a scene from the novel where Kevin says something along the lines of the conditions of the enslaved people not seeming as bad as he would have imagined and the ensuing tension that caused between the two. It seems like Octavia Butler's fantastic material has gone to waste. I can only hope future adaptations of her work are better.

It really felt like the producer set out to translate or make the material more understandable/digestable to a viewing audience, which came off to me as dumbing it down...(which is always a mistake, or the reason why animated movies for kids written to grow w/ you instead of being written down "to kids" end up being classics) Because that's literally what he did... And now, the logic, which was so tight in the novel (Butler was notorious in keeping the plot tight) suffers in the series. Now... It gets spoiler-filled and yelly... apologies, ahead of time. The connection/audience investment the producer sought, was already there in the growth & connections of the characters, right along w/ the readers being in Dana's gaze in her empathy and helplessness in trying to help people in a futile and spectacularly soul-destroying system (HOW DID THE PRODUCER NOT GET THAT?!). The fact that the centered characters Dana interacts w/ most, start out as children and we watch them grow to adults; shift and get shaped in that hellscape of systemic slavery IS THE DAMN HOOK!! The characters (Rufus, Alice, Nigel, Sarah...and even Kevin being there so long....) is all he needed and that's where his focus should have been.

Instead he tried to answer questions nobody asked and ended up creating more questions...i.e. He tried to explain the time travel with some kind of generational power by adding Dana's mom to the plantation. But that doesn't make sense because you're telling me Dana's mom never felt her life threatened ON A SOUTHERN PLANTATION for over ten years... You're also telling me she materialized there SLAVE PASS-LESS and somehow ended up being free...itsjustnotrealistic.gif!!! Kevin and she just had a vague connection via ride home/Tinder hook-up in this Hulu iteration, and you mean to tell me he stuck around through all the weird yelling and dematerialization?!! THERE IS A REASON why Butler had them married and that investment being believable is a big one!!! I mean, sure whiteness lends a kind of reckless curiousity but NOT THAT MUCH, DAMN!

Now that the producer added the complication of the mom going forward in time after touching her BUT ENDING UP SOMEWHERE ELSE (a thing that really happens in this show lolwtf?!), that big life-changing ending for Dana, won't make sense. All of the connections w/ the enslaved characters don't feel substantial enough, because this man wanted to spend time *fixing* the fucking time mechanics instead...Nobody cares why the zombies are zombies in Night of the Living Dead!! They care about the characters, their connections, and how they survived or didn't.

Also! Kevin not being a history teacher made them more bumbling than believable to other characters in that space, and his lack of anything beyond that tentative first surface connection to Dana makes him being left less tragic and investable... and how Dana acts toward him REALLY STUPID in that era!!

*sigh* That said...I thought the casting, effects, and that spare synth track was okay.... The writing and plotting/direction just sloppified, what Octavia Butler made *incredibly* tight. It should have been a limited series focused *hard* on watching these characters change and devolve because of the system they existed in. Not a mystery about why this family has time travel powers. The producer really couldn't see the forest for the trees. I'm just... How did he mess this up?? It was so easy to get this right, if he actually liked the fucking novel. *smh*

[lol-jackles]

I look forward to reading your review of the last two episodes of Walker and WIndy. What do you think of Julia? Is she just an impulsive, rash reporter or is she hiding something? Could she be an accomplice of the Gray Flags? Bonham did wrong trying to get Cordell to leave home, and obviously Abeline isn't happy, as was to be expected. Liam seems very confused about what he has to do. And Kevin? What do you say? He's a good man just a little too pushy or he's hiding something too. And Trey?! I don't understand where the writers want to go with his character. Why fire him from Rangers? I also really enjoyed the WIndy episode. I was pleased to see Hagan (and Mark) again and I hope he will still have a part in the show in the future (if there is a future). But the character that moved me the most is Calian, and the search for his sister. How sad to find her only to discover that her life has moved on but his hasn't. The relationship between Sheriff Tom and Abby was inevitable, sooner or later, just a matter of time. But now things get complicated. By the way, what a beautiful photography this episode has, isn't it? Two good mid-season episodes.

I'll make separate review posts of the two episodes. Right off the top of my head I think:

Julia is one a revenge bender due to her captivity and wants to use Cordell to find the head of the Gray Flags. (wouldn't it be hilarious if it turns out to be Kevin, the guy she's been gossiping with the whole time?)

Bonham never wanted Cordell and his kids to permanently move back home.

Liam has been floundering ever since he was first passed over for the DA job, and then lost his job.

I want Kevin to be a good guy just because I want Jake Abel to stick around. Best case scenario he's an undercover Texas Ranger trying to find the mole at Ranger HQ. Worse case scenario he's the head of Gray Flags and that's why he's ingratiating into the Walker family through Cassie (i.e showing up uninvited for Thanksgiving).

Trey may have been set up by James to be recruited by Gray Flags and go undercover. If Kevin is part of Gray Flags then it makes sense by Trey was being set up by James because he noticed that Kevin is quite found of Trey.

Resolution of Calian and Nacsha was unexpectedly quick but important. Calian's spirit guide took the form of Nascha when he last saw her as a child. I believe the spirt guide was showing Calian how to save his people and their way of life by leading him to Abby who has the education and the allies to help him and his people. The grown up Nascha is more or less happily assimilated into the white world, complete with a good husband, an adorable daughter, and a big house for its era.

Yeah I too thought Tom and Abby was kind of inevitable once his look-alike brother showed up and gave Abby "permission" for a clandestine affair with Tom.

[mikuni14]

Big Dragon Ep 7

The last episode of Big Dragon was very pleasant to watch, boys are very compatible with each other, Yai is very bratty and pouty, which Mangkorn obviously loves 🥰 The whole episode was full of lovely scenes, like a cute conversation scene that probably every couple in love had: "since when do you like me". A lesbian couple was just superb, their conversation about their relationship, its future, a potential leaving somwhere, where their relationship is acceptable, also their own future, jobs, career, families - definitely not what I expected from the first crazy episode of Big Dragon lol Also Mangkorn and Yai talked about what they would do after graduation, which almost never happens in university BL.

Big Dragon has been surprising me for the last two episodes, I didn't think it would turn out to be so mature after how this show started. All the more so after the last episode of GHGH, Big Dragon is a perfect example of how you can use even very tiring tropes (i.e. separation, going abroad) in the right way: - we know from the beginning about Mangkorn possibly leaving. It’s related to his education, it’s an opportunity in his career, it will really affect his life / in GHGH we learn about Kevin’s departure in the episode where he’s leaving. We don't know the reasons. - Mangkorn struggles to make a decision, even thinks about canceling it because of Yai / Kevin? he just packs up and leaves, we don't see him having any dilemmas, he doesn't think about Pluem, just like Mangkorn thinks about Yai - Mangkorn wants to consult his decision with Yai (unfortunately he falls asleep, but what matters is that Mangkorn starts this conversation). In the final scene we see them talking about it, Mangkorn presents his arguments and these are arguments that every young person can understand and relate to at the beginning of their career. Yai says heartbreaking: your dream is also my happiness, which is also understandable to every person in love who would not like to stand on the path of the beloved's development, he also talks about his responsibilities to the family business. There is also the idea of ​​them leaving together, probably never discussed in any similar situation in other series. Both are talking about it, Mangkorn is not trying to get mean to hurt Yai and make the breakup “easier” for Yai to handle (a very annoying trope) / Pluem and Kevin have ZERO talks about leaving, I don't even know if Pluem knows Kevin has left - the problem with "old love, someone from Yai and Kevin's past" is logically solved by Yai who, despite being crazy and chaotic, can set his boundaries. Also, the thing about Nine and his crush is logical, linear, explained in several episodes / in GHGH, the old love appears randomly 2 times, it’s not even suggested that it’s been some great love, to end up being the decisive factor ending Pluem and Kevin's relationship. Kevin weirdly turns out to be the most unsteady, unfamiliar with his feelings, deceiving Pluem and the audience with his behavior character from BL series, contary to how he was presented so far. 

I don't like separation, travels abroad tropes often implemented before the series finale. But in Big Dragon, I could accept it, because the series prepared me for it for several episodes, ML talk about it and I understand the reasons for leaving. This is what GHGH was completely lacking.

[lightshiningforth]

I feel that The Office is a better show to HAVE watched than to watch. Because, honestly? Watching it is straight up painful most of the time. The humor often depends on punching down. White, straight people are seen as the default in The Office. When Michael reacts offensively to someone who is "other" from that (Oscar, Kelly, Stanley), the humor is in an "oh, you can't say that!" scandalous sort of way. I.e., the audience is meant to laugh and sympathize with the embarrassment of the "good" white/straight characters who know better. Everyone reacts with weak cringing to the racism, the homophobia, the sexism, that really should be met with abject horror and sympathy to the marginalized. Frequently, Michael goes too far: 

Sexually harassing (and assaulting!) Oscar after he finds out that the latter is gay (as OP mentions)

Lots of sexual comments about the women in the office 

Lots of racist caricatures during the board meetings  

Lots of racist comments to workers of color, both in the office and the warehouse (while we're at it, the whole dynamic between the office and the warehouse workers often made me super uncomfortable)  

We're supposed to laugh at Michael for this, not with him. But laughing at all suggests that these things aren't that serious, and they are. Real people experience harassment in the workplace all the time, and real perpetrators are forgiven in the "oh, Michael" sort of way that Michael often is. He means well overall, so never mind, the show suggests. Even when HR very reasonably steps in, it comes across as more of an optics thing than anything else. Plus, Michael isn't always the one in the wrong, and when other characters step out of line, it's often critiqued even less in-universe: 

Everyone makes fun of Kevin, and Kevin falls smack-dab into the fat and dumb stereotype.

Lots of Dwight's made-up cultural background includes sexism and racism. At one point his cousin Mose dresses up in blackface and we're supposed to laugh at how wrong that is, which in my opinion is going too far.  

Jim, an overall nice person, can be condescending to the warehouse workers, musing aloud about how their job can't be that hard. Similarly, Pam accuses a Mexican warehouse worker of defacing her mural and mixes up different Black workers. And we're supposed to feel bad for her, in and "whoops, she was accidentally racist, that's so bad, ha ha" kind of way. Yikes. Both Jim and Pam have very "nice white person" energy where they'd never do what Michael does but still regularly commit microaggressions. And the show problematically frames that so we're meant to sympathize with them when they blunder, rather than with the people who would be hurt by that.  

What sucks is that they don't have to do that. The show demonstrates over the course of its run that it CAN produce effective humor that doesn't depend on bigotry. Take the famous fire drill scene, with the chaos of every character reacting in their own bonkers way. Pam and Jim trying to do the responsible thing and call 911/break out of the office. Oscar climbing into the ceiling. Angela revealing and then throwing her secret office cat. Dwight STARTING the fire for the sake of "fire safety." There's so much humor in the chaos and the character dynamics, and it's not about everyone reacting to Michael being an asshole.

It's even possible for them to use Michael's buffoonery effectively in ways that don't involve bigotry. He doesn't understand what a pyramid scheme is. He makes everyone celebrate his birthday. He burns his foot on a grill because he likes breakfast bacon in bed. Even hitting Meredith with his car is funny, because it's slapstick comedy and no part of it depends on forgiving very real and very harmful racism, sexism, and homophobia.

And then there's the part of the show that's not necessarily humorous, but enjoyable - the relationships among the characters. Jim and Pam falling in love. Jim and Dwight's semi-antagonistic friendship. Angela and Oscar's eventual surprising but heartfelt friendship. Hell, even Dwight and Angela falling in love - they're weird, unpleasant people who make each other very happy.

Circling back to the statement I made at the beginning of this long-winded post, The Office is better to HAVE seen than to see. If you've seen it already, you can enjoy the good bits. If you're watching it for the first time, there's a lot of crap to wade through.

God, I am genuinely struggling to watch The Office. I love sitcoms, I love the memes spawned from that series, so I thought I would easily love this show but MY GOD is Michael Scott the most obnoxious, frustrating and hateable character I've seen since Ross Geller.

It's such a pity because I actually started to care about Pam and Jim's story, they have genuine chemistry and I want to see how they will finally get together but I cannot stomach another second with that snivelling, annoying bug masquerading as a human man and yet the story expects me to care about him and laugh at his antics.

The beginning was so rough I just quit, but the last few weeks I gave it another chance and also because I had nothing better to do, so I mostly let it run in the background while I was doing other stuff.

But Season 3, Episode 1 broke me. I can't anymore. I was rooting for Oscar when he finally snapped and yelled at Michael for his disgusting, homophobic behavior. Like, finally some real and true accountability and consequences for Michael's truly vomit-inducing behavior? Is a marginalized character FINALLY allowed to yell at him and tell that man-child no?

BUT THEN. THE SILENCE AND THE LINGERING CAMERA WHICH MADE IT CLEAR THAT I, THE WATCHER, AM EXPECTED TO FEEL BAD FOR MICHAEL? OSCAR FUCKING APOLOGIZING TO HIM?

Oscar yelling that he doesn't want to touch Michael and then later is forced to anyway because oh no, the cishet white man's feelings were hurt :( he didn't mean to be homophobic but the mean gay is now yelling at him :(

There are about 4 minutes left to the episode but nope, I'm out. My patience is stretched so thin I am feeling the urge to punch someone.

I will continue to enjoy The Office memes but the show itself is just too unwatchable for me because of that one character.

[pynkhues]

6 11 35 for gg!!!

6.Favourite f/f ship

Y'know, for a long time it was Annie x Nancy, but I didn't love their energy in s4. I think that Annie needs someone who meets her where she is which is something Nancy's not really capable of, and I think Nancy needs someone who can stand up to her better and not be overcome with guilt in the way Annie is still because of the affair.

I actually didn't even plan it, but I ended up accidentally writing Diane x Nancy into my PALS planning, haha, and at the moment, it's my favourite crack ship. I just feel like they'd be a lot of fun

11. Ship that you would never have wanted in canon but like in fanworks

Rio x Turner! I love the idea of them having a charged monstrous fling together while Rio was recovering, but Good Girls is not that sort of show, and I wouldn't actually want it to be, I don't think.

35.Ship that you have kinda love/hate relationship with

Most of them by the end of the show, haha, although I think Ruby x Stan the most by the end of it. I respect the direction the show took them in as a creative choice, and I really think it did make sense for Stan aas a character, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't bum me out too. I actually loved their s3 arc, but their s4 arc to me felt it retread a lot of the same ground (which I imagine was partially an impact of the covid shutdown) which I think eroded what made them so special as a ship. It was wonderful to see them navigate their moral slide and their new places in each other's lives, but then to see it rehashed in s4 with Stan being more paternalistic and authoritative felt like a less nuanced and compelling relationship.

Ask me about ships!

[raymondebidochonlifechoices]

All fans are equal but some are more equal than others. NOT.

There’s been quite a few people in the fandom lately getting very stressed, feeling they’re obligated to constantly be on the defensive re: their fandom choices.

Apparently, whoever has a different opinion about a character or a ship must be said character’s/ship’s stan i.e. overzealous and/or obsessive, i.e. not an objective viewer. Even worse, they must be a dreadful person, who condones a number of moral offences that said character/ship perpetrated (or is thought to have perpetrated). Because, of course, the only acceptable reason for appreciating/enjoying a fictional character or dynamic is their morality. And, by that reasoning, fans who support the correct character/ship must be better fans and better people.

Nothing is more ridiculous than the notion of the objective fan. An “objective” fan is called a “viewer”. You and I, Riverdale friends, we are not just viewers. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have created blogs and dedicated hours of our lives to a fictional couple from an extremely mediocre show. We are still undoubtedly capable of critical thought and objective analysis but we are also aware of our own emotional investment in the show. (Or, at least, one hopes). As a fandom, we engage in activities that exist independently of the show. Fandom is a space of free expression. No one gets to play the higher moral card here. Needing to loudly tell everybody how wrong they are? That’s not the sign of an objective viewer. That’s the sign of a viewer who is also extremely invested, just for different reasons than I am.

Are we seriously holding the morality card over people’s heads for a show that used a poc woman’s pregnancy (Toni) as the means to retroactively establish trauma for a white male (Kevin), all the while touting it in every media possible as a woke response to the BLM movement?!

Are we seriously holding the canon card over people’s heads for a show that treats its 5th(!) season as a tabula rasa?! If the Lodges new backstory in 5x12 shows anything, it’s that s5 is not a time-jump. It’s a reboot.

There are so many people “enlightening” others on their inability to understand canon …

Seriously? That’s the hill you’re willing to die on? Canon Riverdale? You think that people don’t understand what they’re watching? That they’re interpreting canon incorrectly?

No, but seriously: canon for a TV show consists of what the characters say, what the characters do and how the actors portray them. Does this really apply to Riverdale?

Let’s take Donna for example.

Canon explicitly tells us Donna did what she did to avenge her grandmother. At the same time none of her canon actions were against the people who were actually responsible. So, riddle me this, fandom friends: why did Donna do what she did, as per canon?

Let’s try this another way:

Donna is a psycho bitch. Both in terms of Riverdale’s canon (the writers’ intention) and real-life criteria. To create a tag that reads “Bonna for ever uwu!” is deranged.

On the other hand, her character is (like a lot of Riverdale’s characters) an inconsistent caricature. Canon uses ridiculous dialogue and a lot of the Bonna scenes are cartoonishly enemies-to-lovers tropey. To create a tag that reads “Bonna for ever uwu!” is hilarious.

This doesn’t mean that Bonna is a canon couple. It does mean, however, that a Bonna crackship is based on Riverdale’s campy and over-the-top canonic writing.

A viewer who thinks Bonna is disgusting is not more “objective” or more “correct” or more “true to canon” than a viewer who thinks Bonna is funny. Nor are they a better person for it, and this cannot be stressed enough.

Similarly, who is canon Cheryl?

1. Cheryl is an absolute bitch: if a privileged student was calling an actual homeless boy a hobo in your real-life school, you would neither think her a queen nor use “hobo” affectionately in your tags, comments etc.

2. Cheryl is a deeply traumatized person: her father killed her brother, her mother killed half the town and forced her in conversion therapy, she attempted suicide and more.

(Note #1: this more does not mean more than the other Riverdale characters).

(Note #2: nor is it an excuse for her rudeness, affectionately called “mood for chaos” by the writers).

3. Cheryl is also a caricature of the archetypal mean girl who’s there for laughs and meta comments. She’s not to be taken seriously.

4. Cheryl is lgbtq+ representation …

5. … who canonically shits on other lgbtq+ characters.

6. Cheryl is one half of Choni, who are canonically presented as an uber couple.

7. Choni is also, as per canon, a couple with an acute power imbalance (cough!gaslighting!cough) that visually very clearly panders to the male gaze.

But most importantly:

8. Cheryl canonically is not the sum of her parts. The different facets of her character do not intermingle in any meaningful way.

Was Betty kissing Archie specifically a sore spot for Jughead?

Canonically no [2x14]. But, also, canonically yes [5x03, 5x10].

Are there seriously fans that are astonished that Betty is making some highly questionable choices while investigating?! Did they just discover Dark™Betty/Killer Genes Betty? That is canon Betty! Was it ok before because she was then smooching Jughead instead of giving him the cold shoulder? Honestly, the only newly outrageous part of s5Dark™Betty is the fact that she still believes in “killer genes” despite having spent 4 years at Yale …

As for liking/disliking Betty and morality …

Look, I’m going to be very honest: I am NOT particularly enjoying s5 Betty. And it’s not because of b*rchie.

S5 Betty has 99 problems but the sexcapades ain’t one.

For me, it’s the fact that she’s turned into s1 Alice 2.0. But surely that’s not news either? Ever since the first info about the time jump, everyone and their mother have been speculating about the teens becoming their parents …

Just because Jughead is better written (and written to be more likable), it doesn’t make him more worthy of redemption. Just because the writers are keeping Betty’s redemption “secret” (insert eye roll) for their big reveal in the season’s penultimate episode, it doesn’t mean she won’t have one.  

Simply put, the writers have made Jughead more likable. He’s still the underdog. He’s the only character in Riverdale actively trying to deal with his trauma, since the very first post-time jump episode (working at Pop’s explicitly to fend off the debt collectors). He has scenes with a new and extremely likable character (Tabitha). He has the only new plot line (the Mothman). Said plotline is narratively already tied to both his unknown past and the town’s destruction by Hiram. His behaviour is explicitly explained, even as his recent trauma remains unknown. He’s transparent.

In comparison, s5 Betty is traumatized but not the underdog. Her trauma (TBK killer) is both known to us and a repetition of previous storylines, which makes it narratively less exciting. She is completely disconnected from any other storylines. She comes out as being judgmental and self-interested: telling Tabitha Jughead’s not her business while previously accepting his help? Berating Polly for lying while not keeping in touch and lying about her own life (TBK)? Please note: I’m not saying there isn’t a reason behind her behaviour, just that it comes out in a negative way.

You don’t like Betty’s current behaviour? You don’t consider trauma a good enough excuse? Cool.

You feel sorry for what she’s going through? You consider trauma to be a valid explanation for her behaviour? Also cool.

Personally, I don’t give a flying fig, either for Betty’s trauma or Jughead’s. Because, even though Trauma™ is s5’s actual mystery plot, narratively speaking, trauma never affected the plot of the past 4 seasons, nor s5 trauma will affect future plots, once revealed. And you know what? That is also cool.

None of the above is better.

And just because I’m not enjoying Betty right now, it doesn’t mean that I don’t want her to overcome her current situation or that I won’t cheer for Bughead like a River Vixen on fizzle rocks, once they reunite.

This thing though, where people are made to feel as if they owed anyone in the fandom an explanation about why they like the things they like, because, somehow, their preferences are a reflection on their character or their cognitive abilities to read a TV show? This is a joke.

There is no “wrong” way to consume any show, let alone Riverdale, with its fractured format, its short-term memory and its see-sawing characters.

Look, everybody’s here for their own reasons. For most people this is a place of escape. No one’s escaping better than the other, because of how they enjoy their teen TV show ... 

[platypuskenny]

Can I get more f that Kenny’s physiology with his alter egos? I’m rlly interested in that

(assuming this means psychology, as a follow up to this post)

i’ve put it off cuz i’ve been busy with other stuff but i‘m really glad i got this ask cuz i love kenny and I love thinking about them in the context of their two alter egos!

CW: discussion of child abuse and neglect, including inexplicit discussion of child sexuality. also a lot of discussion of The Whole Kenny Death Thing. also spoilers for the stick of truth if you haven’t played it!

kenny’s been treated a lot more seriously in recent seasons, with a shift in character to be a lot more mature as well, and it’s a development that makes a lot of sense in the context of “the characters have undergone A Lot and it’s really shaped their personalities because they’re at a stage when their brain is still very soft and malleable and susceptible to trauma.”

the addition of karen in “the poor kid” seems to have shaken up the depiction of the mccormicks a lot. in earlier seasons, kenny was more passive about his home situation, or at least went out of his way to ignore them, (like in “best friends forever” when he plays on his PSP and leaves the house while his parents fight). there are early scenes where he does have some responsibility to his family (i.e. trying to win a can of food for them in “starvin marvin”) but usually he’s just depicted as a kid trying to live through a tough situation. though his “willing to do anything for money even if it’s deeply upsetting, depraved, or outright deadly” character trait from “fat camp” kind of tracks with this understanding that he prioritizes financial security over his personal well-being. 

however, ever since karen was added to the show, kenny’s been depicted as a much more responsible and often even tragic figure. his parents are too caught up in their own shit to address their children’s emotional needs, and kevin sadly gets caught up in their violence as well in “the poor kid” (he’s also vaguely implied to be developmentally disabled in the few scenes he speaks up but that’s mostly speculation). because of this, kenny ends up being karen’s main caretaker - holding her close when she’s distressed at losing her parents, buying her a doll, etc. 

kenny’s situation is a textbook example of parentification. he ends up taking care of karen, at least emotionally, because his parents and brother are unable to do so. he also becomes the breadwinner in “the city part of town” as soon as he gets the chance. this is a really unhealthy scenario that a lot of children in poverty, especially older siblings, see themselves in. it can result in the child not knowing their true place in a family that takes them for granted, and thus not considering their own needs and/or feeling shame if they need help because they’re so used to putting everybody before them. i think this tracks with kenny being “the quiet one” and rarely asking for anything. 

that’s not even getting into the constant death and the fact he spent so much of his life not even understanding why he was doomed to constantly die in horrible painful ways, and for nobody else to remember that he even died to begin with. (kind of symbolic of the neglected child, huh?) 

this brings us to mysterion and princess kenny. in both the superhero game and the fantasy game, you’ll notice kenny is the one who tends to get the most involved, with the only exception being possibly cartman, who could be the topic of a whole other essay on identity issues. mysterion is the one superhero with a real power who exists outside of their superhero game (besides the kewn, whose superhero persona is entirely self-motivated anyway), and princess kenny gets so defensive of her identity that she betrays her friends in both the trilogy and the game. kenny also talks about lady mccormick in the third person in the first black friday episode, and i don’t know if any other characters speak about their personas in that way. so kenny intentionally places more distance between his personas and himself than the other kids do with their personas. 

therefore, i see mysterion and princess kenny as how kenny copes with his deeply repressed psychological issues. it’s a way to compartmentalize his feelings towards his constant suffering and the burden his family inadvertently placed on him by developing these two identities. one embraces his role as caretaker to the degree of becoming a superhero, and the other rejects it in favor of being entirely doted upon. (some people have read the prominence of roles as signs of a dissociative disorder, and i can see that with this context, but i don’t know if it’s really a perfect fit for any specific disorder, especially when there’s little information on kenny’s consciousness when it comes to these personas.)

mysterion is more obviously a tool for kenny to express his discontent with his town. in his first appearance, he states, “i could no longer sit by and watch as my city became a cesspool of crime,” which tracks with his earlier characterization as reluctantly accepting his family’s poverty despite constantly suffering. (plus i’m pretty sure several of kenny’s deaths were the result of crimes.) he refuses to be unmasked because he “would stop being a symbol,” and only does so in order to quell the unrest that his mystery has provoked. that "symbol" wording suggests that mysterion is an extreme version of kenny's self-sacrificing lifestyle to the point where he defines himself as a symbol of justice and hope, not a person. kenny himself is also pretty quiet and secretive, but more because nobody cares about him and he’s kind of afraid of getting killed any second. mysterion’s secret persona is something bold, powerful, and masculine. he is physically adept in a way we don’t see kenny behave, and much more reasonable and cautious about what’s best for him and humanity. (a good visual of this to contrast with kenny is the “mysterion re-rising” animation in the fractured but whole, where he consciously rejects the chance to go to the heaven full of naked women that kenny loves because he has to return to battle.)

mysterion is also a way for kenny to reclaim his "curse” and use it for good. as mysterion, he uses death (albeit reluctantly) to get out of tough situations and save his friends. in video games like fractured but whole and phone destroyer, mysterion’s ability to exist as a ghost and revive himself is a gameplay mechanic. this self-sacrificial personality trait has shown up in earlier seasons, and he kills himself for the good of the community/world/etc in “cartman’s mom is still a dirty slut,” the movie, and “jewbilee.” but he’s not nearly as interested in world issues unless he’s under pressure to care. (for example: he does join the workers’ strike in “bike parade,” but he’s not very passionate about it and doesn’t even care about the issue until his dad takes him to a union meeting.) kenny’s good with solving short-term issues while mysterion worries about the deeper, long-term problems with the town. 

this brings us to mysterion and the mccormicks. when we see mysterion’s interactions with karen, we see how mysterion represents kenny’s responsibilities towards her. mysterion is able to offer karen elaborate, heartfelt emotional support, and guarantee that he’ll always be there for her. he also beats up a girl who bullies her and threatens anybody else who thinks about hurting her - more on that aggressive instinct down below. while mysterion’s identity is known to his friends and the rest of the town, it’s not known to karen, who sees him as a guardian angel. presumably, this is so mysterion can remain a symbol of hope to her, just like he is to the town, and so karen feels like there’s people in the world who care about her besides her brother. however, this does backfire in the fractured but whole DLC where she laments how her brother doesn’t seem to spend time with her, which embarrasses mysterion as he promises to tell him to be there for her more often. this implies that kenny gets so wrapped up in being mysterion that he forgets that he has a duty to karen as kenny as well, further indicating that mysterion is a way to cope with the tragic responsibility of caring for a sibling not much younger than he is.

during the superhero trilogy, kenny also uses mysterion to question his parents about their cult meetings, something that shook him so badly when he learned about it that he broke character. mysterion also told his parents to be nicer to the kids, not beat each other up, pay their kids allowances, and not smoke. it seems that mysterion is able to approach kenny’s parents about serious issues while kenny himself mostly stays out of their business - possibly out of fear? (kenny’s more confrontational in later seasons, though - flipping off his dad in “bike parade,” for example.)

on a similar note, mysterion is way more openly angry and violent than kenny is, especially when it comes to the death curse, which he openly complains about in a way kenny himself never did. compare kenny complaining about stan ignoring his deaths in “cherokee hair tampons,” which only gets further ignored, and mysterion complaining about it in graphic detail in “coon vs coon and friends,” even killing himself in front of his friends, and understandably scaring the shit out of them. mysterion also gets really protective of karen, violently so, as seen with the girl he beats up in “the poor kid” and his distrust when the vampires befriend her in the “from dusk til casa bonita” DLC. such a mysterion is way more passionate and loud about justice and direct action while kenny is more resigned, and most of his good deeds are unknown to the public. if kenny has embraced this caretaker role, it makes sense that he vents his repressed anger through mysterion, especially if you take it in the context of dissociation - kenny can’t handle dwelling on his shitty life all the time, so mysterion holds that anger and finds a way to cope with it by trying to fix everything around them, including kenny’s home life. 

princess kenny is very opposite mysterion in many ways. most obviously, she’s a girl. kenny’s relationship with gender is something i think about a lot in light of PK. “tweek vs craig” depicted him as the only boy in home ec, and he was thrilled because it was the safe alternative to the deadly shop class. i think that, regardless of your headcanon for kenny’s gender (i personally see them as feminine nonbinary - i’m mostly using “he” pronouns in this essay strictly for recognition’s sake and because i’m mostly talking about the show’s depiction of kenny), he sees femininity as safe and comforting, but nevertheless very powerful. (remember that his mother, while not super feminine, is a very outspoken and aggressive woman who calls stuart out on his shit constantly.) and what’s a better combination of femininity and power than a magical girl? 

also one thing i want to note real quick is that karen still refers to kenny as her sister in the stick of truth despite not being super involved in their game which i personally choose to read as Trans Rights Subtext

this is how we get lady mccormick / princess kenny, who is largely a passive character during the black friday trilogy, sitting upon her throne and cutely commenting on the surroundings while stan translates for her. then when sony takes her in, she becomes the star of her own show, a magical japanese princess who doesn’t take shit from cartman or his army and gets whatever she wants because she’s a cute little girl and now she gets to be protected and doted upon! also she speaks japanese and is not muffled in the slightest despite wearing her parka....symbolism? and really interestingly is that when she supposedly dies, she brushes herself off and immediately revives, declaring that she’s okay. in kenny’s feminine fantasy, she doesn’t suffer when she dies, and revives without any mess at all. princess kenny is always gonna be okay!

PK is also very flirty and overly sexual. it’s no secret that kenny is very interested in and knowledgeable of sex. he also absolutely worships women’s bodies, as seen with his views of heaven and that whole plot of “major boobage.” i don’t even read this as lust, because he’s ten, but sheer fascination with sex. maybe it plays into that whole “growing up too fast” concept where he tries to indulge in the “fun” parts of adulthood to make up for the exhaustion of caregiving, but this has been a thing since before kenny was depicted as a real caregiver so IDK. 

anyway, i think PK is also a way for kenny to experiment with flirting and sex, particularly with other boys. she uses her coyness and, in the games, her bare chest to entice boys. her cuteness also attracts grown men in “titties and dragons” which goes largely unremarked upon, which is a bit uncomfortable but still works with the idea that she’s the most “lovable” form of kenny. she also apparently thinks the new kid is “cute.” iit’s really funny to me how kenny is depicted as interested in strictly girls while princess kenny only focuses on boys, which could support the idea that PK is a separate entity from kenny, or that kenny just needs to figure himself out. either way, i imagine kenny finds some thrill in getting men to pay attention to them when their male friends often treat her as superfluous, and even then it often involves objectifying herself (this also tracks with their behavior in “fat camp”). it’s kind of sad if you think about it.

in the climax of the stick of truth, princess kenny has her own in-depth backstory, where she was an orc/elf rejected by both the elves and humans. i think this reflects kenny’s feeling of being “othered” as non-human (since this game chronologically comes after the superhero trilogy) and just generally not feeling welcome among their friends unless they need her. there may also be some parallels between her friends denying her the right to be a princess and kenny’s friends refusing to believe in his immortality. when she rebels against her friends choosing the stick over friendship, it’s another way for kenny to cope with their mixed-to-negative feelings about their friends. so while PK is a figure to be doted on, she’s still probably more gutsy than the kenny we usually know. 

however, PK is not entirely selfish or apathetic about the world around her. in the opening of “a song of ass and fire,” her inner monologue explains her choice to deflect to the PS4 side as the side she believes “is best for all.” she also laments that everybody, including her parents, will be fighting on black friday. it seems that PK dreads the mere idea of war, which contradicts mysterion’s tendency to use violence as a means to protect others. PK still uses her adorableness to help her team, and only asks that they accept her, which really isn’t much. it’s just when she, you know, becomes a nazi zombie and puts the world in danger because she’s so pissed about not being accepted for who she is. 

in my original post, i used the freudian personality theory to explain these three personas, which i regret because i fucking hate freud and he’s heavily responsible for modern consumerism and planned obsolescence. but the basic concepts of the id, ego, and superego do kind of illustrate what i’m getting at with these guys. i assigned princess kenny as the id, because she’s more about self-gratification and getting what she thinks she deserves as well as a tendency towards sexual gratification, and mysterion as the superego (hehe get it super) because of his strong inclination towards morality. however, this isn’t that black-and-white, as princess kenny has some moral considerations and mysterion has violent impulses (the “aggressive instinct”) that are more easily attributed to the id. nevertheless, it seems that kenny is still the balance between these exaggerated personas, and when he expresses attitudes similar to theirs, they are far more downplayed due to the necessities of his situation as a caretaker and an underappreciated friend. kind of makes you wonder if/how the attitudes of mysterion and princess kenny will manifest in him when he’s older.

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

Into the last turn of the spiral

I’m absolutely thrilled with this episode and where things are going in this long finale. I know that many Dean fans are not happy with these last few seasons, but I am appreciating them intensely for their theme, the big question that the show asked the characters and asked us. What is real? Do we know? Did we know? What show have we been watching? This season brought the question to the spotlight, and this episode stares at us in the eyes and asks us. Do we understand? Did we understand what was going on?

Let’s start this with something partly silly: I admit I have no idea what Sam said in the teary speech. My brain was too busy processing what was going on with Chuck, and I realized I hadn’t processed what was being said in the scene between Sam and Dean. Then again, isn’t this some sort of involuntary meta commentary? Is it even relevant to know exactly the details of the bro moment, when it’s the last turn of a spiral we’ve seen over and over, the last turn of the spiral of Chuck’s story - the only story he knows, the conflict between siblings - and the way Dean and Sam stumble their way through it and (partly) out of it?

Oh, Chuck. We were all convinced that what he said was true. We fell for it like anyone else. That the “bad writing” was him frustratedly trying to continue a story that didn’t work anymore, occasionally punishing his characters out of pettiness, the monsters and the theatrical cases and the bad luck and whatever... But it was his great plan. His visions to Sam were the lie, and of course they were. The red herring. Everything was a red herring to conceal what he really aimed at - his sister. Everything else was a tool.

And it’s so interesting to see what his grand plan was based on. Because Chuck wanted something - Amara in his hands, literally - and he knew that he couldn’t convince her or force her, she had made it clear. So he did the only thing he could, really, which happened to be the smartest move: he used Dean to get at her. Dean, whom she always had a connection (and he lies to her, tells her the connection was real, not his writing, but of course it’s a lie, he needs her to believe that her connection to Dean was real, so that she could feel devastated enough by Dean’s betrayal to go back to him). It worked.

(It also says a lot of Chuck’s complex relationship towards Dean. He needs Dean to achieve his goals, he needs his sister to be manipulated by Dean to be able to manipulate her. He knows Dean can succeed where he can’t. He knows Dean has a power over his sister that he doesn’t have.)

To get at Dean, in turn, no old cards could work: not even Mary’s death was enough to manipulate him into killing Jack on Chuck’s orders, and what biggest motivation than grief over his mother’s death? So Chuck used the ultimate card, freedom. The ultimate freedom, a plan to kill God himself, the great puppetmaster that toyed with him all his life. And of course this plan would come from Death, which Dean has always felt a sort of bond/pull towards, and whom Dean somewhat trusts. It worked.

Chuck manipulated Amara using Dean, and in turn manipulated Dean using Death. It was a very smart plan.

On the other hand there’s Sam. Oh, I don’t think what the Empty said about Billie was true, I don’t think anything about that scene was real (or, at least not fully). Because it’s a perfect parallel - Dean lies to one cosmic entity, Amara, and drives Amara where she needs to be in Chuck’s plan, i.e. literally into Chuck’s hands. Sam lies to another cosmic entity, the Empty, which gives Sam the exact information he needs to drive himself where he needs to be in Chuck’s plan, i.e. trying to stop Dean from using Jack to kill Chuck, triggering the brothers’ conflict grand finale.

In fact, the way the episode is structured in chapters named Amara, Dean, and Sam, suggests that those three are the manipulations Chuck is performing (the metatextuality of giving titles to parts of the story obviously is supposed to make us think about it from Chuck’s perspective, as Chuck’s doing). Amara gets emotionally manipulated, Dean gets manipulated through the supposed plan to kill Chuck, and Sam gets manipulated into his own role in Chuck’s story, that is to get motivated by the encounter with the Empty (supposedly) to go and stop Dean. The information he gets in Death’s library are perfectly tailored on Sam’s characterization and role in the story...

It’s all very poetic way, in fact, because in the season 10 finale Sam convinced Dean not to carry out the plan proposed by Death (killing Sam) while the spell to free Amara out in the world was performed. Now, Chuck has Sam try to stop Dean from carrying out a plan proposed by Death, when in fact the entire objective is for Chuck to absorbe Amara. Irony...

Then again, we hardly know anything where Billie or the Empty are concerned, not really. What is real indeed.

Oh, and Jack. Just recently I was talking with @pathofserendipity about how many of us have had troubles accepting Jack as he was presented to us by the narrative. It felt too abupt to throw him out there as a son to the main characters, not even “family” like Bobby or Charlie or Kevin would, but a son altogether, when a parental bond is something so deep and intimate. Jack felt like a plot device put there to fulfill some very specific functions - plotty plot thingies, and giving Cas something more important than Dean. In fact many DeanCas fans have been disappointed by how Jack basically disrupted the DeanCas narrative by almost replacing Dean as Cas’ most beloved person.

And now Chuck basically tells us that Jack was specifically engineered to be a plot device. And doesn’t just tell that to us. He does it by using a very specific mirror of Dean and Cas that, given the context, feels exactly like a mockery of their relationship. Not only by making the mirror a hypersexual, weird couple, where the Cas mirror is sort of reminiscent of the “endverse” version of Cas. But also, Adam says that the plan to kill God was his and Serafina’s “baby” - also mocking, since the plan requires Jack’s death, Jack basically being Dean and Cas’ “baby”.

Such a cruel irony in putting a mirror like that in this very last turn of the spiral, and so very like Chuck.

So, as we mentioned, this episode was structured in chapters based on the characters manipulated by Chuck. Of course the next episode will be about Cas, the one that cannot be manipulated, not really. Well, I’d say that his bond with Jack is too suspicious and was engineered to drive conflict between him and Dean (so much conflict it has driven between them, in fact, although their relationship never broke). But we know, and Chuck very well knows, that Cas is a damn bastard that always ends doing what he’s not supposed to do...

[im-like-if-a-girl]

*THE* mean-girl-dean-girl's Supernatural reboot MEGAPOST!

I'm gonna stick a little "keeping reading" here because hoooooo boy, this is a very long post.

Let's start with

Plot

Season 1

Dean kills John while they are out on a hunt in a crime of passion, but Dean doesn't remember because he blacked out. Cue Dean going to Stanford to get Sam and tell him "Dad's on a hunting trip... and he hasn't been home in a couple days."

The audience doesn't know what happened to John, but slowly figures it out with Dean and Sam as Dean slowly remembers what happened that night.

The entire first season, the boys are following the trail John left and fighting monsters as well. They find out Dean was with John, Sam realizes Dean has an unreliable memory, they have heart to hearts about their childhood and the fire, they find John's body, "how could you kill Dad?" but maybe Dean didn't kill dad, whooaaaaaa, misdirection.

It was actually good ole yeller eyes (Azazel) and he made it look like Dean killed John.

Okay, now let's move on to the first episode

Not sure how the opening would work, I would like the story of the fire to be revealed over the course of the first season, but maybe the opening scene could be a little bit of an establishing character relationships and backstory, idk, I haven't thought that far yet.

I'm thinking maybe it's like, Dean gets back to a motel room covered in blood and he listens to a voicemail on his phone from John saying he was on a hunt or something, I don't really know lol.

HOWEVER

I do know that after the intro rolls, we get a scene of Sam waking up to his alarm and "Nine to Five" by Dolly Parton starts playing.

Y'all know where this is going.

Cue a montage of Sam's normal Stanford college life (him sitting through lectures, walking through the campus with friends) spliced with scenes of Dean absolutely slaughtering a nest of vampires (or some other monsters, whatever works best.)

But

Now onto

Characters!!! (And descriptions)

Dean Winchester

Some lovely person on this site made edits of Dean with platinum blond hair and it made me feel some kind of way so we're doing that, homie's gonna have platinum blond hair

Side note about the hair, later when the brothers are running from the FBI he dyes it a dirty blond/light brown (insert jackles hair color controversy here) as a disguise.

He also gets tattoos because we were robbed.

Speaking of tattoos, concept: when Dean comes back from Hell, all of his tattoos are gone. His body is a clean slate, devoid of tattoos, scars, etc. So he gets his tattoos done all over again, which he doesn't mind because he made some bad, drunk tattoo decisions in his youth.

(And before you ask, yes, he does get one for Cas, either a bee or Cas's name in enochian, something cute.)

Dean goes to therapy after Sam gets sent to the Cage.

It's actually court mandated because he got in trouble, lol, he would never go to therapy on his own.

Along with the hair, Dean gets to be the grade A twunk we all know he is.

Sam Winchester

His hair gets longer in every scene he's in

No jk, but imagine

King of Microaggressions

Sam starts off like the sweetheart he is in season 1 but in later seasons he starts enjoying killing a little too much...

It's that demon blood, ba-by!!!

He brings up issues of morality to Dean, i.e. killing monsters who aren't hurting anyone. (Yes I know this is contradictory to my previous statement, but these two facets of Sam can and will coexist.)

Sam and Jess's relationship is explored further, meaning we'll need to start with a different inciting incident, but that's fine, I think everyone can agree fridgings are *(thumbs down)*

Sam doesn't truly know what happened the night of the fire until later, and then he understands why Dean is so protective of him.

Jess

She gets to live beyond the first episode

She is also trans

No, I don't feel like I have to explain myself and I won't 💜

She urges Sam to join Dean in a search for their brother, kind of gets pulled into the hunter lifestyle by association lol.

She dies on a rusty nail after fighting vampires on a routine hunt with Sam

No jk!!!

But imagine....

She's amazing and I love her and Lucifer also uses her as leverage against Sam and possesses her because I think that'd be cool.

She supports Sam 100% and also she and Dean are buddies, pals if you will.

She meets Cas Thee El and immediately she Knows, that is a homosexual.

She dies still so that we can have a Saileen Endgame but she's not dying the first episode or in a fridging. Not on my watch.

Castiel

He gets to keep his raw, light-fixture-exploding power.

I want more of that "I pulled you out of hell, I can throw you back in" energy except over dumb shit like Dean not cleaning up after himself.

He looks like a Dilf in every scene he's in, yeah, that's right, dilf with a capital D for *(GUNSHOTS)* *(gets sent to horny jail)*

Claire

She gets pink hair

And more time with Cas

And maybe a nose piercing

Feel like she should be able to kill a couple angels onscreen, punch a couple homophobes

She gets to meet Jack and teaches him swears and fun slang words.

She deserves it.

Jack

I says "that's my baby and I'm proud."

Jack starts off as a baby, but like Amara he grows up super quickly.

Like, baby to 11 year old in a couple days or less.

This is because Jack's emotional age on the show is on par with that of a 5th grader.

It's at this point when he's a young kid that he runs away from the Bunker and shenanigans ensue.

It's also at this point that Dean threatens to k*ll him.

(Still not sure if I want that in my Supernatural (threatened infanticide? In my Supernatural? It's more likely than you think) but we'll see. We'll see.)

Throughout a majority of season 13, Jack is like an 11 y.o. kid

Season 14 he's like a 16 y.o. teenager

Season 15 he's 21, you get the picture.

Listen, I love Alex Calvert a lot. He's great.

But Jack is a child and should be a child.

Kelly Kline

Kelly, baby, stay right where you are, you're perfect.

Eileen

SHE DOESN'T DIE

SHE GETS TO BE IN THE FINALE BECAUSE SHE'S AMAZING AND I LOVE HER.

BLURRY WIFE WHO? I ONLY KNOW SAILEEN ENDGAME!

She teaches Claire and Jack swears in sign-language. Castiel is not impressed.

John

J*hn W*nchester stans, DNI.

He's dead.

We only see him in flashbacks and only sometimes hear his voice in voice overs.

He's not "down the road" from Dean in Heaven, in fact he instead gets to wander around in some Purgatory like Hell for the rest of his time :)

People who get to say "fuck" on the show:

Cas (but only Once)

Jody

Bobby

Now onto other things

I want more of

Ghostfacers

(they need more screentime because I love them)

Dean/Benny

We know they had a thing.

They definitely had a thing.

Demon Dean

Again, I feel like more should've been done with this. All that build up for what, 2 episodes? was not utilized well at all.

Dean's Bisexuality

Straight Dean truthers DNI, my Supernatural is a show about love and being true to yourself

You think Supernatural is a show about 2 straight brothers fighting monsters?

Naw bitch, this is a show about the Gay Experience

He will get to have relations with men on this show.

Of course, only after John dies does he, y'know, display it. Maybe he kisses Cas on his dad's grave just to fuck John over, make him roll in grave.

We all agree John would be/is a homophobe piece of shit, right?

Okay, glad we're on the same page.

Dads

3 men and a baby with Jack is what I'm saying.

I love it when the Trio are father-figures to younger troubled characters they see themselves in, even better if it's like reluctant-but-loving father figure, oh, that trope gets me every time :'^)

Dadstiel and DadDean are my favorites, but I like it when Sam plays "Uncle Sam" to kids too lol.

"Fellas, is it gay to want a tight knit family with your husband, his son, his vessel's daughter, your brother, his wife, your cop mother figure and her wife and their adopted daughters? Asking for a friend."

Garth

Biggest flaw of Supernatural was underutilizing Garth.

I will never not be bitter that Garth was only in like, 7 episodes out of the whole 15 season series.

Every episode with Garth gets immediately 5 times better.

I love Garth.

Follow ups on characters who had entire episodes featured around them and then just... vanished???

This is mostly about Jesse, the magic kid whose imagination ruled an entire town like, his daddy was a demon and nothing came of that kid??? Only one episode about him?? No follow up???

KID CAN MANIPULATE REALITY AND WE'RE NOT GONNA GET A FOLLOW UP ON THAT?????

Uh, there was that one episode with Ennis the guy whose girlfriend was killed by a monster? I think?? Who we never see again, that was weird.

Tamara from season 3, episode 1.

And of course-

Cassie

She was so cool, and then we never saw her again :////

She gets to be a badass.

Religious imagery

As a former Catholic school student who has become for the most part, disillusioned with religion, religious imagery in TV shows like Supernatural make my brain go "brrrrrr."

Fun episodes!!!

Like, after season 6 or so, there's a drop in funny episodes

I'm talking Changing Channels, The French Mistake type stuff. (Scoobynatural is an outlier and should not be counted.)

So anyway

In my version we would have more fun episodes

I'm thinking

GENDER-SWAP EPISODE, BABY!!

(why they didn't do that in the original, we'll never know.)

An episode where Dean gets to wear eyeliner

That's it, end of post.

I want less

Racism

Yeah I feel like this is self explanatory, nearly every reoccurring character in SPN is white, and black side characters normally die in the episode they first appear in, or they'll be featured as a villain (Uriel, Raphael, Billie, etc)

Also there's a lot of... uh... asian fetishism featured in the show (what with "Busty Asian Beauties) that's really gross, also Kevin was a bit of a stereotype...

Also also it's super yucky how they kill the gods from other religions like???? Uh??? That's super disrespectful, let's not do that????

I know Supernatural is like, inherently racist because monsters are a separate race that are seen as some dangerous "other" that must be eradicated by hunters in a form of genocide-

Okay we won't get into that but

Still

Stop killing all your POC

Fridgings/Unecessary murders of female characters

I know Supernatural starts with a fridging, so this will be a hard thing to remedy, but

One death that really pissed me off was the death of Charlie

Yeah, that was pointless and we're not doing that. Charlie gets to live and be an awesome aunt to Jack.

And also Claire

Charlie Bradbury Superiority

Charlie and Garth get to meet because they're nerd/geek solidarity.

British Men of Letters

I fucking hate these guys

They're "litcherally" the worst.

The worst part is that the actors they have playing the British AREN'T. EVEN. BRITISH.

And you can tell

Uh, and that's all for now, I'll add more later.

tag list for people who liked my "if this post gets one like I'll post my SPN reboot masterpost" post.

@darianyunidi @sarasidlesaid @crazybananaalpaca @playfulpanthress @ultfreakme @fififeelsmellow @heller-char @luna8eaton @princessmeganfire @insanebot109 @queenofnightsnow @mongoose-underthehouse

Thank you for the support, hope the wait was worth it.

[enchanted--realm]

When Calls the Heart Live Ramples

Season 8 episode 9 Pre Wedding Jitters

That scene in 👏Nathan's 👏office👏 The lines they wrote for Kevin *chef's kiss* perfection. I mean, I still dont like this whole secret reveal thing. I think it's so dumb. Like, ain't no way the writers intended Nathan to have this secret when he first came to the show. I don't think he was suppose to have any secret at all. I mean, this whole, 'There's something he's not telling me' thing came out of nowhere. That aside, the love confession was great, again, and he left Elizabeth speechless again and she ran away, AGAIN. That tells me all I need to know. She cannot deny this man BECAUSE SHE LOVES HIM. And if y'all think otherwise than you're delusional.

The game at the bachelorette party. It was obvious from the promo for this episode how this would play out. She reaches for Nathan's hands and thinks he's the one. (I was predicting that she would know it was Nathan and then feel uncomfortable and move on, but that didnt happen. She thought he was Lucas *bleh. Though I was still right in thinking Nathan would be 'the one' during this little game). We like that. I really liked how the party scene lasted longer than I expected. It wasnt even too long of a scene, but it was definitely long for When Calls the Heart. This show really needs to work on it's pacing. Everything happens so fast bc they have to cut to the millions of side plots that happen in every episode. My gosh, would they give us some focus please.

When Lucas came by Elizabeth's house in the morning I enjoyed that they interacted more casually with each other it seemed, at least it did on Elizabeth's part. Just through small details like the way she was casually leaning in the doorframe or her tone of voice. She wasnt so awkwardly polite...but Lucas still was. Lucas is so polite it's uncomfortable. Like I don't feel like anybody could just be themselves around him, bc it's like every meeting has this awkward air of being polite to an acquaintance you dont know well. Ugh it's so weird. I didnt like that Elizabeth told him Nathan's reveal. I feel she should have kept that to herself. Ugh and then Lucas wanted to act all protective and 'talk' to Nathan. Oh please. That is not his place. Elizabeth is obviously the one who needs to talk with Nathan and it's no one else's business what goes in between them, besides Allie of course. And speaking of Allie, I thought her scenes were really good and thoughtful. I still think it was weird that Lucas got her a gift for her adoption ceremony, but whatever we are past that now. I like that her character is being more mature about everything too. I really hope we get a scene where Allie and Elizabeth have their own conversation though. They need it. I'm not sure how I feel about that obvious Paul (Florence's son) having a crush on Allie. It seems that the writers will want them to like each other. I guess it could be cute? It's just a little awkward bc we havent seen this Paul kid around before so it creates a weird air that the only reason he shows up now is to be a school crush for Allie. Eh. Jaeda was great though and I think she did her scenes well.

After Lucas and E talked, I think it's obvious to Lucas that Elizabeth has strong feelings for Nathan and that she's just running away from them. I mean, she told Lucas that when Nathan told her he loves her all she could do was say nothing and just leave. *holds out arms and stares with a 'well, there you have it' expression'* IT DOESNT GET ANY CLEARER THAN THAT. I wonder if the writers will make Lucas step down bc he cant be with someone who will never love him. Idk how Lucas will react honestly, Lucas's character is such a mystery to me I could never know what he would do in a situation that didnt involve setting up a perfectly romantic date or sweet talking someone with an annoyingly, unrealistic, perfectly understanding polite response.

Elizabeth was also super rude to the people she cares about in this episode. The way she talked to Rosemary. First, she didnt like hearing what Rosemary had to say, which implies that she may have been blaming Nathan for Jack's death. That is such a horrible thing to hold against someone. I mean I could understand why she would feel that way but just for a moment. I mean she should understand how completely wrong and irrational that thought process is and that she shouldnt blame Nathan. TWO, then she had the nerve to tell Rosemary something like 'why would you think that comment would help me right now'. Wow Elizabeth. Gee, maybe she's saying the truth and she's also your friend and just trying to talk things through and give her opinion as a way to help you through your difficult situation. God forbid she doesnt say the perfect thing that you needed to hear at that time, she can't read your mind. I thought that was incredibly rude. It hurt to see Rosemary hurt. And then later she told her that she should leave her house. *SCOFF* man, she was really hitting Rosemary hard this episode. If I were in Rosemary's shoes, yes I would be hurt, but I think I would mostly be understanding of what Elizabeth might be going through and not take anything personally. E's lucky that Rose is such a good friend. OH! What Rosemary told Nathan in the library! She totally implied with her little metaphor comparison that Nathan was making Elizabeth unhappy by getting in the way of true love, i.e. Lucas and Elizabeth. I-- wow! Everyone is against this man. I'm so glad that Nathan stands firm. I mean he knows that Elizabeth feels strongly for him based off her reactions to his honesty with her and how she never denies anything and just runs away. I mean, it's plain as day. Let's not forget the *speechless gaze into each other's eyes* 'I can't' from Honestly, Elizabeth.

I think that's it regarding the love triangle. I absolutely despise the Faith and Carson relationship. And I cant believe they made him say, come with me to Baltimore and we can see in a year if we want to get married. That is so dumb. He just asked Faith to drop everything and leave her life in Hope Valley for a 'I might break up with you in a year' situation. Dumb. This is definitely out of character for Carson. It's obvious the writers are just trying to get rid of him and make him not be missed by the audience. They clearly want us to favor Faith, but she couldnt be more annoying honestly. I wish she were leaving and Carson would stay in Hope Valley. But whatever.

I dont like how every side plot seems to be about some couple's budding relationship. I mean aside from the love triangle, we have Florence and Ned, Molly and Bill, Clara and Jesse (though not a budding relationship, it's still all about their relationship) and now Rachel and Christopher and oh yes also Fiona and whoever that guy is and wow I'm still missing Faith and Carson. Thats 6 other romantic relationships in the show (not including the also important one of Rosemary and Lee) and I'm probably leaving one out. Oh yes, now possibly Allie and Paul. 7. Seven relationship side plots!!! Omg I'm going crazy!! They need to learn how to write some actual plot! What happened to town problems and family drama! Thank goodness we have Henry Gowen and his son (cant believe I just complimented that out of nowhere concept but hey) and the oil thing with Lucas and Henry, barely ever a plot line. This show needs better writing. There's no glue holding the town together and even when there is, it's so small or happens so fast that it doesnt have any long lasting and meaningful affect.

If I weren't so invested in Elizabeth's plotline and in need of some wholesome tv, I would have stopped watching a long time ago. Oh and the last thing. The mention of Abigail. I'm so glad Henry mentioned her because she was very important to him and his character growth. His character arc is one of the saving graces of the show and it needs to be given more attention.

Okay in short, Elizabeth was hecka rude, Nathan is wonderful and so was that office scene. We also stan Allie. Next week's episode also looks like a dud and I dont think much will happen.

[aethylas]

For anonymous: a series of answers/clarifications/amendments on The Goldenrod Revisions! (I've answered these all in one post just to make it easier). Thank you so much for the asks, this helped me a) clarify my thoughts b) solve some canon continuity issues so I really appreciate them!

THANK U for agreeing to answer my questions! I'll have to ask them separately so they're not in 1 super-long impossible-to-read ask. I have 3 about 15x19, 1 about 15x20, 2 about 15x21, 2 about 15x22, and 2 about 15x23. quick disclaimer: i don't mean any offense at all by my question count! I didn't even notice these oddities the first time I read this; once I read it and accepted it as the true canon, I took a closer look and then noticed. but plz don't think these made your fic any less great!!

No worries anon! It is literally my pleasure to answer them and I am VERY very happy to find discrepancies with canon in the fic - then I can hopefully fix them and make the fic better :) Also I really appreciate the very systematic way you laid all these out, it really helped me reply, and also subsequently make a couple of edits to the fic!

For 15x19:

1. Why did Chuck trust Michael with the task of killing Jack? As God he should know Michael betrayed him in 15.08; did he expect Michael to disobey him again?

I think in this case we're/Chuck is relying on knowledge from the canon 15.19, i.e. Chuck would assume the outcome predicted by the show - that Michael WOULD betray the Winchesters/the world in order to please his father. So God assumed Michael would act the way he did in Inherit The Earth. But additionally, Chuck isn't actually very keyed-in to his own characters' motivations (esp. when love is involved) or very attached to certain results - he basically sends Michael and Lucifer to kill Jack because he figures it will entertain him no matter what happens - whether Michael and Lucifer kill each other, whether they kill the Winchesters/Jack, etc. - either Jack dies this way or Chuck will think of another way to do it.

2. How was Sam able to kill Lucifer? It was said only an archangel could kill another archangel with the archangel blade; was this a total lie or could Sam do it since he's Lucifer's true vessel? (plz don't change it to have Michael kill him; Sam being the one to do it was perfect, I just wanna understand how he could do it).

So glad you raised this because I honestly totally forgot! But now that you have, I have corrected that lore continuity with a line about biblical metaphors.

3. How is Rowena alive? She said she was dead in 15.08, so I initially assumed as a witch and the Queen of Hell she found a way to travel between Hell and Earth despite being dead. But then Sam says "Michael could've killed you" and then Chuck kills her twice in 15.21, both of which indicate she's alive here - does this mean Michael resurrected her when she summoned him?

God okay this is like - please call me out if this is incorrect or still confusing - but it's kind of like, based on the very inconsistent and confusing lore of the SPN afterlife that I assume Rowena is 'dead' but also 'alive' in the sense that Crowley was 'alive' and is now 'dead'. Does that make sense? She's not 'alive' as a human but rather as a demon (or something like it). So as Queen of Hell and a presumably demonic-adjacent entity, when she's 'killed' she gets sent to the Empty now vs. being 'killed' as a human and going to Heaven/Hell. (Based on when we see her in Hell, I assume she possesses her own body? Unclear. Just go with it. They've never been great with what it means to show vessels in Heaven/Hell etc.)

4. I thought asked all I wanted to know about Goldenrod but I just thought of 1 more thing: I don’t get why some dialogue implies Michael was dead? He mentions how he “found himself back on Earth” and tells the Empty it couldn’t stop Chuck from resurrecting him & Lucifer, but prior to 15.19 we last saw Michael leaving the bunker with Adam alive and well in 15.08, and it seemed like he was gonna stay on Earth for Adam’s sake. So what happened to him?

Oh that's a great point! I think that is actually just a confusing choice on my part that Chuck killed absolutely everyone including Michael/Adam in 15.18 Despair and THEN chose to resurrect Michael (but not Adam) alongside Lucifer when he was bored/wanting to kill Jack. I made some slight adjustments in-text to hopefully make it less confusing because I know that's different to the lore of canon 15.19 Inherit the Earth.

For 15x20:

1. How did the angels and demons in the Empty wake up? Did Michael use the last of his grace to wake everyone up? Were they already awake thanks to Jack blowing up in 15x18 or did they somehow sleep through that? (Not expanding on the Empty's claim that "you made it loud" is one of countless things I'll never forgive the actual show for, so THANK YOU for taking the show back to the Empty in the first place; I was just curious about this one element.)

So the Empty was already 'loud' according to canon, but since canon is vague on what exactly that means (thank you writers!...) I got the impression it meant the Empty wasn't 'peaceful' anymore but still powerful enough to suppress the beings inside, like the beings in there were awake and suffering but unable to rebel. Sort of what we see with Cas in this version of 15.20. Maybe like, additional suffering in sleep paralysis? Regardless, Michael does expend his grace to weaken the Empty enough that other beings wake up and/or are able to fight back and exist outside their own personal nightmare chamber. So whatever your impression of 'loud' is with regards to the other beings in there, assume Michael was able to free them from the Empty's control.

For 15x21:

1. Having Jack & Amara take out Hell & Purgatory was a BRILLIANT idea; I love that they ended all the places of suffering and changed the system. I just wonder - what happened to the souls and the demons still in Hell at that point, and the Leviathans and other monsters still in Purgatory? Were they just wiped out completely and sent to the Empty? Or did Jack turn them human and add them to the cycle? (I don't think the show clarified whether or not Leviathans have souls, so...)

No matter whether they were monster or demon or even angel, they would eventually be given human life. I broke it down to 'human enough souls' vs. 'not human enough souls'. Human-enough were immediately brought to life with memories and versions of their original bodies, and not-human-enough were sent to the Soul Queue to be born as infants. I assume Leviathan and most demons fall into 'not human enough', therefore, whatever tiny microbe of personality/soul they had was added to the cycle of rebirth and would be translated to a new human soul. Of course this might have a WILDLY different impact on the world depending on how many people go to hell in this system, how many people were 'human enough', etc.... But we're basically fudging those numbers a bit one way or another just to give certain characters the revival they deserve haha.

2. Did Cas drown and die after Chuck threw him in the lake and Jack left their limbo-dream world? If so, did he go through the same question-&-answer situation with Death that Sam & Dean did? Or was he with Jack & Amara when they rebuilt the world?

Cas was already dead/dying even when he was talking to Jack, he was sort of in a different version of the 'Veil' per se. VERY wishy-washy, but basically he and Jack were on a different dream-plane that they were jolted to in the chaos of the disorganised no-Death world.

I think Cas, Rowena, Lucifer, Michael, etc. as beings who were killed after the snap is a bit ambiguous. Rowena and Lucifer, I think, as entities who were demonic-dead or Empty-level-dead pre-Snap probably went through the reincarnation Yes/No Death questionnaire. Cas and Michael might not have since they were technically 'alive' and human before the Snap. Regardless, I think they probably wouldn't remember the interaction even if they had it.

The reason the question happened to the Winchesters AND that they remember it is Main Character Syndrome... they were the only people left alive when Jack and Amara did a hard reset, and that honestly Death took time to chill/exposition at them because he likes them. Really. Despite all appearances. Or respects them enough to let them know what's gone down, anyway.

Metatextually, it was really just to reaffirm to the audience that Dean (and Sam) want to live, in contrast to 15.20 Carry On 😅

3. Did all the snapped people (Eileen, Adam, the Waywards, etc.) also go through the Death question-&-answer process but not remember it, or did Jack & Amara just send them back?

Snapped people were reset automatically! Normally the new-humans also wouldn't remember their interactions with Death/reapers, just like in canon lore when someone like Dean has a near-death experience.

I realise this whole section and various other lore reformation parts of the fic aren't SUPER clear on specific logistics but on some occasions I'm like, I've done enough info-dumping, I don't want to overwrite exposition. But if you think it's worth clarifying certain points let me know and I can try to do so!

For 15x22:

1. The twenty something blonde guy in sunglasses getting hot tea, is that Belphegor? sure sounds like it but I wanted to confirm.

Yep!

2. Since Death mentioned that Jack only resurrected the angels, demons, and monsters from the Empty who had enough of a soul, and since all the human souls from the Veil went to Heaven as confirmed by Kevin's presence, how exactly are Anna's human parents and Bela alive now?

Great question - 1) I SOMEHOW FORGOT ANNA'S PARENTS DIED? Complete screw up on my part, I don't know how that happened. I fixed this so it's her grandparents now. 2) Bela was sent to Hell as part of her deal, so I was assuming she was a demon by this point in canon (since it would be... MANY Hell-years since she died.) Therefore she had a 'human' enough demon soul to be put back as a human.

3. Oh, and the tall woman with the flyer in 15.22; who is this supposed to be? Hannah I’m guessing?

To be honest I didn't have anyone in particular in mind for that scene; it was kind of a catch-all for missing characters like, it COULD be Hannah. It could be Raphael. Hell, it could be Abbadon. I didn't want to do a full shot of every single person missing from the cast who had died (esp since like - we wouldn't know who they were anyway! Their bodies would be different). So this one is literally just fill-in-the-blank. But if I had to assign a character there I'd say it would probably be one of the more arrogant angels like Raphael or Uriel.

For 15x23:

1. How is Bobby in the Roadhouse with the gang? 10x17 seemed to imply the angels were about to throw him in the dungeons to punish him for helping Cas; did Ash hack him out of prison, or was he never imprisoned at all? Also, is Jack not surprised to see another Bobby in Heaven because the boys already told him there was another Bobby besides the one he knows from Apocalypseverse? (I was half-expecting him to comment about that and confuse Bobby).

Oh that's a great point! I think that's another sort of fill in the blank since it's been five years since 10.17... even if he was in prison of some kind, I think it's likely either Ash helped him get out in the same way he helped everyone else, and since the angels were extremely short-staffed I doubt getting Bobby suitably imprisoned/punished was their top priority. But honestly I'm not super clear on how the angels intended to punish Bobby, I don't think canon is clear either... like, We Just Don't Know.

Finally I'd like to know, has Sam proposed to Eileen yet by the end of the final episode? The script doesn't mention a ring on her finger, and as Sam's fiancee, I'd assume she'd also have carved her name on the table. Sam mentions the innuendos Dean has said "in the past year," so it's been a while since Jack's prayer scene, yet Cas says Dean & Claire's argument was the last time they spoke, and it doesn't seem likely to me that Dean wouldn't call Claire in a year given how close they are...

Nope! I think Sam is saying 'I'm going to marry her' as a declaration of certainty of his feelings and faith in the future, not neccessarily as something that immediately happens. With regards to 'in the past year', that referred to the period when Eileen was alive during s15 as well! I assume Dean did teasing off-screen (and I mean, he did plenty on-screen too.)

I honestly think that Sam and Dean are just very very busy in the aftermath of the events of the 15.20 reset, like they have to deal with the new world AND try to wrangle all these hunters into this new system of collaboration. I didn't put Eileen on the table because she isn't there in the finale and because I do think the Sam/Dean/Cas/Jack family unit was a bit more central and important to the show, but maybe they add her (and any possible kids, if they have any) later on. God, imagine generations of hunters and/or Winchesters carving on that table. Sacred Artefact...

(1) Ok that's all the questions I have. Again, so sorry to blow up your inbox - I really appreciate your willingness to clarify these things! If there are some things you'd rather not explain and leave ambiguous, I totally get that. And in spite of these aforementioned confusing parts, I still ADORE your fic and will continue to read it whenever I feel like re-"watching" how Supernatural really ended! Thank you so much!! .... (2) I’m SO sorry to overload u! I know I asked a lot and I didn’t mean to sound like a hater saying “none of ur story makes sense”; that’s not what I meant at all! If this was a regular good ol fix it fic I wouldn’t have said anything but since u said u wanted it to wrap up the show as replacement canon, I thought maybe I should point out places that didn’t line up. But take as MUCH time as you need! Good for you working to meet your deadlines; I hope you succeeded!! And again I really appreciate you taking the time to answer whenever you have time—absolutely no rush!! Have a GREAT Memorial Day Weekend!!!

Anon thank you SO SO much for all these questions, as you can see it really helped me identify problems or straight up errors in my work wrt continuity and I'm so happy that means I can improve it. If any of the answers weren't clear or you think I should modify the fic to make certain things clearer than they are right now (other than the things I said I'd fix in-text for sure) let me know! It's really been a pleasure answering them too, I'm sorry it took me so long to get around to it, I actually went back and proofed/edited the whole fic as part of adding some of these corrections in (and that took like... three weeks...) and as you said, it's very important to me to get it as true to canon as possible so - yeah, just, once again, thank you!! You're wonderful! ♥♥♥

[filmmakerdreamst]

‘Boy Meets World’ Re-watch (as an Adult)

‘Girl Meets World’ doesn’t count as a sequel. Not because of the writing/tonal choices but because in the original show - despite continuity issues - the characters felt like real people e.g. the way they spoke/acted/dressed was the way people behaved in the 90s where as in the spin off, they were Disney characters e.g. hyper versions of themselves especially Cory and Eric. And the transition between both shows didn’t come naturally. It’s not an objectivity badly written show but it was pretty much a re-do of the old show with the same storylines/tropes without continuing the story. (I say the same thing about ‘The Incredibles’. vs ‘Incredibles 2’.) Also there were too many cooks in the kitchen pushing one way or another. You could see Micheal Jacobs style, all the aspects were there, but he was also creating a ‘DISNEY’ show at the same time. I don’t know about you but the one message I took from the original show was ‘finding out that life cannot be packenged into a lovely little present ’ which kind of contradicts everything that the new show is. If anything GMW is an AU universe (and it really felt like that, rewatching it right after BMW e.g. it felt flipped) almost like Disney’s version of ‘what happened next?’ The primal difference between both shows is BMW is portraying what is real and GMW is based on what is real.

Going off my point, I will however be always thankful that it exists because I probably wouldn’t of found out about ‘Boy Meets World’ otherwise. Although saying that, I never thought that the original show needed a continuation of any kind (a lot of things make sense about the spin off if you acknowledge that Disney requested it - I think it would of been much better off on its original platform) ‘Boy Meets World’ was very much a product of its time i.e. when tv shows were still relevetivley new and had no rules - like there is stuff in there that not even adult shows today have. Plus there was something about it that felt very personal (such as the characters and setting) as if the creator based it on his own childhood growing up and I think that was part of its charm and why it had such a big effect on pop culture - I’m not so sure you can repeat that.

BMW is big on meta I’ll tell you that. I love how it’s so aware of itself. The amount of depth that it has never ceases to amaze me. It’s whole universe is so dense and huge. Every quote/storyline is so unique it sticks in your brain forever. (I swear the humour got more and more deranged every season). The show was also incredibly queer and progressive.  It didn’t give a crap about sexuality. Much more than I remember. Proof to never use ‘but it was made in the 90s’ excuse.        

I loved how the show kept reinventing itself every season as Cory grew up so you really felt you were growing up with him and all the characters. The Character Development on this show was so natural/authentic. Every single character got a chance to shine. No one changed their look in one episode and no one had an intervention every time someone had an identity crisis (GMW) My favourite development was Shawn Hunter. He went from a cool kid to a ladies man to a poetic soul. It was so satisfying to watch.

I realised that Cory Matthews is actually my favourite character (before it was Eric or Shawn) I already have a special soft spot for ‘annoying’ characters because they tend to be the most memorable/real. For example, Karma Ashcroft from ‘Faking it’ was my babe while everyone was hating on her. I really related to his anxiety/self hatred about being average and I loved that he constantly made mistakes. It was very refreshing. He’s also incredibly queer-coded. I found that alot of his mannerisms make sense if you see him with extreme compulsory heterosexuality (because identity’s such as bisexual or gay couldn’t exist normally in the 90s) There are moments in the show where he literally mimics his best friend’s behaviour around girls e.g. when the class pretty much gets brainwashed by the sex ed video in ‘Boy Meets Girl’ Shawn gets asked out by a girl, making Cory jealous - which pushes him to ask out Topanga.

It’s funny how a few years of life experience can change perspectives completely because when I was sixteen (aka the same age as Cory and Topanga) watching BMW for the first time, I was mad at Amy for ‘not understanding that they were in love’ (in ‘A Walk to Pittsburg’) but now that I’m older I’m actually agreeing with her. Yeah, what do they know about love? Because all season long they were acting quite superficially.

Cory and Topanga became somewhat of a toxic couple in seasons 5 -7. Reminded me of my parents relationship because my mum gave up her chosen university to be closer to my dad and they aren’t together any more. Topanga’s love for Cory was very conditional and Cory cheated on her multiple times/openly begged for sex  (Again like my parents) And you should never be in a relationship with someone who makes you say “You make me think not so very much of myself” There are arguably much more signs of emotional abuse than love in their relationship especially from Topanga’s side. Plus their story was altered so many times to give it more basis (they retconned Shawn and Cory’s friendship to do this) I could write an essay on how Kevin and Winnie’s love story on ‘The Wonder Years’ is much more believable because it actually addresses how toxic it was and they grow apart in the end. If GMW was a realistic continuation, they would be divorced with a little girl - leave them in the 90s where they belong.

Alan and Amy were couple goals! Cory and Topanga wish that they could have what they have. Literally the definition of ‘a healthy relationship on tv that keeps thriving and over coming obstacles without big drama’. Best TV parents ever.

I loved the Matthews family; how they all had individual arcs and developments of their own. One of my favourite arcs was in season 5, when Eric and Cory were both jealous of what they ‘didn’t have’ with their dad, so Alan made an effort to give them both that they needed. Honestly, I had never seen so much healthy communication on TV before. Alan is the best father around. His whole personal arc of giving up managing a supermarket because he wasn’t passsionate about it anymore and buying a mountain store was so inspired. I found it funny that the family had more of a relationship with Shawn than Topanga.

Shawn Hunter never caught a break. It got a bit tiring. He was never allowed to be happy for five minutes. Every time he laughed or smiled, 5 years were added onto my lifespan. Why didn’t Johnathan Turner adopt him? I loved their dynamic. Why did he let him go back to his abusive father who just dumped him anyway?

Jack and Shawn’s complicated dynamic was possibly the most unique/interesting arc of the entire show and no one talks about it. I don’t care what y’all say - despite them being very different, Jack was the only one who fully took care of Shawn without second thoughts (Turner and the Matthews family had doubts)

I liked Shawn and Angela. I thought they were much better suited than Cory and Topanga. I honestly wouldn’t of minded if they ended up together even though I always had a feeling they wouldn’t. (Like I’m glad she went with her dad in the end) And considering how important they were as a interracial couple in the 90s, GMW handled that very poorly.

Shawn and Cory should of ended up together. And before you come at me with ‘it’s important to have m/m friendships without toxic masculinity’ (which is an important arguement to have) - yeah no shit there’s an entire Industry based around that/pitting women against each other. While it is important to have those friendships between men that are close and even intimate (take Chandler and Joey, Schmidt and Nick, Isak and Jonas and Jake and Charles for example) there was also another layer to their relationship which the narrative played off sometimes as them “going out” or “in love”.  I actually recently found out that a writer - who came into the show in season 3 - confirmed that she wrote gay undertones into their relationship on purpose ‘In my opinion as a writer, they thought they were “straight”, they both didn’t realise or understand their feelings for eachother’ but couldn’t deliever because the producers wanted to keep the show “kid friendly”. Kind of like Xena and Gabby. I know people prefer Jack & Eric (I love them as well) but everything got ruined for me as soon as they introduced the ‘love triangle’ and I always tend to prefer emotional tension over sexual. They were just so unconditional with each other/ their friendship was so good and healthy and now I’m so bitter that it never happened.

I never understood why Shawn and Cory had to stop being best friends after he got married. He’s not Topanga’s property. I always hated how Topanga tried to interrupt/interfere with their dynamic — although now I realise it was because the two of them purposely left her out. Looking back at it, If it really was just a intimate friendship then why would she get so easily jealous if she didn’t sense there was something else deeper going on? You should never marry someone who puts you second.

I didn’t like Topanga when she was with Cory (or vice versa) Especially after they got married. She was a great character on her own. Feminist before her time. Hermione Granger before her time. I always felt she deserved a lot better than him in a way e.g. if someone I considered a friend speard a rumour around high school that we slept together - I would never speak to that person again. SHE SHOULD OF GONE TO YALE GOD DAMN IT. And as someone pointed out the other day, if the roles were reversed some of the stuff she does or says to Cory would be considered domestic violence. ‘She’s always blaming Cory on shit that isn't even his fault or makes him feel bad or shuts down his emotions and turns it around so he's comforting her instead.’ There was even a moment in GMW (not that I consider that show a continuation) where she locks him out the house for a few days after he insulted her chicken, and his son Auggie had to bring him spaghetti. If Cory was a woman, that would not be played off as a joke - that would be considered abuse. They were however a better couple in GMW ironically.

Angela Moore is now one of my favourite characters on BMW. She was beautiful. Her friendship with Rachel (and Topanga) was the best. And I frickin’ loved her and Cory’s friendship development - when they could of easily not played into that. I hate that she got villiaized in GMW.

My favourite seasons are 4, 5 & 1. My least favourites are 3 & 2 & 7. And even then the show was still pretty darn good.

The back and fourth clash between Turner and Mr Feeny in season 2 was very entertaining.

Mr Feeny and Eric are my favourite relationship on ‘Boy Meets World’. I love how Eric was the only person that Feeny directly told that he loved him. Also, why didn’t Eric become the new Mr Feeny? He showed more traits of becoming a teacher in the show than Cory did.

Eric and Tommy was probably the most heartbreaking plot line in season 6. (That season was an emotional train wreck) I cried for a fourth time. The world doesn’t deserve him.

I loved the development of Shawn and Topanga’s friendship. Even though there was a silent competition over Cory, they eventually became good friends. I found out that the song ‘She will be loved’ was inspired by them which is awesome but it’s also proof that people ship for less if it’s an m/f dynamic - just sayin’. I however see a more convincing potiental romance with the two of them than Cory and Topanga sometimes.

On Cory and Topanga again - they weren’t a bad couple overall. I liked them in s1 - 3. They had some great moments. But upon my rewatch (getting out of that 90s idealised headspace) I found them to be too similar at times - chafing as another person put it - to the point where they cancel each other out. A lot of people pointed out that Riley and Maya paralleled them and I was thinking “That’s not nesserily a good thing.”

‘Dream. Try. Do good.’ is on my mantelpiece.

[fanfoolishness]

Greg Universe’s biggest mistake

First thing’s first: Greg Universe is an incredible father. What I would have given to have a dad like him... he’s amazing. And I think he deserves an enormous amount of credit for doing his absolute best to love and care for Steven through everything, especially through his own grief.

But there’s one decision he made that I think is going to come back to bite him and Steven both in Steven Universe: Future. And that’s Greg’s insistence that Gem stuff isn’t his thing.

Long post ahead about how this has affected Steven, Greg, and their relationship, along with some musings for what it might mean for Steven Universe: Future.

***

In early seasons it seemed to have been a very hard and fast rule. Initially he states in Laser Light Cannon it was insistence by the Gems:  “Wait, is that a magical thing? The Gems told me not to get involved with magic stuff. It... it could be dangerous or interfere with what’s left of my hair.”  The Gems reinforce this rule by acting less than enthused when he shows up with Steven.

 In Catfingers Greg excuses himself because the shape shifting is a Gem thing.  “Whup! Magic stuff! Should I get out of here? Is there going to be an explosion?” he asks anxiously.  While he helps Steven escape his predicament in the end, it’s clear Greg is pretty overwhelmed by the situation.  

It’s probably for good reason Greg doesn’t go on many missions. Of course, as a good dad, Greg is willing when the situation is desperate.  But he’s more comfortable helping Steven with things like transportation as opposed to leaning in to the magic inherent in the situation.  While Steven’s glad to have his dad along in Ocean Gem, Steven also sees him get his leg broken, a good lesson in Dad and Gem stuff don’t mix.

There’s several possible reasons for why both Greg and the Gems enforced this rule.  One is simply that Greg is human and more likely to be hurt on missions.  But we get another possible reason why in Message Received.  Greg’s hurt to see how the Gems see him as useless.  “I think so highly of you... it just isn’t fair.”  Which makes sense. Greg’s always known the Gems and their war were so much bigger than him. He’s looked up to them, even Pearl who often barely tolerates him. If this has always been their dynamic, no wonder he would feel inadequate when it comes to Gem stuff and he would want Steven to get the best information from them, instead of whatever he could cobble together.  He’d also know he’s unable to protect Steven the way the Gems can.

In The Return, Greg tries to explain some Gem things to Steven, one of the few times he does so, and it’s only because the Gems themselves have pushed Steven away to protect him.  It doesn’t go super well.  Greg’s intensely uncomfortable, and Steven is horrified to hear some of the truth behind the Gems’ presence on the planet.

Then in Full Disclosure Steven really starts to understand how uncomfortable his dad is with this stuff, especially once Steven realizes how much bigger it is than just the Crystal Gems he knows and loves.  “Now Dad’s really freaking out, what do I do...”

Greg, for his part, still does his best to stay involved in Steven’s life.  He takes Steven to the Barn to help with working on the drill to use on the Cluster, he provides a loving and stable presence in Steven’s human life, and he routinely checks in with him when he sees things like Stevonnie or Steven hating Kevin.   He talks to Steven about how much Rose loved him and wanted him.

Unfortunately, he messes up again during Steven’s Birthday.  He doesn’t encourage Connie to talk to Steven about her worries.  He doesn’t bring Steven into the conversation.  When he does talk to Steven, it isn’t really helpful, and he doesn’t apologize to Steven for the “wait and see” comment.

Greg: Why are you doing this? It... really isn't like you. Steven: Because, Dad, I can't stay a kid forever, when Connie grows up and becomes president what is that gonna make me? First Boy!? Amethyst: Steven, you can't just keep stretching forever. If you hold it too long, you could really hurt yourself. Steven: Yeah well, I'm half human so maybe it works different for me, we'll just have to wait and see, right? Greg: *sigh* Steven...

This is par for the course.  Greg understands when Steven’s stressed out from human problems.  But Greg doesn’t see when comfort is needed because of Gem things (i.e. never growing up).  Steven never discusses what happened to the Cluster or Jasper or Bismuth or even being lost in space in Bubbled with his dad.  Not that we see.  Did it happen off-screen?  Maybe....  

Except we know how good Steven is at repressing things.  Even Connie, the human he’s brought most into his life as a Gem, didn’t know who Bismuth and Eyeball were when encountering them in the hallucination as Stevonnie.  My guess is, no, Steven either never told Greg about these things, or downplayed them into funny anecdotes or quick asides.

After The Return, we only see Greg discussing serious Gem things when Steven brings it up, and it’s usually in relation to Rose, not about other things Steven has been through.  In Steven’s Dream Greg tells him who Rose was when he knew her, but he doesn’t talk about what Steven’s really asking about.  He wants to know what Rose was thinking when she shattered Pink, what the reason was, if it could possibly be justified.  Greg tells him Rose was an amazing, loving being, but how is Steven supposed to reconcile that with her image as a shatterer and a liar?

Steven gets another important lesson in Dad-and-Gem-stuff-don’t-mix when Greg gets abducted. Steven absolutely believes this is 100% his fault, and is so panicked he left Connie behind despite her wanting to help, and almost crashed a spaceship. Does he need any more proof in why he can’t involve his dad in this part of his life?

Even after they get back to safety, there’s no evidence that Steven and Greg talk much about what happened. Steven uses Rose’s room to try and process a lot of what he’s been going through, but to frightening effect. He’s starting to feel like he can’t talk to anyone about these things.  If he talks to Greg, he puts Greg in danger. When he tries to talk to “Rose,” he puts himself in danger from his own feelings.  So he represses. Again.

Lion 4: Alternate Ending shows Greg for one of the first times that Steven is really struggling with this stuff. He’s supportive, but deeply surprised. He had no idea Steven was thinking along these lines... because this is the area they don’t talk about. Steven cries out in frustration that he doesn’t know what he’s for, what his magical destiny is supposed to be — what an enormous responsibility he’s trying to take on.  Greg does try to reassure him.  

At his core Steven still believes he was made to deal with Rose’s problems, even if he’d like to believe otherwise -- if he didn’t, how could he just give himself up to Homeworld like that?

Gemcation shows that unfortunately after so long of this, Steven’s starting to have problems opening up about even his human problems.  He worries what Greg and the Gems will think if Steven admits he messed up with Connie. And Greg, convinced Steven is upset by what happened on Homeworld (you aren’t wrong, Greg, it’s just Steven hasn’t realized it yet!), keeps trying to make the Gems talk to Steven.   Because obviously, Steven hasn’t talked to Greg.

“But I know it's not space lag. This is some Gem thing he knows I won't understand. I don't know anything about Homeworld. I don't know anything about your society. Whatever horrible things he saw out there, you guys have to put it into context.”

After all the emotions brought up in A Single Pale Rose, Steven and Greg get one line of discussion together about Rose. Steven asks how Greg’s doing and Greg tells him it’s fine. Greg most likely doesn’t want to worry Steven at all -- a valid impulse! -- but come on Greg, there’s no way it’s fine. By modeling that it’s okay, it doesn’t need to be discussed, Greg loses a chance to connect with Steven on something important and painful for them both.  He doesn’t even ask Steven how he feels about it!

In the movie we see that Steven does reach out to Greg to help when the Gems get reset. This is typical of the pattern we’ve seen before. When there’s a physical problem with Gem stuff that needs help, Steven will feel okay asking Greg for help, and Greg will feel brave enough to try. Laser Light Cannon, Catfingers, Ocean Gem, Message Received, Steven’s Dream.  If Steven needs him physically, he’ll ask and Greg’ll be there because he does really want to help!

 But Steven never shares his dream of happily ever after with his dad. After all, that would suggest there was an unhappy past that needed to be overcome... and that’s not what they discuss, it’s not what they ever discuss.  So Steven shares this dream with the Gems, he mutters it to himself at one of his lowest points, he longs for it after the Gems are reset, he even tells Spinel.  He doesn’t tell Greg.

It may be important to have Steven and Greg face the ramifications of this head on. I fully believe SU:F is going to be about Steven learning to truly combine his Gem and human heritage and heart, because he is starting to lose the connection to his humanity in favor of all his work as a Gem and a Diamond.  Hell, he almost died because he forgot about his human self in all the struggle to regain his Gem powers!

Humans struggle. They grow. They make mistakes. And as teenagers, they rebel, sometimes especially against the ones who have loved them the most.

But what would make Steven rebel against Greg?

Consider Greg seeing Steven suffering, struggling with new powers he’s afraid of, and Greg pleading with Steven to talk with him.

Consider Steven, furious that after all the things he’s been through, Greg is finally asking him how he feels about Gem problems. “You don’t understand what’s going on. You never do!”

And the most painful thing of all would be that Steven isn’t wrong.

TLDR: Greg meant well by trying to separate Gem and human parenting responsibilities, but in the end, he fucked up. As all parents do in some ways, even the most loving, kind and supportive. I think it’d be an important message from the show to see that parental relationship shaken to its core — and then made stronger than ever with real discussion between them of what Greg’s choices meant for Steven, with both of them working towards a more honest and adult relationship together.  

It would show kids that their parents are human and they make mistakes.  Sometimes as a kid you need to be honest and tell them when they've messed up — but you also can trust that a good parent will love you through all of that, and that they are doing the best they can.

If we don’t see something like this in SU:F, I’ll be disappointed, as every other main player in Steven’s life has grown and changed tremendously.  Whereas Greg is always stalwart, supportive and loving, but not changing.  Maybe this would be the catalyst for their father-son relationship to change and mature.  I know I’d love to see it.

[altardegooutlaw]

Black women,

Black men love yall. For filth. But yall really don't treat us well. Its not yall fault, and it is. Mothers who birth children and are hurt by the man,pass down the pain they felt to the children. If the child/ren is a boy,whats said is alot of what isn't wanted. With understanding whats Not wanted,how do they figure out what Is want. If the child/ren is a girl,what is passed down is the energy of what Type of Man Not to deal with. If both parties decided to be Adults,talk about what went wrong,no backing down or out,the Kids Actually SEE How to Deal with Men and Women and Make their Own decisions as to How they Want to be Treated. The example set is one that is Seen through Actions,not Heard through words. Its not what Men,Women,or any one in particular is saying,

Its about what is Done.

Black men specifically have to work Twice as hard in life. Most women want what they see right? What is seen is how society's Men Are. No one wants to be compared, but its what we do'Accept it' Now,in doing that,we adopt the same ideals to be relative and communicate. We've Accepted the parameters of not being looked at as an individual(what women request),but put in a box,and told to work it this way. When we do,its still not enough.

Most women want 6 figures dude with car,house,etc. Yall Want to work,but society has made it so yall don't. Now yall have options and freedom. While the men are still confined to the parameters of yall request.

Ilyanla is getting excommunicated from the black female community for telling black women to speak on what happen to them-IN REALITY. Not what the trauma has caused to the psyche. The mind can be healed. So can the body. But the only way to heal is to confront and understand the Actual Reality. Break the cycle by comprehending whats actually happening, then make Fantasy a Reality in your personal world. Then u can change the world. Their is no way to change unless a Change is Seen first. We have to See something different. If ur not willing to entertain that ur entire thought process is wrong Every Time,their will be no growth. Growth is replacing what is considered bad with good,but if u replace with info not completed by research(looking at both sides),every action made is shit. It amounts to nowhere near what is wanted. If u have high expectations, put in High expectation work. Dont expect high expectation stuff and yall put in the minimum, just whats needed. Go Overboard. We always want more or a bigger amount cuz its natural to have and want more,i.e. human nature'we know yall want it(pro-active),so we do,but when we do(re-active),it ain't enough. Its exactly what yall wanted(re-active),but it isn't enough. Wouldn't it make sense that if u got everything u asked for and still not happy mean,their are unrealistic expectations and a choice to make?

Their are too many men with the same story not to give it validity. Want to change the narrative, Love like you have never Loved before.

Change expectations(Subjective) or change perception(Objective)?

If ur not sure if you do this,Honestly ask urself, have I tried 100%? Will my child/ren understand how to have a Real relationship? Deal with the trouble and learn to grow? Did I show them how to communicate effectively? Etc. Ask the questions, and don't be afraid of yourself or your answers. If ur truthful with yourself, it'll hurt. Cuz ur doing what u didn't expect to. It's ok. Keep in mind,Love Heals all. If u can't see it,its cuz u don't want to see.

#IaMsEnSei

49:00-Kevin Samuels

[mreview]

Movie Review: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

I have to say I was disappointed.

Disappointed in the fact that it took me 30 years to watch this masterpiece! I still can’t believe it! I grew up watching Disney’s “Robin Hood” and then later Kevin Costner’s version followed by Cary Elwes’ take on the lovable rogue, but never watched Errol Flynn’s and I can’t tell you why I never watched it. Because, honestly, I’m still trying to figure it out. LOL.

Robin Hood is one of my favorite characters in literature and movies. So, like I said, I was disappointed that it took me so long to watch this masterpiece with Errol Flynn!

This movie has all you want in a feel good, smile all the way kind of movie. Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Revenge. Chases. Escapes. True Love. (See what I did there...LOL) There are moments when you frown, but the frown is quickly erased with another smile.

I won’t give the plot away, because I’m sure many of you have seen it. (The Normans i.e. the rich, are torturing and stealing from the poor Saxons. Robin stands up to them and becomes an outlaw, and also takes care of the Saxons because King Richard is kidnapped and held for ransom. Ransom Prince John doesn’t want to pay, because he wants to be king.) Timeless story, everyone has seen it, but I will say this movie seemed to have done a slightly better job at creating it.

So, in light of this, I’ll just say what I really enjoyed about it.

This was honestly the first movie I watched with Errol Flynn and I must say, it was a charming introduction. His chemistry with the late great Olivia de Havilland was wonderful and even got me shivering with delight. (Also, Basil Rathbone, i.e. Sherlock Holmes, as Guy of Gisburne is a must see!)

One of my favorite scenes was the part where they declare their love for each other. If you know me, you know I’m a romantic all the way. So, their love scene had me squealing in delight. Also, I tried so hard not to melt. haha

Here is the link to the best version of the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHyI09VjClE

The lines said throughout are also memorable.

“You speak treason.” “Fluently.”

“Normans or Saxons what does it matter? It’s injustice I hate not the Normans.”

I will say how much I love Maid Marian. Besides Robin, she is my favorite, and I love the way they portrayed her in this movie. At first, she’s got more of a tunnel vision because she’s been taught a certain way of life. A privileged, Norman life. She believes the Saxons should be beholden to the Normans, but doesn’t truly understand what that really entails. Robin, being the kind person he is, shows her the truth. She witnesses the brutality her fellow Normans treat the Saxons and is ashamed. She also sees Robin in a new light. It’s because of this light, she falls in love with him. Because of the injustice and her love for Robin, she decides to join the crusade.

She’s a strong character. Not a damsel in distress. She plots to rescue Robin from death. She risks her life to send a message to him and his men about an assassination attempt. She stands strong in the face of death. She is a seriously strong woman.

This is the clip of the speech she tells Prince John and the others after being caught: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4c_pbp8Hvw

There is so much to say about this film. I could literally go on and on, but I will stop here. Only to say, this movie, even though it was released in 1938, is still an amazing film. Not to mention good fun and doesn’t seem to have aged at all.

Recommended: OH HECK YES!!

Rating: A (Because it’s just good fun to watch!!)

[madsdefencesquad]

So, and since this is a defence squad for our gal Madison: any headcanons about her? Who's Madison, after all? Why isn't she close with her family? Is Kate her only friend? Let's talk... :D

A CONVO ABOUT MY GIRL IS THE BEST CONVO THERE IS! (ILYYYY) Fair warning though, this is going to get looooooong hahah

Okay so, who is this delightfully quirky lady that just so happened to charm her way into our hearts and Kate’s and eventual-love-of-her-life Kevin’s?

It’s actually quite interesting trying to piece together a full picture of who Madison really is since the very beginning when we first meet her to now as a mama to her soon-to-be miracle twinnies. Initially, I actually thought she was just going to be there as the comic relief; the quirky best friend who’ll probably end up sleeping with the hot brother and then that’s it, but my goodness am I glad to be proven wrong on that front haha

From all the instances that we’ve seen her and from the facts that we do know about her, I see Madison, above all, as a severely underestimated and prejudiced person, who is beyond selfless and generous to the point that it hurts to think that through that seemingly upbeat confidence of hers, she ultimately has such an insecurity about herself about being loved and accepted for who she is.

And I think that does stem from her childhood/family/school. Her ED history began in middle school so she was obviously already having such a rough time even as a child. Bulimia can be caused by a number of factors, but judging from the way she talked about how she couldn’t call her family when she fainted and hurt herself, it could mean that they are a pretty significant reason as to why she has ED. That and/or school/bullying issues that her family didn’t take seriously. I can imagine her not being taken seriously because no one really does take her seriously at all throughout the show until Kate did and that was because she was at her lowest point (getting herself physically hurt).

But despite that, Madison was head cheerleader and “one of those Bar Mitzvah party starters in college” type of girls, so I can totally imagine pre-judging her as that super cute but rather vapid blonde girl, who laughs and smiles too easily and is an absolute party-animal (and drunk snorer LOL!) that no one takes seriously. And you know what, she pretty much was! But like every character we see in every teen drama show/movie who seem to have it all together, Madison was everything but.

And that’s why she’s never had a real best friend except for Kate and a lasting romantic relationship. Friends-wise, we know she has “friends” who’ve set her up on dates before, but really, they’re just acquaintances whom she “befriends” and are “super tight” with because she’s charming and bubbly and again, would give everything and everyone her 100% attention and care. They take and take from Madison, but at the same time, she just gives and gives and gives. Like girl, stop and just TREAT YO SELF.

It’s the same with romantic relationships. She charms them with her usual perky and appealing self and the fact that she’s also really gorgeous, but then that’s it for them. They’re not giving her a chance to show them who she truly is with all her insights and quirks and flaws. They just want what she’s showing them and like old Kevin, once it gets too complicated or deep, they’re out.

From what we’ve seen of Madison, I see her as someone who genuinely cares for others so much to the point that it actually clashes from the person that we’re expected to associate her with - someone who does it because she’s just a people-pleaser, attention-seeker, etc. BUT SHE JUST ISN’T. And that’s what makes her so nuanced for just a recurring character. Every instance since her and Kate became friends, she has shown nothing but genuine care, affection and love for Kate and for baby Jack and to some extent, the Pearsons. She goes out of her way for them, she uses her own funds, and her own time, and all without getting anything in return (still low-key mad at Kevin for being mean to her at The Waiting Room and for the Pearsons for not standing up to her except for Miguel!!!).

People make fun of her but she brushes it off (her taking Kate dress-shopping still gets me in my uwu) but she keeps trying, she keeps being there, and she keeps improving herself so she can be there for them. Like, she listens to relationship podcasts all the time because she wants to make it work. She craves intimacy, but the true kind where nothing is hidden and you aren’t judged for it and you can just love and be loved in return. Girl, errbody wants that!

But where she really shines is where her heart truly is. Even when she’s hurt, she’ll still put others’ need above hers (i.e. inviting Kevin over tea even though she was hurting and Kevin’s not exactly her favourite person lol), and how she values true, genuine relationships over anything else (i.e. telling Kate she slept with Kevin because she didn’t want to lose her best friend over a mind-blowing but selfish night with the hot brother). 

Her crying at the doctor’s office because she can’t believe that she’s pregnant is a testament to just how incredible she is as a person. She’s struggled all her life to find people who will accept her and love her as she is and she then she finally does with Kate! But of course, she stuffs it up by getting pregnant with her brother. And she thinks that’s it. Everything has fallen apart. But then, then she gets her miracle babies. The only two (little) people she knows who will love her and accept for who she is because she’s their mother. And despite her expectation of losing her best friend and being outwardly rejected by the father of her children, after a nudge to see past one’s prejudice of people (of which she has been suffering from all her life!!!!), she risks it and tells Kevin and all without expecting anything from him. Like damn, Madison. Damn.

Also, she is actually so witty and her humour is spot on. Sure, she can be a little in your face (that upside down comment still gets me howling every time), and she may have trouble reading the room a little bit (again, The Waiting Room), but we also need to understand that she has no idea that there are deep issues running within the Pearsons, and/or that they’re in the middle of fights or whatever. She’s really just trying her best to provide some light and life and humour, even if does come across as her being a little stupid (that toothpaste comment omgg).

I could go on and on but seriously, Madison is one of my favourite characters in the show for those reasons above. She is the epitome of sacrificial love, and honestly, as much as I love Kevin, if he so much as hurts Madison even once, he is going to get it hahah but also seriously. Do not try me, number one!