#ilonka/shasta

[baubeautyandthegeek]

Rituals Or Romances – Shasta/Ilonka (/Georgina Stanton)

A/N: I don't even have an excuse.

Georgina Stanton had known she cared a little too much about Ilonka Pawluk when she arrived. Freshly 18 the girl reminded her so much of Julia Jayne, the girl she had loved with all her being, but she had not, not yet, crossed any lines. She had also ignored Shasta, the woman she knows to be Julia by another name, for as long as she could. Now though, knowing Ilonka had snuck out, she followed the girl down to the basement, using the hidden stairs. She had a feeling this was a ritual, after all. She emerges from the shadows to find them together, just not quite as she expected. Shasta’s hand is in Ilonka’s hair, the girl’s face pressed between Shasta’s thighs and Georgina barely, barely hides the small noise of fear and desperate, angry, arousal that pulses through her. She waits, just long enough to let Shasta find her peak, then steps from the shadows completely. “Hello Julia…” Ilonka flushes even as Shasta shifts, standing and smoothing her dress in a way that is both careful and careless. Ilonka sits, then stands, slower, her shy smile warm in a way that Georgina both loves and hates. “I can’t believe you just did that…” Georgina’s voice shakes, just a little and Shasta smiles, moving closer, a hand soft on Georgina’s cheek, her lips pressed softly to the other before she lets her lips find Georgina’s ear. “Don’t be jealous darling… just take us to bed.”

[eggelette]

The Midnight Club

So I finished the Midnight Club and I have to admit, out of all Mike Flanagan's work, its the weakest. However the runt of a pack of wolves is still a wolf, Spoilers ahead.

I think this weakness is unfortunately because we've gotten used to the strength and maturity of his previous shows. The explorations of deep, haunting love and the ramifications of the way we choose to show that love and although the Midnight club had glimpses of this, it wasn't as much depth.

I think two things influence this overall critique. The first is that the stories within the story doesn't always hit the beats of the overall central story, which for season 1 was at least portrayed as Julia Jayne being Shasta. None of the other members of the hospice were involved in the overarching story, except for the ritual for Anya but that's it. They never met Shasta and thought she was weird. We didn't even see the other kids' reactions to Ilonka''s involvement to the ritual. Instead the stories were like vignettes of the characters which I really liked (except Kevin's because it didn't really tell us anything about the character except he likes to be alone, which is fine but inequitable compared to other characters) but I feel like the two weren't cohesive. The last episode was more dedicated to resolving each of the character's which felt rushed and disjointed, and was ultimately also a disservice to Julia Jayne's story and ramifications of being prepared to kill Ilonka, a child she had been slowly manipulating, for her own health. Health is not wealth at the exploitation of others and that whole narrative thread was dropped because it had no room to breathe.

The second is the fact that Ilonka is the biggest Mary Sue of all times. I mean I understand her being a vulnerable desperate teen who is deadset on her notions of healing herself and her own percieved intelligence is in theory, compelling. I just don't think it came across in practise, because never in the narrative is she challenged or questioned for her actions, plans or words. She's always justified and treated as right by her peers- hell, even in the final scene with Kevin he says she's right when she simply isn't. You could read this as two desperate teens consoling each other, but she was wrong both in the way she treated Kevin's ex-girlfriend, and in the ritual for Anya! It would have taken the life of the others if it worked! When Sandra fucked up with Spence she spent an episode actually reflecting and told a story for her redemption (which still hilariously included Angels) while Ilonka dosn't have to earn her redemption, she just walks in while the camera pans on her and boom forgiven. Also a nitpick of mine, is that she has blind faith in Shasta for the ritual, but her concern and doubt rises when she isn't in the centre of the circle? It's not intelligence, but sheer selfishness that raises red flags, and it's fine to have a selfish character but treat them that way.

The closest that came to any kind of obstacle for Ilonka, was when she asked Dr. Stanton if she could keep her whole "i was almost complicit in a murder sacrifice oopsie" a secret to the rest of the hospice and Dr.Stanton was straight up like "I thought you would have wanted to know something like that? :)". I cackled. But no, no narrative consequences. I think my biggest grip with Ilonka is that she was the protagonist when all of the supporting characters were much more interesting. Anya's story, both the one she told and in the episode of "Anya" were highlights, along with Amesh and Natsuki's stories and respective meanings. I loved Sandra, Spence and Cheri. I adored Mark and the Janitor (Flanagan's season 2 post confirmed my suspicions about the latter).

Speaking of season 2, I took a gander at the posts and I don't really think the ideas would have addressed the critique I'm levelling. The janitor as death I absolutely love, along with Spence getting AIDS treatment (and then going off to live with Sandra in a condo as per my headcanon). Even the elderly ghost couple as soulmates, reincarnated in Kevin and Ilonka is super sweet in theory, but Ilonka's Mary Jane status who can do no wrong has soured it. Also season 2 seems it doesn't have much to do with Julia Jayne, which questions why we are spending so much time in season 1 with the rituals and the lore, and the hourglass, and then not even delving deeper into how the most vulnerable people are scammed and exploited seems like a waste. Time that could have gone to the characters.

Surprisingly, I really liked the ending of the Midnight Club, I love how there were touches of collaborative storytelling earlier (with the club describing Anya and Rhett's future together in the Anya episode) and how it culminated in them finishing Imani's story. I thought Amesh adding him and Natsuki to the story (well their OC's) along with Sandra's film noir OC was incredibly endearing. That, along with the appearance of Angel Porn and all the jumpscares really sold me for the teenaged antics of the group, and the whole nature of the found family.

[cornyonmains]

While The Midnight Club might be my least favorite Flannagan project, I have to give it up for how well he wrote Ilonka. She's a textbook smart teenager. She's smart, but it hasn't turned into intelligence, as evidenced by her Mary Shelley rant, which had a lot of opinions that weren't quite her own, but good points she'd heard other adults make and memorized.

She'd have been brought back down to Earth in college, but she never had the opportunity. She went straight into a hospice, with no reason to think anything other than she's the smartest smarty that ever smarted and can smart her way out of this situation with smarts, because she's smart. She's insufferable, and it's one of the best written teenagers I've ever seen. Because ONLY a teenager could be so insufferable even a terminal illness makes it hard to stymie your distaste.

Even her story about the witches highlighted how Ilonka saw herself in the beginning, as special and powerful. Even the wardrobe in her store reflects that, lots of billowing fabrics with nature prints evoking the feeling of a goddess. The lights on her forehead when scrying highlighting her pride, her mind, and how she sees it as this superior thing. Even Shasta knows puffing her up about how smart she is is how to manipulate her. The depths of Ilonka's denial knows no limits. Her willingness to drag the other kids down with her really highlights this pride, because Ilonka doesn't know what it is to be wrong.

While I wasn't overly fond of the Midnight Club, I do think it's a shame Ilonka's journey was cut short. I think where this story was ultimately headed, where the horror of it was headed, was in teaching that sometimes the real horror isn't what lurks in the dark, but the inevitability of darkness itself. I feel like Ilonka's journey for season 2 would have been finding peace with the inevitable, the same as Anya managed to do. And accepting death.

I also have a fan theory that the janitor guy is death, because I was getting some major William Bludworth in Final Destination vibes off him, just less ominous. Also, if it is death, what's doubly hilarious is that Ilonka even managed to tell him how smart she is. God, I see too much of my 18 year old self in her, and I don't like it.

[ocmerunaway]

Maria 'Maus/Mouse' Mullins & India 'Nymph' Nixon

Name: Maria Mullins Nicknames: Maus, Mouse Age: Late 30s. The need to know: Maria 'Maus' Mullins, known to her own dear Nymph as 'Mouse' a name that is so close to the one Shasta first gave her that she smiles, has always been a quiet girl, but after running away from a father who beat her, she settled into Shasta's workers at Good Humor Wellness. She's mute now, her throat still not healed from the last time her father choked her, but she trusts Nymph, enough so that when Nymph meets Ilonka's father she follows, trusting the man for his kindness to both Nymph and Shasta.

Name: India Nixon Nicknames: Nymph Age: 38. The need to know: Nellie has long worked with Good Humor Wellness, one of Julia's healed disciples. She was there when Maria, her dear Mouse, first came. They had both been younger then, barely into their 20's, but now... now they were older, wiser and closer. Nellie translates for Maria when she's trying to speak for herself, but when Ilonka's father comes to join Stanton and Shasta, the third parent to Ilonka, she is drawn to him, leading Maria along. Can they really be happy as a thruple?

[o-avosetta]

Spoiler (?) for The Midnight Club, but I totally thought Kevin

was a mole for Shasta. My theory: She promised to heal him if he eventually led the club into doing the ritual. His story about Dusty the serial killer's fear of being known was rooted in his eventually having to kill his friends. He seemed cagey about Ilonka discovering the Paragon stuff on her own because he was there first — he was supposed to be healed first.

Kind of disappointed that, no, he really was just a bland teenage boy with the soul of a lady with dementia. (Yeah, the soulmate stuff didn't appeal to me, either.)

[neonstatic]

watching midnight club w the sis and i can't get over how pretty ilonka's actress is. ms iman hi hello. also mark's actor is riley from midnight mass. gosh, he looks so much better bald. having hair on his head makes him look like a default character. spence's actor is gorgeous too... (pls be bi plsplspls) also i'm at ep 7 now and i think ppl are being so nice to ilonka cus me? i would cuss her out by now. if i was sandra i would slap her w the bible. i've renounced the church, mind you, but i think after the events... sandra should get a free-pass to rock her shit out jesus-style. and then let ms georgina stanton do the finishing move! also shasta is def julia jayne isn't she? anyway i think midnight mass is mike flanagan's best work. no 2 is hill house.

[abriefingwithmichael]

More of the same.

The story-within-the-story is one of the better ones. Interesting ideas; doesn’t quite gel as a whole.

Outside of that, Ilonka seems horrendously selfish and unlikeable. And the show pulls the trigger on some easy-to-see-coming revelations.

6/10

[lasaraconor]

[elizabeth-mitchells]

my girl Ilonka making her entire personality about being the smartest girl around and falling for every little thing Shasta tells her 🤧🤧🤧

[acatbyanyothername9]

I have just finished the first season of The Midnight Club and I loved it, in terms of characters dyanmics and themes explored, how the supernatural is woven in interpersonal conflicts, it’s up there with The Haunting of Hill House. I wished the supernatural had gotten more explored, especially in the last couple of episodes, but there’s always season 2 for this.

It did make me think of a couple of parallels between characters in both shows. Spoilers under the cut I guess?

Doctor Stanton = Steven Crain, they both reject the supernatural with all their might and stick to a strictly scientic view of the world. For better (Dr Stanton who chose the path of kindness) and worse (Steve who hid his fears from everyone around him, driving them away)

Aceso = Poppy, for their role as agent of evil in the show, embracing the Darkness and making other fall to join them.

Shasta = Olivia, normal at first, but a couple of latent issues that made her easy to be manipulated and they both succombed to the evil, perpuating the circle and bringing in new victims.

Ilonka = I would say that the closest character I can think of is Nell? Both of them fall prey to someone they loved and who in the end hurt them/manipulated to their doom (or almost doom in Ilonka case). Again both had issues that Shasta/Olivia took advantage of (Nell’s loneliness, Ilonka stubborn refusal to accept her fate)

[wahbegan]

Okay, i know i said i didn’t like Ilonka about 5 seconds ago anyway, but Shasta, i’m gonna need you to shut the fuck up with your very obvious cult recruiting and step away from the barely 18 year old girl you fucking F R E A K, GOD i hate Shasta

[baubeautyandthegeek]

Uncertain Longings - Shasta/Ilonka

A/N: Day 27, Part 2/3 for @fluffbruary

Laundry. Ilonka used to hate hanging it, she used to hate doing it at all but as she watches Shasta working, hanging the laundry, she finds she is drawn to help. She’s silent as she moves closer, settling into the work and sneaking a smile over at Shasta, her eyes locked on the other, older, woman. She knew she could never tell anyone how she felt, here, with Shasta, but she knew she wasn’t likely to walk away either. Not now, not when all she needed to do was as much or as little as she wanted. Shasta, she knows, hates laundry but the only way this lifestyle works is if they all work together.

[supernaturalfangirlworld]

Is Ilonka that bright? Because it was pretty obvious that shasta is julia

[appendingfic]

Ilonka: I want to save them even if it sounds crazy- Shasta: According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly...

[ocmerunaway]

Asha/Poppy Pike

Name: Poppy Pike Nickname: Asha Love Interest: Shasta/Julia Jayne The Details: Once, years ago, Julia Jayne became close with a girl named Poppy Pike. Now, almost decades later, both women seem just as young as ever, their bodies healed from cancers that should have killed them. Asha puts her life and love on the line to help Shasta when Ilonka fails her.

[ghostbustermelanieking]

my midnight club theories/how i think a s2 would approach those unanswered mysteries, for those curious (spoilers under cut)

1. the ghost old man and woman are past live versions of ilonka and kevin, which is why they're the only ones that see them, and why they each see one more than the other (past lives are a huge part of the book, and i read in some article that mike said that'd be a part of a potential s2)

2. georgina stanton is athena from the diary whi escaped the cult (this explains why she'd have the tattoo, but would clearly hate shasta; also how she got the house. i don't think she's a threat, i think she's trying to protect the kids)

3. this isn't a theory, but for people who haven't read the book, the constant angel jokes with sandra are a reference to kevin's original ongoing story from the book, which is about an angel