#in a scene where mike explains the ‘i feel like my life started-‘ line to Will

[chirpsythismorning]

“Mike said his life started the day he found El in the woods, which was technically the following night. What he said had nothing to do with offending Will because he went missing the day before.”

[thestrangestthing89]

So I'm rewatching season 4 and I think there is another scene with Mike we haven't gotten all of yet (along with the scene of him and Hopper in the car in S3). The fight between Mike and El in Lenora seems like it was also cut off. El is upset and crying and Mike says "I care for you so much". It's the Dawsons Creek reference. Jack says this line to Joey when he's breaking up with her. That was his lead in to telling her he's gay. The next scene we see of them they are coming down the stairs (when the police come) and El is visibly calmer - at least until she gets arrested when she gets upset again. She stopped crying - she was still very much in the middle of a cry fest when we saw her a few minutes before. It seems like some time has passed. Not only that but when Mike first goes to talk to her, he's eating breakfast with Will and Jonathan is there reading the paper. The conversation we saw with Mike and El was about 2 min so Will and Jonathan would have still been eating in the kitchen. But we see them in the living room watching tv before they open the door for the police. They are very comfortable here and look like they've been sitting there for a while. It implies that more time has passed.

So I think their conversation went on longer than what we see. And Mike saying to Will that his fight with her seemed more adult would now make sense if that's the case. I wrote something a while back that Mike is using El as a code for Will because scenes like this don't make sense if they are about El. His fight with her that we saw was very immature and not more adult like he says. I still think that could apply to Will. But if there is more to that scene than it could be something else.

If they did end up having a discussion like on Dawsons Creek that would feel more adult. I stand by my earlier assessment that Mike was planning on breaking up with her in Lenora and I think he maybe did that here. But they were in the middle of talking about it when the police showed up. So he felt even guiltier because he didn't fully get to explain himself. He spends the rest of the season being worried that he doesn't fit into her life at all. And it's because they didn't get a chance to discuss this fully before she ran off to the lab. He thinks she hates him now. When they reunite they don't even kiss or attempt to. Usually it's El who initiates those moments in their reunions but she doesn't. When they get to the pizza place El seems like she could be breaking up with him, but if there is more to that conversation she could just be picking up their conversation where they left off. Which is why Mike starts nervously rambling. Their interaction after is very sibling like and neither of them seems to think this is weird. And during his monologue El just seems annoyed. She knows he's full of shit to begin with but if they are already broken up and she knows why it would further explain her facial expressions during this moment. And would also further explain why they are so exasperated with each other at the cabin. We know they talked a little bit in the two day jump but it was about the situation with Henry. They don't have much else to say to each other about their relationship at this point so there was no reason for them to discuss more than that.

El also seems kind of annoyed with Will too which sticks out to me. He hasn't spoken to her at this point and we know that because he asks Mike if he has. It's like she's avoiding both of them. It makes sense if she knows how Mike feels now but she hasn't spoken to Will about it yet.

There are signs after they reunite with El at the lab that she is noticing Mike and Will. Several other people got into this more so I won't here, but it makes sense if she started paying more attention to Mike and Will after Mike explained his feelings in Lenora. She knows there is something to notice now and she was already starting to pick up on it before (at the airport and with Will's weirdness) she just didn't have enough info to connect the dots.

[jewishcissiekj]

So last week I finished Republic Comics up until ROTS and today I watched Rots and got to the comic adaptation rn Here are some things (part 1 bc you can only have 30 images in one post)

To start it off the covers are like. Stunning. Showstopping stuff Mike Mayhew, Dave Dorman, and Tsuneo Sanda thank you for these

I love this panel why is he doing that

This set of panels looks fucking amazing, Anakin's hair, Obi-Wan fighting the droids, I just really like it

Dooku didn't even drop the thing on him but he still looks life Peter Griffin dying what's his problem

I love this picture. It's also his League of Comic Geeks picture so I instantly recognized it and went '!'

Trans person: I'm trans Society: ok Anakin: I killed Count Dooku. I'm a murderer in case you didn't notice. I also killed this village of Tuskens. All of them. I kill people.

yeah💕 them💞

I know it's war and they're Generals and all but why did Obi-Wan just tell him that? It doesn't really make sense or is it because Quin's his boyfriend and he never shuts up about him (It makes sense in the context of the scene in the film but there's too much missing here to really have that)

lines being switched between people and shit is such a weird change to me. It changes things a lot and Anakin saying "All of this is unusual, and it's making me feel uneasy." is VERY different than Obi-Wan saying it (like he does in the movie)

This is so :( If I was Anakin at this moment I would've told Palps to fuck off and ran away with Padme Anakin's so stupid

Stunning man holy fuck

Obi-Wan girly what. what are you doing.

There are worse panels but this one's so funny to me because of how not-Hayden it is. Who is this man

them💗(moments before disaster)

Once again, who-is-this-man game. Where did this come from

He looks like he would call me a slur more than ever. I hope he never feels happiness in his life

I'm gonna:):):):):)))))))))

I feel ill not Blyla

Yoda breakkkkk

Ohhhh ummmm iiiiiiiiii ammmm so normal about these two panels. Why

Order 66🙂👍 Also I know Quinlan has a son and shit after Order 66 curios to see how they explained him serving blowing tf up

I know this picture from League of Comic Geeks to it's so beautiful he's looking ethereal and dead inside my favorite things about him

It has occurred to me that it's probably because they both need to be in frame here but why is Obi-Wan sitting? Get up idiot

I love how the artist just takes the emotions from this scene I know it's difficult to adapt stuff but why does he look like that

Okay I have more but I can't add them to this. Will do a part 2 (probably tomorrow it's too late today)

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith #1-4 Original story & screenplay by George Lucas, script by Christopher Cerasi(originally published under the pseudonym Miles Lane), art by Dough Wheatly

[newx-menfan]

I haven't read Adventures in Babysitting. What exactly happened to Julian there?

During this time period- Julian was represented as “possibly going evil” in Mike Carey’s Legacy book.

Julian, while at Utopia, beat up Karima/ONE Sentinel when she was malfunctioning to save Hope and the others and gets labeled as a “bad apple” by Cyclops and Rogue. (Even though he later HELPS Rogue, but whatevs)

He more or less gets sent to Wolverine and the school (Cyclops and Wolverine were kind of beefing at the time), who also sees him as unstable and a future villain and Logan calls Laura to visit him.

Julian before all this had his arms blown off (by a sentinel!) and is pretty clearly showing signs of depression. When Laura arrives- his room looks a mess, there’s food all over the place, Logan basically said he’s isolating himself and acting antisocial, and it’s kind of obvious he’s not showering or taking care of himself.

Laura outright says his room smells gross and is acting really coldly to Julian, and Julian breaks the window in retaliation (Liu basically tries to code Julian as “abusive” through this arc, despite him never being written that way BEFORE 🙄…)- he apologizes then tries to explain and open up to her about his recent fight with Karima/ONE Sentinel and explain to her that her leaving without telling him really hurt him. In both this book and Legacy, it’s obvious that underneath everything- Julian DOES feel a bit guilty for putting Karima in a coma. It’s OBVIOUS he sees Laura as the one person who WOULD understand, because Laura has killed people AND (according to Laura) been ostracized because of it.

Julian was already abandoned by his parents and Emma- so it makes sense Laura leaving him during a hard time in his life, where he is struggling to adjust to being disabled…really upset him. Julian has been repeatedly shown before as being “there” for Laura- being her friend despite initially being scared of her, saving her life, encouraging her to not kill/go against her training, standing up for her when Surge was fighting with her over X-Force, ect..

While Julian is doing this- Laura more or less walks away to leave, not interested in talking…which at that point, my question is- why even bother coming to see him in the first place if you’re completely DONE with him as a friend and just don’t really care at all?!!! (Answer- because Liu had to find some way to destroy this relationship, and did it in a really out of character way!)

Julian blows up, apologizes, and then grabs her arm when she is walking away to leave. I fully agree with people who criticize the scene- obviously anger is NOT the way to handle things…

Gambit gets involved and starts threatening him- telling him he’ll blow off his legs to match his arms if Julian grabs Laura again…which seems kind of ableist and a terrible thing to say to a teenager who was recently traumatized…instead of just..I don’t know, deescalating the situation like most adults would….

Keep in mind, Gambit was represented as sympathetic along with Ororo and others FOR Laura, during HER depression and isolation from others in “The Killing Dream”…to the point of following her while she went on a road trip to “find herself”…and Laura’s done A LOT worse than Julian has (even though Laura was admittedly forced by others to kill)…

Julian later calls Laura to apologize while she’s babysitting Reed and Sue Richards kids, admitting he was out of line and asking if he can see her again.

A dragon pops up after the kids play with a temporal window (Laura’s a terrible babysitter!), AND Julian shows up thinking Laura and the kids are in danger and they get transported to a space junkyard.

Hellion apologies to a pissed Laura (which-this whole thing REALLY wasn’t his fault! It WAS an honest mistake) and Julian spends the whole time while searching for the kids trying to find out if Laura is returning to the school and what the status of their friendship is. (Liu tries to frame it as Julian doesn’t care about the children at all, which seems like total bull to me, considering what happens in the arc later 🙄)

Julian at one point asks her point blank if she’s disgusted by his limbs and if that’s why she suddenly seems to hate him…and Laura more or less avoids talking with him about any of this, brushing off his feelings of abandonment by telling him he’s imagining it (kinda gaslight-y 😬), saying she cares even though her words don’t match with her current actions, and accusing him of being jealous of Gambit (which is kind of understandable since Laura’s opinion of Hellion has drastically changed since “the Killing Dream” where she admitted she missed him and implied she had feelings for him….and the only difference has literally been her traveling WITH Gambit!)

Still, Laura almost kisses Julian, sending him even more MORE mixed signals….

They find the kids with the Collector- Laura saves the kids who are currently in space, Julian has a sweet moment where he says Laura, “is the bravest person he’s ever known” (oh Julian…this is NOT gonna end well for you!) and then gets his ass beat by the Collector while saving Laura and the kids, whose oxygen has been shut off.

They return the kids home and Julian helps clean up so the kids don’t get in trouble (yeah, Julian really doesn’t care about the kids at ALL Liu… 🙄) and then again tries to talk to Laura. Laura tells him “thank you for your help” and basically plans to walk out of his life completely again with no explanation.

Julian kisses her and tells her everything will be “different now”- Laura says “I know. Good bye Julian.” And again starts walking off.

Julian asks her, “What do you mean?” and Laura tells him there’s nothing between them anymore. Julian, hurt and upset, blows up and tells Laura she’s basically a robot (which WAS mean!) and Laura tells him she has feelings, just not for him.

Then Laura tells Gambit that’s not actually true- that she does care for Julian… 😵‍💫

Yeah. WHOLE LOT OF CHARACTER ASSASSINATION.

I actually would have been fine with representing Laura pushing Julian away in fear of being close to someone…

I would have been totally fine with it, if Laura had told him she had no ROMANTIC feelings for him but cared about him as a friend. (I know people argue that’s what Julian WANTED/was a douche about…but I disagree, I think really all Hellion wanted was a friend in that moment!)

I could have EVEN understood if the WHOLE point was that Julian needed to get in a better headspace before being in a relationship… (which is true!)

This was totally about Liu hating the NXM. She went OUT of her way to represent Surge as an asshole and bully in “the Killing Dream”, have Laura tell Jubilee that everyone “judged her” and that’s why she left (one person Laura!), and code Julian as abusive.

I know a lot of fans LOVE Liu (there were some things she did in this series that I enjoyed!) but I totally find her representation of male mental illness hypocritical and honestly- sexist. The only reason Julian gets zero sympathy from anyone despite showcasing pretty much the same signs of depression as Laura was, is because he’s male and it’s anger instead of sadness.

(Sorry for everyone whose heard this rant from me a million times over lol! 😂🤣)

[strangertheories]

rationalise the van monologue

Not the monologue I was speaking about before (I was referring to Mike's I love you monologue), but I'll gladly explain the van scene from a Byler perspective :) I'll respond to the other ask about the confession in a minute, but I have time to overanalyze one of my favourite scenes of Volume 2!

First up, Will's point of view. In his monologue, Will clearly loves Mike and is talking about himself but believes that Mike will be happiest with Eleven. He is willing to sacrifice his own feelings for the sake of Mike's because he loves him. This clearly shows how caring Will is about the people in his life, but also demonstrates in particular how he is willing to damage his own well being for Mike's and also for his sister. But if we look beyond why he's saying it, we can look at what he's saying. I'll write it her, but swap out Eleven's pronouns for 'I' (it'll be in a different colour), just to show what he's feeling internally more clearly.

These past few months I've been so lost without you. It's just, I’m so different from other people, and when you're different, sometimes you feel like you're a mistake. But you make me feel like I'm not a mistake at all. Like I'm better for being different. And that gives me the courage to fight on. If I was mean to you or it seemed like I was pushing you away, it's because I'm scared of losing you, like you're scared of losing Eleven. And if I am going to lose you, I'd rather just get it over quick. Like ripping off a bandaid. So yeah, I need you, Mike. And I always will.

Before I continue, I'm going to take a moment to acknowledge how much I love this monologue; it's so good and makes me cry! Anyways, effectively, Will is telling us that he is dealing with a lot of internal shame and self loathing. Throughout his life, he's been told that there's something wrong with him, that he's a mistake. And now, when he feels how he feels about Mike, he's realized that they were right about him being gay. But not about something being wrong with him. Because loving Mike makes him a better person. Loving Mike feels right and natural, not wrong or abnormal.

We've seen in S1 that Will tried to force himself to like 'normal' things, but Will doesn't want to stop loving Mike. Because it is normal, just different than the societal norm. Not to say he doesn't deal with internalised homophobia, but he's starting to realise that he only feels shame because he's told to, not because he should. And not to start on the Mike stuff too early, but I think this will be even more meaningful if his relationship with Mike isn't one sided.

Other lines are also important. For example, Will says that Mike gives him the courage to fight on. I think this is partially metaphorical; he will continue to fight his internalised homophobia because he knows that Mike is worth it. His shame is an internal battle he's been dealing with for years, but he does not cave in or believe he is a mistake because he knows his love for Mike is real and beautiful. But I also think this can be interpreted more literally, such as Will fighting the mind flayer's possession in S2 for Mike or Will not resigning to his fate at any point in the season.

Before I move on to Mike, I'm going to talk about the end of the monologue, where Will speaks about pushing away Mike for fear of losing him. Firstly, it shows that Will believed that Mike could easily reject him. Not just romantically, but for being gay. He's scared of this, but it also reveals that if Mike won't accept him, he needs to figure out now but is too scared to tell him in the first place.

Also, I think that the talk of pushing Mike away is relevant to Mike and Will's earlier argument that season. Namely, Will getting annoyed at Mike when he could've contacted him. To me, this monologue kind of indicates that Will willingly (try saying that out loud) didn't reach out to Mike because he's scared of rejection, and fair enough after the 'it's not my fault you like girls' incident the year before. This is not to say that Will is not justified in being angry at Mike, because I think you could easily argue that Mike is pushing Will away too.

Which brings me on to Mike's perspective. This should be shorter as in this scene, Mike's head is clearly full of rocks for him to be so oblivious. Don't come at me for that, Finn agrees! Also, this is way more subjective than the Will section in my opinion, but this is a Byler analysis so please don't send anons complaining that Byler isn't canon yet (I'm aware).

However, a few key things. First of all, I think Will saying he pushes away Mike because he's scared of losing him is similar to what Mike is doing to Will in S3 and S4. Mike does not believe Will could like him and is dealing with a lot of self loathing. This means he doesn't include Will as much, he doesn't make an effort to contact him and he's pretty horrible to him when Will makes efforts to reach out to Mike. I don't think this is too much of a stretch; both of them self sabotage their friendship as they realize their feelings for each other post-S2 based on the fear of rejection and also the fear that the other will be harmed by external factors.

Next, I just want to talk about the significance of this monologue to Mike. In an earlier draft of the script, Mike mentions he can tell Eleven has moved on. Whilst this line was removed afterwards, I think it's evident that Mike knows his relationship with Eleven is at a make-or-break point and that he's leaning towards the break side. He desperately needs to feel important and that's why he's staying with her; not love.

At the end of the series, we see Eleven standing ahead on her own, leaving Mike and Will behind, and I think this is to demonstrate that Eleven isn't the one who Mike should be with or the one who needs Mike; Will is. She's growing up and moving on, and Mike is only dragging along because of Will's feelings, the one who he should truly be with.

TL:DR - Mike and Will need to communicate better. Thanks for the ask, hope this made sense!

[winderlylandchime]

1/2 hello, Im back with s5 updates and you guys, I completely forgot what happens in it. The man and I are both in distress now.

Just so you know: he hit play and sat down and just let out a big ‘ughhhhhhhh’ sound. It’s like he’s getting ready for a battle.

‘Okay, let’s fucking go! Brian and Justin living together! Brian being in love! Let’s go! I am okay and not at all stressed’ the ep starts with the babylon mikey/brian scene. ‘Where’s Justin? Why is Mike having a life crisis? (Mikey mentions the surprise trip) reunited? FLYING TO LA?! *pauses tv* EXCUSE ME? When the fuck did that happen? Did i miss an episode?’ The britin phone call happens ‘SO HES JUST IN LA? At an orgy? Nice but what the fuck?! STAY LONGER?! THREE MONTHS?! How long has he been there?! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! I DIDNT SIGN UP FOR THIS! Brian looks hurt! (Brian mentions that hed be pissed if justin didnt go to la) OH SO YOURE THE ONE TO BLAME FOR RUINING MY HAPPINESS? Ohhhh he’s gonna come soon Blondie!! He has a trip planned! Brian what? He said he missed you!’ The scene then goes to JR ‘oh that’s just messed up! You show me Brian and Justin and that one just got head! And a room full of dicks and then surprise BABY! That’s messed up. Gus is watching her like he’s planning to throw her out the window.’ ‘Oh shit so mel and lindsay don’t live together? So theyre lying and playing games? Who thought thatd be a smart idea?’ ‘CARL AND DEBBIE MOVED OUT TOO?! DOES ANYBODY STILL LIVE WHERE THEY DID?’ *deb and carl walk in on Em* ‘FINALLY SOMEONE IS ACTING NORMAL’ ‘BRIAN FINALLY! You have no idea how much I missed you. Let’s go to LA to Blondie!’ And now we are meeting Mikey and Ben’s friends ‘wait that was it on Brian? BRING HIM BACK! Who are they? *looks at me* im sorry. I don’t want to sound like a dick. But Jenny Rebecca sounds so dumb, it doesn’t have a flow. *lets out a big sigh* you have no idea how long I’ve been keeping that in. Anyway who are they? Since when the fuck does Liberty Avenue bother Ben? Their neighborhood sounded boring compared to this. Why is everyone moving?!’ Brian mentions he’s not going to LA ‘what the hell?! what’s going on right now? What is this bullshit?! THIS IS STUPID’ now it’s showing Justin in LA ‘blondie! GO HOME! What the hell is going on? (Keller shows up) GO TO HELL! This is somehow your fault! (And connor shows up for Rage) OH COME ON! NO I TOLD YOU HES GONNA BE A PROBLEM! What the fuck is happening! This is not what I imagined’ Mikey mentions he’s throwing them a party ‘no. No. Nooooooooo! Why is he this stupid? (Ben keeps making references about the apartment) my god, he’s annoying. When did he turn into a middle aged white woman?’ ‘BRIAN! Finally! My baby is a success! *makes that pfft noise* HA imagine Brian owning a house in the country. Lameeee! (Brian sees a motorcycle) YES I SUPPORT THIS BUSINESS INVESTMENT!‘ Brian says Justin isn’t coming back *hand on his chest* ‘HUH? Yes, we are both listening! Explain your failed logic to me, Brian! Three? Six? HOW MANY MONTHS HAS HE BEEN THERE WITH NO VISITS? (It shows Justin and Connot having sex) WHAT IS THIS SHIT?! WHY WOULD THEY SHOW ME THAT? FUCK THAT CONNOR DUDE! WHAT IS HAPPENING?? HE HAS TO COME BACK! I knew LA is gonna be a shit show! NO WHAT DO YOU MEAN TIME TO GO ON WITH YOUR LIFE? You FUCKING ASKED HIM TO MOVE IN?! *looks at me all sad* what?’ And we are at Mel and Linds surprise party ‘oh Mike. Dude why are you so fucking obsessed with her 10th anniversary? Has he ever minded his own business with other peoples relationships? (Everyone jumps out) i would kill him. Even if they did want to celebrate it, why would they do it with bunch of people?’ Ben says that line about how now more than ever it’s important people know that gay couples can be committed ‘oh my god. I would go on a murder spree if he said that to me. Why do you as a grown man need two lesbians to help you feel confident in your relationship? Can he be written off?’ Linds wants to tell everyone and Mikey asks “the right time for what” ‘for you to mind your business. It was about 4 seasons ago’

Hello dear sweet anon!

I remember far less about season 5 than any other season for obvious reasons (I haven’t watched it as often).

But yes Brian saying he would be pissed if Justin didn’t go to LA is… well it’s foreshadowing isn’t it? Always put career first, that’s the Brian Kinney motto.

Ahh Boring Ben and Mikey moving to the boring ‘burbs. Your brother is going to have so much fun with this. He’s going to lovvvvveeeee Eli and Monty. (/s)

When did Ben turn into a middle aged white woman? Good question. Followed up with the “it’s important for people to know that gay couples can be committed” FFS. Assimilationist.

Brian buying Babylon is so iconic. He should have always owned it.

[little-cereal-draws]

I’m going to add a few thoughts bc I’ve been turning this around in my head

Thomas is freaking out bc he can’t like Mike???? He’s supposed to like alison! This wasn’t part of the plan! He doesn’t know what to do so he asks the two ppl he thinks can help him w these feelings: the captain and Julian.

It takes the captain a minute to figure out that it’s actually Thomas talking to him which makes a lot more sense bc he was confused why alison was suddenly so freaked out that she was in love w her own husband. He gives horrible advice on how to deal w it that mostly are along the lines of “yearn from afar and hope it goes away.” The whole conversation is extremely awkward tho and the captain is struggling lol Lots of “good lords” as Thomas explains his situation.

Julian figures out he’s Thomas almost instantly and makes fun of him the whole time instead of being helpful. He just thinks it’s hilarious that in an attempt to get closer to alison, he fell for her husband. He’s no help whatsoever but follows Thomas from a distance to watch how it goes down.

Mike comes in eventually and says he needs Alison’s help w the garden. Thomas goes out to help him but is absolutely useless. Besides being throughly distracted, he can’t weed a garden to save his life. Mike notices alison is acting weird and asks her if she’s ok.

“Oh, yes yes yes yes. I’m fine. Better than fine really. You have no idea how more than fine I am~ Why? Why are you asking?”

“I dunno, you just seem off. Is there a ghost thing happening?”

“AHA! Aha! Ha ha ha ha! It’s so funny you would ask that bc all the ghosts are fine actually. They are all in the house doing music club and we’re out here… all alone~”

“Mmmm, mkay…?”

They go back to weeding and it’s not until Mike stands up to get sodas and pats him on the back does he realize he can do smth abt his feelings. He is in an alive body that alive ppl can see, hear, and touch.

When Mike comes back, Thomas has decided to give in to his feelings and take advantage of being able to be seen by living ppl for as long as possible. He throws himself at Mike as soon as he comes back (like the “yes. Do it. Kiss me hard on the mouth” scene). Normally Mike wouldn’t mind his wife wanting to make out w him but smth is clearly wrong and he’s not taking any chances. He pushes a soda into Alison’s hands and says, “drink your soda first. Got to stay hydrated.”

When Thomas doesn’t know how to open it, it further cements mikes idea that smth is wrong. After Mike opens it for him, Thomas takes a sip and immediately spits it all over the floor. It was way too sweet and the carbonation burned his mouth and he exclaims, “god! How does alison drink this??”

He instantly realizes his mistake and looks at Mike in horror. Mike goes, “aha! I knew there was something off about you! You’re a ghost aren’t you?”

“Alright, fine. I admit I am a ghost but- augh!!”

Mike starts throwing fistfuls of dirt at him, yelling, “get out of my wife, ghost!”

Mike chases him across the lawn, throwing dirt while Thomas runs and apologizes profusely. Julian’s cackling away in the background. Maybe their neighbors drive past and stare at them in confusion. It’s quite a weird sight; Mike screaming abt ghosts and throwing dirt while Annabel runs and says strange things like, “please, I implore you for your forgiveness, good sir!” This is why they don’t go over often.

Eventually Thomas unposesses her and Mike is overjoyed to have his wife back. He hugs her while she tries to figure out where she is and why she’s covered in dirt. Mike explains everything that happened and Alison goes, “…thOMAS!!!” She tries to go find him to give him a real piece of her mind but she nearly collapses as soon as she takes a step out of mikes arms. Being possessed took a lot of energy out of her. Mike helps her to bed and into pajamas and she spends the next two hours laying in bed googling ‘how to punch ghosts.’

(also i think it would be really funny to watch Charolette act like Thomas acting like Alison)

the funniest way to play "thomas can possess people" would be for him to accidentally possess alison and promptly fall head over heels in love with mike

[shutuperce]

something something mike wearing will’s colours during these moments and what it all means 

1. there’s a lot to unpack here but THIS ENTIRE montage. first of all, el dumps him when he’s wearing will’s colours and not his own. this is the only occurrence of him wearing just yellow as opposed to yellow and blue. 

he’s wearing it for all of the romantic-coded material girl montage of el and max, including this iconic gay panic where we see fear in his eyes at the sight of women’s lingerie.

and this ridiculously romance-coded shot of him kneeling next to a jewellery case with will in the frame. there’s a post out there somewhere explaining this better but why would will be in the shot? lucas isn’t, despite the fact that he’s also standing right there. and mike didn’t really have to kneel down, my bad posture king could have just hunched over the case for the same, will-less shot. and yet here we are. idk man sort of proposal-coded

honorable mention: el is momentarily wearing blue and yellow in this scene. she’s putting aside mike for the moment and exploring both herself and a new friendship. she’s realised she doesn’t need him to function and be happy, and it feels like she’s also giving him permission to start exploring other relationships, hence the yellow for will. this is good, this is healthy. 

also, every single garment to the left of max is green or yellow hm

2. same outfit as the first point, but the byler rain scene. first of all, look at my guy. mike “heart eyes” wheeler indeed.

he knows he’s crossed a line with his “not my fault you don’t like girls” line. he was there for all of will’s bullying, all of lonnie’s taunts. mike knows how much that hurt will. below is his face just before will leaves. he knows what he’s done.

but, hang on a second. will just suggested it was dumb that mike is throwing everything away for his girlfriend, which makes a lot of sense. it’s unhealthy to do so, as is highlighted multiple times in this season. we all know it’s important to have relationships outside of romantic ones - those of family, friends, mentors, et cetera. will wasn’t suggesting he also didn’t want a girlfriend, or mike was wrong for wanting one, just that mike needs to stop throwing everything else in his life away. he’s trying to cling to childhood as well. but mike’s response is to lash out with the line - why? is he projecting? is he making a desperate attempt to clear the air about his own heterosexuality (or lack thereof)? i believe he is. he wouldn’t intentionally use that insult - an insult that has been crushing will his entire life - against him unless there was some kind of internal struggle surrounding his feelings for will as opposed to el.

and here. aha. michael wheeler. little man. your girlfriend just broke up with you, but what’s on your mind? upsetting will.

mike knows he crossed a line, and he’s back to apologise, donning a green raincoat over his yellow shirt. this is where the importance of it being ONLY yellow and not blue in this outfit comes in. he’s focusing on will. he may not have been during the rest of the day, but here, with the will-and-mike colour over the will colour, he’s not thinking about himself anymore. he’s put all of his confusion and pain aside to focus on making it up to will, biking to his house and knowing exactly where to find him when he isn’t home. season 1/2 mike is back for a moment and in-tune with will. there’s also the green, to emphasise how he’s trying to prop up their relationship once more. it’s the first green he’s worn all season, because it’s the first time he’s really focusing on healing his friendship with will. that is the only thing on his mind at this point, not any of his own concerns or needs.

3. the grocery aisle scene with el. this scene honestly felt so platonic to me, despite mike’s halfhearted attempt at telling el he loves her. plus the wording of “blank makes you crazy.” crazy. crazy together, you mean? 

in this scene the yellow is more subtle, because it’s more about mike being unsure of himself and his emotions than directly referencing byler. but he can’t say it. he can’t say i love you. maybe there’s something - or someone - who’s making him hold back. this might be a bit of a stretch, but the yellow around his neck on his collar could be something about his feelings for will holding him back from telling el he loves her. even though will isn’t directly trying to keep them apart, there’s something constricting mike in this scene, like a collar. that being said, the button is undone, suggesting mike is trying to put his confusion aside and be dedicated to el. 

4. double date time, baby. mike’s got a lot of yellow on for the iconic hand-holding and lip-glancing movie theatre scene. but his gay ass little jean vest in blue is over his yellow t-shirt, possibly depicting mike covering his emotions surrounding will. 

it’s also the ensemble he’s got on when we clearly see the state of el and mike’s romantic relationship in the scene before. el isn’t interested in his goofy singing, clearly saying she “doesn’t like it”. this continues a common thread of them not having much in common. it’s established that they spend all of their time making out and this is scene as ‘unhealthy’ by hopper. 

5. the shed scene. need i say more. the yellow is subtler than some of the season 3 moments, but this scene is an important reminder that at their core, regardless of any romantic implications, will and mike are best friends. that’s something el and mike never got a chance to be, and i hope season 5 will explore platonic elmike because i really do think they are good friends. 

but back to this scene in season 2. we see mike at his best: loyal, kind, soft with will, concerned for his best friend. unlike with his protective moments with el (when she’s getting arrested in season 4, when he tells her she doesn’t have to use her powers to find billy in season 3, etc), there’s no hint of a saviour complex. he reassures will, but he isn’t saying, it’s okay, i’ll make it all okay like he does with el. he just opens up, unafraid to express his feelings and cry in front of will. that’s another thing he’s never been good at with el: opening up. as mentioned before, will and mike are best friends, and this scene as well as the rest of the byler scenes throughout season 2 shows us the level of both devotion and honesty they have with each other.

he’s got the same subtle yellow stripe below, where he shows up at the byers’ and knows something is wrong with will. again, it’s established how well he can read his friend and how much he loves him. he’s always been very in-tune with will’s emotions, although this is clouded with confusion about his own in later seasons.

6. mike what are you wearing scene, aka In The Closet At The Rink-O-Mania. well. he’s wearing yellow, for sure. and there’s already a lot of good content out there surrounding his sunglasses and el, so i’m just gonna go ahead and focus on his (eye-scorching) yellow ensemble (maybe it’s a metaphor for how obvious his love for will is). warning: very unserious analysis below because it’s been said so many times and is also painfully obvious, just like mike wheeler in a crowd. 

mike wheeler is back at it again, stunning in blue and yellow to burn the eyeballs of innocent californians. and he’s seeing will and el again!! and he’s awkwardly half-hugging will for no reason!! which, as many have already said, makes no sense from a platonic pov. why can’t you hug your friend? you’ve done it many times before. y’all are KNOWN for having no personal space around each other. and if mike doesn’t know about will’s feelings, this awkwardness is because of his own feelings for will. 

then there’s the whole “you’ve been moping, your bad mood is making me in a bad mood cus i love you and i can’t see you unhappy, will baby please talk to me 🥺🥺” shit that goes down while his GIRLFRIEND has just been publicly humiliated and bullied and is crying in a closet. so um. mike. anyways. 

7. honorable mention to his warm sort of yellowy shirt with blue during the whole byers leaving scene where el kisses him and he doesn’t kiss her back, where he makes heart eyes at will, et cetera. i’ve run out of analysis juice and y’all know what i mean anyways. 

8. finally, just going to go ahead and point out that mike is wearing all green when he’s leafing through will’s art. so yeah, byler endgame. thanks for reading <3

love from, the homophobic dog

[nnay-naee]

Let me tell you how El's glow-up's through the seasons are closely connected to Milkdude. I'll probably write this as simple as possible since its 2 a.m. and there are a few simple concepts floating in my head. But before it all, I gotta thank @love-byers and his amazing post for inspiring me. It's also from where I also stole most of the pictures (sorry <3).

So, let's start.. In every season, Eleven basically gets a glow-up. In season 1 she starts with short hair and a hospital gown, while during the finale she wears the iconic Nancy's pink dress and a long, blond wig, given to her by Mike. It makes her feel pretty, Mike also underlines it. It's the first time she looks at her and genuinely thinks of herself as pretty, just like it's the first someone manages to make her feel loved, and that someone is Mike. They're happy, she's happy.

Later, if we forget about the stolen outfit from that old man in the woods, we see her starting season 2 with oversized, hand-me-down clothes from Hopper's old stuff, while later, we see her with the badass look Kali gave her. In both occasions she doesn't really feel like that style is hers, but her Kali's outfit represents what she needed to get to Mike: strength. We see, in fact, that El travels to her 'lost sister' to find herself, but doesn't actually do. She finds a way to become stronger, though, and with that power, she defeats the demo-dogs that are bothering Mike and Co. in Hawkins. She gets back together with him, both of them waited anxiously to meet again. Everybody's happy.

Then there's season 3. Here we get to see again a Hopper's choise of clothes, she couldn't find herself in England, so she's back at what felt more close to it among what she's ever tried in life, even if it's definitely far from what she is. She finds what 'feels like her' when she meets Max, she brings El to the mall and makes her try everything until she gets what she wants. Also thanks to Max 'awakening' true El's self, she dumps Mike. She doesn't need him, he lies to her, she feels totally fine by herself too. Why does this happen? Because Max wanted to mock Mike? No. Maybe partly. BUT. Eleven leaves Mike because she finally understood who she is and what she wants. They later get together again cause. Y'know. Plot.

Anyway, by the same line, we see El getting back to what she was before the self-discovering arc with Max when in season 4 she moves to California. Yes, it is partly explained by being part of the Byers family, since they all wear that style of clothes and they all share a big wardrobe basically. But she also 'glows down' from her s3 style because of her distance from Mike. She feels lost without him, she's in a brand-new city, everything's different, she lost herself once again. She moves closer to the old good feminine clothes Max taught her about, when Mike flies to her in Cali, we see her in a white and colored dress, even if, still, she's wearing her Byers checkered shirt, because something's just not right: she's liying to him. Plus, after the From, Mike scene, she doesn't know if she can fully trust him. Something's changed, she doesn't know if it's her or Mike or their relationship itself, and she feels confused and upset.

She gets back in white when she gets kind of kidnapped by Brenner. Once again, she's in her hospital gown, she lost her hair. Once again, she's unknown to herself, she lost the sight of the truth and the reason. But in the finale of s4, when she leaves the lab, we have a different El: she's not the wearing the style she liked back in s3, it's less colored, less showy, more simple, probably more confortable, too. Especially during Mike's 'love' monologue, Eleven, once again, needs strength in order to get back to her beloved ones, defeating Vecna. Mike tells her what he thinks she wants to hear, and tells her she's able to do what she wants thanks to her power, but El doesn't gain much strength from his words. She does seeing Max in danger, she doesn't want her to get hurt, so she does her best to keep her safe. And even if she later kind of died, El brings back her to life because losing her would be too much hurtful, and would probably mean losing herself again, too.

So, the El we see in the finale of s4 isn't the El we had in the second part of s3, and neither the same El we had in the beginning of s4. As I said, it's a brand-new Eleven, than now knows what and who she needs, an Eleven that knows that being independent is fine, and not just because your friend told you, but because you felt it inside and you got the proofs.

Clothing is extremely cured by the Duffers, not only for the color theory, but for many details like this one. I also read a theory about Mike wearing all that yellow in s3, for example, I wanted to link it but couldn't find the post. If someone finds it, please do share it!

[yesactuallyican]

The Crawl

Warning: This might make no sense. It's my analysis on The Crawl and what it could be and mea for the show!

Usually, the episode titles are named after a very specific moment in the episode, and when you get to it, it's like, oh, yeah, that's why it's called this. Think of Dear Billy. It makes like no sense until you get there and you're like oh, okay.

So, option one, 'The Crawl' is a pivotal moment in the episode. My mind immediately goes to something crawling out of the Upside Down, like the demodogs did in season two, and into the real world. Or! The Rightside Up 'crawling' into the Upside Down, slowly starting to merge together because that'd be great fun cool awesome amazing. Or, if they're really serious about doing the whole dnd-lore-bring-back-Eddie, then maybe it's him crawling out of the Upside Down as Kas. I feel like it would be right at the end, and it would work with almost anything else they wanted to do.

Option two revolves more around it being a dungeon crawl sort of situation, which I'd love, being a Dnd player. There is. So much potential. It would start the season off with a bang, it could be a showstopping sort of thing. This would be a fantastic way to get the party all back together and operating again, and separating all the groups. (You know what I mean, I hope, because I don't wanna explain.) It could be the characters delving into Vecna's mindgames, assuming those still happen, and it could be the episode where they really play dnd in real life. Make references about Mike's paladin (Give him a sword please please please), Will as a cleric (medical supplies, but also a gun because clerics are absolutely insane at damage dealing), Dustin as a bard (with moral support and all the brains they need to stay safe) and Lucas, the ranger, (with a wrist rocke- (gunshot)) I would die to see this actually.

Option three is the idea of crawling back to normalcy. For example, school is reopening, a very easy way to get the characters reintroduced if we had a time skip, and we could watch the characters are managing their lives after Vecna's attack number 1. We don't know how apocalyptic season 5 is gonna be, so anything goes. Hawkins could be half-evacuated and carrying on as normal, or it could be mostly destroyed by episode two. We have no idea, which is why I say this. It could also be cool to watch this delicate and carefully crafted normal absolutely shatter once something happens.

Option four is all sad, but it's someone crawling away from Vecna, out of a vision or nightmare, or who's starting to get symptoms and is hiding away from them, not telling anyone, etc. It kind of fits into the whole 'pivotal moment' thing but I wanted to say it separately. If delivered by a good character (and they're all pretty good lets be real) with a nice showstopping, jaw-dropping line, I'd love to see it. It could be literally or symbolically. Literally could be El or Will or Max or Lucas or someone we're expecting to see get Vecna'd, symbolically, well, I'd adore it to be Mike, but I won't get into that.

Option five is pretty out-there, but it's the idea of time crawling around the characters. Basically, we see snippets into the time skip. Little scene, time skip, new date, little scene, time skip, new date, seeing seasons and destruction and changing relationships and Vecna's Status, and everything important until we get back to our current time, where time finally starts 'crawling' again.

Option six is characters crawling back to one another. If this is after a timeskip, it could be Mike and El re-becoming friends after a possible breakup. (But that's kind of hopeful thinking for my byler brain, sorry) It could be Nancy and Jonathan, figuring out relationship stuff. Will and Mike figuring things out. Romantic relationships like Jopper, Lumax, Byler, Mileven, anything and everything, but also familial or friendly, like Joyce and her kids, Will and El, Lucas and Mike (well mike and anyone honestly.) and more. Anyone who's grown apart and needs to be reunited. The doubt with this is that I highly doubt they'd name a whole episode after a couple of conversations, but hey, it's the Duffers, you never know.

Option seven is a character crawling back from the dead. I'm mostly talking about Max, and getting to see her in whatever form she's in, in, like, her dream state. Also Eddie, I suppose, if that's where they're going with his character. I'd love to see Max fighting to come back to her physical form, I think that'd be so great and so powerful. Although, if she comes back and suddenly, she can't feel her body, she's blind, and the times in her dream state was the last time she'd get to see and move freely I would definitely cry.

Anyways! I'll possibly come up with more later, if you want, leave your hot take in the comments I'd love to hear it! (Also, I'm curious, what do you think is most likely and what do you want to happen? Could be mine or your own take, I'm just so curious!)

I tried to stay general-audience-neutral so uh, sorry if I offended anyone! I really didn't mean to! Also a final reminder that like, these are just stupid fun ideas, don't put too much stock in them, I have no idea what I'm talking about! Anyways, stay safe out there lovelies!

[mello-jello]

What about levihan actor au where there is kiss scene between them but we don't know what's going on, but the director seems not satisfy and they have to do that scene multiple times lol

*sorry for my extreme fluffy mode*

Thank you for opening prompt request 😊

Hi Anon! First of all, never ever EVER come to MY blog and apologize for fluff. It is very illegal. Second, here it is!!! Hope you enjoy <3 Thank you for the prompt.

“CUT!” Erwin’s booming voice cut through the silence of the moment.

Hange and Levi were wrapped up in each other’s embraces, passionately kissing.

For the 7th take.

They were exhausted and despite the makeup department’s best efforts, it was starting to show. Both of their lips were red and puffy from all the making out. Their costumes were disheveled, and their hair was coated with so much hairspray, it might not ever move again.

“RESET! WE’LL DO IT AGAIN!” The command came from the director’s chair. The set was filled with the sounds of groaning and grumbling from all departments, as they scrambled to reset the scene. Hair and makeup were frantically touching up the actors, the special effects were resetting the lighting, and the crew were putting the cameras back into position.

Hange quietly whispered “oh my gosh, I’m so tired”. She rubbed her own shoulder and rotated her arm. Levi returned a silent shrug as if to say, “what can you do?”

The script called for “a reassuring hand squeeze between two friends”. Then Erwin fought for “a chaste kiss with trepidation”, but the director kept adding and changing things so now the scene was turning into one that would surely get them an M rating. The first few takes were nice. Very nice. But the two of them were growing tired, as was the rest of the crew.

Levi turned and walked off the set, towards Erwin’s chair, where Mike, the assistant director was already saying what was on Levi’s mind.

“... aren’t going to be happy with you going this far off-script, Erwin,” Levi heard as he came within range of their conversation.

“I agree,” Levi called out, startling the two. He continued once he reached them. “I’m not here to argue your “creative liberties” or whatever, I’m just tired, Erwin. We all are. Let us go home and we’ll restart tomorrow.”

“As soon as we get this take, we will stop for today. It’s yours and Hange’s lack of chemistry that’s keeping us all here so late.”

Mike’s eyes widened and he covered his mouth to stifle a laugh.

Levi grit his teeth. “No one would have any chemistry after doing that 7 times in a row, while sleep deprived,” he spat. Besides, this scene is too off-script and will likely get cut. Levi and Hange are just friends, and people like it that way.”

Erwin put his hands together in front of his face, as if in prayer. After a deep breath of aggravation, he explained, “I did not kill off my character in season 3 to become a director only for me to constrained by script”

Ervin leaned forward in his chair, his voice low and dangerous, “Get it right this time,” he ordered.

Levi whirled around with a “tch” and stomped back to Hange’s side.

Mike leaned over and whispered, “what exactly do you want from them? I thought they did well.”

“Oh, they nailed it on the first take,” Erwin admitted.

Mike giggled. “Then why are you torturing them?”

“Listen, I’ve been watching these two awkwardly flirt for the past 4 years. I’m the one being tortured. They need to realize their feelings for one another because they are just so dense, I can’t handle it anymore.” Erwin explained in a hushed whisper.

“You know this scene will inevitably get cut, right? The audience sees them as friends and the studio isn’t brave enough to confirm anything.”

Erwin sighs, “I know, I just need these two to get married in real life so I can sleep at night again,” he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Mike rolled his eyes and said, “your meddling will get you in trouble one of these days.”

Erwin just grunted and returned his attention to the set. “ACTION!”

“Be careful out there, four-eyes. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you” Levi started his line, over-acting and full of sarcasm.

Hange met his tone with equal facetiousness. “Oh Levi, of course! But I shall miss you dearly. Here, let me tenderly bandage you with my trembling feminine fingers.”

“Here, babe, this will make it easier,” Levi dramatically ripped his shirt off, exposing his toned muscles which he promptly flexed directly into the camera.

Hange tried to mimic a breathy sigh, but that’s when she lost it. She started out giggling but it then turned into maniacal laughter. Others on set were also trying to stifle their laughs.

Erwin stood up, yelling, “cut, cut, CUT! Go home, the whole lot of you!”

The lights went out and the room was filled with relieved sighs and mutterings of “thank fuck” and “finally”. The shuffles of feet and equipment grew louder as the crew hurried to leave.

Levi grabbed Hange’s hand and led her to the back door where their limo was waiting for them. They didn’t bother to change out of their costumes. Exhaustion creeped over them again as the rain softly spattered on the windows, reflecting the lights of the city in a mesmerizing way.

Hange yawned and put her head on Levi’s shoulder. “Should we tell him we’re already together?”

“Eventually,” Levi murmured into her hair. “But getting paid to make out with you is kind of a dream come true,” he kissed the top of her hair.

Hange snickered and curled up closer to him, the gentle hum of the engine lulling them both to sleep.

[honkhonkrichard]

Theory: Stanley Uris was Murdered.

Tagging @vvanini I hope you can follow this okay it’s very word vomity lol

Okay So TW because this post will touch on Stan's death ad the methods behind it

I propose that Stan Uris was murdered. by IT. In his home on that fateful night. I think that Stan posed the biggest threat to IT and therefore IT felt the need to take him out before the battle even started.

Allow me to explain.

Okay, so, I need to lay out some basic "rules" or "facts" before I make my case. They are as follows.

- IT planted it's roots in Derry, and finds it difficult to leave, but still can at it’s own wil.  If you read the book (I honestly don't blame you if you haven't) You'd know that once the Losers kill IT for the final time, Derry (the Physical town) is obliterated. Buildings explode, sinkholes appear, things are flooded. The town is in ruins by the time that the Losers leave the sewers. The movies don't adapt this so If this is news to you thats fine. the bottom line is that destroying IT destroys Derry, like ripping a tree out of the ground with all it's roots. Because of this, we can make the claim that while it can Leave Derry (as it does every 27 years) it probably takes tremandous amount of power to do so, which is why IT only goes when the cycle is over. Why does this matter? Well, what if IT left Derry to get to Stan? The murders had stopped for about a week when they're all in the Jade of the Orient. Plenty of time for IT to cross from Maine to Georgia. Side Note: We KNOW IT leaevs Maine to elsewhere in the world because of King's extended universe all interconnecting. it's not far off at all to make the claim that IT is the same evil that haunts, say The Shining's Overlook Hotel, which is in Colarado.

- IT is omnipresent This is also a given, IT lives everywhere, and can fuck with time and space in godlike (or maybe eldritch like) ways. in IT: Chapter Two, when Mike claims "IT Doesn't know I know what I know" he's unfortunately wrong, because we know that IT can be in A) Multiple places at once, B) can manipulate anything on the drop of a hat (See: Stan being teleported away from everyone else in Chapter One, Everything about Neibolt, etc) and C) Knows everyone's deep fears. This is further proven by IT Saying things like "Beep Beep Richie" (although this is Horribly Horribly executed in the films, ugh.) and so on and so forth. On top of all of this, We can make the claim that IT can exist outside of Time as well, given that IT is immortal. SO, what's stopping IT from Knowing Mike was going to call them all back (Espically considering that IT TOLD Mike to do this?). Even if we keep IT's omnipresence to the location that IT inhabits (in this case Derry) IT would still have knowledge of where the losers are through Mike. And if you take the Lucky Seven/Chosen Seven route (oh my god I got theories on that too) you could argue IT knows where they are inherently due to their cosmic status.

- Stan is the "most Powerful" loser So, obviously all the Loser's are powerful, espically considering they're the ones who Defeat IT (Again going on to the Lucky/Chosen Seven theory). This next claim is going to be less focused on what the 2019/2017 Movies do because they are Bad Movies and that's a whole other rant. However, in the book, Stan is (to my knowledge feel free to correct me on any of this) the only loser to Actively ward off and 'defeat' IT on his own without running away. He uses his belief in this what is Real (birds) to ward off what is "not real" (IT). The other losers do manage to take down IT in their own Right, but Stan is ultimately the one to Really get IT. This is because Stan's character revolves around Belief and Willpower. These are, in some form or another, the ways to Defeat IT. the ritual of Chud is a battle of Wills. in the book, Bill takes IT down and Eddie does the final blow. In the Remake (ugh) the losers can defeat it Technically using the belief that IT isn't as powerful as it claims because IT's "just a clown" (Ihatethatfuckingendingsomuchugh). Stan being much more skeptical than the rest of the group in his ability to understand Reality vs IT's illusions is a powermove, and IT knows that ability doesn't go away as Stan grows up, but rather he gets more powerful. Stan is the Only loser out of the 6 who left that has any sort of knowledge about IT, where the other losers have nothing. Bev has nightmares, yes, but she still forgets them. We're told in his chapter (Chapter 3, Six Phone Calls (1985), Part One: Stanley Uris Takes a Bath) that he has some hazy knowledge of his place in the Lucky Seven, and even goes so far as to MENTION it sometimes, even if he doesn't quite remember or understand any of it, his knowledge of IT and Derry is worlds more prominent than that of the rest of the losers.

(page 52 of IT:  "Stanley, nothing's wrong with your life!"  "I don't mean from inside." he said. "From inside is fine. I'm talking about outside. Something that should be over and isn't. I wake up frmo these dreams and think, 'My whole pleasent life has been nothing but the eye of some storm I don't understand.' I'm afraid. But then it just... fades. The way dreams do." OR  page 45: He had been smiling a little. Now the smile faltered, and for a moment he seemed puzzled. His eyes had darkened, as if he looked inward, consulting some interior device which ticked and whirred correctly but which, ultimately he understood no more than the average man understands the workings of the watch on his wrist. "The turtle couldn't help us," he said suddenly. he said that quite clearly.)

So, Stan has some cosmic knowledge of IT and Maturin and his role in the battle against It. What does any of this have to do with his death? Well, let me point out some other things about Stan's death that always stuck out to me. - His death chapter is narrated by his wife, Patty, rather than himself. The other chapters - almost all the other chapters - are narrated by their respective Loser (the caviot for this is Ben, but Ben is also wasted out of his damn mind so its understandable.) - Stan's personality is few and far between in the book, but we know he has a weird little sense of humour and that he's incredibly logical. I think that this logical part of him would be able to understand that Suicide is Never Ever the answer, and that it would cause FAR more problems than it would solve. (the 2019 movie tries to reexplain his death and it's crap and i hate the letters i hate the letters so much im gonna explode) The other losers try to rationalize his death by saying "He would rather Die Clean than Live Dirty (Page 506, Chapter 10, The Reunion, part 3, 'Ben Hanscom Gets Skinny') but he had already BEEN Dirty when he defeated IT the first time, and I think he would've recognized that. - upon finding him, Patty (in her narration) notes that Stan's head is bent back over the edge of the bathtub, so from his sight she would have been upside down. If Stan DID kill himself, why would he be positioned like that? It's unnatural, like someone Posed him. - the cuts on his arms are two length wise cuts. I'm no expert but.. that's suspicious. That's weird. - IT is written in blood on the wall. Why? Why would Stan right THAT of all things? You know who DOES like to paint with blood? IT.

Alright, returning to my thesis statement, Stanley Uris was murdered. Do I think Stan genuinely was going to take a bath at 7pm (which we're told is weird for him)? Yes. I think that's absolutely a thing he could have done or planned to do. Do I think he slit his wrists and commited suicide so he wouldn't go back to Derry? No. Not even remotely.

Let me paint a New Picture.

It's May 28th, 2016, or 1985. Stanley Uris gets a call from Mike Hanlon. Stan is incredibly hesitant to go to, and says he needs time to think about it. Or tht he'll try. He can feel the starts of a Panic attack, and as he's remembering the circles of Hell he went through as a child, he tries to hold himself together. He doesn't want his darling wife to see his break, so he says "I think I'll take a bath" and nothing else before going upstairs. he hides in the bathroom. He closes and locks the door, because, well, he's panicking. Locking doors is one of The Small things he does. Is it usually the bathroom door? no, but still (OCD is a bitch, and even with medication, but this is a special case). He looks in the mirror and tries to breathe. This is fine. He can do this. They killed IT once before and they can do it again. He thinks about his younger self, the promises made, and how he could explain all of this Patty in time to catch a flight to Maine. It's terrifying, but if his friends are going to bite the dust, he wants to be there with them, wedding vows be Damned. Then he looks at his reflection again. A younger, rotted version of himself stares back at him. IT crawls through the mirror. Stan freaks out, obviously. This isn't real. This Can't be real. But IT utilizes this notion against him. It digs it's claws into his arms, and forces him to bleed out in the bathtub. IT then sets the scene nicely. Razorblades on the counter, a bloody signature on the wall, a horrible posture of Stan's neck. So on and So forth. and then IT returns to Derry. IT's a little weak, yeah, but Stan is dead. That's what matters. the Lucky Seven has now Officially broken, and the balance shifts in favour of the clown.

So that's the theory. feel free to correct me on anything or engage I have plenty of theories on this story and I like discussing this stuff :).

[facepalming-since-chernobyl]

Debunking lies haters spread about Mon-El – misogynist

Misogyny is a wide definitions and includes prejudice against women, social exclusion, sex discrimination, hostility, patriarchy, male privilege, belittling of women, violence against women, and sexual objectification – so it’s not “just” typical hate.

And yes, Mon-El said/did some questionable things. Aka about Eve “She wanted to please me. On Daxam, when a woman wishes to please a man...” and the fact he had no problems with moving the copying machine with her (Crossfire ep) and the line “things was easier on Daxam when I objectified women and didn’t care about anyone“ (the Mxy ep) and didn’t do what Kara said or how SCs like to say, he didn’t respect her.

But here we have few problems here.

First of all Mon-El is from a planet, where people behaved this way. And I write people, not men, because Daxam was a place when all of them where doing things like this. Do we have evidences that women were treated only like sexual objects and exist only to please men? No. Why? Because after all, Rhea - a woman, was the most powerful person on that planet and held true power, not Lar Gand, who was murdered by her and there were no consequences. No patriarchy here. No male privilege here.

But his haters love to forget the line: “on Daxam we drugged themselves to feel nothing“. We aka all people. That was the toxic culture that promoted the system where people were not dealing with feelings, but suppressing them with drugs. What caused not carrying about anything and objectifying was a part of the system.

“The more the merrier“ line, that some people say was lesbophobic and Mon-El wanted to have a threesome with Alex and Maggie is simply stupid. He was talking about having a PARTY, not having sex. Also in that bar scene he showed he was not  prejudiced against homosexuals. Daxam was a horrible place but every sexuality was seen as normal and accepted. Also, no sex discrimination.

Next, “On Daxam, when a woman wishes to please a man.” WISHES. When a woman doesn’t want to please a man, she doesn’t. SIMPLE AND OBVIOUS. What also means he never sexually harassed anyone and there are no evidences for that. I will write another piece about how some really gross people accuse him of rape and other things that didn’t happen, but that will appear in the future.

Also, friendly reminder that Eve WANTED to hook up with him. She was a woman who knew  what she wanted and did what she wanted. Making her some a clueless victim is a disrespectful for HER.

Secondly, when haters talk about his relationship with Kara is how he disrespected her as a woman.

The problem is they both clashed not because of their sexes but because of their races. They clashed because she was a Kryptonian and he was a Daxamite. They clashed because of their absolutely different upbringing.

 He didn’t listen to her?

Kara Danvers : I am trying to help you fit in and you keep messing it up.

Mon-El : Okay, I'm trying very hard to be Mike, okay? But it is not as easy as you make it sound, Kara. I'm used to doing my own thing.

Kara Danvers : Well, you don't do your own thing here. You do my thing.

Mon-El : Um, okay. And if I don't want to do your thing?

Kara Danvers : Then find another mentor.

We talk about an alien who was on Earth like for two weeks and was brought to a CatCo to start a job. I repeat, an alien from totally different culture was brought to a totally new environment to behave like a human and work. Ever heard about cultural shock? And he TRIED. But was not ready. And Kara admitted it herself, later in the ep:

“When I was younger, I had no idea what I wanted to be here on Earth. And I had a family to help me and guide me, but... ultimately I had to make my own choices. And I was trying to impose those choices on you because when you landed, I was-I was just so excited to have someone to take under my wing. To look after. I never got to do that with my cousin. But you are your own man. And your life here on Earth is going to be very different from mine, and that's fine. That's great.”

Because guess what, he was not a dog and not doing what someone else asked is not always disrespectful. It’s you know, not being a slave and having your own mind :) Also, saying someone should do what you want is not mentoring or teaching and Kara explained that herself.

When they clashed after he beat Brian, once again, it was not about her being a woman, it was about how they were using their powers and how they both seen it differently. And it once again, in the end, was about the differences between a Daxam and Krypton.

So what, he was misogynist because he was jealous of Mxy? Because he didn’t do what she asked him to? Because he was arguing with her? Because he was overprotective? Yep, we can all agree it was a shitty behavior. Once again, I understand why he behaved like that – his upbringing in Daxamite culture, ignoring the feelings and getting drugged instead of dealing with them – but his behavior was NOT PORTRAYED AS SOMETHING GOOD. And Kara CALLED HIS SHIT OUT. And after some thinking HE ADMITTED and what is more important, UNDERSTOOD HE WAS WRONG.EXPLAINED himself in a way that made sense. APOLOGIZED. And didn’t repeat this mistake.

Because you know, this was his character arc from being a problematic frat boy of the universe, to finally understanding his character issues and fixing them. That was his story. And I’m kinda surprised how people can admit the tv shows are full of macho idiotic males and how out culture is teaching them how to act wrongly and mistreat women and then when they have an actual arc of man who grasped his shit and become better, they hate on him like no tomorrow. I guess males should stay shitty for their whole lives???

And lastly - look how many times he praised her, how many times he said how awesome she was when she kicked Mxy and other idiots’ asses and how proud he was, how he has learnt to respect her decisions, how he tried to please her, how he walked away when she asked him without a word, how he was able to say how worthless he was, how he played the role of a housewife when she was dealing with criminals, how many times he gave her emotional support and simply was there when she needed it, how he took her side and could admit he was wrong - like, misogynists do stuff like that? Since when?

Yes, he was a jerk and he didn’t have any idea how to treat women, but he has learnt. Keeping things he has done in the past and ignoring his development is like depriving humans of the ability of making mistakes and learning on them. And this is a base of whole damned humanity.

[slipping-through-my-fingertips]

If Glee did a Taylor Swift Tribute Episode...

Just my opinions, feel free to add on to them. I know I have some fellow gleek swifties following me. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Obviously they have to do some of the hits but I think some people would have some out of the box picks.

*This post assumes all Taylor songs are available to choose from as of May 14th 2021 but focuses on Taylor’s first 6 albums (if you want more glee and Taylor I have fics with that; LOVER and FOLKLORE) and takes liberties with where this episode’s placement is in terms of canon. But since it’s all made up anyway who cares (but Blaine’s involved so I guess season 3 idk).*

Okay, trying to do a full plot here (completely inspired by @kurtdeservesbetter head canon posts. I hope this lives up to her fabulous posts). This will be my version of glee so everyone gets solos and Rachel can’t hog the spotlight. Also, this is about to be super long (both post wise and episode wise).

Let’s open the first episode with

...Ready For It because the New Directions are in their reputation era. Santana does the opening cough centerstage. Everyone in black and/or camo green outfits (can you just see Kurt in a dark green bedazzled snake jacket, Santana in a black leather dress, and Tina digging out some goth clothes for people to borrow?), snakes everywhere, but probably no Karyn (she just wouldn’t fit on the auditorium stage). Santana takes the first verse but we have Blaine step up for verse 2. (I just love their friendship in the Michael tribute, cute little badasses are BACK. Also him singing “Burton to this Taylor” is such a Klaine thing to do).

Everyone is still dressed in their rep outfits but we’re in the choir room now. Mr. Schue is talking about why Taylor had to disappear and clap back with rep, how rough the industry is for women and tries to uplift the ladies in the room and encourage them to not silence their voices (cue snarky comment from Santana about Rachel needing to be silent).

Then, Mr. Schue goes on about how you can only understand how Taylor got to her rep era by studying her earlier music. So we have a performance of Tim McGraw. Simple, front of the choir room performance, maybe Puck does guitar, and sitting on stools.

Everyone is surprised to find out how pumped Sam is for this assignment but he is all over it. “It's about time we did some country in this room.” Cue Sam and Quinn at her locker talking about their ‘date’ last night, Sam’s all cute and teasing and Quinn is not into it. She tells him it was fun but she was wrong, they shouldn’t do this again. In turn, he does a wonderful performance of Bye Bye Baby. He thought it was more but clearly he’s “a part of her past.”

Then, we’re in the empty choir room. Tina and Mike are there. (I love their cutesy duets) They sing Everything Has Changed and it’s utterly adorable. Can’t you hear Mike asking Tina if she’s “good to go” like Ed does? And while we’re on the subject of cute duets and RED, we flash to the courtyard to see Santana and Brittany. They turn Stay Stay Stay into a duet. “I’ve been loving you for quite some time,” “before you I only dated self-indulgent takers who took all their problems out on me,” “no one else is gonna love me when I’m mad, mad, mad,” and “it’s occurring to me that I’d like to hang out with you for my whole life” it’s perfect for them. Adorable ladies kisses are had.

Let’s toss in some boy drama for fun. Idk shit about football but somehow Puck is praised by their coach over Finn, which gets him all pissy, and Puck’s upset and jealous because Finn is back with Quinn now (this is why Quinn shut Sam now earlier, she changed her mind). Can we say duet of Bad Blood? “So if you’re coming my way...just don’t.”

After their dramatics, we have a Brittany solo in the choir room. It’s after school at this point (or whenever glee club is). Brittany does You’ll Always Find You Way Back Home.

When she finishes Mr. Schue tries to explain that it’s a Hannah Montana song. Britt injects that it’s confusing how she’s really Miley Cryus “like how can you be two people at once?”. Before Mr. Schue can continue, Kurt pipes up “you never specified that the songs had to be sung by Taylor Swift, just that they were her songs.” Mercedes adds, “yeah, Mr. Schue, Taylor wrote that song.” Mr. Schue concedes that he has once again been outwitted by Kurtcedes. The friends do their little hand shake thing.

With a sigh, Mr. Schue asks Mike if he’s ready to go and Mike asks to take things to the auditorium for some dancing room. Everyone’s on stage with him and it’s kind of a group number but Mike is the focus. It’s Shake It Off. All inspired by the music video. He’s tried to fit in elsewhere (i.e. football, with the smart kids, etc..) but he’s really himself in glee when he’s dancing.

Part 2 of Taylor Tribute Episodes

We begin with an ALL GIRL NUMBER of A Place In This World. Just because.

Glee is dismissed and we zoom in on Artie. He’s watching Tina with Mike and Brittany with Santana. Both Tina and Britt have broken his heart by this point. So, he’s rolling down the halls singing A Perfectly Good Heart. While Artie’s soloing, we cut to Rachel watching Finn and Quinn chatting. Artie’s song playing over this scene. Rachel is feeling similar to him at the moment.

She’s pretty sure Finn dumped her to be with Quinn again even though Kurt and Blaine told her they saw Quinn and Sam at the movies last night together making out in the back row. Fine, if that’s how he’s going to be, she doesn’t need him anyway. Cue Mr. Perfectly Fine. Uber dramatic solo performance walking around McKinley’s halls watching Finn and Quinn together ending in the auditorium alone. (see what I did there, both broken hearted peeps singing a song with Perfectly in it (this was not at all planned, actually, happy accident))

After some good old heartbreak, we have Kurt and Blaine on screen. Blaine walks into the auditorium to see Kurt sitting on the edge of the stage. “What’s all the fuss?” he asks from the door. Kurt had texted him “EMERGENCY.” The band starts to play and Kurt just starts singing, Enchanted. It’s time to profess their love for each other, just like they sing Perfect together in the car, this duet needs no audience. Blaine catches up and sings while walking towards his boyfriend. It’s very reminiscent of past New Directions competitions where they come in from the back and make their way to the stage. “Wondering if you knew I was enchanted to meet you?” Kurt and Blaine both know the answer to that question now but just a few months ago they were both wondering that exact thing.

They kiss before we cut to Kurt and Blaine walking hand in hand into the choir room where everyone else is already. Mr. Schue is praising the performances thus far and of course asks Rachel if she’s ready to solo (some practice for her completion solo). This causes an uproar from Mercedes and Santana. Another classic argument of how she gets too many solos. Mr. Schue tries to shut them both down but Santana tells Rachel to watch her back, and we get three very different reactions to this. 

All three girls storm out.

First, we visit Mercedes alone in the courtyard. This solo is all about being hurt over this great thing in her life (glee) and her being denied happiness within that club. Thus, Cold As You. (mostly to indulge myself because she’d blow us away with this song).

Next, Rachel in the auditorium. A huge bridge on stage (very Speak Now Tour of her), belting out Better Than Revenge. Santana’s dropped the last straw (the humiliation, name calling, Finn at one point and now solos,) it’s too much this time.

And finally, Santana walking around McKinley, showing us flashes of Rachel ‘outshining’ her and the rest of glee and Mr. Schue being unfair, while singing Look What You Made Me Do.

Tina walks out at the same time as Rachel, Mercedes, and Santana but no one seems to put two and two together. She feels just as underutilized as the latter two do. She ends up in an empty classroom and sings The Outside. “Nobody ever lets me in” and “on the outside looking in.”

Once the 3, err 4, divas have left the room, Finn sticks up for Rachel. Quinn, of course, has something to say about this along the lines of “you always defend her.” Finn, intimated by her ‘scary Quinn’ fumbles and blurts “because she’s my girlfriend” WHICH IS NOT TRUE AT THIS POINT. Quinn dumps him on the spot, cuts quickly to Blaine and Kurt sharing some ‘oh my god, can you believe this’ expressions, and vanishes from the room.

By this point, Rachel is long gone from the auditorium but the bridge is still there.

Here’s where we go way off script but imagine, Quinn has decided to just quit boys. They’ve all failed her anyway, she’s better off being alone. She walks up the bridge and thinks to herself “god Rachel’s so dramatic, where did this thing even come from” before it hits her “fuck, I’m as bad as Finn. I want her.” Then, she starts singing Clean to herself in the auditorium, likely tearing up throughout and ending with a good cry. (Because Dianna would DELIVER with Clean.)

While Quinn is having a sexuality crisis, the rest of glee is still happening. They’re discussing upcoming competition and debating solos and songs.

Kurt’s all: “Mr. Schue, if I may” and performs a lovely rendition of Call It What You Want. Those opening lines are too good. “My castle (ie McKinley) crumbled overnight, brought a knife to a gun fight (ie couldn’t fight off Dave Karofsky), “I’m doing better than I ever was ‘cause my baby’s fit like a daydream,” and “at least I did one thing right.” When he’s done, Blaine’s a mess in the back of the choir room, and Mr. Schue says: “not really what we’re looking for but very nice, Kurt” however, Kurt’s too busy sitting beside Blaine teasing him about blushing.  

Then, the missing girls return to the room having sung out their emotions. Quinn, having realized her feelings for Rachel, ends up soloing You Belong With Me to the New Directions in the choir room. Odd looks all around, no one knows what’s up with her and why does she keep glancing at Rachel? (Faberry just fit so well I had to add it, don’t know if I’m a shipper or not but it’s here now) (also thanks to @spicygemini for pointing out the obvious “Quinn would have ate YBWY”).

Mr. Schue wants to move the group to the audition to perform their final number of the Taylor Swift tribute well but Tina asks to sing first. He’s surprised but allows it, taking a seat with the rest of the New Directions.

Tina sings Beautiful Ghosts. “Watch from the dark, wait for my life to start” because New Directions is refusing to use her talents AGAIN. She’s singing this to Rachel and the girls who were in the Treble Tones. Because she absolutely SMASHES this number, the glee kids agree she gets solo for their next competition (and they deliver on that promise).

To conclude Part 2 of the Taylor tribute episode, we have a group performance of Long Live. “One day we will be remembered”, “all the years we stood there on the sidelines wishing for right now”, “for a moment a band of thrives in ripped up jeans got to rule the world” ie wining completions, “when they look at the pictures please tell them my name...”

[mrslackles]

what do you think are gg's biggest flaws?

Ooh, Anon! It’s like you’re in my head. 

I’m busy making a video (that will probably never see the light of day) about this --  my distance from the show has really helped with some super objective clarity -- so I’ll use my notes from that to help me answer. 

I’ll preface this by saying what I was most shocked by after putting down all the points was that Rio isn’t even mentioned until really far down??

Anyway, let's get into it.

These are Good Girls' greatest flaws in my opinion (and relative to season 1 -- while I think it had its flaws too, the list is far smaller and I think that's a separate post)

1. It didn't stick to its guns

What set this show apart from others in the 'Everyday person does crime (poorly)' genre was its comedic lightness, strong friendship element, relatability and emphasis on girl power.

a) By season 2, the lightness was already slowly disappearing to make way for season 3's darkness. (Quite literally; this show said sunlight scenes for WHO.) It also stopped being as fun. Remember how it genuinely used to be fun? I mean let's not forget The Best Scene Ever where Ruby shoots Big Mike by accident and we all laughed our asses off. (Compare and contrast to a similar-in-tone-and-context scene -- or even the whole episode -- like Boomer popping up behind them as Rio's package in season 3.) I think season 3 had some great lines and laughs, but in general, the fun element was completely missing for me.

b) As was the friendship. We already know Annie and Ruby basically became Beth's backup dancers in season 2, but at least then they still seemed to have some type of agency. In season 3, they rarely question Beth's (truly questionable) decisions, don't talk to her about shit like why she's still with her horrible husband and have very few true friendship moments as they did in season 1.

c) Which made it less relatable, but what also contributed was the major plot holes (it's less easy to relate when you're constantly having to remind yourself to suspend your disbelief). And, to be honest, their stupid actions. Just the most common-sense things weren't followed, like not taking your children to a crack den or not putting a hit out on a gang leader. It's frustrating watching a TV show -- where characters are supposed to learn things, have arcs and improve over time -- and feeling like you have more logical sense than all the main characters in every scene. (WHO would think a hitman was going to use a sniper rifle on people in broad daylight on the side of the road???)

d) You don't have to look any further than the title or the stans who shout "THE SHOW IS ABOUT THE GIRLS" -- or, hell, the first 10 seconds of the show where Sara is literally talking about the glass ceiling -- to know that the main characters being women is very important to the show. If not formally feminist, it was at least supposed to be empowering or feel like "girl power" (a term I hate, but we won't get into that now).

And I think it did it pretty well in season 1 -- it actually played on my favourite theme of the show, which is the world's perception of these women being what ultimately allows them to get away with so much. (Rife with opportunities for commentary about white privilege, but also a genius way to upend patriarchal beliefs.) But more and more it seemed like the show was asking you to accept empowerment as simply "these things are being done by women, yay".

And, well.

2. Its marketing

I'll keep this one short because I think we all know how messed up this situation is. Basically they're selling a show (every week!) that they're not making while ignoring all feedback on every social media platform. Which brings us to...

3. The marriage of Death

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times -- Beth's character development starts with getting rid of Dean. Her growth is stunted by him on multiple fronts and it's frustrating to viewers since she's constantly put forth as the main character. Not to mention how the audience, separately from Beth, was originally conditioned to see Dean as the scum of the earth (think of scenes like him crashing his car because he was perving on a woman jogging) so keeping them together is really... a choice. To actively root for this marriage (which seems like what the show wants, at least for the protracted moment) means either thinking Dean is a great person (which, as I said, we've only seen the opposite of) or believing he's all Beth deserves. Which leads me to...

4. Beth's (socio)path(y)

Is sociopath a 'good' word? Probably not. Have I seen dozens upon dozens of posts talking about whether Beth is one? Yes. And I see it from a huge variety of people -- from viewers who just binged the show last weekend to those who've been watching for years, the question keeps coming up. And I entirely blame the writing of the show that, by the way, I don't believe is deliberately creating Beth to get this reaction. I think she's written (and, to an extent, acted) in a way that is much too aloof and I'm not convinced it's meant to come off as cold and unfeeling as it does. Everything else leads me to believe that the audience is supposed to root for Beth, but it's just so difficult.

Beth does a lot of messed up shit that requires dialogue to sympathise with her and the inner workings of her mind, but in the later seasons Beth rarely gets to express herself verbally. And every time she does get to speak about her emotions, the dialogue is a pick-your-own-adventure between "She's in so much denial", "This person feels no emotions" and "I'll go find an analysis/fic later to explain this" (scenes like "Nothing" or "I was just bored"). Compare and contrast with some of the great scenes in season 1 where she emotes, like her paralysing shock after they first rob the store or admitting she enjoys crime, or (one of my favourites!) the one in the park where she's mimicking the other mothers beside her.

5. Brio

I said in the beginning that I was shocked Rio doesn't get mentioned until this point and that's because I've always felt like he was an integral part of the show. When people say the show is about the girls, they're truncating -- the show is about the girls getting into crime. That crime is represented by Rio over and over again -- they never bring in another criminal at his level (which is another one of its flaws, but that's also a different post); Rio is it.

And though I stand by Rio's importance, the truth is that Brio isn't as essential to the show, by which I mean that if all of the above were done well, it wouldn't be as sorely missed. In lieu of riveting plot, a fun friendship, character development and empowerment, most viewers have glommed onto Brio like a lifeboat (or ship, heh).

Unfortunately it's also what the show has most stubbornly refused to develop significantly.

It's honestly a toss-up for why I feel Brio is a flaw: is the flaw that they got together? That they never got together well enough? That the writing keeps bringing in these 'chemistry-filled' scenes that are ultimately filled with air?

I don't know. Maybe all of them; maybe just one, depending on the day.

6. Its criticism falls flat without intersectionality

This is a big one because Good Girls is *trying* to do something very clever. As mentioned previously, my favourite theme of the show is how the women's apparent innocence/vulnerability in the eyes of society is their biggest strength. The show plays with this and other interesting themes with varying levels of success, but ultimately they all fall a little flat when they don't feel intersectional.

When Ruby gets sidelined. When Turner, who sees and all but calls out by name Beth's privilege, is portrayed as the villain. When Rio is told he's gonna "pop a cap" in his young child's "ass". When the racist grandma becomes a sympathetic character whom we must later grieve. (And she really didn't have to be racist, now that I think about it? It was just that one line for laughs and that was it.) When, despite the real-world implications, Dean can loudly announce in a store that he's buying a gun to kill someone with and the show just glides past it. When Ruby has to grovel for forgiveness from Beth for trying to protect her husband and family from the system, with no acknowledgement from Beth about how their realities are different. When Rhea gets booted off the show as soon as she's done serving Beth's plot. When Rio gets treated like a prostitute for absolutely no reason. (Oh, and is accused of raping Beth and is literally spoken of as an animal and starts only existing in zero dim lighting as a one-dimensional stereotype... the list goes on.)

7. PR/The actors

I'll risk my life here to sprinkle this in because I do think it's a massive problem. The Manny/Christina of it all is just the tip of the iceberg (although wtf Good Girls? There's nothing you could do to get these two into an interview together??). The main actors do the bare minimum to promote the show and it's weird. I also think it's the height of unprofessionalism to keep characters on the show against the wishes of the majority of the audience just because you enjoy their actors (Boomer confirmed; Dean highly suspected). While, on the flip side of the coin, limiting a character's screentime because you aren't best buddies with them. Having less and less Rio when he's such a fan favourite is dumb; as is not including him in any series marketing material. It feels personal and that isn't how a TV show should be run.

8. The entire hair and wardrobe department needs a stern talking-to

[organic-guacamole]

showtime

episode 211 let's go

ok first of all, this is the second to last episode guys... I don't even wanna think about how much pain I'll be in after next week's episode

mr mazzara doing the recap-

this is so weird to me and I don't know why

WHY DIDN'T YALL JUST ASK BENJAMIN FOR HELP, THATS LITERALLY HIS THING

is Nini giving out the cards a callback to season 1 when Natalie Bagley said that Nini gave her a card or something on opening night of another musical?

STEPHY AS THE ENCHANTRESS OMG YES

Ricky in the crown gives me Harry styles in that photoshoot vibes

he's so pretty.

ok but why did we never see Ricky and Ashlyn interact before? it's been like 5 seconds and I already love how they bounce off each other and it's just so natural

OH THEY REALLY DON'T HAVE ANY UNDERSTUDIES-

well that explains a lot...

so Ricky fell on top of Ashlyn and all that broke for both of them was their wrist-

insert Jake Peralta *coolcoolcoolcoolcoolcool no doubt no doubt no doubt*

of course howie was amazing as the beast, were we expecting anything less??

Ricky is so beautiful and I will not shut up about it....

let me enjoy this before the makeup crew slaps mud on his face.

Nini and Ricky talking to eachother? in a civil manner? wasn't she avoiding him just in the last episode? hm ok

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH THEY CANT EXPRESS THEIR FEELINGS JUST LIKE ME HAHAHAHAHA THIS IS HILARIOUS, WHATS NEXT? THEY CUT EVERYONE OFF CUZ THEY CANT HANDLE EMOTIONS? ...ha

yes Kaden and Rico, my favourite east high boys 🥰

I mean....where's EJ?

THERE HE IS

EJ AND GINA IN THE BACKGROUND... doing something idek

KOURTNEY'S MOM IS BACK YAY

Howie is a shining star, ofc ofc

the smallest fOrk

can't wait to see the fork burst into song about how she deserves more than to be used to eat salad😌

the duster and the bluster.... ok😃

hi Gina!

hi- oh wow I didn't know Robbie Rotten was in this show!!!!!

the portwell look.

that my friends, is a married couple's look✋

GOSH EJ WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU

aww Gina's so excited for this

D word?

Die?

Delicious?

Dom Toretto?

"good, clean fun all alone with someone I dig...a lot"

sir that does not sound very clean to me

SEBLOS

Seb looks so cute standing there next to pope Carlos

DID THEYEY REALLY LIGHT ANTOINE ON FIRE-

I NEED TO SEE THAT

Seb's reading Carlos better than big red read the script in episode 102, this is great development after the "fight"

Kourtney really just made the best outfit for herself and let the rest of them suffer

the way Gina immediately goes to hold on to EJ after the announcement

"tonight we're going to put the U in UTAH"

...

"hey where are you from?"

"TAH"

SEB'S SINGULAR CLAP KILLED ME-

he's officially salt lake city's resident thanos

just wity clapping because for some reason I have a feeling he doesn't know how to snap his fingers...don't ask why

Ms Jenn do you mind encouraging your leads before the show? idk just an idea

pepto bismol product placement smhsmh

those flowers are bigger that big red himself-

*bops along to the opening theme*

that whistle at the end slaps everytime

WHY IS THE AUDIENCE SO MASSIVE

I guess they're all here to see Ms Jenn go on as a fork after Nini decides to *go her own way*

wow i am so funny

so they couldn't do many group scenes cuz of covid, but this 300 person crowd is cool? nice

OO THE VIOLIN GIRL FROM EPISODE 6 IS IN THE ORCHESTRA

HOWIEEEEEE

"Mr Caswell", he said, in the loudest voice possible while backstage at a show that's about to start.

Mazzara what are you trying to pull-

I usually like Benjamin but I don't like his tone

"iS yOuR wHoLe FaMiLy HeRe?" LIKE YOU DON'T ALREADY KNOW THATS A SOFT SPOT FOR EJ

"we've had some good conversations these past few weeks"

right so what's going to happen after you graduate?

what does he think of you not going to Duke?

what did he say about you giving the sweatshirt that's been in the family for 3 generations to a girl you're not even dating?

good old Mr. M

therapist Mr. Mazzara, they all need it.

start with Ricky though.

"Michael Bowen"

dude why did you shave, now you look less like "hot lumberjack" and more "creep at the gas station"

OH-

does she not like Mike anymore?

why does it sound like jennzzara started dating and now they just sit back and talk smack about everyone in their freetime

break the fourth wall-

uhhhh im scared

why am I scared

he's scary

hehe flowers for Ricky, obviously for Ricky, ObViOuSLY

oh boy poor Michael

this man is in love, rip

why does Ms Jenn always look at people with her eyes open so wide

LILYYYY

I'm only excited because I really like the idea of lily and Ricky being friends, nothing more.

ha this guy's got jokes

a MOAT AROUND THE SCHOOL

wheeze

also he's very pretty.

"the wolves and very talented humans"

how dare he forget to mention the very talented wolves and normal humans, smh erasure

"being nice, what a concept" ted talk by Lily who still doesn't have a last name

did she just say lol out loud

same with the hug emoji last episode-

go touch some grass babes

the way he didn't say no, but said he didn't know how the east high kids would react-

not saying he does want to date her but that's an interesting thing to think about, also another thing to write an essay analysis on just to leave it in my drafts for a few months

awww lily genuinely trying to help him

sorry guys, I've been taken by the Lily charm (didn't know it existed until now but oh well)

REMEMBER WHEN I SAID I'LL NEVER SHIP PORTWELL?

just look at me now

the Lily wink I can't she's so cute-

HELP ME I'M BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY LIL-

David Attenborough?

oh nvm it's Benjamin narrating the show in a really weird British accent for some reason.

STEPHY GOT MORE LINES YAY GOOD FOR HER

also is this to show that Nini doesn't care about being the star of the show anymore? the way she's supporting everyone else even though she's a fork?

I would pay for a special of the full musical ngl

OOO THE TRANSFORMATION WAS SMOOTH

shockingly

yo where did the makeup come from

man I wish I was a theatre kid

THIS IS STEPHY'S EPISODE NOW IDC✋

my girl is starring

"needs an X-factor"

Simon Cowbell creeps in

"it's a yes from me"

and them boom, he takes Nini and mistreats her horribly and then she comes back to theatre after deciding music isn't for her👍

"I thought she just hog-tied him?"

don't ask sebby, it's better if you don't know.

imagine they spotlight the wrong person and this dude is just some random person that likes writing down stuff during shows.

Ms Jenn just let them do what they rehearsed (at some point we never saw) or else this is gonna end horribly wrong

"help"

same Carlos, same

I love how seb is just his translator rn

I thought he said "great displeasure" instead of "greatest pleasure"....help?

big red coming out from throwing up to see his girlfriend star is the cutest thing in this show.

Ash and Gina dancing is so fun

I'm imagining them practicing at night at their home, watching the movie for the 100th time and making sure their one dance together is perfect

KOURTNEY YES

HOWIE IS IN LOVE AHHHH

I LOVE HOWIE SO MUCH

SEBBY

THIS SCENE HAS SO MUCH GOING ON I CAN'T KEEP UP

THIS IS SO GOOD

HOW???

no because I'm actually crying

I'm dead serious.

we need this musical released as a special

big red is so proud and I love to see it

Natalie: "if you do not by at least 20 dollars in concessions, you do not support art"

rando in the audience: "but I pay for ad free Spotify"

Mr Mazzara clapping in the distance

Gigi, the guy you like is talking to you, complimenting you and hyping you up

YOU LUCKY LITTLE FEATHER DUSTER

aw EJ teasing her about the chocolates in a way that doesn't make her feel bad? take notes Richard

JORDAN FISHER

there is no rest of the show idc Jordan is it for me

THE WIG CAP ON RICKY OMG

they look like they're high and having "deep" conversations on the floor

THE MEAN GIRL WITH THE EYES-

@sunshine-julie-molina YOU HEAR THAT

Natalie really just be coming for them all

Howie what is happening rn

I'm scared

"did you enjoy it"

"very much"

dude wants a kiss so bad

ASHLYN OMG

NO DON'T DO IT BECAUSE OF LILY, PUT YOUR OWN TWIST ON IT

I want a Jordan autograph please

just keep swim- oh pushing...

Gina is literally a giant next to him and I live for it

am I about to cry for the 3rd time in this episode?

yes.

Ricky's leg kicks under the table makes me so happy aw

the portwell glances will kill me.

ah yes, mashed potato snow

Mr. M.... I'm not a theatre kid but even I know you can't have your phone on backstage.

Howie please just do it

CHIP'S BIG LINE I CANT

I LITERALLY HAD TO PAUSE IT AMD SCREAM INTO MY MASK FOR A SOLID 2 MINUTES (I'm not at home rn) HES SO CUTE

oh ok bye Jordan

oo tea

NOT HIM BEING STARSTRUCK BECAUSE HE'S MEETING HIS FUTURE BROTHER IN LAW-

"we're all just glad Gigi has a big brother figure in her life"

excuse me for a few thousand hours while I laugh hysterically

THE CAMERA ZOOM ON EJS FACE AND EVERYTHING-

STOP EJ LOOKS LIKE HE'S GONNA CRY BUT I CAN'T TAKE HIM SERIOUSLY WITH THE STAGE MAKE-UP

someone else said this already but I think it's hilarious that they had to bring in 2 guest characters to create some portwell angst

omg this really is Cici's episode, found family is their thing

elevator music lol

I'm gonna bet that big red took the harness for his surprise for Ashlyn without realising what it was

did Ms. Jenn just....tell her most mentally unstable student....to commit suicide....on a disney show...was that....I'm very....well....what the actual-

oh and there she goes running off instead of trying to make it right

oh wow Nini's the hero, she's gonna save the show 🤩

😐

the judge is doing a sudoku

honestly if I went to the hsm show as well, I'd come prepared for this one too

Lily why are you looking like that-

I WAS JUST STARTING TO LIKE YOU DON'T MESS THIS UP

wow ok, there goes that.

omg

what if Howie was acting weird because he knew what Lily did and wanted to tell Kourtbut Lily threatened him so he was scared to-

anyways see y'all clowns next week when we all simultaneously lose all motivation for the week without Fridays to look forward to.