#is anyone on this show allowed the SLIGHTEST moral ambiguity?

[opheliaintherushes]

It was deja vu all over again on The Gilded Age tonight; Robert Sean Leonard can't stop dying from cancer, but Morgan Spector saw factory men with guns and decided not to repeat his Boardwalk exit.

[blkkizzat]

COME PUT THAT MILLI★N D★LLAR PU$$Y ON ME, MAKE ME RICH!

FARMHAND!TOJI X BIMBOBUNNY!READER

☼ summary: au. a quiet farm life and a young pretty thing—what more could an ex-con want? you're a bit of a brat, but that can be fixed too. ☼ wc: 4.0k ☼ cw: age gap, panty flashing, voyeurism, brat!reader, fantasizing, spit play, biting, hickies, breeding kink, olfactophilia, teasing, perverted toji, morally ambiguous toji, creampies, squirting, unprotected, pet names: Bunny and standard p in v stuff. ☼ a/n: idk y'all farmhand!toji possessed my mind. literally did this all in tumblr drafts again today. Lets see if tumblr actually lets me post this or cucks me again.

FarmHand!Toji who only got the job in the first place because of a prison rehabilitation program. It was either work on a farm or rot in a cell for another 2 years.

Toji chose the farm.

The work wasn't easy, but Toji couldn't complain. It was a very large farm, secluded and he was paid well—but most importantly?

It kept his fuckin' P.O. off his back.

Toji works on the farm for three grueling months until you, the farmer's niece, arrives for the summer to also work.

Well, 'work' wasn't really the right word, because you never did any thing of the sort.

Barely, 19 and kicked out of your house for smoking pot. Your parents sent you to your uncle, hoping the hard work and the ex-cons he had working for him would scare you straight. Additionally, due to the fact your Uncle had no wife and no kids, the sole owner of a large farm, the old bastard was pretty well off. As the only child of your dad, his only sibling, farm would eventually be left to you.

Everyone (not like you had a say) agreed you should know how to run it.

But the thing is—you suck at everything.

You're too flighty to work with the chickens, too prissy clean the pig cages and you'd complain you'd break a nail just from lifting an empty bucket—so milking cows were also out of the question.

Yet you still managed to get your work done.

Precisely cause you weren't the one doing it.

Aware of your youthful looks and charms, you don't hesitate to use them to your advantage.

Your shapely curves are always clad in some in a thin wispy dress, which would turn damn near see-through at the smallest bit of moisture. Wearing no bra and the tiniest of panties, you were always giving a show.

No you weren't scared of these ex-cons in the least bit.

Evident by the way you flounce around the farm, unabashfully, pretending to do the chores the women-starved prisoners were too eager to do for you.

For their efforts you reward them with smiles, blown kisses and sugary words. Sometimes for rewards came in the form of a peach you would sneak them from your uncle's grove.

Always bringing one for yourself you'd sensually bite into the ripen fruit. Allowing its juices to linger on your cherry-glossed lips and dribble down your chin—the slurping noises are the perfect fapping fodder for them.

Yet the best prize of all—and only if you were feeling particularly generous—a flash of panties.

Toji though had not fallen for your charms though.

Not that he wasn't susceptible to them, hell naw—he wanted to bend your pretty ass over the nearest fence and roughly fuck some decency, along with manners into your haughty lil' cunt.

But Toji, as well as any of the prisoners, knew better than to touch you. Not only were they risking their freedom, with even the slightest offense here was enough to send them back to the pen—they were also risking their lives.

Your uncle was no fool. The older man regularly carried a sawed off shotgun slung over his shoulder, which used to be a pistol before you arrived.

The farmer didn't make it a big announcement, simply reminding them it was prison or a grave if they fucked this opportunity up—but the underlying message was crystal clear:

He'd blow anyone to hell who even thought about touching his niece.

Oh, but Toji did think about touching you—alot.

Often staying up late in his shared bunk room—jerking his cock to a frilly pair of panties of yours he'd stolen off the laundry line—once he was sure the others had gone to bed.

Toji wants to teach you a lesson badly.

Not for your benefit though, it be payback for all your goddamn teasing.

Toji isn't a pushover for you.

Nicknaming you 'Bunny' since you were such a clumsy lil ditz. He often made his silly lil bunny do whatever work he was stationed at when you had chores there—yours and his.

And oh, you hated that. You only tried harder when none of your pouts, provocations and seductions move him. It was pure hell, but Toji had resisted every trick you had. An unintended benefit however, was that he'd likely seen every pair of panties you owned by now (which is why he had stolen his favorite).

At one point, when you were particularly annoying one day, Toji even tried straight up ignoring you.

Yet that didn't work either.

You only upped the ante, 'accidentally' spilling a whole bucket of cow's milk on yourself. The very color of your perky nips are clearly visible, poking through the now transparent fabric which clings to you like second skin.

Staring Toji dead in his eyes, a coy smile on your plump lips as your pink manicured nails rubbed circles over your soaked nubs.

It took everything Toji had in him that day not to force you down to the dirt floor, fucking your pussy open just as hard and flithy as you'd been asking for.

Turning away from you, he threw a hay laden blanket over you and told you to go back up to the house n' clean up.

Toji didn't miss how badly you pouted, even though he pretended not to care. You reluctantly listened to him, leaving the barn and back to the main house up the hill.

You were both playing with fire.

Yet from that point something broke in Toji.

He still never crosses the line to touching you, but he'd starts pushing your buttons.

He wants to rile you up just as you had him.

As a result, Toji is working around you without a shirt more often—sometimes even with a raging hard on in full view. Also he doesn't hold back any longer from any of the vulgar thoughts of you that cross his mind. Regularly vocalizing them with a smirk, making overtly perverted comments towards you.

This was even something the other prisoners were too pussy to do to, given the very real threats of your farmer uncle.

Yet Toji wouldn't be a two-time ex-con he is if he didn't mind gambling with his life for a big reward. Toji relishes in your flustered, indignant reactions, loving to see how your face heats up everytime without fail every time he teases his lil' slut, his sultry voice whispering things like:

"I bet y'er cunt is riper than those peaches, Bunny."

"Bunny—think your pretty pussy can squirt more milk than these cow udders?"

"I wonder if my lil' Bunny can actually ride dick, since she's not half bad on a horse?"

You'd call him a 'perverted old man' like you weren't anything more than just a causal cocktease yourself—obviously you get some sick satisfaction knowing you had every man on this farm but Toji at your beck and call.

In reality, you were just as twisted in nature as him.

Still you were stubborn.

And as retaliation for his resistance, you play all manners of pranks on Toji. Doing anything you could so it was harder for him to do his job—from stealing his work gloves, boots and tools—to more serious ones like letting a weasel loose in the chicken coop when it was his shift to collect the eggs.

You deemed it your right to punish him for teasing you, for not becoming one of your simps and most fiendish of all?

Making you actually do work.

You harass him so often, it's not long before Toji realizes you're seeking him out intentionally.

Not even bothering to visit the other workstations where your chores are, they would get done by your lil'fan boys regardless, in favor of following him around all day like a lost lil' chick.

On a particularly hot n' sweltering summer day, Toji is stuck with the job of moving machinery from one side of the farm to the other when the sun is at its highest.

Like usual, he's since removed his sweat-drenched work shirt—remaining only in unhooked overalls and his briefs.

Toji hasn't seen you though, which isn't surprising given how broiling it is outside. Someone with as delicate a disposition as you, who also happened to be as manipulative, probably convinced your uncle to let you laze around inside the house, away from the heat—and Toji.

But you were a needy little thing, always seeking attention. Toji occupies his thoughts for most of the morning imagining you growing so bored, not having him to harass and all day.

With idle hands and absolutely nothing else to do, you'd start playing with that plump lil' pussy of yours, wouldn't you?

A supple girl like you had to overflow like a dam. Toji would bet money you'd already be wet enough, even untouched, to drench his fingers—just from palming your ripe pussy in his hand.

He wouldn't mind taking more than a sip of you on a miserable day like this to quench his thirst.

Continuing his work (and lewd thoughts of you) until his break, Toji discovers he's misplaced his work shirt.

Searching for it in the heat proves annoying—it's not on the grazing pasture fences, nor in the workshed by the machines. Tsk, he swore he had taken it with him to his last station near the horses.

Passing by the cow barn, Toji hasn't had a shift in there today but he absentmindedly remembers there's was a water hose in there. He could at least cool off for the remainder of his break—maybe even rub one out to you.

However, upon sliding open the Toji's smirk grows almost bigger than the hefty cock in his pants.

Looks like he hit the jackpot, today.

There you were in the middle the of the barn, on your back in the hay, thin dress bunched up past your hips and panties dangling off one of your shapely legs—all while feverishly fingering your fat wet lil' cunt.

You salaciously had even dripped a dark sizeable puddle on the dusty floor beneath you.

But the cherry on top?

You're quite shamelessly moaning out cries of his name, uncaring of who could happen to passby and hear you.

'T-Toji!'

'T-Toji, fuck me harder, Daddy!'

All while your pretty angelic face is twisted in pleasure, eyes closed and nose buried deep in the fabric of his soiled work shirt.

Daddy? Oh how fucking filthy of you—God you were perfect slut, just his fuckin' type.

Solely focused on cumming, your hips thrust up desperately to meet your fingers as he stalks closer to you—looking every bit of the predatory ex-convict he is.

"Well, well look at what we got ourselves here doll....n'here I thought the only degenerates on this farm were us prisoners?"

Your eyes widen in shock, but you don't stop your fingers right away. You were so close to your release before Toji suddenly appeared in front of you, there's no way you could physically stop chasing it now.

Not when it only takes a lingering glance at his dark features, muscular tanned sweat slick body, and the painfully obvious way his dick jumps in his pants to have you falling over the edge. You gush, mewling as you cream around your delicate lil' fingers.

"You've been a very naughty lil' bunny..."

Sheepishly pulling them out, covered in your slick, Toji's eyes zero in on the way your hole still gapes open. You're cunt quite literally throbbing for more, you'd cum but she's still left unsated.

You clearly needed something much bigger and harder than your flimsy little digits.

You unconsciously back up deeper into the bushels of hay around, putting distance between you as Toji gets closer.

"Tsk, tsk, nuh-uh Bunny, none of that shit. Not when I just caught you being such a whore for me."

You gulp, your heart racing as he crouches over you. Toji removes his work gloves, discarding them as he forces you to lay back on the soft hay.

“How sweet of you to prep yourself for me babydoll. But, Bunny, you dumb little girl, you’re too careless. What if it wasn’t me who walked in 'ere and saw you playing with my pussy?”

You didn't think of that, when you had so brazenly snuck up without him noticing to nab his work shirt.

Initially, you wanted to just be annoying to him again, too bored of being in the house all morning. At first you recoiled when you touched his soggy shirt, yet that all flipped once you caught of whiff of his scent.

Toji smelled of a farm but somehow that smell mixed with sweat, musk and notes of his aftershave hit you straight in your cunt. Your panties becoming just as drenched as the shirt in your hands.

You didn't realize Toji, grimy from farm work, could still smell so good.

Knowing it was far past the time for anyone to come milk cows, you headed straight to that barn. You just wanted some alone time, where you'd be free to touch yourself while thinking of the ridiculously sexy ex-con farmhand.

To say Toji had been plaguing your thoughts and dreams for the past few weeks would have been a massive understatement. You were obsessed with him. Him and his irritatingly smug expression, accentuated by his scar that made him appear all the more dangerous—you wanted him to fuck you—your uncles warnings be damned.

"You tryna get me to do more time, girl? Ya know Bunny, I'd kill anyone who touched you, if your uncle didn't get to 'em first."

Your face is hot with embarrassment but your cunt is also burning up—thinking you might die if he doesn’t actually touch you soon.

Letting his coveralls drop unceremoniously to the floor, he shrugs off his remaining clothes.

Toji's calloused hands, smudged with oil and grime, grab your hips and yank you to him. You yelp and his cock twitches even harder at your cute lil noises, smearing pre on your already soaked thighs.

Toji presses his sweaty body onto yours. It's cool in the barn but Toji's heat is so intense you feel like you are out in the sun again. Having him on top of you like this finally is overwhelming your senses. Toji is intoxicating and you're so feral with need for him it makes you dizzier than a heatstroke.

Fuck, you looked so ready for him.

He'd love you take his time to really break you in—make you fall apart until he's screwed every word out of your head but his own name.

Tch—but there's about 10 more minutes left of his break—and a good 15 or so more after that before anyone notices he's not where he should be.

Toji would reluctantly have to make this quick. Snatching your dress off overhead, he tosses it across the barn.

Mouth latching to one of your stiffened nipples, Toji simultaneously bullies his cockhead past your entrance, sinking into your slippery cunt.

Both of your collective groans fill the barn.

Goddamn, you're fuckin' tight.

Your eyes go wide and moisture pricks your vision as the sting of his girthy cock splitting you open nearly brakes you. You weren't a virgin by any means, and you knew Toji was huge—but shit—it was way bigger in thickness and length than you could have imagined.

Toji has to physically take your legs and wrap them around his body so they stop convulsing.

You whine for him to wait a moment but he couldn't—he didn't have the time.

Toji cups your face, unintentionally smearing dirt across your warm pristine lil' cheek.

"Daddy doesn't have time to wait for ya Bunny, can't get caught by y'er mean ole uncle, yeah?"

"*sniffs* I-I know, b-but—"

"No buts, baby—you want me to fuck ya, rite? Then just lay back and be good doll—promise I'll make ya feel good, eh?"

You can't stop the tears that roll down your cheeks, the burning still evident in your cunt as your walls spasm around him. Toji nuzzles your neck, grunts fanning across your sweetly scented skin as he begins moving his hips.

Soon the sounds of wet flesh smacking, resound in the barn with every harsh thrust of Toji's broad hips. The sloppy squelching noises your pussy cries out has Toji feeling like she's talking directly to him.

Sweat drips off his brow and onto your face as he pulls back a bit to see just how well your slutty lil' hole is globbling him right up—you already frothing a ring of cream around his base like such a good girl—like you were made to take his dick.

Your teeth bite into his shoulder and your nails rake red streaks across his back when his fat cockhead brushes against your g-spot.

Instantly, the shocks vibrating in your cunt overtake any remaining discomfort from your pussy accommodating his massive cock. Your tiddies bounce violently whe he picks up speed rocking into your cunt—spurred on by your cute bites gnawing into him.

Toji would mark you up similarly.

God you were so fuckin' wet though, milking him so well.

For all the trouble you gave him your lil' pussy was obedient as hell once she got a lil' dick in her.

"T-Tojiiiii, puh-leaseee k-kiss me, Daddy!"

Slurring, you gaze up at him, eyes blown out in pleasure begging for more of him—for anything he'd give you.

"Yeah, baby, Bunny wants Daddy to kiss her, hm?"

You frantically nod, your whole body is tingling. You just want to feel him consume you completely, all parts of you.

"Heh, of course I'll kiss my lil' bunny—only if ya let me cum ya—m-motherfuck—ya know how long its been since I had pussy this good doll? Gotta cum in 'er."

Mewling under him, you're easily left at his mercy—yet Toji would show you none, devouring you just as greedily as you wanted him to. Your body responds so well to his praises, so needy for them and Toji doesn't mind indulging you when you're being this sweet for him.

Throwing your legs onto his shoulders, Toji raises your ass off the hay onto his knees as he folds your body in half—fucking into you deeper, abusing your cervix as he smashed his lips onto yours.

Truthfully, there's no way in hell Toji would pull out now.

Making the decision for you, the kiss Toji gives you is searing hot. Sucking on your tongue, Toji has you melting you completely under him, your pussy clamping harder around him. His deviant tongue and heavy cock fucking you into submission.

Hell, she was begging him to cum in her even if you weren't or couldn't—you looked absolutely gone—like not even the smallest thought lived in your fucked out lil' head.

Even when Toji pulls back to allow you air his lips never leave yours, biting your kiss swollen bottom lip almost to the point of drawing blood.

You tighten even more than Toji thought possible in the moment once he forced your mouth open and spits into it and your instantly swallowing it—sticking your tongue out for more.

Oh? Bunny becomes such a dirty whore once you're fucking her silly, eh?

Toji wonders what else of his you'd swallow. He'd save that for next time though.

For now Toji had to finish you, he was running out of time. Besides, he was speaking true earlier, he really hadn't had good pussy—pussy at all—in literal fuckin' years. Toji didn't think he could last much longer in a hole with as much wet suction as yours, even if he did have more time.

Slipping a hand between your slick bodies, Toji is now furiously thumbing circles on your sensitive clit.

"C'mon, Bunny baby, cum for Daddy, yeah? Squirt on this dick, just like you did your fingers earlier, doll."

Your body, utterly under the spell of his engorged cock which was currently digging into your kidneys, can't do anything but obey him.

Tumbling over your peak, you do as he asks, splashing fluids onto his pelvis, abs and chest with how much squirt he has gushing out of you.

Your head lulls back and Toji has to clasp his hand over your mouth from how loud you started screaming.

His own release follows soon after. Pumping his extra-thick load, all built up and saved over the years for a pussy as sweet as yours, into your well-fucked-open cunt.

Curses and swears pour out of Toji's mouth as remains side you, still pistoning in you with fervor through both your orgasms. Toji doesn't leave the snug warmth of your gooey core until you squeezed out every single drop he had to give you.

Pulling out, Toji immediately rolls over next to you as not to crush you further. Yet, like a magnet, his needy lil' bunny is curling up against his side, a sleepy sated expression on your angelic face.

Toji hated to leave, but he had to haul ass now if he wasn't gonna get caught.

A crude form of aftercare, but Toji hoses the both of you down.

The cold water snapping you from your lethargic afterglow immediately as you pouted and whined—the brat in you almost instantly returning.

But Toji couldn't just let you sleep ass naked, covered in his cum in the hay for your uncle to find you or worse—another prisoner to find you.

Toji was serious. He really would kill someone if they tried anything with you, he'd taken many innocent lives before as a former hitman—he had no qualms killing some no good convicts.

Setting you upright, Toji finds your dress in the hay and puts it on you. It's soiled and dusty but he straightens it enough so you're at least halfway presentable.

Toji knows you're clever enough to think of a lie if questioned further.

Although, you'd better back to the main house quickly, in case those hickies he gave you start showing up. Toji smirks to himself.

Sending you on your way with quick sloppy kiss and a firm smack on the ass, he lets you leave first.

After waiting a few minutes, Toji exits the barn, grinning devilishly upon seeing you.

You're halfway back up the hill to the house by now, but you still steal glances back at him every few paces. Still panting, you're too shy now to meet his own eyes for longer than a second with your coy smiles.

Toji chuckles.

He had you hooked.

Hah, a slut like you? You'd probably be begging for his cock all throughout the day from now on.

However, Toji knows if he keeps fucking you like this he'll soon get you pregnant.

But ya know? That might not be half bad though.

This simple farm life had been a nice change of pace.

And who wouldn't want a young n' tender cunt like yours to dump in daily? Toji would keep you stuffed full, belly round with his kids and soft tiddies full of milk—for his consumption only.

Toji muses once he had finished fucking the brat out of you, Bunny, you'd become the perfect lil' wifey.

It be good for Megumi to have a mom again and some siblings to keep em busy. Toji would finally have a decent place to raise him too, away from the city and his toxic as fuck family who'd Megumi had been with since the first time his dad got locked in the slammer.

Not to mention—the farm was a perfect cover for his con activities that he couldn't wait to back start up.

He'd only able to do so much with the burner phone Shiu smuggled-in for him, concealing in a shipment of animal feed.

Heh.

All Toji needed now was to knock you up, apply pressure on your strict, God-fearing parents to agree to the marriage, and then orchestrate an 'untimely and unfortunate accident' for your uncle. Thereby leaving the farm and the substantial inheritance to you—and by proxy—to him.

Yeah, FarmHand!Toji planned to become Farmer!Toji real soon.

©blkkizzat 2024. do not steal works or gfx, do not translate.

☼ a/n: y'all toji be making me write the most twisted nastiest things for him. i realize soft toji just don't do it for me like depraved toxic morally corrupt toji does, i really would let this man ruin my credit fr y'all, he can have it all.

i didn't expect to write this, all in a day but im at the beck and call of my main mans. otaku!gojo and nerd!gero lovers dun hurt me. taglist in reblogs.

☼ comments and reblogs appreciated ‪‪❤︎‬

[anneangel]

Your post on the lack of complexity regarding the morality of the characters in Tolkien’s works was really interesting, and I definitely see your point. But, wasn’t there some ambiguity over who was right or wrong in The Hobbit, before the BOFTA? Both sides had selfish and selfless motives, greed and care for their people simultaneously, as well as pride and anger. I think Tolkien intended for the readers to sympathise with both Thorin and Bard.

I have to ask you a question: have you read my mind? I read and reread my post and was thinking of adding this moral issue between races, which is a much "looser and more flexible, more ambiguous" moral issue than “Good versus evil”. I think, your point is super valid.

I have to highlight your other point here: “Tolkien draws a hard line in the sand though. Regardless of how far people are willing to go, no one decent or honorable in the slightest would ever side with orcs. That's the ultimate sign of who the good guys and the bad guys are” by @queenmorganlafay

I agree with all your statements, have no doubt; and I'm so glad you said it so clearly. Just allow me to add my endless monologue about it all, and I know it's going to be boring but I can't hold back:

I was thinking about this, that I have friends who admire elves, some admires hobbits and others the dwarves. But I don't know anyone who really admires and wants to be like an orc. Yes, precisely. You are right: In fact Tolkien drew a line on the ground, there is a marking of how far his characters can be on the side of the “benign” and how far they can be on the side of the “evil”.

But it is curious how characters and races are free to show a multitude of emotions and attitudes that range from “peaceful” to “that lead to war”, where morality is dubious and we cannot define with absolute certainty “who is the good guy”. As in BotFA (Battle of the Five Armies).

And you know what's more curious? That the book considered “most childish” is precisely the one that does not establish pre-defined moral parameters between “who is right and who is wrong”.

I remember, while reading, of:

- 1) Agree when Thorin claims he will not converse with armed besiegers (after all, what kind of “dialogue” is assumed when you are surrounded by an army? The kind of “dialogue” that is peaceful only as long as the besiegers terms are accepted, other wise will attack).

- 2) I enjoyed that the Elves bring supplies to the wounded of the lake-town, but bothering me when they take an army to fight the dwarves because of an ANCIENT feud (as a peacemaker king it would be wiser to wait for that kingdoms establish themselves helping both humans and dwarves. Then use diplomacy and take back what was theirs in the past. But Thranduil chooses to take an army, intending to take back what is his at the worst time and on the basis of blackmail and numbers tatics in your favor).

- 3) Bard is the one who has the most sensible terms, as heir to Dale and Dragonslayer, he deserved his share, his reward and Lake-town deserved support. (But I remember being annoyed at how unhappy he seemed to see the dwarves alive, in book).

The “villains” in the book also made me think: Trolls and Spiders kill and are antagonists, but they do it to eat (this is food chain, not entirely nefarious). Smaug is terrifying and villainous, but he has been "hibernating" without further cruelty for a long time as many in Lake-town claimed to have never seen him in decades.

- Again, the villains that gave me the most chills when I read were the Orcs/Goblins, who are the only ones who were really willing to burn the protagonists for fun and revenge, the song they sing when the 15 protagonists are up in the trees is the most frightening of the whole book. It is undeniable that the orcs are "the line" between "good and evil", since everyone has them as enemies in the end, and even races that despise each other can unite in order to defeat them.

But even though the morals are much more “flexible”, ambiguous and complex in The Hobbit, each character and race still has to deal with the consequences of their choices, they are still good or bad/evil choices. It doesn't mean that you will declare war on another race and walk away completely unscathed and as the "undoubtedly correct side of the situation". Remember what Gandalf told Thorin in Unfinished Tales:

- “If you disregard my advice, you will be headed for disaster. And you will no longer receive advice or help from me until the Evil one befalls you. And control your pride and your greed, or you will fall at the end of whatever path you take, however much your hands are full of gold.”

It's as if evil is an entity that puts the characters' moral choices to the test. So characters "full of light" can be corrupted to evil, whether humans, elves, or anyone else. Where individual needs, pride, greed, anger, hatred, desire for revenge, obsession with objects, need for power and knowledge, among others, are feelings that, depending on their intensity, can become harmful and corrupt them for the "evil". I have a feeling that Tolkien's characters are "good light", if dont corrupted by selfishness.

What I liked the most when I read The Hobbit was:

A) The Hobbit is a light, unpretentious read, promises nothing and delivers everything, the journey has the right tone and pace, without being so tiring, it is focused on a single protagonist, dear Bilbo, who is not the hero archetype conventional "strong and badass", but still charming in his actions, he is comical, grumpy, brave and sensible all in a single character, which makes him multidimensional, showing his growth along the journey.

B) Despite being a more "soft and childish" adventure, it still teaches us a lot about launching ourselves into the world even if everything is uncertain, about friendship, about greed and its evils, about the journey being important to define who we are, that it changes us but that we must not lose the essence.

C) The plot is not that "cliché" of the "young hero who has to struggle and sacrifice himself for a good cause of good against evil", here it all started just as a adventurous "treasure hunt".

D) The protagonist is only one, but he is enough in the plot, which teaches us: not to be afraid to explore the world around us, to care for friendships, that gold is not more important than life, to value the people who we have on our side, that everything in life is ups and downs, that despite the journey bringing some suffering we can still choose to see the beautiful side of life and continue living. Also, Bilbo is not someone who becomes a "winner" in the end, he just grows stronger and discovers who he is throughout his adventure, changing the fate of everyone around him in the end and in the future. With Bilbo, we discovers that “having it all” shouldn't be the goal, that greed corrupts everyone around us and that money doesn't buy everything. That it is better to value life, simple things and friendships and that it is not worth wasting such things at the expense of petty wars.

The Hobbit is a light and deep book when it has to be, makes you laugh and cry, in addition the "world" where the plot takes place is incredible without Tolkien having to make long descriptions of the environment and add various information about the world that created. This added to the fact that Bilbo is a very active/proactive and charismatic character makes the book a delight.

That's why I find it curious that it is precisely in the Tolkien “children's book” where there is greater moral flexibility, but in LotR and Silmarillion an even more visible "line" is created in the plot where there is "the undeniable and good side versus the nefarious and undoubted side of evil".

I understand why I liked The Hobbit more (more focused on a single protagonist and the central plot has nothing to do with "saving the world from something nefarious evil") besides that I get attached much easier to characters instead of the plot, I prefer individuality of the characters and I like books that give primacy to psychological factors, thinking, aptitudes, interests, desires, inclinations, feelings, sensations, emotions, flaws, defects, learnings and intuitions of the characters, and Bilbo stole my heart in the approximately 300 pages of which he is the protagonist.

It revolts me to be insulted by fans of LotR's books - and movies - just because I prefer The Hobbit. I think respect should come above all, besides the fact that demeaning a book because it is more "childish" is silly, it's as if people are saying that there is no learning and excellent lessons in children's things, like being "for children" were inferior.

I think children's books need to define much more what "is right and what is wrong" since their target audience are children without much sense of discernment, while "adult" books don't need much of this because it is assumed that their audience is more enlightened.

- Hence my surprise to see that morals are more “flexible” and exists ambiguity  in The Hobbit, while in LotR there is an obvious “line” of who “are the good guys and who is the evil side” (I swear, have you seen my post from a mother who came to ask me about using The Hobbit at school because her think it is not appropriate for children because Bilbo is a thief? You see it's a "children's book", but it leaves room for questioning, the narrative has a very "Flexible" moral in The Hobbit, which I think is unusual for children's books).

So I'm always get emotional with  who see this book as more than "a silly childish narrative" and I love talking about The Hobbit. I thank you, for giving me this opportunity.

[itsclydebitches]

The Bad Batch: A Crosshair Analysis

Hello, Star Wars fandom! I have just completed watching—and loving—The Bad Batch, which you know means I now need to dump all my thoughts about the first season into the tumblr void. Specifically, thoughts on the complicated drama that is Crosshair. I have no doubt that the majority of what I’m about to say will be old news to anyone who watched the show when it came out (I’m slow...), but I’m writing it all out anyway. Largely for my own sanity enjoyment :D

I want to preface all of this by saying that the above is not an exaggeration. I love the show and I love the entire cast. My enjoyment in each of the characters is directly connected to my enjoyment of the season as a whole, which I say because I’m about to get pretty critical towards some of the characters’ choices and, to a lesser extent, the writing choices that surround those. Does this mean I secretly hate The Bad Batch? Quite the opposite. I’m invested, which is presumably just what Filoni wants. I’m just hoping that investment pays off. 

But enough of the disclaimers. Let’s start with the matter of the inhibitor chip. I’ve seen fans take some pretty hard stances on both sides: Crosshair is completely innocent because he’s definitely been under the chip’s control this whole time, no matter what he might say. Crosshair is completely guilty because he said the chip was removed a long time ago and he chose to do all this, no moral wiggle room allowed. However, the reality is that we don’t know enough to make a clear call either way. The audience, simply put, does not have all the necessary information. What we have instead is a couple of facts combined with claims that may or may not be reliable. Let’s lay them out:

Crosshair was definitely under the chip’s control at the start of the series.

He was able to resist it to a certain extent, resulting in a pressure to obey orders coupled with a primary loyalty to his squad. See: telling Hunter to follow the Empire’s commands—which includes killing kid Padawans—but not turning his team in as traitors when they did not. It’s an in-between space.

Crosshair’s chip was then amplified to an unknown extent. I’m never going to claim I’m a Star Wars aficionado—I’m a casual fan, friends. Please don’t yell at me over obscure lore lol—but within TBB’s canon, no one else is undergoing that experimentation. The effects of this are entirely unknown, which includes Crosshair’s free will, or lack thereof.

Crosshair then becomes a clear tool of the Empire, hunting down innocents, killing on a whim, the whole, evil shebang.

In “Reunion” he’s caught by the engine and suffers severe burns to his face. One leaves a scar that covers precisely the place where the chip would have been extracted.

Removing the chip leaves its own scar behind. If Crosshair’s was removed, we can’t see that scar due to the burn.

After these events Crosshair seems to mellow a bit. He does horrible things under the Empire’s orders—like shooting the senator—but is still loyal to his squad—killing his non-clone teammates to give TBB a chance, saving AZ and Omega, etc.

Crosshair claims that his chip has already been removed. However, Crosshair is arguably an unreliable source if he’s been lied to or if the chip is still there, encouraging him to manipulate the team.

Crosshair claims it was removed a long time ago, which is incredibly imprecise. As we can see from just some of the events listed above, precisely when the chip came out—if it came out—makes a huge difference.

Hunter realizes this and presses for clarification, but Crosshair dodges giving it. Again, a legitimate belief that it doesn’t matter, or evidence that he can’t say because something else is going on? We don’t know.

Hunter checks Crosshair’s head and finds the burn scar which proves… nothing. As stated above, they wouldn’t be able to see the surgery scar one way or another: its existence or its absence. It’s useless data, as Tech might say. I’ve seen a few fans claim that Hunter was also feeling for the chip with his enhanced senses, but 1. I didn’t catch any evidence of that in the scene and 2. Even if we assume Hunter did that anyway, the chips are notoriously hard to spot. Fives and AZ couldn’t find the chip at first when examining Tup. Ahsoka had to use the force to find it in Rex. TBB themselves couldn’t find it at first in Wrecker. If machinery consistently fails to find the chip on the first couple of tries—it’s meant to be a hidden implant, after all—why would we believe Hunter’s senses could pick it up instantly? Maybe he missed it, or maybe it wasn’t there at all. 

Crosshair appears to be struggling with a headache in the finale, just as he was at the beginning of the season and just like Wrecker was for the first half.

The point of listing all this out is to emphasize how ambiguous this whole situation is. I don’t want to use this post to argue one way or another about whether Crosshair’s chip is really out. I have my preferred theory (the chip’s still in, but only partially functional), but at the end of the day none of this is conclusive. The writing takes us in what I hope is deliberate circles. Crosshair says the chip is out? Crosshair is not a reliable source of information until we know if the chip is out. What other evidence is there that the chip is gone? A scar? We can’t see if there’s a scar. Hunter’s abilities? He only checked once for a canonically hard to find implant—if he actually checked at all. And why would the Empire want the chip out? Well, maybe it has to do with that push towards willing soldiers, but if that were the case, why leave Crosshair behind and have the “clones die together”? By that point he was one of the most willing, chip or not. Did they have to take it out because of the engine accident? Pure speculation. We just don’t know and THAT is the point I want to make.

Because it means the rest of the Bad Batch didn’t know either.

The core issue I have here is not whether the chip is in or out, or even how long it may have been in if it is out now. The issue is that TBB spent 99% of the first season believing that Crosshair was under the chip’s influence… and they didn’t try to do anything about that. They abandoned him. They left a man behind. Does this make them all horrible monsters? Of course not! This shit is complicated as hell, but I do think they made a very large mistake and that Crosshair has every right to be furious about it.

“But, Clyde, they couldn’t have gone back. It was too dangerous! Hunter had a duty to his whole team, not just Crosshair.” True enough and I’d buy this argument 100% if Hunter hadn’t spent the entire season throwing his team into dangerous, seemingly impossible situations to save other people. Crosshair became the exception, not a hard rule of something they had to avoid. They went back to Kamino for Omega, a kid they’d only had one lunch with, despite knowing how dangerous the Empire was. They went into the heart of an occupied planet to rescue not just a stranger, but one belonging to the Separatist government. They helped Sid when she asked and there was plenty of compassion for the criminal trying to take her place. Most significantly, there wasn’t the slightest hesitation to go rescue Hunter when he was under the Empire’s control, in precisely the same place. Every explanation I’ve seen fans come up with—Kamino is too fortified, they don’t know where Crosshair is, they can’t risk Omega being captured, etc.—also holds true for Hunter, yet there wasn’t a second of doubt about needing to at least try to help him. And his rescue was arguably far more dangerous given that TBB knew they were walking into a trap. Going after Crosshair would have at least had some element of surprise.

I think the problem with these justifications is most easily seen in “Rescue on Ryloth” and, later, “War-Mantle.” In the former, we do watch Hunter decide that going on a rescue mission is too much of a risk, only for Omega to talk him into considering it.

Hunter: “It’s a big galaxy. We can’t put ourselves on the line every time someone’s in trouble.”

Omega: “Why not? Isn’t that what soldiers do?”

Hunter: “It’s not worth the risk.”

Omega: “She’s trying to save her family, Hunter. I’d do the same for you.”

The arguments that sway him are ‘Soldiers should help people’ and ‘Soldiers should specifically help their family.’ So… what does that say about their feelings for Crosshair? They’re willing to put themselves on the line for the parents of a girl they met once at a drop site, but not their own brother? That’s the message the writing sends. “But, Clyde, the difference is that they had an advantage here. Hera’s knowledge of her home planet tipped the odds in their favor.” Yeah… and Crosshair is stationed on TBB’s home planet. Even more than them collectively having the same knowledge that Hera does, “Return to Kamino” reveals that Omega always had additional, insider knowledge of the base: she has access to a secret landing pad and the tunnels leading up into the city. That knowledge was given and used the second Hunter’s freedom was on the line, but it never once came up to use for Crosshair’s benefit. 

“War-Mantle’s” mission puts this problem in even sharper relief. Another claim I’ve seen a lot is that TBB only took risky rescue missions because they needed to be paid. The guys have got to eat after all. Yet Tech makes it clear that going after Gregor will lose them money. They’re meant to be on a mission for Sid and deviating for that won’t result in a payment. He explicitly says that if they decide to do this, they won’t eat. They do it anyway. No money, no intel, a huge risk “on a clone we don’t even know.” But that’s not what’s important, the show says. All that matters is that a brother is in trouble. This time it’s Echo pushing that message instead of Omega. When Hunter realizes that they’re about to try and infiltrate an entire facility and they don’t even know if this clone is still alive, Echo points out that they took that risk once before: for him. “If there’s a chance that trooper is being held against his will, we have to try and get him out.”

Yes! Exactly right! So why doesn’t that apply to Crosshair?

“Because he tried to kill them, Clyde!” No, that’s the easy, dismissive answer. A chipped Crosshair tried to kill them. AKA, a Crosshair entirely under the Empire’s control. The only difference between his enslavement and Gregor’s is that Gregor’s chains were physical while Crosshair’s were mental. And again, the point of everything at the start of this post is to show that no one knows when or even if that chip was removed. TBB definitely didn’t have any reason to suspect that Crosshair was working under his own power until Crosshair himself said as much. We might have been able to make that case at the start of the season, but “Battle Scars” removes any possible confusion. The entire team watched Rex reach for his blaster when he learned their chips were still in. The entire team watched Wrecker become a totally different person and attack them, just like Crosshair did. The entire team forgave him instantly and had their own chips removed. So why in the world didn’t anyone go, “Wow, Crosshair has a chip too. He was no more responsible for attacking us than Wrecker was. We need to try to get him out, no matter how hard that might be, just like we had to try for all these other people we’ve helped.”

But they didn’t. No one even considered rescuing Crosshair. They only went back for Hunter and, when they realized Crosshair was there too, they didn’t change their plans to try and rescue him as well. He’s treated as a particularly threatening inconvenience, not another team member in need of their help.

The problem I have with how this all went down is that the team treated Crosshair like an enemy despite all evidence to the contrary. Despite Omega outright saying that this isn’t his fault, it’s the chip, the group seems to decide that he’s gone crazy or something and that there’s nothing they can do. “It’s fine,” I thought. “They don’t really get what the chip is like yet. They don’t understand how thoroughly it controls someone.” But then “Battle Scars” arrives and Wrecker is treated with such compassion (which he deserves!) only for the group to continue acting like Crosshair is somehow different. It’s easy to say, “But Crosshair shot Wrecker” and ignore the easy pushback of, “and Wrecker nearly shot Omega.” Up until Crosshair’s own accusations and Omega’s ignored comments, TBB’s understanding of the chip’s influence and the lack of responsibility that accompanies mysteriously disappears when the show’s antagonist becomes the subject of conversation. This is seen most clearly in how Hunter tries to frame things during his talk with Crosshair:

“You tried to kill us. We didn’t have a choice.”

“Can’t you see that they’re using you? It’s that inhibitor chip in your head.”

“You really don’t get who we are, do you?”

Hunter mentions the chip, but he acts as if it’s Crosshair’s responsibility to overcome it: “Can’t you see…” Of course he can’t see, that’s the entire point of the chip, the thing he currently believes Crosshair still has stuck in his head. But Hunter and the others—with Omega as a wonderful exception—never seem to have accepted this like they did for Wrecker. When Crosshair “tried to kill us” it’s seen as a deliberate act that he chose, not something forced on him like with Wrecker. When Hunter talks about their ethics, he subconsciously separates the team from Crosshair: “You really don’t get who we are, do you?”, revealing a pretty ingrained divide between them. Even Wrecker gets in on the action, the one brother who truly understands how much the chip controls someone: “All that time, you didn’t even try to come back.” What part of he couldn’t try is not hitting home here? Again, for the purposes of this conversation it doesn’t matter whether Crosshair was chipped this whole time or not. The point is that TBB believed he was chipped… and yet still expected him to somehow, magically overcome that programming, writing him off when he failed to do that. He’s consistently held responsible for actions that they were told (and, through Wrecker, saw) were completely outside of his control. Even when we factor in his claim that the chip was removed, TBB has ignored all the evidence I listed at the start. No one, not even Omega, challenges this super vague and strange claim, or seeks out proof because they don’t want to believe that their brother could willingly do this. There’s just this... acceptance that of course Crosshair went bad. Why? Because he was an asshole sometimes? Taking it all as written, it doesn’t feel like the batch considered him a true part of the team. Certainly not like Wrecker or Hunter. As shown, the batch will go out of their way, risk anything, forgive anything, for them. They have a level of faith that was never shown to Crosshair. 

“Severe and unyielding,” Tech says and he’s absolutely right, but I’d seriously challenge this idea that any of the others would have automatically done better if the situations were reversed. It stood out to me that each batch member has a moment of doubt throughout the series, a brief glimpse into how they think the Empire isn’t that bad, at least when it comes to this particular thing. Basically, a moment that could lead to a very dangerous line of thinking without others to stomp it down. Wrecker announces that he’s happy working for whoever, provided they give him food and let him blow things up. Tech finds the chain codes to be an ingenious strategy and is clearly fascinated with their development. Hunter initially wants Omega to stay on Kamino, despite knowing that this Empire has already, systematically killed an entire group of people: the Jedi. Doesn’t matter. She’s still (supposedly) safer there than she would be running with the likes of them.

There’s absolutely no doubt that those three made the correct choice in defying the Empire, but I believe that their ability to make that choice is largely dependent on them having each other. They survive together, not apart, and it’s their unity that allows them to make the really hard calls, like setting out on their own and opposing such a formidable force. But if Tech’s chip had activated and he’d been left behind, would he have muscled through to escape somehow...or would he have gotten caught up in all the new technology the Empire offered him, succumbing to both his chip and the inevitability that if his squad no longer wanted him, why not stay? Would Wrecker have escaped, or been easily manipulated into a new life of exploding things? Would Hunter have been able to push through without his brothers, or would he have become devoted to a new team to lead? Obviously there’s no way to ever know, but it’s always easier to make the right decisions when you have support in doing so. Crosshair had no support. His team left him and yes, they had to in that specific moment, but the point is that they never came back. As far as we saw throughout the season, they never planned to come back. They all talk about loving the Crosshair who existed when life was easier, but they weren’t willing to fight for the Crosshair that most needed their help. When he says “You weren’t loyal to me,” he’s absolutely right. The same episode, “Return to Kamino,” gives Omega two powerful lines that the group rallies behind:

Omega: “[The danger] doesn’t matter. Saving Hunter is what matters.”

AZ: “You must leave.”

Omega: “Not without Hunter.”

The key word there is “Hunter.” Danger, stakes, risk, probability… none of that matters when Hunter needs help. Crosshair did not receive that same level of devotion.

Which creates a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. The group is upset that Crosshair isn’t rejoining them, but they fail to realize that he has no reason to trust them anymore. He’s not joining the Empire because he’s inherently evil and that’s that, end of discussion. He’s joining it because above all Crosshair wants a place to belong… and TBB has made it clear—unintentionally—that he does not belong with them. The horrible actions that Crosshair took under his own free will (theoretically) came after he realized that doing bad things while under the Empire’s control was, apparently, unforgivable. If it wasn’t, his team would have come back to rescue him. They could have at least tried. But they didn’t, so Crosshair is left with the conclusion that either what he did under the Empire’s control is something the group can’t forgive him for, or they can forgive that (like with Wrecker) and he’s the problem here. He’s the one not worth that effort.

“The Empire will be fazing out clones next,” Hunter says. To which Crosshair responds, “Not the ones that matter.”

He wants to matter to someone and events show he no longer matters to his brothers. So why not stay with the Empire? I mean, we as the audience ABSOLUTELY know why not. Self-doubt and feelings of isolation aren’t excuses for joining the Super Evil Organization. Crosshair, if he is under his own control, is still 100% in the wrong for supporting them, no matter his reasons. So it’s not an excuse, but rather an explanation of that very human, flawed, fallible thinking. He needs to be useful. He needs to be wanted. Crosshair is an absolute dick to the regs and I have no doubt that a lot of that stems from the harassment TBB has experienced from them (with a side of his inflated ego), but I’d bet it’s also due to Crosshair’s intense desire to be valuable to someone. He keeps pointing out the regs’ supposed deficiencies because it highlights his own usefulness. When Crosshair fails to find Hera, the Admiral says that soon he’ll get someone who can, looking straight at Howzer at the door. It makes Crosshair seethe because his entire identity is based on being useful, yet no one seems to need him anymore. TBB seems to no longer want him. The Empire no longer wants clones. Now even regs are considered a better option than him, the “superior” soldier. Everywhere Crosshair turns he’s getting the message that he’s not wanted, but he’ll keep fighting to at least be needed in some capacity, no matter how small. Even if that means overlooking all the horrors the Empire commits.

“All you’ll ever be to [the Empire] is a number,” Hunter says and he’s absolutely right. But to TBB recently, Crosshair hasn’t even been that. He’s been nothing. Nobody worth coming back for. To his mind, at least being a number is something.

I hope that all of this resolves itself into a conclusion that is kind to each side (preferably without a Vader-style death redemption), especially given the still ambiguous state of the chip, but from a writing standpoint I’m admittedly a bit wary. We’re obviously meant to believe that the batch all love each other, but as established throughout this entirely too long post, this season did a terrible job imo of proving that they love Crosshair. Or, at least, proving that they love him as much as the others. If this was really meant to be just a matter of miscommunication, with Crosshair making terrible life choices because he only thinks he was abandoned, then we as the audience would have seen the batch trying and failing to get him out. Or at least establishing a very good reason why they couldn’t take that risk, hopefully with entirely different side-missions so the audience isn’t constantly going, “So you can risk everything for Gregor... but not Crosshair?” I’m VERY glad that Crosshair was allowed to air his grievances to the extent he did, but the end result of that—Hunter continually denying this, Omega walking away from him in their rooms, neither Tech nor Wrecker actually sticking up for him and acknowledging the chip’s influence during at least some of all this—is making things feel rather one-sided. It’s like we’re meant to take Crosshair at his word and accept that he’s this garden-variety antagonist who joins the Empire because yay being on the winning side… despite all these complications that clearly have a huge impact on how we read the situation. It doesn’t help that the show has already embraced an inconsistent manner of portraying chipped-clones. We know every clone has one, we know only a couple clones are aware of the chip’s existence (and can thus try to get it out), we know they enter a “Good soldiers follow orders” mindlessness once activated… yet towards the end we see a lot of side character clones thinking for themselves. Howzer decides that he’s no longer loyal to the Empire, giving a speech where a couple other clones throw down their weapons too. Gregor was arrested because he likewise realized how wrong this all was. But how is that possible? Do the chips completely control the clones, or not? Are these clones somehow exceptions? Are the chips beginning to fail? All of that has a bearing on how we read Crosshair—what were his own decisions, how much he was capable of overcoming the chip, whether that changed at all during certain points—but right now that remains really unclear.

It’s details like that which make me wonder if all these other questions will be answered. Will the story resolve all those ambiguous moments surrounding the chip, or brush them off with the belief that we should have just taken Crosshair at his equally ambiguous word? Will the story acknowledge Crosshair’s points through someone other than Crosshair, allowing it to exist as a legitimate criticism, rather than the presumed excuses of an antagonist? I’m… not sure. On the whole I’m very happy with TBB’s writing—despite what all this might imply lol. Until my brain picks over the season and discovers something else, my only other gripe is not allowing Omega to form a solid bond with Tech and Echo, instead putting all the focus on big brother!Wrecker and dad!Hunter. I think it’s a solid show that does a lot right, but I’m worried that, unless there’s a brilliant answer to all these questions and an intent to unpack both sides of the Hunter vs. Crosshair debate with respect—not just falling back on, “Well, Crosshair is with the Empire so everything he says is automatically bad and wrong” take—we’ve just gotten the setup for a somewhat messy, ethical story. For anyone here who also reads my RWBY metas, I’m pretty sure you’re not at all surprised that I’m invested in going, “Hey, you had one of the heroes suddenly become/join a dictatorship and do a lot of horrific things, but within a pretty complicated context. Can we please work through that carefully and with an acknowledgement of the nuance here, rather than throwing the ‘evil’ character to the proverbial wolves?”  

God knows TBB is leagues ahead of RWBY, but I hope things continue on in not just a good direction, but one that tackles the aspects of this situation that many fans—and Crosshair—have already pointed out. As much as I adore the cast—and I really, really do—it was discomforting to watch a found family show where 4/5th of that family so completely wrote off one of the members and crucially have, at least so far, refused to acknowledge that. I want complicated, flawed characters, but that’s only compelling when the storytelling admits to and grapples with those flaws. We have quite firmly established Crosshair’s flaws in Season One. I hope Season Two delves into the rest of the team’s too.

Aaaand with that meta-dump out of my system, I’m off to write TBB fic. Thanks for reading! :D

[meikuree]

pieck/yelena. a confrontation on the eve of yelena’s departure for paradis. T rating. angst & hurt/no comfort

A week before the naval convoy’s sendoff to Paradis, the top brass throw a feast for the soldiers. It is nothing overly grand— simply an affair where the soldiers can dine in some semblance of luxury and make small talk among themselves and their commanders. Marley’s unspoken way of compensating them, as it were, for sending them into the jaws of death. The top brass do not expect after all, based on historical evidence, for the mission to turn out with a high chance of success.

Then why send the convoy at all? Pieck muses as she surveys the occasion, leaning against a wall in an obscure corner. Quietly, because there's nothing she can say to anyone, not even Magath, to change the course of this ill-planned mission. Unsurprisingly, the higher-ups have firmly requisitioned her presence— and the others’— for this event, and the letter she had received upon her desk at dawn made it clear that their request was not a question. She and the others have been invited here but for the lingering pride of some higher-up whose brainchild the Warrior programme was, and who was still delusionally convinced that it could pay off. Marley likes to remind them that it can dictate their whereabouts and wheregoings. We’re but their docile lapdogs after all, she thinks.

Still, perhaps a modest feast like this can have its boons.

She’d extricated herself from the madding crowd a while ago. The food was decent, but she was done with it quickly-- which was just as well, because she’d decided it was better to leave more for the soldiers it was actually meant for. Porco had raised one eyebrow as she excused herself with a nondescript line about getting fresh air, but let it slide to stay with the familiarity of Colt and the others. Now he and Reiner are engaged in a game of maintaining as far a distance between them as possible. It’s only for the better, because any time one comes into close proximity of the other, Porco is bound to snap at Reiner.

She sips on a glass of velvet wine, feeling her Marleyan military jacket hang heavy on her frame. They had asked her to dress in slightly smarter attire than usual. This was what she had on hand. She manages to be relaxed wearing the too-stiff sleeves, still, with the practised ease of not giving one whit about functions like this. Usually the bemused observer, she ends up, and she is happier for it, to be the one telling the tales the next morning.

Tonight it also allows her to watch and wait. Patiently. 

She finally sees a tall shape approach her from the shadows as she trains her eyes on the floor. The looming silhouette eventually turns into a sharply-dressed woman, who stops right beside her and leans her shoulders upon the wall behind, slouching much more heavily than Pieck is.

“May I?” Yelena speaks up. 

Pieck turns to look at her. Yelena has a smile on her face-- one of the ones she uses for getting into people’s good graces and projecting friendliness. Expression neutral but eyes interested, Pieck nods.

“Not one for parties like this, I see,” Pieck says, more rhetorically than anything, though a hint of a smile plays on her lips.

“There’s better conversation to be found in quiet corners,” Yelena responds, in equal fashion with a wry sort of bemusement

“Hope you liked the food, at least.” 

Yelena gives a brusque nod that tells her it was unworthy of comment. Pieck continues watching the mix of nervous soldiers and hangers-on in the crowd.

“Your friends seem entertained tonight,” Pieck comments, as she notices one red-faced corporal begin to swagger towards a clueless Reiner to give him a drunken hug. He had never spoken one word to Reiner. She doesn’t wait to see how the encounter ends up.

“One last night of drunken revelry for them, or what's supposed to be it,” Yelena explains, “they want to make the best out of it.”

“Meanwhile you're here,” Pieck points out, “you seek different thrills, I suppose.”

The hall chosen for the feast is large and roomy, with high ceilings. Pieck and Yelena have the protection of its poor acoustics, and columns and shafts that cast shadows hiding them. What they say won’t be heard easily by others. 

“Just thinking this might be one of the last times we meet,” Yelena says calmly, as if she were reading out a tasklist. “And doesn't that make this a valuable window of opportunity?”

Pieck pauses, her fingertips tensing around the neck of her wineglass. She expected this to come up, but it’s still a delicate topic. She's still looking ahead, instead of directly at Yelena. Valuable opportunity for what, Yelena doesn't elaborate, but Pieck can guess. It’s common for them to talk this way, in insinuations and sentences left hanging to preserve mystery, always hyperaware of the possibility that someone is watching. They tend not to mention the incriminating and obvious, opting for ambiguity to give themselves plausible deniability. 

“Genuine question,” Pieck raises, a little hesitantly. But now that Yelena’s opened that box, there’s no point going back. “How’re you feeling about that?”

“The mission, or this little tête-à-tête?”

“Both,” Pieck states simply. 

“Do you want the diplomatic, or truthful answer?”

At this, Pieck turns her head just an imperceptible bit to take a glimpse of Yelena. Her expression is still calm, even mirthful. Almost as if she’s enjoying this game, and about to lead Pieck into a trap of her own design.

“Truthful,” Pieck chooses nonetheless, because to hell with a pretense of civility. Final chances, to lay it bare, and all that.

“I think this mission is foolish,” Yelena responds, “and I can't help but think about how you get some say in where you go, unlike those of us at the bottom.” 

“Yelena,” Pieck warns, but it’s too late. 

“I feel angry,” she continues, “because you get to live in the military’s lap of comfort as long as you follow orders, and you do so little to change the way things are because they’ve gotten so comfortable for you.” 

She stops there, and there's an electric moment when Pieck feels the unconscious gathering of her irritation seize her body. Yelena’s not wrong about the first bit, but the rest is sheer misunderstanding. She feels maligned. Yelena has said all this in an unnaturally even voice, which somehow aggravates her even more. She tries to bite down on her anger, nonetheless. She holds back from rising up to Yelena’s bait, for the time being.

“You don't get it.” Pieck says, quietly but ominously. “It’s not a privilege for us.”

“Elaborate, please,” Yelena asks. She’s ever the leader. Ever the dominator.

“We’re not doing any of this out of our own volition,” Pieck starts, “not following orders would put other people at risk. Our families are practically being held hostage.” The pretense of doublespeak is gone. They’re speaking frankly now.

Yelena scoffs, scorn showing through for the first time that night. “What do you know of being held hostage?” She peers down to move her head closer to Pieck’s. “Do you think others haven't gone through it? I certainly have.” 

A derisive glance is all Pieck gives in response. She knows Yelena is simply being provocative, as usual, and yet she cannot help but notice the chilling sincerity behind her words. “What do you know of what I'm doing to fight back? Are you privy to every little moment in my schedule? My thoughts?”

“Yet you've never told me any concrete plans for change. Your position is sustained by little more than moral righteousness. But the time for that was long over. We all need to start doing something.”

“And do you think I'm not aware of that?” Pieck bites out, on the verge of snapping at Yelena. She looks around, conscious of attention, and then talks in a fervent whisper next. “These things take time. You need to step carefully. You can't just rush into revolution because you're angry! Think of the Restorationists. Think of what happened to them.”

“I'm disappointed, not angry,” Yelena insists pedantically, “and my point is that you don't even have a plan or any vision for how change might happen when you're in the best position--”

“You should know, of all people, that I'm aware of how terrible this country is,” Pieck cuts in, disappointed and indignant now. “But I prefer to lay the foundation, to get on good terms with the right people and gather intel until there's enough information to have a plan. That's how I'm leveraging my position.”

“What time is there for that? That will take too long.”

“Then think yourself of another method,” Pieck says with finality, wanting to end the discussion. “Or find another person to warm your ideological bed.”

Some terse seconds pass between them, as Pieck looks cynically into the distance. She takes a deep breath and turns away from Yelena to calm herself. Finally, Yelena bursts into tart laughter. Pieck turns her head back surreptitiously at her.

“It’s alright,” Yelena says, now back to smiling, though with the slightest hint of melancholy, “I'll be gone on this mission soon, and out of your hair, right?”

The reminder cuts through to Pieck. She softens, just a little.

“Try to keep yourself alive,” she grits out. 

“Such charity,” Yelena responds sarcastically. 

“Let's not talk about things like that any more,” Pieck palms her face in weariness. “It’s for the better.”

Yelena’s expression tells her everything about the contempt she holds for Pieck in that moment, and the way she sees Pieck as someone unwilling to accept challenge. “Just remembered something a wise man once told me. ‘Agree to disagree, and the world stays the same.’” 

“But,” Yelena pauses, seeing irritation flare across Pieck’s face again, “agreed.” She leans down to press a kiss to Pieck’s crown, just quick enough a gesture that nobody else sees it, veiled as they are by the shade, and smiles, seemingly back to her old self.

A stoic expression is all Pieck weathers on her face. The lights from the chandelier dance in the glassware on the dining tables spread out around the hall, flickering before her eyes, but they do nothing for her; the world before her feels as if it has been plunged, metaphorically, into a sea of pensive darkness. Glumly, she thinks about what the others would have thought of the exchange that transpired between her and Yelena. She only feels more alone, thinking about how she’ll be the only one missing Yelena despite everything.

[hellzyeahwebwielingessays]

The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 28: AMJ #3.2

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As with issue #2 (and all future posts) I advise you to read the prior instalment as I’m not going to recap the first half of the issue again here.

Moving on, we finally get to meet these new crewmembers. They consist of:

H.E.R.B.I.E. 1.05, a version of the F4’s robot buddy

Screwball, a “… self-styled as a performance artist and the world's first live-blogging super-villain. She was an Internet personality and social-media attention monger to such an extent that she committed crimes on camera.”

And Master Matrix. He's a whole mess. Basically he is the world’s most powerful LMD, and a highly dangerous weapon. He views Spider-Man and Deadpool as his ‘fathers’ in a weird way.

Beck starts to justify the hires, but MJ says that if they believe in the project as she does and have earnest intentions then she’ll reserve judgement.

Screwball tells McKnight that she’s leaked some fake photos to mislead the Savage Six and buy them some time. With that McKnight is eager to get to work.

Let me be upfront about this, I know little about HERBIE or Master Matrix. I’m not an F4 expert and I never bothered with the Spidey/Deadpool ongoing. So I will admit that maybe I’m missing some important context here. My research on the Marvel.wiki didn’t yield any results on who HERBIE 1.05 is beyond him maybe being the regular version of HERBIE. And last I checked the regular HERBIE wasn’t a bad guy. Master Matrix in contrast seems to have been a morally ambiguous character initially but grew to be a good guy. He has a kill switch he willingly handed over to SHIELD just in case he ever went rogue.

So 2/3 of them are perfectly fine. I don’t even know how much MJ would know about HERBIE or Master Matrix. However, Screwball?

Screwball is a straight up criminal. Not an especially dangerous one granted, perhaps not even a D-lister. But a criminal nonetheless. MJ has seen her before, as she witnessed Superior Spider-Man assaulting her on TV in Superior Spider-Man v1 #6.

Realistically, given how horrified MJ was by the incident you’d imagine it’d stick in her mind. Additionally, given how Screwball is an attention monger and very into social media I’d imagine MJ would have some awareness of who she is. MJ herself is very up-to-date with the latest trends and would be plugged into modern pop culture and social media.

However, for the sake of argument let’s say MJ doesn’t remember Screwball at all. Let’s say she’s never heard of HERBIE or Master Matrix. Given how in the first issue she was taking note of the criminal and super powered crewmembers, wouldn’t she at least suspect these people might be shady? Wouldn’t she double-check somehow that they are legit? It all leads back to the same complaints I made between my coverage of issues #1-2. She’s not even checked that Beck is out and about legally for God’s sake!

What’s so much worse is that the story acknowledges  that these hires might be shady. Beck is concerned MJ will have reservations. MJ decides to reserve judgement.

This means she doesn’t fully trust them, that she acknowledges they might  be sketchy.

And her conditions for reserving judgment depend upon even shakier criteria.

How the Hell can she tell in this singular moment, when she’s barely spoken to any of them, that any of these people:

a)     ‘Believe’ in the movie like she does?

Or

b)     Have earnest intentions?

She’s not verified any of them are reformed or on probation. She’s got no idea what they are fully capable of or if they are on the run.

Once more she is engaging in blind faith. She is trusting the word of a super villain who’s entire skillset revolves around lying.

The final thing to take note of is the fact that the crew are actively avoiding the Savage Six; hence the new shithole location.

Um…why aren’t they just contacting the authorities or organizing protection for themselves?

SIX super villains just attacked them and want to do so again. That’s surely grounds to bring in the police or the West Coast Avengers or somebody.

Surely, MJ herself could arrange that.

Alright, maybe you could argue they want to avoid arousing suspicion because of their criminal crewmembers. But this leads back to the fact that MJ wouldn’t stand for criminals working on the movie and Beck wanted press attention for the movie anyway. In fact if a civilian like Diperna knows about the movie how do the press not? How could no one have noticed that there are super powered people and criminals working on the set?

Everyone should know that about the movie anyway, so why not bring in help from superheroes or the authorities for protection?

The answer lies in the fact that this story is incredibly half-baked and inconsistent.

I will also add that on a purely personal note I dislike 616 Screwball so just seeing her annoys me.

The next day filming has been delayed again because of bad weather. Mysterio decides they should shoot in the caves.

Filming inside some caves nearby an abandoned zoo whilst it’s raining. Seems like a health and safety nightmare doesn’t it?

If so then it’s yet more evidence of how vain and selfish Mysterio is.

Days later, we see some crewmembers intimidated by Screwball. Their conversation with her reveals she hacked someone’s private information and threatened them to deliver food to them.

MJ overhears this conversation and learns that, in order to evade the Savage Six, Screwball arranged an unmarked truck. MJ decides to solve the problem by contacting Peter and asking if he knows any teleporters in L.A.

Later, Cloak and Dagger show up and deliver food to the cast and crew.

*pinches bridge of nose again*

God, where to start with this?

So, Screwball has definitely committed a crime in the course of her role as production manager. Hacking someone’s cloud server is very much illegal and an invasion of their privacy.* Depending upon whether you believe her or the truck driver she might also have threatened the driver’s life.

Screwball admits to having done this and MJ over hears it. And yet MJ is still ‘reserving her judgment’? 

I guess earnest intentions+believing in a movie>>>>>>>>>>>harming people in Mj’s book right?...

...what the fuck Williams seriously…

But the stupidity goes another level when MJ contacts Peter so she can get super powered assistance.

Let me get this straight, MJ and Beck are on board with using superheroes to deliver food to them, but not as protection for actual super villains who want to hurt them?

And MJ in particular doesn’t feel she should let Peter or other heroes know about Mysterio or his criminal crewmembers. BUT she will still contact them for a far less serious reason?

Anyone still arguing that for MJ to ask for help would be reductive to her/female characters no longer has a leg to stand on. MJ just used super heroes to solve a problem for herself. Scratch that, she asked her super hero boyfriend to solve a problem for her. And by bringing in characters like Cloak, Dagger, HERBIE and Master Matrix AMJ has arguably invited the wider Marvel universe into the story too. At which point MJ has no end of options available to her to ensure Mysterio isn’t a danger. She just isn’t using them because Leah Williams Mary Jane is not the Mary Jane we’ve known and loved. She’s this weird facsimile with all her social skills and charm but none of her deeper moral convictions.

Finally, if Beck and MJ (hypothetically) aren’t getting protection because they have crooks on staff then why bring in super heroes at all? I admit we never see what crewmembers are in Cloak and Dagger’s line of sight, so arguably MJ asked the criminal crewmembers to scram. But a hint of that would’ve been nice.

As filming inside the cave proceeds we see the Spidey actor struggling with his lines. The scene depicts ‘Spidey’ saying ‘You’ve gone too far this time, Mysterio. Now it’s personal.’ Amidst a street full of injured/dead people.

Mallorie is playing one of the injured people.

First of all, Mallorie wasn’t an actor or extra earlier in the story. But I suppose it’s not uncommon for crewmembers to have small roles in movies and with a reduced cast it’s likely she was just filling in.

More problematically, the scene is clearly depicting the fact that Mysterio has hurt (even murdered) people in his past. He’s done stuff so bad that Spider-Man, a hero, has been personally enraged by his evil acts.

This is in the movie. It’s in the script. MJ read this. MJ is seeing this recreated.

This eviscerates  even the slightest remnant of deniability on MJ’s part. As I’ve argued in prior instalments, MJ SHOULD know Beck is a killer and a violent person. There was no denying that. But even if you were being wilfully ignorant or belligerently insisting only the events of this mini-series ‘counted’, the mini-series just spelled out for you that beck has seriously hurt people and that MJ knows  that.

But she is still allowing him to make his vanity project. She’s still letting him walk free. She’s still chummy with him. She’s still showing no sign at all that she’s going to make Beck face justice.

On the last pages the actor playing Spider-Man quits after a light falls nearby. This leaves Beck and MJ sad, wondering how they can finish the film without Spider-Man.

I have nothing to say about this beyond a heavy light falling inside a wet cave should’ve been an obvious health and safety concern.

So, that was Amazing Mary Jane #3, quite possibly the single worst issue of the entire series thus far.

Honestly, I’m going to soldier on through this series, but I’ve made my points.

There is no hope of fixing this series now.

Not because there couldn’t be a justifiable explanation (or several) that could address all the problems. But because it’s become plain to me that Williams will not provide them to us.

Williams frankly seems like someone who understands aspects of MJ as a character. She knows how to make those aspects shine.

But there are other aspects she so fundamentally doesn’t get that it debilitates any good she might’ve done.

And more poignantly, even within the context of the story she is telling she has been incredibly inconsistent and at times downright baffling.

She either needs a better editor or she might be someone who ultimately wasn’t a good fit for this character/story.

*It’s extra bad considering several years ago in real life there was a major news story about the private photos of celebrities being hacked, perhaps the most notorious example being Jennifer Lawrence. I’m like 99% sure Leah Williams heard about that because I  heard about that just from tumblr and I’m not someone who used to work in Hollywood nor do I work in the entertainment industry in any capacity.

P.S. How does Peter not know about the Savage Six?

Super villain attacks aren’t that common outside of New York city and the villains in question are predominantly associated with operating in NYC.

Three of them are very recurring enemies of his, one of which committed some very violent crimes during a traumatic recent event; the ‘Hunted’ storyline.

They attacked the set of another of his very recurrent enemies that his lover is working on.

None of this happened in a secluded location, it was all perfectly public.

So how on Earth does he not know about this? Why hasn’t he contacted MJ to ensure she’s okay? Why isn’t he riding down there to see if he can help her or trying to arrange his Avengers buddies to provide some protection?

The only answers are that MJ has lied about that again, Williams is mischaracterizing Peter indirectly or this story is badly written.

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[starwarsforcestuff]

10 for the star wars asks!!!

Thanks for the question! Question 10 is, “do you think the Jedi were right or wrong?”

Simply put, I do think they were right. Do I think they were perfect? No. Am I in the minority of people who believe this? I feel like it. I did a quick google search of that question to see what kind of responses are already out there in the world and the majority of results were overwhelmingly not in favor of the Jedi, even going as far as calling them the Saga’s true villains. Another reason I googled the question was that this is an extremely vague question, in what aspect are we talking about right and wrong. I will still try to break it down as specifically as possible. Go ahead and respond with more specific questions if you so choose!

Reason 1

One reason I wholly believe the Jedi are right and good is a quote from Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray.

“It matters which side we choose. Even if there will never be more light than darkness. Even if there can be no more joy in the galaxy than there is pain. For every action we undertake, for every word we speak, for every life we touch—it matters. I don’t turn toward the light because it means someday I’ll ‘win’ some sort of cosmic game. I turn toward it because it is the light.”- Qui-Gon Jinn

The Force will always create events that balance each other out and if we all remember that iconic Freddie Prinze Jr rant he backs that up. If anyone hasn’t seen that rant here is Star Wars Theory’s reaction to it. You don’t have to watch his commentary I just couldn’t find an undoctored version and Star Wars Theory bleeps out the many many F-bombs Prinze drops. 

“Luke’s skill doesn’t dictate whether he wins or loses. The Emperor doesn’t dictate whether he wins or loses. The Force dictates who wins or loses based on balance...[On the seduction of Anakin Skywalker] If the Emperor was the smartest dude in the universe and knows that the Force dictates this if he kills who he sees as a rival, Anakin, then he knows the Force is just going to f****** correct that. Because The Emperor knows this. These are George Lucas’ words, not mine...So the Emperor knows that. Instead of killing Anakin, what does he do? he seduces Anakin. To double the strength of the Dark Side. So what does the force do? It balances us. How? It gives us twins. Luke and Leia. Two and f****** two. Balance.” 

While it was lengthy, somewhat redundant, and had multiple f-bombs, Prinze Jr arguments make a clear point. If the force will always course-correct itself it begs the question of why even choose? If every good action will always be met with an action of mal intention why does it matter? This is the very question Qui-Gon answers in that quote. What is the answer? Because even if doing good gets you nowhere you are still doing good. Good is good. Turn to the light because it is the light. I like to believe every Jedi had this mentality but considering Qui-Gon was speaking to another Jedi I can’t say that every Jedi believed this. Regardless, we do know that with this statement and Freddie Prinze Jr’s comments that the Jedi are supposed to be proponents of the light side. That is reason number 1, and probably the biggest reason I support the Jedi.

Reason two  

Moral absolutism. There is the Light side and the Dark side. That is it. There is no in-between, a Jedi is either good or bad in which case they become a Sith. In Prinze Jr’s interview, he states, “There’s no such thing as a gray Jedi...There’s no gray! That’s pretend fan-fiction s***, which is cool but don’t try to canonize it because it doesn’t work and I’m never gonna buy it.” There are those, like Qui-Gon, who may interpret the code more loosely, but he is still a Jedi, not a “grey Jedi.” 

In contrast to the Jedi though, in an interview with Alexander Freed, author of Alphabet Squadron, Battlefront: Twilight Company, and Rogue One, states that while you do have people like the Jedi and The Emperor, there are plenty of people in the Star Wars universe that lead mundane lives not really fighting one way or the other. 

“It is a setting that has an absolute good and absolute evil...Yeah there is no moral ambiguity to Palpatine. Palpatine is a creature of pure darkness.” 

In this interview, he mentions that the characters of Alphabet Squadron need to decide where their moral compass lies when they do live somewhere in the middle. It almost seems contradictory though because I would argue that if you are basing this argument on the metaphor of a compass, everyone who fights for the light would be good and everyone who fights for the dark side is bad, there would be no in-between like a spectrum where you would have “grey” areas. That also tarnishes the reputation of defectors like Yrica Quell, Finn, Archex (From Phasma and Black Spire), Iden Versio, Del Meeko, Jannah and the rest of company 77 who defected from the First Order or The Empire in Quell’s case. Using the spectrum argument, the fact that they even belonged to the dark side would tarnish them, give them “negative points” and never fully allow them to be absolutely good. They will always be held back by their past.

Here is the full Star Wars Show and interview.

The interview starts at 3:05 and ends at 6:32. 

This is how we know The Empire was bad, The Imperials and the Sith are bad, The First Order was bad. They use the dark side and do unspeakable acts of horror even after the death of The Emperor with things like Operation Cinder. This is also how we know the Jedi are good and right. The Jedi fight against the dark side, they stand for truth and justice and peace. They may work outside the law, but I don’t see people having a problem with that when it comes to Batman or Superman or Captain America. The question though becomes do the means justify the end? I can’t answer that question because I think it should be situationally based i.e the destruction of the Death Star. The destruction killed thousands and thousands of people, but it could kill hundreds of millions more if not stopped. We know there was no other way, therefore I would argue that the means justified the end. 

Reason 3

At the end of the day, Star Wars is a children’s story. It is a children’s story based on Greek Mythology and archetypes. In those stories, it is clear who is good and right and who is bad and wrong. We are the ones who have contorted this basic story to the point where we have questions like this. Am I mad that we have? Not in the slightest! discussing and analyzing works are really fun to do, but it is my belief that we as a fanbase have taken it too far that we ask questions like are the Jedi right or wrong, was the Empire actually good, are the rebels justified or were they just terrorists? 

Not to deflect or belittle or suppress this question, but we know the Jedi are right because George Lucas says so. While I know a big criticism about my overall argument is “you can’t say the Jedi are right because they fight for the light and the Sith and the dark side are wrong,” all I have to ask is, if you have to justify genocide to prove your point (Order 66 and Operation Cinder) why in the world should I believe otherwise.

I am VERY open to FRIENDLY discussions about this. I even encourage more specific questions about the Jedi for better more in-depth answers if anyone is interested. Also, sorry I kind of rant in the middle about characters in general.

@fandom4fandom thank you very much for your ask! I hope you have a great day! May the Force Be With You!   

Sidebar: I just finished Alphabet Squadron and I enjoyed it. I love reading about things that happen between the fall of The Empire and the rise of The New Republic and this gave me that. Battlefront II was really cool for me because that was my introduction to Operation Cinder and you had to play through it and Alphabet Squadron is a direct continuation of the wreckage and result of Operation Cinder.

[tracey1302]

So it’s been a while... it’s taken a while...

As I begin to write this, I wonder if there’s anyone there to hear it.

Those who watched and loved Homeland as I did will know that there are a substantial number of people who have a) left the fandom b) chosen to bask in the glory of Season Four or c) are still in mourning over the loss of Peter Quinn and don’t quite know where that leaves them when it comes to Homeland.

I am somewhere between a) and c).

As many of you know, I was in China on a work trip when it happened. I can’t even remember whether it was the morning or the evening, but I remember going on WTH forums, sleepily scrolling through my phone and coming across a preview summary that read ‘Girls, Quinn dies about halfway through the episode.’ I felt a rock in my stomach, squinted at my phone, a nervous laugh stuck on a sob.

It was well over an hour before I sifted through enough posts on the forum to know that it wasn’t a joke.They had actually done it. They had actually killed off Peter Quinn. There was no hashtag PrayforQuinn. There was no ambiguity this time. There was no Carrie poised over his body. There was no mysterious ‘light’. There was just nothing.

There were some stunning interviews with RF, in which he, much like his hordes of distraught fans, tried to come to terms with what the fuck had just happened to his character, and more importantly, why it had happened.

I thought that these last few months would allow me some time to get closure on Season Six of Homeland. They haven’t. I remain utterly devastated that in one episode (which I will admit, I still haven’t even been able to watch) Alex Gansa and his motley crew have killed both my favourite character and my deep love for a show that was once intelligent, emotional, relevant, poignant and beautiful. Emphasis on the once.

Killing off Peter Quinn doesn’t make sense for three reasons for me.

1) It doesn’t make sense for Peter Quinn.

Throughout every season of Homeland, Quinn has endured more pain and suffering than perhaps any other character. Yet he has a heart of gold. More importantly, he spent the best part of his Homeland narrative head over heels in love with the female protagonist. It consumed him. It practically defined him. Most of his actions and his position in the plot centred around his relationship with Carrie. 

Due to the regular laws of story telling, we were under the impression that because he has a heart of gold, his suffering would be, to a certain extent, paid off. We thought that he would get some kind of closure, or happiness, or an end to his suffering. He deserved it more than any other character on the show.

When they ‘killed’ off his character at the end of Season Five, and then brought him back, I wasn’t in the slightest bit worried about Quinn surviving the Season Six finale. That’s why I basically laughed when news of his death filtered through. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t understand it. Why would the writers bring back a character, give him no emotional pay off, literally go nowhere with his story apart from pose more questions, and then kill him again? 

Why did I laugh? Because it’s laughably bad writing.

Peter Quinn’s character went nowhere this season.There was no emotional pay off. Instead, he lost one of the women he cared very deeply about, we uncovered sexual abuse in his past (which wasn’t explored either - I mean... what?). Yes, he died in service of his country, blah blah blah, but sorry after five seasons of investment in this character who was so much more than just a patriot, that’s not enough. It’s just not. 

That’s not to mention that Quinn really hated his job, and the work that they did for a great deal of his story on Homeland. He struggled against his own morality, with his feelings for Carrie, with his duty to Saul and to the agency, and through his loyalty and deep history with Dar. This makes his death even less satisfying than it would have been anyway.

I didn’t want him to die. But I definitely didn’t want him to die not getting any of the emotional closure that he deserved. He deserved to know that Carrie loved him. Even though her own work for the agency left her too emotionally stunted to actually say she loved him.

2) It didn’t make sense for Carrie Mathison

Maybe they did it because they didn’t want a romance. Maybe it was because they wanted to be ‘edgy’. Maybe they got well and truly caught up in Jon Snow syndrome but wanted to go the whole hog. But in my opinion, by killing off Quinn, they’ve also made Carrie’s future story exceptionally uninteresting. 

I’m not one of those people that needs a female protagonist to have a love interest. I was really quite happy that Buffy didn’t end up with anyone, for example. But in building and progressing Carrie’s story in Homeland, and particularly in her direction this season, her character was tied up in her complicated relationship with Quinn.

The romantic undertones to their relationship were always there, particularly from Quinn’s side, and we eventually got them from Carrie at the end of Season Four, and when Quinn was on death’s door at the end of Season Five. These romantic undertones were confirmed by the writers.

So, we go into Season Six, where Quinn is a lot (if not all) of the reason behind Carrie being where she is and doing what she’s doing. She is being rejected by him, time and time again, but she keeps going back, she stays with him. She is there for him, when he has no-one.

You saved me. Why? We never got an explicit answer to this question. We can guess. The ‘why’ scene is still so damned emotional and is the only scene in the whole season where these two actually communicate properly and barely anything is said.

Carrie’s relationship with Quinn, is as she describes, intense, and she values it very highly. She can’t lose him. Why? Because, as I’ve mentioned so many times before, Quinn is the only person that loves her unconditionally. He was the only person, and I stand by this, with whom she could have found happiness. He challenged her when she needed to be challenged, he comforted her when she needed comfort, he saved her when she needed saving.

‘There is no one who understands and accepts Carrie for exactly who she is, other than Quinn.’  Thank you, Meredith.

How can they possibly hope to continue Carrie’s character, Carrie’s journey through Homeland, without that person? The ultimate conclusion to Homeland should have been Carrie realising the value in that person (which she did) and telling him that she loved him (which she did), because recognising this was a massive part of her journey.

This makes Carrie’s story, from now on, very very unsatisfying. I’m just not interested in what she does anymore. Her character arc makes no sense. It has no possible end that I would be happy with.

3) It makes no sense for Homeland, as a whole.

They built this story, both the romance between Carrie and Quinn, and their separate character journeys. They’ve ended the romance, they’ve ended Quinn’s journey (and Carrie’s for me, as well) in the most unsatisfying way possible.

The first few episodes really showed a beautiful build up of the C/Q relationship. Quinn coming to terms with his disabilities, Carrie coming to terms with how she felt about him, and how she felt about him being in her house, with her daughter.

They did this, for no reason.

They built up this beautiful relationship between Quinn and Frannie... for no reason.

We’re getting to the stage where, as many have said, we are thinking that there is going to be some sort of love declaration, or sex. Or something. Something had to give.....

As we know, there were rewrites half way through Season Six. It shows. The whole direction of the show changes. 

Instead of including more intimate scenes between C/Q, we get distance, rejection and uncomfortable confrontations, mixed in with a few random hugs, and a truly stoic reaction from Carrie to Quinn’s eventual death. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t follow. It doesn’t work. 

They sacrificed the story they have crafted on the altar of political relevance. It’s bad writing and it’s going to be terrible for the show going forward. You can stomach a different plot or a different vibe for a show if they keep the character drama going. It worked for the first half of the season, it didn’t work for the second half of the season.  

I think Alex Gansa is going to be shocked to see that his show isn’t going to work without Rupert Friend. Rupert proved himself a sensational actor in Season Six.... he is Emmy worthy... without a doubt... and they sack him off the show? Yes, of course, that makes sense. Not.

Carrie has no one of her age, and on her level that she can interact with. Anyone else they put in the show will be a devastatingly poor Quinn substitute. Carrie, Saul and Dar can’t hold this show on their own. Again, not saying Carrie needs a love interest, but if she did have one, everyone would be looking at them and thinking, ‘You’re a poor man’s Quinn.’

Sorry this wasn’t as clear and eloquent as my usual posts, I didn’t plan it like I usually do these blog posts. I’m not quite sure if this will be my last post. Maybe it will be, maybe it won’t. But I had to try and get it off my chest, and hopefully let go, and move on.

But truth be told, even though it has felt good to talk about it, I still can’t understand it.

This was quite simply the worst writing decision I have ever seen on a television show. It was abrupt, it was senseless, and it was downright stupid. 

[oumakokichi]

Do you think the NDRV3 kids would have survived if they were in DR1 kids situation? As much as I like this change of MM I can't help but feel curious how would they play facing Junko.

Now this is a veryinteresting question. On the one hand, it’s very fun food for thoughtspecifically because ndrv3’s much more grey area of moral ambiguity and ofquestions that lie outside the debate of hope vs. despair might mean they couldactually cause some sort of upset if they were forced into the same situationas the Hope’s Peak characters.

On the other hand, this is something the game actually playswith itself in Chapter 5 and tries to lure the characters themselves intothinking, and—it’s true that by getting themselves too attached to the idea of “ideals”(where is Munakata in the background to shout “platitudes” at a time like this)they do blind themselves to much more realistic problems, like the truth, andhow their ideals and preconceptions are actually a hindrance when taken toextremes.

If we judge off of Chapter 5 alone, I can’t help but thinkthey might fare very badly. Earlier chapters, long before “hope and despair”were brought into it, showed that the characters definitely had some potentialfor thinking outside the box and avoiding the kind of “despair addiction” thatJunko herself lives to get others addicted to. But the moment they do startthinking in terms of “hope vs. despair” and put themselves on the same level asHope’s Peak Academy students is the moment they start to turn astray from thereal truth of things, and as we can see, that ended very badly, with Momota andOuma getting the worst of it.

It doesn’t help either that, while Tsumugi is certainly less infallible than Junko and definitely makes more mistakes, lies her way out ofthings more, and is unafraid of cheating, Junko is also certainly willing tocheat if it’ll get her what she wants.

Many people who I’ve seen criticizing ndrv3 seem to havethis sort of perfected hindsight vision of Junko as this “perfect mastermindwho never cheated or lied her way out of anything” and I honestly don’t understandwhere this idea came from, because Junko will absolutely interfere with thingsshe’s not supposed to or cheat, as long as it’s more amusing and more “despair-inducing”that way.

People who call the Chapter 1 trial with Kaede a “hack” inndrv3 seem to have forgotten that Junko was perfectly willing to go dress up ina mask and try to kill Naegi with a knife, and that when that failed shesabotaged her own dead sister’s body and tried to push either Naegi or Kirigirito take the fall, all because the two of them were getting in the way of hergame continuing and upsetting her predictions that “everyone” would despair inher killing game. She planted fake evidence to incriminate Kirigiri, tried tokill two people who hadn’t actually broken any rules in the killing game, andhad to be literally forced into a retrial, just as Tsumugi is forced into onefor Chapter 6 of ndrv3.

Even earlier than that, Junko was clearly willing to tamperwith actual crime scenes. In Chapter 4 of dr1, she sabotaged the entire case tolook like a more “conventional” suicide, forged a fake suicide note for Sakuraspecifically for the sake of getting Aoi to despair and try to get the wholegroup killed, and then threw a huge tantrum when everyone guessed the rightculprit in the end and executed an AI program “just because she could.” Evenher backstabbing Mukuro and killing her was technically a violation of herrules, because it was premeditated and had nothing to do with Mukuro’s “violenceagainst the headmaster,” and that’s exactly why she gets put on trial for “themurder of Mukuro Ikusaba” later on.

Junko definitely cheats, when she wants to. If people aren’tdespairing the way she wants them to and things are actually going outside ofher predictions for once, she will breakher own rules in order to force them to despair. She follows her own rules solong as it suits her, and that’s why she ultimately agrees to execute herselfaccording to the rules of her own trial—because it makes her despair, and she likes it. But I have no doubts whatsoever thatshe would absolutely cheat like hell if it seemed like the ndrv3 charactersinitially weren’t responsive to her attempts to make them despair.

Seeing Junko vs. Ouma would be…particularly interesting,because while I’ve talked at length about how Ouma is undeniably a person thatputs himself against the mastermind and loathes killing and murders to thepoint that he wants to upset their plans, it would be hard, perhaps impossible,for him to take down someone like Junko. Moreso when one particular qualityOuma definitely has that those like Kirigiri and Nanami do not isself-loathing.

Ouma’s hatred for himself and the things he’s willing to dois essential to his whole character, and it’s something Junko would know wasthere and would target. For most of ndrv3, Ouma is able to convince himself ofthe necessity of his plans and doesn’t ultimately falter until he stains hisown hands by having to get Miu and Gonta killed—because as long as he’s notkilling anyone, he’s able to justify that it’s okay to do and say otherhorrible things as long as it accomplishes the right results and gets thekilling game to end.

But Junko’s perception and analytical talent is literally superhuman,and goes above and beyond even what Ouma himself can predict or analyze. She’dknow his flaws, she’d know his similarities to people like herself andKamukura, and she would absolutely try to twist it and turn it against him andrub it in that he was “just as bad as she was.” Ouma would put up a pretty incrediblefight, I’m sure, but I feel like if it were a direct face-off between the twoof them, Junko would be pretty capable of breaking him and convincing him thathe was the bad guy, moreso considering he basically convinces himself of thisat the end of Chapter 4 in ndrv3 already.

As for the other characters, it’s interesting because Idefinitely don’t think someone like Saihara would ever have had the potentialto become a protagonist if the setting were like dr1, and if Junko was the mainantagonist and mastermind. Kaede, or even Kiibo, would be much more likely tostep up to the plate instead, because a detective like Saihara can never trulyshine in a game that calls for a “representative of hope” while Junko is playingfor Team Despair.

While I feel like Kaede would be the obvious choice to playa much more Naegi or even Komaru-like role of “cheerful girl whose mainstrength is her unending optimism,” I would actually love to see Kiibo vs.Junko too, because that would actually allow for very interesting, hugelydifferent potential from most of the other hope vs. despair set-ups we’ve seen.Kiibo by the end of ndrv3 is so pissed, and tired, and ready to literallyeliminate despair off the face of the entire planet even if it means takinghimself down in the process—in a way, he’s got the same sort of ideals abouthope as Munakata, but without turning on others or, well, without fucking up majorlythe way that Munakata did.

This of course begs the question as to who Junko would “bribe”to be her traitor, or assuming Kiibo is still a robot, if she would still usehim as a bargaining chip with the whole “Kiibo blows up if all the survivorsband together” trump card. Then again, the latter doesn’t even soundparticularly despair-inducing and might be cheating too much, even for Junko’sstandards, so I think she’d much rather have a traitor who was convinced bymore “traditional” methods of despair, i.e. blackmail and bribery, etc.

The best guess I can give is that the ndrv3 characters goingup against someone like Junko would seem to go surprisingly well at first,because they’d believe themselves to be “prepared” as students of Hope’s PeakAcademy. But the thing is that with hugely varied characters in the mix—like Ouma,who was never supposed to be someone “on the side of hope,” and who would knowthis and have this rubbed in his face by Junko, or even like Kiibo, whosewillingness to protect hope means eradicating despair at the cost of his ownlife—things wouldn’t necessarily play out the same way as dr1 or sdr2 wherethere’s at least 5 or 6 survivors every time and things end on a relativelyokay note.

Junko is someone who sees even the slightest, smallest gapof weakness and targets it and crushes it like a bug, and to her, the fact thatthe ndrv3 characters would seem so much less inclined to “hope or despair” atfirst is exactly what would make her want to push them all the more.

This was very fun to write about, and I’d really be interestedin seeing other people’s takes on it or even AUs and such! Thank you anon!