#it would've made sense to continue with this story line after the “mess” of season 2

[puddingcorals]

Rewatching Legend of Korra once more made me wish to see the equalist story continued

[wow-its-me]

so I caught up on the afterparty,,,,,,, I really thought I had figured it out,,,, but now I have no fucking clue

so lets run through our options again (while I did catch a couple of the "not the" clues idk who they relate to, and while I did see a few things that were clearly ciphers,,, i'm terrible at solving them, so this isn't taking those into account)

Grace - while I no longer have any idea who it is, I still know who its not, Grace didn't do it. It's too clear, she was the first suspect, and her story has been confirmed by multiple other witness testimonies. I also don't think she was int he room when Edger died, that she snuck out to be with Hannah. this does make her look more guilty,,, but still

Sebastian - Has a lot to gain, IF he was able to take over the company before they realized Edgar is dead. He's extremely suspicious, and is already lying about his childhood, family, and even accent. The theory that the connect 4 game was really over Roxana only adds to this. His motive also parallels jasper from season 1, who also made a cameo in his episode. But how would this effect the narrative? Both Aniq and Zoe are currently struggling with the idea that it could be someone they're close with. They have to learn to "not fuck the arsonist". Sebastian being the killer simply dosn't lead to a satisfying arc. I still think he must have had something to do with it though, even if he wasn't the one who pulled the metaphorical trigger. He wanted Edgar dead, and he wanted to walk free, with two ways to win. To be clear, I don't think he's the main guy, but he did at least know of and encourage the plan

Travis - I did not suspect Travis, AT ALL, before this episode, I simply didn't think he could pull it off, and with him trying the poison himself? there's no way that was all a show to prove his innocence. I currently agree with the theory that Edgars company was the one who scammed him out off all his money, it isn't unbelievable that he could've killed Edgar with some messed up vigilante intentions, to protect others, to prove that these rich assholes can't just get away with whatever they want. he snuck into the Afterparty, and continues to sick himself in the investigation, where he doesn't need to be. If he was the killer, why didn't he just leave after the crime was done? My theory is that he was planning to kill Edgar that morning, but when he got there he was already dead, which is why he was the first to the door.

Feng - I don't think its Feng, while he was struggling the whole night, financially it almost would've made more sense for him to want Edgar alive, he was also paying a kid to record him all night, which he probably wouldn't do if he was planning to kill someone? he does feed Edgar the bing, but the times don't line up for that to've been the poison.

Isabel - The cake. like Aniq stated in the episode, the times don't line up, and the lizard didn't eat it. If Edgar did put something in her cake it would probably be something easy that he had on hand, like Adderall. This in combination with the Adderall Grace gave him could've lead to an accidental overdose. I don't think this was all that was going on. Its a murder mystery, theres going to be a murderer.

Ulysses - He keeps getting involved where he isn't needed, he learned about the wedding very last minute, and knows nothing about the groom. If anything, I think we've all heard the theory that ulysses tried to poison Feng, but Edgar drank it. But if ulysses was really going to kill his brother, would he really do it at his Nice's (daughter's?????) wedding? Even though he the only one with a movie against Feng and presents himself as extreamly kind and easy going? I think the drink swap was a red herring.

Vivian - She's up to something,,,, right? she's the only one who refused to talk, which she probably wouldn't do unless she at least knew something. even if she is super cheap, the stealing the poisonous center pieces is sill pretty sus. But she doesn't have a motive, maybe she meant to poison Ulysses, but it got to Edgar? the would also work with Danner's fire and the lesson Aniq is learning about figuring out who the killer is, no matter who it is.

Hannah- Yeah. Hannah did it. I'm going with the multiple attempts thing. she worked with Sebastian to poison Edgar at the Afterparty, then left, and told grace when she visited her that night, so that they could be together. Grace still loves Hannah and wants her to get away with it. unless she didn't????? idk honestly idk anything

Zoe - I haven't ruled her out just yet. Similarly to how Yasper helped with the investigation in season 1. It would also take Danner's lesson to a whole new level, as she not just someone Aniq is close to, but someone the viewers have grown attached to, and don't even consider a suspect

in conclusion- laishfuagsfafgw/uFGKAUJGFKASFKUASFG.KASGFKASFGASFGSIFGKSAHSGDAAHDJAGDAJGD I GUESS WE'LL KNOW EVENTUALLY

[punkrock-writer]

Space Cowboy- part 2

Trying Not to Get Shot

Warnings- Swearing, Canon Typical Violence. Din pretends to be mean. 

Pairing- Din Djarin x F!OC

A/N- Hi! They finally meet in this chapter. Let me know what y'all think, I'm working on the 3rd chapter now and it will most likely be posted on AO3 first. Thanks for reading! 

Prologue Part 1 AO3 Wattpad

"Shit... fuck... fucking shit balls"

Sedona couldn't stop the string of curses that passed through her as she shifted her hands to fists on the metal floor in front of her. She tried to lean forward, taking some of the weight off her knees. Her eyes flew open. Everything that just happened suddenly rushing to her. Taking deep breaths she tries to get her bearings.  

She was somewhere much, much colder than Florida. There's was a slight hum in the air, she moved her head up wards. The sight nearly put her into shock.

This place was strangely familiar, it was all metal, with many doors and compartments. Boxes stacked against rounded walls, netting and other things her mind couldn't comprehend quite yet hung from the walls. Warm fluorescent lights lit up the space that she knew far too well.

This was the fucking Razor Crest.

Her mouth hung open as she swiveled her head to look behind her, wet hair hung limply in her face. There was another terrifying sight. The carbonite freezer, she took a large shuddering breath. Shifting her weight further forward, she prepared to move to sit on her ass when-

"Don't move."

That voice. Sedona knew that voice very well, it sent a shiver down her spine.

In that moment she knew, she was fucked.

"Who are you" "Please don't shoot me" They spoke at the same time, her words stumbled out broken in a desperate plea. His were strong and commanding.

"Turn around, slowly." The modulated voice was rough. She never thought it would ever breach her real ears, only used to hearing it through television speakers. She pressed her weight into her hands, swiveling slowly to meet the beskar man himself.

And he was so so much taller than her T.V made him appear. The metal gleamed in the artificial light, broad and threatening. With a blaster trained directly onto her head. She slowly shifted her weight back onto her legs, trying not to wince as the pain gripped her thighs again. Raising her arms above her head she finally looked into the visor, of the fucking Mandalorian.

It really did not help her situation that she knew exactly who was under the helmet.

"Who are you, how did you get on my ship." If she wasn't already hyperventilating out of fear she most likely would've turned into a puddle on the floor at the sound of the rough growl. But her fear instinct was beating down any kind of arousal with a broom stick, matching her pounding heart.

"I- I don't know, I'm not from here... I'm from Earth" she was a stuttering mess, her eyes darted around, she couldn't meet the T shaped visor, "please don't kill me, I don't know how I got here."

There was silence. Her hands shook above her head. The chill running down her spine intensified under his hard stare. She could tell he was observing her closely, sizing her up, making sure she wasn't a threat. Then it hit her. She knew this timeline well, she had re watched both seasons on Disney + multiple times, shamefully.

For the plot of course.

She needed to figure out exactly where they were in the series right now. Her heart raced faster, eyes roamed his armor, trying to guess what had just happened based on the wear and tear. It was the pure silver Beskar, so she knew he had turned in the child, but she wasn't sure if he'd gotten him back yet. Before she could ask, the blaster was suddenly much closer to her head.

"Are you here for the Child." She couldn't stop the breath of relief that whooshed out of her lungs. Thank GOD he has the child. But she still wasn't out of the woods yet, she had to somehow convince the most skeptical single father in the galaxy that he didn't have to kill her.

"No, no, I would protect the child with my life." The way he stiffened made her realize she probably didn't say the right thing. "Wait, please I j-just have to explain, I don't know how I got here but I'm from an alternate universe."

"You have 5 minutes." She understood of course, but having 5 minutes to argue her right to live was going to be difficult.

"I- I was in my hotel and now I'm here," she gulped scrambling for the right words, "I'm from Earth. Where I come from this galaxy is... a f-fictional universe, I-I have information I can give you. I know what's going to happen."

She quickly decided convincing him she could be useful was going to be her best bet. Making deals and trades seemed to be the way of life in the galaxy. She could sense his confusion, the way his shoulders dropped slightly; and if she hadn't been staring directly at the gun, she would've missed how he removed his finger from the trigger. Taking this as a positive she continued.

"I know, about the child, and the the mudhorn, and-and about Navarro. But I'm not a spy or hunter or anything, you-you're a character, and I know your story well." Her she licked her lips and swallowed. "I know your name, Di-"

"Don't!" The blaster was right between her eyes now as he shouted at her. She jumped, raising her arms straighter in the air.

"OKAY! Okay, you can cuff me, please don't freeze me in carbonite. I promise I can help you." She tried to swallow back the lump in her throat and blink away tears that burned her eyes. Rambling was what she resorted to as she lowered her hands in front of her, presenting them for space cuffs.

The Mandalorian sighed, though it sounded more like a growl. He cautiously stepped toward her, lowering his blaster and exchanging it for the cuffs that hung from his belt. They were heavy, and dragged her arms down to her lap. She looked up again to meet the visor. Aiming for where his eyes might be, she put on her best pleading face.

"You can search my bags, I don't have any weapons, and it's all from a different world" he now had the stance of an extremely grumpy dad. He stood wide, having had to step over her bags to put the cuffs on, his hands planted on his hips. With a huff he bent down to pick up her purse that was directly under him. He rifled through it, instantly pulling out 2 things she definitely forgot about.

In his gloved hands he held out her Swiss Army knife, and her pink taser. The way his helmet tilted was accusatory, one hand now holding her purse to his hip.

"Okay...those are weapons, but they're for self defense against earth men. I swear I forgot about them." She put her palms up, avoiding his gaze once again. All she heard was another sigh. She would've smiled if it weren't a life or death situation. She hated that she felt like she knew him, that she felt like she knew what he was thinking.

You don't know him at all you idiot.

"I have earth money, in the brown wallet, it'll show you I'm not from here" she was scrambling for anything that could be considered proof. His hand that held the taser and knife dug pack into the purse. Fishing out the old brown wallet. Dropping her purse to the ground he unzipped it, and observed the inside for a beat longer than she would've liked. He looked back to her, then flipped her wallet over. Her mouth fell open in shock, as an avalanche of bulky coins and rectangles fell out of the folds and into his out stretched hand.

Somehow, her genuine American dollars had turned into mysterious space money. Holding up a finger and trying to looking convincing, she spoke again,"Okay. I don't know how those got there, but you can keep them."

He let out another sigh, the hand holding the 'credits' fell to his belt, shoving them into one of the pouches. He stood straighter, she saw his chest rise to speak, but he never got that far. An erratic beeping sounded from the cockpit, and when she looked up to the ladder she could see the interior flashing red.

"Don't even think about moving" came his rough voice, pointing his blaster at her for emphasis, before turning quickly and climbing the ladder to the cockpit. She swore, just at the very edge before his broad frame crowded the entrance, she could see just a peek of a tiny green head, with some big ass ears.

She let out a soft sigh of her own, and moved to rest her head against the metal crate at her back. Searching her shell-shocked brain for any idea of what was going to happen next. She didn't know if this was before, or after Sorgan. Straining her ears to hear some kind of dialogue, she was surprised when the ship started to rock. Her cuffed hands flew out in front of her, trying to brace herself on the floor.

Something was whizzing past the ship, and it was just barely dodging them. Her heart sank, of course, the other bounty hunter.

"Hand over the child Mando" the voice was quiet, but she recognized it. It was all she could catch before the ship was shot, and she was sent skidding to the side. Finally her busted knees had some relief, but her shoulder that collided with the wall didn't fare well.

Another shot, and she was jolted forward, her hands unable to catch her, she jerked her face to the side at the last second. Unfortunately for Sedona, she was not able to catch Mando's warning. Suddenly she was airborne, and falling fast, as the ship did a tight barrel roll.

"FUCK SHIT" the shout tore threw her throat, she curled into a ball quickly. Her arms flew up to cradle her head, just in time to slam back down to the floor. The wind was knocked out of her chest, her shoulder and hip smacked painfully on the metal. If she wasn't bruised already, she was definitely now. Gasping for breath she tried to adjust herself into a more steady position. Fingers weakly grasped at the corner of a crate for some kind of stability. But the hold was loose and awkward, not really getting anything out of the position her hands were in.

"I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold" her throat filled with cotton at the line. Suddenly she remembered. She curled into herself, bending her arms to rest her hands behind her neck and pulling her knees to her chest. Bracing for impact.

But it was much more than her body could take.

The Razor Crest slammed to a stop. And she was rolling forward. It felt like she was flying again. With eyes open she could see her self careening straight for the metal ladder that lead to the cockpit. And right before her head slammed into the metal base she heard.

"That's my line"

And everything went black.

[ncisfranchise-source]

Let the good times roll one more time!

NCIS: New Orleans signed off after seven seasons with a finale that mostly wraps up some lingering threads. Special Agent Dwayne Pride (Scott Bakula) marries Rita Devereaux (Chelsea Field), with Dr. Loretta Wade (CCH Pounder) officiating. In attendance for the intimate ceremony are his team — Tammy Gregorio (Vanessa Ferlito), Hannah Khoury (Necar Zadegan), Sebastian Lund (Rob Kerkovich), Patton Plame (Daryl “Chill” Mitchell), and Quentin Carter (Charles Michael Davis) — and his family — mother Mena (Joanna Cassidy), brother Jimmy (Jason Alan Carvell), and son Connor (Drew Scheid).

And while Connor’s mother Sasha (Callie Thorne) plans to take him into witness protection with her, when she sees him having fun at the wedding, she instead skips out on the marshals … and leaves him to stay with his dad.

TV Insider caught up with executive producers Jan Nash and Christopher Silber to find out what would’ve happened next.

The series ends on a positive note. Was that always the plan for the end of Season 7 or did anything change after you learned you weren’t coming back?

Christopher Silber: We would’ve probably ended with a bit of a cliffhanger or at least an open-ended idea that there is more trouble to come for our characters. When we found out that this was going to be the series finale, it was Jan who felt like, “Let’s have it have a positive ending without it making it feel like it’s an ending for our character, just an ending for the series. They will continue even if we don’t get to see them on their adventures. But let’s give them a win, let’s end on a high note.”

Would it have been more of a cliffhanger than Sasha being followed? An additional mystery?

Jan Nash: Sasha being followed probably would have been the end. I think we would have done a lot of the same elements, but we would have ended telling a story in that episode that would have leaned in a little bit more to her being in danger and when she pulled away, she was being followed. We would have had a sense that Season 8 would have opened with either her having already been harmed or seeing her be harmed perhaps. That investigation would have defined the beginning of Season 8.

It’s also fitting that the series ends with the Second Line. So was that part of the plan for the series finale whenever it was going to happen?

Christopher Silber: Not to be overly optimistic, but we knew that there would be a series finale, but we never had a plan in the seven seasons I was on the show for how we would end it. It felt right in a moment, that’s for sure.

At the end of the series, the team’s all staying put professionally. Is this a team you imagine continuing to work together for years or do you see any of them moving on?

Silber: I would say that they would work together for a while, but you never know where they might end up and that isn’t meant to be coy.

You really did a deep dive into family with Pride in these final episodes and it’s been so wonderful to see him getting his time with his mom, marrying Rita, getting to know his brother over the years, and having those moments with the son he didn’t know about. So what did you want to do there this season?

Silber: We’ve done so much with the man and put him through his paces throughout the years. We’ve shot him. He had an overwrought relationship with his father who was a criminal. He had to witness his father die. What we wanted when we delved into a new chapter of his family was to show how he evolved, how he didn’t have to be surrounded by so much chaos. By connecting with Rita and finally finding some grounding there and spending more time with his mother and then introducing the son character, we really gave him a full spectrum. When we met Pride in the original crossover with NCIS, he was recently separated, heading into a divorce, his daughter was going to college, and here we can end with Pride remarried, with a son, so it’s really full circle for him.

It seems like we got to see the acceptance that Pride and Jimmy had for who their father was through their conversations with Connor about who Sasha is.

Silber: Absolutely. That was another thing. Not to get too heavy about it, but as we as adults reach the place where our parents were when we were kids, we look at them and say, “Look at how you’re messing up.” For Pride, it’s realizing that it can get complicated even with the best of intentions. For him and Jimmy, they recognize that. Even in dealing with Sasha, someone who tries to kill him multiple times, he was able to see that she also contained multitudes.

Did you accomplish everything you wanted with Pride and Rita’s wedding — the actual ceremony, the celebration, and the lead-up to it?

Silber: Under the circumstances, meaning the COVID of it all, meaning that we were given a little bit of lead time, which we were grateful for, to know that this was the series finale, I am extremely proud and satisfied with how we did it. If we had more lead time or if we thought we were going to keep going, maybe it would have been grander, but I think it was appropriate to the show for sure.

Nash: I’m not sure it would’ve been bigger. We’ve never talked about this, but I felt like the intimacy of it was really beautiful and that the Second Line was really celebratory, particularly to people in New Orleans, who did all of that because they had to move it around a lot because there were some storms coming in. They did a magnificent job.

One of the most pleasant surprises of this final season was how much I enjoyed Hannah and Carter’s developing relationship. What did you like about exploring that? Do you think they could make it work or might him staying weigh on them a bit?

Nash: It was clear to us when we put them together procedurally earlier after Charles joined the show, they had a real chemistry. We started talking about that earlier and then decided we were going to just let everybody else see what was happening almost more before they saw what was happening. We had set Carter up as being a character who did not put down roots. He was not somebody who is interested in making connections, particularly in his work environment. That gave us an opportunity to bring in his mother and let him explore some of the things that might have gotten him to the place where he was that kind of person. And it really just made, I think, the journey of Season 7 really compelling for both of them. I’m going to believe — because the show in my mind continues — that they are gonna make it work and they’re going to be charming and adorable and happy for a very long time.

Tammy found a home in New Orleans with and away from the team, which she never would have imagined when she first arrived. Where did you want to leave her?

Silber: For all of our characters, we wanted to see them grow and change and evolve — certainly with the team as their family, but also in finding their home and finding their roots in New Orleans. For Tammy, when she arrived, she was someone who was thinking about finding her way out and unsure about the team and to be able to see her finally mark her own territory, own who she is and own what she wants to be, that was special for us.

Sebastian’s had quite the professional journey these past seven seasons, but he hasn’t been lucky in love. Is that something you would have changed if you had more time to wrap up the series?

Silber: Oh, I think so. He was a great example for us in that when the show started, he was the lab rat. He was someone who you wouldn’t expect to scout in the field and to be able to take that character, show his growth in an arc over the series into a very confident field agent who still remained interesting and funny, the adjustment didn’t change his character. It just matured him. But yes, I think if we’d had more time, we were always talking about finding him love. It just didn’t work out for him, but I’m sure in the future he will find the right woman.

We really got to see just how much Loretta does, for the city and for the team in these episodes. What did you want to showcase with her this season?

Nash: Obviously CCH is such an amazing actress and such an amazing presence that we just felt like the things that we wanted to talk about were stories that could very much be told through her character. We just realized that not only would she be able to do the things she’s always done on this show so effectively but also to explore her emotional life in a way that allowed us to take advantage of all the many gifts that CCH has. When we started the season, we knew we were going to lean into that character and the gifts of that actor. At the end of the day, it was all we could have hoped for and more.

Can you say anything about what else you would have liked to have explored if there was another season?

Silber: Certainly we would have wanted to explore and we were excited about exploring Pride’s relationship with his son and digging deep into that and seeing what that means to discover that you have a son who is nearly fully grown and to try to build a relationship and try to build those ties. It would be challenging for sure. We thought that the young man who played Connor was fantastic and there was great chemistry with Pride and with Jimmy as well. As well as solve incredibly interesting and fun Navy crimes.

You have NCIS Hawai’i coming up. Is there any chance we’ll hear more about the New Orleans team on there or do you know for sure that you won’t address it?

Silber: Never say never. … I’ll be a hundred percent honest with you. We are happy for all crossovers. It’s fun. I was fortunate enough to be involved in the NOLA and mothership crossovers the couple of times we did it. I know the shows like it, the writers like it, the actors like it, and the audiences like it.

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

Okay... going on a bit of a Schneider x Avery rant for a little bit. I've been reading some of your old posts about them and honestly I really do think they're endgame. If the show were to continue, I think season 3 would've been the closest we ever see Schneider to the family, but I think Avery (bc she doesn't have that much character development) would pull him back to the outer circle for season 4. I don't think they would've brought her back for the finale if they weren't endgame.

(cont) Schneider just barely makes the cut for family in this show. I mean I love him, but the show is about Penelope and her family. If they made too much noise between Penelope’s best friend’s love interest, who has no connection with the rest of the family, it would distract from the main characters too much. Nikki, Schneider’s only other “love�� interest had a connection to both Penelope and Alex. But Avery’s there just for Schneider and I’m afraid it would stay that way.

hi anon!! i had to wait a while before answering this one because i knew i would need coherent thoughts and that hasn’t been working so well for me lately

you make two important points here, so i’ll start with the schneider side of it. i agree that s3 was the closest that we’ve ever seen schneider to the family, and that makes sense because honestly even as s3 progressed the storylines for everyone in the family, schneider kind of had the biggest, most consistent arc. (i think alex’s was the next biggest/most consistent. elena and pen and lydia’s stories were more episodic in s3 and sometimes connected more to previous season events than the preceding episodes.)

the showrunners/writers had been planning to address schneider’s sobriety for a while and talked a lot with the actor while they worked on it, and i think they handled it really well. but in my opinion, that all builds up to cementing schneider’s place in the family. not just pulling him into the circle, but making it clear that he belongs there–in a way they aren’t likely to go back on. 

we went from penelope shutting the door in his face in 1.13 when he’s telling her they’re like family, to elena joking about him NOT being family in s2 and him telling a comatose lydia that they’re his family while punctuating his grief with jokes…to the entire family rallying around him in 3.12 after they were all a bit more distant earlier in the season.

elena is the first member of the family to actually direct the word ‘love’ his way! penelope tries to make it clear that he’s important to her just as he is and that he needs to fight his addictions not just for his sake but because of her family, especially the kids! schneider interrupts his big romantic reunion with avery to focus on lydia officially claiming him as an alvarez!

this snippet of an interview todd grinnell gave after s3 mentions the tension between any future schneider would have with avery, and his ties to the family. i don’t know how much the plans for a potential s4 might have changed over time, but since we know the writers do discuss plot arcs with the actors in advance (or at least they have done so with todd before) i believe that when he said this, it was based off his awareness of what the writers were thinking. 

which means that avery could have been brought back to be a source of future conflict–and after schneider’s s3 declaration that ‘family is everything’ it’s not guaranteed that he would choose avery in that scenario. i could see him learning to balance and compromise, maybe, but schneider drifting out of the picture because of his love interest wouldn’t make sense for who he is–unless the actor was leaving the show maybe? i still wouldn’t find it very believable though.

i do agree that avery’s only connected to the show through schneider. that actually bugged me in s3, because they gave her so many little great moments in the beginning to establish who she was, and then she really never interacted with the family even when she was in scenes with them!! they either need to fully include her in s4 or keep her more separate; now that we’re more familiar with her, it won’t make sense at all for her to be in the apartment or at events and ignoring the rest of them most of the time. (unless that’s part of the plot, of course.) i think that avery won’t be likely to get much actual plot unless it starts to be about non-schneider things, like how she affects family members.

i honestly have no idea if schneider and avery are endgame or not. india is too adorable for me to be against it, despite my many objections to how avery was handled in s3 (so much potential after that meet-cute! i ranted in multiple essays about about it!). because the actors are married it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what the show does, letting schneider’s storylines going forward be more about him maturing and dealing with his first serious lasting relationship. 

i think that how long the show gets to continue existing will also have a lot to do with what turns out to be endgame–if it ends on its own terms in a few years, then we’ll know what their intended endgame was. but if it gets cancelled then i’ll always wonder what they might have been really aiming for.

the biggest thing that you and i seem to disagree about, though, anon, that probably affects how we see the avery stuff playing out, is schneider’s role on the show. you say that he just barely makes the cut for family, and i would argue (as i sort of started to, messily, above) that in fact it’s season 3 that doesn’t just confirm but yells that he’s completely family. 

in the first scene of the season, he comes in and tells the rest of them who their own dead relative is, and in his last scene, avery passes along the news of lydia’s official adoption of him. between all of that, the family sees him turn into someone else while he’s trying to please his father–and they see the relapsed alcoholic he’s never been in their presence before–and they commit even harder to making him feel loved and like he’s a part of them. 

along those same lines, i’d also argue that schneider is a ‘main character.’ not only just technically (because he’s been included in things like promo images for the show since s1, where leslie wasn’t) but in terms of the story. if he wasn’t a main character in seasons 1 and 2, he definitely became one in season 3, when two whole episodes were formed around his arc in addition to his usual mini stories alongside the family.

tl;dr i have no idea if avery is schneider’s endgame but he is an alvarez now and i’ll believe him choosing her over his family when i see it 

[sometimesrosy]

Part 1 I've yet to understand why bellarke shippers hate b*cho so much. Like, to me, the fact that it exists is the only proof I need to know that bellarke will get together. I mean if the writers really wanted to put an end to bellarke once and for all they would've picked raven, not echo, as a romantic partner for bellamy after the time-jump. Raven is a fan favorite, and she was already in a love triangle in which a guy chose Clarke over her.

Part 2 Plus, Raven and Bellamy were friends before the timejump and they had even slept together once. So they would've made much more sense than b*cho. But the writers knew that if they had done that, bellarke would've been off the table. So they went for b*cho instead.

I totally agree with you. B/R would have been a death knell for bellarke or a tragedy for raven. B/E is the perfect choice to push Bellarke into an acknowledged romantic relationship.  Notice, I don’t say “canon,” because I think Bellarke IS canon, in the way that Elizabeth and Darcy are the canon relationship in Pride and Prejudice even though they were not together or official until the very end of the book. 

And I think THAT is the difficulty fandom is having with B/E vs Bellarke. Because they are not looking at the story being told as a crafted work of art, intended to convey something intentional. Instead, they are looking at it more as a game in which one side wins and one side loses, like football. 

The narrative is a narrative that tells Bellarke’s long, arduous, tumultuous, complex journey towards being TOGETHER. (And together has been the theme since season 1, and it is represented IN CANON, as Clarke and Bellamy uniting.) Over the course of the show, being “together” has gotten more and more romantic every season, while holding off on giving the audience the resolution of kiss/confess/sex and I’m gonna add one more quality to that audience canon representation. Marriage. Because it is possible that marriage is on the table.

Why? BECAUSE the main story, the underlying story to the whole thing, is the Bellarke love story. And making B/E a canon relationship, and yet denying it development or story on screen, is a clear cut sign that Bellarke is a committed story. 

Why? 

Because B/E has been used as a COMPARE AND CONTRAST to Bellarke as a romance since the moment it became canon, when B/E being together was set up as a shock after watching Clarke alone and longing for Bellamy to come home. 5.01. B/E has ONLY had story that served to further OTHER storylines, Bellarke, the Blakes, Missions, wars, forgiveness. And if it focuses on either Bellamy or Echo, we have seen that neither Bellamy NOR Echo are getting what they need from the relationship.

You simply can’t tell a romance story without TELLING THE ROMANCE STORY. Therefore, B/E is a romantic obstacle to the romance story that IS being told. That is Bellamy and Clarke finding their way back to each other, now as a main plot line.

SO WHY do the bellarkers never seem to recognize B/E as a STANDARD romantic obstacle in the COMMON love triangle trope? This has always confused me because we get this story in fanfic all the time. I myself have written Echo as part of a love triangle and I did it before s5 too. Since s2, actually. So why are we ignoring the completely romantic trope of the love triangle and instead hating B/E so much? When it really isn’t so terrible a relationship, it’s just not the RIGHT one?

I have to go back to the football game analogy. 

They have teams. Bellarke vs B/E. Bellarke is THEIR team. B/E is the enemy. Any points the enemy gains is an assault on their their team. Therefore they hate B/E and they hate the fans of B/E. When B/E has the ball, that’s all they see. And they only count certain narrative evidence as points.

Now if they saw the story the way I look at it (and you too it seems) they would realize that certain things, like a forgiveness scene, “go save clarke,” the cinematography, cuts, music, constant b/e bickering, the jeaousy scene followed by the b/e fight scene, B’s grief, characters saying B cares more about C, The scenes with B and Josephine, bringing Clarke back with his love, even a b/e hug scene where his attention goes back to Clarke, and a final bellarke hug-- all these things add up to points in a Bellarke love story, and they overhwelm the B/E evidence of 5.01, Bellamy fighting for E against O, B/E goodbye scene, war comrades, “who knows forgiveness like us,” and bellamy saying he is forgetting the past (clarke we assume) when echo tells him, finally, about her family dying, and he seems to recommit to Echo... although it then switches to Clarke in danger and all his attention goes to Clarke from then on so I’m not sure we can count that. But that’s the thing. When you’re playing football with the story, you take things out of context, and for some reason, fandom seems to think that if you can convince others that a scene means nothing (Octavia’s “another traitor who you love”) then it doesn’t count. 

The way they count points in the shipwars is to find out who can make the most persuasive tweet/post about their ship. And if they can manage to make people doubt what they saw on screen by rewriting the story to fit their headcanon, then they win. 

Convincing people that what they see with their own eyes is a lie/delusion is actually called gaslighting. 

We see Bellarke happening on screen, but certain antis convince us we are delusional, or being baited, or things like narrative structure, cinematography, themes are made up things that don’t exist. 

Some people believe the gaslighting. They’d rather have a fanwar or believe that JR hates them personally, and have someone to be angry at than... idk... enjoy a show that did not go in the predictable direction they thought it would?

They hate B/E because of the points (kiss/confess/sex.) Because of the shipwars. Because some people try to gaslight us and this makes them angry and they take it out on a character? Because they’re afraid to allow B/E to be valid because of those antis who say it’s real and endgame. IDK. I think that B/E can be both valid and NOT endgame. Maybe because being outraged is the way they fangirl. And so they need to be FURIOUS at someone in order to work up the passion they want to feel, in order to feel like they are part of the in group, someone has to be in the outgroup. (You can actually WATCH as some fans, when their previous enemy (CL? CL fans? remember them?) is vanquished, have to search around for a new enemy. Sometimes they pick another fan (some people picked me as their enemy as soon as CLs went away even though I refused to play,) sometimes they pick the writers, sometimes they pick another character or ship. These are the ones I call antis. They are not so much fans OF a thing they love, but a group of people defined by who and what they hate. The thing that ended my commitment to fandom was when the bellarke fans decided BELLARKE was the thing they hated. I just couldn’t deal with that, as they decided that their headcanon was the REAL bellarke, and what we saw on screen was a betrayal. Me. I liked the story. Still do. And like it better than the headcanons at this point which tend to be more simplistic and trite.

It’s all a mess, frankly. And because there are so many different perspectives on the show and fandom, it’s probably best to not look for ONE answer. There are different subcultures within the fandom culture, after all, and within that, different people have different experiences and responses.

In order to understand how the fans are reacting to the story we have to understand the culture and psychology of fandom, and that is rather complex. And different for many people. I like to understand why people think what they thing, but in the end, I just have to stick to the text and continue to analyze canon without being influenced by fandom which seems to me to often be to WAY off base.