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noknowshame · 3 years ago

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Hi, you may have noticed me spam liking your posts lol. I have a genuine question as someone who watched ofmd then black sails (and basically has no knowledge of historical or fictional pirates): what IS the lens that first time black sails watchers should have? Because of early season one, i cynically started seeing it as a misogyny fuelled Action drama. and yea i liked the other seasons better but that view of it kind of stayed for me. So i think i subconsciously interpreted a lot of the story choices as being made in bad faith. And i can't really get all the talk about the themes in the story, i didn't notice a lot of them. Do you have any advice on how to flip that switch like a different way to read the story lol i really want to Get this show.

Hi anon!

"What is the lens that first time Black Sails watchers should have" is a great question – and a complex one to answer. I know for a fact that you are not the only person who didn't vibe with it the first time (several of the persons in question now being some of its biggest fans). I have several pieces of advice for "getting it" (buckle in).

1: As you note, season one is quite different from the rest. It is a "product of its time" so to speak, that time being the height of Game of Thrones' popularity. That is the audience it was trying to draw in, and you can tell (I like to call this "straightbaiting"). Its criticisms are definitely warranted, but I would encourage you when (if) you rewatch to pay attention to how the expectations you draw from season one play into later seasons. Season one is all about theatre – the theatre of piracy. Sex. Violence. Action. But that's what it is, theatre. Notice how later seasons subvert expectations and drop the facade of the first few episodes.

2: As for the misogyny you mention. Yes, I agree that the first season makes some choices with its female characters that I would not. However, I caution against keeping such a skeptical attitude as the show goes on, because Black Sails contains and develops more female main characters than many of its contemporaries (and largely queer female characters as well!). None of them are there for set dressing or fan service. They are active agents integral to the plot. The role that women should/shouldn't play is one of the themes of "theatre" that continues through the show, like Eleanor playing the role of Mrs. Rogers (a choice that comes with great sacrifice).

3: If you follow my blog, there is absolutely no way you haven't come across the concept of "The Narrative". Black Sails is a story and knows it. Its basis on both history and fiction (and everything in between) imbues it with a ton of complexity, especially when it comes to inevitability (Treasure Island has to happen, the pirates can't win the war, etc.) Some of the themes you are having trouble seeing might become clearer when you don't suspend your disbelief all the way. See it as a story. And if you want to make it more fun, see how the characters themselves see it as a story. Jack want a legacy above all else. Flint sees himself almost as a Homeric figure. Silver (unfortunately ironically) fears above all else being locked into the role of a single character. Etc etc. It's all very self-referential and that's why I love it.

4: Overall, Black Sails requires a lot of deliberate critical thinking. It's not meant for you to take things at face value. You aren't supposed to agree with everything that Flint or Eleanor or whoever does. You're not supposed to believe everything they say, or assume that they themselves understand the motivations behind their actions. It's not straightforward, and that's what makes it great: you can come away with so many different nuanced takeaways and interpretations. Ultimately, there isn't really one "right" lens to view it through at all.

Anyway, I hope something in all of this helps! Thank you for asking, I'm always happy to provide my opinions!

#i'm off to an event for the rest of the night but i wanted to answer this first!#love a good ask #black sails

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illuminated-in-darkness · 3 years ago

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I never really noticed the parallel between Miranda and Mr. Scott before. Maybe it’s an obvious one to black sails scholars but they both make plans behind Flint and Eleanor’s backs out of love to save them from trying to resist English rule. Ironically it actually gives Flint doubt and Eleanor confidence in the plan

omg okay so having just watched all of s1 with @starkblazer in the last 3 days, and ep.s V-VIII today, this is really on my mind (so thank you!!)

i guess to some extent I didn't consider the parallel on my rewatches bc of what we know of Mr Scott and the Maroons - so like he's protecting Nassau in order to protect his community first and foremost

but i do think there is some element of caring for Eleanor there too, and the parallel is there anyway because in s1 that's all we know.

So I think maybe the difference I noticed between Eleanor and Flint is that they've both had the world telling them they can't accomplish what they want for forever, but I think the main things might be their age and the way they see themselves in "civilisation"

Eleanor has probably gotten little to no approval from anyone her whole life, and so she doesn't give a fuck what anyone thinks of her because she knows there's no way to win that. Mr Scott's betrayal stings, but she's also been able to do so many things people said she never could, and so this is just another on that list. Plus, Mr Scott making decisions about her, for her, isn't that different from most of the other men in her life so she's somewhat used to dealing with it at least. And, because she's still young and for the most part it's implied Nassau has been growing and flourishing in the time leading up to s1, again she keeps having proof that she can do what other people say she can't.

Flint, on the other hand, we know worked so hard to gain approval and do all the right things as Admiral Hennessey's ward, rising in the ranks of the navy and behaving the way gentlemen were expected to, especially since he was not one. We know he cares so much what people think of him, and keeps trying to gain approval partly because he has "succeeded" in the past by doing the "right" things (in a way that I don't Eleanor ever did, so she came to terms with it sooner). Part of Flint needing approval is needing people to believe in him, especially because what he's doing is to try and prove civilisation (hennessey, alfred hamilton, etc.) wrong in order to be accepted by it. His whole exile and betrayal was in some ways a lack of belief in him, and so he has to complete (what he sees as) Thomas's plan, to prove that Thomas was right and that what happened to them all was unjust. (and I think also to prove to himself that Thomas’s belief in him wasn’t wrong) And, when we meet Flint in s1, he's already gone through a significant defeat in a way Eleanor has not. They had a plan for Nassau, he believed in it, and then everything was taken away from them, and now he has spent 10 years trying to enact that plan - he's exhausted, he's alone, and things aren't really going anywhere before he learns of the Urca. Plus, no one besides Miranda knows his story or why he's trying to do what he's doing. So when the people closest to him - Gates and Miranda - lose belief in him, it hurts so much more because of how much he needs that belief. And I think Flint definitely wasn't expecting this from Miranda, since she's basically the one person he could really rely on in Nassau. It hurts because it's unexpected and also because of the potentially deadly situation it put him in, and how it led to his fallout with Gates... Flint just has a lot more history and emotion wrapped up in his plan and the betrayal of it.

I guess to some extent I see Eleanor's relationship to the plan as being primarily about outcome in terms of Nassau's stability and profitability, whereas Flint's relationship to the plan is primarily about what the outcome says about him as a person, and about the injustice he's experienced.

I think I've gotten pretty rambly and I don't know if this makes a lot of sense, but it was really fun to think through this and work through some of my feelings about s1 this time around, so thanks for the ask!!

#black sails #prosciuttodreams #thanks again for this!!#james flint #captain flint #eleanor guthrie #mr scott #miranda barlow #ask #mine #VII #1.7 #V #VI #1.5 #1.6

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sapphicambitions · 5 years ago

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hey! hey! why do you hate the television format??

Ah yes, thank you for reminding me

I would like to state for the record before we begin that this is my personal reasons for not enjoying the format of television and not “why television is bad'' because im sure there's many people whose reasoning for liking TV is the same as my reasons for disliking them. please dont get mad at me if you disagree lmao

I feel like the short answer could be: “I have a degree in theatre and i prefer books”

But really i hate the fact that the story is subject to change via outside forces.

In a well written play or book, there is a beginning, middle and end. It is a complete story that has been well thought out and woven together. Every detail is important and makes sense dramaturgically. You have your characters and your plot and nothing about that changes. We’re taught in Theatre School (TM) that the playwright is the first artist, and everything goes back to the playwright’s words. The story cannot change because of outside forces and it will not change over time. Once a book has been published, it is done. And yeah in theatre, a play can be done by many people with multiple interpretations of the story but it always goes back to the playwright’s words as they are the first artist and it is about honoring those words. Yada yada. you get it.

TV is always subject to change. Actors leave because there was drama on set or because they have other projects to work on. Writers change and the tone of the show changes. Or they go to a different network and the show changes. You never know how long the show is actually going to go so it could be cancelled in the middle of an important plot they never got to wrap up or the show could extend past the original plot idea and the seasons get more and more ridiculous as they’re just trying to come up with shit to do so they can keep the show running.

Like supernatural, which went on for far too fucking long and just kept spitting out nonsense when they could have wrapped up in season five.

Like the Vampire Diaries, where the main fucking character Elena Gilbert left the show (which was ridiculous!!) or when her little brother Jeremy was just like written out of the show and then never talked about again like what the hell

Like Timeless, which got cancelled after two seasons and left so many loose ends (they had to like, beg for a movie to wrap everything up)

Like the Magicians, which just, like, sigh. Y’all know. I don’t want to get into it. Y’all know.

Hell, even Parks and Rec, with Ann and Chris leaving the show. If Parks and Rec had been a book Ann would have never left!!! Never!!!

Characters get pregnant because the actors who play them get pregnant and suddenly THAT’s the plot line of the season. (Wynonna Earp, Brooklyn 99, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Sex and The City, Bones, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Once Upon A Time, Charmed, The Vampire Diaries, Parks and Rec, Grey’s Anatomy, The X-Files, Yes I Looked Up This List To Prove My Point)

If an actor breaks their foot then the writers have to change the plot. Everything about the story is subject to change due to outside forces and that might be a selling point for some people but i do not vibe with it!!

And also, you’re watching the story unfold over the course of time and something could change halfway through the season and they abandon the really cool plot they were working on to suddenly set up a way for them to kill off the main character of the show. (okay apparently i do want to get into it with the magicians).

Like call me a snob but i like a concise arch! Something that the show is working towards, the story that they’re telling and the thesis of the show, and the end goal they’re working towards. I just honestly don’t like the “stories wrap up in one season and will we get another? Maybe? Okay yes we will so let’s come up with a new big bad for the characters to fight who’s got ideas” or like if you get seven seasons into a show and they’re like “And here’s my long lost sister that ive literally never mentioned before but we needed something exciting for the plot so here she is!” like i hate that shit. I know my old roommate loooooved when TV shows pulled twists like that so im not saying it’s bad writing im saying I personally hate this style of writing.

I just keep throwing in these disclaimers so no one gets pissy at me lmao

I think what caused me to realize and put a name to these feelings was watching the Schitt’s Creek Finale. I love Schitt’s Creek because it feels like one concise story. The characters all grow and develop and have an arch and at the natural conclusion of that arch, the story wrapped up. I loved that shit. It was a game changer for me. Any other show would have kept going and the tone of the show would have been totally different and frankly im glad they wrapped it up when they did and as they did. It was a perfect ending.

I haven’t really watched the Good Place but I’m told similar things about it.

Avatar the Last Airbender which we can all agree is the greatest show ever written had a clear plotline throughout the whole series and a goal they were working towards even if they did have side plots, it was all building up to one endgame. And it was stellar.

I also recently rewatched parks and rec which is one of my favorite shows of all time and i do truly love it but like the whole point of the show originally was that they were gonna build a park and there were times in the show that they just totally forgot about that goal to work on other storylines until they were like ANN’S LEAVING WE GOTTA BREAK GROUND. That’s annoying! And once parks and rec started getting really popular and making more money they were able to be like “let’s send them to england! France! DC! Scotland! San Francisco! Let’s bring in Michelle Obama and Joe Biden and John McCain and Madeleine Albright! Which like all of that was really cool and some of the best parts of the series but also just another example of how the show changed over time as they got more name recognition and money.

Also lmao i just had the thought that it doesn't really matter what community did because the point of that show was to be batshit and they succeeded spectacularly. What a good time. Just had to add that in there.

So yeah that’s why i hate the television format because everything is subject to change from the plot to the tone to the writing to the characters and a lot of times there isn’t a clear narrative arch as they’re just coming up with nonsense to keep the show going and i just don’t vibe with that.

So if i hate the television format why do i still watch it, you ask? You never shut about tv shows on your blog and yet here you are declaring that you hate them. What’s up with that. Well, the answer is simple. I have major FOMO. Also lmao quite honestly i just recently came to these conclusions and put words to these feelings during the quarantine so after 23 years of being pissy at tv shows all the time i honestly probably will watch less of it. I probably wont stop completely tho. Ive already said that im not gonna watch tv shows with queer characters until the show is over and its been confirmed for me that the show treats its queer characters and viewers with respect and dignity and i stand by that. (It’s the only reason why ive started to watch black sails.) im for sure never watching another cw show again. I have literally never finished a CW show because something has happened in it halfway through that pissed me off so much i never finished the series

So that’s my opinion does anyone also feel the same way? I feel like im crazy

#lesbianlaynie #laynie rose answers #laynie's essays #why i hate the television format

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inawickedlittletown · 5 years ago

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What motivates your character? What makes them who they are? Act the way they do and say the things they say? The consistency of those fundamental things that make up a character and that remain in spite of growth...that is a beautiful thing to behold. And for me, I think that’s why I love Black Sails and why all of my free time for about a week went to watching Black Sails and consuming the show like a marooned sailor dreaming of bread and cheese.

Before watching the show I knew that it concerned pirates and that Flint liked men. I’m glad I knew nothing more about it including the Thomas of it all (although it was easy to guess once we met him). The name John Silver was familiar to me from the moment I heard it, but I didn’t connect it to Treasure Island and I think I’m glad that I didn’t because that would have meant that I expected certain things to happen such as Silver losing his leg and the end of Flint in one way or another.

I’ll admit that the first few episodes were difficult to get through. In part because of how violent the very first scene is that it’s almost off putting. There’s also a lot of confusion and a lack of exposition. There’s no easy way to actually like the characters at first and there’s also just a lot going on to settle into this both historical and fictional world. Nonetheless, that first episode does a great job at set-up for the rest of the season and the series as a whole. Ultimately, it does a lot to put the stakes of the world and how this life and this world can only work due to the ruthlessness of the pirates, the violence, the anger, and the freedom from civilization that exists in a very tangible way that relies on a balance of power that can disappear at any time.

I could go on and on and on about each of the characters in this show because every single one is fleshed out and written so consistently well that there wouldn’t be an end to the praises I would write for each of them. So because Flint and Silver are my favorites those are the ones I want to discuss on this first initial post about my new obsession.

Captain Flint starts off as someone that is not well liked by his men and who doesn’t care about any of that. Instead, his motivation is the Urca de Lima, a treasure so grand that it would change everything for him and for the island. Eleanor asks him why he won’t just take it and run in episode two and this was the moment when I knew that Flint was going to be my favorite character. He answers that he wants peace and to walk so far inland that the sea could never bother him again by referencing Odysseus. This, I’m sure, is a sentiment that not many pirates share and indeed Captain Vane at the start of the series wouldn’t agree with a wish of a future like that. So to want that and to believe that it would be achievable to take Nassau and keep it free from English rule is this grand dream that for Flint means absolutely everything to the point where he would do and sacrifice anything to achieve it. At first, the viewer doesn’t realize the depth and importance of why Flint wants this.

Flint never changes his mind about this. It is his end goal, the one thing that keeps him going and that motivates his character. Motivation is such a big part of the show not just because it drives character from an external degree, but because it also informs the choices and decisions that are made despite how they impact everyone else. And this goes for every single character and why this show works so well. Everyone has an agenda and they are unwilling — most of the time — to drop it and change or allow themselves to be led in a different direction. Those agendas and the conflicts that arise when characters want opposing things, it’s what makes the plot drive forward in such a well weaved tale. And part of my love for how the series concludes is that Flint ends up allowing Silver’s decision to stand and control what happens to him.

In episode five, Silver says: “The moment I start making choices based on her decisions I’ve given her a hell of a lot more power in my life than I’m quite comfortable ceeding to a perfect stranger” to Eleanor about Max and it struck me during my re-watch that I had to pause the episode because while Silver is talking about Max, it applies to everyone on this show and how the loss of power and the loss of control on any plan or decision twists and changes by the disregard of those plans/decisions by another character.

Speaking of John Silver. John Silver is a cocky little shit from the moment we meet him. He’s smart and resourceful and opportunistic and self-preserving. He hides away during the attack on the ship he’s on and it’s obvious that he had no plan, but Silver is quick on his feet and right off the back we know that he is willing to do almost anything to keep himself alive. Can we blame him for that? Certainly not. So, he steals a piece of paper even when he knows nothing about it. All he knows is that it’s important and then he insinuates himself into Flint’s crew by claiming to be the cook.

The growth and change that Silver goes through over the course of the series is amazing writing because it is gradual and paced so well. After all, he stays for the gold and for the security that the gold will bring him, Silver winds up wanting to stay with Flint and with the crew. Silver’s changes are directly connected to the friendship and bond that forms between Silver and Flint and yet Silver never loses the qualities that we first meet him with and his motivation to stay alive is strong throughout so much so that in the end, he doesn’t want Flint’s war not just to protect himself but because he wants to keep those that he loves alive as well.

There is quite a tragedy to the show, from the tragic backstory of Flint’s that we learn in season two, to an end that while satisfying doesn’t actually allow the main characters to achieve what they’ve fought for and lost so much for. Yet, there is happiness there. There is the hope of Silver and Madi to get past everything that happened and there is of course Flint reuniting with Thomas. The treasure may have been lost to them and they may not have managed to liberate Nassau, but there is still so much beauty in the struggle and the growth and the end result.

This show is full of depth and layers, an ocean’s worth of things to analyze and discuss and have so many perspectives on. It is worth watching and rewatching and I’m just so excited to continue my rewatch and continue to pick up on all the things I missed the first time around.

#black sails #just a ramble because I love this show so much #black sails meta #captain flint #john silver #I want to write about the flinthamilton of it all but I think I will after I rewatch s2 #so few shows manage the level of characterization that black sails just nails #long post

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undeadmanbun · 6 years ago

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Hi @nanyallen13 ! Thanks so much for the asks and blog compliments and sorry for the delay in replying. To make it easier to reply in one post I’ve screenshot the asks and anyone reading will need to go from bottom to top (they’re numbered).

I’m so glad you got in touch, it’s really great to get other opinions and takes because the nature of our ship and theories (and people’s knee-jerk reactions to them) means we’re often in our own corner of fandom, so non-jonsa opinions and input is great to hear. I hope all the jonsa meta people see this, they’ll be please to hear you enjoy their posts. And your English is amazing btw!

We never, ever ask that anyone ships it, all we really are out here doing is saying to folks “look, look at this foreshadowing, look at this evidence! we’re not crazy like you say we are!” and mostly we get crickets or yelled at, so it’s really nice to hear from a "neutral” that you think it could happen. Ok, this might be a bit messy because I’m out of practice, but to answer your questions...

What did I think of Dany before season 7?

I agree with what you said, but I began to take issue with her a little ahead of season 7, maybe season 5. I was still thrilled when she left for Westeros in season 6 because this is what we’d been waiting for all this time, but season 7 really sealed the deal for her arc taking a darker trajectory. I didn’t have especially strong opinions on Dany after season 1, I actually found her non-Westerosi arc kind of uninteresting for a long while and cheered on her “badass” moments, but, in hindsight, I think that’s because on first/second/third viewing I hadn’t realised where this was going.

I think I started to question some of her actions in season 5, when she burns the guy using the dragons, when her dragons are out of control and burn the child, when the teacher tells her it’s not a black and white situation (I’m writing this quickly, haven’t gone back to check names etc) but didn’t think too much about it until she was on the doorstep of characters I care for. That’s when it really hit home. Suddenly she was a threat to the characters I love. I wasn’t convinced of her being a full blown antagonist for a long while, but I’m more and more convinced she is as time goes on. A recent rewatch solidified this for me because when you go back in looking for it it’s kind of obvious (season one is FULL of foreshadowing, it’s amazing).

And you’re right. Perfect hero Dany is absolutely not an interesting character, she’s bland, unrealistic. But beautiful, dangerous, complex, flawed villain origin story Dany? Well, she’s a different matter. Dangerous and unpredictable “dark!dany” is a far more interesting character, and one that will go down in the history of female characters. We’re getting to see how a Cersei comes to be, and that’s fascinating stuff.

The stans have sadly created some power fantasy projection of the character wherein they want her to not only get everything in the story, but to be everything all at once to them, and she simply cannot do/be that, she’ll be human, she’ll be flawed, she’ll fail, she’ll die (and I agree, definitely not in childbirth, which is a dreadful ending for her, she deserves much better).

What did I think of J*nerys before Jonsa/Season 7?

Hmmm, let’s just say nothing good lol. I started to take issue with Dany around season 5 and I also had finished reading the books around the same time so I expected the ship to sail in some form. It was the obvious ship, too obvious in my opinion. It seemed like the dreadful, predictable male hero + female hero ship that I expected from a lesser series. So I expected it, but my hope was that the likely Chekhov’s gun of all these sycophantic men surrounding her that want to serve and love her (which is terrible, tedious storytelling unless there’s a twist) would go off, and that it would be a Jon-shaped pistol hanging on the wall.

When season 6 happened I was blindsided. I never, ever expected to be here now loudly shipping Jon with his “sister” Sansa (bear in mind I shipped nothing in this show really, but was aware of Brienne and Jaime being a slow burn, it’s hard to miss). I obviously had a clue they could reunite because season 5 had Sansa escaping Ramsay and she knows where Jon is. But when they reunited I assumed it would be platonic and it just didn’t have the sister brother platonic vibe it should have had. Suddenly Jonsa was doing all these tropes and by episode 10 of season 6 I’d jumped on board as a fully fledged jonsa shipper, and then down the theory/book/show evidence rabbit hole I went for another 2.5 years (jesus fjfdjfhkdjf). So by the time season 7 came around I was convinced of another endgame that wasn’t J*nerys.

On the topic of season 7, I totally agree with you regarding Political Jon, and my hope is obviously that it’s true, but if it isn’t, well, I will be very frustrated with Jon (because I love that dumbass). Fortunately there’s a lot pointing towards it so I’m hopeful. If he’s legitimately in love then it’s just a truly awful love story and an insult to “the north remembers” narrative (and to Jon’s character).

As you said, it seems like it is very intentional on the part of the show runners that all of these things are happening at once. They’re not mutually exclusive theories, but they are incredibly complimentary. You have to believe that a lot of people are crazy to be able to rule this “theory dissent” out, and I just don’t believe we are as “delusional” as we’re accused of being.

So, in summary, I never expected a) dark!dany or b) jonsa, but much analysis later I’m convinced of both, there’s just too much evidence for these theories for me not to expect them in some form. Maybe me and everyone else here will look like clowns in a few weeks, but I’m quietly optimistic. And absolutely nothing in the promo season has convinced me otherwise, only 22 days to go!

#dark!dany #jonsa #anti-daenerys #just in case #it's not really anti

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thespacebetweenworlds · 6 years ago

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ya know... i GoT thoughts

This post is my summarized thoughts and feelings on episodes 4, 5 and 6 in season 8. I’m putting it in a read more because... long

In short: -Missandei in e4, why it’s stupid and what should have been done differently -Varys discourse -Cersei -Daenerys -morals? in MY game of thrones? -”magic who” said everyone at HBO -opinions on the end

Me @ game of thrones: Don't ever talk to me or my son ever again

At the end of episode 4 I was having serious flashbacks to Katniss' expression at the end of Catching Fire, and I was violently reminded that even though I did not like some of the things she did I am with Daenerys. And if she burns the entire world, I am with her.

So... episode 4. What a disaster.

I've been thinking of Missandei's death and that it could easily have been something better, something that impacts the last two episodes more than just another emotional blow at Daenerys. (Like Rhaegal was bad enough? Her son died? Why double the pain and take her best friend?) (Rhaegal owns my life and That Scene killed me and I’m not okay)

The plot could have easily been changed so that either Jaime or Brienne or both of them were on that ship with Tyrion, Grey Worm and Missandei. Really, they ended up going to King’s Landing anyway. And then, instead of Missandei, either Tyrion, or Jaime, or Brienne could have been captured and then killed at the end of the episode. Don’t look at me, it’s not like any of them did anything for the plot or the story later. And Tyrion telling Jon to kill Daenerys doesn’t count because it was stupid.

If it were Tyrion, standing chained on the city wall, we'd have Jaime standing next to Daenerys and in front of his sister. We’d have an emotional show down between them, the physical distance and the different sides they’re on can be a metaphor for their love life. OR if it were Jaime who was captured, we'd have a Jaime and Euron confrontation an episode earlier, and a Jaime and Cersei confrrontation, before Jaime dies in front of Tyrion by their sister's hand. Cruel, but hey, so was Missandei’s death. OR if it were Brienne, captured and chained, then Jaime and Cersei would stare into each others eyes all emotionally, and Brienne would die for love, and when Jaime and Cersei would meet in private an episode later, maybe it would be different.

Game of Thrones would have: a very emotional audience, very emotional characters AND an actual reason for Sansa and Arya to leave Winterfell (vengeance).

Game of Thrones would not have: killed off the only major black character, and given the white men another reason to think Daenerys is being "emotional" and therefore somehow unfit for the throne.

Now... Varys. What an idiot.

To understand my point, watch this video where Varys and Littlefinger discuss chaos. Littlefinger claims chaos to be a ladder, and the higher you climb the greater your power, while Varys calls chaos a gaping pit. Varys claims to acting “for the realm,” which is what he says in season 8 when justifying his betrayal. I think he’s afraid. I think that Varys only just noticed that he can’t influence Daenerys like he could all the kings he served before, and he sees chaos in Daenerys’s power, a gaping pit that he thinks will swallow his precious realm. Varys hasn’t realised that his idea of a realm is the wheel Dany wishes to break.

Like, Varys wasn't there when she went through flames, he wasn't there when she freed the slaves or united the khals. He wasn’t there when she locked her dragons underground when they killed a child, he wasn’t with her during her desperate attempts to bring peace.

And when did we forget that not only Unsollied and Dothraki followed Daenerys? She promised a home to those who followed her, warrior or not. She had many families following her ever since her dragons were born, and from all the cities she went through there were people who followed her. For a better world. Where are they when Daenerys goes to Westeros?

Moving on to the major bullshit in episode 5.

Or wait, first some sibling bonding. Jaime and Cersei. I suppose lots of people liked Jaime breaking up with Cersei, but I quite liked the fact that in the end he was at her side (I kinda expected him to stab Cersei the same way Jon stabs Daenerys later, but now I think they probably attempted to not be repetitive). I like that Tyrion helped him be there. Families are important to Westerosi culture. It’s sad that the Lannisers got more heartfelt sibling bonding than the Starks though (Alexa, play the Rains of Castamere).

Things get soupier. Both Cersei and Daenerys have three children that lived, and they’d do anything for them. Then throughout the season, we see Cersei standing around, looking badass, plotting the death of her enemies, all that. But that’s all she does, She’s painted as a villain, when she is only a woman who wants to rule.

Now the bullshit: Cersei is the villain in episodes 4 and 5, and then there’s a seamless change to Daenerys as the villain in episodes 5 and 6. And that’s fucked up. Other posts talk about the sexism (and racism, with Missandei killed for... shock value? tears? fuck knows) in this season better than I could.

The to Cersei’s disappointment nonexistent elephants in the room when discussing my favourite dragon lady is the moral question. The entirety of tumblr fandom likes to have their characters and storytelling labeled neatly as “good” or “irredeemably bad.” It’s one of those things and never both. But Game of Thrones doesn’t work like that, and if you think it does, please, please read the books, or rewatch everything.

Despite that, if you had one (1) functional brain cell, you’d know that Daenerys wouldn’t burn the entire city. She’s never kiiled innocent people on purpose. Why would she start now? But okay, she did that. About half of the other major players would have done the same. Maybe Robert Baratheon wouldn’t, but only because he was the rebel and he needed public opinion of him to be somehwat positive. Renly idk, but Stannis would have. To Margaery it probably wouldn’t occur, but both Littlefinger and Cersei wouldn’t hesitate, just as Cersei didn’t hesitate when blowing up the sept.

Game of Thrones has never been so much about good and evil, it has been about a bunch of people who want things. All of them did morally black things, but suddenly we have Jon, a character who wants to do the “right” thing? Ned Stark died for this kinda mindset. (Not to mention it’s out of character. Jon has always been Ned Stark’s son, but even Jon broke his oaths.)

And hell, that’s why the story works so well. There’s no moral initiative, no “good” or “bad,” and while yeah, the Night King and the Lord of Light drama is pretty dark/light storytelling (not to mention all the comparisons to the real world and climate change), that’s in the background. A subplot.

Because what we care about are the characters, the very real motivations they have, how they deal with life, how they get what they want, the fucking game of thrones. And there’s no good and evil people, there’s people, and you disagree with some of them. Just like Captain America and Ironman disagreed in Civil War, maybe a bit like T’Challa and Killmonger disagreed in Black Panther, and definitely like some people like cats and others like dogs.

(Vanilla vs. Chocolate discourse, anyone?)

Moving on to episode 6.

I cried a lot, and to be honest, I wanted both Jon and Tyrion to be dragon food. But okay, they’re both nice guys, I can deal with them being alive, and after all Jon’s ending with the wildlings is good for him. But.

Jon killing Daenerys is the stupidest thing ever. I get that it’s somehow like some Shakespearean Drama, and Daenerys is the tragic hero, but like??

Sometimes show writers have no idea who they’re writing and it shows. Because Jon loved Ygritte, and he wasn’t able to kill her when they were on opposite sides of a battlefield. And Jon loved Daenerys. ???????

Additionally, I’m not saying I hate all of what they did with the magic and the Lord of Light and the Night King, the Children of the Forest and Azor Ahai lore. But they didn’t do enough of it. There are so many lose threads on the magic in this series, I can’t. And it hurts, because it could have been so beautiful. Those scenes where Daenerys walks through fire and doesn’t die, those scenes beyond the wall with the three eyed raven, and the beautiful, majestetic, perfect dragons? They are what I love about A Song of Ice and Fire.

Last but not least, the end. Like, I have many opinions, and I’m not going to attempt to list all of them. Game of Thrones has many strong women characters, and I’d like to give another thought to Yara of House Greyjoy. Both she and Sansa deserved more. I love that Sansa became Queen in the North, but I hate that apparently she planned Daenerys’s downfall by telling Tyrion about Jon’s parents. Why can’t strong ladies be friends?

The end to such a successful story can’t please everyone, so if you feel like it you can join me and my son, Drogon, in a pile of blankets where we pretend GoT ended with episode 3 and it was simply too dark to see what exactly happened. Did Melisandre bring Viserion back from the dead? Did Bran do some cool magic? Did Missandei marry Grey Worm and sail home to Naath? Guess we’ll never know...

But seriously, the thing with the book was so cheesy and stupid what the fuck?? Can we rename the series to “The Rise and Fall of Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen”?

You know what I missed in season 8? The Stark siblings. They interacted like,, 2 times in 6 episodes. They were all finally united again, well, those who didn’t die, and then they part ways? Um? No?

@ game of thrones: don’t talk to me or my son, Drogon, ever again. You know what you did.

And I'm salty that Daenerys and Sansa aren't best friends. Like, enemies to lovers is fine but what about enemies to friends to lovers -

#game of thrones meta #asoiaf #daenerys is too good for westeros but that's a whole other post #daenerys targaryen #cersei lannister #got season 8 #drogon #missandei #jon snow #house stark #game of thrones #got #meta #long post #if you spot a typo please tell me #if you're gonna call Daenerys mad please just shut the fuck up and go away I don't care about your opinion #the night king deserved better

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bendthekneetobangtan · 6 years ago

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85 Questions

Rules: Answer these 85 questions about yourself and tag 20 people

I was tagged by @ditzymax to answer these - thanks love! 💗

Last:

Drink: Water

📱 Call: My manager

Text Message: The boyfriend

Song you listened to: moonchild by RM aka the most brilliant man in the universe

Time you 😢: Ummmm, it was probably over a sad animal video, like one of those dogs that undergo trauma and have really miraculous recoveries and get adopted by a loving family with a gigantic farm. I always cry at those 😭

Ever:

Dated someone twice: God no

😘 someone and regretted it: No?

Been cheated on: No? (also, does this count if you were technically dating around?)

Lost someone special: Yes

Gotten drunk and thrown up: Yes, fun fact - I cannot metabolize alcohol AT ALL. I basically have an alcohol allergy so I can’t drink. :’’‘) I’ve always felt I’ve missed out in life because of this.

In the last year, have you:

Made new friends: Yup

Fallen out of 💛: No

😂 until you 😢: Yes, I laugh all the time at my boyfriend who mixes up common sayings horrifically.

Found out someone was talking about you: No

Met someone who changed you: No

Found out who your friends are: No (I mean, I’ve been knowing who they are...?)

😘 someone on your Facebook friends list: Yes

General:

How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: Ummm, 95%. I have one or two who I’ve never met because they live in a different country altogether.

Do you have any pets: Yes, I have a 50-pound mutt! 🐕

Do you want to change your name: Yes and no. I’ve always hated my RL name because it is such an outdated, old lady’s name. But I don’t know what I’d want it to be!

What did you do for your last 🎂: I spent the day with my boyfriend and we ate at a crowded, trendy restaurant and wandered around an art museum.

What time did you wake up today: Just before 7am

What were you doing at midnight last night: Sleeping obvi

What is something you can’t wait for: The holidays so everyone at work can leave me tf alone 👍

What are you listening to right now: forever rain by RM

Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Yes, it’s a pretty generic name

Something that gets on your nerves: This happened a lot when I was on vacation recently - people who lack self-awareness and do not care that they are standing in your way. I live in a big city so we are used to the hustle and bustle and getting from point A to point B in seconds. I went to visit the national parks in Utah and people would constantly clog the hiking trails by just STANDING THERE instead of going to the side. The worst was when we would be standing on a steep, narrow path. I’m not trying to plummet to my death, y’all.

Most visited website: According to my browser...Tumblr

Hair color: Black as night (my natural color)

Long or short hair: I have short hair, but wish I could l have a long mane (I blame the girls from Blackpink 😔)

What do you like about yourself: I like to think I’m really good at drawing on eyeliner ✍️

Want any piercings: Maybe it’s because I’m approaching 30 (I’m a fucking dinosaur compared to you guys), but I kinda wish I had a funky piercing like a nose ring or something.

Blood type: B+

Nicknames: None really

Relationship status: in a long-term relationship (4+ years)

Zodiac sign: Leo

Pronouns: she/her

Favorite 📺 show: Game of Thrones (obvi my url), Breaking Bad, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Tattoos: I have none

Right or left handed: Righty

Ever had surgery: Yes, sort of. I got LASIK done and IT IS AMAZING, I TELL YA. I say sort of because I was awake throught the whole thing and didn’t have to go under for the procedure.

Piercings: Only my ear lobes

Sports: I have zero coordination to do sports, but I go to the gym regularly 🏋️

Dream Vacation: I really want to go to the Canadian Rockies 🏔️

Trainers: I have at least a dozen pairs of sneakers. I am so glad it’s acceptable to wear them everywhere now. I like my feet comfy.

Eating: I already ate dinner so I’m not eating anything?

Drinking: Water

I’m about to watch: Nothing cuz it’s almost my bedtime lol

Waiting for: Me to win the lottery? Idk

Want: To win the lottery...😂

Get married for: Namjoon, the only man I want to marry :’)

Career: The cynic in me thinks I might be stuck in this field a while. I would love to do something creative, like architecture and design. But that ship has probably sailed and I don’t want to go back to school! 🤷

Hugs or kisses: Both

👄 or eyes: Eyes

Shorter or taller: Is this asking about me or my partner? I guess taller. I’m only 5′4″ so it’d be kinda strange dating someone shorter than me.

Older or younger: Older. I think I’d have to at least be in my 30s before I consider dating someone a few years younger.

Nice arms or stomach: Arms

Hookup or relationship: Relationship

Troublemaker or hesitant: Hesistant

Have you ever:

😘 a stranger: No

Drank hard liquor: No

Lost glasses: Not permanently, I always found them in a random place in my home

Turned someone down: Yes

Sex on first date: No

Broken someone’s ❤️: Uhhh maybe? I turned a few people down and they seemed pretty upset, but we never actually DATED so hmmm

Had your 💔: Yes

Been arrested: No

😢 when someone died: Of course

Fallen for a friend: Definitely

Do you believe in:

Yourself: Yes and no

Miracles: No

💛 at first sight: No

😘 on the first date: Sure, why not?

Angels: Jeon Jungkook exists, does he not??! 😭😭

Other:

Best friend’s name: keeping this one private

Eye color: Brown

Favorite Movie: The only ones I can think of are movies that I can rewatch multiple times. Nostalgic too. So probably everything Disney? lol

Favorite actor: Probably because I listened to her audiobook recently, but I love Tina Fey so much. She’s super inspiring!

Favorite Food: Umm rice? It goes with literally everything

Extrovert or Introvert: introvert

Favorite flower: Anything yellow lol

Favorite Hello 🐈 characters: Does this mean Sanrio? I loved Pochacco when I was a kid

I can’t tag 20 people, but I’ll tag @luffles424 and @suga-kookiemonster if y’all wanna do it!

#tag games #mj rambles

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eidetictelekinetic · 6 years ago

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1, 25, 34

1.) Tell us about your WIP!: Uh… Which one? OK, let’s see, there’s the ASOIAF ones, the one where Aegon V disinherits all his sons and reinstates his nephew as heir which he’s just about to announce publicly, the one where Lysa married Stannis and now they’re about to reveal the Lannicest, and Iron and Silk keeps trucking on (I am not explaining that AU here, let’s just say it’s big, it’s been going since 2013).

And speaking of long-term relationships, my Tudors fic Standing Outside the Fire has been going since 2010, but I think I am finally reaching the end! Currently up, the end of Anne’s pregnancy and it’s a healthy… baby! (No, I’m not gonna tell you what she had!) Tudors daemon verse picks up in 1518, where a different historical pregnancy goes, um, differently.

On the subject of daemon AUs, the Black Sails one is stalling a bit again, but I’m not worried, it likes to do this to me. I just need to apply myself to my s3 rewatch. Trouble is, whenever I know I need to watch a thing, even if I like it, to do something, I never want to rewatch it. This is also hitting the Steve Rogers daemon fic.

Also I’m pretty sure there’s a Charmed AU in my future. One that encompasses both versions if I can make it happen. Or an original Charmed AU focused on Cole and a reboot daemon AU, who knows?

25.) What’s your worldbuilding process like: I tinker. I love worldbuilding, and these days at least I’m apt to make lists, talk it out with people (er, for people usually read Niamh and/or Cat, because they inevitably hear at least some of everything, though I do take certain things to larger chats or my blog). Mostly I just mentally tinker a lot, though. There’s research involved sometimes, and I enjoy that too.

34.) Unpopular writing thoughts/opinions: So many people on tumblr talk about writing like a chore! Or like this epic struggle! And I’m not saying it’s wrong or an invalid experience of being a writer or anything, but… I don’t know, writing is one of the things that lessens my stress, one of the things that feels like it comes naturally to me. I have literally had awful days light up because I had enough time to write one line, I feel more grounded, more me when I’ve had even that one line. I just don’t understand the whole “writing is such a struggle, such torture” even if it is half joking.

@beanarie

#tw: incest mention #i mean it's vague but i know it's a thing some people never want to see #tell me if a different tag is better?#beanarie

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pirateshelly · 7 years ago

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Something that occurred to me while rewatching black sails was how much woodes rogers backstory differentiates him from every other character, and makes it thematically very fitting that he would end up being the antagonist of the story.

Because over the course of the show we learn that every single protagonist has some defining experience that shapes their goals and actions throughout the series, and in the case of every single lead character (other than rogers), those experiences involve being in some way disempowered, knocked down, “put in their place” by the world/civilization.

Flint and Miranda lose Thomas and are forced to flee for their lives. And they are, at the time, able to do fuck all about it. They have no way of fighting back or getting any justice for what was done to them. At least no lawful “civilized” way. As a woman Miranda’s only influence was through Thomas. And as a lower class gay man, what measure of influence or social standing James had managed to to gain, spent his whole life working twice as hard for, was stripped away with just a few words. Civilization showed them both how easily they could go from respectable English citizens to a duplicitous backstabbing whore and a profane and loathsome monster.

Eleanor experiences her mothers murder during the raid on Nassau and immediately is abandoned by her father because he has no time for a daughter. She gets a lovely double lesson in a) how truly dangerous the world is for women and that b) as a woman she is easily set aside and dismissed.

Both Max and Madi were born slaves, their earliest childhood memories were literally of being someone else’s possession. And for Max add to that all of the shit that happens to her in season 1. She tries to do something to better her own life and gets knocked down in the most unimaginably horrible way for it.

There’s billy and his experience being press ganged because his parents fought for social change. There’s jacks experience with indentured servitude.

We don’t know silvers history, but we have, from the writers, the explanation that whatever happened to him it removed his ability to really be in control of his own narrative. Then of course he loses his leg, taking away the ability to be self reliant that defined the silver of seasons 1 and 2. He becomes the “one legged creature”, someone whose only chance at having a life with any respect or dignity is among a pirate crew.

Then we have rogers. He loses his brother in a battle. A battle in which he is in charge, with an opponent against whom he already had the upper hand. It’s not an attack against him personally, it’s a corned opponent retaliating. He still has all the power in the situation and immediately and brutally punishes everyone he deems responsible. Then he writes a book about it (leaving out the more grisly details) and becomes a celebrity, it opens all sorts of doors for him leading to him being handed the position of governor of Nassau. The sort of role someone like max had to fight the entire world every day of her life to achieve, and even then she could never be a visible leader in her own right. And it’s something woodes rogers is just… handed.

He really is the man to whom the world handed everything. And he never even seems to fucking realize it. When jack gives his amazing “you people…” speech rogers response is “you really think I’m that soft?”… like, no my dude, no one’s saying you’re soft, he’s saying you’re privileged. He tries again and again, with madi, with flint, to pull the whole “we’re not so different” schtick, and it never works. He understands loss and violence, but what he completely fails to understand is the experience every other character (to varying degrees) has had; being told by the world that, for reasons beyond their control or choice, they are less than. That should they try to challenge that, should they try to be seen and heard, try to have ambitions or freedom, civilization will respond swiftly and violently. He says that he’s doing exactly what Thomas hamilton tried to do but as flint points out, thomas was trying to bring about change whereas rogers only ever wanted to enforce the status quo.

Woops, that got much longer than intended… I just have a lot of unfavorable feelings about woodes rogers, okay!

#black sails #black sails meta #bs meta #long rambling thoughts

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illgiveyouahint · 4 years ago

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Hi there how are you doing? Im the cql anon if you remember me. Its been some time lol. Sry about that i took a break from fun stuff to study for an important exam. It was so exhausting but yeah now i have finally time to send you an ask haha. You probably dont have the memories as clearly in your head anymore since its been some time. Ah well my fault. I might have forgotten some of the stuff i wanted to ask u too. 1/2

Ok for one how did you like the whole show overall? What are your thoughts on the ending? Also the golden core reveal scene was so heartbreaking to me i cried so hard. What were your thoughts watching that one? Any other thoughts you had while watching that you remember? Hope its okay to just come back into your inbox after all that time. And have a good day dear :) ps i love the other shows you reblog a lot of these days. Ah such a treat seeing you on my dashboard ever time :D 2/2

OMG YOU'RE BACK!!!!!

HELLO HELLO HELLOO!!!

I missed you anon. Of course I remember you. I thought of you often as I was finishing and then starting a rewatch of the show.

I loved the show. I love fantasy genre but so often it's so bad that I don't actually watch it that often. But the way this show focused on all the different relationships and you got like fighting sequences but not too many and mystery murder case and war and betrayal and loyalty and what is good and what is evil and just all these great themes. I really really loved it. Also idk if I told it to you or someone else but it did remind me of Black Sails with some of these themes which is another show I adore.

As for the ending...well I'm honestly confused by it. Like the whole exposition from Jin Guangyao where he's explaining things etc. over like 2 whole episodes just left me hella confused and I still don't quite understand it all. But I absolutely LOVED the interaction between jc and wwx there. I literally rewatch that scene every couple of days when I think of it 'cause it's just so good and so satisfying. Also since the last time we spoke I started slowly rewatching and giffing the show and I suddenly feel all these feels for jc and like he wasn't really my favourite but now he kinda is 'cause he's just hurting so much and I feel for him. which also brings me to the scene in Lotus Pier where wen ning tells jc the truth about the golden core which is also so freaking good and also a scene that I rewatch often. I'm so glad wen ning did that 'cause I was really worried that no one would ever know why wwx is the way he is and also so glad that lwj was there to hear it. Also the reveal about jc getting his core crushed only because he was saving wwx? God, I love such a circling thematic ending. If he didn't save wwx then he would get his core crushed and then wwx would not have to give him his core but then if he didn't save him then wwx's core would be crushed and he'd be without the core anyway. How poetic is that!!

I also loved the Yuan/Lan Sizhui reveal that was so cute. I still haven't seen the sequel with him and wen ning but I want to. That also made me emotional. The way wen ning didn't really wanna reveal to lan sizhui who he really is to him but then of course lan sizhui/yuan is such a good baby boi who of course loves wen ning anyway and is not ashamed of his heritage. Just G.O.D. it's so good you know?

Hmm, I'm trying to think. Oh yeah, one more thing about the ending. It simply doesn't make sense to me that lwj and wwx would separate even for just a minute after everything that happened. I mean the last like couple of episodes/ever since wwx resurrected they were GLUED to each other. They were so synchronised and did everything together. Like you cannot tell me that after all that wwx would just go toodle-oo see you later alligator and just fucking left lwj's side???? Like nah-ah no way there is no way that that's plausible.

NHS is still my favourite purely for the comedic gold. Even though he is a snake kinda. But still I cannot not love him you know?

Idk there's probably more but I can't think of it right now. Also, this is turning into rambling again.

Anyway, I'm so glad you returned my dear anon. And thank you for all those nice words you said. I don't deserve them but they're appreciated 💛

Take care 💛💛💛

#cql anon #Anonymous #ask #I love talking to people

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oscarlovesthesea · 7 years ago

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Hey! Let me just start off by saying I'm very glad I found your blog and a fellow Dirk Gently lover. Its an amazing show. I saw your previous post about last nights episode and I just wanted to know; do you think that Broztly is going to become canon? Because I really want it to. A lot of people in the show have acknowledged that they thought something was up between them in every single episode so far this season. Do you think that its just a running joke or Max foreshadowing something?

First of all hi, nice to meet you! I love Dirk Gently so much, it’s such a brilliant show and literally all the characters are my children (except Priest, he can choke. And after last night’s episode Friedkin is in probation, let’s see how he does.)

To answer your question… honestly, I have no idea? The whole thing is a bit complicated and I’ve been in fandoms for way too long to actually give you a clear cut answer… okay, I’ll try to explain my thoughts properly under the cut:

So, the thing is, I would *love* for Brotzly to become canon. Also, I think it would make sense from a narrative point of view, because it seems to me like Dirk and Todd’s friendship is developing always more deeply, to the point that it feels like it could become something more. As you’ve mentioned already, the fact that characters have actually acknowledged it is meaningful because in Dirk Gently everything happens for a reason, and in this way they’ve really put a big sparkling sign that says “YO, TODD AND DIRK MIGHT BE GAY”. Also, once again, those two scenes I was shouting about earlier seemed particularly important to me: in the first one, Farah literally reminded us that we have literally no reason to believe that Todd and/or Dirk are straight, and the second one just… felt a lot like flirting to me? Because first you get Todd giving Dirk a speech that parallel one that Dirk had given Todd on one of their very first meetings, but this time in very different circumstances (they’re very close to each other now, and if the first season resulted into them becoming close friends, I can imagine this one ending with them becoming lovers as a sort of, natural progression?) and then there is that accent bit, which is so soft and pure, oh my god. but to be a bit more serious, I rewatched it a few times to understand what, exactly, had given me such a strong “they’re being interrupted” vibe and I’vecome to the conclusion that the way the whole scene is set gives you thatimpression: lights are dimmed, which implies an intimate moment, and the shotis really close to Dirk and Todd, so that you can hardly see anything else, andwhile Dirk says “no, I love it”, you can actually see him starting to lean veryslightly towards Todd – and then Tina (who in the episode has alreadyacknowledged the fact that there’s a “vibe”between then) comes in and the camera abruptly pans out, and at the same timeyou see Dirk leaning back with his shoulders a little bit. The whole thing isconstructed to give you the idea of an intimate moment being interrupted (or, Imight just be reading too much into this – you know, I literally have friendswho are film students, maybe I should ask them instead of making shit up). Whichobviously leads to questions: how intimate was this moment really? Will we beseeing more of this? Will they get closer to each other? And I don’t know, itwould be wonderful for them to actually get together, and a bunch of things inthese episodes seemed to hint at it (“Todd, he’s perfect”, the way the huggedwhen they found each other again and so on).

Onthe other hand, I’ve been queerbaited way too many times to tell you withcertainty that this actually means anything. I literally still have people onmy dash still hoping that Destiel might become canon (and shit, sometimes myheart still hopes for it too in spite of any logic) to tell you the level ofdesperation I’m used to deal with. And to be honest, I can see a bunch ofreasons why Brotzly may not become canon: for example, the whole first seasonwas constructed on Dirk finally finding a friend, so people might just be happyto label whatever is going on as bromance and leave it at that. Also, I shouldpoint out that the season already has one canonical gay couple plus acanonically bisexual character which, compared to lots of mainstream tv shows,is already… a lot. No, seriously, as a sad gay who will literally watchanything for one gay character (not even joking, I caught up with more thanhalf a season of Riverdale when I found out that they’d done a Kevin-centricepisode), the only adventure/sci-fi/epic tv shows I can think of with morequeer characters are Sense8 and Black Sails, both of which were pretty uniquein their genre. And while DGHDA is certainly unique as well, the questionreally is, will Max Landis actually want to go that far? And that is a questionI really don’t have the answer to.Closing with a glimmer of hope, though:there was a video from some months ago of Max Landis suggesting that we mightexplore Dirk’s sexuality more in this second season, and since literally nothingand no one will convince me that Dirk is straight and that we’ve been promisedlgbt characters in this season, we can hope.

Sorry I ranted so much and haven’t actuallyanswered anything, I just had a lot of feelings about this! Have a good day!

#dirk gently #dirk gently's holistic detective agency #brotzly #dghda #dghda spoilers

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woozapooza · 7 years ago

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Black Sails: The Verdict

not to be obvious but this was a really good show

If I try to get into all the things I want to say about this show I’ll be writing this post for the rest of my life so I’m just gonna touch on the most important things.

I’m not sure there’s ever been a show that had this much of an emotional impact on me. I woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking about the show. I guess I must have been dreaming about it and dreamed so hard I woke myself up. I’m sincerely hoping that the day is not far off when I can think about this show more calmly. I think I’ll be able to enjoy it more when the very thought of it doesn’t make me drown in feelings. I’m grateful for the BS humor videos on youtube that are helping me take the show less seriously.

I’ve been looking at other people’s reactions to the finale and two things are clearer than ever (and they were already pretty clear): 1. This is a very complex show where no one is ever totally right or wrong. 2. My standards for TV are a lot lower than many TV fans’. I’m impressed by people who are able to be like “here’s why such-and-such episode didn’t make sense/was dissatisfying” and I sort of envy people who are that good at watching TV but I’m a lot more willing than some people to accept what a show gives me and that’s just the way it is. So I understand some people’s complaints about various things about how the show ended, and I also understand the people who have the complete opposite points of view because this show is wicked complex and there are no right answers to a lot of the big questions about it. Anyway, the following are just my onions.

Ultimately I think my favorite character was Silver. I’ve never seen a character with development like his. I know his actions in the finale are very controversial and I’m trying not to take too hard a stance on them in one direction or the other, but I think what he did was ultimately right. He prevented a war that would have been devastating (because it’s a war) and that England probably would have won anyway. It’s not like the fact that the war got cut short means people aren’t going to keep resisting the bad things about the British empire. As for what he did to Flint, I’ve seen some people get very angry with Silver for essentially selling Flint into slavery, which okay yes, but…what was he supposed to do? If he wants to end the war, he has to sacrifice Flint. Flint’s whole identity was built around fighting civilization. If Silver wanted to end the war, he had to end Flint, and the only ways to do that were to kill him or “unmake” him, and what’s the best way to do that latter? By forcibly removing Flint from his life of piracy and reuniting him with the very thing whose loss turned James McGraw into Captain Flint in the first place: Thomas Hamilton. Flint’s life was basically miserable and I can’t see any way Silver could have found happiness for Flint except by reuniting him with the man he loved. It sucks that Flint is basically trapped on the plantation, but he hates the world anyway, so I’m not sure he’d be all that devastated about being shut off from the world for the rest of his life. Plus, it was repeatedly stressed that this is place as humane as it could be while still being what it is—I mean, no one got mad at Thomas for stopping work and hugging and kissing his lover—so it’s not like he’ll be treated terribly. I’m not trying to pretend that what Silver did was totally fine, but he gave Flint the happiest ending realistically possible. What else was he supposed to do?

I know some people suspect that Silver actually killed Flint and made up the story about sending him to the plantation, but not only is that needlessly depressing when the show is throwing a much happier option at us, it doesn’t even make sense. I mean, I don’t understand the logic of literally seeing something happen and then being like “well what if that didn’t happen!” Like, it’s a show, none of it really happened, but there is still a reality at the fictional level and if the show is clearly telling us that an event is part of that reality I don’t understand the impulse to reject that event as real.

It’s striking—and pleasing—that for such an angsty show, the ending was relatively happy. The world changes, civilization wins out, but that doesn’t mean everyone’s lives are over, that there’s no room for them to be happy going forward. Flint gets to “walk away from the sea and find some peace” with his true love. (Also note that he and Thomas were separated for approximately ten years, which is, well, half the time Odysseus and Penelope were separated? So the parallel sort of works. Half works.) Silver and Madi have gone through a very rough patch, but Madi returns to Silver and I have to believe that that means she’s come to see that his point of view is legitimate, that the issue of the war was an impossibly complicated one and the fact that they had different opinions on it doesn’t make either of them wrong, and that he really loves her. I know Silver has a wife in the book (which I CANNOT WAIT TO READ), so I assume we’re supposed to think he and Madi worked it out and got married. I’m more than willing to think that. Jack and Anne are still together (till they put us in the fucking ground!), still doin’ piracy, and Jack got another lesbian for his collection. (Hi, Mary Read!!!) Max is still running Nassau, happy, powerful, able to make the world a better place, and on good terms with Anne and Jack. Featherstone is governor! I love it! Everything sucks for Woodes Rogers, which, while I didn’t really like him, is not entirely fair, to be honest. He was no more a one-dimensional villain than Flint. Billy is, uh, marooned on Skeleton Island, I guess? Well, I know he can’t die yet because he’s in the book. Actually, let me start a new paragraph about Billy.

I know a lot of people ended up straight-up hating Billy, but I didn’t. I don’t want to go into too much detail because quite honestly I’m afraid I’m going to end up saying things that are just factually incorrect but I think Billy had good intentions that led him astray. It’s sad, really. His hatred of Flint was honestly totally justified but it led him to do things he shouldn’t have done, like going through with the raid on that one plantation. I don’t know, maybe I’m going too easy on him because he was so wonderful in the first three seasons, but maybe it’s not a bad thing that I choose to remember who Billy used to be and try to see that person in who he became.

I have a ton more things I want to say but those things will have to wait for other posts. Some of them I won’t be able to articulate unless I rewatch, and god knows when I’ll have the strength to do that. I’m just so fascinated by the theme of stories (one of my favorite themes for any show to have) in particular as it relates to my dear boys Flint and Silver. Both of them take on identities they didn’t start with—civilized lieutenant James McGraw becomes “the bloodthirstiest buccaneer that sailed,” Captain Flint, and tiny precious happy John Silver becomes Terrifying Indestructible Pirate Long John Silver—and we see the stories that spring up around both of those characters but we also see these guys for who they truly are underneath all the legends and ahhhhh I’m becoming inarticulate so I’m gonna just stop that thought here. In fact, I think it’s time to wrap up this post because if I even try to say more I’m gonna be here forever. Oh, but let me just say bless Jack Rackham for that beautiful speech about stories. Whenever a character in a show or movie makes a grand speech on that topic I’m GUARANTEED to just lose it emotionally.

Last thing: the reasons I wanted to watch this show in the first place were simply that it was a period drama about pirates that had quality gay/bi representation. I built it up so much in my head that I was apprehensive about watching it but guess what, it totally met my expectations! The representation was beautiful (I want to say more words on that topic but I’ll save that for another post) and, like, there were pirates. If I may end on a shallow note (which I may because it’s my blog and I’m in charge) anything with pirates is guaranteed to be awesome.

#x #Black Sails #review #Anna watches tv #Anna watches Black Sails #I have many thoughts #verdict

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iwasnthere622 · 7 years ago

Text

Hi My Name Is... (Ch. 3)

AO3 Link

Jaylee moved quickly, locking up the house and grabbing her lockbox, shutting herself up in the bathroom. She had a solid three hours before she'd have to worry about cleanup and she didn't want to waste a second of it.

She propped her phone on the counter as she dug around and pulled out the different things that she would need, loading the video she'd bookmarked a week ago. It was a new one from her favorite makeup artist and the look was amazing and she wanted to try it.

She followed along slowly, priming her face, applying highlighter and contouring and blending, making it work despite none of it quite being her skin tone's natural shades. She didn't have any setting powder, but then again she wasn't doing this look to last so she skipped that step, moving on to her eyes.

It took a while to get the gradient right because she didn't quite have the shades for it, but when she finished and looked in the mirror... it actually didn't look that bad. It was even, which was the hardest part according to everyone she watched, and the purple color actually made her eyes look really bright.

Encouraged, she picked up the eyeliner she'd stolen from Kim and watched that part of the video, rewatching a few times until she felt confident enough to try, leaning close to the mirror and keeping her hand steady, wanting to do the wings at the ends.

These didn't end up quite as even, but she didn't hate it, putting on mascara and then picking out a lip color from the few she had. She ended up with a nude color that just made her lips a bit pinker and shinier.

She finished, pressing her lips together one last time, before leaning back and blinking at herself in the mirror.

She reached up to tug at her hair, at the way it was just starting to curl behind her ears -- getting long, her dad mentioned going for a cut soon just the other day -- but the curl helped with the image she was trying to create, able to imagine her hair longer and fuller and framing her face.

Smiling to herself, she grabbed the bottle of clear nail polish she'd borrowed from Pearl and sat on the edge of the tub to apply a fresh coat to her nails -- this at least she could keep on and no one noticed.

She nearly dropped the bottle when her phone started ringing on the counter, only her faster reflexes saving it from spilling everywhere. She set it aside and reached for her phone, heart racing. Zack?

"Hello?" she said, answering and immediately bolting up into a stand at the chaos on the other line. "Zack?!"

"Putties!" Zack shouted, a loud crash sounding as she got an earful of Mandarin curses. "At work, I can't -- fucking -- morph!"

"Hold on, we're coming!" Jaylee said, hanging up and quickly dialing Trini. "Putties are attacking Zack at work, he can't morph!" she shouted, shoving makeup into her lockbox and hanging up on Trini when she started cursing, knowing she'd get to Zack as fast as possible.

She slammed the box closed, looking around frantically for anything she missed as she called Kim and repeated the message, hanging up and dialing Billy last. She hung up and spun around, meeting her own panicked eyes in the mirror.

The makeup!

Zack needed her, needed everyone, she didn't have time to remove it properly, it took forever to take off eye stuff, why did she do a full face...!

She didn't have a choice -- her team needed her. She ran out of the room, hiding her box and throwing open her bedroom window, morphing and jumping out, belatedly hoping none of the neighbors were watching as she ran into town.

Trini was already there, smashing putties who were destroying the diner where Zack was a waiter. "Black?!" she yelled, shoving in right next to Trini.

"Don't know!" Trini answered, frustration and worry clear in her tone if you knew her.

Kim and Billy showed up just as they made it inside, people hiding in the booths screaming and crying in terror, most of the place destroyed, with another six putties bashing their way into the back.

"Pink, get the people out of here," Jaylee ordered firmly. "Blue, Yellow, let's finish this!"

She charged forward with Billy and Trini, leaving Kim to get everyone out and away from the diner, searching for Zack but unable to call his name, as that would be too dangerously close to revealing his identity.

Trini and Billy made a hole in the putties and Jaylee dove through it, finding Zack backed into a storage closet with two girls hiding behind him, the teen brandishing a mop.

Relief flooded her that Zack was okay, tapping her helmet to switch to internal comms. "Found Zack, he's okay," she said, switching back to the open channel. "It's okay, you're safe," she said, grinning back at Zack though he couldn't see it through her mask, turning back around to fight the putties from this side.

The putties were quickly turned to dust with three rangers focused on them, and Jaylee helped Zack lead the two girls out, who seemed to be in shock.

Kim stepped up to join them as they exited the diner -- or what was left of it -- Jaylee watching the girls and Zack head over to the rest of their coworkers. She nodded at Zack, then tilted her head in the direction of the mine, watching him grin and hoping he'd gotten the message.

"Let's go!" she said, leading the morphed rangers away and up to the mine, stopping them at the cliff overlooking the water entrance to the ship.

"That was crazy!" Billy said once they were alone.

Kim nodded. "I'm just glad Zack's okay."

"He should be here in a minute," Jaylee said. "If he got my message."

"Do you think the putties knew he was there, did they attack him?" Trini asked, hard edge in her voice.

"You think...?" Kim asked, clearly not having thought of that.

Jaylee shook her head. "I don't know. But I think we all need to be extra careful, now."

"You got that right," Zack said, huffing as he ran up.

"Zack!" Kim said, hugging him. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Kinda weird to be hugging you when I'm not morphed, too," Zack laughed, the press of the armor interesting to feel on this side.

They laughed, all demorphing.

"So were you really planning on fighting putties with a mop?" Trini asked, punching Zack's shoulder, teasing.

Zack rolled his eyes, knowing he'd worried her -- worried everyone. "Well I had to do something! There were too many people, I couldn't morph, and it's not like I could let them see me smash them with my bare hands, either," he protested.

"That was quick thinking," Billy agreed, smiling at him.

"See, Billy approves," Zack laughed. "I'm just glad Bossman got the bat signal out to you guys so quickly!" he continued, turning to grin at Jason, blinking in confusion.

Jaylee had gotten so caught up in the relief of getting to Zack in time, protecting the team, adrenaline crashing as they all joked and laughed and everyone was okay, that when they demorphed, she did, too, without thinking, it an ingrained habit.

She'd forgotten about the makeup, until Zack was suddenly grinning at her in confusion and now everyone was staring.

Her heart started racing, stomach dropping out completely, feeling like she was going to be sick, breaths short and panicked. She quickly pulled on her armor, the morphing grid responding to her fear -- she was terrified, she'd ruined everything -- and quickly morphed again.

"I'll report to Zordon, you guys go home," she said quickly, voice shaking, throwing herself off the edge of the cliff and sailing into the water with a splash.

She stumbled as she landed, looking up but no one was following her which was good... oh god... what was she going to do, what could she possibly tell them to make this okay?

She felt like the walls were closing in around her, finding it hard to breathe, tears pricking her eyes though she tried her best to swallow them down.

It took ten minutes before she felt controlled enough to walk to the ship, shoving everything down -- she was good at that, she'd handle it, tell them she was playing with Pearl, make any excuse, bury it -- and heading to the command room.

"Master Jason?" Alpha-5 said, clearly surprised to see her.

"The putties attacked Zack at work," Jaylee said shortly, giving Zordon and Alpha-5 the full report of what had happened.

"You did a good job of protecting your team," Zordon said. "But it's troubling to think the putties would have enough access to Rita's lingering power to be able to track you..."

"So this wasn't a coincidence," Jaylee said, worried.

"I'll run some scans," Alpha-5 said.

"Be cautious," Zordon said, Jaylee nodding and heading out.

She walked slowly back to the water entrance, staring up at it, trying to psych herself up. It was fine, she'd told Kim Pearl likes to do makeup for other people, she could just lie and say Pearl did it, they'd probably tease her a bit but they'd accept it as her being a good sibling.

Comforting herself with the thought, she jumped back up and landed on the cliff, standing and stilling at the sight of everyone sitting around, apparently waiting for her.

"What did Zordon say?" Trini asked when no one moved or said anything, Jaylee keeping her armor on.

"He doesn't think it was a coincidence, he thinks the putties are pulling on Rita's power to track us," Jaylee answered.

"What about our families?" Zack asked, worry clear in his tone and posture.

"We'll protect them, all of them," Jaylee promised, voice firm. "Alpha-5's working on something, maybe it can find the source."

"We can't be with our families all the time, though," Kim said, worrying her lip, glancing at Jaylee and then away, Jaylee not quite prepared for the hurt that stabbed through her in response.

"They should only be able to track us, though, so when we aren't with them, our families are probably safer," Billy pointed out.

"Great," Trini muttered.

"We'll figure it out," Jaylee said, already mentally preparing to do nightly checks on the town, to up their awareness.

They fell silent, all worried and trying to think of ways to protect everyone.

"Jase?" Kim said hesitantly.

Jaylee stiffened, heart picking up, hands flexing. "...Yeah?"

"It's... okay, if you like makeup," Kim said hesitantly, Billy nodding encouragingly next to her.

"That's not a girls-only thing, you know. I do eyeliner all the time," Zack added.

Trini rolled her eyes. "We know, Zack, you always run around yelling at us to look when you get it winged."

"Well, yeah, you guys gotta appreciate my art," Zack grinned.

"So it's okay," Kim said, smiling at Jaylee. "You're still a guy even if you like it."

"We would never make fun of you for something you liked," Billy said earnestly.

"Well, we'd probably tease," Zack mused, yelping when Trini smacked him. "What, I'm being honest! We wouldn't take it too far, though!"

"It's fine," Jaylee choked out, grateful to the armor for making her voice even. "It was Pearl anyway--"

"I thought Pearl had gymnastics class on Thursdays," Billy said, frowning.

"Yeah, don't you usually have the house to yourself today if your dad is working, since your mom has to take her to the class?" Kim added.

Jaylee sucked in a breath in panic -- why did they all know her family's schedule?! -- stammering out, "Y-yeah."

"Look, Kim was right. It's cool if you like traditionally feminine stuff," Trini said, tackling it head on and not wasting any words, something Jaylee usually loved her for but now was making her heart race and her palms sweat and her eyes burn. "We've all seen you dancing around some stuff and we just want you to know you don't have to hide anything from us. You're still Jason, the Red Ranger, regardless of what you like. And society's gender roles are fucking useless anyway, so fuck them. Do what you want, J. We've got your back."

"Yeah, dude," Zack said. "It's totally cool, do what you want. You're still a guy and besides, girly shit is fun sometimes."

"Well, as long as what you want isn't, like, mass murder," Kim teased. "We aren't jerks who would judge you for something like this, Jase."

"Well, technically, we are all mass murderers considering how many putties we have killed," Billy pointed out. "They are technically sentient so I think it counts as murder when we stop them."

"Okay, so you can even be a mass murderer," Kim laughed.

"Not of people," Billy clarified, "just putties. But yes, you should be able to like what you want. We're your friends."

"I..." Jaylee said, not knowing what to do, listening to their support but for the wrong thing, shaking because she should just accept it, it'd make everything so much easier, but that felt like she'd be confirming she was guy and she wasn't and while she'd never told anyone she was a woman, she'd also never told anyone she was a man, either, people just took one look at her and assumed and it would break something in her to confirm that assumption.

"J, we're good," Trini said, smiling softly. "You're a badass dude, even in purple eyeshadow."

"Seriously, man, I didn't get that good a look but damn your liner is on point," Zack complimented easily.

"Jason," Kim said softly. "It's okay, I promise. We don't see you any differently, you're still a guy, the leader... our friend."

They all just kept saying it, over and over, just assuming that she was a guy who liked makeup and that was fine -- Zack was a guy who liked makeup -- but that wasn't her, and her chest ached and her eyes burned and she just needed them to stop saying it.

"I'm not," she said, all of them blinking at her in confusion and she flexed her hands, terrified, god, so terrified but somehow the idea of coming out to them was less terrifying then accepting the lie. She was so tired of pretending and they were asking her to basically say the pretend life she presented was the real one when it wasn't and the reckless courage that got her into all the trouble she'd ever been in in her life welled up and she couldn't hold it back. She refused to.

"Not what?" Kim asked confused.

"A guy," Jaylee answered, keeping her head up because if she was doing this, she was doing this. "I'm not a guy."

"Okay," Zack said slowly, dragging the word out, clearly confused.

"I'm a girl. I've always been a girl. You all just assume, everyone assumes I'm a guy but I'm not," Jaylee said, breathing in short pants, feeling lightheaded with how hard her heart was beating. "I'm a girl."

"You're trans?" Trini asked, the first to get it.

Jaylee nodded, studying the rest of them.

"Fuck," Zack whispered, eyes wide, staring at her.

"Oh my god," Kim said, sharing a look with Billy.

"What's your name?" Trini asked, stepping forward.

"Jaylee," Jaylee answered, voice a bit shaky because she'd never actually said it out loud.

Trini nodded. "Hi, Jaylee. I'm Trini," she said, offering her hand.

Jaylee stared at her, glancing down at her hand then back up at her face, cautiously reaching out to shake her hand.

Trini gripped her hand tight. "Can you demorph?" she asked quietly.

Jaylee glanced around, they were all staring again, it looked like Kim might start crying, and she was confused and scared. But it's not like she was hiding anything now, they knew, so she let the armor dissolve, letting go of Trini's hand.

She stumbled back a step when Trini hugged her tight, cautiously returning the hug, just waiting for them to shove her away, call her a freak, tell her to give up her power coin...

"I'm sorry," Trini said when she pulled back, "for assuming. I'm so sorry."

"Me too!" Billy said, stepping up closer but not touching her. "I saw that you didn't seem to like your name, but I didn't guess... I'm sorry. I should have asked."

"I'm so sorry, Jase -- fuck, I'm sorry," Kim said, pulling her into a hug and feeling her flinch at her slip up. "I'm sorry."

Zack punched her on the arm -- when had he walked over? -- grinning at her. "Just like I thought, killer liner, girl," he said, and it was something about the easy acceptance in his voice -- in all their voices -- that made the tears Jaylee had been swallowing down finally spill over.

They all moved to hug her, collapsing into a pile right there on top of the cliff and letting her cry.

She clung to them, afraid they would leave, slowly calming down, makeup ruined now and smeared by her tears.

"It's... this is really okay?" she asked, trembling.

"Of course it is," Kim said firmly.

Jaylee wiped at her face. "I look like a freak," she mumbled, knowing she wasn't as pretty as Kim or Trini and knowing she'd ruined her makeup and knowing that it didn't look quite as right on her as it did on real women.

"Hey," Trini said, waiting for Jaylee to meet her eyes. "You are not a freak."

"You're fucking gorgeous," Zack said.

"You are really pretty," Billy agreed.

Jaylee laughed, wiping away tears and snot, looking around at them all.

"So, you've really been a girl the whole time?" Kim asked.

Jaylee nodded, nerves coiling.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Billy asked.

Jaylee sighed. "I'm Jason Scott," she said, mouth twisting around the name she hated. "You wouldn't have believed me."

"Dumbass, of course we would have," Trini said, smacking her shoulder.

"Yeah, dude," Zack said, feeling Jaylee stiffen and stiffening himself. "Ah, shit, sorry. Dudette."

"It's fine, I'm used to it," Jaylee said.

"That's bullshit," Kim said. "You should get to be who you are and be called what you want."

"Definitely," Zack agreed.

"Does anyone else know?" Billy asked.

Jaylee shook her head. "No..."

"We'll keep the secret," Trini promised, not about to forcibly out her.

Jaylee slumped into them, not sure she really believed this was happening but relieved at how it was going. "Thank you," she whispered.

"C'mon, we're having an emergency sleepover at my place," Kim decided. "My parents are out of town, and we need to get to know Jaylee better."

"Good idea," Billy grinned.

"I'm totally in," Zack said.

"Red?" Trini asked, smiling at her -- you're still the leader of this team.

Jaylee sucked in a breath, smiling hesitantly. "Okay."

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