#it's something that's the most prominent in s6?

[normalbrothers]

how's the family?

[riacte]

I know you made a post a while back on how to write Rendog, do you by any chance have tips for False or any posts on how to write her? The docs I have found on False are very limited XP

Thanks for the ask!

I personally find False tricky to characterise because her reactions can be finnicky and unpredictable, but that's why I like her.

False loves animals. Her bases are full of them and she gives them silly names like Noddy (she's bad with names)

False has mentioned her favourite animals are foxes and she didn't really understand the bird association until chat pointed out it was because she built an eagle for like two times

False knows she has an intimidating reputation but she doesn't fully vibe with it because she thinks she's rusty and out of practice.

False is community oriented and quietly connects different areas done by hermits (what she did at the end of S6, especially prominent with the districts, also what she's doing with the rivers this season). She keeps the group together and keeps infrastructure running (she contributed to the HC7 Nether hub) without making a big deal out of it

Based off the above, False has a flexible style and can work with a variety of aesthetics/styles while keeping them coherent with the overall landscape, clean, and on a realistic scale (realistic for Minecraft builds anyway). She has a keen eye and can easily pick up the finer details of someone's build/vision.

False's kindness really shines through her actions. She may be snarky and sarcastic a lot of the time, so you may not hear her say she cares for someone or openly show verbal affection but you know she does because she does favours for them/spends time with them/remembers specific details about them. Which ironically ties to the following:

False has bad memory and Does Not Remember a lot of "significant" things (she forgot her MCC10 Orange team once)

Some phrases to pepper in [insert British accent]: "Oh my goodness" "Blimey" "What the heck man?" "Flippin'" and her catchphrase of sorts for this season in the form of a horn— "Oh my God HI"

False sometimes introduces her male collaborators with a mister prefix to the audience presumably for fun and whimsy, I don't know if she does this for the female collaborators

False is VERY skittish and scared while being competent at facing whatever she's scared of. She's constantly confused. Think Xisuma and Mumbo's type of British confusion. She's paranoid.

False is mischievous and quick witted. She can come up with pranks on the fly and execute them swiftly. (For example, the invisible hat/briefcase prank on Gem) She loves punching/shooting/killing people and throwing them into one block holes.

Honestly, False is just random at times. Why does she have two phantoms in boats on her base? Dunno. Why does she sleep in that awfully cramped staircase bed? Dunno but it doesn't seem like she's changing it. Why is it called Big Business? It just is. It's for fun and whimsy (until she gets scared and starts crying and running away).

False has a tendency to randomly sneak up on someone and randomly escape. She's hard to catch. She's an enigma.

False tends to stay quiet during big group events and is also the type to get talked over

It takes time for her to warm up to new people so she'll be pretty quiet around them, however she will speak up for business/practical purposes (eg. her comms when she plays competitively).

I think this already gets talked a lot but False has great spatial awareness + reflexes and does a lot of the wrangling when it comes to team games

I don't think this can make it into a fanfic but she LOVES using emojis 😄🤨😒 I think for her HC7, most of her episode titles have an emoji

This is more of a personal interpretation but False seems like she would be scared/wary/paranoid of things most people don't care about but then when something actually freaky shows up she's like "yeah sure whatever".

False disrupts the flow when she's expected to go with it and goes with the flow when she's expected to disrupt it.

TLDR:

Surface level: quiet, skittish, alarmed, confused, nervous, wary, awkward, snarky, sarcastic

Under the surface level: cautious, considerate, kind, patient, loyal, humble

I really want to emphasize that she teases/kills/roasts her friends because that's how she shows affection. The more I watch her, the more it hits me how kind and patient she is but I guess that doesn't fit into the slay girlboss trope. And if she does show affection, it's in a subtle way, like quietly correcting someone's self deprecating joke or giving "gifts" to them in the form of pranks.

[waywardmillennial]

Puppet History Trailer Breakdown

The PH season seven trailer dropped on Watcher TV today and I'm going to try to break it down New Rockstars style - so settle in because this is a long one!

disclaimer: I am an oxymoron of a human who notices lots of details and misses other clues - so I might not have caught everything but I tried!

[s7 trailer easter eggs and spoiler-y thoughts under the cut]

The trailer opens with the Professor looking at the billboard for Phorgedytol, the tagline of which reads "(something) WITH YOUR BRAIN"

[note: this is different to the Phorgedytol billboard we see at the end of the trailer that reads "FRENCH THE VOID!"]

the first shot of Ryan in the trailer is from the episode with Aria Inthavong

behind them on the bookshelf you can see what I think is a brachiosaurus (from the late Jurassic era), a pair of alpacas, and the Genie lamp very prominently displayed!

then we cut to this interaction Ryan: How long has it been since we've been in class? to which the Professor gives a very non-committal "Uhhhh...."

[Interesting, no? Possible side-effect of the Professor taking Phorgedytol maybe?]

then we cut to guest Alex Song-Xia with a possibly foreboding comment

[this probably has no lore implications but I like that there's a framed copy of this photo that Ryan tweeted in 2021 on the set]

the trailer continues with the Professor talking to the guests

then the trailer cuts to what could be a major lore drop with Ryan saying, "You keep my wife's name out of your god damn mouth!" as he marches to the theater to slap the Professor

[notice how this is in black and white -that's the trailer edit not mine- so perhaps this is a flashback of some kind? Maybe to something that happened to make the Professor want to take Phorgedytol?]

Remember in s6 Ryan and the Professor were friends (see: the JC Penney photoshoot) so seeing a moment like this in the trailer is, for lack of a better phrase, a slap in the face

Based on what all the guests are wearing in the trailer it looks like The Slap will happen in Claudia's episode, based on the shot right before Ryan gets out of the chair (their reaction face is gorgeous btw)

we get a great out of context line from Sara Rubin

and the Professor talking about his anatomy with Brennan

Then the Lore Drop Hits

[yeah the rest of this was just a drop in the bucket in this trailer tbh]

The cuts happen fairly fast with overlapping VO - I posted most of the main shots earlier and there are some shots of the history skits that I skipped to focus on the Lore. These shots also have some alt descriptions in this post of things I noticed on the rewatch

VO Script Mysterious Puppet: No, you louse. You sops. You absolute men. Ryan: Well, this is collusion. They clearly- Professor: That's not collusion. Ryan: It's collusion! You guys fucking figured it out before this. Brennan: Just get on his wavelength, man. Professor: Get on my level! Ryan: You're just not ready for the truth!

[First reactions: The Professor is wearing a party hat for a lot of this trailer, and so is the new puppet. So they must have been at the same party. Also, the Professor is standing in front of a sign that reads "Six Nasty Seasons" even though this is the trailer for season seven. Is that from the season six wrap party? Could it also point to Phorgedytol symptoms that we're 'missing' a season?

The horse puppet looking through the door has a moustache, so is very likely not Dorothy Ruth or Stanley Melvin Murphy. Maybe DR's fiancé? This same moustachio'd horse is in the pasta scene

Hard to say which horse is walking towards The Brown Derby but fun to note that was a real chain of restaurants in LA starting in 1926]

Then the Professor meets with the new Shane character - shall we call them Patch for now?

and that's the trailer in a nutshell!

*Roll End Credits*

Other reactions:

Delighted that we get canon confirmation that the Professor goes by Connie McNasty, at least some of the time

Love that Joyce and Garrett are back this season!

The noir, old Hollywood vibes of this trailer are gorgeous and overall it looks really well-made!

I hope we get some explanation for the slap that's not Ryan and the Professor becoming enemies again

the Liza Minelli* of it all

Not too sure on many theories at this point, but I'm sure it's going to be a great (but maybe nail-biting) season!

[raayllum]

Anyways time to analyze this screencap

This was originally a split second clip from the Bardel projects' reel, although it's since been omitted... and interacted with online by some of the team / cat's out of the bag, so uh - here's the meta!

The first aim is to try to establish when this is taking place timeline wise (aka in which season and when). The second will be who I think this scene involves (which is Rayllum and I'm gonna explain why). Spoilers for 6x01 thanks to previous Cons and proceed with caution if you don't want any spoilers!

So 6x01, "Startouched," has Rayla and Callum embark to the Starscraper by the end of the episode alongside Stella. This means they will presumably not be reuniting with anyone else from the Main Cast until at least the season's midpoint (6x05) if not later (6x07-6x08), by which point the plot will likely be in full swing, even if Aaravos was not released by the season's midpoint. That means there may not be as much time for something that seems like a cute little filler moment as this seems to be.

Not impossible, but I think it's unlikely that this shot/scene is from S6 from a plot / time standpoint.

Another reason in this column is that we know Hat at least, but presumably the other Baitlings too, are with Soren and Zym when they go to Lux Aurea to meet up with Corvus again.

So there's no way, realistically, it could be in early season six. If it is in later season six, it means that Callum and Rayla succeed at the Starscraper / escape relatively unscathed enough with a small window between reuniting with the boys / Ezran and shit hitting the fan. It is a window, narrow, but not impossible

My early estimate could also be early S7 as, again, the latter half of the final season will be particularly intense, and I could see the characters trying to have some down time / make the best of a bad situation earlier on in the season when there's a bit more time, well, to let them try

As for the boat itself...

The first thing is that the boat is decorated quite prettily and prominently with roses, which just feels romantic. Stella is juggling and the Baitlings (who seem to be singing) seem to be putting on some small, endearingly silly sort of performance. possibly added by the two (Star arcanum?) birds we see. There's also a warm yellow-ish light source coming from the bottom of the picture and subsequently probably the upper middle of the boat, which makes me think of candles.

I'm willing to bet that this is a Rayllum moment since it just screams Callum being very sweet and romantic, and setting up this (maybe they have to take a boat and he wants it to be better, maybe it's just for fun) boat to try and distract Rayla because she doesn't really like them. I can't see Janai or Amaya being interested in a little animal circus performance, so that rules them out to me, and we hardly ever see Stella be separated from Rayla, even temporarily. So I think this being a Rayllum scene makes the most sense because of Stella's inclusion, and maybe it is Callum wanting to do something special for her, whether it's them officially getting back together, or just spending some time together even while the world is ending cause y'know, they missed out on two years of dates they could've gone on, and want to use some of the time they have left for that.

Stella is also juggling Adoraburrs, which have a tendency (presumably) to be primarily close to the Moonshadow forests, since we don't see the tiny ones anywhere else in Xadia, so it could even be a pit stop on the way back to the Silvergrove to get her and her family unghosted, perhaps (and all the more reason to try and take her mind off things).

My other consideration for a pair is Sorvus, since I could see Soren being silly and setting up the Bailting choir (he seems close to Hat in particular) and I think Corvus would be endeared by it, ultimately. That doesn't account for Stella though, and while Soren and Corvus are clearly friends/co-workers on the crownguard, they haven't had a lot of even teasingly romantic development, so I don't feel like the story is really gonna prioritize them heavily as a romance (especially because we have Karim/Miyana, Callum/Rayla, possibly Aaravos and someone in his past, Claudia/Terry breaking up and presumably getting back together, we're gonna get Runaan/Ethari back in these coming seasons in addition to Lain/Tiadrin, and there's always Janai/Amaya, of course). TDP already has a lot of romantic relationships in it, so I feel like Sorvus, if/when they do get together, would probably be a smaller moment later in the final two seasons, and they probably wouldn't get as big a focus as a scene like this seems to imply just from a pacing/character standpoint

Plus, Rayllum kinda has a thing with boats and important moments for them happening on said boats, but that is a meta for another day

[myimaginarywonderland]

Maybe I am just so in love with the way this new era is set up but I genuinely don't get some criticism.

It is very obvious to me that Ms Flood is set up to be a bigger reveal next season. Like how the silence was already mentioned in S5 but only really became important in S6. There is clearly more to her they are building up to and being angry that it wasn't revealed feels a bit like missing out that set up.

Ruby making it snow and having a song in her heart? Obviously because she became important. The one thing she has always wanted to know for her whole live was who her mother was and probably all she could ever remember from that night and the taps she has so obviously watched multiple times was the snow and the Christmas Carol. A sort of live line if you will, a ray of hope in the search for her mother. A memory. The oldest song in the universe will always be the first to be remembered. So many songs, sounds we know because we have somehow unconsciously saved them to our memory even if we can't recall it. The oldest song in the universe is the first one to be remembered which for Ruby was the song that played during her being left at the church. The oldest song is a memory, a distant melody you recall without even knowing about it and that was clearly what Maestro was referring to.

Just like how Ruby's mom was important because of the mystery she posed and the question, Ruby's memories were important because they were the constant thing she had when trying to find her mom.

It snows because we, the Doctor and everyone else, has made Ruby important because of the mystery she is and therefore the one thing that is the most prominent and important will be her memory of that night which includes the snow.

So when she thinks about that night, when she , the girl who was made important by the most powerful God in the universe and probably like the TARDIS Ruby has some of that hanging onto her in some way seeing as she traveled with the Doctor, really is emotional, when she faces the dilemma of her family situation for her, of course it will snow. Because snow is important to her, because the memory of that night, the one question she never got an answer to will obviously resurface in those situations.

Ruby just like everyone else in the RTD era is an ordinary person who became extraordinary through the Doctor, through the impact she had on him, the thing she represented to him. She was a mystery, the most obvious one that the Doctor wanted to solve. She made herself important which in turn made her memories real because her story is real.

Ruby is the perfect example of how storytelling. You mention something, you meet some that is plagued by that one question and it becomes an obsession so big that when you finally get the answer it won't be satisfying because you have built it up so much in your head that nothing no matter how big would most likely ever compare and then when you actually reflect on it, it is brilliant.

Ruby's character is probably going to be one of my favourite merely because of how she was written.

[snekverse]

I'm in a mood I desperately need to talk about my interpretation of myst s6/how how I plan to tackle it in my lil rewrite bc it makes NO fuckin sense to me lol

N e ways first and foremost that relic nonsense: I actually don't mind it conceptually, I think it works within the (limited) context and world building set up for us. My issue comes from the aftermath, specifically regarding those who were turned into relics. Literally wtf yknow. N e ways in my head the way it works is that being Relic'd involves essentially just boiling you down to your most prominent, most powerful attributes. For Mr. Ultima over here his strongest attribute should be obvious, hence him being blinded after being unreliced. Similar for lucinda losing her ability to use magic. Zane I think is a little more complicated being a normal dude for the most part but I think his intelligence would have been highlighted, which was likely heightened during the forever potion experimentation. I like the idea of him having brain/memory problems afterwards, but again I fucking hate how it was executed. I want to make it worse lol. I'm thinkin either broader gaps in memory or jumbled memories where maybe a bunch of em kinda just get mixed together or have random shit added so there's no way to know for sure which parts are real and which parts aren't. I've also been toying with the ideas of short term memory and maybe minor loss of motor function?? Idk I don't wanna fuck him up too bad lol but canon is SUCH bs I can't get over it I gotta do something.

[nolabballgirl]

Im a white girl and im just learning here so forgive me if im slow on this. But i don't understand why druck is put on a pedestal with regards to how they've tackled race/developed their characters of color. Druck also tends to dismiss race entirely (Sam, David, Fatou and Abdi) or make the trauma of characher their whole character (Ava and David) or underdevelop characters when they've had space to do more (Amira, Sam & fam). So why is druck deemed better than other remakes in this area?

hi, Anon! thanks for your ask. okay, so for me to answer your questions, you have to accept two premises:

neither skam nor any of its remakes (including druck) are perfect.

when a remake acknowledges audience pain and admits that it has made mistakes, hires writers of color, and then greatly improves upon its mistakes, that has to be commended.

so, let's break down race and representation for the remakes. and as you will see below, the remakes are so egregiously bad when it comes to race and representation, that when you compare druck after jünglinge took over, it's on a separate level altogether and that's why i believe druck is deemed to be better when it comes to race and representation. (also, i'm skipping skam nl and skam austin from this analysis because who knows how those two would have ended up...and begoña owes me a heart to heart after she ruined by beloved skam españa, but let's be real, eskam had a long way to go too.)

druck -

well, from the list in your ask and from the hard work that skamofcolor put in, druck is a remake with one of the most racially diverse main cast members in both the old and new gens as well as the most characters of colors in side characters as well, so that's an improvement compared to the other remakes. but you're right, there were a lot of missed storylines they could have tackled with the old gen.

druck's sana season (amira mahmood) does not put their sana through weeks of torture or ruin the girl squad in the process. (and as a muslim, i will say their handling of islam was the best among the remakes but i digress...) however, amira did not get her full 10 weeks of screen time and the show missed a huge opportunity diving into shared microaggressions and racism that sam, abdi, etc. also faced. and druck was ripped for it! for cutting amira's time and playing it way too safe and not giving sam her fair due, among others.

now, here's where druck does something that no other remake has done and honestly, this is where i think most of the praise stems from. they listened to the criticism! wait, showrunners and writers can do that?! do you mean we are not just yelling into the avoid? not only have the writers said the ways in which they could have improved (even after s6 they discussed audience perceptions and overestimating how ava/mailin would be received, etc.) but they also hired JÜNGLINGE to bring the new gen to life. if you are unfamiliar, this is how they describe themselves:

JÜNGLINGE is a film collective of mid-twenties raised in the hybrid cultures of post-migrant Germany. We believe that young, European film needs to tell queer, diverse and most of all – specific – stories about growing up and living together in our societies.

so looking at that progress over time from druck s1 to druck s6, i can't help but give them them props for such a marked improvement. in fact, i don't think ANY single skam season covers race and ethnicity as well as s5 and s6 did. sure, they were not perfect (see point 1 above), but my god, the strides that these two seasons made. so much so that in s6, we had a non-white interracial couple as main, who were both unapologetic about their ethnicities and upbringing and culture (Gambia and Vietnam). and having fatou/ava's friendship be so prominent, listening to them talk about black hair, and referencing nazis in germany - yes to all of this!

and let's talk about ava! what an amazing character who was allowed to be angry, giggly, happy, sad, and express herself, without falling into tropes like imane from skam france, and so many people can relate to her struggles with white liberal mailin. there was a sensitivity there that's so rare in these remakes. and what druck couldn't do with amira/kiki, they were given room to explore here, and i really do feel that it was an important story to tell, especially in the age of whitesplaining, white feminist tears, and white liberals talking over women of color.

skam france -

eight seasons in and skam france is STILL mistreating its characters of colors and not given them their full due. now with bilal literally taking a back seat to jo (look at the YouTube header for crying out loud!) but ever since yann in s1, skam france has done such a horrible job with its depiction of POC, especially black characters. daphne is one of the most racist vildes and the treatment of imane (even beyond her season) has been vile and unfair.

and you would think that post s6 and after a new showrunner and writing team was hired on, that there would be improvements (similar to what druck did above), but no! look at how both aurélien and judith were treated in s7, and after a strong opening for s8, it looks like bilal is now taking a backseat to jo, and once again, skam france and its new team are prioritizing a white character over a character of color.

and has there been any acknowledgment by the skam france team of the criticism over the years? rather, david has often doubled down in the face of fan critiques - just an unwillingness to listen, and so we are left with this as a result.

skam italia -

say what you want about skam italia but when it comes to race?well, they certainly take the cake for the whitest remake, so much so that swaths of fans will refuse to watch this remake for the "wana" debacle, and rightfully so. (whitewashing of the sana casting) and remember how people tried to defend this casting decision? but don't forget that italy has a higher percentage of muslims living in the country than norway does! give me a break.

and how can i forget how hajar brown was dragged after she, as a woman of color, deemed to shade and criticize casting decisions for this remake?

wtfock -

do i even need to get into wtfock and its representation on race?! i mean s4 and s5 are arguably the two worst seasons of any skam remakes period. and the complete lack of acknowledgment from the showrunners after the torrent of criticism they received. the egregiously racist writing. i am a defense attorney by profession, and even i am struggling. there's seriously no defense for them here...

so given all this above, i hope this explains why i value the steps druck has taken, especially in s5 and s6, to tackle and improve their depiction of race and representation.

[cpd-55055]

i know this sounds mean but do you think hailey and jay are the only ones who develop their characters unlike the others?

I feel like all the characters have developed in some way in the past 10 years. Some characters have had much more character development than others, but there is still change. I haven't watched much of S1-S4, so I can't attest to character growth then, but in S5-S9, all the main characters have grown in some way.

That being said, I do think Jay and Hailey have developed as characters more in S9 compared to Kim, Adam, and Kevin. S9 showed Hailey growing as a cop, and by the finale, we saw a clear picture of what kind of cop she wanted to be. We noticed some changes in Jay's character, him crossing some lines and following Voight blindly. I'm still curious how that will play out next season.

For Kim and Adam, it's hard to see character development when the majority of their storylines are related to Burzek and their personal life. And even then, we haven't seen much change in that situation. The last time Kim and Adam had storylines that weren't about Burzek was S6, and in my opinion, that was the last time we saw significant character development for either of them, especially Adam. I guess Kim had some character development in S7 and S8 as she became a mother during those seasons, but in S9, even though both characters had tons of screen time, their development was very stagnant.

For Kevin, it's hard to see character development because he barely gets any screen time. S8 was definitely his most prominent season as it focused on his views on the blue wall, and he had several episodes focused on that. But in S9, we only got three episodes about him. And all three episodes were focused on his failed relationship with Celeste. That isn't enough time to show a character grow.

I think it's important to show a character change and develop, or else the character gets boring. That's what happened with Voight. For the past 9 seasons, we see Voight go rogue and do something illegal. Then the writers try to give him a redemption arc, but he returns to his dirty ways again. It's this same cycle over and over, and as a viewer, I'm getting tired of it.

Hopefully, S10 brings a new dynamic for each character! 🤞🏼

[bredforloyalty]

hey every time i log onto this website and read ur posts, i relate so heavily to your personal intertwinement with the story + characters and i absolutely understand your perception of R&M cuz? i always saw it as an encapsulation of the cycles of abuse especially through generations within family? and when i try to explain that to other people like irl or w/e while watching it theyre like wat .. so i UNDERSTAND where ur coming from and i FEEL bad that u get embarrassed or w/e (altho i deal with those feelings too?) basically just trying to tell you you are HELLA seen and far far from alone

🥺🥺🥺 THANK YOUUUU i appreciate that..... mayhaps a certain type of childhood or family life primes a certain understanding of rnm and an investment others don't always have. it's a factor that plays heavily into connecting with this series for sure.. many of us (fans. or whatever) are like this, like it is that deep for us but even to those people, i can scarcely relate. because most of them have this umm desire to see the wrongs righted and to be comforted by the show and then the writers notice that and then i don't feel that rick's change of character is gradual enough and involves enough sacrifices and struggle and lol you get the idea!! i like tragedies, i prefer to be hurt by my shows, that's the type of comfort i need. i digress.. but the point is, often i feel like a minority in here, thanks for taking the time to tell me you relate and you understand <333

also hmm i feel like within the group of fans that are dedicated and care about the future of this show, very few are in it for. comedy. or cool sci-fi moments? or maybe more like, all of the dedicated fans are dedicated to the story and the characters and definitely not to the old structure of rnm that allowed it to be an endless fun machine. at some point you have to make the stuff that happens count and affect the characters so people have something to come back for, so the episodic format could not have been maintained, not with the sudden widespread interest in the show. the new direction, the sincerity and drama and addressing canon and letting the characters grow Are for us, those who ended up caring! but i'm still embarrassed about caring, in my worse moments, i can't help it :P the writers even went out of their way to make fun of us for our investment in s4 and 5 and since it's popular, i see many casual viewers around who simply don't care that much. and are just here for a laff. that's weird to me!

and, the new direction puts me in a weird position because i did love it for the dysfunction and the angst, that's an integral part that needs to be featured predominantly in my opinion to make the hopeful moments really hit (and it's prominent in my family too HYDHBY so that would just feel more realistic for me and satisfy Me personally)

maybe i'm just concerned with what upcoming seasons are gonna do because if we have a long way to go until the end, i would have preferred if they took more time with the overarching storylines of seasons 1 through, idk, 3..... and just generally approached the previous seasons with very slow character development in mind, but character development for sure. if they were more deliberate about it and didn't have an "oh shit we have expectations to live up to now and loyal fans to satisfy. but we don't wannaaaa.. don't tell us what to do :'(" crisis in the middle of it lmao. i don't have a fundamental problem with betterment arcs, i'm just not sure this will be done right in the particular instance of rick and morty

i'm also just pondering the different subsets of viewers now and how conflicted the show has seemed (in the past. i wouldn't apply this to s6) about what it wants to be... and thinking about all the ways my affection for rnm could be misunderstood 😔 the worst "fans" have been the loudest, they didn't exactly give us a good name lol, but this is personal for me so i can't just stay away or keep silent (duh!) so i oughta consider the public perception. and perceptions are super varied! it's another one of those shows that isn't a show, it's popular enough and inconsistent enough to be a phenomenon. so inevitably i will be embarrassed, it means so many different things to different people and i care. i care very much

[sheffran]

Maxwell Beverly Sheffield

Actor: Charles Shaughnessy

Basics:

Marital status: (re) Married 💍

Birthday: January 19, 1957

Age:

Season 1 - 41

Season 2 - 42

Season 3 - 43

Season 4 - 44

Season 5 - 45

Season 6 - 46

Zodiac sign: Capricorn ♑️

Chinese zodiac: Snake 🐍

Element: Fire 🔥

Sex: Male

Nationality: English 🇬🇧

Religion:

• Catholic

• Jewish (due to being married to Fran)

Occupation:

Broadway producer (S1-5; formerly)

Movie producer (S6; currently)

Other:

Fatherhood (😂)

_________________________________

Family:

(Wife) : Sara Sheffield (✝️)

Daughter: Maggie Sheffield

Daughter: Grace Sheffield:

Son: Brighton Sheffield

(2nd) Wife: Fran Sheffield

Daughter: Eve Sheffield

Son: Jonah Sheffield

Son-in-law: Michael

Grandmother-in-law: Yetta Rosenberg

Mother-in-law: Sylvia Fine

Sister-in-law: Nadine Cooperman

Father-in-law: Morty Fine

Aunt-in-law: Freida Fine

Extended:

Mother: Elizabeth Sheffield

Father: James Sheffield (✝️)

Brother: Nigel Sheffield

Sister: Jocelyn Sheffield

(half) Sister: Conception (paternal)

Other:

(foster) Daughter: Mei-Ling (through being married to Fran)

_________________________________

Nicknames:

Max (by Fran in S5&6)

Honey, sweetie, etc (by Fran)

Mr Sheffield (by Fran in S1-4 and Niles)

Again, out of habit, Fran tends to use Maxwell’s surname particularly when intimate with her husband

Maxwell (by C.C.)

Maxi (by Jocelyn)

Puddleduck (by Jocelyn)

Maximillion (by Fran; shortly after married him)

Dad/Daddy (by his children)

_________________________________

Appearance/ personality

Maxwell has black curly hair, with a dyed patch of grey that starts off small to be with in season 1 only to get more prominent as the seasons progresses. He has olive green eyes and oftentimes wears a suit and tie normally but sometimes changes into something casual or beach-y depending on the location he’s in

How would you describe Maxwell’s personality?

* Fatherly

* Conservative (with work)

* Smart

* Competitive

* Jealous

* Chivalrous

* Proactive

* Overprotective

* Emotional (with family and close friends only)

* Apprehensive (whenever he’s wrong and Fran’s right)

1. Regarding her mismatched purse

2. Assuming that Maggie’s party was unsophisticated or unfit enough for his daughter, with the food fight.

_________________________________

Trivia:

Maxwell has had 16 girlfriends and 2 wives, namely Sara (✝️) and Fran

It’s been mentioned, by his butler, Niles, that he was similar to Pierce Brosnan

He had oftentimes showed signs of, indiscreet, jealousy whenever a male took interest in Fran

He is (5 or 10 years) older than Fran

He was temporarily deaf due to a high frequency (most likely because of Fran’s voice)

Despite him being British he is actually quite ticklish

Most likely had jerked off by the thought of Fran throughout the 5 years; when he couldn’t, unfortunately, commit to her

Maxwell’s English accent becomes slightly more gruffer when he’s flirting his wife

[alexkarevsource]

This might be something you would have already done, but Alex being good with kids/good in peds before s6?

Great idea! I've done something like this before, but not as specific.

I hope I'll get to it at the weekend.

In the meantime I want to invite everyone to send in scenes from s1-s5 where Alex worked with kids. I have a pretty good idea of most of them, but I'm always worried I might miss some that are not so prominent in my mind.

[riacte]

#lays down to think about rendog#committed to the drama but always feeling the need to play the foil or supporting character rather than the hero

RIGHT! Ren rarely centers himself as the hero of the story. Even in heroic cases, he'll say he's with a group of heroes who helped him along (Blue Bats). And most prominently: Ren is most willing to act as the hero when he has someone to fight for.

Demise 2 is self explanatory and the textbook example. This is also basically Ren's agenda in Life series. Third Life: Martyn was his employee and he refused Scar's offer for Martyn's sake. In Last Life, Ren immediately devoted himself to Lizzie because he was feeling lonely and purposeless. In Double Life, Ren was assigned to be soulbound to BigB and was ecstatic over it because he had someone to belong to by default, and that someone also belonged to him. Ren had people to fight for. A group to feel belonged to and fight for.

This is in contrast to Ren having an ideal to fight for, in which Ren will likely commit self sabotage, twist his ideals, and turn into the villain. In S9, Ren wanted to solve the diamond inflation and carried out infrastructural change. In S10, Ren wanted to organise his friends and also do infrastructure. This can be seen in the latter parts of 3L when Ren moves on from being Martyn's boss to Dogwarts' king, and wants to absorb allies into his Dogwarts faction to go against Monopoly Mountain (his "ideal" being defeating Desert Duo and protecting his Red Banners instead of merely protecting Dogwarts). This is in contrast to Ren playing "good" characters when he has someone to fight for, because fighting for a friend is a noble and sympathetic deed, whereas fighting for ideals is a classic villain origin story.

Ren doesn't become a hero for his own sake. He'll become a villain if he's pursuing his own ideals (so everyone else can use him as villain), but he's willing to give being a hero a shot if he's fighting for friends. His narrative is splattered with self sacrifice and self sabotage. He'll fight for everyone, but not himself, because he'll purposefully turn evil when he's fighting for himself.

This is why Demise 2 was so satisfying. Ren types himself as the loser of the game, doesn't bother to gain a kill, but when his favoured champion starts getting anxious, Ren decides to take a brave step forward. Because for False, he would. (Side note: I feel like Ren's involvement in S6 Civil War stemmed from being blamed for a prank on False, and he assured her he wouldn't do anything to her because they were neighbours.)

This was also why late stage Third Life hits crazyyyy. Martyn going "get me a shield and I'll follow you to the ends of the world". Martyn fights for Ren in the way Ren fights for other people. Something about being the hero for someone who doesn't dare to be hero of himself. Something about someone who doesn't dare to be hero of himself being the hero for someone else.

Behind the perceived selflessness is self deprecation, because Ren doesn't think his goals and ideals are worthy to be fought for. But his friends? They're always worthy. And that love and desire to be useful propels Ren past his self doubt.

He's at the altar, willing to turn red to protect his friends. He's at Bdubs' place, standing close to the trap to lure him in, willing to die so Bdubs will die with him. He's at the nether roof, positioning himself as the final boss, willing to end his reign and tie up the plot. To Ren, sacrifice is love.

Big Terracotta and the "Let's overthrow Rendog" storyline

My knee jerk reaction to Ren saying they would be making minigames to fight over the permits because they wanted the plot to progress was "oh no NOT again". I initially thought of the minigames in the King Ren arc finale but I suppose it's also similar to the Mycelium War finale. I love minigames, but it's like another Ren vs Scar plot, which might very well (but not necessarily) extend into Neighbourhood vs Mountain plot (and I guess the Redditors will cry about a "civil war" because they've been anticipating it since the season began).

First of all: Big T is basically Ministry rebranded. It doesn't contain everyone from the Neighbourhood, but it's inherently linked. From what I remember of that stream from months ago, Ren's idea was for the Neighbourhood (at the time the Ministers) to band together and sell terracotta. To me, the Neighbourhood feels like it's become a conglomerate of its own: they live next to each other, they collab together, build farms and minigames together, and they have storylines together. The Ministry storyline pretty obviously formed the basis and set the tone. False's rivers permeate through the entire neighbourhood. They have a meeting spot and maps and roads and villager set ups and the bank of Iskall. It's not just "people conveniently live close to each other"— it's "people whose individual storylines intertwine". We got invested in the Ministry storyline. The minister roles felt fairly early season to me, so no surprise that it ended. Now we get Big T, which seems like an optimistic look forward with the idea of a "permanent" branded group because it's about selling a highly wanted commodity.

But what if it's not.... permanent? What if Short-T gets the permits? What then? Another rebrand? I have absolutely no doubts that the Neighbourhood, broadly speaking, will continue to hang out as a neighbourhood. At least until they run out of space / ideas in there. So it's not like they'll stop interacting if Big T ceases to become a thing, but that's exactly what it is— Big T gives them something to do. A common storyline. A collab opportunity.

Back to the Ministry storyline. It's a typical "Rendog seizes power" arc that we've seen before, prominently in S9 King Ren arc. But the thing is, it kind of fails at sculpting Ren as this awful leader who needs to be overthrown. (Partially due to Cleo's mic not working when they suggested overthrowing Ren, and there were also talks of people doing a coup, but in the end Ren decided to take the matters in his own hands.) Ren tries to be incompetent and bossy but they all end up indulging him. Because, despite everything, Ren is good at bringing people together, both in and outside of the game. He organises stream weekends (the others were thanking Ren on his shift during the last stream weekend, a while ago on another stream weekend Scar made Ren tear up with his heartfelt words). He "annoys" people into following him, and then he gets scared of the power, "annoys" people into overthrowing him, and BOOM Rendog kickstarts another plotline by playing the villain (again. And again).

(Arguably, Third Life also kinda followed this formula. I had a feeling Ren was trying to make the Red King unlikable by barging into people's houses and demanding them join the Red Army, and Martyn did "claim" he had "planned" to "betray Ren" from day one (looking at the camera with knowing but non-judgmental stare) but didn't do it.)

Point is, Ren has the personal charisma and thick enough skin to start groups and wrangle people into joining them. He's silly and the hermits love him, so they kind of bemusedly smile and let Ren drag them along. That's his first way of uniting people. Ren's second way of uniting people is by playing the villain, which he often employs and tries pushing it into this direction. In the Ministry plotline, the first way worked, but nobody cared enough to overthrow Ren (lol) so the second way didn't work that well.

... And I feel like Ren doesn't trust himself to play the role of a good leader. He has to be evil. Because he likes dramatics and being publicly humiliated (side glance) and killed. And also because he doesn't like playing the role of a good leader despite having clear visions of infrastructure / change he wants to achieve (S10 roads, S9 Hermit Quests). If anyone's dreaming big about community storylines and banding together to work on something, it's Ren.

So my fear for the Big T storyline is that Ren will seize power again and turn evil so they can overthrow him and Ren volunteers to be the villain for plot progression. I like seeing Ren being in the leader role. But to see him be overthrown again feels a little sad considering what they all went through so far. I don't want more self sabotage. I don't want Ren to go "yeah it's fine you can have it". I don't want Big T to lose the permits and disband. Obviously Big T isn't just Ren, but Ren is the main guy who does story and roleplay.

Good news: Big T contains competitive people who will no doubt enjoy defeating Scar and Bdubs. Bad news: those are the exact same type of people who like trapping Ren in pits. Even if Big T as a whole pulls through, I hope Ren doesn't do something stupid on purpose to set himself up. I want the power of friendship and neighbourhood solidarity to win. It's such a good overarching storyline and content.

[addictedtostorytelling]

Hello wonderful human being. I watched season 8 the other day and I was wondering... how long do yiu think Grissom was seriously thinking about proposing to Sara? He did it by the bees, which he might of asked her to come to.. to ask the question, or she showed up unannounced which meant he didn't intend to ask it there and then.

Do you think he invited her to the roof to pop the question? And how long do you think its been on his mind?

hi, @coffeewithsugarplease!

i personally think that grissom has been dreaming about marrying sara probably since the first day that he met her. 

however, even if one believes that it takes him a bit longer than just the duration of that first encounter to come to the conclusion that sara is the woman whom, if possible, he would like to spend the rest of his life with, it doesn’t take much longer over all, as we see evidence of him thinking about the concept of marriage in terms of sara throughout the course of the early seasons, such as,

in episode 04x03 “homebodies,” when he takes way too long to answer mr. kirkwood’s question about whether or not he has a wife and then proceeds to spend most of the rest of the episode relating mr. kirkwood’s protective feelings for his family to his own protective feelings for sara;

in the originally scripted version of his monologue from episode 04x12 “butterflied,” where he admits to fantasizing about sharing a domestic life with sara basically all of the time*; 

in episode 05x05 “swap meet,” where discussion of the swinger lifestyle prompts him to consider his own monogamous feelings toward sara and even to discuss with her at length the parameters for what might make a truly happy marriage;

in episode 06x03 “bite me,” where, as @bartramcat explains, his conversation with sara in the victim’s bedroom carries definite “marital overtones;”

in episode 06x21 “rashomama,” which contains all sorts of little hints that both he and sara have marriage (to each other) on the brain;

in episode 06x22 “time of your death,” when he seems to contemplate giving sara a ring one day; and

in episode 06x23 “bang-bang,” when he sidesteps doc’s questions about whether or not he’s ever been close to getting married to anyone in such a way as to suggest that he has (i.e., with sara).

* while the scripted version of the monologue isn’t exactly canon (in the sense that it didn’t make it into the final aired version of the episode), i understand it to be a good explanation of grissom’s thoughts and feelings at that time; though he doesn’t actually say the words aloud, they are in effect the sentiments he carries in his heart.

as for when his thoughts about marrying sara turn from a passing fancy to something he’s seriously considering, i would say it happens once he starts dating her in vegas, circa mid- to late s5 or early s6.

basically, as soon as they are in a relationship, he realizes that something he had always somewhat considered an impossibility (because, after all, how could a beautiful, wonderful, perfect person like sara ever learn to love a beast reciprocate the feelings of someone as flawed as he is?) is actually within reach.

that said, i think that grissom is prevented from asking sara to marry him at this time on two different levels:

first, in terms of the practical, because for as long as their relationship must still remain a secret at work, there’s no way that they can feasibly tie the knot (as lying about dating someone is one thing, but lying about marrying someone is another, typically involving tax fraud and falsifying hr documents);

and, second, in terms of the emotional, as while he’s been 1000% married in his heart to sara from the moment he met her, he’s not sure if sara herself is at the same place he is, in the sense of being ready and wanting to make that kind of lifelong commitment.

due to these external and internal constraints, he keeps his desires to himself and refrains from proposing; however, the notion remains prominent in his mind.

—and especially after sara is abducted by the miniature killer and subsequently rescued from the desert.

not only does almost losing sara likely remind him to “gather rosebuds while he may,” but the logistics of her hospital stay and him taking care of her at home for several months while she recuperates from her injuries probably underline to him how much better and easier things would be for them (legally, financially, and socially) if they had that sort of official, signed/sealed connection to each other already in place.

for example, if they were married, then they would be able to be more involved in each other’s medical care and make decisions for each other in the event of incapacitation, which is something very important for two people who (barring betty) don’t really have any other family in the world.

now.

all of the above said, while i do think grissom has been mulling marriage to sara literally for years before he proposes to her and has had wedding bells even more on his mind recently, as of the start of s8, i nevertheless do not believe that he wakes up on the morning of october 17th, 2007 (i.e., the in-universe date for when the events of episode 08x04 “the case of the cross-dressing carp” take place) and thinks to himself, “today’s the day i’m going to ask sara sidle to marry me.”

no, to my mind, the proposal happening where it does and when it does is a spontaneous thing—i.e., in that moment, grissom just feels so much love and adoration for sara (dressed up in her beekeeping suit, facing her fears just to spend time by his side) that he blurts out the words that have been in his heart since the beginning with no forethought and no kind of design at all:

“maybe we should get married.”

he knew that sara would be with him in the apiary that day, but he didn’t know until the words had already left his lips that he was going to ask her the question right then.

—that’s why he has no ring to offer her and no speech to make.

—that’s also why he’s able to ask the question without getting overwhelmed or psyching himself out before he does so.

he doesn’t plan the moment out in advance. he also doesn’t sabotage it by thinking the act to death beforehand. he just hears sara talking to the bees like they’re people and feels such bright love for her all through his body, mind, and heart that he finally gives voice to the query he’s been carrying around with him ever since the day he first met her.

of course, the really wonderful thing is that for as much as grissom has wanted to marry sara since the first day he met her, sara’s felt just the same about him, which is why she says yes so quickly—because marrying grissom is literally a dream come true for her.

that’s my take, anyway.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time. ❤ 

[raayllum]

Thought I'd do a little update to my formal Key of Aaravos analysis now that we know more about the Key (+ book) and because we have more scenes. Will also revisit some (4x04) now that we have new potential rune foreshadowing understanding. I also realized that I never talked about any of its appearances in end credit art, so I'll be doing that as well. This is, as always, operating under the assumption that rune placement can foreshadow scenes, since Callum's rune placement in his dark magic 2x08 dreams foreshadowed him doing dark magic in book 5 ocean and for Rayla (moon rune on display).

First things first I want to talk about 4x04 again now that we know the Cube unlocks a book of knowledge, which makes this sentence be more direct and overt regarding the mysteries the cube/Aaravos could answer for Callum.

For great mysteries we have Moon, Ocean, and Star on display, which seems appropriate as the Moon is related to secrets/depth, Ocean is something Callum will unlock the following season, and Star in equalling Aaravos (or the Cosmic Council) is the mystery we're trying to solve. Earth feels like a callback to other cube appearances (its 2nd first, Harrow's letter) that potentially foreshadowed books 4 to 6 (aka Earth, Ocean, and Star) being the true Mystery of Aaravos with book 7 being more of a book of revelation. We then see Callum flip the cube from Earth to Sky, likely foreshadowing that later this episode he will lose his freedom / he will spend the next 4ish books attempting to fully reclaim his freedom from Aaravos. It could also refer to Zym, who may have an important role to play.

Then we have Star-Moon-Sun trifecta which feels more apt because we know it's possible that Moon and Sun magic is required for Aaravos' machinations to invert life and death / that using Sol Regem + Sunfire elves (s6) and potentially Rayla in S7 are important elements of his plan. This could also foreshadow Callum and Claudia, two of his most present pawns, getting the Moon and/or Sun arcanums respectively.

For end credit art, there are four sketches the Key of Aaravos appears in, three of them in S2.

Heart of a Titan (2x06), in which Callum learns what the Key is and what it's called, which harkens back to its 2nd shot appearance in 1x04 (hence the three runes) and features keys:

Fire and Fury (2x07), where we see the game and key motif with it get merged further, and the scratches on the ground indicate that the cube is being pulled from somewhere. 6x02 directly picks up this thread but does not feature in end credit art (we'll talk more about it later). The rune most prominently on display is the Star rune but right side up, as well as Earth (patience, book 4) and sun (Karim, Pharos). These are also the following books (Sun, Earth) after S2.

In 2x08 Book of Destiny the cube has only dark magic sigils on it in the end credit art. This represents the closing doors on Callum's potential that dark magic poses, the hold this will give Aaravos over him without knowing, and seems to be the biggest hint pre-S6 that the cube would be associated with a literal and not just metaphorical book of destiny.

This is also one of the reasons I thought it'd be fitting for the cube to be something bad at first, and then become something good and helpful to Callum. Just as he reclaims his agency/identity, he can reclaim the cube (and book 'of destiny') from Aaravos and make it his, now, and use it for good. But first... dark magic.

I'm going to wait to talk about the final end credit Key art from S6 because I want to talk about it in context with its episode / what we know about S7 so far.

In the meantime, I'm going to make a brief pitstop to 5x08 as despite the season not featuring the Key at all, or Callum being that worried about Aaravos' hold over him (he's much happier in the beginning of S5 compared to the beginning of S6, despite the mission to stop Aaravos being in a much worse place in 5x01 as compared to 6x01), the pawn intro featuring the key and its bright light is here to remind us that's still in play. Additionally, Callum's experiences in 5x08 and what he learns about himself and his strengths/vulnerabilities are a clear turning point that makes him more worried and paranoid in S6, which we see directly with the cube in 6x01.

He starts off by pacing/looking at the Star rune, if him being with the cube wasn't enough to bring Aaravos to mind. The show then has him be nervous when the Star rune itself glows up, once again the upside down version we're more prone to associating with Aaravos (and possibly Callum is too) + a little bonus Moon rune, which feels fitting that Rayla is about to show up in like 2 seconds.

We then get Callum's hand holding/covering the cube by the Sky rune (since Sky and Star are literal opposites on the cube, how's that for thematic design) and pushing the Star rune end into Rayla's hand with Moon on full display. As a treat for me and my "Callum will sacrifice his freedom (Sky) for Rayla's life (Moon) to Aaravos (Star)" and then all those things will be inverted with Rayla helping to restore his freedom to him from Aaravos back again (just like in S6).

Then we have a couple of wide shots where the rune changes despite the fact that it shouldn't (which happens in 2x08 of Earth and then to Ocean for the actual closeup / important shots) because it's not changing position. However, both the ones presented — Earth and then Star — have their own valid meanings.

For Earth, it can contrast Rayla's continual willingness to wait (let's maybe not try to destroy the pearl right now, no I'm not going to free my parents right now) — right or wrong — in the face of Callum's growing eagerness and impatience. For Star, it's precisely because he's discussing star magic and it's book 6 stars.

Then finally we have Rayla shifting to hold the cube to the point you can barely tell she's holding it, like it's part of her body / synonymous with her, and Callum looking at her after his "Somehow, Aaravos is going to use me" fear talk (cue screaming).

Then we have Callum looking at the Ocean rune after Rayla, Earth is most prominently on display, and Star (surprise surprise) on top.

He rolls it and since Sky is on top we know Star is on the bottom (even if I don't think that's the one that hit the ground, or that these ones particularly matter - but here for posterity anyway).

Star is again on top when he picks it up, with Moon most prominently on display (I wanna see this one as Rayla foreshadowing for me, particularly since it's related to where the cube is being pulled but like, who knows). I do in all seriousness think it's interesting that Moon and Sun are most on display given Aaravos' apparent desire to invert life (Sun) and death (Moon) next season, and presumably the Key plays some kind of role in... letting him get to the place where he can do that, at least as a step one.

Then we have the big reveal at the end of the season in terms of what the Key unlocks. This also put lines that felt like foreshadowing with the cube / Callum but it wasn't clear how exactly ("That the entire world would be in danger if she let me live with this knowledge" / "Having knowledge isn't the same as knowing knowledge")

No surprise again that we see the Star rune most on display, and again we get a shot of Sun and Moon.

We see the cube flip around (it seems like Aaravos is trying to decide which one) before he settles on Earth. We don't know enough about the Earth arcanum to really say if this is going to have meaning or not; it could reference that Book 4: Earth is when this plotline really got started in arc 2; it could be that Callum is going to use the book to help cleanse corruption (like the mushrooms for Zubeia, and maybe even Lux Aurea or corrupted elves/people/animals). It could also be Earth because that would be the easiest to visually convey spreading over the book for the audience's understanding.

The white light the Book emits when the cube goes in also intrigues me. On the one hand, we know that Moon and most overtly Star magic can take on a white light (although Moon also has blue, and Star has magenta) that might be analogous to the white light the cube flashes in the pawn intro. Alternatively, the white flash there could just be an evocation of the book itself (fitting, again, if Callum is going to eventually reclaim it alongside his identity).

As a finale note, I'm also assuming we see the Ocean rune here just to emphasize the insertion of the Key > any particular meaning and they needed Earth on top. I do find it interesting though (and maybe it was just shot composition) that they didn't want to go with the rune opposite of Ocean that also could've worked, as Sun presumably ties into 1) Aaravos' machinations with the Sunfire elves / Sol Regem and 2) symbolizes the life part of his life and death plans, whereas Ocean has almost exclusively been used in reference to either his prison or Callum's dark magic use (2x08, 5x08) / inner depths of the lengths he's willing to go for his loved ones. But hey, an nb can dream

In the meantime, I'm curious if the Earth rune's prominence here and in the Cube's appearances throughout the season will eventually come to pass foreshadowing wise in S7 (or in the future), but we'll just have to wait and see!

Last but not least we have the final end credit art from 6x09

Yet again, we have Star (upside down Aaravos) and next to the book, now that they're reunited - in terms of us knowing about them, anyway. Then we have Sun and most prominently Moon on display overall, which again bodes well for 1) life and death stuff and 2) possible Rayla connection to build on their prior consistency. I would've expected Star to be most evident or even just Sun (as it is on the side display in the pawn intro with Callum facing Star), but not minding the reinforced Sun-Moon that we've seen more and more the past couple seasons either

And that's that until we get another cube sighting! Dragons out

[myimaginarywonderland]

I will defend this finale with my life apparently and am in the minority of people who liked/loved it.

I felt like it answered enough questions about pretty much most things and still left a bigger mystery (Ms Flood) for the next season just like how the Silence was teased I S5 and only really dealt with in S6. I actually like the bigger build up to Ms. Flood to be honest.

I honestly felt like this was a mixture of what I liked about both RTD and Moffats storytelling so I will gladly take it eventhough sure there might be some tiny flaws.

This felt like the most Doctor Who episode to me and felt like a true end/establishment for not only a new era but also a new Doctor.

Because Ncuti had it all.

He portrayed the anger that 9 felt at times and also the little glimpses of hope that we saw with him.

He showed the spiral that 10 had, gave us a look into the Timelord victorious again but also managed to portray the true companionship that you felt during 10s run.

He had some of the genuine rage that 11 felt yet also had the wonder and almost childlike awe for the universe.

He captured the frustration that 12 felt at times yet also saw the love that was so prominent in that run.

This Doctor has it all, he feels it all. He is all of them yet something else entirely.

He is someone new, someone that believes in the good and yet is starting to accept that noy everybody can or will be good. He is in love with the universe, he is an adventurer but he is also someone who has seen devistation.

This portrayal was brilliant and the finale perfectly captured all the different sides of this new Doctor for me.

So I will gladly be a fan of it.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

The leaked photos could be a distraction to keep fans speculating while something else is being filmed elsewhere? To be fair D0nn1e fans have pointed out that it looks like the scene where Rick carries Carl in S6 & M. clears the way for him, setting up their future ship, so I can see that throwback there too. Meanwhile Lynn's prominent blonde ponytail means EK can film outdoor scenes for 11B &C & fans will just assume it's Leah unless we get a really good close up.

I decided to combine these because they both kind of address the same thing.

First of, yes, I do think the pictures could have been leaked as a distraction. Partly to get the fandom talking, of course. But also possibly to distract from something else. But what?

I came up with two possibilities. In tonight's episode, there's a moment that feels very Donnie-ish. More than in the past. For the record, I'm still not at all worried. I totally feel like it's a red herring. But I also think it's interesting that these pictures come out a few days before the episode airs, and when those who have already seen it are talking about it a lot. Like they're trying to redirect the talk. And on top of that, what they release heavily smacks of Beth.

The other thing I thought of is all this Atlanta talk. There was the script, which may or may not have been a purposeful thing, and then Andy and Norman being seen in Atlanta. And now Fandemic coming up. I'm just wondering if that could be a problem for the writers as well that they're trying to distract from. Just my brainstorming, though.

Okay, but let's address the other part of what you guys have sent me above. I said Daryl hadn't carried anyone like this since Beth. While I still think that's true, that he hasn't carried anyone that way SINCE her, you came up with two examples from before Coda that I completely forgot about.

I really do like the Carl one. That was (obviously) a father-son relationship. If the person Daryl's carrying is Judith--or even Lydia--there will be a strong parallel there.

I have to say that it makes me chuckle that the Donnie fans mention Richonne and setting up a ship. I'm sure they're saying that because Connie is standing right next to Daryl in those pictures. And kudos to them for trying to make some symbolic comparisons. It's more than most other ships do.

My issue with it--aside from the fact that they've told a dozen different times that Donnie won't be a thing--is that Michonne was already a mother to Carl, long before he was shot in S6. And we haven't seen anything remotely like that with Connie and...well anyone else. So, while I see their point, I'm not sure the comparison entirely works.

As for Carol, I'll get to the TD side of things in just a second, but the other thing I thought about is that she was missing for a time and Daryl found her. She wasn't injured, per say, but she was dehydrated, so at the very least she wasn't in good enough health to save herself.

We've said for a long time that maybe Judith will be kidnapped or come into danger in some way. We've always thought Beth would be involved in that somehow. (And for the record, just because she doesn't appear in these leaked pictures, doesn't mean she's not.) I'm just saying I'm very curious to see what arc leads up to these leaked pictures.

Now, here's the thing. Both of these instances--Carl and Carol--can be connected to Beth, but in different ways. So, there's nothing that's exactly the same about all of them. As I said above, Carol was missing and presumed dead--even got a grave marker--but Carl wasn't. However, Carl did receive a gunshot wound to the head, and they weren't sure if he would survive. That definitely wasn't true of Carol. See what I mean?

So about the only thing we could say is that both of them have strong ties to Beth's arc in some way. Hmm.

So, you can see why I'm very interested to see what's going on in these pictures. Thanks for all the great connections! Xoxo! ❄️💝