#jason's interviews have very much infuriated me

[immortalpramheda]

Okay, I like Lxa as a character but after having time to process the finale I’m actually very annoyed she came back. We already had closure with her. She died in Clarke’s arms which was tragic and sad, but Clarke held onto the Flame and was constantly thinking about her. She returned in the S3 finale and had a proper send off, and they even added the ‘I love you’ in ADR. We already knew Clarke loved her. And not to mention all the times she’s been mentioned since then just to hammer home how much she meant to Clarke.

For her to come back in the form of an alien who takes the shape of someone Clarke loves didn’t need to happen. I’m sorry, but she was a minor character in S2 and S3 and she didn’t need to be brought back for a big chunk of the series finale.

Bellamy, the male lead of the show, had no closure whatsoever. I don’t wish the alien had been in the shape of him, we already know Clarke loves him and how much she means to him. It should have been Madi, or Abby, or her dad, or even Wells. Heck it shouldn’t have been a big deal who it took the form of because we know all the people Clarke loves.

The problem is that Bellamy wasn’t a minor character - he was the second main character and had been there since the very beginning. He died alone believing everyone hated him at the hands of his best friend. No one really mourned him, he was all but forgotten except for a few throwaway comments that ‘he was right’. No one felt regret about not believing him. No one spoke up and said they wished he could have been here on the beach at the end. He was erased from the narrative and a minor character who died in S3 and whose story had already been wrapped up overshadowed him (and almost everything else that happened in the finale).

Bellamy’s presence should have been felt in the finale, at the least. Instead, the finale removed any essence of him in favour of a fan favourite minor character to appease a certain subset of fans.

[tearsofgrace]

endings are hard... but they aren’t impossible

tldr; the good place fucking nailed the finale, supernatural completely and utterly bombed it.

tags: wc--4.5k, gif heavy, spn meta, the good place, supernatural finale, spn wank, all gifs are mine, if you read til the end there’s a pretty gif

so i recently finished the good place (i was watching w my family and we finally had time to sit down and watch the last season) and god fucking dammit that ending is FLAWLESS. literally flawless. 

and because i’m, well, me… i spent most of the time during that hour long finale thinking about how supernatural could have had even a fraction of that and avoided so much heartbreak. 

anyways. i decided to compare them. to REALLY compare them. to get into the nitty gritty of why the fuck the good place ending left me feeling, as the finale is all about, sated and complete. and why the spn ending left me confused, lost, broken, betrayed, unable to even enjoy my comfort show at all until a dear friend finally just watched an episode (8.08) start to finish with me. 

so without further ado (always wanted to say that) here’s the good place/supernatural finale meta that no one asked for

comedy

we’ll start small. both these shows have excellent comedy. in extremely different ways… but still

in the good place finale, the comedy was perfect. whether it was jason reappearing in the forest, michael trying to get through The Door, tahani reversing the “hot bod” bit on eleanor, every comedic moment was actually pretty emotional and added something to the show. they deepened characters’ meanings, added to their relationships, and made the audience think as much as they made the audience laugh.

in the spn finale… the comedy was the pie gag. the whole sam shoving pie into dean’s face. beyond this being… like meta as hell (the whole prank thing) it doesn’t have any depth to it.

and to add salt to the wound, this “hilarious” thing happens RIGHT AFTER salmondean have a conversation about missing jack and cas that is equal parts flat and infuriating. the brothers, in particular sam about jack and dean about cas, should care more. this is their family. and family is everything to them. but, no, by all means pie dean in the face.

last lines

this one IRKS me. okay. 

the last line of the good place  "I'll say this to you, my friend, with all the love in my heart and all the wisdom of the universe: Take it sleazy.” “All right.”  is ICONIC. okay?

it’s a reference to season 1 that doesn’t feel fan-servicey. it’s kinda honestly emotional cuz it’s like a message to us, the audience. it perfectly completes michael’s arc. it captures the light-hearted vibe of the show while also somehow managing to be poignant. you can see it coming like the second before it happens but it’s also not the obvious choice. it’s just. goddamn it’s good.

the last line of supernatural…. is… “and cut.” not even said by one of j2. i mean i know it’s a meta show but COME ON ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??????????

now i hear you shouting wait but that’s just the end of the thank you message. okay fine whatever. in that case the last lines are “Hey, Sammy.” “Dean.” (i couldn’t bring myself to gif that moment)

i’m sorry but. that’s predictable. that’s obvious. that’s boring. that’s flat. sure, it celebrates the bond between the brothers. but like… that’s not what this show is about anymore. it’s not just about sam and dean winchester it’s about what they’ve created. it’s about the world they’ve saved, the family they’ve made, about how they always keep fighting but nope we get bland, boring, coulda seen ‘em coming from miles away lines for the very end. that’s fine.

montages

the spn finale is like 50% montages that don’t make sense and are poorly done and not emotional

the good place has a montage of michael being human that brought me to tears

timing

here’s another short section. the good place finale was 53 minutes long as opposed to the usual 20 minute long runtime of every episode. granted, the fandom of the good place is very different, but STILL there was no documentary telling the fans things they ALREADY knew (there was a short special after the ep, but the episode itself was still far longer than normal). it was 53 minutes of plot. of really fucking good not rushed plot. 

the supernatural finale was… what 36 minutes long?? as opposed to the normal 40 minute runtime?? granted, we did get an hour long documentary of things we’ve all heard in cons and interviews a billion times so hey. take what you can get i guess.

character arcs

this is most of the meat of this meta. one thing we’ve all been harping on a TON is how they RUINED character arcs. soooo let’s go through and juxtapose some character arcs shall we

eleanor

eleanor shellstrop starts the show completely self-obsessed. she died getting hit by shopping carts while picking up margarita mix and let’s be real she’s a total icon. love her to death. she grows a ton, becomes one of the most selfless characters on the show, and starts to actually (jack forbid) CARE about things. it’s one of the most satisfying and relatable character arcs i’ve ever seen. 

it’s not just her selfishness either, her character is super multi-faceted and complex, and i feel like even in the end we’re getting to know her better. she’s afraid of commitment, always worried about what others’ actions will do to her, loves the trivial side of life, is queer as fuck (as acknowledged by the show in a way that’s not harmful at all but also isn’t explicitly bi/pan/unlabeled/omni etc, allowing queer fans to see their own identity in her), and is all around a HUMAN BEING. her ending at the beginning of the show was her death. her stupid, trivial, meaningless death where she was, as she puts it, all alone. and her final ending ISNT that. yes, everyone goes before her. and i think that’s purposeful. to show that she’s grown enough that being alone in some sense is okay.

but she’s never TRULY alone. and in the end. the REAL end. janet is there. the whole time. because eleanor asked her to be!! she got over her crazy need for independence and simply asked for help. and eleanor dies an amazing person that has become selfless, has found joy in philosophy while still enjoying trashy content, has fixed her relationship with her mother, and has found a sense of completion. eleanor’s life ends on her terms, and it’s beautiful.

dean

alright. now just as you’re feeling all warm and fuzzy let’s look at dean winchester’s ending. you’ve heard it a million times, so i’ll be brief. dean was raised to be a hunter, a soldier, a killing machine with no feelings and no purpose. he was raised to die scared on a hunt, his life over because of some mistake he made because he will NEVER measure up. at least that’s what john and everyone else told him with the exceptions of some of his family (and family don’t end in blood). he started to accept that he didn’t have to have this. he started to realize that he could CHOOSE what his ending was. 

the beautiful thing is, we never truly got to see what that was. i personally like to think it’s similar to the roadhouse michael locked him in while he was trapped in his own mind. a safe place for hunters, somewhere he (and cas in my opinion, but that’s not important) could settle down and still be in the life. it would be an amazing tribute to jo and ellen, and just all around a great ending. he wouldn’t have to be scared, but he wouldn’t have to conform to some apple pie facade of normalcy. and ya know what?? say that he died so he could have peace i dare you. because dean doesn’t find peace until sam is there anyway so i beg of you WHAT WAS THE FUCKING POINT. 

dean winchester died scared. dean winchester died on a hunt. dean winchester died on one of john’s old hunts. dean winchester died not directly at the hands of a monster, but at the hands of a mistake. his mistake. dean winchester died without ever working through the trauma of his best friend in the entire world confessing his love in a final act of self-sacrifice. dean winchester died in a way that leaves a sour taste in my mouth and does not at all show the audience what he’s been through and how much he’s grown. dean winchester did not die on his terms, and he deserved better.

chidi

okay back to happy. chidi anagonye. by far my personal favorite good place character (don’t tell anyone i always say jason cuz he and i are very similar). chidi in the last few episodes is SO DRASTICALLY different than the chidi we meet at the beginning. he’s decisive, confident, self-assured, and it’s amazing to see. he’s not afraid of life anymore. he’s not afraid to make the wrong decision and forever alter his reality, because he’s okay with failure. 

at the beginning, chidi was so petrified of life that… it killed him. and in the end, he’s completely at peace with every decision he makes, even the final one. yes, he considered staying for eleanor, but that just shows how his moral code and his compassion for others is still very much still intact. it shows the audience that you can be confident and decisive without being a selfish asshole. 

chidi leaves the good place knowing that it’s the right thing to do. knowing without a doubt that his time has come. the old chidi never would have been able to fathom being that sure about something. it’s beautiful. it’s a development that can give the audience peace, can show them that this drastic of change is possible, and that chidi became a better person for all of it. chidi went on his own terms, and it was beautiful.

sam

… this one might be controversial… but sam winchester. god i hated sam’s ending. at first i was kinda okay with it. like, okay fine he got his normal life. but, really, in the end that’s not what sam wanted. he started to realize that he didn’t need that apple pie, white picket fence life. he didn’t need the wife and the kids and the backyard and the barbecues because that is NOT sam’s personality and i will throw hands on that. 

that’s not to say he doesn’t want some sort of romance, maybe even kids, but not in that way. he lets himself see that he doesn’t need to be defined by his rebellion to john. doesn’t need to be defined by going to college or any of those “normal” smart kid things because it doesn’t fit him. and that’s okay! but how does sam’s story end? it ends with a wife (that isn’t even important enough to show her face). with kids. with a goddamn white picket fence. we think he’s still hunting to some extent… but it’s not the arc we were led to believe would happen. it’s not this amazing leader sam that we see in season 12-14, uniting hunters and organizing them. 

he had SO MUCH potential and they throw it away on a vanilla ending that shows only surface level pain at losing his brother. he doesn’t even invite the rest of their family to the wake for fuck’s sake. jared did an incredible job. pls don’t think i’m saying he didn’t. but that script…. sam winchester’s arc was cut short. he didn’t go on his terms, and he deserved better.

jason

jason mandoza. the only character that has ever embodied my complete dumbass energy to the insane extent that it exists. he went to hell for his impulsivity. he never thought before a decision. i aspire to be as reckless as jason while on earth. but he LEARNED. he got better, just like they all did. and by the end of the show, jason doesn’t need to be impulsive anymore. much like eleanor being left “alone,” the show does a masterful job with making him be the first one to go, capturing his old impulsiveness. but he chooses to leave. he takes his time in deliberation, waiting until a feeling of peace, of completion, of well, ‘true happiness’ (sorry cas stans, i’m right there with you) has settled over him. 

the ending of his story is one of growth, just like all these characters have been. and the best part? the show makes it comedic in the most poignant and beautiful way, because it’s jason, it had to be funny. we learn that jason has been in the woods for like, eons, just waiting to go through the door because he wants to give janet a necklace. he’s learned to simply wait. to be at peace with… nothing. his torture was being a monk, but in the end, jason embodies those ideals. his arc comes to fruition in an extremely satisfying way. jason goes on his own terms, and it’s beautiful.

castiel

this one is gonna hurt like a bitch. castiel is my comfort character. he’s my role model. he’s me in a lot of ways. i love him. so fucking much. so excuse me if this is slightly incoherent. i’m actually okay with cas’ ending… in a way. because his actual ending as an on-screen character? perfect. self-sacrifice while coming out and professing his love to dean winchester. a little bit bury the gays, but let’s be real, it’s supernatural. and “happiness is in just saying it” has to be the most powerful way to think of coming out. it takes away the fear, it takes away so much of the pain that can follow. because the joy is in just saying the words.

it’s how this was treated on the show that makes cas’ character arc terrible (and we haven’t even gotten to 15.20). YOU CANNOT JUST IGNORE A LOVE CONFESSION. that is god awful writing and i will never change my mind on that. cas deserved his family to care about him. to at least address and be sad about the fact he was gone. jesus fucking christ after everything castiel deserved at least that. and then we go to 15.20. cas is in heaven. cas is serving god. cas is right back where he started. now, i’m coming off a little strong. 

if the show had decided to show us cas and jack in heaven makin’ the world a better place… i woulda come around to it. i woulda realized that that’s not REALLY erasing 12 years of character development and cas realizing that his whole identity isn’t just him serving heaven and isn’t just him being an angel and that he’s so much more than all of that and he could still be happy as a human… because really he’s with his son. but they didn’t show us that. they barely even mentioned him. and to me. that counts as a bad character arc. and i’m sorry if you disagree. castiel may have gone on his own terms, but they treated that beautiful sacrifice with disrespect and disdain, plus resolved his arc by putting him back where he started. he deserved better.

tahani

*deep breaths guys this is a long post i’m sorry* anywayyyy tahani!!! we love tahani obviously. let’s talk about her arc, because it always kinda bothered me. throughout the show, we see all the other character’s growing and expanding their knowledge of right and wrong. and, don’t get me wrong. we see tahani grow a lot. but she makes a lot of the same types of comments and shit like that. but it’s how she treats the reactions to those comments. by the end of the show, she laughs at the caricature of herself that the others see. she isn’t looking for vindication in name-dropping, she just does it. she is far less self-absorbed, and is genuinely interested in those around her. she fixes her relationships with her sister and her parents in a way that doesn’t feel forced and actually feels like a beautiful, healthy family reunion. 

she has a list and she does everything on it. it’s worth noting, that the things on her list are not at all what they would have been at the beginning of the show. most of them are humble “labor” type tasks, and all of them are in self improvement. tahani’s end on the show is not the same as everyone else’s. she realizes that she doesn’t need to be done. that there doesn’t have to be an end to self-improvement. and she becomes an architect. the writers perfectly embody her transformation from a self-obsessed rich girl who has never done a thing for herself and laughs at the lower-class to a down-to-earth worker that simply doesn’t want the journey to end. 

it’s incredible how perfectly the writers were able to close off these character arc’s without it feeling forced, and without ignoring their character development. imagine that. tahani chooses her own way, and it’s beautiful.

jack

jack’s ending may be the only one that i’ve actually somewhat come to terms with. it’s not terrible. it’s not great. but it’s not nearly as bad. because ignoring that awful monologue about every drop of rain and shit, jack really does end up helping people. he ends up doing something that he loves and that makes the world a better place. and he doesn’t lose his personality in it. but. i dunno, that’s still his destiny, right? to create paradise. and this is a show about ripping up the rule book, about choosing free will above all else… so to have every single character just fulfill their destiny is cheap. 

still… i’ll try to be unbiased. because really at the beginning of jack’s time on the show, he’s unsure what he wants. and at least, in the end, he’s sure. he has a wisdom that he’s always had but he’s now using. and i’m good with that. but what’s NOT okay about jack’s ending is the lack of on-screen family. jack learns that family is important. sam, cas, dean those are the people he cares about. and you’re telling me he would just NEVER see them again? and be okay with that? i know he rebuilds heaven with cas, but we don’t even get a story about him rescuing cas from the empty. and he seems in 15.19 to not be that concerned about it (after the amazing emotional scene at the beginning). jack should have cared about his family. he did. but they ruined that for him. so jack kline deserved better.

michael

oh man where do i start. michael’s growth is the biggest on the show. i mean. he starts as a literal demon and ends a human. he gets better, he falls in love with humanity (*castiel fan in me sobbing again*) and he chooses over and over to be good instead of bad. his whole arc is a classic redemption arc, and every single beat just gets better. he chooses selfishly to side with humans but in the end it turns out to be the best decision he could have made. because he develops emotions, he develops compassion, he develops a moral compass. 

and his end reflects that. because to complete this arc of a demon becoming more human… he literally becomes human!!!! it fits so well. and he’s allowed to make mistakes and be happy and gain all that humanity has to offer. this just shows that human!endgame for cosmic beings that become more human WORKS SO WELL (and it shoulda happened for cas and jack that’s all i’m saying). michael went on his own terms, and it was beautiful.

eileen

oh boy… this one stings. because they brought her back, used her up, and we never saw her again. eileen was one of the best side characters on the show, and they rarely addressed her arc. she comes onto the show as a hunter seeking revenge, and gets that revenge in the same episode. her s15 arc is focused on what’s real and what’s not, with her relationship to sam admittedly being a central part of her character because… it’s supernatural and women can’t exist without that. but still! eileen grows throughout the show and in the end… we don’t even know what happens to her. it’s as if her arc wasn’t important enough to even glance at. 

it’s as if the connections the boys make outside of each other mean nothing when in reality they mean everything. they prove that the co-dependency is behind them and that family doesn’t end with blood and that real connections can be formed between people that last a lifetime. eileen was a disabled hunter that was shown to still be one of the best in the business, and they didn’t even give her the courtesy of a goodbye. eileen didn’t go on her own terms, and she deserved better.

janet

this is gonna unbalance my list but goddammit janet’s ending was perfect. she was a not-robot, not-girl that should have been incapable of feelings. but throughout the series we get to watch as she learns first-hand about human emotions and processes them. she cares about the humans in her charge and fights for them on multiple counts. 

in the end, we see janet come to terms with both her cosmic being side, and her human side. she never stops being with the “cockroaches.” she sees them all leave, she’s there for them while they’re there, and she also continues to speak her mind and live autonomously. janet was a non-human character done right. she lived on her own terms, and it was beautiful.

some honorable mentions

spn ignored (in the finale) chuck, amara, stevie, charlie, jody, donna, garth, bess, the other angels, claire, kaia, patience, alex, and the list goes ON in favor of focusing on JUST sam and dean. did none of those characters at least deserve a quick goodbye??????

the good place wrapped up multiple arcs i had completely forgotten about in a totally natural and not forced way. mindy, doug forester, (the mushroom guy, i know, it took me a second), pillboy, donkey doug, kamilah, tahani’s parents, eleanor’s mother, eleanor’s friends, chidi’s best friend, vicki, shawn, glenn, simone and so many that i’m forgetting all got satisfying ends that they totally deserved. 

they even fucking resolved FROG GUY’S arc and gave him a real frog. that’s right. frog guy (jeff) had a better character arc resolution than dean motherfucking winchester. 

heaven and hell

obviously in very different vehicles, both shows explore in depth the realities of the afterlife. and lemme tell ya, at the end of the day, one sits a whole lot better than the other. 

the good place finale ends this quest for the perfect afterlife by saying that everyone can improve and that an eternal paradise shouldn’t keep you from eternal rest. they pretty much make me wish that this is what our afterlife looked like. they handle everything with care so it’s balanced precariously in a way that doesn’t give you anxiety looking at it but instead fills you with peace and faith in humanity. 

supernatural addresses this series long battle between heaven and hell by creating a heaven where you drive for forty years without seeing the people (cough cough cas and jack not his parents) that matter to you and drink beer that tastes like shit. a place you can’t be happy or find any sense of peace until your brother has died and he’s there too.

and hell… well they barely even address it. there’s a new queen of hell i guess? but so what. it’s still very much heaven and hell in a way that’s the worst and hey plus to them… makes me wanna stay alive thank you very much. oh and purgatory is in shambles and not functioning properly cuz all that eve bullshit.

loose ends

whenever something is ending, you gotta tie up the loose ends. not in a “oh, we must wrap everything up and leave no stone unturned” kinda way but in a “wow, we should probably try to make this unambiguous because this is the last time we will ever see these characters” kinda way. 

the good place does that. so fucking masterfully. all these side plots with all these different characters were taken care of all while focusing on the main six characters. we get to see how their intervention has changed everyone else. for example, mindy’s arc is wrapped up perfectly, with eleanor going to save her.

plus different running jokes like “take it sleazy” are wrapped up, we revisit really old callbacks like the original neighborhood, and all of it feels natural and in the moment. it feels like full circle in a way that doesn’t erase growth. 

supernatural, on the other hand, left a million loose ends open. what happened to the boys they saved? where the fuck are jody, donna, etc.? did eileen make it back? cuz sam was pretty upset about that. what happened to it “being loud” in the empty? hell, what happened to the empty? what happened to hell? what about chuck? it woulda been nice to see just for a second what became of him. did charlie and stevie make it (i’m very invested in that relationship)? if we’re taking the original ending… why the fuck is jimmy there? did kansas just all,,, die? 

i’m not saying they needed to address everything… but god a few wrapped up storylines besides the brothers wouldn’t have hurt

coloring

can i just… real quick… as a giffer lodge a complaint

the good place has beautiful vibrant coloring in the finale

spn has like bland washed out whatever the fuck that is coloring. it’s not even the dark early aesthetic cuz they dropped that it’s just… ew. so. do with that what you will. 

conclusion

first… while writing this i realized just HOW MUCH it’s not about destiel… like believe me. i knew i wasn’t just pissed about destiel. but holy shit it’s not destiel at all like did i even mention destiel that much???? this was never about a ship. this was just a trash finale. 

in the end. the good place writers knew what they were doing. they knew their fans, they knew their characters, they knew their world, and they knew how to wrap it up in a way that was satisfying and sad and perfectly fit the tone of the whole show. it wasn’t out of character or rushed, basically every loose end was tied up without the audience even realizing that’s what they were doing, and i feel happy and complete having watched it. 

the supernatural ending was a betrayal. flat out. to the audience that has stuck by it in a way bigger way than the good place fandom. to the characters that have helped so many people. to the actors that have given so much of their lives. to the other members of the crew, to certain writers… all of it was just a slap in the face.

we deserved better guys. there are better endings possible. so i’m sorry. i really am. but i guess… that’s what fanfic is for, right?

[twopoppies]

Fauxlivia sucks for a million reasons. As a Larrie, it obviously hurts to see Harry being het-paraded. But after 10 years, we're used to the bearding.

I think this stings so much more because this stunt isn't directed at us, his longtime fans. This is the push to elevate Harry's status into megastar. He's being packaged up for and sold to an entirely new demographic and that image contradicts what we've witnessed in concert banter and behind-the-scenes footage and video interviews (even as much as some of that is managed). And we saw this somewhat with Fine Line promo (using the classic rock selling points to make Harry palatable for old dudes) but the tabloid scandal just stoops so low. And it feels like we're being left behind to some extent. I know it's petulant, but the people falling for this version of Harry don't deserve him. But, Jeff doesn't care who loves Harry, just that everyone loves Harry.

And it's infuriating that people buy this and can't distinguish journalism from publicity. Olivia and Jason both have projects in production and Harry's social media footprint is the stuff of dreams for them (I cringe at the thought that his participation was part of the deal of getting DWD). People magazine is the driving force here and they use narrative arcs to get people invested and keep selling magazines, so the Happy Couple Splits ... Harry Heartbreaker ... Lovers Reunite plot was the plan from the beginning. As was all the conflicting information, which allows speculation to run rampant, and when none of it's true, any of it can be true. And people click on your links to figure out what the real story is. That's my litmus test for bullshit stunts — when my uninitiated friends ask me what I think about the latest news, I know it's reached the intended layperson audience.

I want all the success in the world for Harry, he deserves it. I'd love to think he could earn it earnestly. I know that's naive, and when it comes to publicity, the ends justify the means. Anyway. It has an expiration date. So we just hold on. Thanks for letting me cry in your asks.

Hi sweetheart. I agree with a lot of this. Particularly that the people falling for this don’t deserve him. I no think many of us feel very protective of him. However, it seems right now, primarily because of covid, Harry’s focus has shifted. I doubt he wants to release another album until he’s able to tour again (and even then, will he tour Fine Line? Or drop HS3 and tour?). So film seems to be his priority.

Which means we get this kind of crap. At least for now. Absolutely, there’s an expiration date. I’d say let’s hope it’s soon, but be prepared for it to drag on.

[ejzah]

The Agent and the Lawyer, Part 12

A/N: Hopefully this chapter isn’t too much of a mess, but I think it kind of might be. It’s been a bear to deal with. I based it around a modified version of “Little Angels” from season 2.

***

Deeks was sitting on the edge of his desk, facing Sam and Callen while they chatted. He’d finished all of his paperwork and setting up his online accounts. He now had limited access to several federal databases (of course only after being threatened with life imprisonment if he discussed the contents with anyone). There wasn’t much else he could do until someone gave him further instruction.

“So how’d the firearms training go?” Sam asked Deeks, smirking at him in a not entirely friendly way. Scratch that, there was nothing friendly about it. Deeks had known Agent Hanna would be a hard sell from the moment he met him, but he wasn’t sure why the other man had so much animosity for him. Even his lack of experience didn’t explain it.

“It went fine,” Deeks answered, resisting the urge to look over his shoulder. Kensi was talking with Hetty in her “office”. Likely talking about him. Somehow he didn’t think Hetty would be overly impressed with his progress at the shooting range.

If she made it a point of contention, he would reference his freshly signed contract, which made no mention of firearms training. He’d double checked.

“Really?” Callen said condescendingly. “So you fired inside the lines?”

“Yes.” Deeks wasn’t sure why he felt the need to defend himself. He didn’t even want firearms training. It would actually probably work in his favor if he played up on his lack of ability, but there was something infuriating about the two agents’ superior attitude. They immediately assumed he would fail and that annoyed him.

“Where?” Sam asked, his voice leading.

“Right shoulder,” Deeks said, not mentioning how close it had been to the very edge.

“Ha, knew it!”

“You do remember that this was my first lesson, right?” Deeks didn’t expect them to have any sympathy, and he was right.

“Deeks, I had better aim than that when I was a kid,” Sam said. And so had he, Deeks thought bitterly.

“Well to be fair, not all of us were overachievers,” Callen said, his tone teasing. He muttered something that sounded like “mathlete” under his breath and Sam glared at him warningly. “In any case, Deeks, I hope you’re seeing that this isn’t a game. It’s a hard job and it takes dedication.”

“Never thought it was,” Deeks said with a bitter smile. He saw Kensi coming back down and remembered their bet. While chatting, he’d been silently thinking of ways to distract her enough to make her touch him. Based on the past few weeks, it wouldn’t be all that difficult.

A piercing whistle echoed through the room, distracting him from his nefarious plans, and they all turned towards the stairs where Eric and Hetty were waiting. Each day Eric had announced his presence in a different, and often bizarre, way. Personally, Deeks preferred the day Eric had yodeled his way down the stairs. The song was unrecognizable and sounded truly awful, but Deeks appreciated the variation. Not to mention, the irritation on Sam’s face.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, make haste,” Hetty said gravely. Deeks followed everyone up the stairs, moving to the back of the room as Eric pulled up a man’s military ID on the big screen.

“Commander Jason Rehme designs and maintains the cryptographic logons used by the department of naval personnel with the highest security clearance,” Eric began.

“Commander Jason Rehme is missing,” Hetty added. “He had a department meeting at 0600. He never showed.”

“He hasn’t answered any calls, texts or emails.”

“Does NCIS normally handle missing person cases?” Deeks asked, wondering why a case like this wouldn’t be handed down to a lesser agency.

“The Commander isn’t just any missing person,” Eric answered. “Rehme has access to nearly all of the navy’s confidential information. He’d be a prime target for domestic and international terrorists.”

“Ok, that’s definitely not good.”

“Indeed, Mr. Deeks.”

“He’s been missing for an hour and a half,” Callen said, glancing at Eric. “Send me his last known whereabouts. Let’s move.”

“What do you want me to do?” Deeks asked as he jogged down the stairs behind Kensi.

“You can hang out with Eric,” Sam suggested. “Maybe he has some files that need to be burned or something.” Deeks frowned at the back of his head, pursing his lips.

“He really does not like me,” he muttered as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Kensi stopped beside him.

“He’ll come around eventually,” she said. She reached to knock his shoulder, but pulled her hand back at the last second before she made contact. “But until then, don’t try to annoy him too much.”

Deeks didn’t comment on that, watching as Kensi grabbed her Sig and slipped it into her waistband.

“Be careful,” he said, leaning towards her. Her eyes widened for a second as he dipped his head. “I wouldn’t want anything to interfere with our date.” Kensi’s lips parted for a second, her body drifting closer to his for a second. Then she abruptly pulled back with a smirk.

“I think you mean you don’t want anything to interfere with my tacos. Because I’m definitely not losing this bet.” She walked backwards for a few steps, looking extremely pleased with herself.

“Touché,” he shouted after her.

***

The three agents returned looking subdued, and on Sam’s part, extremely angry. He headed to Hetty’s office immediately without saying a word. He had a fierce, singleminded look about him that immediately put Deeks more on edge than he already was.

“We found the Commander, but his daughter-“

“Is missing,” Deeks finished for Kensi. “Yeah, Eric told me.” He’d also shown him the video the Commander received from Amanda’s kidnapper. The sounds of her panicked screams and pleas would likely fuel Deeks’ nightmares for some time to come.

“Do you have any idea who might have done it? Eric said that there was a guy who killed three other girls this way, but that he was still in prison.” Kensi shook her head, biting at her bottom lip.

“No. It has to be a copycat. We’re stalled right now because this is technically the FBI’s case. Sam’s asking Hetty to let us take over or at least assist the FBI,” Callen explained with a deep sigh. “This is not going to be a pretty case. And the longer this takes, the less time Amanda has.”

“We have co-lead on the case,” Sam said, jogging down to the bullpen. “Let’s see what Eric has.”

“The Angeles National Forest is close to 650,000 acres,” Eric said a few minutes later when they were all in the operations center. “If Amanda’s in there, finding her is going to be next to impossible.”

“What about using infrared?” Kensi asked.

“She’s buried, her body temperature is dropping. It’s not going to work.” Deeks silently watched as they tossed around suggestions, moving with a single-mindedness he’d yet to witness. He felt useless amidst the urgency.

“Can you bring up the kidnapper’s video again?” Callen requested. Deeks could have lived without ever seeing it again. Eric pulled it up along with the video of the other three girls.

“The camera angle’s the same on every one, same size box,” Deeks noticed, earning a surprised look from Sam who added,

“And those are the same blue surgical gloves.”

“I’d say whoever killed the first three girls also has Amanda.” No one contradicted him.

He took a step back again as Eric searched for the Chevy Malibu that had left the park in the wee hours. It was amazing how quickly they were able to narrow it down the owner once Kensi noticed the damage and link it to Lucas Maragos’ brother, Andre.

“Kensi, go out to the US penitentiary at Victorville and see if you can make some sense of this,” Callen instructed.

“And take Mr. Deeks with you,” Hetty added, silently stepping into the room as she observed the various pieces of evidence on the screen.

Kensi looked just as surprised as Deeks felt, but she didn’t question Hetty’s instructions.

“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Callen asked. Personally, Deeks had wondered the same.

”This seems the perfect situation; I’m sure Deeks has interviewed many a criminal while in prison.” She looked to him for confirmation and he nodded.

“I have.” Just not ones who were serving life sentences for burying children alive. “I can handle it.”

“Good,” Hetty said, gesturing for them to go.

***

“So what do you want me to do?” Deeks asked, glancing around the cool jail cell. A guard had escorted them to the room a few minutes ago and directed them to sit at the table while he retrieved Lucas Maragos. It was oddly lit, the sunlight streaming through the window creating an almost sunset feel to the room. Somehow it only added to the overall creep factor.

Although he’d been a part of more serious criminal cases, particularly while he was finishing law school, he’d never defended a killer before. He wasn’t really looking forward to meeting a man capable of torturing little girls and their families.

Kensi didn’t respond, her gaze focused on her phone and he nudged her with his shoulder. She’d been mostly silent during the drive to the penitentiary. Although he’d felt the urge to break the tension with humor, he’d controlled himself. This wasn’t the time for distraction.

“Callen and Sam found the Malibu in Andre Maragos’ garage,” she told him, brows furrowed.

“That’s good, right?” Deeks asked. “I mean, it’s horrible in that this guy is probably a serial killer too, but it means that we’re closer to finding Amanda.”

“Andre and his wife claim they don’t know anything about the car. Supposedly their personal assistant is the only one who uses it. Callen and Sam are going to check out a camp in Angeles Forest that Andre and Lucas went to when they were kids.”

“That’s good, Kensi,” he said encouragingly. “It means we’re getting closer.” She turned to face him, her eyebrows drawn forward with worry.

“Callen also said that Eric calculated how much air is left in the box Amanda is buried in. It’s less than nine hours now Deeks. That’s not enough time,” she said, sounding distraught.

There was nothing else he could say that wouldn’t be a pointless platitude so he simply took Kensi’s hand and squeezed it. She smiled gratefully, squeezing back, her hand cool and firm in his.

“Wait a second,” she said after a second, her expression turning suspicious. She dropped his hand abruptly. “You’re trying to make me lose the bet, aren’t you?”

“That honestly was the very last thing on my mind,” he told her, amazed that she thought his mind was on anything other than Amanda at the moment. Kensi looked momentarily abashed before she gathered herself again.

“Oh, sorry. But keep your hands to yourself for now. We don’t want to give this guy anything to work with.”

“Which brings me back to my original question, what do you want me to do?”

“Just follow my lead.”

“That’s super helpful,” he muttered under his breath. Despite what most people thought, he liked to plan before he acted, particularly when it came to interviews.

The outer door buzzed and two prison guards brought Maragos through. His hands and ankles where both bound with chains.

Beside him, Kensi sat with her back perfectly straight, appearing professional and detached. There wasn’t a hint of the uncertain woman from a few minutes ago. It was amazing how easily she could flip that switch.

“Mr. Maragos, do you know why you’re here?” she asked, once the guards left.

“Another girl was kidnapped,” Marago said. “Which means that I might not have to spend the rest of my life in here.” His arrogance amazed Deeks and he couldn’t help himself from saying,

“It’s interesting that you know about her, given that you’re in prison and haven’t had any visitors in weeks.” Maragos just shrugged. For a second, Deeks thought he’d gone too far.

“Was the MO the same?” Maragos asked after a moment.

“Exactly the same,” Kensi confirmed.

“You got a partner on the outside?” Deeks followed up.

“Oh no. No, no, no,” he answered, his tone almost mocking which just fueled Deeks’ quiet rage. His resolution to follow Kensi’s lead was completely forgotten. “Check my call records and my email.”

“We did,” Kensi said shortly. “The only phone calls you make are to your brother Andre.”

Lucas Maragos shifted, showing the first sign of discomfort, if it could be called that, since he’d entered the room.

“Is that it? You and your brother like killing together?” Deeks wasn’t sure where the question had come, but he saw the slightest flash in Maragos’ eyes. It was enough to make him continue. “Yeah? Bury the girl and then sit there giggling with each other while they suffocate to death?” He heard Kensi inhale sharply, but didn’t look away from Maragos.

Lucas shook his head, glancing away, like Deeks’ words has somehow affected him.

“I didn’t kill those girls,” he insisted.

“Course not,” Deeks whispered. Maragos moved his hands, for what purpose he wasn’t sure, but Deeks felt a moment of sadistic pleasure when the chains prevented him from moving further. His jaw clenched, a hint of anger showing for the first time. Good, they were getting to him.

“Is there any evidence at all that points to my brother? He could have committed all these murders,” he suggested.

“Your DNA is all over the victim’s bodies,” Kensi said, her tone short and pointed.

“We’re related, the DNA’s gotta be close. Nobody checked my brother’s DNA.” Sighing, Kensi ignored Maragos’ attempt to distract them.

“You and your brother went to the same camp in Angeles National Forest. We think the latest girl could be buried there.”

“I help you find her, you reopen my case,” Maragos said. Deeks answered before Kensi could.

“You have nothing to do with it, sure.” Maybe it wasn’t his place to make promises, but he knew the importance of limitations. He’d seen enough guys get off because of loopholes. And he was 95% certain this guy was involved in the kidnapping and murders in some way.

“When we were kids, there were feral cats all over the place. Andre? Well, André used to spend hours catching them and strangling them.” It sounded like he was telling a bedtime story and Deeks felt his stomach clench. There wasn’t any sign that Maragos felt any remorse for his brother’s supposed actions.

“Wow, the golden summers of a sociopathic’s youth,” Deeks whispered. Kensi knocked his knee under the table. Maybe that had been going a bit far.

“I know where he buried them,” he insisted.

“Ok, then show us,” Kensi said.

“That was...impressive,” Kensi said half an hour later as they waited for Maragos to be loaded into transport. Deeks had wanted to draw up a legal document for Lucas to sign, making his offer to help binding. Kensi insisted that they didn’t need to, pressing time as a main concern.

“Yeah, sorry. I got a little carried away,” Deeks responded, scratching at his beard. She didn’t sound upset with him, but he had sort of hijacked the interview.

“You sounded a lot more like a cop than I expected.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I’ve spent enough time watching interrogations. And that didn’t seem that much different from when I have someone up in the witness stand,” he explained, then smirked at Kensi who looked worried and distracted again. “Of course, usually the witness is suing someone for scratching their Porsche or reneging on a business deal.”

“I’m glad you were there,” Kensi admitted, surprising him. “He gives me the creeps. If I was on my own, I might have punched his lights out.”

“Always happy to be of service. Any update from Sam and Callen?”

“They’re questioning Andre now. He wasn’t home last night.”

“Mm, well that doesn’t bode well for Andre. Hopefully Lucas actually knows where the body is and isn’t just taking the opportunity to get his first day trip in two years,” he said bitterly.

***

A/N: Obviously some event were changed or left out from the actual episode to suit my purpose. The next chapter will deal with the second part of the episode.

[ijustreallylovezebras]

The Selection - One

Pairing: Tom Holland x Royal!Reader

Summary: It wasn’t her selection, not her choice, and yet when she saw him she couldn’t help herself, she fell in love

Chapter Warnings: Swearing

A/N: So this is the first real part of this series! I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it - this one is kinda just to give you a feel of some of the characters and give a kind of understanding of the way in which this is going to pan out if you get me?? Please remember to like, reblog and comment, send in some asks to let me know what you think of it! If you want to be tagged please send an ASK into my INBOX, comments and reblogs asking to be tagged will not be acknowledged other than to refer you to do so so please just send an ask in initially :) Hope you guys are all well!!!

DISCLAIMER - THIS IS BASED OFF OF THE SELECTION SERIES BY KIERA KASS

Y/N felt she was melting under the stage lights that were on her. Not that they were actually on her, so much. More like on Allison and her parents. Y/N sat in between her two brothers, in her rightful place - third in line for the throne.

None of the attention was on her. Just as she was used to. Allison was there for that. All she had to do was look pretty and feign interest - it was a task that became easier the older she became.

After all, the older she got, the more books she had read. And the more books she read, the more easily she could distract herself from The Report.

Not that she disliked The Report - not by any stretch of the imagination. On the contrary, she adored the now somewhat elderly interviewer, Stanley, who had been present for her whole life, and her brothers and her always found ways of entertaining themselves as they blended into the background. That was all they were there for after all - background colour.

Today, however, was a day that she was genuinely interested in. The Selection. It was an event that had been being planned for almost as long as she could remember. Her elder brother, Jason, had told Y/N that Allison had been educated on the system ever since she was born so it was no surprise that all of their earliest memories included planning for the event.

It was surreal to think it was finally actually here. In only a few days time, the empty, lonely palace would be filled with the laughter and chatter of thirty five men. Jason and Lucas couldn’t wait.

Y/N, on the other hand, could. Thirty five men just meant more time for her to spend acting as prim and proper as possible - putting on an act that she had grown up to despise. When she was younger, it hadn’t been such an issue that she would rather hide away than socialise - it was even seen as endearing - yet now it was improper and impolite for her to do so, as a Princess her role was to be as sweet and welcoming as possible.

Lucas’ leg was bouncing up and down excitedly and Y/N placed a hand on it gently to pause it’s movements, giving her younger brother a look of mixed amusement and exasperation.

“Sorry,” he whispered. Y/N shook her head affectionately. Y/N’s mother turned around and gave them a warning look, though there was a slight smile on her lips.

“Whenever you’re ready Allison,” Stanley said with the warm smile Y/N and her siblings had all grown so used to over the years. Y/N’s father placed a hand on Allison’s shoulder as though to squeeze some comfort into his eldest daughter as her fingertips hovered over the glass bowls in front of her.

Allison plucked one from the bowl and held it carefully between her finger tips, unwrapping it slowly as though it was made from the most precious material known to man. She cleared her throat as daintily as she could.

“Elliott Class,” she read. Y/N shifted a little closer to Jason, feeling Lucas do the same to her to take a better look at the screen showing the photo and profile of her new housemate. Blond hair and blue eyes met her gaze and Y/N couldn’t help the little sigh that fell from her lips. Jason and Lucas stifled their laughter at the reaction.

The names flew over her head one after the other and she tried desperately to keep up as best she could.

Timberlake Talley.

Nicholas Ellis.

Matthew McGuire.

Their faces met her eyes in a blur and Y/N knew almost immediately that she would never get the men straight in her mind. She was already so lost and they were only about half way through the procedure.

“And finally,” Allison said, her smile wide and unyielding towards the camera, just the way all four of them had been taught when they were younger (though Allison had, admittedly, always struggled the most with that part of the top) as she plucked up a final application from the final bowl.  “From the South-West of London - Thomas Holland!” A final cheer erupted through the room and Y/N followed Jason’s lead, standing up to applaud her sister.

Applaud her for opening thirty five pieces of paper.

“Are we expected to learn all of their names?” Y/N murmured to Jason, who laughed quietly, both of them maintaining their wide smiles.

Y/N wondered if they looked as fake as they felt.

///

Only a day had passed and already the Palace was beginning to fill with the men prepared for Allison’s Selection. It had been decided over the final family dinner the previous evening that Y/N and her brothers were not to meet the men immediately for fear of overwhelming them too much.

They were to meet Allison almost as soon as they arrived in the Palace and, once all thirty five of them had been welcomed into the glamour of the building, they would meet the King and Queen.

It was fair for them to postpone meeting Jason, Y/N and Lucas. Despite being Royals, they were a family like any other and took great pleasure in annoying their sister.

So Y/N crept around the Palace, eager to catch a sight of some of the bachellors but, at the same time, shitting herself over the prospect. From what she had heard from the maid’s gossiping with her, over half of them had already arrived and settled into their rooms on the floor below herself and her family.

What was infuriating for Y/N was that by having the men here and her having to avoid them until she was formally introduced to them the following day was that it meant she was virtually sectioned off of the majority of the ground floor of the Palace as the men got their bearings - the last thing the King and Queen and Allison wanted was to have any of the thirty five randomly running into Y/N as she wandered about the halls aimlessly.

And the library was on the ground floor - her place of refuge. Her hiding spot. And she couldn’t reach it.

Y/N paced back and forth along the corridor on the third floor until Jason popped his head out of his room and gave her a glare.

“You’ll burn a hole in the carpet,” he huffed. Y/N rolled her head back and groaned.

“I’m bored, Jase,” she declared.

“I can tell,” Jason deadpanned and Y/N sighed loudly.

“I just want to go downstairs,” she whined.

“Can’t you go to the Women’s Room?” Jason asked. Y/N shook her head, rolling her eyes.

“Ally’s worried about me running into one of them on my way down,” she explained and Jason nodded.

“I don’t know any of their names,” Jason admitted. Y/N shrugged in response.

“I spent last night desperately trying to learn them,” she informed him. “But I wouldn’t worry too much - most of them you’ll only see a few times,”

“I guess you’re right,” Jason nodded. He paused and looked at her unsurely. “Are you going to be okay… you know, with all of them around all the time?” He inquired. Y/N huffed a laugh, leaning against the hallway wall opposite Jason’s room.

“It’s like Mum said - I’ve gotta grow out of it sometime, right?” Jason shrugged.

“Well if any of them bother me, let me know?” Y/N rolled her eyes a little at her brother.

“I get the feeling that’s what we have guards for,” she teased and Jason chuckled.

“If you really want to go to the library just sneak down - this is your home, not theirs,” Jason suggested. Y/N hummed, thinking over the idea.

“I’m just annoyed because I left a couple of poetry anthologies that I was studying down there,” she admitted wistfully thinking of the well-loved pages of Eliot and Keats she had left downstairs when she had been in the library until late the previous night - worrying over the very thing that was preventing her from going downstairs now.

“Just go,” Jason shrugged. Y/N nodded, running a hand through her hair distractedly.

“I think I will…”

///

Of course, Allison’s fear had to come true. Of course it did. Allison was right about everything - she always was, that was her place as the eldest sibling and future queen. But this was the first time Y/N had found herself bring properly aggravated by her sister’s seemingly improbable talent for predicting the future.

“Your Highness!” Y/N had to suppress her audible groan upon hearing the title. She forced the polite smile onto her face and turned to the man.

“Good evening,” she said, trying not to let her annoyance show.

“I wasn’t aware we’d be meeting you tonight,” Y/N’s smile widened a little as she took in both the man’s nerves and features.

He was one of the more handsome candidates, that was for sure, with unruly, curly brown hair that lay in an almost messy mop on the top of his head, though it was clear he had tried hard to give it some sort of order, he had a sharp jawline and bright brown eyes that held a certain softness in them that Y/N had never really seen before. He had the aura of someone who was normally cocky and self-assured and yet now, being presented with a princess, he shifted nervously from foot to foot, eyes flitting every which way in an attempt to avoid eye contact.

Y/N decided that she liked him - something about the way he held himself and his open expression made her immediately comfortable around him.

“Yes, you’re not meant to,” she agreed, letting her dainty ‘Princess’ laugh fall from her lips. “I just meant to sneak down to the library - I wasn’t meant to be found,” she admitted. The man laughed along with her, clearly feeling a little more at ease. “My parents and Al-” she caught herself just in time - “Princess Allison,” she corrected, “will not be please to hear of me leaving the second floor,” she confided, the grin on her face assuring the man that it was okay to laugh.

“Your secret is safe with me, Your Highness,” he promised, bowing a little awkwardly, as though unsure of the appropriate behaviour to show around royalty - to be fair, before today he never would have needed to.

“Much appreciated, Mr…” Y/N trailed off, racking her brain for the images of the profiles she had studied last night. “Holland?” She questioned uncertainly. The man beamed, proud to have had his name memorised.

“Tom Holland, Your Highness,” the brunet confirmed.

“Well thank you, Sir Thomas,” Y/N bowed her head towards him, not missing the grin widening on his face.

“It was nice to meet you, Your Highness.”

“You too, Sir Thomas. I shall see you at breakfast,” Y/N agreed, turning away from the Selected man and walking towards the library with careful, measured steps in order to avoid allowing Tom to see just how nervous she really was.

[velvet-tread]

A theory, or wild speculation, or whatever; anyway there’s some Bellarke

Here follows a collection of thoughts that don’t quite add up to a thesis yet

Season 5 had one of the best runs of episodes I’ve seen on this show ever - strong themes, great setups, impactful character beats. 9 straight episodes of near-perfection.

But imo it fell short in the last couple of episodes. How short depends on your perspective, but my feelings about it range from mildly disappointed to Jane Austen mourning weeds and little weepy handkerchiefs. Either way - the collapse into fudgy incoherence and loose ends actually undid all of the great work the show did in the first 9 episodes.  WHICH IS FUCKING INFURIATING. 

The show painstakingly put together so much excellent character and relationship set ups which either never materialised or didn’t pay off or just fizzled out. And now I’m left wondering what it all meant, which not only frustrates me on a viewer level but also makes me feel like an idiot for wildly overestimating what the show was doing with the material.

*looks at the X Files forever*

Just to pick a few things out at random.

a) Bellarke were put in conflict, but there was no emotional pay-off, the framing was all over the place and the resolution basically a post-script. 

b) We spent the series agonising about the wisdom of going to war on a fragile planet, but the actual harbinger of Apocalypse 3.0 (I can’t believe I have to write that) was someone only tangentially related to that storyline, whom every single named character bar Kabby was trying to stop. So was everyone wrong? Or just ineffectual? The latter is far less interesting and more depressing tbh.

c) The worms

d) Memori

e) I could go on

I repeat, I would not be so pernickety if the run up to the s5 finale hadn’t been so good, and the set up so promising.  The idea of a reboot was genius.  The Bellarke separation was genius.  Blodreina = genius.  Mama Bear Clarke = genius. Eligius = genius. Spacekru = genius. 

But ultimately?  Can ANYONE tell me what s5 meant?  What difference did any of those things make in the end?  What conflict was resolved satisfactorily?  I’d argue that the Blodreina/Blake siblings arc worked the best (although *howl* Bellamy was never given any in-universe context for Blodreina) but generally I’m left with the feeling that very few of these stories or conflicts had any meaning whatsoever, and especially not Bellarke.

So I have a theory and I stand to be corrected as ever because I am very much processing.

I think there’s a strong possibility Jason and/or the 100 writers room began rewriting the back end of season 5 as they were filming the early season 5 material.

Given Jason’s comments immediately after the finale, I’m inclined to believe that the rewrites, if I’m right, were mostly around Bellarke and the Flame.  Specifically, I think that at some point when they were filming mid-season, Jason changed his mind about how Bellarke-y he wanted the season to be, if at all.  And on top of that, I think as he was pitching season 6 around that time, he realised that he wanted to go full-hog with the Flame in season 6. 

Those two things might be connected.  Perhaps Jason realised the full extent to which he coud “bring Lexa back” without actually bringing back ADC, around the Flame.  Perhaps he wants to recreate the show’s Clexa glory days.  And perhaps romantic Bellarke isn’t compatible with that vision. Dumb, in my view, but hey.

Perhaps, he just realised that he can’t doesn’t want to write romantic Bellarke.

If that’s the case, then well, *shrugs*.  Less satisfying for me, but I don’t own this shit.  I do, however, own the prerogative to speculate wildly on how and why they squandered all that promise in the last couple of eps.

Certainly, a mid-season back end emergency rewrite would explain a few things:

1.The loose threads and wonky framing

For example, Clarke’s fury at Bellamy for putting the Flame into Madi’s head was just...dropped?  Why? When it was SUCH A BIG DEAL in 509?  What were we supposed to the think about that?  What was she? And Bellamy, who didn’t appear to even remember who Clarke was until he saw her at the ship, being angry at her? Really? Where? Since when? And importantly - why? 

I’m a writer and it’s my experience that the best planning you do for a piece is when you approach it at the start.  You brainstorm.  You get your thoughts together.  You address each problem and question and mould it into a whole so it all makes sense.

But when you finish the thing and you look at it and you think - the thesis is wrong! I need to restructure the entire thing!  That’s when mistakes get made.  Especially if, for example, you’re up against a deadline or in this case a filming schedule, the threads that you would usually pick up at the planning stage or in the editing stage get missed.  And because they are part of the final editing process, there’s nobody around to pick them up and properly address them.

Result?  Fudge.

2. The curious ambivalence about Becho. 

Look I ADORE Becho. They are soft, and loving and real af.  I fully believe that was always intended to be the case. 

I think Becho was set up as a benchmark, for Bellamy in particular, a symbol of his peace and prosperity in space,. And, of course, I think it was also set up as a point of conflict for Octavia and Clarke. In the case of the latter, it was definitely a silent love triangle. How do you explain the love triangle framing on two separate occasions? How else do you explain the two separate interviews Jason gave about love triangles?

But here’s what Becho was not set up as: a relationship that was supposed to develop on-screen and take the audience with it.  Becho had no arc this season. It wasn’t “a story” per se, however much Tasya and Bob’s chemistry electrified me. It was the backbone to *other* stories. 

So, why, then, were Becho given every single Bellarke beat, especially towards the end? A background of forgiveness? Check. A steadying influence on each other. Check. The person they’re fighting for? Check. Plotting together? Check? Battle couple? Check.

Contrast with Bellarke. Forgiveness?  That’s something for Bellamy and Madi to discuss without Clarke!  Battle plans? Clarke will do that with Echo instead (oh my GODDD my ot3 came to life there *clutches hands and wishes upon a star*). A steadying influence on each other? Maybe! Until they forget each other’s names when they’re not in a scene together! People they’re fighting for? Definitely not each other.

Meanwhile bts, the messages were VERY confusing.  So the show was giving us a Becho that, while very real, was not the core of the story. Which was probably why, in early season 5, some deep Becho nods (the extra forehead touch, the “I love her”) found their way on to the editing room floor. All legit. But then, the script-to-screens then BROUGHT THOSE THINGS BACK to the viewer’s attention?  Why? Why give us those things even though they were cut? Was it because maybe, the show had changed direction after the fact?

And don’t get me wrong. I loved every second of the show’s affirmation of Becho. I still adore them.  But how does it fit into the jigsaw of the show as it stands?  It doesn’t really.  In fact, if you just swap Echo for Clarke in Bellamy’s storyline this season, you would have a hard time telling me that this isn’t exactly what romantic Bellarke would look like - the only difference is that in terms of screentime, Becho’s antagonism has had far more time, and Bellarke’s forgiveness/working together has had more time. IN-UNIVERSE, IT’S THE OTHER WAY AROUND.  It’s why shipping Becho comes so easily for me. And if the show wanted to frame that as Clarke’s personal tragedy, I would get it and probably relish it. But the trouble is, I’m having a hard time understanding what the show *is* saying about Becho and Bellarke, because it seems to be constantly changing its mind.

WHICH. BY THE WAY. MADE THAT ENTIRE WAKE-UP MARPER VLOG SEQUENCE A MASSIVE DAMP BELLARKE SQUIB.

SORRY.

3. The Flame suddenly jumping to prominence as a tool rather than as a symbol late in the season.

The show went from framing the Flame as a threat to this kid, who had hidden from it her whole life, for whom it meant literal nightmares of people burning at the stake, something for Clarke to rightly protect her from, to something that turned her into a mouthpiece for Lexa, to Clarke’s hostility to it being framed as “wrong”. There was an abrupt change of tone imo, to Clarke’s fears being justified to Clarke’s fears making her, and I quote Jason from an interview that nearly made me choke on my cereal, a “helicopter” mum.

Excuse me while I punch the nearest object to smithereens.

The Flame “gave” Madi battle ideas (which were different from Octavia’s how, exactly?) by Gaia’s bedside, with just a MANTRA? That whole scene felt cobbled together at the last minute. Like a film student’s badly edited homework.

It’s giving Clarke life lessons, ffs! 

*clenches fist*

The whole thing feels like a season 5 retcon, hastily put together to justify Madi still having the thing in her head for season 6, when it can do it’s victory lap for real.

4. The scenes that were dropped

a) Bob and Eliza both referenced a big Bellarke scene that got cut.  My guess? Not a romantic scene but some kind of Hakeldama that allowed them to hash out their various beefs with each other and probably involved some shit talking about the Flame.

b) And like, if that scene had some tenderness in it? Too Bellarke maybe? No, Bellarke BAD BAD BAD *stern looks*

c) also, wasn’t Echo supposed to have a sad scene of sitting in the snow and remembering Azgeda? That was supposed to be at the snowy back end of the season, but Echo had no sads really.  Only fierce spacekru love and some cuddles and some good sexy time. Was there an Echo sad that got cut? What was it related to?

5. The writers room walkout

Yeah. I don’t know what that means, but it sure means something.

Just fyi...for some context.  I love Becho and they currently own my heart but until recently Bellarke was very much my otp. Probably, deep down, it still is.

But I’m getting tired of running this race. I have no problem with the show doing a slow burn. I have no problem with platonic Bellarke. But I need consistency and, importantly, I need the show to remember that Bellarke are the backbone of this show. Their relationship - however you frame it - is the heart and without it the show is nothing but a collection of Elon Musk conspiracy theories on reddit.

JUST LETTING THEM HAVE A CONVERSATION =/= BELLARKE ROMANCE.

If you want them platonic, fine, you win. But gutting their relationship from the inside out to try to ward off the sniff of shipping is just counterproductive. It’s the lack of real, meaningful connection that really turned me off Bellarke this season, not the lack of kiss or lack of romantic framing. Early in the season? Yes, the set up was all there and it looked GREAT. But their conflict never got off the ground and we never got a cathartic resolution to show us the characters really, truly mean something to each other. 

Ultimately the show forgot that they were friends who love each other, and I just *clenches fist* can’t ship that.  Maybe that’s what the show wanted. But the flipside is that at this point I’m not really invested in their relationship in any context, which is why the end shot left me cold. I hope Bellarke hasn’t died in my heart forever but...idk it doesn’t look good.

[gffa]

Scattered Star Wars novels thoughts: - After months of hoarding it because I don’t want it to be over (and just not making much progress on Twilight Company), I’m finally starting Empire’s End.  I want to get back into the swing of listening to books, rather than podcasts, and I’m pretty sure this is one that will suck me back in.  So wish me luck on that! - After Empire’s End, I think I’ll probably start over with Darth Plageuis, after that really cool discussion with @arihndas-pryce about the narrative structure of the book hopefully having adjusted my mindset on it.  Hopefully, by then, I’ll have caught up on Dark Lord of the Sith, which I think was part of what was contrasting against that book, because the comic is really digging into what a monster Vader is, even as Anakin Skywalker is a tragic figure, and I’ve been enjoying it so intensely, that a different structure (one that’s more neutral and felt, at the time, like it was trying to say the dark side wasn’t so bad, you guys!!!) clashed with what I wanted from a book about a dark sider. *laughs*  I do harp on narrative structure a lot, but it’s important stuff a lot of times, where it can make or break a book for me even.  But also because I listen to a lot of interviews from creators and themes and structures are really an important part of what goes into the bigger Star Wars story, so while I can’t pretend that I always know what an author is aiming for (see my half a dozen posts about Life Debt’s structure and my inability to entirely grok what I think Wendig was going for! XD), I do like to engage with that aspect as much as I can.  It can make a good story great or make an average story terrible, so it’s fascinating stuff! I eventually want to relisten to Lockdown as well, since I think @sl-walker’s comments about it may have shifted my mindset to better enjoy that one as well.  Because I want to enjoy these things!  And it’s one of those things where, you can never make me hate something I love, but you can absolutely make me love something I hated. - Someone please gently kick me to get started on Choose Your Destiny: A Luke & Leia Adventure, because I have trouble with those Choose Your Destiny books, I just want a straight narrative, I don’t want to have to choose!  Which wouldn’t be so bad, except it’s a lot of back-tracking and trying to remember which choices I’d already made, so I can read all options.  But a Luke & Leia adventure!!!  I WANT MORE OF THE SPACE TWINS. - So it looks like Shadow of Vader isn’t even going to be continued by other authors, it’s been out and out cancelled by Marvel.  I’m unsure of the status of Wendig’s other book (which wouldn’t have had anything to do with Marvel comics), but last I heard, that was cancelled, too.  I AM REALLY BUMMED ABOUT THIS, both as a loss of a story that I wanted and as the infuriating shit that went down over this whole thing and how, of course, nothing matters and he’s still fired and nothing changes. - I read that thread from Jason Fry about the thought going into the TLJ novelization and it was really interesting!  It’s some fascinating behind the scenes stuff about the process of writing such a thing, what could/couldn’t make it into the novel (like the Snoke backstory stuff) and Fry’s intentions about how to parse the story of it. It sort of ties into my more overarching thoughts about TLJ and where I am with it, where I like some stuff about it and still dislike some other stuff about it.  I suspect it’s how a lot of people have finally come around on the prequels (god, for awhile, it was impossible to go ANYWHERE on the internet without people saying that the prequels were objectively bad, because fandom loves and has always loved Hot Critical Takes, which continues to this day *side-eye look at some of YouTube’s The Jedi Are The Worst videos*), that a lot more people are like, “Well, they had a lot of problems, but I like these things about it.” because we have so much more Star Wars now and they’re not locked into having only prequels stuff. That’s kind of where I am with the sequels?  That and how the supplementary material does a lot of the heavy lifting for me--while I think the sequels are probably always going to be some of my least favorite (truly in the sense of “least favorite” and not “most hated”), I’m coming to the point where I think there’s a lot of interesting potential in there and I like the bigger themes (now that I’ve gone back to really look at Luke’s character and his flaws that have always been there), even if I think the movie itself needs a ton of propping up.  I mean, in fairness, I could really say the same about the prequel movies (aside from ROTS, which I will refuse to hear anything bad about, that movie is perfect, I WILL HEAR NO ARGUMENTS ^_~), but that work has already been done for me/I’ve already been doing that work, while the sequels aren’t even finished yet. So much depends on how well they do/don’t stick the landing, so much will depend on how supplementary material helps win me over (yes, yes, I know, the movie should be able to stand on its own, but Star Wars is a multi-media franchise and has been that way for decades, that’s just how it is, and, honestly, I love that aspect of it)(but also this is really not about me speaking on an objective level, but about a very personal journey through how I feel about the sequels! ie, this is about me, not you. XD) and Fry’s thread of tweets about the process of writing the TLJ novelization and the thought that went into it reminded me that, yeah, I really do very much feel like the supplementary stuff wins me over to what I saw as a flawed movie (but not nearly as flawed as I feared it would be)(but, then, IX isn’t out yet and it could ruin everything, especially as the closer to the Skywalker Saga) that has potential that can be teased out.

[storiesnobodyreads]

Sexy

Pairing: Chris Evans x reader

Prompt: you and Chris started dating after you starred as Captain America’s love interest. You do interviews together on the press tour. One interviewer is disrespectful to you, and Chris gets angry. 

You and Chris had been dating for several months now, after the shooting of Infinity War had wrapped. You had portrayed Steve Roger’s love interest, though you had gone into quite an effort to make your statement that Captain America’s true love interest was Bucky. After a while of arguing with Chris, he’d just looked you dead in the eye and said, “Are you trying to get yourself fired? I’d be more than happy to make out with Sebby.” 

During filming, you’d fallen in love with Chris Evans. You couldn’t think of a single reason why anyone wouldn’t fall in love with the man. Lucky thing for you, though, turned out that Chris had developed feelings for you too. He had asked you out on a date the day you had wrapped, and everything had been going great since then. 

For the press tour this month, you and Chris had been paired up doing interviews together. Apparently the connection between the two of you was visible on and off screen, or so Marvel decided. The relationship had not yet gone public, because neither of you desired the attention from the paparazzi. 

The first couple of weeks passed by rather smoothly. Most interviewers were extremely nice and superbly excited to meet the two of you. They had you play fun games and answer intriguing question. Every now and then the interviewers would hope for a hint that the two of you were dating in real life, because the rumours were out there, but you’d always managed to subtly dodge that question. 

On this particular Thursday, however, you and Chris were both exhausted. You’d gone to a party and it had gotten quite late; on top of that, the full days of doing interviews and pretending to be a fun person all the time, didn’t help. That morning, you’d begged Chris to just stay in bed and sleep all day, but he’d pulled you out of bed, emphasising that it was your obligation to the fans. You were well on your way to let the day be okay, until you and Chris crossed paths with the most terrible interviewer.

The man, named Jason, had elected to ignore you.

Chris tried many times to get you involved in the conversation, asking you questions about what you thought, but the interviewer would just cut you off. At a certain point. you just accepted that you weren’t going to get any attention, and you stubbornly leaned back in your chair. You reasoned with yourself that it was absolutely logical that the man was more interested in Chris Evans. He was Captain America, after all. However, it would have been nice to be a part of the conversation, and not getting shut up instantly every time. 

“Now of course, in this new movie you have a very attractive new co-star, Y/N Y/L/N,” Jason vaguely gestured at you, not looking you in the eye, only looking up and down your figure. You frowned a little; you couldn’t help feeling somewhat insulted. My eyes are up here, you considered pointing out, but then you were reminded that there were five cameras directed at your face and you had to keep yourself together. 

Beside you, Chris stirred. You quickly glanced over at him, and noticed from his posture that he was starting to get angry. 

Jason continued, “And you have a nice love scene in this movie. What was it like filming that scene?”

“Well, the thing about love scenes is that they aren’t nearly as romantic in real life as they look on screen,” Chris laughed a little, but his laugh sounded forced.  “You’ve got to keep in mind that there are like thirty people watching you behind the cameras, and you’re practically naked, so I was mainly just worried about Y/N, you know, just trying to make sure that Y/N was comfortable.” He dramatically turned to face you. “What was it like for you?” 

You chuckled when Chris winked at you. “Awkward,” you smiled, “But Chris was great. He did really do all he could to make me comfortable, and create a positive atmosphere on set--”

“Okay,” Jason interrupted you. You breathed out sharply, having been in the middle of a sentence. “So, Chris, what would you say is the sexiest thing about Y/N?”

Chris choked in his own saliva. Had the situation been different, undoubtedly Chris would have been able to laugh about it. However, the interviewer had been rude from you since the first second and had disrespected you every second thereafter. The question about your sexiness now just infuriated him. “Excuse me?” he brought out, giving the man a chance to back off. 

“Let me rephrase my question,” said Jason quickly. “Do you think Y/N is sexy?” 

Chris’ jaw dropped a little, and he seemed to be at a loss for words. “Y--yes,” he stammered awkwardly. 

Jason straightened his cards in his lap. “Why?”

Chris glanced sideways at you, looking for help, but you found yourself staring into your hands. Your disappointment in the superficiality of humanity had grown to the point where you no longer knew how to cope with it. Chris unclenched his hands and moved his arm as if he wanted to reach out to you, only to realise the cameras were still rolling on you. 

“Yeah, okay,” Chris cleared his throat, rising to his feet. “I think we’re done here.” He grabbed your hand and pulled you up, looking directly into your eyes for just a second, silently telling you to keep your head up. 

Jason leaped up as well. “What are you--what’s going on?”

Chris swirled around to face him and, suddenly, the usually so friendly sparkle vanished from his eyes. He tensed his muscles and towered over the scrawny interviewer, who appeared to shrink in his shoes. “You are acting incredibly disrespectful,” Chris said to him, his voice low, quiet, and mind-dazzlingly scary. “In this entire interview, you haven’t asked Y/N a single question. You have ignored her presence, and only mentioned her to verbally harass her for how she looks. Yes, she is stunning, but I will have you know that Y/N is a wonderful, intelligent woman and a fantastic actress. She has worked extremely hard for this movie and deserves to be respected for her performance.” 

Jason let out a squeak as Captain America hissed his furious words at him. “I didn’t--”

Chris wouldn’t let him finish. “Now if you’ll excuse us,” he grumbled, remaining ever so polite, yet with an undertone that threatened the interviewer’s life. “We’re leaving.”  

Chris placed his hand on your back and promptly steered you out of the room, marching straight past the cameras and the protesting crew, ignoring the screaming interviewer, pushing away the guards that attempted to stop you. He didn’t say a word, walking faster than your shorter legs could handle, and didn’t stop walking that quickly until both of you were out the building. He pulled his hoodie over his head and handed you back your sunglasses. Firmly, he grabbed your hand and held it, holding you in public. 

“What are you doing?” you asked, feeling small. Despite the fact that Chris hadn’t hurt anyone, and had remained perfectly polite to Jason, his anger still scared you. “Chris, please, where are we even going?” 

“We’re going shopping,” Chris said decisively. “And we’re going to buy the weirdest clothes we can find. And we’re going to wear them. In public. And we’re going to make a statement.” 

Your hand was getting crushed by Chris’. “Okay, and what statement would that be?”

Chris abruptly halted. “That you are so much more than just some kind of sex object,” he brought out in frustration. “You are so... You are just great, you know? And I don’t understand that other people are so damned superficial that they’re not willing to look any further than your looks.”

You unleashed yourself from Chris’ tight grip. Sarcastically, you uttered, “Do you not like my looks, Chris?”

Chris rolled his eyes and quickly pecked a kiss on your cheek. “Of course I do,” he said irritably. “But you’re also smart, and funny, and sweet. So we’re going to show the idiots out there that you’re more than what they think.” He glared at you, taking a deep breath, and then put up a wide smile. “Are you in?” 

“It’s a stupid plan,” you commented, “Of course I’m in.” 

Chris laughed, relieved that you weren’t holding his outburst against him, and wrapped his arm around your shoulders. Strolling through the streets of New York together, you encountered a carnival shop that looked like a party to be in. Chris doubted just for a second, but you had gotten excited about Chris’ plan, hence you grabbed his arm and pulled him into the shop. 

With the cheerful music blasting in the background, you started dancing, and soon you were swaying in Chris’ arms. You fetched colourful boa’s from the stands and swung them around Chris’ neck. “Maybe we can alter the statement we’re trying to make to you just being an idiot, not a sex symbol.”

“Ugh, you’re just jealous,” you said, placing a pair of bright, pink goggles atop his nose. 

Chris laughed. “Now you’re just dressing me up!” he exclaimed. “You have to wear weird clothes, too.” He rapidly scoured through the store and picked out several odd-looking outfits. He returned with his arms full and pulled you with him into a dressing room. Though there undoubtedly was a strict policy concerning not having two people in the same dressing room, but Chris quickly pulled the curtains shut. “Please put this on,” he offered, holding up a gigantic Pikachu costume. “I will do anything for you to put this on.” 

You giggled and kissed him deeply, gently shoving him against the wall. Chris reacted to your kiss immediately, dropping the costumes and tightly grabbing your waist. 

Chris smiled against your lips. “Or we can just do this?” 

You pulled back, holding Chris’ neck. “Chris,” you said seriously. “Thank you for standing up for me. I didn’t want to be rude and say anything, but I’m really glad you did. You actually managed to make your point without telling the guy to go fuck himself.” 

Chris shrugged a little, pressing you closer to him. “I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself. He was a fucking asshole.” 

“He was,” you chuckled. “But thank you. Really.” 

“Anything for you, babe,” Chris whispered against your lips. Then, a laugh broke through his expression. “Now that I’ve proven that I’m fantastic, you should definitely do me a favour. Wear the suit.” 

You bought the Pikachu suit and wore it with pride. You forced Chris to purchase the purple boa, sunglasses, and German lederhosen. Both of you bought bright green shoes that sparkled with every step you took. You walked out of the store with shining pride. 

Instead of avoiding the paparazzi like usual, you encouraged them to take many pictures of the two of you having dressed up like idiots. “Now I’m just going to be a sex symbol who is also an idiot,” you pointed out to Chris. 

Chris pointed at a cute-looking coffee restaurant, “Better than just being a sex symbol,” he shrugged. “Wanna drink coffee?” You did want to drink coffee, so you took your seat at a table in your Pikachu suit. Chris sat down before you, ordering two coffee’s from the waitress nearby. He then lay down on the table with his hands underneath his chin, and was smiling at you constantly. The pink sunglasses and purple boa did make him look extraordinarily cute.  

“Hey,” Chris said seriously, picking a purple feather out of his mouth. “I have found my answer to that lame guy’s question.” 

“Hmm?” you looked up from your coffee. “The question about why you thought I was sexy?” 

“Yeah, I figured it out,” Chris nodded, glancing up at you. He smiled lovingly. “You’re sexy because you’re you. And every single thing about you is amazing. So thank you for being you.”

[duaneodavila]

The Best True Crime Documentary — Day 2

Yesterday we started our 2019 legal March Madness feature, wherein we try to determine the very best true crime documentary. Because who doesn’t love binging Netflix (or Hulu or Amazon Prime) for their dose of “oh my god, I can’t believe this is real”?

Today, we reveal the second half of the bracket and you can start voting to determine which is your favorite.

(1) Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father v. (16) Capturing the Friedmans

              Just when you think Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father has completely gutted you and left you a sobbing mess, it ups the ante in a completely devastating way. The documentary was conceived by Kurt Kuenne when his friend Andrew Bagby was murdered. The woman suspected of his murder was pregnant with Bagby’s child and thus became inspiration for this 2008 documentary.

The 2003 documentary Capturing the Friedmans is a shocking look at the investigation of Arnold and Jesse Friedman for child molestation. The movie is bigger than the charges against the father and son, and looks at the striking family dynamics at play.

 Loading ...

(2) Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills v. (15) Breaking Vegas: The True Story of the MIT Blackjack Team

              Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming and spurred by two sequels, which continued following the same story of the West Memphis Three, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory. The documentary looks at the case against Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr., and Jason Baldwin who were convicted of the murder and sexual mutilation of three boys: Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch.

Who doesn’t like the story of clever, plucky people that take on a big institution for personal gain? The real story behind the famous card counting scheme has been so popular it’s inspires multiple books, movies, and documentaries.

 Loading ...

(3) Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist v (14) Dirty Money: Drug Short

Pretty much from the opening minutes of Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist, I was screaming at the TV screen. The movie tries to parse out who, exactly was responsible for a bank robbery and the death of Brian Wells, who died by a collar bomb during the robbery, and it will leave you infuriated.

Dirty Money: Drug Short lures you in thinking they’ll be talking about convicted pharma bro Martin Shkreli, but instead pulls off one of the most effective bait and switches as it details the rise and fall of Valeant Pharmaceuticals. The entry of this documentary may strike some as misplaced, because despite investigations by the SEC, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Massachusetts and New York, the state of Texas, the North Carolina Department of Justice, the Senate’s Special Committee on Agin,g and the House’s Committee on Oversight and Reform there’s never been a formal allegation of legal wrongdoing by the company. But Dirty Money expertly tells the tale of activity that should maybe be illegal expertly, and is so on our list.

 Loading ...

(4) Cropsey v. (13) Goodnight Sugar Babe: The Killing of Vera Jo Reigle

                    Cropsey is the documentary on our list that scares me the most. The subject, Andre Reed, was convicted of the kidnapping (the jury deadlocked on a murder charge) of Jennifer Schweiger — a crime that rocked my hometown and led to countless “stranger danger” lessons. The movie also details other unsolved missing children cases and the way urban legends fed the fear which led to the outcry over the Schweiger case.

The people who murdered Vera Jo Reigle may be convicted, but as laid out in Goodnight Sugar Babe, the reasons why Reigle was killed may be much more convoluted and twisted than authorities believe. This documentary’s interviews with Cheri Brooks (aka “Sugar Babe”) the crime family matriarch that may have organized the crime for shocking reasons are chilling.

 Loading ...

(5) Enron: Smartest Guys In The Room v. (12) Abducted In Plain Sight

The documentary about one of the biggest financial scandals in the history of the country, Enron: Smartest Guys In The Room, certainly deserves a spot in our bracket. You’ll find yourself disgusted by the smug hubris of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling and the financial machinations that led to the collapse of Enron.

Just in case you haven’t seen Abducted in Plain Sight, I won’t spoil the twists and turns which are guaranteed to leave your jaw on the floor. The 2017 documentary is about the kidnapping of Jan Broberg Felt, but I promise you won’t see all the craziness coming. It’s wild.

 Loading ...

(6) Leaving Neverland v. (11) Beware the Slenderman

What more is there to say about Leaving Neverland, the 2019 documentary that details the allegations of Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who both accuse Michael Jackson of sexual abuse? The movie describes Jackson’s alleged abuse in horrifying detail, and it’s pretty clear you’ll never listen to the King of Pop’s music in the same way again.

What happens when an online urban legend makes its way into the real world and motivates an attack on a child? That’s the disturbing true crime story behind Beware the Slenderman. Two 12-year-olds, Anissa E. Weier and Morgan E. Geyser, stabbed their friend Payton Leutner 19 times during a game of hide and seek in the woods. The girls said they committed the shocking crime to appease the Slenderman, an online horror story creation.

 Loading ...

(7) OJ: Made In America v (10) Mommy Dead and Dearest

            O.J.: Made in America has a prestigious pedigree, as it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards. It was produced as part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, and traces the trajectory of O.J.’s life, from his days playing as a football star at the University of California to his eventual 2007 conviction on robbery charges. Oh, and his acquittal for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman also get some attention.

On the other side is the twisted tale of Dee Dee Blanchard and her daughter, Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Gypsy Rose and her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, were arrested for the murder of Dee Dee, but it’s the reasons behind the crime will really leave you stunned.

 Loading ...

(8) The Seven Five v (9) The Central Park Five

The last matchup features two films aboout terrible miscarriages of justice in the 1980s in New York City. The first is the 2014 documentary The Seven Five, which tells the tale of corruption in the NYPD’s 75th precinct in the 1980s. The film largely focuses on the misdeeds of Michael Dowd, and uses footage obtained from the Mollen Commission, a task force put together in 1992 to investigate the NYPD.

The last film in this year’s bracket is by famed documentarian Ken Burns, who along with David McMahon and Sarah Burns, tells the tale of the wrongful conviction and eventual exoneration of Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise known as The Central Park Five. The men were convicted of the assault and rape of a woman jogger in one of the most publicized attacks of the 1980s.

 Loading ...

Polls are open until Tuesday, happy voting!

The Best True Crime Documentary — Day 2 republished via Above the Law

[fortheloveofpearlet]

Idk if you're still doing the drabbles but they're all so good wow (trust me to take this time to say that) but can you do a fluffy pearlet one where Jason has a crush on his barista Matt thank you so much lovely xx - Isabelle

Thank you darling!

Send me sentence prompts and drag race pairings and I’ll write you a little drabble!

Jason had never been a big fan of coffee shops. He was very particular about his coffee: three heaped tea spoons of coffee, one and a quarter tea spoons of sugar and a specific dash of milk that only Jason had mastered. Coffee shops never got it right. Jason would much prefer his own. Until he noticed him.

It started when Jason had an interview and it was held in a coffee shop in downtown Brooklyn. He was early so he went to the counter only to have the most perfect set of blue eyes staring back at him.‘What can I get for you?’ The guy half-smiled and it was such a gorgeous smile Jason almost forgot where he was. He shook it off and went about explaining to the barista his specific coffee needs. The barista laughed at Jason.'I’ll see what I can do.’ He smirked at him. 'What’s the name?’'Jason. Don’t fuck it up.’ Jason sassed.'As if I would.’ The barista smirked. Jason waited for his coffee for a little while before the man with the bright blue eyes brought him over a take away cup. He had a septum ring and light hair that was shaved at the sides. Jason found him irresistible. He handed Jason the cup with a small smirk. He’d written Jason’s name on the side but he’d spelt it Jayson. Jason looked at him with a frown.'Really? Are you an idiot?’ Jason rolled his eyes and the man just smirked.'Maybe. I am just a barista after all.’ The man winked at him and then turned away.

Jason’s interview went really well and he got the job. His new office was right around the corner from the coffee shop. The coffee had been horrible and that idiot had spelt his name wrong but that idiot was beautiful. So Jason found himself in there on a daily basis on his way to work.'Oh it’s you with the funny coffee.’ The barista with the bright blue eyes smiled a little.'And it’s you with the terrible coffee and even worse spelling.’ Jason retorted.'Explain it to me again, I’ll nail it this time.’ The barista told him and Jason sighed and explained his coffee needs again.'And its Jason. With no Y.’'Sure thing.’ The barista winked and went about making Jason’s coffee. This time when he handed the cup over, scrawled on it was 'JaysonwithnoY.’ Jason looked up into the baristas mesmerising eyes.'Really?’'I was just following orders.’ The barista once again winked at him and turned away.

This continued for a few weeks. The barista seemed adamant on winding Jason up.'Jason. Just Jason.’'Sure thing.’ The barista winked and went to make the coffee.'And please for the love of god try harder. Your coffee is appalling.’Minutes later his cup was fought over. Today it read 'Jason. Just Jason.’ Jason wanted to scream.'Oh my god.’ He muttered under his breath. Sure this guy was hot, hotter than any man Jason had seen in a long time but he was so infuriating. 'Why do I keep coming in here?’ He spoke under his breath as he walked towards the door.'My charm.’ The barista called after him. Jason just scoffed.

Weeks passed and this routine kept up. The barista would make Jason horrible coffee and write something dumb on Jason’s cup and Jason would throw the coffee away down the street after one sip. He needed to stop going in there but he couldn’t. He needed his daily fix, and he didn’t mean the coffee.

The coffee machine was on the fritz so Jason had to wait longer for his coffee this morning. There as no one else in the shop so he decided to try and make small talk with the barista to pass the time.'So what’s your name then?’ Jason asked as though he couldn’t care less.'Matt. Hard to spell wrong on a coffe cup.’ He winked at Jason.'I thought Jason would be too.’ Jason rolled his eyes. 'Does this place have like a website or something? I want to give it a one star rating. Terrible coffee and employees who are so dumb they can’t spell a five letter word.’Matt smirked at him but he said nothing. When he handed Jason his coffee he’d drawn five little stars on it and underneath it read, 'Five star customer review. For always brighting my day.’ Jason looked up for Matt, maybe he should apologise for this comment. But Matt was already serving someone else. Jason sipped the coffee as he left, pulled a face and tossed it in the trash can up the road.

More weeks went passed and Matt stopped writing little things on Jason’s cups. Jason thought it was probably his own fault for the way he’d spoken to Matt. It didn’t stop him coming in though. That morning when Matt handed him his coffee Jason stood and took a sip. Three heaped tea spoons of coffee, one and a quarter tea spoons of sugar and a specific dash of milk that only Jason had mastered. It was perfect. He looked up and his eyes met Matt’s and Matt simply shrugged at him before turning to his next customer.

Jason finished his coffee for the first time ever just as he was reaching his office building. He was about to toss the cup when he realised something. The cup had one of those cardboard sleeves on it, the kind designed to stop you burning your hands. Jason never used them, mostly because he usually tossed them away pretty quickly. He frowned to himself as he pulled the sleeve off. Sure enough underneath was a message. There was a phone number and under it, it read: ’Now you know I can actually make decent coffee, how about you call me and I make you some in bed sometime? You spent all this time calling me dumb, but what does that make you when you haven’t realised I’ve been making your stupid coffee wrong on purpose and I’ve been flirting with you for weeks? ;) Matt x’ Jason read the message over and over in his head. Had he really been so slow? He thought Matt was just a beautiful pain in the ass but that was his idea of flirting? He laughed to himself and put the sleeve back on the cup before heading into his office.

After work he had less than five minutes to make it to the coffee shop before it closed. When he got there it was empty, aside from Matt who was bussing a table. Jason pushed the door open.'We’re closed.’ Matt spoke but then he turned around and saw Jason and he smirked. 'Got my message then?’Jason didn’t have any words. Instead of speaking he ran at Matt and cupped his face before pressing his lips against his.'Asshole.’ He spoke into Matt’s lips. 'Fucking asshole.’Matt laughed and wrapped his arms around Jason, kissing him back. The kiss grew heated but neither of them cared about where they were. Before Jason met Matt he’d been a coffee addict. Now he had a new addiction.

[the-jaydog8-blog]

E-Portfolio

Casting Jon Benet (2017) & Paris is Burning (1990)

1. Personal Impact-

Casting Jon Benet

This film resonated with me for two reasons. The first is that I feel this film acts as a sort of mirror for the viewer, forcing us to acknowledge a tendency we have as humans, where we are often consumed by curiosity to the point that we look at tragic events (i.e. the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey) as a means of our own entertainment, dehumanizing those involved and affected by the event (I’ll get into this more in the Social & Political Context section). The second reason this film affected me so deeply is too personal to share in detail, but essentially the montage scene at the end of the film really hits home, as it reminds me of a similar experience I’ve had with my own family.

Paris is Burning

I was raised Christian. The church I grew up in is a Baptist Church in Los Gatos. The congregation is primarily white, wealthy, and very conservative. My oldest friend from church was named Jason (he also went by “Jay,” like me). Besides our names, and the fact that we both came from wealthy, conservative, white families, we didn’t have much in common, but we remained good friends throughout the years. We attended church together from preschool, through the end high school. As we got older, we didn’t hangout much, but whenever shit-hit-the-fan, we were always there for each other. During our senior year, Jay came out as gay. I was surprised when he told me, but I didn’t think much of it. I just said, “Awesome!!” and gave him a hug. I was really happy for him. We then both went on to attend SCU. Over the next 4 years, I got to see Jay transform. Slowly but surely, Jay became comfortable being himself. I realized that for the first 18 years of our lives, I didn’t really know Jay. But here at SCU, I got to know him. It seemed like he had finally found a community where he felt accepted; a community where he felt no pressure to be anything other than himself, and where he felt no guilt or judgement about who he was. He graduated in Spring of 2017. He killed himself 4 months later.

When I watch Paris is Burning, I think of Jay. I think of him strutting across campus, radiating confidence, with a hot pink boa around his neck and rainbow flags attached to his backpack. I think of how he thrived in a community where he felt a sense of belonging. But then I think of the battle he fought every day. I think of the torment he felt. And then my heart breaks because I think about how he must have felt lost after leaving SCU, the safe, welcoming community he had once belonged to. I think of how he ultimately lost hope, how he saw no end to the suffering, and how he was forced to take what he saw as the only way out. So, why is Paris is Burning so important? The answer is simple: this film offers hope to the hopeless. It has been 28 years since this film was released, but it is no less valuable today than it was then. There are still so many people today struggling to find a sense of belonging, struggling to find any reason to live; this film is for them. Paris is Burning offers hope to those who desperately need it.

2. Social & Political Context

Casting Jon Benet

Ok I know literally everyone and their mom has used this video in their presentations but hear me out... I believe Childish Gambino’s “This is America” music video shares similarities with Casting Jon Benet in terms of their social/political commentary, as well as their method for delivering said commentary. 

There’s this movement on social media that I’ve seen becoming more and more popular among my generation over the last couple years, which I’ve dubbed the “Good Vibes Only’ movement. Essentially, its a collective emphasis on positivity and self-care with a main guiding principle that says, “focus solely on what makes you happy, and cut out everything else.” While I’m a big believer in self-care and positivity, I feel like this practice of ignoring anything that makes you uncomfortable or upset is unrealistic and unhealthy, and has led to an increase in apathy and desensitization that is hurting our society. “This is America” and Casting Jon Benet both highlight the existence of this problem by acting as a sort of “mirror” for the viewer, where the intended audience sees their own tendencies reflected back to them by the people and events on-screen. 

Childish Gambino’s video highlights the way the privileged white majority in America likes to focus on and get enjoyment from the "fun” aspects of African-American culture (rap, hip-hop, dance, etc.), but does not like to acknowledge the problems and struggles African-Americans face daily (police brutality, poverty, discrimination, etc.). #positivevibesonly...

Casting Jon Benet is an example of how easily we, in America, can get so caught up in our own curiosity that we lose track of what is really at the core of what has us intrigued. In this case, a 6 year-old girl was brutally assaulted and murdered, yet in this documentary we see how, since the murder, most of us have been so obsessed with the mystery of it all that we forget about the heartbreaking tragedy at the center of it. Again, an example of how we push away the things that make us feel sad or uncomfortable so we can focus solely on the “fun” part of it and feel good. 

Paris is Burning

When this film was being made, it was an especially brutal time to be a homosexual man in New York City. The AIDS epidemic was in full-swing, and everyone was terrified of contracting the disease. On top of the fact that AIDS was claiming the lives of many gay men, it also served to completely alienate the gay community, causing them to become outcasts of society. Essentially, in the 80s, gay men in New York City were treated like lepers; they were the “untouchables” of society. Many were even cast out by their own families, leaving them to fend for themselves. While Livingston did not intend for this film to spark a social-movement - (“Paris is Burning is not a social-movement film, nor does it presume to represent the totality of queer-of-color existence. In fact, the film is quite explicit that it is specific to a time and a place,” (Hildebrand, 138)) - I do believe it serves a greater purpose.

At a time when gay men were facing relentless persecution and being pushed to the margins of society, Paris is Burning depicts how black/hispanic gay men in New York City were able to create their own community in which they found safety, solace and hope. By choosing to portray the “ball scene” in NYC, Jennie Livingston created a film which offered hope to the gay community, who, at the time, did not have many media representations that they could connect with. “The film matters to many...particularly those who have been starved for images of lives with which can they identify and that validate their right to exist and inspire alternative ways of being in the world. Thus, the film’s importance is not just historical but also affective. The cultural work this documentary has done in the world transcends the film and its filmmaker by offering models of queer world-making,” (Hildebrand, 146). Today, this film is still just as important, as it continues to serve as a message of hope to those struggling to validate their own existence, showing them that, while it feels like they have nowhere to turn, it is possible to create a new life that is worth living.

3. Director’s Voice

Casting Jon Benet

Although still very much in the early stages of her film career, Kitty Green has already begun to establish a unique voice. Green has a very unique style of reenactment that is on display in Casting Jon Benet, as well as her first film, The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul (2015); she holds “auditions” for the roles in her reenactments, and then uses the performances from those auditions as the actual reenactments in her film. By doing this, Green is able to show different interpretations of the same event. Green then intercuts these reenactments with interviews from the auditions, and uses that combination as the narrative structure for the film. 

Paris is Burning

“...this film operates in a liberal cinéma vérité tradition that refused voice-of-God narration in order to allow the participants and the footage to speak for themselves,” (Hildebrand, 138). Much of the criticism surrounding Paris is Burning is in regards to Jennie Livingston’s “director’s voice” (or, lack-thereof). The unique thing about Livingston’s voice in this film is that she doesn’t really have one; she completely omits any sort of didactic voice from this documentary, which causes it to have a sort of open-ended narrative, with no clear resolution or call-to-action. Some criticize Livingston for this, saying that it allowed for the privileged white audience to purely get entertainment from this film, rather than being forced to think about the social issues being raised. “...the lack of the filmmaker’s own didactic voice may, in part, suggest a kind of ambiguity and account for the divided readings of the film,” (Hildebrand, 138). 

4. Evolution of Global Documentary

Casting Jon Benet

Seeing as it was just released a year ago, its hard to tell the impact Kitty Green’s documentary has had/will have on the world of documentary-filmmaking. However, based on the reactions it has received, I think it is safe to say that this film is definitely making waves in the world of documentary. Even those who have criticized it, still admit that it is an important part of documentary history; “...Casting Jon Benet, is in many ways a deeply unsatisfying, even infuriating film, but I wouldn’t want not to have seen it,” (Brody). In fact, its controversy only serves to further solidify its place in the history of documentary film. Many point to Errol Morris as the main inspiration for Kitty Green’s films. However, while inspired by Morris, Green has begun to create an original style of her own. In the next few years we will be able to get a better idea of how Green’s film has impacted the world of documentary filmmaking. 

Paris is Burning

At a time when gay men faced intense discrimination and lacked any sort of role-models on-screen that they could relate to, Jennie Livingston’s Paris is Burning joined films like Tongues Untied (1989) by Marlon Riggs in jump-starting a movement that provided those in the LGBTQ+ community with films they could look to for inspiration, and representation. Although Livingston claims her film is not a social-movement film, I believe it falls in the same category as films like Tongues Untied as helping drive the movement for equality in the United States. 

I believe Paris is Burning has a place in film history (and apparently so does the Library of Congress, as they selected it for preservation in 2016). As I explained in my first section, this film matters for many people, for many reasons. As long as there are people in need of hope, in need of knowing there is a possibility of a better life and a better future, this film will matter. 

Works Cited

“Casting JonBenet”: A Documentary That Unintentionally Exploits Its Participants" (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. by Richard Brody, The New Yorker, April 2017.

"Film Review: Casting Jon Benet (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site." written by Peter DeBruge, Variety, April 2017.

"Is Paris Burning?", by bell hooks in Black Looks: Race & Representation; 2014.

"Love Hangover: Debates", pp 119-146 in Paris is Burning: A Queer Film Classic, by Lucas Hildebrand, 2013

http://thesantaclara.org/remembering-the-life-of-jason-jay-bassett/#.Wxi8sNXwa8o

[mrmichaelchadler]

“Minding the Gap,” “The King,” “Devil’s Freedom” Among Highlights at DOC10 2018

You won’t find a more splendidly curated event dedicated to nonfiction cinema than DOC10, the annual Windy City festival presented by the Chicago Media Project. Ever since it kicked off in 2016, DOC10 has screened multiple films that have gone on to be ranked highly among my very favorites of recent years, such as Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami’s riveting Sundance prize-winner, “Sonita,” and Theo Anthony’s thrillingly experimental mosaic, “Rat Film.” The third installment of DOC10, which runs from Thursday, April 5th, through Sunday, April 8th, at the Davis Theater, 4614 N. Lincoln Ave., promises to be no exception. 

Opening the festival is “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”, the highly anticipated profile of television icon Fred Rogers, directed by Oscar-winner Morgan Neville (“20 Feet From Stardom”). Other selections this year include Robert Greene’s “Bisbee ’17,” a timely look at the mass deportation of striking miners, restaged onscreen by their descendants; Jason Kohn’s “Love Means Zero,” an in-depth conversation with formidable tennis coach Nick Bollettieri; Mila Turajlic’s “The Other Side of Everything,” an investigation of a Serbian family’s history and how its divisions reflect those that permeate their country; Elan and Jonathan Bogarín’s “306 Hollywood,” a more lighthearted look at the story contained within objects left behind by relatives; and Betsy West & Julie Cohen’s “RBG,” a rousing celebration of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And in an inadvertent nod to “Ready Player One,” the festival will debut its own “VR RV,” inviting guests to experience virtual reality documentaries while safely situated within a recreational vehicle parked in front of the theater.

I was able to screen five of this year’s selections, and they are all essential in their own respect, though none of them spoke to me on quite as personal a level as Bing Liu’s “Minding the Gap.” It is set in Rockford, Illinois, one of the saddest of all American cities, containing near-vacant streets that are an ideal stage for the free-flowing movement craved by young skateboarders. Liu grew up filming his friends, Zach and Kiere, performing bruising stunts on their boards, and in his extraordinary first feature, the director holds his camera on their faces, illuminating the buried pain that they share, as well as their need to escape it. The fact that all three men are victims of domestic abuse is alarming but also quite commonplace in a town like Rockford. Having spent a great deal of time there myself, it is clear to me that Liu understands the area so completely that its essence has seeped into the marrow of his bones. This is a city where nearly half the population is paid below the minimum wage for working jobs that are gravely understaffed; where funding is slashed for street lights in crime-ridden neighborhoods; and where the residue of violence clings to the interior of houses that were meant to comfort and protect. “This place eats away at you,” says Kiere, who relishes the fleeting sense of control he sustains on his skateboard, until he wipes out. Sure, the hobby may hurt him on occasion, but so did his dad, and he still loves the old man, though it’s telling that Keire finds catharsis in stomping on his boards until they splinter. 

Being part of a community is often the only source of empowerment for disenfranchised Americans, a key reason for why churches and gangs proliferate exponentially in Rockford. The young men at the center of this film have found that community in each other, and the beauty of “Minding the Gap” is in how it utilizes the art form of cinema to bring its subjects closer to a place of healing. “I saw myself in your story,” Liu explains to Keire, who likens the experience of making the movie to “free therapy.” As the filmmaker struggles to come to terms with the wounds inflicted by his own upbringing, he starts to see echoes of his abuser in the increasingly unsettling behavior of his friend, Zach. With remarkable tact and sensitivity, Liu coaxes a tearful confession from Zach, who admits to beating his long-suffering girlfriend, Nina, while acknowledging the demons he has strained to suppress with his cheerful demeanor. When Liu films his mother and simultaneously confronts her about the abandonment he felt as a kid, he keeps a separate camera fixed on his face, drawing attention to his own inability to break free from the pain of his past. Assisted by co-editor Joshua Altman, Liu weaves these stories together, forming a seamless symphony of anguish and euphoria, culminating in an extended montage so deftly executed that it left me in awe. Kartemquin Films has produced many of the all-time greatest documentaries over the past 52 years, and this is their latest masterpiece.

“Minding the Gap” screens at 5pm on April 8th, followed by a Q&A with Bing Liu and other special guests.

“Devil’s Freedom,” Everardo González’s harrowing look at the toll of Mexico’s drug wars on the human soul, clocks in just over an hour. Any running time longer than that may have proven unbearable for most audiences. It is unlike any talking head doc I’ve seen, concealing its subjects’ faces behind masks, supposedly to maintain their anonymity. It is also an aesthetic choice of unfathomable depth. All of the people González interviews have been robbed of their identities by the atrocities they either have committed or have endured at the hands of others. The sameness of their blank masks externalize the dehumanizing repercussions of murder in all forms. As victims are rendered faceless in the minds of their killers, the humanity that had once defined the faces of the killers themselves are removed as well. When González’s subjects cry, tears form on their masks like pools of blood. As one man justifies his string of homicides, his eyes are shrouded in darkness, causing his face to resemble a skull. After a mother attests to feeling compassion for her sons’ killers, who cower in shame while in her presence, she is able to take off her own mask, emerging from her despair as a whole person. Allowing for wordless stretches accentuated by a hypnotic atonal score, González conjures unspeakable imagery in our minds, as his probing questions enable each subject to come clean about their inner turmoil. Perhaps most potent of all is the interview with a man who recalls how his face changed immediately after he had killed a child for the first time. Suddenly, his entire being was consumed with regret, though he’s convinced that he had no choice apart from obeying orders. “I don’t deserve compassion,” he replies matter-of-factly. “When I die, I will have the same expression as everyone else.” He already does.

“Devil’s Freedom” screens at 12pm on April 8th, followed by a Q&A with professor Xóchitl Bada of UIC; professor Héctor García Chávez of Loyola; and Susan R. Gzesh, executive director of the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights.

The finest documentary I saw in 2017 was Angelos Rallis’ “Shingal, Where Are You?”, a shattering wake-up call to the world detailing the 2014 genocide waged by ISIS targeting a religious minority in Iraq known as the Yazidis (alternatively spelled “Yezidis”). With over 3,000 women held captive by ISIS, the surviving members of their community now live as refugees and are desperate to preserve what remains of their culture. Rallis’ film charted the efforts of a Yazidi family to negotiate the return of their kidnapped daughter through numerous intermediaries, while listening to her horrific stories shared via speakerphone. Alexandria Bombach’s “On Her Shoulders” serves as a fitting companion piece to “Shingal” by following another Yazidi woman, 23-year-old Nadia Murad, who escaped her captors and is now traveling the world with the hope of bringing ISIS commanders to justice. Bombach is less concerned with the particulars of Yazidi identity than with the universal qualities of Murad’s plight as a displaced woman who carries a profound weight of responsibility on her shoulders. No matter how much praise she receives from well-wishers, the humble activist says that she will only see herself as a person of worth when the terrorists who killed her family have their day in court. With three brothers and a sister still in captivity, their fates left unknown, Murad must continuously recount the suffering of her people in excruciating detail, while somehow keeping her ferocious strength intact. When other Yazidis break down in front of her, she urges them to wipe away their tears, just as she does when the sorrow threatens to resurface. She is an astonishing force to behold, joining the ranks of other towering young women whose spoken truths are bringing about tangible change, drowning out every sexist naysayer in their path.

“On Her Shoulders” screens at 4pm on Saturday, April 7th, followed by a Q&A with Alexandria Bombach; Matthew Barber, former executive director of Yazda in Iraq; Brannon Ingram, professor of Religious Studies at Northwestern University; and Dr. Nancy Bothne and Kaycee Foreman of TCSES.

There is nothing satisfying about the conclusion of Stephen Maing’s “Crime + Punishment,” and that’s as it should be. Like previous Oscar-winners “Citizenfour” and “Icarus,” this infuriating exposé champions whistleblowers who risk everything in order to bring deep-seated corruption to light. In this case, it’s a group dubbed the NYPD 12, comprised of officers who have charged their department with enforcing an illegal quota system. Using police as a revenue-generating agent for the city is assuredly against the law, and yet over $900 million of New York City’s annual budget is generated by summonses, many of which these officers are allegedly pressured by their supervisors to issue. Hidden cameras and audio recordings capture irrefutable evidence of the NYPD’s crimes laced with blatant racism. When Sgt. Edwin Raymond asks why he hasn’t received his richly deserved promotion, he is informed that his identity as “a young black man in dreads” is the chief reason. Another cop, Sandy Gonzalez, is penalized for not being in uniform, simply because he wore his winter hat while standing at his post on a chilly morning. When he explains that it felt much colder than the day’s projected temperature of 38 degrees, his superior snaps, “It doesn’t matter how it feels! It was expected to be 38.” To paraphrase the disgraced Commissioner Bratton, that’s some bulls—t right there. Watching this film, I was reminded of my favorite line from “Minding the Gap,” delivered wistfully by Keire: “My dad said that being black is cool because you get to prove people wrong every day.��� Though the NYPD 12’s case against their department is lodged in legal limbo, these officers have pulverized the assumptions of their overlords, who thought they could intimidate their underlings into submission. Needless to say, they have been proven wrong. Boy have they ever.

“Crime + Punishment” screens at 9pm on Friday, April 6th, followed by a Q&A with Sgt. Edwin Raymond.

Fans of “Twin Peaks: The Return” are going to have a field day with Eugene Jarecki’s enormously ambitious visual essay, “The King” (formerly titled “Promised Land” upon its Cannes premiere). It tackles several of David Lynch’s most memorable topics: Elvis, Vegas, Hollywood, mushroom clouds, small-town idealism and the dissolution of the American dream. Mike Myers, of all people, has one of the film’s best lines, claiming that the nuclear testing in Vegas caused the city to become a “radioactive mutation of capitalism,” a pure expression of our prevailing values governed by the almighty dollar. Boarding Presley’s 1963 Rolls Royce, Jarecki embarks on a road trip across the United States, while building a brilliantly nuanced argument that the legendary singer’s life serves as a microcosm of the country itself. The issues explored here by Jarecki are endlessly provocative and could easily have been stretched into a miniseries, yet he and his quartet of editors somehow manage to make all the disparate pieces coalesce into a mesmerizing whole. Traveling from Presley’s birthplace in Tupelo, Mississippi to the numerous colorful locales he once called home, the filmmakers invite a diverse array of singers to perform in the backseat, many of whom represent the genres that he embraced and arguably appropriated. As the election of Donald Trump looms on the imminent horizon (“He’s not going to win,” Alec Baldwin insists), the parallels between him and Presley prove to be inescapable—both are celebrities cross-branded to consumers and both are swayed into making self-destructive choices when prioritizing money over common sense. As the Rolls Royce starts to inevitably break down, the wheels have come off the very foundation of American democracy. I can’t imagine a more appropriately bittersweet closing night selection for DOC10 2018 than this triumphant ode to disillusionment. You’ll be discussing this one for days, preferably at The Bang Bang Bar. 

“The King” screens at 7:45pm on April 8th, followed by a closing night tribute to Eugene Jarecki, complete with a Q&A and musical performance.

For the full festival line-up, visit the official site for DOC10.

from All Content https://ift.tt/2ImTn5k