#just seeing two women have an arc together and have a relationship together that didn't depend on a male third party

[sleepingfancies]

oh, you’re sooo right about daisy head and jessie mei li really pulling their weight - and I do think the show was generally such a serve in terms of letting female characters really bond and develop friendships. so if they continue to work in that department, we’ll get to really witness alina develop (more) codependent relationships with them like she kind of already does in the latter half of the series which will be really fun (the trailer for the second season does look promising already!)

HONESTLY I think genuinely one of my favorite parts of the show was that the female characters really felt whole and full of personality and they weren't reduced to archetypes nor how they interacted with the men around them!! I think the hardest they tripped on that was Alina and Zoya, which makes sense since that felt like an equally forced rivalry in the books imo. I'm very excited to see how they develop Nina and Inej's friendship, Alina and Tamar's friendship, Genya and Alina's friendship, and apparently we're getting some crossover friendships as well like Zoya and Inej from the looks of it which makes me so happy honestly!!

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buck & Eddie: They're Soulmates!

Buck and Eddie share a once in a lifetime love of each other's lives type of love that transcends space and time.

The love they share is not platonic, it's romantic and the natural chemistry they have is OFF THE CHARTS.

There are people who wish they could have one tenth of the love they share with each other and that's why over the years, the show has made it a point to highlight and compare their love interests against the other one as a way to prove Buck and Eddie are meant for each other.

Therefore, can it once and for all be acknowledged that the possible reason why NONE of Buck’s previous relationships with AC, AM, TK and ND never worked was because THEY WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO?

The same goes for Eddie because NONE of his relationships ever worked either including the one he had with Chris' mother. SD, AF and now M (who the show still hasn't given a last name and that speaks volumes as to how long she'll possibly be around) didn’t or won't work for Eddie because THEY WEREN'T/AREN'T SUPPOSED TOO EITHER?

It's interesting to see all these takes on how some people view their previous relationships with those women through rose colored glasses and saying things like they could have been great if... (_______ fill in the blank with whatever randomness you'd like). The point is they weren't meant to be anything but a placeholder until Buddie goes CANON.

Buck

There have been so many takes on Buck and TK being perfect because they were cute together but did everyone who thinks that forget she was willing to throw the 118 and their captain under the bus in 2x6? Don't even try to rebutt it with logic from that fake redemption arc that was included in 5x7 for her because in 5x17 she ultimately accomplished her goal by doing exactly what she intended four years earlier when she broke a promise she made to Buck and ran with the Jonah story then wrote a raggedy book about it exactly one year later in 6x17. It's true that Buck knew who she was but he still dated her (which speaks more to his poor decision making than hers) but they both knew it was wrong from the start. They were never going to work and they were never FRIENDS. Friends don't treat each other like $hit so they can get their way then expect for you to just be ok with it and follow it up with a half @ssed apology like, "I'm sorry you're still upset about the story" 🙄. With friends like that, Buck doesn't need enemies.

AC literally ABANDONED him but there are still people who think she would have been good for him. It appears they forgot she FOUND a man with two kids in another country and in 3x18 she came back two years later to rub Buck’s face in it. She didn't even have the decency to apologize to him.

AM was the worst of all because SHE WAS NEVER THERE WHEN BUCK NEEDED HER. Was she nice, yes but she didn't know him at all and when his leg got crushed by the ladder truck in 2x18, she dipped and ABANDONED him too. But for some reason, she's being heralded as his best relationship ever which is so far from the truth it's funny sad not funny haha. She left him in his loft with a cast on his leg because she didn't know what she wanted.

ND was/is only interested in Buck because he DIED! THAT'S IT! There's nothing else to the story. She clearly COULDN'T SEE HIM because they only knew each other for two seconds so please stop romanticizing their hookup like it was some "Gone with the Wind" love story because that's a bunch of BS since they didn't and still don't know each other.

Eddie

SD was NOT the perfect wife and mother people who wanted her to stick around and coparent Chris with Eddie have made her out to be. The show clearly retconned her character in 6x15 like she was so young and she didn't deserve to die but be clear, the relationship she had with Eddie was toxic as F%ck! All they did was argue and instead of talking, they had sex. They didn't communicate and when she was ready to leave again, she thought she would have time to come back and be "someone's wife and someone's mother" (her words but notice she didn't say Chris' mother or Eddie's wife, she said someone's) but her time ran out and she didn't get the chance, hence the title of the episode she died in, "Careful what you wish for". Trust and believe she had a lot of faults and Eddie did too but her being young wasn't an excuse for her leaving Chris and not contacting him for almost 2 years. If Eddie wouldn't have contacted her about her interviewing at Durand, would she have ever come back? Who knows but probably not since she was out there living her best life like she didn't have a kid.

AF was nice but just because her and Eddie were cute together, it doesn't mean they were soulmates. Did the people rooting for them to stay together even realize that she was Chris' schoolteacher in 3x12 but she DIDN'T OFFER EDDIE ANY SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO HELP CHRIS SKATEBOARD? That was literally her job but she was career driven which isn't a bad thing but it seemed like she was in love with the idea of being in love just like Eddie was. She was trying to avoid dealing with the issues that were prevalent in their relationship and she didn't even ask Eddie about his panic attacks to try and find out what was causing them. But she did throw them in his face when he broke up with her.

M is IN LOVE WITH HER BROTHER! It was clear she was in 6x5 when she almost kissed him on the mouth while they were in the ambulance. Also, she's a loner, hence the meaning of her name, Marisol, it literally means solitude. When Eddie met her, she was doing upgrades on her home by herself until her brother showed up and made a complete mess of things. If Eddie does try to pursue something formidable with her in season 7, everyone knows how it will end because EDDIE TOLD THE AUDIENCE IN 6X14... he'll be performing and trying not to panic and his performance anxiety will be at a level 100.

Buddie

Who's never left Buck? EDDIE!

Who loves both Eddie and Chris? BUCK!

Who takes care of Buck? EDDIE!

Who listens to Eddie? BUCK!

The list can go on and on but the point of this post is for those who chose to see what they want to see instead of what 9-1-1 has CLEARLY been depicting for Buck and Eddie over the past six years. None of Buck’s or Eddie’s love interests were written to work because they weren't/aren't supposed to.

No one has natural chemistry with them like they have with each other and it's written that way on PURPOSE!

[sunflowerdigs]

It's important to remember that no matter what Eddie says about Christopher, Kim is only here for Eddie. He can't introduce her to Christopher and create anything long term with her because that would be sick. So, Eddie's pursuit of Kim is fundamentally about Eddie. It's about Eddie being able to live inside this fantasy where the parts of his relationship with Shannon that didn't work don't exist. But as the flashback showed us, Eddie wasn't capable of being with just Shannon without Christopher being the glue binding them together. So the absence of Christopher in this relationship with Kim is likely what is going to finally open his eyes to the fact that his relationship with Shannon wasn't that great.

I think that Eddie's real and thriving connection to Buck has made it more and more obvious to him (subconsciously) with each passing gf that he can't make connections with these women work. So, he has inserted Christopher into those relationships in order to give them a reason to work (I think Eddie truly believes that he wants Chris to have another mother figure). And the result has been an exacerbation of Christopher's abandonment issues. Eddie encourages him to get close to these women (even after admitting that he himself isn't as close to them as he should be, in Marisol's case, which was progress) and ultimately it's not enough, the relationship ends, and Chris is abandoned. Meanwhile, who is actually playing the part a wife would play in Eddie's life? Yeah, Buck. That's why he's Christopher's other guardian in the will.

Kim may be the cold bucket of water to Eddie's head because Eddie can't insert Christopher into the relationship. It's just going to be the two of them together. And after they fuck - what's going to be there?

It's confusing because this is about grief but it's also about Eddie's sexuality. And it's about Buck, which is why the show has inserted Buck into the center of the conflict, because Buck is the one person that Eddie has managed to integrate into his life with Christopher and also care about deeply himself.

I think the resolution to this story will be Christopher's grandparents taking him to Texas with them so that Eddie can figure out what he wants when Christopher isn't there to use as a buffer. What may happen is his parents may threaten to have Christopher removed because they feel Eddie is unfit, in which case, Buck becomes the legal guardian. And so, if they don't want to take it to court and have it on record that Eddie lost custody, Buck becomes the one who has to make the call about where Christopher ends up. And that could be the thing that rips him and Eddie apart. Or it could bring them closer together if Buck can talk some sense into Eddie and make him realize just how much his issues are hurting Christopher.

(And, honestly, I think they'll go that route because, ultimately, like Ryan said, Eddie knows that he can't introduce Kim to Christopher because the relationship is a delusion. Eddie isn't a bad parent and he loves Christopher very much, he's just all tangled up in his issues).

(Or, Buck will conspire with Eddie's parents behind his back to have his kid taken away and Eddie will, rightfully, be furious with him even once he understands it's the right call).

That would explain Ryan calling next season the "new phase" of Eddie's life. And that would explain why Gavin was promoted to regular, so that they knew they'd have him for this arc.

The cheating is the wildest part, but I think people are getting so caught up in being angry at Eddie over that and wanting to see him punished, that they're forgetting that this arc isn't about punishment, it's about healing and ultimately giving both Christopher and Eddie the tools to live their best lives. So, I don't think Eddie will end the season alone - I think he and Buck will make amends and Buck will spend the hiatus by his side, helping him clean up the mess. Just like Eddie helped Buck clean up his mess back in s3.

[acornered]

i messaged on discord already but since your inbox is wilding today can i get your thoughts on the current state of sapphic affairs in hotd

ohhh hell yes you watched the ep didn't you! How does it feel to be so right about everything?? I was thinking of your transmasc Rhaenyra au the entire time she was talking about wishing she could be a man, and how being with Daemon partially fulfilled that longing.

Rhaenyra and Mysaria bonding over their lack of power and agency in a male-dominated world, the realization that Daemon was attractive to them in part because he was their access to power, and the moment where they realize that they are capable of having power and pleasure outside of him....GAHH. The buildup was so excellent and (aside from thinking wlw representation in the Thrones-verse was long overdue), I think the way this was done makes perfect narrative sense. Rhaenyra's arc has always been about overcoming the limitations of her sex in a patriarchal society-- she wants to travel the world on dragonback, participate in battles, rule Westeros, be openly sexual-- all things that, as a woman, society denies her access to. Daemon has allowed and encouraged her to pursue her "male" desires, so it makes sense that she would feel destabilized by the withdrawal of his support. Mysaria's arc parallels this in that her access to power is limited by her sex AND her station, which is why her relationship with Daemon was so important to her earlier in the story-- he was her access to security, to the political power to make a difference for disenfranchised children like herself. Her backstory isn't just tragic, it's intentional, and it makes perfect sense as the origin of her political goals and the driving force of her actions. When Rhaenyra said she was "half a soul", I guarantee Mysaria was feeling echoes of the same sentiment that she herself had towards Daemon back when they were together. And Rhaenyra and Mysaria become whole, not by clinging to Daemon's empty promises of power, but by trusting each other, supporting each other, making a bid for power and freedom together.

Anyway, Rhaenyra's vulnerability allows Mysaria to be vulnerable in turn, they recognize a similar wound in each other-- the wound of a world that has failed them because it is a world meant to empower men at the expense of women-- and recognition becomes comfort becomes attraction. The decision to make Rhaenyra go for the embrace first is excellent, and I'd be remiss not to point out that the only other person we see her seek/offer physical comfort to is Alicent. She and Alicent were two girls against a world of men, and she has never healed from the loss of that relationship. And there is a part of her that intuitively knows Mysaria is missing a relationship like that as well. Politically speaking there is a power imbalance between the two of them, but in that moment they are just two women sharing in the grief of womanhood. That is why I love the decision to have Rhaenyra hug her first-- because it demonstrates their relationship as one of comfort and solidarity that allows desire to flourish, as opposed to what they had with Daemon-- submitting to a mutual sexual desire in the hopes that something more intimate and stable would follow. I disagree with the takes that suggest either character is using the other, or taking advantage of the other's vulnerability here, because there is so much buildup of mutual recognition and non-sexual physical intimacy beforehand. Rhaenyra clearly moves only to offer comfort, and the escalation from hug to kiss happens naturally as both parties realize that intimacy and desire are supposed to follow mutual vulnerability, and not be a substitute for it. I'm hard pressed to think of a less gratuitous makeout scene, and while I'm here-- the way HOTD uses sex between characters with intent instead of just as set dressing is what sets it apart from GOT, and one of the reasons why I fell in love with it much more than the mainline series despite being a huge ASOIAF nerd.

As much as I hope we get to see more rhaesaria, I am happy with this moment as is, as a culmination of these characters' relationships with each other and with Daemon. TLDR, it feels correct to me and anyone who says otherwise is homophobic. They compliment each other so well I'm...I feel bad for Alicent tbh like this is what she could've had...

[violett-orwhatever]

I'm going insane. (LMK season 5 spoilers at the end)

Trying to put together a timeline for JTTW in LMK is fucking hard.

Like it starts with Sanzang getting the pilgrims together, that's the same as in the book. But after that it gets wacky.

LBD should be the first demon the group encounters so I'm gonna say that is what happens in LMK too. After that nothing major happens that involves LMK.

Not long after that they should encounter Kui Mulang (in JTTW without Wukong because he got banished for killing LBD but that didn't happen in LMK so...i guess he's still here. Probably. Maybe. Or he got banished for some other shit, but for the sake of my sanity we're gonna pretend like he's at Flower Fruit Mountain like he should be**) who captures Sanzang, prompting Bajie to bring Wukong back.

In season 4 we see Kui Mulang together with a captured Ao Lie. So maybe in LMK it was Ao Lie who got captured...which in my opinion would probably be a better reason for Wukong to come back, because LMK seems to imply that the two of them were friends and Wukong probably didn't really care for Sanzang at that moment. (Granted this was in the Memory Scroll so who know if that even actually happened)

But then again these two kidnappings could also have happened seperatly because in JTTW Kui Mulang is married to the maiden he lost in LMK...but we'll ignore that.

(** also i just noticed, if Wukong got banished in LMK too and went back to Flower Fruit Mountain...that would mean he still found it burnt down and was livid but I can't help but wonder if he questioned where Macaque was? Because LMK makes it seem like Macaque joined the Brotherhood at Camel Ridge after their argument under the Mountain so...you think Wukong thought about that? Because now I'm thinking about it)

Then we come to Red Son's arc...things start getting tricky here. In JTTW Red Boy uses the Samadhi Fire to hurt Wukong prompting him to get help from Guanyin.

Guanyin then brings an ocean's worth of water with her, which does happen in LMK.

Tang recalls this event during the episode "Dumpling Destruction" if i remembrer correctly. He also mentions that he doesn't remember which demon Wukong fought during that time, meaning in LMK's version it most likely wasn't because of Red Son.

(Also this could just be because Tang is telling the story, but in the first image you can see Wukong in his usual attire, not the one he wears during the journey. He also doesn't have the circlet on, which, even if this is Tang's interpretation, Wukong should still have that but we'll come back to that later.)

So let's say this event occured because of a different demon, that than begs the question: when was the sealing of the Samadhi Fire?

If it was, let's say, shortly after the Guanyin thing that would mean Wukong meets DBK (and consequently PIF) before he and the pilgrims reach the Burning Mountain which technically should put him in the Bull Family's good graces, I'd argue. But in JTTW neither PIF nor DBK trust him during that time so i don't know if that would make sense.

But the whole Burning Mountain arc itself sort of wouldn't make sense in LMK because PIF and DBK's relationship is actually functional here so...

And Wukong is - yet again - not wearing the circlet during the sealing of the fire.

"Amnesia Rules" also doesn't make this any easier because during his amnesiac state Wukong doesn't question why there's no torture crown on his head...but he also confuses a stick with his staff so he was probably just out of it in general.

Then there's the matter of Macaque's death and the impriosonment of the Brotherhood.

I'm gonna say that after Macaque split from the Brotherhood he died around the same time as in JTTW (so after the Kingdom of Women arc).

After that should be the Burning Mountains thing but...again wouldn't make a lot of sense if that was after the Samadhi Fire thing so...eh.

Some time after Macaque died the Brotherhood should have gotten sealed away.

Which - and this might be a long shot - but maybe that's why Wukong looks so...stoic when he had to fight the Brotherhood. Because his best friend just died and now he has to deal with his other former friends who are working on taking him out...

(I know this isn't technically a flashback but it is how Azure remembers Wukong being like during their fight. Stoic, kinda emotionless in general...just not exactly giving off cheeky-mischievious-Monkey-King Vibes like in...almost every other fight except LBD (looks a lot like posessed Wukong tho))

Just an emotional rollercoaster all around, I suppose.

But then again, when fighting the Brotherhood he wears the circlet, so that obviously happened during the journey.

Which can't be said about the other stuff because he isn't wearing the circlet this is driving me nuts!

But the Samadhi Fire can't have happened after the journey because during "Amnesia Rules" Wukong already knows about the four rings while thinking they're still going to the western heaven so obviously that must have happened during the journey.

BUT THEN WHY ISN'T HE WEARING THE CIRCLET THEN BUT HE'S WEARING IT DURING AN EVENT THAT HAPPENS YEARS LATER??

Don't even get me started on the Xiangliu thing. In season 5 he says that him and Wukong are old enemies and according to JTTW that's true because Wukong fights the Nine Headed Beast because Xiangliu and his father in law are conspiring or something so yeah. Wukong should know the guy.

That...doesn't explain why Xiangliu called him an old friend as well or why Wukong doesn't remember him. But honestly not important right now because all that does is fuck up the timeline even more.

That should have happened after the Brotherhood got sealed away. I'd theorize, because I have some far fetched theories, but this is exhausting to think about.

I just want answers...please

[rilu-artblog]

How do you think Sheila would have reacted to Gerald if she actually got to see his internet history?

This is like my biggest What-If scenario that I can never think of a good answer for!!

I have inklings of ideas on how to answer this but they're not at all refined, so read below!

Assuming Sheila finds out while she's using TrollTrace and before Gerald and the other trolls knock it down, I think at that point it'd be too late in the narrative to resolve. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the finale of Season 20 is well structured in any way but it's clear that the Troll story was set up to be resolved in one season only. So if Sheila found out about the trolling at the end of the episode, she would either: Not care Slap Gerald silly Or...actually separate from Gerald. I'm gonna try and use as much show logic as I can for these, as well as what would make sense from a writing perspective.

Sheila finding out about Gerald's internet history and not caring anyways is, in my opinion, the most in-universe outcome for Gerald's trolling. He absolutely does not deserve it of course, but I think narratively, he already got his punishment by being sent to Denmark and kinda redeems himself by destroying Troll Trace. However...Sheila doesn't know that. So why would she forgive him or ignore what he's done? Easiest reason would be so that the status quo wouldn't be shaken up and to wrap up the story quickly. In-universe, we see that despite their tense moments,Sheila fully trusts and loves Gerald, and the two are some of the more openly loving couples in the show and definitely of the main 4. If she forgives him, it's because she realizes that she went overboard with how she treated Ike/Kyle and did not want to do the same to Gerald. Maybe she would've assumed that's why he never told her and tried to keep it a secret, showing that Gerald is even more of an idiot for going the lengths he did for keeping his trolling a secret. The reason I think it's the most in-universe is because I kinda think Sheila did find out or know a little about what Gerald was up to, and just didn't want to lose him because we all know Sheila has also done fucked up shit too, so the two of them are not so different. And we know this show has a problem writing women and straight married couples well, so I can totally see the show writing this after they got sick of their serialization experiment.

However, it would be kind of a cop out if Sheila didn't get angry at least once with Gerald. If not her typical anger, then maybe her "so angry she's so done" anger like in the cheesing ep. I don't think she'd physically throw down Gerald, maybe at most a "funny" slap or something, and Gerald would be like "dang it :/" and Kyle would remind him that he's lucky the whole town didn't find out. And it ends with Gerald sleeping on the couch or maybe Sheila pisses on him again. So Gerald would again be stupid for assuming Sheila would immediately divorce him or unleash pure fury on him, but also getting some consequences for his actions without breaking up the family like Kyle wanted. Everything would remain the same for the status quo and we can end this whole narrative.

This one is the least likely but I think could've been super interesting to pull off from a writing standpoint. Just like how the Heidi/Eric subplot carried onto the next season, maybe they could've ended season 20 with Sheila finding, getting angry and kicking Gerald out. So now everything Kyle did to keep his family together failed, and now that can be tied in with the Heidi arc because that's another relationship failing too. The first half of the season before Kyle realizes he likes Heidi could go on as normal, and as Kyle fails to help Heidi too we can see all this build up on him and lead him to blowing up Canada. And then maybe have a scene at the end of the season where after Ike runs away, Gerald realizes how shitty he's been and apologizes, juxtaposing how Heidi has to break out of her mentality and get away from Cartman. And then Gerald and Sheila get back together and Kyle gets at least one win from that season. So yeah that's basically fanfic, and I think that was basically the same time Rick and Morty did the same thing in season 3 (did they?? I cannot recall) so no way would they have done it in the show lol. Plus, apparently not everyone thinks the Broflovski's and Gerald/Sheila are the most important characters in the show, which is just ???

In conclusion, I don't think Gerald and Sheila would've divorced, or stayed separated for too long. Not only would that be a lot of continuity from a season that a lot of the fans disliked and was poorly planned out, if you've watched the entire show you can tell that there's something...weird that happens when divorce is brought up. If they couldn't even divorce Randy/Sharon then they would not care about divorcing Sheila/Gerald permanently. IMO, I don't think Gerald needs to be punished by Sheila for his crimes, because she's his wife not his mother. That's why I don't like Randy's dynamic with Sharon, it feels like she's the nagging wife that takes away his fun even when he's 100% wrong. With Sheila and Gerald, they're both super flawed and yet it's kind of interesting they even got together at all, in another show it would be tragic if Sheila ignored what he did just so that their family wouldn't have to suffer and she can keep that idealized version of her husband in her mind. But it's South Park, so whomst knows.

[tiggymalvern]

White Collar Conclusions

I finished watching White Collar, a late 2000s era doing crime for good causes polyamory vibes show that often gets mentioned alongside Burn Notice and Leverage.

It started off amazingly well. The opening two parter was hilarious fun and established great characters and I was solidly into it. It had the same mix of plot of the week and little bits of arc plot each ep that early Burn Notice had, but it hit the ground running so much faster than Burn Notice. (BN took a while for the writers and actors to really gel with the characters, but then when they did, it became amazing.)

I loved the first season of White Collar. Really enjoyed the second. Enjoyed the third. And by the fourth it was starting to become stale.

Nothing changed. The characters didn't change. Their relationships didn't change. The innate premise was whether Neal would be a thief for selfish reasons or for the greater good, and that same will he-won't he was still driving the season's plot six years later, by which time it had frankly ceased to be tension at all.

I watched the whole six seasons through because I kept hoping there would be a change, that things would develop. Every now and then there were suggestions that it would. There was a great season ending where Neal was betrayed and Peter told him to run, and at the start of the next season Peter went off the books trying to track Neal down before his colleagues did. Imagine if that had been left to play out, to disrupt all of their lives, to send the series in a new direction? But no, by the end of the season opener, the status quo was re-established and everything went on as before.

There was so much potential in the White Collar characters, in their situation and their moralities, and in those actors because they're a great cast. But at the end of all those eps, after all the traumas and moral conflicts they'd suffered together, Neal was exactly the same person as he was at the start, Peter was the same as at the start, and so were El and Jones and everybody. When I compare White Collar to Burn Notice, with the people we met in the pilot and who they were by the end - there simply is no comparison. Frankly, the biggest character development in White Collar was in Mozzie, who genuinely came to like and trust Peter.

Another thing I personally disliked about the final season was Peter and El having a baby. It had been great to see five seasons of a professional couple mid 30s/early 40s without kids where the subject was never raised. Nobody acted like it was odd they didn't have kids, nobody questioned it, and why should they? It's a perfectly reasonable thing for people just not to have kids. And then suddenly El's pregnant at 40, and they're all, 'Oh, we've been trying for years, we just thought it would never happen!' Really? It's the first we've heard of it. So suddenly the show's selling the whole 'Now their married life is complete' angle and El walks out of her dream job that she'd landed weeks ago because apparently that's what career women do when they find out they're pregnant and it's so ugh.

I'm glad I watched it, but I won't ever watch it again, and frankly I'd say watch a couple of seasons for light-hearted entertainment and then don't bother with the rest. I had such high expectations and ended up thoroughly disappointed ☹️

[mamawasatesttube]

Kon-El questions 3, 7 and 16

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

hmmm. how do i put this. it's like... the way karl kesel treated him as a self-insert for his own teenage fantasy self or whatever sometimes. obviously this comes out in the way he gets preyed on by adult women and this is played off as cool and chill, but it also comes out in the way a) kesel writes his flirting. sometimes it's very endearing and cringefail, and other times he's kissing women without consent, and that's played off as chill and fine because kesel thinks it should be and the women in question almost always are fine with that, but also b) he writes off concerns about indigenous hawaiians in kon's narrative (like silver sword or ...man i'm forgetting that kid who gets jealous of him and has powers about it for a minute, but that narrative). and like. yeah. white man in the 90s wrote this for SURE. i don't think it's like, written in the absolute poorest taste imaginable, because there's a lot of ways where it seems almost like they were trying to be respectful of native hawaiian culture, but then there's shit that's so far off the mark it's like. dude. and it's very evident that it just reflects karl kesel's own views much more than any character in-narrative.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

lmaooo that's a toughie!!!! fanon kon at large is just. straight up not my boy. however there's a subset of fandom who leans into him being genderqueer/gnc/trans a lot more than canon ever has and i looove that. trans kon truthers lets go ♥

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

LORD. tim/ber/kon is the one that makes me roll my eyes hardest, alongside the rarer but no less irksome ber/kon. it's like... this is 100% not about kon as a character. this is about tim. ber/kon is almost funny in that it's entirely about tim but with tim himself cut out of the picture. but tim/ber/kon is just "let's take tim's most popular two fanon love interests and just shove all of them together!" and i have yet to see Anything even remotely try to convince me why kon and bernard should give a shit about each other. like, MAYBE you could sell it as a loooong slow burn, but i just. i don't see it man. putting the rest under a cut bc i AM gonna ramble about why i dislike it, so if you like tim/ber/kon or tim/ber and don't wanna see that, keep scrolling here👍!!

this is also partly bc i just... man i really wanted to like bernard and tim/ber but there's nothing there. i knew i didn't like rebirth tim characterization going in when i read tdr but i was hoping i'd at least find some crumbs. it's all just ... like there's no substance to it. there's no conflict, no character flaws, no "why do they even like each other???", no particular way they seem to help each other grow. it's just tropey "told, not shown" fluff where megfitz insists they are SO in love and perfect for each other, over and over, without backing that up really at all, and it just holds absolutely no appeal to me. and when it's just tim/ber i'm like yeah ok sure it's not my thing but whatever. but when people start trying to shove kon into there i'm like NO!!!!!! sdjkfhkd like im just SO unconvinced and it feels like such a great steaming heap of Nothing.

the main reason that is is that to me a relationship needs to have an arc. it can't just be stagnant. if there's no conflict, if there's no room for growth, if there's no development, it falls apart in my eyes. it doesn't feel like a real story about actual people. and as far as the tim/ber dynamic established in tdr, there's just. nothing. even the fact that bernard apparently somehow knows that tim is robin, which should be a HUGE source of conflict, is completely glossed over. it never comes up in any way.

like, we know that tim wants to tell people, but holds back out of a sense of duty. in robin '93, he agonizes about this with steph. but when bruce tells her his identity without his consent - which steph tells him bruce did immediately - he flips the fuck out!!!! he panics and runs away and he's furious with them both!!! so you'd ostensibly think that bernard knowing, and then not telling him he knows, would be sowing the seeds for an explosive conflict later down the line. especially because bernard now knows that tim is just. lying to him. all the time. shamelessly and blatantly lying through his teeth. and sure, it's for a good cause. right? but you'd think that in a relationship that's only just been established, just for a few months, that would also be offputting!! you'd think he'd start getting more and more unhappy that tim is just constantly lying to him and he knows it!! because he knows it about the robin secret, but what else might tim be lying to him about??? he knows now that tim has no qualms just lying to his face all the goddamn time, and he's... FINE with that???? there's this giant secret they're both dancing around and it's set up that there's just. N O T H I N G done with that. it drives me up the wall. i found this absolutely infuriating to read. both of them just being so one-dimensionally "oh we're in looooove so nothing else matters" that it erodes not only tim's specific characterization but bernard's ability to react like . idk. a human being? it just feels like running into dead end after dead end.

so yeah adding kon into that mix makes me want to tear my hair out bc it just feels SO surface-level. it's like... how much of him are you gonna shave off to fit him into this soulless, conflictless mold? it's like how i get annoyed when tim/kon fics ignore kon being genuinely really upset tim didn't share his identity with the team in yj98, but worse. because identity shit REALLY matters to kon. kon has never dated anyone who didn't know he was superboy. all of his civilian friends in sb11 know he's superboy. like, he does Not get close to people if he can't share that. it would be!!! a source!!! of conflict!!! but i've never seen Any ship content for tim/ber/kon that isn't just either completely declawed fluff that's just oh hehe tim has two boyfriends, or "kon angsting over tim dating someone else uwu" bullshit, which occasionally leads into completely declawed "tim has two boyfriends" fluff. it just does such a disservice to every character involved imo.

[all-pacas]

Where does chase get the idea that cameron never loved him? It's obviously a narrative he's been feeding himself to cope after dibala and is solidified in lockdown but where does it stem from? And do you think he continues to believe even after camerons explanation in the episode?

I think we see him start to edge towards it in Private Lives. As funny as the whole Chase doesn't know he's good looking arc is, it's really much more about Cameron, and he brings her up a few times in the episode:

CHASE: It's Cameron's favorite book. I don't even know what it's about. WILSON: Don't do that to yourself.

Later:

CHASE: How good-looking am I? I'm not asking if you're attracted to me. I'm looking for an objective answer. THIRTEEN: Oh, okay, then it's an appropriate question. CHASE: Last night, I acted like a complete tosser to prove to House that women don't go out with me for my looks. Cost me a hundred bucks and my definition of myself. And women.

Later:

CHASE: People meet, they like something superficial, and then they fill in the blanks with whatever they want to believe. THIRTEEN: Why are you so hung up on this? I refuse to believe it's all because you just noticed you have a nice face. You just came off a relationship. You know things go deeper than… Is that what this is about? You and Cameron? CHASE: I was the one that pursued her. Maybe I was just filling in the blanks. Maybe… maybe the first reaction was right. We were just two people who were in proximity and found each other attractive, and I ne — [stumbles over his words] I never should have… THIRTEEN: Paranoia. You felt something real. So did she. Don't try to take it back now.

Chase is trying to figure out what went wrong. Is it because he didn't take interest in her favorite book? What if he's good looking and that's the only reason people like him? What if that's the only reason Cameron liked him? Maybe she was only with him because he pursued her. "I never should have," he says, upset. Obviously, Chase fucked up big time with Dibala. He called out Cameron's shifting the blame. He's not naive about how their marriage ended, but I think it really did fuck with him.

Chase has Cameron pegged in S3 ("You have feelings for puppies and people you've just met."); he knows how she operates. He saw her crushing on House for years, was calling her on that crush in S3 as well as S1, he knows she loves everyone and holds on to things… and she left him and didn't look back. And he knows where he's at fault (and let's be clear: he's very at fault, he killed a dude), but… I don't think he really expected her to just leave. Chase wanted her to stop pretending he didn't do it, but he never suggests they split up, he pushes for them both to work for House. He doesn't want her to keep pretending House did the murder, but he doesn't want her to leave.

And she does! House, in Teamwork, actually first plants the idea in Chase's head:

HOUSE: You spent weeks elaborately concealing the fact that you [killed Dibala]. And then you just confessed. Seemed idiotic. Certain to end in disaster. Instead you're riding off into the sunset together. Any theories on why? CHASE: I assume you've already dismissed the "she loves me" theory? HOUSE: Well, it's possible. It would require the presupposition that everything she's done for the last six years has been completely inconsistent with her character, but yeah, it's possible.

I don't think House is actually arguing Cameron doesn't love him, but he does point out that Cameron is being inconsistent here. Chase, meanwhile, is hoping it'll be fine. She loves him. Right?

CAMERON: Why won't you sign the divorce papers? CHASE: It's been on my to-do list. Sorry. CAMERON: Will you sign them? CHASE: Not until we have a real conversation about our marriage. CAMERON: Okay. I made a mistake coming here.

It seems like they've spoken about the divorce before. This isn't the first time Chase has seen the paperwork, he's just stonewalling her. He wants a conversation. He wants to know what happened. That's the main theme of Lockdown, he really just wants to know why. The second Cameron confirms his theory, she starts crying, but it isn't until she tells him it was her fault, that she did love him but was just too fucked up to make it work, that Chase actually signs the papers. It's not until she gives him a real reason.

It doesn't sound to me like Chase truly thought she never loved him; he admits it was a coping mechanism, he's quick to accept a different reason (although pointedly, one where Cameron still gets more of the blame). Once Cameron says it was never going to have worked, that she is messed up and broken, his tone changes. He apologizes to her. They share good memories and dance and have sex. None of these things are the actions of people who don't care about one another at all, who resent the other for never loving them, you know?

I think Chase was just… grasping at straws. Cameron never loved him means it wasn't his fault, it was inevitable, it didn't matter that he'd pushed her away. It's also kind of a zone he thrives in: never being good enough or worth love is him and his father to a T. Never being good enough sucks, but in a way it's easier.

Chase has always been a bit insecure about Cameron, but he doesn't usually lack self confidence: he breaks up with her twice, for example. He has boundaries. He's certainly not wrong when he lays out the timeline of their relationship and points out he was always the one interested in and chasing after her, but it's a pretty flawed timeline; he leaves out the times Cameron, for example, pursued him (S3) or was willing to make big changes for him (The Itch, she decided to destroy her husband's sperm in Under My Skin without him asking). He's leaving out the fact that she did care about him, that they liked to spend time together, that Cameron is not that good of an actor or liar or wouldn't have spent two and a half years glued to his side if she didn't like him. He's upset. He's grasping at straws. He admits it:

CHASE: I spent months wondering how I made it go bad. If you never loved me, then – then I didn't do anything wrong.

It's so fucked up and it's so telling. He thought it was his fault. He made it go bad. And that was awful, and he rewrote the story. He'd rather Cameron have never loved him, to have always counted the minutes until she could dump him, then deal with the reality that he did this, that he ruined arguably the only loving relationship he's ever had, that maybe Cameron was right and he has been poisoned and ruined.

Or as he puts it in S7:

CHASE: My time here changed me in ways not everyone in my life thought was for the better. MASTERS: Were those people right? CHASE: I think when you do change, it's not so simple to go back. (Last Temptation)

Implicitly, I think he's admitting his theory was wrong. It's not about if Cameron ever loved him or not: He did change. Whether he did the right thing or the wrong thing, he turned into someone Cameron couldn't love.

[sevensoulmates]

As always it's a delight to get to read your posts and meta, it's just as satisfactory and fun as it is watching the show. You're just awesome ❤️

You know after watching the last episode (and now that we know little bit more about Marisol) it made me feel really sorry for her, because I just know she'll be collateral damage while Eddie figures himself out and that's just so sad. And I wasn't really sure why those comments Eddie made about him/Marisol when they encountered Buck and Tommy at the restaurant and after having sex with her made me feel so uncomfortable, but then you pointed it out and I was like yeah that was kinda like locker room talk, Eddie was overcompensating here like trying to be a big macho man and that's why it felt so weird.

I'm baffled about Eddie's situation the most because I'm sure it's gonna be hell for him for a while since he will have to work through a lot of issues to finally be at peace with himself. And until stated otherwise my headcanon is the same as yours. I'm sure he is a gay repressed man (and not no get into the gay Eddie vs demisexual  Eddie discourse but I'm sure he may be both) I grew up in a Mexican household, I was raised catholic and although I wasn't in the army my dad was and he raised me and my siblings with an iron fist. So Eddie's background/storyline has always hit too close to home for me. I'm just dreading all the issues he's going to have to face.

Which brings me to this. To show his coming out arc and make it into completion do you think they will have to show us more about his childhood and upbringing, not just having Eddie talking about it but to have scenes like we did with Buck's childhood?

And why do you think the scene about Buck apologizing to Eddie for hurting him at the basketball court had to happen off screen?

Btw thanks for always replying to my questions.

Hi there!!! No problem!!! You always have super interesting questions to ask, so I am always delighted to answer them!

We all know how Eddie feels about "performance". I just feel like why would Eddie feel like the performance stops once he's actually made it past the dating phase and into the relationship phase? Maybe the external pressure from others is off (none of his family or the firefam questioning him, etc) but in order to KEEP the relationship, it really would require MORE performing.

It's fascinating to me, because we don't see Eddie acting this way with Shannon. You could make some arguments that their relationship was pretty fractured from the get-go and we didn't really see their dating/"honeymoon" phase but even when they were ~slightly~ back together in season 2b, Eddie wasn't acting like that with Shannon. Even when they were sleeping together, he wasn't. The most he did was make a couple of cringe comments about his "dashing good looks" or something, but that was more poking fun at himself. Even when Eddie was telling Buck about how "sex complicates things" with Shannon, he wasn't out here smirking or making comments about how good it feels to finally get some after two years of (apparent) celibacy. Say what you want about their relationship, but at least Eddie respected Shannon enough as a person to not start speaking about her that way. Their relationship was far too serious for that.

With Ana, it was so incredibly hard to watch because even though the storyline ITSELF wasn't about sex, a lot of their scenes had that edge to it? Like the sex-scene fake out in season 4, "grade me on a curve", "you really like to see me dressed up" "and the other thing" it was so ODD and FORCED. At the time of s4/5 airing you could maybe chalk it up to Eddie overcorrecting since it's his first real relationship after Shannon, but then he goes and does the same thing with Marisol which now makes it a pattern.

Once it clicked in my brain that the reason his relationships with women feel so fake is that he is literally putting on a show of hyper-heterosexuality (idk if that's a real term or not but roll with me here) it all made sense. I think seeing him "in a relationship" with Marisol for real was the final puzzle piece to seal this deal for me.

His extreme performances with these women, combined with their purposeful lack of development into full characters, all points to the fact that none of these relationships are going to work out. Eddie is not going to be able to actually settle down with his "endgame" partner until he actually finds someone he can be his true, real self with and "doesn't have to pretend with them" ;)

Is it bad that I actually enjoyed getting to know Marisol a little? Putting aside the actress, Marisol, the character, is interesting, because we're actually getting to know her a little bit more, far more than we got to with Ana. But I find both of these love interests fascinating in one mutual way: the fact that they put up with Eddie. Like I think about other characters and if they would've been okay being treated by their partners the way Eddie treats his girlfriends and I'm like.....hell no!

Oddly enough the only person I could see putting up with it was Buck before he finally started realizing that he doesn't have to be in a relationship with someone just because they want him. Only someone who also has deep insecurities, abandonment issues, and a general lack of self-respect would put up with Eddie's BS to his girlfriends. That's not to say that Eddie's a horrible person or abuses his partners or anything, but it's basically indisputable that he does not ever put in any emotional work to actually create meaningful relationships with his girlfriends. So why were Ana and now Marisol, so willing to accept that?

Ana resisted the break-up even though she could feel Eddie's whole heart wasn't in it. She was willing to keep trying in a dead relationship just in the hopes that something would work out. The same goes for Marisol. Idk about you, but if I was in a relationship with a man for going on 4-6 months and he knew NOTHING about me? I'd feel unloved, uncared for, and unappreciated, and I'd LEAVE.

We know that Marisol was scared of Eddie rejecting her or fetishizing her and that's why she didn't tell him about the nun thing, and I understand her reasoning and fear there. But gworlie, what else do we know about you? Can Eddie name a single hobby you have outside of loving Jesus and DIYing houses? Does Eddie even know your last name? It really makes me think that Marisol is unfortunately the type to just let things like this slide in the hopes that some man will accept her, any man. Since they rarely do because of the nun thing. And boy, do I understand that feeling, but that's NOT real love. I bet you anything once we get to the Eddiemarisol breakup she's gonna be very similar to Ana in that she knew Eddie's heart wasn't fully in it, but she just didn't want to be alone again.

I think that like attracts like, and Eddie's clutching onto this relationship for the same reason Marisol's clutching onto this relationship: because it's easier than being alone and being judged for it.

This is a tangent but I also want to point out that one thing that Eddie found uncomfortable about Marisol being a nun was the fact that nuns used to be his teachers....but was Ana also not a teacher? Just because she wasn't a nun, doesn't mean she couldn't have also been in a position of power that Eddie could've found uncomfortable. I find it interesting that even though Marisol's not a teacher, the show found a way to connect her to teachers and therefore to Ana.

As for Eddie's coming out arc, while I don't think it's entirely a necessity to have flashbacks to how he grew up, I certainly think it would help a lot of people who can't read between the lines if they had some. I especially would like to see scenes of young him + Shannon. Maybe seeing how the pressure from his family and church led him to believe men have to be a certain way, potentially microaggressions about being lgbt that he might've seen from his family/church (I don't necessarily mean full-on homophobia but possibly like little ways in which he was shown that there was no other "acceptable" option from his church other than heterosexuality. I think seeing scenes of how he and Shannon got together could be enlightening too, how their community reacted to them getting pregnant, etc. I think all of this, combined with a mirrored storyline in the present (similar to Buck Begins) would really drive home the point the show is trying to make, especially if they can finally be overt about Eddie's queerness. BUT all of this can still be done present day without the need for flashbacks either. I just think it would be a way to make the storytelling more rich and to spell it out more obviously for the people in the back.

As for Buck apologizing to Eddie for the basketball scene...I would've liked to see it too, but at the end of the day, it's like Ryan said in his interview...Eddie was always going to forgive Buck because he loves him to his core, because he knew Buck didn't come at it from a place of truly wanting to hurt Eddie. All of it was a manifestation of Buck's own issues, and by this point (especially after the lawsuit arc and the deadbrother arc) Eddie is aware of that. We did see plenty of scenes where Buck was scolded and demonstrated he was aware his actions were shitty, and Eddie probably assumed that letting Buck stew in his own guilt was atonement enough. And so I think likely the writers felt that in the end, the sentiment got across. Separately--given all the switcheroo stuff that happened with 7x04 and 7x05, I wouldn't be surprised if there WAS an apology scene and it got cut for time.

[tinyjellyfishy]

I know people are going "KISS HER!!! WHY DIDN'T THEY KISS!!!" about that imodna conversation, and I would have been extremely happy if they did! But I'm a little saddened because calling for that feels like it misses the explicit and incredibly queer message given by their relationship because it's looking for what's been defined in expectation to be love. It misses the power that exists in undefinition.

"It transcends words, our relationship."

"You are my strong foundation." "You're my tether."

"i love you so much." "i love you more than anything." They say this while they're hugging. They punctuate this incredibly heartfelt and world-defining love by holding onto each other tight like they'll never see each other again. Women who fight for the other and have saved each other again and again. This is love. This is a love confession.

It just doesn't end with a kiss.

There is an undeniable love and care. You cannot miss how devoted these women are to eachother. It’s simply a fact. But Laudna says it herself: their relationship is beyond definition. Beyond label. It is all encompassing, all surrounding, like being soulmates. And Laudna says it doesn't have a label, because their love just-- is. Not friendship, not dating, might not call it a QP, not a mere partnership, not anything but Laudna and Imogen. Just look at it. They don't NEED to kiss to tell you how much.

I will fully admit i'm greyroace with a tenuous understanding on love despite being in my own relationship: specifically the lines in the sand between platonic and romantic feelings and what either entail. There are SO many psychology theories on various typings that frankly the best conclusion you can come to is "love is love slashy-face :/" it's all a nebulous strange connection humans being make. Love is beyond definition because man fuck, what the hell are we talking about.

And yet, without understanding it, love is powerful. It's the connection that makes two people think about living away on a horse ranch together peacefully, the kind that makes them plunge into eachother's personal hells to lead them by the hand to sunlight. It's cuddling in the night while holding eachother's hands. And it's Laudna and Imogen's. They’ve said it outloud: they are the other's better half to a better whole, and more important than anything else. You can't deny that. And it’s so wonderful to see such an incredible relationship. It doesn’t NEED to have The Big Kiss as its overture.

A kiss is not the grand thing of a relationship; weirdly, a lot of writers tend to completely STOP the story at The Big Kiss and not be able to let the characters have a functional relationship. Laudna and Imogen are unbelievably intertwined, they LOVE EACHOTHER. There's no "will they won't they" tension or dancing around the idea of dating and being girlfrienda and the squee of hot goss (which i do still enjoy btw c2 was very fun for many reasons). They are so wholly comfortable in the other. Like the old type of love between long time married couples, the kind where it's so ingrained it's simply routine. Sometimes prone to insecurity and bumps (rocks.) but every relationship has that, and the great thing is that their other friendships are there to support them, just as important to rounding out their circles, unlike some stories that would sacrifice or flander them. for the sake of the love story. They're Imogen and Laudna, Laudna and Imogen, close with their friends but eachother most of all. Imodna IS canon. Its arc is just something that isn't about what we'd call the romance of it.

It feels like demanding they needed to kiss in order to officialize(?) their love enforces a strange binary that makes their relationship lesser and unrecognized as meaningful unless they engage in traditionally romantic gestures. It's the same societal allonormativity that places a false hierarchy on romantic versus platonic relationships, that dismisses "Do you really think we were meant for normal?" Laudna asks. Isn't that ambiguity and lack of definition what queerness is for?

If they kiss in the future I will be very very happy! If you make them fluster and awkward in ur funnie fictions go wild. But maybe I've just been recently fatigued with fan culture in general ignoring the beauty and complexity of various relationships and character stories because of this narrow idea often rooted in an overemphasis on shipping culture. Denying the value in the forest because it didn't have your specific tree.

[frozen-snowflakesandsunflowers]

Frozen 3 and 4 details from Jennifer Lee | Latest updates

Jennifer Lee in an interview with Gamesradar gave a little bit more on the general story with Frozen 3 and 4. Gamesradar asked Lee if the announcement of Frozen 4 meant the threequel was being conceived as part of a larger whole.

Jennifer Lee said:

"We're really excited about where they're going, and we just have a lot of story to tell with that direction we're going in. So, I think, in my head, there may be enough for two in that story. But I'm really, really loving working with the team and where they're going."

Another interview, another sprinkle of hope as things sound positive and great. It's really good to hear that they have found more stories to tell and have decided to space it out into two films, and not rushing and cramming it all in one, because let's be honest there was still a lot left to tell after where Frozen 2 left us off at.

For Elsa I personally want to see her powers taken away and know what she really is and can be without them to show all that she's more than just her powers. Because most of her story arc is based on her powers and now that she's accepted them what would it be like if she didn't have them?

For Anna I'd like to see her be her own Queen, still keeping her goofy fun bubbly personality but as Queen.

For Kristoff, his past before the ice harvesters and Sven and his relationship growth with Anna with no longer having insecurities about Anna if Hans comes back (because Anna is way past Hans)

For Olaf maybe teenager Olaf or something along those lines of growth.

And yes for Hans. He needs to come back. I'd like to see redeemed and have a brother bond with Kristoff (maybe be adopted brothers) and yes, be with Elsa because those two have a lot more in common than one would think.

Lee also talks about Frozen approaching its milestone of 10 years.

"What I love about Frozen, I think it was unexpected for all of us. And we went into it the way we go into every story, which is really from character out. And the fact that it became something special, and that these sisters – really at the core is two sisters – I think for a lot of us was just very exciting, about, 'Who are those protagonists that we can tell these great stories of women, particularly women who are on each other's side, not against each other?' That was really exciting, that people responded to it. So I think in some ways, Frozen, to me, has encouraged us to keep telling different kinds of stories of different kinds of heroes."

From here we can rule out that the sisters will be against each other in the upcoming movies and to realise that Elsa and Anna, both and together are the core of Frozen. So there's a little hope for a permanent reunion between the two. I know she's talking about Frozen but I believe also about the franchise too. I also hope we get an emotional, beautiful duet between the two. "For the first time in forever - reprise" was quite it. It was a reprise too.

So let's see what else in the coming days gets revealed about Frozen 3 and 4. Jennifer is definitely giving subtle hints.

What do you lot make out of what Jennifer has said here?

[ladyluscinia]

I have rewatched the mean lesbians episode in hopes I would like them more the second time, but I'm afraid I'm still not vibing with it. Credit that they tried to undercut the "lesbians who drop in to give our main couple therapy" with the whole reveal it was game and Mary's little rant about their relationship "losing the magic", but like... did they really? Do Anne and Mary not successfully tee up the really touching BlackBonnet airing of grievances and reconciliation? Laughing at them a bit for being dorky doesn't change that they really didn't do much sabotaging, overall, so it's not like they weren't pushing them back together.

I mean, even Mary's whole rant happens after Anne leaves the room. By the time they really start telling us how this couple has their own foundation cracks and issues (vs the veneer of just keeping it interesting) and aren't a longstanding example of a healthy relationship, Anne is literally offscreen making a grand romantic gesture that will solve Mary's discontent. I know they are fitting a miscommunication arc into half an episode instead of 2-3 seasons, but the end result just feels like speedrunning a knock off of BlackBonnet's issues.

And that along with the fact they function as BlackBonnet mirrors first and characters second, it all just feels very... underwhelming (?) to me.

Like why do I care about Anne and Mary? Is the face stealing gimmick supposed to have hooked me? They also, imo, really fucked up by ending on a hug - it just spotlights the fact that, for all the sex jokes, they don't really bother to sell physical intimacy between the two. They maybe bump shoulders at the shop, sit in separate chairs in every scene in the house... honestly the best they do is the offscreen knife flicking. Which funny metaphor but like. Why can't the lesbians be into each other without the metaphor? Or am I supposed to think that Anne "burn the whole house down the second her wife admits she doesn't like swamp life" Bonny didn't pick up that Mary was maybe unhappy when they entirely stopped touching each other and replaced it with murder attempts.

Even a repeat of the offscreen joke but this time imply they are hardcore making out as Stede and Edward slip away would have probably hit better? (I'm assuming for some reason kissing was off the table, otherwise even more wtf why not just kiss?)

(Can you tell I've been thinking about the sorry state of femslash?)

Also I'd be remiss not to tie my dissatisfaction with Anne and Mary to my dissatisfaction with OFMD's prevailing approach to female characters. Spanish Jackie's entire thing is being so awesome and desirable that she has 20 husbands that all work for her, which is super fun. Mary Bonnet became a widowed girlboss with a Doug, which was also fun. Then suddenly we're meeting Zheng Yi Sao who is a girlboss Pirate Queen better than any man, and her right-hand woman that seems like a more stable and competent Edward/Izzy parallel, and her crew of only hyper-competent women... do you see how this is getting a bit repetitive?

Now we add Anne and Mary speedrunning BlackBonnet parallels to teach them a grand gesture romantic lesson? So... doing Stede and Edward but Better™?

Zheng Yi Sao still has time to get more interiority that could offset the whole "girlboss" gimmick which would help, but until that happens the only real female character standout to me is Archie - a woman who has something deeply wrong with her but has so far just kind of slotted in as a equal crewmember instead of the Competent Woman Character.

[tvfangirladdict]

Rant about all the Bi-Buck Arc hate surfacing.

Made the mistake of scrolling through comments on Instagram surrounding 911 and the cast.

I need to blow off steam, so this is gonna probably start harsh.

While there was so much heartfelt appreciation for Buck's storyline, the negative comments kept stealing my attention. I'm so tired of hearing(reading) that people think the whole show is ruined because two grown men kissed. Like, get the fuck over yourselves already. You don't agree with the relationship, you're just gonna have to deal with it the same we've dealt with Buck and Eddie's half-assed, flat, forced heterosexual relationships for the last 7 years, okay?

They all want to justify their biphobia/homophobia by saying that it's "forced" or it "doesn't make sense," or that they "never saw Buck even hint at it and it's just pandering to fans." Like, bitch, welcome to real life. If you're a real fan of this show, and you watched from the beginning, you know Athena and Michael's marriage ended first thing when he came out as gay. A muscular, "straight", black guy with a wife and two kids who'd been in the closet/denial his whole life, came out to his family, and none of them saw it coming, even if they might have suspected "deep down". This shit happens every day, okay? They're all mad cause "if he was gonna be gay, they should have made him gay from the beginning". Why? So you could form your opinion of him based on who he's attracted to? Why does this bother you so much. You were okay with it when it was Michael and Hen cause you knew from the beginning and they were your token gay characters that you've just learned to "put up with" to appease the rainbow crowd.

And it's not even the ones who are just straight up, like "it's wrong"/"it's a sin"/"it's gross", etc. that bother me the most. It's the "I don't care, you do you, but don't shove it down my throat", people that make me mad. Why is simply witnessing a queer person or relationship "shoving it down your throat"? Y'all realize they exist in real life too, right? Like, personally, I have family, friends, co-workers, bosses, who are all apart of the lgbtq+ community, and I'm from a smaller suburban/rural area of Ohio. Those are just the people in my life who are out. Why is seeing them represented in modern media so bad? This isn't covid, it's not fucking contagious. If it was your brother, your cousin, your best friend, would it be okay then? Both of my brothers have only ever dated women, but if one of them came out and said "hey, I think I might like guys too," I'm not gonna throw a fucking fit and invalidate them by telling them it's not possible because they've only ever dated women. No, I'll thank them for trusting me, and gush to them about boys because I never had a sister to do that with.

Every time I read those comments, all I can think is, you just proved that you're not a safe person to be trusted if someone in your life wants to come out.

Just, how do you give up on an entire show after one kiss? And then claim that you don't have a problem with it? You can't have it both ways. If it didn't matter to you, you wouldn't react so strongly and so negatively to it. 911 and ABC's intention isn't to question your sexuality. You don't have to worry that you're suddenly going to have to kiss Buck too, okay? Chill.

The whole "Buck has only ever slept with women" and "suddenly he's gay" responses are exactly why this storyline is so important. So many people to this day refuse to acknowledge sexualities outside of straight and gay. Why is it always, "made gay"? It doesn't have to be one or the other. It can be both, or neither.

I say this with the experience of having a mom who's still in the "I don't care as long as I don't have to see it" camp. If seeing it upsets you, you've got a problem. If it really doesn't matter and you're cool letting everyone be themselves, seeing two men together should be just as accepted as a man and a women together. Unless you're also saying we need to stop portraying men and women in romantic, sexual relationships together with kissing scenes or more graphic ones, then you can't rule with a double standard. Me and my mom loved watching Teen Wolf together, but any time there was a scene with Danny kissing another guy, she'd get uncomfortable. She even told me once, that she didn't think they should show scenes like that but she wasn't sure why when watching het couples together didn't make her feel the same way.

Safe, sane, and consensual. As long as they follow that, and are happy, why can't you just be happy for them?

If you're old enough to have been following along with this show, you're old enough to know that everyone is different. And life as an adult is about opening yourself up to the outside world and learning about what makes people different. From race to religion to sexuality to nationality and beyond. Your views, beliefs, ideologies, etc, are not the only ones that matter. Getting and giving acceptance goes hand in hand.

I get it to a certain extent. Coming from a different time and all that, but it just means you've had more time to learn. Being stubborn and holding onto what you were brought up in doesn't mean a whole lot to me if you refuse to open your mind up as an adult to look beyond yourself.

Okay, I'm done now. That felt chaotic, but I feel better. If you've made it this far, thanks for coming to my TED talk☺️

[cafeleningrad]

If it's not to late for the ask game:💚💖💔 for Revolutionary girl Utena. (And if you want ofc)

This show is a never ending opportunity to talk about so the asks will be perfectly on time any time. Thank you a lot for the questions! (/≧▽≦)/ 💚 What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character? That would Tokiko. The fandom barely talks about her, if they acknowledge their existence at all - which is in itself perfectly ironic for the Black Rose Arc finale. I've got many, so many thoughts on the limited yet incredibly revealing screen time of Tokiko, Nemuro before he became Mikage Souji, and the Chida Mamiya. But I will keep it brief at their actual, very human story being essential for explaining what psychological issues are determining the logic of Ohtori, and Akio as it's center of gravity. Tokiko appearing, and being the only person Akio can not intimidate or impress is my favourite moment about accepting past pain, and a life outside of Ohtori.

(And I guess for other two favourites Wakaba and Nanami, I think the fandom is pretty spot on about them (also high five to every Wakaba fan out her, love my onion girl 🧅🤎)) (And yeah, maybe some fans are a bit too kind on Saionji. This boy is physically mistreating others for his compensation. On the other hand, I'm a big Theon Greyjoy fan. For both characters the deeply complicated childhood friendship, patheticness-to-likeability-ratio, and gender-struggle make them overcomepnsate in the most dickhead ways parallels are just too close for me to overlook them....)

As usual, writing about this show got way too long, so the rest is under the cut. ;)

💖 What is your biggest unpopular opinion about the series? two things 1. This show thrives on accepting ambiguity and plurality all at once. The itself perfectly blends all it's aspects and inspirations together. Analysis of the text is a beautiful kaleidoscope. I do think a bit more of interest for the Japanese, especially the time and Japanese popculture context helps understanding why certain characters are the way they are could be useful. (By example: Juri's distant yet poised demeanour in a male environment reflect the tough position for women trying to survive in a male dominated field, or Nanami's and Kozue's incestuous tendencies corresponding to a prominent shoujo trope of the time, or what it means for Akio to take on his fiancée's last name, or Jur/iori's ashamed perception of lesbian love and desire as impure is combating questionable Class-S tropes). Still, I think different readings of gender, queerness, but also depression, maturity, childism, machismo in facism, Greek theater, colour theory, literary analysis of fairy tales, German literary influences, theater, power dynamics and also personal thoughts of escj viwer don't exclude other. Instead they link to each other, help understand one aspect a bit better, maybe are in conflict, or support each other. Even if I might not agree a 100% with every reading or interpretation, the thoughts of many other fans have helped me seeing different aspects in different lights.

2. Lesbianism didn't save anyone. I know most "gay gals winning"-claims are jokes. However it does irritate me a bit because the show works really hard against gender essentialism. It understands really well how love, and mature, good relationships works - even within same sex couples. There is a lot to untangle here but in order to not jump to 99 tangents at once: Princehood is not only misogyny. It's an entire mindset of egocentrism, and a power hierarchy needing over people to submit so a single person can climb on their backs. Such renders every relationship to a disproportionate exchange of values - not loving the actual person. At the pinnacle of it nothing matters more than an individual being uncritically revered, untouchable, unconditionally be loved without having to risk anything. If homsexuality was such an easy cure Touga, Saionji, Shiori and Juri... wouldn't be like that. They might even quit the show the moment Shiori said sorry, or Saionji returned at Ohtori. Them being all stuck in princehood mentality means seeing relationships as exhange of value, domination and submission as only possible form of intimacy, yet honest feelings and hurt are incredibly dangerous to reveal. They've a bleak outlook into the future, and mostly care about themselves before they actually care about the other. (Even though from all people Saionji might be the most caring for Touga... this boy is such a trainwreck...) This is why it takes Anthy and Utena 39 episodes and movie to flirt and finally kiss each other because they needed to mature and overcome the fears into which they were conditioned. Their vulnerability of loving has hurt them before: Anthy gave her all to Dios just to have her most intimate spheres in every sense getting violated. Utena lost the unconditional love of her parents, and her trust and intimacy got badly betrayed by Akio. However, they dare risk experiencing such pain again for the other. Opening up, daring to believe in something better, believing in the kindness and connection Ohtori so vehemently denies... there might be the chance of an miracle, actually.

(Don't get me wrong, it is a very queer show so it also tears down the pitfalls of heteronormativity. A prince needs a princess to showcase prowess and simultaneously own someone they can rob of power, relationships are just functions. Unlearning patriarchy means learning anew what personhood and what love is. Love is also the preservation and respect for the personhood of another person. i.e. it's basically Erich Fromm but without his fraud understanding of gender...) Again, SKU is incomplete with only one partial reading.

I don't mean it as "love that transcends gender", and "it doesn't need a label" way. No, Anthy is suffering under very real abuse whereas also bearing a heavily symbolic if not allegorical role. Meaning, reconciling with Anthy, Utena does reconcile with her struggles about being a woman. Utena is by design queer as it already is her starting point that whatever is considered "normal" not making intrinsic sense to her.

💔 If you had to remove one major character from the series, who would you choose? Ooof that's a tough one. The entire cast represent different arguments and issues of the Ohtori system, even side characters like Keiko and Tsuwabuki become relevant. Let alone main characters... (And I'm of the very strong opinion that a good story utilizes every character perfectly. Without even a terrible character there would be no plot. Which is to say we have to keep Akio if we want a plot... ) Even when dead, Touga is a necessary foil as self-aware ideal of princehood... I know Nanami only appears once in the manga but what would the story be without one of the best characters ever created for TV?

Alright, I've to choose: Evne though Miki and Kozue are my Rosetta stones to Akio's and Anthy's fraud relationship, I think removing Kozue would make for an experiment in deciphering Miki. How quickly would we pick on his deal if her was a prince without princess. After all, Juri and Shiori are the next step in isolation and dehumanisation, and Saionji has actually as many princesses as Wakaba has princes... hmmm... To say, Kozue is my starting point in understanding the arbitrary of gender roles and misleading concepts of innocence. Without her Miki could mislead the audience much more easily...

[loisfreakinglane]

@queenofattolia OOOOH MY FAVORITE THROUPLES!!!!!!!!! SMASH THAT READ MORE BUTTON

ben/maddie/ryn ~ siren (never forgive never forget that breakup, they were PERFECT. that show ended with season 2 and i will NEVER EVER EVER forgive season 3's crimes)

kala/rajan/wolfgang ~ sense8 (we were denied a full series arc of them getting together, but frankly i didn't feel it was rushed in the finale. it still felt organic TO ME, largely bc the chemistry between rajan and wolfgang was impeccable immediately)

eliot/hardison/parker ~ leverage (can you believe there's people who watch leverage that don't ship this?!!?!?! there are human beings out there who ship eliot/parker with zero hardison involvement. BAFFLED, FRIENDS)

angel/buffy/cordy ~ btvs/ats (i'm sorry this is based on my own brain falling into the depths of madness when s6/s3 were airing and i was banned from watching buffy so i was reading the transcripts on buffyworld and left to stew over how much i wanted buffy and dawn and tara to flee to la and never look back, while also falling in love with cangel and thinking about how much those three would fit perfectly together, buffy and cordy as two sides of the same coin, just always out of step with the others parallel heroic journey, how much bangel would work so much more for me when it's damaged adults coming together and also raising their impossible blue eyed kids together also connors never kidnapped also also faith moves into the hyperion too and gunn and fred never break up the end okay i'll stop now)

the princess, the prince, and the mermaid ~ the little mermaid (i was infected by the novel mermaid: a twist on the classic tail (heh) in my youth- christopher, lenia, and margrethe had a fascinating relationship i fell in love with. and now!!!!!!!! watching older adaptations of tlm, seeing the interactions between the three of them always intrigue me so hard. pre-disney the princess is allowed to be sweet and kind to the mermaid, if somewhat patronizing to the mute young girl. and when the mermaid fades away, her body in foam and her soul off to heaven, she lays a kiss on the grieving princess's head AND I DIE)

elizabeth/neal/peter ~ white collar (IT WAS SUCH A FUN TRIO I STAND BY THIS CHOICE! also at the time it was extraordinarily refreshing of fandom to not immediately despise and vilify the woman standing between their slash ship. and i adored the canon and the fanon so tbh! this will always stick out as a classique ot3 to me!)

irma/marion/miranda ~ picnic at hanging rock (why aren't we frolicking in oz, wearing white gowns and eating picnic treats RIGHT NOW? anyway they're in love, they're so in love they fell into an alternate dimension)

ann/ben/leslie ~ parks and recreation (am I the only person who was tearing my hair out during ann's search for a sperm donor bc why did leslie never offer up ben's specimen!?!?! she is OBSESSED with ann and way too invasive and beyond controlling and I think way too much about that episode where ben and ann are fighting over the wafflemaker for one of leslie's insane random holidays, then end it off by coming together to make leslie STOP with the incessant celebrations and presents? anyway they should have all wound up together. and not just bc chris was terrible)

huoxin/jing/xiaowei ~ painted skin the resurrection (the lady demon, the princess, and the bodyguard. this trio was EVERYTHING. the demon fixated on the princess and her heart, the princess desperately in love with her bodyguard turned general but clinging to shame over her facial scars, the general who runs from his failure to protect her. ADD IN BODYSWAP SHENANIGANS AND I LOSE MY MIND EVERY TIME.)

ezra/jules/richie ~ imposters (possibly partially queerplatonic bc i'm not exactly sure where jules lies on ye olde kinsey scale, but even if it's platonic on her part i'm incredibly in love with this trio and i SO see it as a working throuple LEAVE ME ALONE)

elizabeth/olive/william ~ professor marston and the wonder women (whether you believe the historical accuracy of this movie or not, this throuple is fucking awesome and i adooooooore them)

gwen/mj/peter ~ marvel comics (i'm so sick of thinking about spider-man rn bc *waves hand at mcu* HOWEVER it would feel disingenous to leave this off my list. i love these three, i love them together so much.)

alex/hal/tom ~ being human uk (the way these characters brought new life to this era of bhuk. these three are in LOVE)

chel/miguel/tulio ~ the road to el dorado (baby's first ot3)

kirk/spock/uhura ~ star trek (THE KELVIN TIMELINE!!!!!!!!!!! THEY'RE SO MUCH. still mourning a fic that was deleted off ao3....... sad bean bear city)

art/patrick/tashi ~ challengers (THEEEEEEEEEEEE PINNACLE! there are ppl who cast tashi as the villain of the story and think art and patrick will flee her when the credits roll, and i am so glad i am not surrounded by those types. this is a love story where every person is desperately needed to complete the triad. they just don't work without all 3 of them)

clark/lana/lex ~ smallville (LOOK LOOK LOOK. SHUT UP. anyway i rewatched this show with my father at the height of the pandemic and lana/lex hit hard in a way it never had before, so now i'm p equally obsessed with every side of this triangle and now i want to smash them all together so bad. THIS IS HOW TO FIX EVERYTHING.)

gaby/ilya/napoleon ~ the man from uncle (ready made ot3, i can't be mad)

mylene/shaolin/zeke ~ the get down (did mylene and shaolin hate each other? uhhhhhhh yep. HOWEVER. THAT ALLOWED FOR SOME FUCKING GREAT TENSION. and they were both equally in love with zeke so like............ i wanted it so bad

i'm SURE i'm missing very important ones, but these are my broad strokes 💗💗💗

ALSO LOOK AT THEM!!!!!!!!! TELL ME YOU DON'T SHIP THEM IMMEDIATELY