#let's hate season 2 together as fam

[bibyshitsuji24k]

I was thinking... okay, let's say that the concept from season 2, where Smile transforms into a demon permanently, is canon (let's pretend Alois = r!Ciel and he's x.x)

I find it hard to believe that Smile would have disappeared forever and left the mansion he worked SO HARD for?? He wouldn't have left his toy businesses either?? Nor leave his family if that's the only thing that keeps him kinda social/normal human?? What about his loyal servants? He didn't say anything to them. I'm not even talking about lizzy bc that last dance broke my heart, he wouldn't have done that ToT

Smile is very different from Ciel, but he's selfish af. He went through literal hell to be in the position he's in rn, and he wouldn't just leave everything behind now that he's a demon. Okay, let's pretend he did fulfill his revenge against whoever was behind his parents' murder and the cult. He wouldn't just leave now that he's a demon and has superpowers? I think he'd definitely make use of them, continuing to manage the estate he's in charge of, being a top-notch businessman, and keepin' the Phantomhive legacy. periodt

I know this was written in 2011, buH i just can't stand season 2's writing ToT. I was trying to make it werk somehow but it's kinda impossible lol

[somewhereinthepines]

How do you think Kaylee and Caleb think about Ryan and Chris? In ASB, Kaylee was trying to subtly push them together a bit, so I got to wondering how they view Ryan liking Chris and their dad liking Ryan. This sent me down a mini rabbit hole of thoughts that somehow led me to thinking, "Does Chris have something like a knot like in popular werewolf fiction?" I honestly can't remember how I got to wondering about that, and idk how it'd even work either, lmao.

Then, from that thought, I naturally jumped to the next randomised one, which was wondering about how Chris spent the year when Ryan wasn't there? The tapes he has of Ryan wandering around and staring into space got me thinking that maybe he'd watch those sometimes? They have eachothers phone number, too, so they call like they did a bit in ASB. It was just interesting to think about in the context of GP because the nature of their relationship is different. Chris has his obsession, and Ryan atm isn't quite on the same level rn, but he's still pretty fixated on Chris. With these things in mind, I just wondered how it might change how Chris feels/reacts to Ryan's absence during the off-season of camp.

Then, finally, I thought, "What if Ryan stayed with Chris during the off-season?" Idk what the circumstances would be, but Ryan just doesn't go home or doesn't live with his family anymore? I was thinking about what they'd do, obviously with Chris's parents around, he can't bring Ryan to the house. So they'd be at the lodge, or at least Ryan would be. It leaves a lot of room for potential domestic fluff or smut. Without the campers and counsellors around, Ryan would truly be in the wolfs den. I'd imagine Kaylee and Caleb might visit more without the noisy campers and nosy counsellors there.

i’d say, that they prob don’t think about it too deeply. like, ryan’s crush is pretty clear to everyone, who bothers to inspect his and chris’s relationships for more, than 2 minutes. but while kyalee thinks, that it’s fun and might be good for chris, i feel like caleb sort of avoids the topic. and not bc the hates the idea of it, more so, bc it’s very awkward lol. i mean, he’s the older out of the 3. he views ryan on the same level as kyalee, like as someone, who’s clearly younger than him. and his sister has a habit of having new, non-serious crushes pretty often. so he might assume, that ryan is the same in that regard. like that he’s confused or smth. and then, chris is his dad, who he considers to be good-natured, but a bit lame. not to mention, that ryan is around the same age category as them, and learning that your father is a ‘dirty old man’ surely doesn’t help, haha. so yeah, caleb would try to not dig too deeply into it. and nope, chris doesn’t have it, haha. i mean, in human form surely not. in werewolf one, he prob does, haha. but i struggle to imagine ryan surviving such an encounter tbh. 

ah, that’s a good question. i imagine, that chris has a lot to do around the campground, even when no one is around. then, he and the rest of the hacketts prob try to track down silas and all that business as well. but i feel like, chris doesn’t really believe, that they would ever find him. one would imagine, that it’ll be travis, who low-key gave up on everything, when in fact, trying to kill silas is in part of what keeps him going. compared to this, chris has a more cynical view on it. at least, in my fanon, haha. i guess, i always picture him as a guy, who really wants to help others, but considers himself to be beyond help. or maybe, not even worthy of it. i mean, i feel like while fandom adores fawning over travis’s situation, no one ever considers why chris had to be the one, who runs the camp. i don’t think, that it was a gift from his parents. i actually, assume that he was ‘trusted’ (read conditioned) into that position, bc travis was always a scapegoat of the fam, but in a way, he was ‘let go’. he could do whatever, bc no one cared all that much, which is still pretty bad, don’t get me wrong. but with this in mind, and added fact, that bobby is clearly the favorite child, it would mean that chris was automatically put into position, where literally no one, but him could ‘inherit’ the hackett’s quarry. and where he had to be the one to have a family, and be ‘the ideal man’ or whatever. all eyes were on him, bc there were things expected from him. nothing was expected from bobby. and in a way, from travis as well, but for different reasons clearly. with this being said, i don’t think that chris had it ‘worse’ than travis or smth, it’s just that he had to suffer through different sorts of parental pressure and most likely abuse too. travis has a stockholm syndrome toward his family, and chris was basically conditioned into filling the role, that no one else could. sorry, tangled up, haha. 

but like with all this in consideration, it’s fairly easy to imagine why he would get so obsessed with ryan. and yeah, he for sure would rewatch the tapes, and enjoy phone talks, that they have. he never had anything like this before. a thing to truly look forward to. his kids are adults, so in all fairness, they no longer need him like they used to, and i feel like chris gets very aimless, when there is nothing for him to do, no one to care for, bc he has no idea how to live for himself at all. and yeah, in GP ryan’s and chris’s levels of obsession are a bit different. i suppose, partly bc chris’s mental state is also worse, than it was in ASB. he tries his best still, but cracks are starting to show more and more often. as for how he feels, when ryan is not around for months, i think that it’s a tricky question. chris is party terrified of himself and what he can do, so rational part of him says, that it’s good that ryan is far away from him, and that it might be better if he never comes back. but then, he also always longs for him to be back all the same. need vs care. obsession vs common sense. chris is very morale dualed, haha. esp when it comes to ryan. but i feel like, he’s prob one of the rare kinds of characters, who can overpower his own selfishness more often, than not. like, if i had to put all my supermassives otps into situation, where they had a choice to basically keep their ‘better half’ with them or have a chance to let them go with hope, that they can do better, that it would essentially be better for them, only chris and andrew would be capable of smth like lmao. everyone else, ryan included, would have the ugliest tantrum imaginable. even john with a similar level of self-hatred as chris, wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from being terribly selfish and keep andrew, no matter what it would have taken. this is partly why chris was okay with ryan killing him in WCA. he just assumed, well, it would be better for ryan. kinda a dick move tho. like ryan killed people for him, and he then, asks him to shot him lmao. 

and oh, funny enough, i had un-used plot, where ryan gets kicked out of the house by his mother. idk, where his grandparents are. maybe, they don’t exist in that au or they’re not close. so as result, ryan literally has nowhere to go. he asks kyalee and caleb, if they can hook him up with some temporary place, until he finds a job and will get out of their hair. but naturally, they call him an idiot and say, that he can just stay on the campground during that time, chris won’t mind. i imagine, that ryan would ask them to not tell chris why he’s here, make up some story. it also leaves a lot places for humor, bc ryan is city kid, he doesn’t know much about life in the country. but chris be there to teach him. so yeah, they would spent a lot of time together. just two of them. kyalee and caleb would also indeed have a chance to hang out with ryan more often, show him around and such. for a while everything will be alright with the world. which is smth that i really about the quarry tbh. their set-up is so deceptively cozy.

[rayatii]

Continuing my gameplay! It's getting difficult to juggle 4 households at once (or rather 3, since I only occasionally check on Nemorino)...

Ooooh, seeing romantic satisfaction between 2 conspiracy theorists at the library in StrangerVille!

And also romantic satisfaction between a scientist and a conspiracy theorist (and Dulcamara is scared bc he failed to calm down a freaked out conspiracy theorist).

Principessa floating in the air again lmao

Mother and daughter gaming together 🥰🥰 also Principessa seems to be scared of Adina's gaming console.

And Principessa got sick so Adina had to take her to the vet before school.

A bunch of possessed people showed up to Belcore's welcome wagon. Now I know better who Dulcamara will have to vaccinate once he develops the cure.

Love how Belcore seems to be escaping it all by going to the bathroom (at least they brought fruitcake)

lmao I took Belcore to the gym in Oasis Springs to complete the workout requirement for the military, and both of Adina's parents were present (which is even funnier considering that Teresa hates fitness).

Surprisingly, Belcore loved the fruitcake that his possessed neighbors brought! (also some inspection agents came to his trailer shortly after the welcome wagon and took his fridge (and gave him a refund) bc it apparently had signs of infection. But I bought a new fridge, and the fruitcake was still there.)

Dulcamara bought a listening device and a few bugs, and has listened in on 3 people, to fill his StrangerVille dossier.

...Interesting place to have a conversation with your date, Belcore (I had Belcore go on Cupid's Corner and go on a date with someone. But this is the last time I let him flirt with a Romantically Reserved Sim).

TV season premiere night with the fam!

I might play less these days, now that classes have started again.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

zutaras : Maiko is abusive cause she said, "I just asked if you were cold not for your whole lifes story." (clearly they never improve as a couple and remain static cause the beach aint canon so they can ignore zukos bad behaivor )

Zutaras: you cant use zukos past to define zutara but they do it consantly with mai and zuko first meeting katara is a 100 times worse

Zuko invades kataras village/ roughly handles her grandma/ nearly burns the women/children/ nearly runs over a child with his large boat zutaras: Crickets / he redeemed himself/ doesnt count/ season 3 he hired a hitman well thats OOC awkard/ shy baby zuko would never. but aang would def abuse katara and make her do all the chores

Zutara: aang displays predatory behaivor/ abusive behaivor /bad boyfriend behaivor

Zuko throws a man into a wall because mai was talking to his friend/ insults her/ tries to wrap his arm around her after snidly asking, "wheres your new boyfriend? Zutaras: Call the two times he kidnapped her romantic/ Quote a line where he knocked her out as romantic

(and i have yet to see a kataang label zuko a rapistcause we aint braindead and dont want to demonize a child we just point out canon and zutaras just hate canon for some reason)

Zutara: Mai is abusive /katara would never/ worse girlfriend ever /bringing up zukos behaivor means you dont support abuse victims mai saves zukos life: Zutara: OOC // she never feared azula/ mai is toxic/ aang goes to save katara: CLINGY/ BAD BOYFRIEND/ hes obessed with katara zuko saves katara: TRUE LOVE

aang lets katara go and goes into the avatar state zutara: Seems fake that never happened katara:suggest her and aang kiss in cave of two lovers zutara: OOC / This is only happening because their stuck/ katara is his mom Zuko/katara trapped in a cave together: TRUE LOVE UNITES/ they were meant to be see the symbolism

Katara tells toph she doesnt want to be seen as a mom Zutara: MOMTARA is canon if you tell us otherwise your sexist

katara and sokka pretending to be aangs parent= GROSS INCEST tho i recall aang wasa their grandpa once.. its almost as if katara is the only girl who can pass as somewhat older, toph sure couldnt.. its not that deep fam..

zutara: LOK is sexist cuase kataras a mom but if she was the mom of zukos kid it wouldnt be sexist because.. she loves politcs

this is why i cant stand the zutara fandom from the hypocrisy, the igornace of canon, ignoring kataras agency , the hate towards aang, the sexist hate towards mai, the handwaving of aang trauma the sludge i went through with the tags as a zutara shipper.. made me nearly hate the ship.. it waasnt kataang fans that nearly killed a ship/ ruined zuko for me it was zutara fandom. sure not everyone thinks that way but so many of em do and it ruined the fandom experience for me i had to block the tag i still ship but it have zero interest in a fandom that hates the show /main character/ heck im convinced 90 percent of em hate canon zuko /katara cause they sure never talk about their canon personalitys kts all just boring fanon to throw shit/aang/mai worse shipping fandom i ever met..

The only thing I'll disagree with is the point about Mai and Azula. While fear/intimidation/Azula being her princess before being her friend WAS the main reason why their friendship crumbled, it wasn't as simple as Mai being just her puppet. We literally see her deciding, of her own free will, to go help Azula in book 2.

She made a bad choice by joining Azula. So did Zuko. If anything, the complexity of "I cared about this person, but the relationship got toxic and I had to distance myself from them because of it, and now to make things even worse we're in opposing sides of a war" is something they can both relate to - hence Zuko not holding it against Mai, since that is a mistake he also made.

It's almost like they are compatible or something...

[solcomfortssouls]

Megalo box 2 episode 13

Structurally speaking season 2 mirrors seasons 1. The final of the emotional arc took place in episode 10. In s1 Joe and Nanbu had to face the fixed fight in megalonia and Nanbu's betrayal and Nanbu in the end chose Joe over himself and his safety, believing in him enough so he could believe in himself too. In s2 Joe and Sachio have that first fight in which Joe absolves Sachio of his guilt, forgives him and they accept each other and their responsibility for what went wrong, reconciling.

The emotional final was episode 10. Episode 11 was a prep for the external conclusion, making what happened so far bear fruit and show us how it turned out. It's a great way to conclude the story and make it wholesome.

I loved the parallel between Joe and Mac being knocked down. Both were able to get up again because of their families cheering them on, Mac for his son and Joe for Sachio. It was beautifully poetic, how they made both of these bonds equal and moving.

It was so significant for Joe to get scared and knocked down and for Sachio being able to ground and rise him up again.

I'm not a big fan of Mac, he seemed pretty boring to me, but I liked his final. Fighting on his own terms without Mac Time, keeping himself sane through love of his family and true friends, realizing his true potential as a boxer and being absolutely respectful and happy about the fight with Joe.

It was really just two guys with great respect for each other's skill wanting to fight. There was no hate, no emotional stakes, no need to be angry or risk your health, especially since both were messed up in different ways. Being able to do the sport they love the right way, with no hard feelings, just enjoying it, was great as a final.

Joe staying to hold the homely fort for the kids and live in peace, in light, with his family is a peaceful deserved ending. I love how he reassures them they will always have a place here, beloning but never overbearing, letting them grow while offering them a home.

That photo is so wholesome too! The whole fam together, along with Yuri and Aragaki and the mechanic guy, with the kids and with Joe in the middle with an arm around Sachio.

Sachio leaving at the end to follow his own path, the internship for a job he loves and will be good at is him moving forward, being free of his past and guilt.

Joe giving his beloved motorcycle to Sachio is meaningful in so many ways. It's the vehicle that made him a stray dog and nomad, what allowed him to drive alone, to drive off cliffs, to run away, at the same time true and characteristic of him and his wild untamed spirit and risk loving nature. Now Joe is settling in, not needing a risk and him driving a car, where he can transport more people, where he is responsible and loving to the gang again, makes so much sense and connects him to the future and home he chose.

While Sachio is following his own path, going into the world alone, as a sign of independence and growing up. At the same time it's not lost on us that this is Joe's signature motorcycle that went to the hell and back with him, connecting them the two of them further.

For Joe the motorcycle was him being alone. For Sachio it's his connection to Joe, his older brother, succeeding him, but on his own path.

I think Joe wanted that exhibition match to work with the whole team again. To be supported by them. He explicitly wanted Sachio to help him and is so special for a macho prideful champion and nomad all the way. This is Joe who always fought for himself, who didn't admit needing help like ever. It's nornal to find it difficult to ask for help, but it was even more so with Joe, so I loved he asked for help and Sachio was able to give him exactly what he needed. No one could have been the second Sachio could for him.

I won't lie, I was a bit disappointed Joe lost, cause he could have gone further, he was truly enjoying himself and he is just always the burning winner in my eyes. But Sachio thought more of Joe than of the win, just like Joe was counting him to, and it was so satisfying to see Sachio concerned for Joe, asking him how he is feeling and protecting him with the towel too.

Besides Mac didn't knock out Joe. That would have been the actiony indisputable win Joe had against Yuri. KO in the 13th round. Not a thrown towel.

But that's just my pride speaking. XD It made the perfect narrative ending for Joe's healing journey and family coming together. And Mac got his dreams come true just by being able to fight with my Joe in the same ring so. Joe was definitely satisfied with no regrets.

Megalo Box 2 was about a healing journey home despite obstacles and all characters stayed true to it.

After all the suffering and distress, being saved and encouraged by Chief and Marla, repairing past bridges, he can now just be there for the people he cares about, at peace. It made the last scene of him driving with Nanbu in the back so incredibly tranquil and calm...I felt that peace and balance and it was beautiful. This is what healing looks like and is all about.

[sugdenlovesdingle]

I finished season 2 of Bridgerton and I have thoughts™

The Viscount Who Loved Me is my favourite book of the series and I was a little worried what they’d do with it... because these screen adaptions are always changed for added DRAMA and stuff, but overall I liked the season.

- Kate and Anthony are 🔥🔥🔥 from the beginning. A+ casting, Simone and Jonathan have insane chemistry.

- Anthony is a hot mess all season and I love it!

- Kate wants to do right by everyone so bad, but my girl needs to go easy on herself and let herself love that hot mess of a man.

- Newton! The true star. And Kate and Anthony bickering over who he belongs to at the end is amazing. “He doesn’t listen to me.” “And I do?”

- Edwina is all sweet and naive all season... and I didn’t really like that. I think I like book!Edwina better. in the book she says she wants to marry a scholar, someone she can have intelligent conversation with... here she just lusts after Anthony and is blind to him and her sister blatantly eye fucking every time they’re in the same room.

- The whole Sheffield/Sharma backstory... meh. (was Anthony Head in the neighbourhood and needed something to do?) I still don’t understand why they changed their name to Sharma... They didn’t change Simon’s name even though they cast a man of colour to play him....

- I feel like they brushed over some things and just quickly added them because it’s such a big thing in the books and the fans were hyping it up. Like the bee sting and Kate’s trauma. The bee sting was barely a thing and the storm just “unsettled” her. Where was my Kate hiding under the desk because she’s that scared of the storm? Where was the Kate and Mary conversation about her mother?

- Penelope and the other Featheringtons were very unlikeable all season. I know Pen is only supposed to be 17 or 18 or something but god... i don’t want this Pen with Colin.

- Colin... I don’t know what to think of him. WTF was that whole Marina thing? And the twins are George’s kids now and not Philip’s? I suppose they did set up Sir Philip the botanist... but Marina seemed fine. Though I guess To Sir Philip with Love isn’t happening for a few more years.

- Benedict. The best Bridgerton brother - hands down. High!Benedict was hilarious and I love his relationship with Eloise and him constantly mocking/teasing Anthony. I can’t wait for his season.

- Eloise the feminist warrior... meh. I liked her little flirt with Theo. If they don’t do To Sir Philip With Love, I wouldn’t mind her eventually marrying him and have her cause another scandal of marrying below her station.

- Hyacinth and Gregory, my beloved children! they’re so precious. Anthony dancing with Hyacinth at the ball and telling Gregory about their dad - my heart!

- mama Bridgerton/Mary/Lady Danbury/Queen Charlotte these ladies are a force to be reckoned with! I loved them pulling together after the wedding that never was and Violet and Mary talking some sense into their idiot children at the end.

So Eloise knows Penelope is Lady Whistledown... how are they going to drag that out until the end of Romancing Mr Bridgerton? Madame Delacroix already knows too... how many more people are they going to involve? At this rate Colin is going to be the last to know rather than the first.

Also Eloise knows and hates her now (we’ll see if that lasts) why would she not tell Colin when she realises he’s into Penelope or when they’re engaged. Even if he goes “yeah, I know.” by then. They keep saying the Bridgerton fam is so close so wouldn’t it make sense for her to share this big secret about her brother’s fiancee with him?

And I feel like they used the running away to be with Philip thing with Theo now so they might not do that book... and they showed Philip and Marina “happy”.

Also Eloise has her hair down most of the time... when it’s such a thing in To Sir Philip with Love that she has her hair up all the time and he wants to take the pins out so see it not tied up in a bun at the base of her neck. And when they have sex and he finally gets her hair ‘loose’ she mentions it’s always up in a bun ever since she was 16. but again - TSPWL isn’t happening for a while yet.

Where was Francesca?? Has she already met John? Is she already married?

I was kind of disappointed they used the caught in a compromising position and are forced to marry with the Featheringtons instead of Kate and Anthony... but on the other hand I didn’t really like that part of the book where Anthony pretends he doesn’t love her and she’s miserable at home alone. So I'm kind of torn™ on that one.

Overall it was a good season, though certain choices were made.

[b612sunsets]

Ahhh I’m happy to see someone else loving The Devil Judge - it truly is amazing 😭😭🖤✨ I love Yo-Han and Ga-on’s relationship I swear let them be destructive together!

I hate waiting for new episodes so please tell me one of your theories, it can be about anything! 🥰

Right?! I love it so much, it's really good to have our lilttle fam getting bigger, can't wait until it airs on Netflix, we will have even more people going crazy about it in here! (at least I hope it will become a Netflix series after the show ends like Beyon Evil - another love of mine) and yes, lawful husbands can be destructive together but only to the bad people pls 🥺

It's tough waiting for new episodes every weekend and at the same time I wish for it not to end so soon. It hasn't finished but I already want Jisung and Jinyoung in a second season or working together in another drama. Their chemistry on screen is too good to stop there

About the theories, there's a few I saw on reddit/twitter and I make my own based on it and after watching every episode, but I think it's too early to talk about them. However, since you requested it, there's some that come to mind as interesting enough to mention.

The fire and the story behind it narrated by Yohan

1- Some people think Yohan did start the fire because he found out about the dirty politicians real intentions and decided to destroy them all in the same place before Isaac could donate the money bc he is "a devil" and capable of that since he was a kid as told by the priest with the school incident and the nanny with the maid and dog thing. side note: not for pranking some kids who bullied him because that's all it seems like, right? But in terms of observing, thinking strategically and being one step ahead when needing to punish the whole classroom who wronged him even as young as he was and feeling satisfied while watching the result and staying out of it. A type of mentality probably encouraged by Isaac and the books he gave him to read, unlike a regular kid who would just fight back or endure it. And we still have to see if it really was Yohan that contributed to the maid's death or if it was something/someone else and the nanny thinks it was him.

They think that Elijah even saw him in front of the door right before the fire started and smiled at him instead of smiling at her parents, like she did in the gates of the cathedral in the previous scene, so that's why she hates him so much now because she can remember seeing him as the responsible for it. But Yohan didn't intend to kill/hurt Isaac and the rest of the family, thinking he could save them or something, and felt guilty that he couldn't do so. Some even said that Yohan delayed too much in trying to save them after entering the church and seeing Elijah getting her legs hurt, that it may have been shock but why would he remember everything and everyone so clearly if he was in shock?

It's a good theory but I have my own remarks: why wouldn't he tell Isaac about the politicians himself if he knew the dirty about them then? They had a close relationship and Isaac gave him books about punishment and everything, it wasn't like Isaac was too naive and wouldn't believe his half-brother. He wouldn't have donated if Yohan told him. "Oh he was being the devil and finding a way to punish them instead of just letting is slide and not donating" still, Yohan wouldn't risk Isaac and Elijah with such a dangerous plan if he could avoid having Isaac and Elijah at all in the destruction scene by telling Isaac about it. It could have been shock and Yohan wanting to look and commit to mind everyone's face in that day responsible for hurting his niece and not caring about anyone else but themselves, pushing him away and delaying his attempt to get to them in time, leaving Isaac and the family behind (after they almost donated them their money) and things like that. So he can avenge them now, like he did in the school with the kids. That's why as soon as he could, he canceled the donation in the most easy way by saying his brother wasn't sane enough to make that decision before dying.

There's also the theories about Isaac being the insane/evil one, which wouldn't surprise me because I've considered it since episode 3 but at the same time I'll not be touching that topic now and I don't know if I ever will unless proven otherwise in some other episode

2- The other theory I have and saw people discussing (the one I'm most inclined to believe because I'm Yohan biased but again it's too soon to be sure) is that the story Yohan narrated is mostly if not completely true and he experiences extreme guilt for not coming back and saving Isaac when the church collapsed on him, as seen in the character introduction by tvN translated in this tweet that we now know it's about Isaac:

The last words Yohan said to Isaac was that he was going to come back for him, so he experiences nightmares like the flashbacks we saw in episode 1 and that's why we don't see any scene of Isaac in the middle of the church after the fire staring at Yohan or during the fire and turning to stare directly at Yohan when he narrates it. Because they're dreams and his guilty conscience and he remembers them when looking at Gaon. The flashback of Yohan kneeling down and touching Isaac with Elijah's bear close to him could be after he got Elijah out from there and he went back to put the bear next to him kinda like a "Sorry for not coming back in time", a reassurance that his daughter for whom he died for is safe and will always stay with him, a "Goodbye". He wouldn't just let Isaac's body lying there, he would go back even if it was too late.

Another thing is that when Yohan is showing Gaon his scar after telling the story, there's a book fallen at his feet. I think it was the thing that fell when Yohan standed up from the table and choked Gaon (trying hard not to comment on that choking scene as a 🔥 Gahan moment for our delight and imagination bc that's not the point right now lol)

This is the book:

And the first page of this book says "Never again will a single story be told as though it's the only one." - John Berger

I searched about it and it can mean that never again will a story be told as if it's the only one that matters. It could also mean that never again will a story be so encompassing of the elements it tackles that no other story need be written about these elements. A story has many perspectives that cannot be understood by just a single viewpoint. Isn't that what this kdrama is all about?

One of the translations of what Yohan said after Gaon left was:

But there's also another version:

The meaning of what he said changes a bit depending on which translation is more accurate, more so when we add the book quote to the equation.

Kim Gaon and his connection to Kang Yohan

People think Gaon could be Isaac's relative in some way or just a look alike (I think it's just a look alike to contribute to Yohan's obsession/curiosity and their proximity from the start, that's why no one really comments on it, not even Gaon when he sees Isaac's picture). Dear God, let them not be related because it would make shipping our lawful husbands really strange, to say the least.

What I'd like to say and almost everyone is forgetting is that in the tvN character introduction we already have Gaon's past and know he wasn't always a goody two shoes, the man was a juvenile delinquent and can even fight (the rebellious phase he said he made the tattoo in episode 3?). He too sought revenge for his parents when he was 16 because they committed suicide after losing their money and being deceived by multi-level con artists posing as social service workers. But the teacher and Soohyun were able to hold him back.

Yohan's father could be one of the reasons for their death. He was a loan shark and might have lend them money after they lost it all and it caused them to have a great debt, that's why Yohan did a thorough research on Gaon and was interested in him (not only because he resembled his half-brother). They shared one enemy in common and maybe even a place (churches, Yohan's father tended to confess his sins in a church when his debtors killed themselves). Or Yohan might have researched about him at the time he knew Gaon was chosen to be the associate judge sitting on his left side instead of way before, because it's important to Yohan to know who he is dealing with and the dirty of their past if they have any. And then Yohan discovered everything and saw his picture and resemblance to Isaac.

The thing is: they have the same distrust/repulsion of powerful people who deceive the world and had a painful loss because of that. Both of them think they have the other exactly where they want but they get more confused about what it is that they really want from the other and get closer (as said in the summary of episode 5 that tvN released) while figuring it out. They will come to an understanding and probably join forces at some point. We saw it in the end of episode 4, the scene of episode 5 when Gaon says he can understand Yohan's pain but can't trust him if he doesn't tell him everything and then Yohan says Gaon needs to decide if he will get in his way or stay by his side. Gaon might go back to his rebellious days and stay with Yohan to seek revenge together while distancing himself from Soohyun and Jungho who prevented him from doing so

And that's about it! Thank you for your ask and hope my answer is satisfying enough! 💙 The hardest but also most awesome part is having to wait to see.

[curiousscientistkae]

Another thing that has been bugging me

So once again, I have to start by saying this. All of this is under the cut. It is tagged. Yall do not have to read it so yall can ignore it. This is not made to be argued with. The show is nearly one year out since the ending so my stance won’t change. I doubt anyone else’s will but I still want to put this post out as why so many people are still upset about c/a and s/pop. If you are willing to just listen to the other side and then just move on, cool. If you are looking for a fight, please leave. You will be blocked if you start shit. I, and many other abuse victims, are allowed to be upset and criticize this show that once made us really happy. Please understand that. 

Anyway onto something that has been bugging me for a long long time:

There are many things I am upset over in s5. I and others have talked about many before. Today, I am gonna focus on the line Catra said about “I have always loved you” to Adora. 

This line is, bullshit. I could write a book on why and give examples for days. However, I will be sticking to five main points. In no order:

            1.Season 3 Inside the portal. 

Let’s start with this doozy. We know this is a perfect world, so to speak, and Catra and Adora are together. However, things start to fall apart quickly. Adora keeps wanting to figure out what is going on and Catra brushes her off. This keeps going on until a breaking point. The scene I want to focus on:

[cue fight]

Right off the bat, Catra is blaming Adora for something. It does not help that right before this scene, Adora is asking Catra to come with her, saying she won’t leave her again, yet Catra refuses. This is a topic for another day but in s5 Catra also had said “stay just this once” which is a lie since Adora kept asking for Catra to come. This is a topic for a different post. Moving on. 

“I won’t let you win. I’d rather see the whole world end than let that happen.”

This line is uncomfortable. One of the biggest red flags for an abusive relationship is the line of “If I can’t have you, no one can.”

This line mirrors that line. Catra does not want Adora to win. She would let the whole world, millions of people, die then allow Adora to save them. This is NOT love. It’s toxic and dangerous and mirrors the biggest red flag on earth for an abusive relationship, for someone who is controlling. 

              2. Season 2 White Out

Oh boy. This is also a doozy. Let’s hit the ground running for this. After capturing Adora, right after infecting her with the First One’s tech, this happens:

Catra then laughs after this. She is gleeful at the thought of using Adora to attack Adora’s friends. In a point we will get to next, Catra knows Adora loves her friends. That hurting them, hurts her. She knows this and is using it against the person she later claims she has always loved. Now the second scene:

Oh boy. Where do I begin with this? It speaks for itself really. Catra does not want to give up controlling Adora. She WANTS to have control over her. THAT is abuse. That is NOT love. Hell, Catra was telling Scorpia not to destroy the disc. This is not good at all.

             3. Season 1 Going for the Heart. 

This one is more brief. But as said above, Catra knows about Adora’s love for her friends. How? She says it herself.

Following this, she attacks Princess Prom and takes away Adora’s friends. She knows Adora’s weakness, she is AWARE of it, and uses it to HURT Adora. Love is not supposed to harm, especially going out of your way and knowing the other’s weakness to hurt them.

            4. Season 1 Battle of Brightmoon

 More on Catra knowing what hurts Adora and using it against her:

Catra is putting Adora down. She is cutting deep into Adora, pretty much going for the jugular. Adora wants to protect others, it's part of her abuse and guilt complex. Catra knows this, she knows where to strike. She wants Adora to hurt. This is abuse, putting someone down, making them feel weak, blaming them for something. It’s horrible.

(not to mention here this the scene where Catra cuts Adora up like on the back which people seem to love to fetishize)

And this is in SEASON 1

               5. Season 5 Double Trouble

I was having some trouble finding caps for this but all in season 4 we had DT fucking with the Rebellion. Who sent them?

Catra?

Now thanks to a friend, I was able to find this. We all know Adora and Glimmer had problems in s4. Now it was starting before but who made it worse tho? DT was fucking with them, making them fight more. They added fuel to a fire that was burning, yes. But this scene just is gross also.

Once again, Catra knows Adora’s weakness. She is once again using it to her advantage. She is telling DT to go fuck with Adora’s and Glimmer’s relationship. This also can mirror the idea of in abuse, the abuser not wanting the person they abuse to have other friends. Catra was always mad Adora made new friends (another side note which can be its own post, again Adora asked Catra to come. Adora left an abusive household and asked Catra to come but Catra refused. And in the s5 flashback, we see Catra get mad and lash out that Adora is being friends with Lonnie). 

I can keep going on. Honestly. Hell in s5, if we should add more since I have at least one thing from every season, Catra did tell Prime about Adora’s ship. Like oof fam. 

So much is just not great. Now, I will give some credit. In s1, we do see Catra giving Adora the sword back and Adora and Glimmer are trying to get out of the Horde. She does say later something to the degree of “you think I would let Shadow Weaver erase your mind like that”

But honestly, that is all I can remember that can be argued for the “I've always loved you”.

Now, people will yell and scream at me that Catra changed. This is yet again, a whole different post. But like, she did not start really changing into s5. S5 had 13 eps and so much else going for it. That is TOO short of a time. Not to mention, everything above and more, that is HEAVY STUFF. It is not simple ‘I hurt you by mistake’. 

No, it's Catra wanting Adora to hurt. She wanted Adora to suffer. That is NOT love. I myself have had to suffer through mental and emotional abuse. I have had to suffer with someone putting me down, manipulating me, making me feel worthless but being told they love me. I hate this person and even if they ever change, I will never forgive for the years and years of abuse I had to and still do suffer from. I cannot fully get away from them as they are a family member. 

Catra never loved Adora. This is just a lie because so much of the above is not love. Even if I  missed this that could be in favor of the line, again, everything I have shown is really bad. Things that cannot easily be forgiven. So please understand why people are so upset and triggered by c/a.

S/pop and c/a could have been something but the crew really dropped the ball and just made it a horrible ship. And this mind you is coming from someone who used to ship it.

[songforten]

a criticism of chibnall era doctor who but i don’t hate women

this is gonna be a long read. i’m adhd and i know how hard this kinda shit is to read, but I worked super hard on this and i’d appreciate it if you gave it a chance :) tl;dr chris chibnall hasn’t bothered to develop any of his characters past two dimensions and it’s left the show wanting. also this is all my opinion you are legally allowed to disagree with me no hate mail please and thank you

I’ve been a fan of Doctor Who for a long time. Not as long as some, mind, I was two years old when the reboot began airing. I’ve never seen Classic -- I’d like to, just haven’t had the time, which is ironic -- but I don’t think that makes me any less of a fan.

For a long time, Doctor Who has been one of those “nerd things,” yknow? My dad knew somebody in high school in the 80’s who dressed like the 4th Doctor every single day. Scarf included. Not that my generation was any better -- I had a friend in middle school who wore suspenders and a bowtie for like 2 months straight until they got tragically “lost in the wash”. Doctor Who demands attention from its fans, and rightfully so. It’s a whimsical space romp with all the best elements of sci-fi. It’s funny at times, and heartbreaking at others. It explores so much, and by its nature, is constantly changing.

That changing nature is why it chafes with nerd culture so much, I think. Nerds HATE change. Just think about how star wars fans are every single time new content drops. And Doctor Who is changing every single episode. The title character is an ageless, godlike being who can change their face and personality almost at will. Companions come and go, as do writers, composers, directors, et cetera. It’s Theseus’ ship. Or Theseus’ TV Cult Classic, I guess. 

So when a fan complains about “doctor who isn’t the same anymore” or “[blank] ruined doctor who”. Of course it’s not the same. If you want consistency, this is not the show for you. Things are constantly retconned, resurrected, developed, and then undeveloped, done and undone, and then done again. That’s something I’ve always loved about it. The constant change means that if you don’t like the show at one point, you’ll just have to wait a few years and maybe you’ll vibe with it again. Gatekeepers can’t really talk about the “real” canon because there is no real canon.

All this being said, let’s get into what the Chris Chibnall era is doing wrong.

Let’s start with Team TARDIS, or as the Doctor likes to call them, her fam. I like them, I really do. I think the actors are incredibly talented and they obviously have fun making the show together. The problem is, well, it’s in the writing. 

The fam are extremely two dimensional characters. We meet them, we’re told basic facts. Graham is a retired bus driver. Ryan has dyspraxia. Yaz is a cop (why??). The audience doesn’t learn much about their personalities, their goals, their ideals. We don’t really get a sense of why they want to travel with the Doctor. Sure, they want to see all the wonders of the universe, but what else? Amy was running from her wedding. Rose was escaping a life she found unsatisfactory. Donna wanted to be appreciated. There’s almost always another reason why they travel, and that reason is integral to who they are as people. Sure, the audience is told the fam’s reasons, but what the Chibnall era doesn’t understand is saying something doesn’t make it true. You have to show it. And you have to trust that your audience will understand. You can’t spoon feed them through clunky dialogue the whole time.

We’re told that the fam are friends, that they trust and love each other, that they like being around one another. We’re told all this, but we’re not SHOWN it. Their interactions remind me more of three people sharing an UberPool and chatting with their wacky driver. In past seasons, we’ve seen those friendships develop. The Doctor meets somebody. They have an adventure. They invite that person to come along. The person agrees. The person learns that life with the Doctor isn’t as glamorous as they’d thought and are often freaked out by the fact they don’t know much about the Doctor at all. The companion challenges them, argues, demands to know more, and through this, they become friends. For Rose it’s The End of The World, for Martha it’s Gridlock, Donna, Fires of Pompeii. Amy, The Beast Below. I could go on.

(she just sits down and stares him down. martha jones i love you)

I honestly think Ten and Donna are the best example of platonic soulmates ever written on TV. She’s not in the least bit attracted to him, and she loves him deeply, and he loves her the same way. Donna is there for him after he loses Rose, she convinces him to keep going. She challenges him in Pompeii, not intimidated in the least by his whole “Last of the Time Lords” schtick. And in return, he shows her how brilliant and capable she is. She doesn’t believe in herself or her abilities, but he treasures her input and her company. She loses all of that in the end, but while she’s there, they have fun together. They are believably best friends, but the narrative doesn’t keep having to say, “Hey look at these two best friends!!” Instead, we see it in their interactions, in what they do for each other, in how they solve problems together.

We get something similar later, with 12 and Clara. With 11, Clara doesn’t often stand up to him or tell him off, and that puts a barrier between them. They’re friends, but it’s distant and awkward at times.I could write eight more pages about my problems with Clara in series 7. Her role in that season is so fucking stupid. I hate the impossible girl stuff. When 11 regenerates, though, I think that’s when Clara’s character arc really takes off. She’s distrustful of 12 at first - and rightfully so, he’s kind of a dick in Deep Breath - but by the end of the episode she’s accepted that he’s the same Doctor and still her best friend. And she’s his; Twelve, the emotionally distant, no-hugging Doctor, calls Clara his best friend out loud.

Clara’s arc later in Series 9 is her becoming too much like the Doctor, almost forgetting that she’s human, and that leads to her death on Trap Street. In her own way, she becomes her own Doctor, travelling the stars in a TARDIS with a companion, and she’s allowed as many years of adventures as she wants before going back to trap street. Series 9 Clara is leagues different from Series 7 Clara. She grows and changes so much over her 2 and a half season run. (Quick sidebar, I’m not saying these seasons are perfect. I could write a whole other essay about the problems with the Moffat era. Hell, I might do if this one gets any notes. Kill The Moon is un-fucking-bearable except for the one scene where Clara rips the Doctor a new one. Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman played so well off each other, even when the writing of their seasons got… Moffat-y.)

Chibnall doesn’t seem to follow through on a lot of stuff, actually. I think the best example of this is Series 11, Episode 7, Kerblam. Woof. This episode frustrates me to no end. I remember, actually, the week before the episode came out, I was chatting with some friends on Discord about how excited I was for another anti-capitalist episode. Doctor Who has a lot of these, Oxygen from Series 10 being the most recent. 

But then the episode aired, and it literally resolved with the Doctor talking about how “The System Works! People Are Just Using It Bad!” And… no. The system’s working exactly as it should. Kerblam was so strange because I felt like it was setting up for that anti-capitalist message, and then it does a 180 halfway through to suck Amazon’s dick. I don’t know if the network made them change it, or if it was just shitty writing, but it’s unsatisfying. The Doctor also… leaves and allows the antagonist of the episode, Charlie, to die in an explosion, which just seems very un-Doctor-ish. Again, I don’t know if it was shitty writing or if it was an intentional choice, but I didn’t like it. 

Something similar happened in the next season with Orphan 55. Holy shit, that episode had the subtlety of a sledgehammer. It also tried to make the viewer feel personally responsible for global warming, which is just fucking stupid. Global warming is the fault of corporations. Hence why anticapitalist episodes are so popular with Doctor Who. And literally nothing is gained by making people working minimum wage jobs feel bad about not doing enough to stop global warming. It’s just such a cold and privileged take which was forced directly down the viewer’s throat. You have to show and not tell. The Doctor’s speech at the end of the episode really just shows us how much Chibnall trusts his audience -- which is to say, not at all. 

We haven’t gotten any complex character arcs from the fam, I don’t think, and it’s left the show wanting. They have stories, but they go unexplored and underdeveloped. The companions aren’t given much to do at all, which sucks because there’s three of them. The TARDIS feels almost crowded. Don’t get me wrong, I love Yaz, Ryan, and Graham, I really do, but I’m just… not as emotionally invested as I have been with other companions. As a result, I’ll be honest. I don’t totally understand the people who ship 13 and Yaz. People who do ship them are 100% valid, of course, but I just don’t see it. I’m not opposed to Doctor/companion romantic relationships; I’m a big fan of romantic Doctor and Rose, and I liked romantic Doctor and River (which is to say, my personal fanon Doctor/River where River has a real character arc). The difference is River and Rose both knew the Doctor very well. They knew who they were, what they’d done. The Doctor shared their feelings with both of them, Rose especially. I feel like with how secretive 13 is, and where she is emotionally, I really don’t think she can do a romantic relationship right now. Also, as I said before, I barely believe 13 and the Fam are truly friends, I wouldn’t really be able to believe a romance.

I hope series 13 changes my mind. I’m a lesbian, I would LOVE a romance between two female main characters in my favorite show. I want to be able to root for that to happen. As it stands now, though, between the lack of depth from Yaz as a character and the Doctor’s emotional unavailability, I just can’t. (All this being said--let 13 kiss a girl!!) I was hoping we’d have a Yaz character arc since it would just be her and the Doctor, but they’re adding another white man into the mix, so we’re gonna have to see.

I don't think Chibnall really thinks about the consequences or implications of a lot of the choices he makes in his writing. I think he’s decided on a story that he wants to tell and doesn’t care what comes of it after he’s done telling his story. 

[Deep breath] I’m talking, of course, about the Master.

Spoilers ahead for series 12.

The Master is reintroduced at the very beginning of Series 12. He’s mostly there to kickstart the Timeless Child arc - more on that later. The reveal that O is the master is one of my favorite scenes in the Chibnall era so far. The Doctor slowly working out that he isn’t who he says he was had me on the edge of my seat, and then when the Master realizes he’s been made, he immediately drops the act and you can actually see the 180 degree alignment shift on his face. Kudos to Sacha Dhawan for that, cause holy shit. I want to reiterate that all of the actors in these seasons are incredible, and they’re doing the best they can with what they’re given. 

No, my problem with the Spymaster doesn’t lie with Dhawan, I think he does an excellent job portraying the Master’s general chaos. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, my problem is once again with the writers. Sidenote, as I wrote this, I kept trying to put this particular topic off because a.) I hate it and b.) it makes me SO angry. But I was three pages into the Google doc and I just needed to rip the bandaid off.

Remember that fun part in Spyfall part 2 where the Master, currently being played by a person of color, wore a nazi uniform and like, colluded with nazis? Uh, yeah. Hey Chris? Uh, hey. Hey Chris? Chris?? What the fuck was that??

I’ll be straight with you, Chris. I’m Jewish. I’m gonna be uncomfortable with any scene with nazis. Seeing swastikas in any setting sets the fucking Kill Bill sirens off in my head. Putting the Master in that position was not in any sense okay. He wears a nazi uniform AND uses a perception filter. But why does he need both? If he has the perception filter, he shouldn’t need the uniform. That implies that he’s literally just wearing it for fun.

The Master is, and to my knowledge, always has been, a silly and campy villain. In Series 3, he turns the Tenth Doctor into a very old man for… seemingly no reason? Just to fuck with Ten, I guess? Then he turns him into a wrinkly Dobby-man with the worst special effects I’ve ever seen on TV to date, including the Season 2 Buffy werewolf costume. And then after that, he literally CHOOSES to die in the Doctor’s arms to prove a point while the Doctor screams and cries over him. Holy shit. Total whiplash. The RTD era is absolutely off the shits, I love it. 

Sure, John Simm’s master is… incredibly evil. He murders millions and takes over the planet. Then later he, uh… eats people? End of Time is a weird episode. I don’t like him much as a character, but I think he’s a good villain and a good foil for 10. My favorite Master that I’ve watched so far is Michelle Gomez’ Master. I LOVE Missy. She’s fun and chaotic and evil (and pretty), but her goals have shifted from world domination to purely fucking with the Doctor, which I think is far more interesting. In Series 8, arguably the only season she’s an antagonist in, she says as much. 

“I need you to know we’re not so different!”

If you’re still reading this, and you haven’t gone to my inbox to call me some slurs on anon because you disagree with me, thanks! I appreciate it. But now, regrettably, I’m gonna have to make everybody mad. 

Let’s talk about the Timeless Child. 

I feel like I should warn for spoilers again, just in case. MAJOR Series 12 spoilers ahead. 

Possibly the most divisive thing to happen to the Doctor Who universe in at least the past 25 years, The Timeless Child is the reveal that the Doctor isn’t a Time Lord. They’re an eldritch being from another dimension who, we assume, can regenerate endlessly. The Time Lords of Gallifrey experimented on the Doctor as a child, eventually finding a way to allow themselves to regenerate using the Doctor. The Doctor has had many lives that she doesn’t remember at all, even meeting one of her past, pre-Hartnell selves who had been Chameleon Arched and hiding in Gloucester as a woman named Ruth. I will say, I liked the Ruth!Doctor. She was cool, and I hope we see her again on the show, or maybe that she even gets an audio series or spinoff. That’s one pro to the Timeless Child stuff - it opens up the extended universe of Doctor Who even wider than it already was. Presumably, at some point in her future, Ruth!Doctor’s memories will be erased and she will be forced to regenerate into a child, thus beginning the story we know about the Doctor.

I’m not 100% sure how I feel about this storyline yet. I haven’t made up my mind. I will say, a lot of people who don’t like it see it as changing the Doctor’s entire backstory… but… I disagree. The Doctor we know, the one we have known since the 60’s, was raised on Gallifrey and believed they were Gallifreyan for, what, three thousand years? Do we even know how old the Doctor is now? That’s besides the point. They’re still our Doctor, the one who stole a TARDIS and ran away, the one who traveled with Susan and Sarah Jane and Ace and Rose and Bill. They’re still the alien who went to see the stars and fell in love with the human race. I really don’t think it changes much of what we already knew, but it does make their past a mystery, which I think has the potential to be good if done correctly. 

Again, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this storyline yet. Series 13 is gonna have to work really hard to convince me, to sell me this huge universe change for my favorite show. I was worried that it was just a dumb, convoluted way to give the Doctor unlimited regenerations, and then Chibnall would just brush it under the rug and move on, but Revolution of the Daleks actually gave me hope. 13 had a deep, insightful conversation with Ryan. I can’t find a clip, but it was a really nice conversation. That was an excellent scene in my opinion. That’s the kind of conversation we should have gotten back in Series 11. The Doctor tries to push it off, but Ryan does something unprecedented for a Chibnall character. He challenges her. He insists that they talk about it, and they do. The other interesting thing is 13 admits to feeling angry. This incarnation of the Doctor rarely shows any emotion other than bubbly excitement. It’s a direct opposite to 12, who often used his anger to show the gravity of a situation -- think Zygon Inversion war speech.

But 13 doesn’t often let her emotions show, so her admitting to Ryan that she’s angry is… big. That’s what gives me hope. Chibnall, the king of not following through, is hinting at Emotional Followup. I might be setting myself for disappointment again, I don’t know. I’m willing to give the Timeless Child stuff a chance. Doctor Who canon doesn’t have much grounding. It’s a massive, horrifying mess and everything contradicts everything else.

People who hate the TC stuff and want to Marie Kondo it out of their personal canon are valid, as are people who love it and accept it as canon. That’s something the Doctor Who fanbase -- and fandom spaces in general -- really need to learn. Different opinions are okay. Not everyone is going to agree with you all of the time. We need to be more accepting of different opinions in media, so long as those opinions are not harmful. 

Chris Chibnall, on the other hand. Chris, I am speaking directly to you. Don’t screw this up. Don’t bone this one. You’ve boned two seasons so far, Chris, and if you bone another, I... don’t know what I’ll do. But I’ll be really sad, so. 

I’m begging you, man. Here, I’ll even give you a free storyline you can use! If you recall, Chris, in Series 9 of the television show you are the head showrunner for, Doctor Who, the 12th Doctor, as portrayed by Peter Capaldi, banishes Rassilon and the rest of the High Council from Gallifrey. This implies that leaving Gallifrey is possible, and other Time Lords or even other Gallifreyans could be out in the universe. In my opinion, it would be very interesting if the Doctor ran into some of these people, most likely Rassilon and the High Council, somewhere in the universe. It turns out that they found out that Gallifrey was attacked again (because you and I both know, Chris, that planet isn’t staying destroyed forever) and worked out that the Timeless Child cat is out of its metaphysical bag. I think it should be revealed that THEY sent the Judoon after her and sent her to prison because they’re scared of what she’ll do now that they don’t have any power over her. And the Doctor said she’s angry. Let her be angry. Let her find the High Council and tear them a fucking new asshole. They’re afraid of her, but they don’t need to be, because she’s the Doctor and she’s not a god, nor a vengeful one. She never has been, and this new information isn’t going to change that. I want the narrative to SHOW that she’s still the same Doctor. She isn’t her genetics, she isn’t their lab rat, she is her own person. That’s something your Doctor has struggled with. She doesn’t seem to know who she is. Make her realize. 

After that, get on your knees and beg Michelle Gomez to reprise her role as Missy. Have her come back to the show, post the Cyberman ship they were on in The Doctor Falls. She knows about the Timeless Child and she knows that the Doctor knows because the Dhawan! master was her previous regeneration. Have her apologize and let her tell the Doctor that she tried to stand with her and wants to continue to do so. Maybe let them kiss, I don’t know. 

You should also let Yaz see the Doctor’s darker side. Let her realize that the Doctor isn’t a god, or a superhero, or a perfect genius. She’s a person. She’s flawed. She has questionable morals sometimes. And she’s so, so old. She’s lost so much. Let Yaz see that. Let her do what other companions have done and challenge the Doctor. You keep telling the audience that they’re such good friends. Now show us that. Give Yaz more character and a significant character arc. She’s been here for two seasons, and I feel like I barely know her. Oh, and have her quit being a cop. 

The Doctor should deal with the information she’s learned. She should relearn who she is. Because she’s not perfect. She’s just a person passing through, helping out, learning. An idiot with a box and a screwdriver. She’s not always a good person, but she always tries to be. She’s been dozens of different people for God knows how many millenia. She is all of them. That’s what her confrontation with the High Council should result in. And let Jack come back again and allow the Doctor an honest, emotional conversation with him. He of all people should understand, since he left the Time Agency because they stole two years of his memories, and he knows the burden of living forever better than anyone. They’ve known each other for so long, let them reminisce about Rose and the good times they had together. Reaffirm their friendship. Reaffirm who the Doctor is. She depends on her friends. For the Doctor, in this season, I think those friends are Jack and Missy. I think they understand her and what she’s struggling with. In my perfect world, you would bring back Rose and River as well because I love them (I just think they’re neat!) and I think they could help her. Or someone else from Classic Who, I dunno. The Doctor feels as though her world has changed. This season needs to show her that it hasn’t.

And basic criticisms, Chris: stop being so fucking preachy all the time. You don’t need to spoon feed the message of the episode to the audience. I realize Doctor Who is often a show aimed towards kids, but kids are so much smarter than we give them credit for. They’re not stupid. I promise they will understand. And not every episode even needs a message! You’re head writer for the dumbest, wildest, best sci-fi show on the planet. Just make a goofy sci-fi episode. Doctor Who episodes that are just stupid and fun are good. Boom Town. Unicorn and the Wasp. Flatline. 

And take more risks. I understand that casting a woman as the Doctor was a big risk, but for fuck’s sake, quit being a coward. It’s been nearly three years. People are used to 13, they’ve accepted her. Timeless Child was a risk, but it wasn’t a fun risk. Do a weird anticapitalist episode. Bring back an old monster other than Cybermen or Daleks. Have an episode with, I don’t know, the Racnoss or the Ice Warriors or the Silurians or something. Come up with a fun new monster. You have so much potential there that you just don’t use. Be better. I know you can be a better writer, man. If you can’t do any better, well, then maybe it’s time to step down and let someone else take the reins.

I’ll always love Doctor Who. It’s been an interest of mine for well over a decade. I’m not giving up on it, but these seasons have just failed to grab my attention or my emotions, and quite frankly that makes me sad. There’s so many options moving forward. I have hope that this show can hook me again. The writers just need to try harder. Hire more women and people of color and lgbt+ people. A diverse cast of writers will always make a show with diverse characters better. Segun Akinola is an excellent composer. Utilize his music more. This scene clip of 13 escaping the matrix at the end of s12. had the Doctor Who theme in the background. Which was fine, I guess, I love the theme. (Fun fact: the theme was realized by a woman with the same first name as me!) but Akinola wrote this theme for 13 and I don’t remember it ever making an appearance in the show. It would have been perfect for that scene! 

https://open.spotify.com/track/1kNyixkRpA8QEN7SFzPCeG?si=23e74ae95320427e

Series 13 has so much potential. I truly believe that. I have so much hope. Please don’t let us down again. I’m not just being a pissy fan. I know there’s literally hundreds of these posts and videos and whatnot complaining about these seasons, but again, I’m not here to complain about it getting “too political” or “ruined by sjws'' because that’s bullshit. Doctor Who has always been political. All I’m saying is I think you can do better. I know you can do better. 

If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much, holy shit. I really appreciate it. You can come talk to me about this in my inbox, or shoot me a message, or whatever. Just… please don’t be too mean to me. I already get enough anons calling me slurs. This is all my opinion. I know not everyone is going to agree with me, and like I said, you are welcome to whatever opinion you have so long as it’s not harmful. We’re all here because we love this stupid, wonderful show that takes us through all of time and space and made us fall in love with the stars. Let’s hold our show to the standard and hope for better.

Thanks for reading.

[b0bbynash]

I really hate how Jason got involved the h/rry st*les fandom cos of Olivia. These people are stalkers (crazy way) and just saw they are keeping an eye on Jason (his fam, friends...) Anyway the reason I'm mad mostly cos they really stalk K**ley too and figured out she was wearing Jason's hoodie/jumper again 2 days ago this time his pink jumper and these are the informations I don't need. I was happy thinking they are done. Syles fans need to let me happy...

"Syles fans need to let me happy..."

YOU need to let ME be happy and stop sending me asks like this and giving ME information i do not need omg 😭 im about to turn anon off until season 3 premieres i do not know how many times i can express that i do not care about this mess im here for my stupid little snl man and the tall blonde threatre lady that went and saw hamilton together saturday and that's it 😭😭😭😭

[miraculouscontent]

(miraculous asks)

Anonymous said:

Oh My Gosh!!!! I was just thinking about Party Crasher and man I hate how they had Ladybug get captured for the men to save! It's a continuous thing you see in media: strong heroic woman gets put in peril so that the men can shine. I didn't even realize it until you said it! I get that it was probably meant to be a "role reversal" of Chat always getting kidnapped or brainwashed for Ladybug to save, but the fact that this is the "guys' episode" it read like "well damn, we can't have the guys be strong if a girl is in the way; let's have the girl get captured so the boys can prove their worth by rescuing her!".

At least in Sandboy, Ladybug was still competent and came up with the plans, but this?! It makes me sick, and it's all too easy to fall into these traps; even Kim Possible did it! In my magical girl story, the heroine does get put in a magical coma and require someone to bail her out, but it's her female friends AND her boyfriend who save her, so it's not just a girl being weakened so a boy can be powerful, especially since said boy actually does a minority of the work required to save her; the focus is on the female characters so it's her girl friends who do most of it. I still ended up scrapping that side plot anyway, and do you know why? Because regardless of who saved her, I still didn't want my female protagonist to be put in distress at all due to the unfortunate implications! Needing help in a fight? Sure. But outright being captured or kidnapped? Nah fam.

I was honestly thinking about that when the first episode came out. Like, they could’ve just had Marinette NOT SHOW UP in time so the guys take care of things, which at least gives more of a message that Paris wouldn’t go to hell just because Ladybug is a little late or something.

And yeah, the “boys squad episode so gotta toss the girl out” is... sigh.

Anonymous said:

I think the writers were trying to show Chat angsting to show his regret instead of an actual apology. Still doesn't explain why Aeon didn't bring up her death afterwards. Did Olympia delete that from her memory banks?

I guess? :|

I don’t know why Chat can’t just apologize without fishing or trying to earn sympathy. Like JUST SAY YOU’RE SORRY, DAMMIT.

Anonymous said:

If you haven't read Maribat, then you won't regret it. I am not in the DC universe but I started reading it and WOW. Literally every single time Marinette is a badass queen and gets her complete revenge and is actually happy! Even if you absolutely love Lukanette (which I have nothing against) you should totally try it.

Appreciate the comment, but I find it hard to ship other Marinette ships outside of Lukanette. Ivanette is a very loose exception and it’s not like I ship it hard or anything.

Anonymous said:

Despite not being a Lukanette shipper I love you. Why? Because you amazing, so right in literally everything and I love you <33

gkdfjgfdngjkfdg thank you

bat-anon said:

The NY Special made it so that Max is literally the only Black/Brown kid that doesn’t exist to make Love Square happen and that just makes me hate it even more.

I wish you didn’t make me have this realization because I hate it.

At least Delmar existed in the New York special???? I guess???? I dunno, I’m trying here, I don’t recall him doing anything love square centric.

Anonymous said:

I honestly don't mind Alix's outfit as Bunnix! I feel like it fits her, plus she's an adult so its not much of a problem, not saying it can't be improved however. I DO have issues with the designs for the underage girls outfits however....those are very sus

Yeah, the problem I take with Bunnyx’s is that it’s a bodysuit. If there was just more definition, like having actual boots, I wouldn’t complain as much.

Anonymous said:

I actually just really like the idea of the new bee being a genuinely nice person who becomes friends with Marinette. Not exactly close friends (since I like the idea of friendly working relationships without actual personal stakes in them). I also enjoy the idea of the new bee having some small animosity for Chat Noir- just because their personalities aren't the greatest mix. I also think that it would make sense for the miraculous of subjection to be at odds with the miraculous of destruction

Full agreement but we know how much the writers are resistant to have characters go against Chat.

Anonymous said:

Not gonna lie the scene where the girl squad gets akumatized almost makes it seem like they got akumatized on purpose, similar to Manon in Puppeteer 2(although she was a little kid who was probably just imagining she could enact revenge). And why can't they have a uniformed design, like they're a team but wear different colors, similar to the Sailor Senshi(like, Alya's the leader and wears orange, Rose wears pink, Alix wears green, Juleka wears purple, and Mylene wears yellow). It's so boring.

Mood.

Not to mention that WE ARE SO TIRED OF THEM GETTING AKUMATIZED INTO THE SAME AKUMA.

AT LEAST PALETTE SWAP THEM.

Anonymous said:

Relating to the Didn't Need Burrows and Treatment of Marinette bingo cards, have you considered making one for whenever the show fails at girl power? It could say things like "sexualized frames of teenage girls" "boy tells girl what to do" "girls don't get to keep Miraculouses", and "girls are forced to apologize whenever a situation goes wrong". And in the center, it could say "Don't show this to your daughter!"! Lol! What do you think?

lol I feel like I have enough cards, otherwise I would.

Anonymous said:

I saw another post that talked about Miraculous New York, and they theorized that it was rewritten to focus more on Marinette and Adrien in order to get viewers invested in the Love Square again after more people started to lose faith in the ship. Do you think that's a possibility?

I think so. The whole special comes off as trying to reassure love square shippers because of how hard it goes for him. I cut out Marinette’s crushing and it cuts like 18% from the episode, meaning it’s even worse than Season 3 (15%).

Anonymous said:

Maybe the point of the [break-up episodes] is meant to discourage people from shipping Lukanette and Adrigami too?

Spoiler alert: didn’t work.

Anonymous said:

Are we not gonna talk about how in one ask, somebody legit said "(long dreamy sigh) Viperion"? Like same.

RIGHT????

Same.

Anonymous said:

Ml fandom: I hate how Ladybug keeps secrets from Chat Noir! He sacrifices himself for her all the time and she never appreciates him for it! He has EVERY right to get mad at her!!

ML Fandom when Chat Noir does the same thing in the special: ....Wow Ladybug was way to harsh on Chat Noir!! She doesn’t appreciate him at all!! Shes so mean to him!

:|

i hate it

Anonymous said:

Idk if it's just me, but a majority of the fandom is split in two; it's never one or the other "MARINETTE SUCKS AND IS A HORRIBLE PERSON GUARDIAN MARY SUE WHO SEXUALLY HARRASSES" or "ADRIEN SUCKS HE WAS NEVER ON MARINETTES SIDE" but im personally on the latter, but not to that extreme. i hate videos bashing marinette and then never acknowledge adriens faults

Yeah, the fandom gets more divided as time goes on because of the writers trying to increase the drama/tension.

Anonymous said:

I am PERSONALLY offended they gave Luka the snake miraculous. Snakes have such a negative connotation. A lot of people insult Lila by calling her a SNAKE. And now those ML writers DARE insult the best character in ML?! HOW DARE THEY!?????

I adore Viperion but I agree that I first heard he was getting snake and was like, “BUT MY BOI???”

It gets awkward too because other animals like the pig have negative connotations, like how Daizzi basically means “idiot/stupid” and they’re giving it to the freaking blond character, really???

Anonymous said:

I think that Ivanette would be even better if Marinette was plus-sized character.

I see why you’d think that. I just disagree because then it turns the ship into “let’s pair the heavyset characters together because they heavyset.”

Anonymous asked:

On the topic of romance failures and general series salt, my main issue right now is how the series puts so much focus on romantic relationships while failing to consider other levels of relationship or what they affect.

On the L² front I can completely buy Marinette being in love with Adrien. Most of the time she genuinely wants him to be happy and is ready to take a step back for him, however much it hurts. But in terms of romantic love? It. Is. A. Crush! But if we step back from the formula, what is there left between them? Their civilian relationship is held together by a “comedy” of errors and without that there is surprisingly little left. Well, besides two “best friends” desperately trying to make it happen because somehow they lost their individual characters and instead of being friends became matchmakers?

I too like Luka and Marinette together. Their relationship is pretty nice to see and all. But sometimes it feels like it happens in a dimension of its own, like the writers want to make the endgame clear in that the “sideships” can be easily cut out of the big “how they got together”-recaps. I especially miss reactions from and interactions with Juleka. She is Luka’s sister, Marinette’s friend, and IIRC someone aware of if not even a bit player in the great shipping game. She is in a prime position to step up and bring progress on all fronts: She can talk with Luka. She can either give Marinette helpful pointers or go “All in or nothing”, i.e. trying to make Marinette get her Adrien-feelings in order as she does not want her brother to get less than Marinette’s full heart. Similarly, she can counteract “friendly acts” and stop humiliating situations from escalating, or she herself can escalate them in the “All or Nothing”-scenario. Yet she remains basically a background character who gets little attention from the camera and almost no “non-focus identity”

As for Kagami, I may be too biased. *Any* positive Kagami/Marinette relationship is to me what Lukanette is to you. So naturally I have lots of opinions when it comes to her role ;) But can I just say that Adrien/Kagami is the weirdest ship for me? They have a few cute scenes and I think if they’d spend a lot more time together, they’d do each other good but I don’t know how they work. “No Hesitation” Kagami would lob Adrien’s head straight off with all his…everything. If we are meant to take Adrien’s love for LB seriously (and I guess we have to because how in the name of sanity is any form of the stated endgame gonna work otherwise???), how does Kagami fit into that picture as a girl who can hardly express emotions while Adrien is the definition of a  guy who can not stop flirting or goes for all kinds of romantic gestures? Sometimes it feels more like a “social fit” and “Mommy/Daddy approves” kind of deal which is quite the shame! Normally I like these kind of relationships in fictions but they need a solid underlining or good development. One they haven’t and one the series has not been giving to anyone so far.

Yeah, the whole thing with the love square versus side ships ends up feeling extremely forced. Keeping Luka away and forcing Adrien into Lukanette episode are the biggest giveaways, basically a big fat sign that says, “We know Marinette would forget that Adrien exists if she hung around Luka for more than five minutes.”

AND YEAH, KAGAMI WOULDN’T PUT UP WITH ADRIEN’S GARBAGE. I liked Adrimi but it’s definitely more flawed than Lukanette.

Anonymous said:

Watched your opinion on the New York special and I agree with you. It was mediocre at best. It could have been something nice, like if they added Kagami and Luka, for example, so that we can get a bit of development from the new couples on season 4, so that it doesn’t feel rushed when they start dating on season 4. It could also be a good opportunity to see the other temporary heroes one last time, since Marinette technically has the miracle box.

They could have had an epic fight with the American Superheroes, maybe even giving the bee miraculous temporally to Aeon or Jess so that we didn’t need to see their awful and uncreative superheroes designs. It would have been nice if they made something more useful other than being characters that believe that Adrien and Marinette are “Meant to be”, like, we already got a ton of these already, couldn’t we get someone who didn’t feel something about this ship? It has so much wasted potential that I don’t even know how to start. Do you agree with anything I said?

I agree, yes. They could’ve easily thrown Luka/Kagami into the mix (or had Marinette/Adrien stay behind while flipping perspectives or something; flawed but they could make it work).

Anonymous said:

I'm rereading ladybugout and wow... the moment of silence after "chat deserves that kiss" gets me every time. Everyone stopping and just staring because wow he really just said that

Me whenever Chat Noir opens his mouth in the show.

Anonymous said:

I saw the Backwarder post you just talked about and yes, it is so totally ridiculous. They forgot another thing, though. Miraculous isn't just about comedy, action, and romance, it's about embarrassing Marinette. And the fact that almost everyone in the comments was acting like the medicine scene at the end was funny was just stupid and saddening to hear or read about, because it shows how people have been conditioned to hate and rally against Marinette without even realizing it. Granted, there was one lady who said it reminded her of her husband, so I guess that's okay(but all it means is that Adrien will be Marinette's--aka "his lady's"--husband like eeerrrgh!). And there was one person who said they liked that Juleka's advice because "If you're friend isn't willing to commit crimes for your happiness, is she even your friend?". But everyone else liked the ending. And I don't get the person who said we got "Subtle progression with Adrien and Marinette". We're right where we started.

Weeeeell, I understand the “comedy, action, romance” comment because all of those basically boil down to embarrassing Marinette or invalidating her. Comedy and romance goes without saying while action involves her dealing with Chat “Nice Guy” Noir.

Anonymous said:

Is it just me, or does Snow White's "Red Shoes" form look a lot like Marinette. I know, I know, Marinette is Chinese and Red Shoes is Korean, but they still look strikingly similar. They're bodies are really similar, too, but that might just be because animation tends to use eerily similar body types for its female characters on a whole. It's sad and it makes me think of how cute Marinette would be if she was fat. I also think Snow White was cuter than Red Shoes but that's kind of the point.

I think it’s the body type thing but that’s just a guess since I didn’t immediately make the connection.

I agree that Snow White is cuter.

Anonymous said:

Am I the only one who's never liked "destined to fail" characters? Basically this is when characters aren't allowed to be good at/succeed at something or else the whole universe will somehow fall apart. Think of how in The Amazing World of Gumball, if Richard gets a job, the world will be in complete and utter chaos. So he's better off as a lazy, bumbling dad. In Phineas and Ferb, Candace is always trying to rat out her younger brothers but if she gives up or succeeds something bad will happen.

TV Tropes put it the best: "Not only is she not allowed to succeed, but she's also not allowed to stop trying!"(conveniently under the Cosmic Plaything trope). I just don't like it because it shows that the writers just want to lead them on with the promise of success then snatch it away at the last minute. And now we're back at Miraculous Ladybug, where Marinette is humiliated every time she doesn't sign a gift that's for Adrien, and yet when she does, everyone in Paris DIES. Except for...HIM.

you: *mentions Candace*

me: [a million awful flashbacks]

Also, yeah, it’s so hard to watch, especially in “Chat Blanc” because it’s like, “Oh, you want to give a gift to a boy and you dArEd to use your powers for it? Congrats, but everyone else is DEAD and you can hang out with him as much as you want! You’re welcome!”

Anonymous said:

I think it’d become a “faintest idea blackout card”rather than a bingo.

(referring to my “Faintest Idea” card)

We’re getting there.

darkmoonravewolf said:

I hate that everything on that list could happen and very likely will

(referring to “Didn’t Need Burrow”)

Yeah, and it makes me sad :’)

Anonymous said:

That’s be real here. Miraculous ladybug is not a show about Marinette; Miraculous Ladybug is a show about Adrien. Adrien is the real main character.

Notice that when they focused on Adrien in “Lies,” they only cut back to Marinette (IN A SCENE THAT CAN’T EXIST) to have her fawn over him.

Anonymous said:

Is it just me or are Lady Noire's eyes huge? Maybe it's just the green but they seem way bigger than Marinette's

I’m not sure, but considering Rena’s facial structure being different from Alya’s, it wouldn’t surprise me.

asexual-individual said:

With what you've said about Adrien lacking a reason to exist outside of development for Marinette and Gabriel, I have to wonder how different the show would be if Chat Noir's identity was also kept from the audience. Adrien would still be there as himself, but he only gets as much focus as Alya, and Chat Noir's identity is treated as a mystery (a Tuxedo Mask type mystery, but a mystery all the same).

I see what you mean but it might cause Adrien+Chat’s screentime to feel excessive once the reveal happens, because suddenly their screentime gets combined and it’s like, “oh wow so the combined screentime is his then.”

Anonymous said:

I know that the kwami's really only exist so we can hear our protagonists' thoughts outloud (like what the Coraline movie did with adding Wybie to the story). But honestly, what's the point in having magical gods in the jewelry if you're not going to do anything with them?

Marketing with “cute” side characters.

guisendisguise said:

It's funny, originally, I had shipped Marichat in the sense that Chat and Mari start hanging out and both fall in love with the other's supposedly less perfect, more real selves. Then Luka was introduced and I ended up putting both lukanette and marichat at the same level. Then S3 hit and killed any love I had for Marichat. The writers themselves killed the Love Square for me. At this point, it's very clear they are living in a delusion where the Love Square could ever work narratively without Deus ex Machina or Deus Lo Vult (God wills it). Basically, they've gone past scraping the bottom of the writing skills barrel and are now shoulder deep in the hole they dug thru the bottom of said barrel. I'd like to point out that the bottom of the barrel is writing poop and now they're digging thru the useless plastic landfill the barrel was sitting on top of

Uggggh, yeah. Any appreciation I could’ve had for Marichat died in “Weredad.” I already didn’t like Adrien/Chat and then “Weredad” just showed his complete lack of... well, ANYTHING.

cosmostellar said:

Honestly feels like MLBs writers are going based off the "JUST IMAGINE EVERY POC CHARACTER YOU'RE WRITING AS WHITE" instead of, yknow, fleshing them out while developing them also in the context of their cultures and giving them these little things that the audiences who belong to the same minority can identify with. I don't mean "have Marinette walk in qipao 24/7" bcs thats just... bad on its own but man, /some/ casual acknowledgments of her culture would be nice.

Reading the sentence “JUST IMAGINE EVERY POC CHARACTER YOU'RE WRITING AS WHITE” physically hurts me.

Anonymous said:

Ok, I've always thought that Chloe was robbed of redemption (they held it in front of us, but then jerked it away while Astruc says, "She's irredeemable! We thought she was redeemable, but she wasn't :)!" What are your thoughts! Also, I just recently found your blog and I really like it :)

Thank you!

But I have no sympathy for bully characters, so I didn’t want Chloe redeemed. Maybe I’m still bitter about my own bullying experience, but I just wasn’t here for Marinette being forced to forgive Chloe, which is basically what they did until they backpedaled.

The time spent on her was wasted though and that I can agree on.

Anonymous said:

Me: Writes a 1k rant about how the tweet makes no sense as the "mistake" is about motivation and not the critical plot. Also me: Remembers that in MLB the plot always comes back to the romance. Finally me: Wonders why he got involved with the series post-S3 when all the red flags were already everywhere.

Mistakes were made.

Anonymous said:

I'm semi-catching up on miraculous, and- is it my impression, or does Kagami rebel against her mother more in few episodes she's in (even though her mother's influences on her seem to be stronger in general), than Adrien in the entire show? I /know/ that I don't want to see Adrien free himself from his father w/ the desperation I want to see Kagami free herself from her mother and realize that the standards she's held up to are unhealthy and too strong.

Yeah, I’m way more invested in Kagami than Adrien.

Anonymous said:

Am I the only one confused about whether the staff stopped caring and half-asses the series or cares too much and over-produces the hell out of it?

Nah. It really feels like they secretly hate the love square so they have to keep forcing it.

Anonymous said:

ngl I haven't watched any new episodes since Chameleon and I've been getting all that Miraculous News via tumblr to avoid that Marinette Brand Second Hand Embarrassment™

Understandable.

Anonymous said:

If they aired the 6th one first WHAT WHAT HAPPENED TO LEAD UP TO THIS???? WE ARE ON SEASON FOUR WITH TWO SPEICALS, GETTING A THIRD, AND ANY DEVELOPMENT WE HAD HAS GONE BACKWARDS, SUCKED, OR STATUS QUO YO-ED AWAY!!!!! HOW THE HECK DO WE GET ADRIENETTE FROM FOUR SEASONS OF NOTHING?????? I USED TO FANGIRL AT THIS NOW I AM TERRIFIED.

Answer: We don’t get Adrienette. We get forced love square and rushed/fake “development” of it while being constantly confused as episodes air out of order.

Anonymous said:

im sorry But adrienette has been suck in this limbo of one sidedness for 3 seasons. neither of them have become closer, neither of them have confided in one another, but somehow people still ship it? at least luka was able to make a move on marinette lol adrien still repeats the same boring “shes just a friend” line. adrienette is a really boring ship.

lol don’t apologize, you’re absolutely right.

nahte123456 said:

Very minor bit of salt to throw to the pile, but can this show just decide on how strong Miraculous holders are? Yes it's a cartoon and not the focus but in the Furious Fu episode we literally get Ladybug dodging lighting and then Su who seems mostly human and is at least slower then Fu was outspeeding her. It's distracting trying to figure out what is and isn't a serious threat in this show.

The deciding factor in the strength of the miraculous holders is “whatever works for the plot.”

Anonymous said:

At this point the only thing I'm excited for concerning Miraculous Ladybug is when it gets a reboot in like, a decade with actually competent writers

Best case scenario is that Zag goes bankrupt and Disney/Netflix picks up the series and gives it to competent people.

Problem is that the love square has been ruined so badly for me that even a “good” version of it wouldn’t be something I’d be into, but still.

Anonymous said:

Honestly, the problem with having all of Marinette's mistakes result in huge disasters (ex. Feast), is that is gives off the impression that teenagers aren't allowed to make mistakes. This show clearly doesn't like giving second chances to the protagonist, so why would life give one to you? Am I right, kids?

Exactly.

Marinette makes mistakes and suddenly the world is ending.

Anonymous said:

If your gonna watch the show, at least pirate the episodes so the writers dont get your support

Don’t worry, I have no interest in financially supporting the show.

Anonymous said:

ml in a nutshell: wasted potential, then giving themselves more potential, only to turn the rest of it into a dumpster fire

Yup, that’s it.

Anonymous said:

u know, when My Little Pony, Sofia The First, and fanfiction carries out character development, respect, romance, and the main plot better than the original show, especially when the shows mentioned above are aimed more at little girls and the original show is aimed at slightly older audiences... somethings wrong

*sigh*

And then it’s like--people will excuse the show because “it’s a kids’ show” and then I’m just “okay then, why are there actually good kids’ show?”

If shows get a pass for being for children then all childrens’ shows should just not try and be garbage since the standard is so low.

Anonymous said:

ive seen some cool fic ideas/concepts/reviews that made me think: ml could use so much more looking into how a character thinks in some situations. one fic i read had alya in chameleon (i know its been forever since the ep came out but hey) not question lila cus she thought: "hey, lb wouldnt befriend a bad person" w and added a plot line of lila making her think lb was cobsidering replacing rena rougue. like, just a few lines to make them seem better pls?

YES. Like, show us characters’ perspectives and why they’re rolling with the facts that they’re rolling with, otherwise they just end up looking like jerks.

We sort of got it in “Ikari Gozen” with Kagami but of course it was just to make Marinette look bad.

Anonymous said:

You know I’m honestly considering making reviews of this show and if I do I could create hour long rants about the show just from that mans twitter.

Yeaaaaaah, once you had in the Twitter stuff, it just becomes, “okay so this is going to add another hour or two then.”

Anonymous said:

Okay one thing that bothers me is how plain marinette's suits are despite being a DESIGNER. Her multimouse suit it just blocks of color and her ladynoir suit is just grey with green lines. I think the lines are supposed to represent actually clothes. Like the limes on the calves are supposed to make it look like boots but why not actually GIVE her boots. (Right, because she has to have a skintight suit unlike the boys who get some layers.)

THE SHEER DISRESPECT OF HAVING THE FASHION DESIGNER WEAR SUCH A PLAIN SUIT.

It also goes to show who really designs here, like oh, interesting, the girls get skin-tight simplistic bodysuits and the boys gets all the cool stuff--

Anonymous said:

I heard some people in my class saying they watched Miraculous Ladybug for the first time, and they were saying how good it was, and I was like: 'Oh you poor fools. You have NO idea what it's truly like.'

You know what they say: ignorance is bliss.

bat-anon said:

Isn’t it INTERESTING how in Frozer, Luka understands that Marinette is torn between her crushes and continues to support her even though he knows she probably won’t chose him, and in the exact same episode Chat Noir refuses to help save the city because Ladybug told him AGAIN that she wasn’t romantically interested in him? HMMM 🤔😑

dbfgjbdfjkgf

I’M REMINDED OF “FELIX” WHERE IT’S LIKE--THEY WERE CLEARLY TRYING TO SHOW HOW MUCH “BETTER” CHAT NOIR IS THAN FELIX, BUT LUKA WAS THE RESPECTFUL ONE.

Anonymous said:

You know what I want to see? An evil kwami, like they just want to commit crimes. No moral high grounds, just chaotic evil.

That’d be amazing just because I wouldn’t be able to take them seriously.

Anonymous said:

Watching S1 and S3 episodes back to back, it feels like reading salt fics at times, especially in regards to the L². Like, Marinette was happy about weird plans, she both needed and wanted the final push, and most of the time there was at least something coming out of it. Nowadays it just makes her sad, Alya and the girls act *against* her, and we get shipping for shipping's sake.

That’s a good point. The shift from Seasons 1 to 2 to 3 is rather noticeable.

Anonymous said:

I hate how Adrien's busy schedule seems to only matter when it's used to make Marinette feel bad, but the second Marinette has a bit more to do, it somehow has a negative effect on not only her, but also everyone/everything she cares about, like, what's up with that??

I’m reminded of “Lies” here and I hate it. :|

Anonymous said:

Honestly, the way the show treats teenage girls is horse ass. The show treats the teenage girls of this show as if they're stupid, naive, emotional, clumsy, and need a boy to tell them what opinions to have. Marinette is always treated like the show's punching bag and blamed for everything that goes wrong because she's "emotional" or "obsessed with Adrien", Chloe could've been redeemed but the writers would rather keep her a brain-dead Alpha Bitch Valley Girl(even though Gabriel and Felix, the latter of whom is a teenage boy introduced in one episode, get to be treated as redeemable, despite the things they do being far, far worse), and Lila is a conniving, self-absorbed fox.

And even though Kagami seems better, she's still roped into the "girls catfight over an oblivious guy" cliche and so far, all of her akumatizations have been because of Adrien. Whenever Marinette tries to move on from Adrien the other characters tell her what's good for her and steer her in the "right" direction because she apparently can't think for herself, and the writers LOVE to use the girl squad to tell us who Marinette should be with, because they apparently know better than she does.

Plus the show loves to treat all the girls as the same, making them all either fight over Adrien or be obsessed with shipping, as if teenage girls are all one assimilating, homogenized group(also when they treat Marinette as if she's "just as bad as Chloe", rinse and repeat for the other ladies.). Honestly, the show feels like it was written by those types of people who think "teenage girls are the worst" so they make them all mood-swingy, obsessive, showoffs, emotional, and downright clingy.

Plus the way Thomas Astruc talks about the female characters on Twitter is even worse, and only serves to make this more evident: he claims Marinette "has poor control over her emotions"(all the while calling Adrien "perfect"), that Chloe was racist in Kung Food "because she's stupid"(so rather than having that scene serve as a lesson on respecting other's cultures, he just did it to pick on Chloe and make her look "stupid"), that she's incapable of being redeemed, that Lila's unlikable but Gabriel and Felix aren't(even though he claimed Felix was a terrible character and a "cliche", that's not what the show says my guy), and other such nonsense.

Other Twitter users have also called out Miraculous Ladybug and its stereotypical treatment of teenage girls. The only shows I've ever seen do this worse are those pretentious "darker" Magical Girl "deconstructions" aimed at grown men such as Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna, as well as most shonen/seinen shows such as Naruto and Death Note, which says a lot. Honestly, whenever I feel like watching a show with empowering and respectful depictions of teenage girls that treats them as bright and intelligent and actually unique from one another, I just watch Equestria Girls, Liv and Maddie, LoliRock, ANT Farm, Moesha, PreCure, or Sailor Moon. Because the way the show acts towards them is deplorable, absolutely deplorable.

Yes to all of the above. Almost all of the girls are involved in love affairs in some way, the two teenage girls are irredeemable while Felix got a sympathetic backstory right away (Chloe took forever to get hers which is a failure), and Marinette is flawed because she’s “too emotional” (a misogynistic stereotype).

Anonymous said:

Hi, I'm the anon who got upset at the lady who made the "Miraculous Ladybug is a Mess" rant, and yes, thank you zodiacspirit17 for liking and agreeing with my rant! I'm glad someone else saw that video! And ugh, Marinette learning to love Chat Noir? Really? I don't remember that line but I also don't want to go back and revisit it to make sure so I'll take your word for it. Ew. That was actually one of the things I hated about the Glaciator scene. Chat was supposedly comforting Marinette by taking her to the rooftop where he planned Ladybug's date, and yet only Marinette finds out about Chat's crush on Ladybug and comforts him on that(while rethinking her feelings), while all Chat knows is that Marinette's heart was also broken. He never asks who it is, or tries to help her get over her crush even if he doesn't know it's coincidentally him.

I know it's because of the "love square" but it's unfair that only Chat's love problems are directly addressed. Come to think of it, the reason Chat took Marinette to the rooftop...I know he was doing it in-universe to help her instead of intruding on her personal feelings(which might have also been why he didn't ask her who her crush was, he was probably thinking along the lines of "we don't have to talk about it right now, we can just have fun!"), but meta-wise, since we know she's Ladybug, the writers were probably trying to tell her "See? This is what you could've been doing, but you missed it. Shame on you!" That's a huge issue I have with the show: characters will do things in-universe to help Marinette, but the show has a different motive in mind. Compare to how Tikki gave actual advice to Marinette in Puppeteer 2, but the writers intended that for the statue scene so they could embarrass her in front of Adrien and the thousands of eyes watching the show(except we're not laughing.). Even if characters do support her, the writer is using them as props for her ritualized humiliation. And yet Luka is the problem somehow.

If Marinette needs to learn how to love Chat Noir, then it should at least be balanced out by Adrien learning to Marinette. I'm sick of this double standard that "girls need to learn to accept boys who like them but guys can do what they want". Another thing she said was that "Marinette needs to learn to define herself outside of who she's crushing on." NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. You see, unlike Adrien, Marinette HAS a life outside of who she's crushing on: she has school, she has Kitty Section, she has her "girl squad", she has her parents, she has her outside family, she babysits Alya's and Nino's siblings, and she has OH YEAH HER FASHION DESIGNING! I didn't even count being a superhero since Adrien does that, too. She has so many things to do outside of Adrien, and yet the fact that she makes gifts for Adrien or dreams about Adrien or wants to have kids with Adrien somehow makes her nothing but an "Adrien fangirl"?

First of all, she's the bloody protagonist?! That's such a "Real Women Don't Wear Dresses" argument, that she can't have her own life AND be in love at the same time! And somehow her crushing on Luka also means her life revolves around him, too! But Adrien's life doesn't revolve around Ladybug even though he doesn't really have anything going for him in his ordinary life? Outside of being rich, hot, white, and male, that is? What are his interests and hobbies, besides what Gabriel lets him do to pass the time? He doesn't even like modeling! And the Agreste plot is more about Gabriel, Emilie, and Nathalie than it is about him.

And what about his friendship with Nino? He didn't even care that Nino was getting strung along by Lila with the others! What about his friendship with Chloe that also waxes and wanes? Granted, Chloe's not a GOOD person, which that lady acknowledged, but she at least tried to change and has more development than him, the writers just won't let her change. I hate when people come for Marinette for doing literally anything when the show won't let her have agency and progress. It's so unfair of her and I wish they could see that. These double standards are driving me insane and they're sexist(maybe even a little bit racist, too), and it hurts even more when a woman's doing those things.

(I had to cut off some of this ask because I didn’t get all of it, so I cut it off at the point where it still seemed like a full ask.)

I FEEL THE “GLACIATOR” THING SO BAD. It hurts even worse when you realize that “Frozer” has to take place after “Glaciator,” so Chat Noir heard that Marinette has love problems and then ignored it to ask her for advice about his own love problems later on. The total lack of insensitivity???

Also, the idea that Marinette’s life would revolve around her crush on Luka is stupid. It’s the exact opposite, in fact.

Meanwhile, Adrien has so little going for him and the “interesting” parts of him involve who he’s connected to or what his father has forced him into.

[matan4il]

So after a day of having fun in the canyon, playing in the creek with my nephews and grandkids and having a picnic; on the ride home Devils Don't Fly by Natalia Kills came on and all I could think about is Eddie after being honorably discharged and struggling to fit back into civilian life, becoming a single father to Christopher, fitting into the 118 and the fight club phase. Like he's trying so hard but he still feels like he's still not good enough. Then there's Buck always nearby, Eddie's guardian angel for him and Chris, and perhaps he just might be enough for him. Buck wouldn't flinch or turn away if Eddie falls.

Hi lovely! First off, that sounds like such a wonderful day, I'm so happy you got to have that quality time with the little ones! *hugs* Second, all I can say is... sdfkjhsdfkhsajdfs YES. Yes to all of this and clearly I need to listen to this song and just drown in my feels. As if that's not what's happening to me just reading your ask... Thank you so much for sharing this with me! Sending tons of hugs and love your (and your family's) way! xoxox

Hi Alice! I hope you’re doing okay and your vertigo improves real soon 🧡 I have some Thoughts about the finale and would love to hear yours! So Eddie’s welcome home party... 1) am I the only one who thought it was weird af for Taylor to be there? Like I know they all did the treasure hunt together but last I heard, they weren’t friends. And only Eddie’s closest fam/friends were there. She looked so out of place! That felt uncomfy and I hated it. 2) do we think Ana had met Abuela and Pepa before this party, or do we think this is their first time meeting? 3) not about the party but about when Buck got Eddie into the ambulance. When I first watched this scene I was allllllll heart eyes over Eddie being worried about Buck when he asked “are you hurt?”. Like are you kidding me! 🥺 But knowing what we know now, Eddie was worried about what will happen to Chris. Because who will take after Chris if they’re both dead! So to be honest, I hope we get a hurt Buck in season 5... because if we do get a pining, jealous Eddie, I would love to see Buck as the primary focus of Eddie’s concern (more than just background hand holding while they rescue him, I want WORDS, worrying, doting, Eddie trying to cook for Buck, ROOMMATES, TEARS...). Because I feel like we would finally get to see Eddie’s carefully constructed walls come down (listen idk... a crying, vulnerable Eddie just does it for me 🤷🏼‍♀️) and I would sell my soul for that to happen lmao Thank you for letting me word vomit on you 🙃🧡

Thank you so much for the kindness, Nonnie! Especially regarding the vertigo. I have physiotherapy again today. It's been over a year and I'm gonna have to talk to her about whether there's a chance for it to pass, or I'm just being delusional when I still hope that it would. :(

I def agree that it was weird that Taylor was there. Her and Eddie have never been shown to have any meaningful interaction that would justify having her there. She was clearly at the party because of Buck, except she was there when he wasn't, even though she has basically even less of a connection to any of the characters waiting at the Diaz household than she does to Eddie. And she's not yet officially Buck's girlfriend as far as we know, they only now kissed. Wouldn't it make more sense for her to either arrive with him, arrive later or just... not be there? But she is there, waiting for Eddie, which I think says something about how much the show sees Buck as integrated into the Diaz family, that nobody stopped and doubted having someone external to the family being there simply because of a connection to Buck... Evan Buckley is Basically a Diaz, part 19837.

OMG, if that was Abuela and Pepa's first time meeting Ana AND Taylor, just imagine the amount of awkward small talk that was happening while they were waiting for Buck and Eddie to arrive. XD We have no indication if they'd met Ana before and honestly, that's another reminder of how little the show has invested in Ana, because meeting your partner's family (not just their kid) does matter. That we didn't see it, whether it was at the party or before, is such a clear signal that the show thinks of Ana as little more than a cardboard cutout that has "Eddie's s4 girlfriend" scribbled across it.

Honestly, I would love Eddie showing his love and concern for Buck in whatever way we got it, I loved all the soft looks and focus on Buck's well being in s4, and I would love acts of service in s5. I'm just here for all of it. As @loveyourownsmiilee says (one of the best tags on Tumblr, period) - give me Buddie or give me hell. I'll even take the hell of watching those two pine endlessly for each other, doting on each other and yelling at my TV in frustration for them to get a clue already. Because they're the best thing that the other one could ever have and I'm just hear to cry about that forever.

Nonnie, this was a superb ask! Thank you so much for sharing it with me! I hope you're having a great day... xoxox

And I am still slowly catching with my asks, yes. But I am making some progress, so I hope you all are enjoying the replies. If you think you might have missed a response to your ask, you can always check that on my ask or my Buddie meta tag. xoxox

[just-a-fangirl13]

Why s5 *might* be the season MacRiley happens

Okay so...Hear me out! I'm not crazy I promise!!

Firstly, after 5x03 (and probably 5x04) it may seem very unlikely that MacRiley could ever happen. But I thought of a few reasons why they might actually happen by the end of s5 after all.... (it gets a lil long winded and kinda complicated but just stick with me till the end!)

1. All the MacRiley moments including the ones in 5x03.

[this Mac smile could not be an accident or something that slipped through both production and post-production right?! that in itself is a whole reason!]

Every Macriley moment we have ever had- whether it's the hugs, Riley saving Mac, Mac saving Riley, the ultimate show of loyalty when Riley went after Mac during Codex or even just the looks exchanged between the two- to any outsider it would seem pretty obvious that they are dating or at least in love. Keep in mind the writers would have written each of those scenes and Lucas and Tristan have acted them out with a specific build up in mind aka MacRiley.(think about the date episode: Riley just got dumped but was still thinking about how Mac might be hungry. She didnt have to do that. She could have just shown up at his place..) I mean how can they write two people so perfectly in sync and so perfect for each other and not have them end up together? It would just be a waste of all that tension and slow burn. (not to mention all the hugs and glances)

2. They know we exist. 

The MacRiley fam is very active on twitter with the writers and while they were writing 5x01 they knew we were around. They know we are a huge group. They would not want to risk pissing 90% of the fandom off by not making MacRiley endgame.

[P.S.yes 5x03 was a bait and switch but if you were paying attention you would have noticed that neither Lucas not Tristan live tweeted or hyped up the episode. They knew we would probably hate it so they didnt publicise it too much! so in the future if you have doubts about the episode being a MacRiley one just check their stories or posts on twitter/intstagram]

3. Yes 5x03 happened. 

I really think it was an episode they HAD to write. Ok so after 4x13 they had 7 more episodes planned and were filming 4x20 (aka the finale) when the pandemic struck. So they have these 6 episodes but no finale for it. [Idk if anyone else has noticed but in 5x01 there were clearly some parts cut out. For example the conversation between Desi and Riley towards the end seemed a bit jilted. Riley asking Desi to forgive her but Desi replied with yeah we are cool (still no apology ofc) I feel like something happened during that which ended up getting cut out so it could fit with the final story.]

This makes me think that they have rewritten a few bits to tie into the new finale episode. In 5x03 when Mac asked Desi to come fishing with him which was clearly something very personal to him she was like no do better.. then we see Mac's disappointed expression. She could have easily said okay but maybe not for our first date? Or its not really my thing? Or just about anything else rather than laughing in his face like that. Eventhough MD is together they still arent compatible. Mac’s final words in 5x03 was him being desperate. I truly think he is so broken and lost that Desi is the only safe thing left, the only thing he feels like he can fix right now. Once he finds himself again and heals...then it's going to hit him like a pile of bricks!!

4. But Riley doesn't have feelings anymore...WELL doesnt she? 

When it comes to Mac, Riley is always in denial. We saw it in s4 when she tells Bozer not to make her say it. I think s5 will show her finally accepting it. Finally accepting that she is in love with her best friend and that it definitely isnt Codex adrenaline because she caught the feels when Codex wasnt even around. While Mac's arc would include realising he and Desi are never going to work and that he is unhappy and that RILEY is the one for him.

[why else would they give Riley feelings for Mac? Something has to come of it.]

5. The slow burn rule.[this point is a lil complicated] 

Now season 5 is rumoured to have 13 episodes. So here’s what I think: If MacGyver follows the pattern that most shows do when it comes to slow burns, then technically MacRIley should have happened at the end of season 4. But since the season got cut short and they didnt get to air/finish their final episode the writers had to improvise. 

From what I know, 4x19 which is 5x04 for us is the episode where Mac meets Desi’s parents and 4x20 was supposed to be the finale that was left unfinished.(they are definitely moving the timeline ahead if a pre finale episode is suddenly a mid season one.) There might have been a 4x21 or 4x22 but I haven't heard anything about those....EVER.

So what I think they have decided to do instead is extend the MD storyline a bit longer just so they dont end up scrapping all their s4 episodes where they would be together and write a new finale that ties everything together, aka MacRiley.

If you think about episode counts, s4 and s5 together would have 26 episodes which is a how long a normal season runs. Basically what im trying to say is if we follow the ‘slow burns end by s4’ and take season 5 as an extension of 4 then MacRiley should get together in the season 5 finale or maybe the episode just before. (IM REALLY TRYING TO GET SOME LOGIC INTO THIS)

This would be a typical TV thing too where the couple finds out about each other’s feelings while the main arc of the show is also at its peak, which perfectly sets up a future season where fans are hyped but still has a satisfying ending.

6. So what about MacDesi?

So far the macgyver writers have given us characters we love. Think of every character on the show apart from maybe Desi... Mac, Riley, Bozer, Jack, Matty, Leanna, Samantha, Russ and even Murdoc. WE LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. So then why is Desi such a strange character? I think shes purposely been written as an opposite to Mac or even Riley (I get she’s supposed to kinda replace Jack but Jack is really irreplaceable). 

It's not necessarily a bad thing its just not a great thing to do or have great execution. People have said things like Desi is a badass and shouldnt have to apologise or say I love you back to her boyfriend because she is a strong woman...I'm sorry but your opinion of who a strong woman is, is EXTREMELY skewed. A strong woman is someone who can make mistakes and when she does, she is ‘strong’ enough to own up to it, she is loyal and fierce and also caring while being a badass who can take down bad guys. And for GODS SAKE, RILEY DAVIS IS A STRONG WOMAN...people have called her mushy and feminine on twitter and I'm just very confused by that.....

Anyways before I go off on a rant, it seems like Desi is intentionally being written this way. Every opportunity they get to redeem her and make her more relatable or just a better person they just dont take it. While Rileys character arc is one of the best I've ever seen. Either its intentional or they’ve forgotten how to write characters...which is worrisome but ill give them the benefit of the doubt.

The writers also know we dont like Desi. The amount of times we've tagged them in the toxic posts or pointed out problematic things we can be sure they've seen at least half of those. So theres no way they dont know. RIGHT?

So why then is MD still a thing you may ask??

Well for one they cant break them up again off screen because of those unreleased s4 episodes. (not to mention the other parts of the audience who arent as invested in mac’s love life would probably be very confused.)

Secondly Mac has to be the one to pull the plug, not Desi. 4x13 made it seem like Desi was the annoyed one not Mac. He apologised to her which meant he wanted to fix things. 

Thirdly, they are opening the chpt one last time before they permanently close it. MD is going to be a stark contrast to macriley(it already is in every way possible). Every issue Mac and Desi had can be used to show how amazing macriley really is as two people who arent even dating yet.

Fourthly, MD being together is a sort of commentary on Macs mental health as well. We can see how happy he is with Riley but around Desi he becomes some one else. If the writers are doing this on purpose or subconsciously still remains to be seen.

And Yes keeping MD around for a few more episodes seems like a necessary risk right now but I have a feeling its going to be worth it later.

[I know we have had like 4 desi entered episodes already but I really think 5x04 will be the last of it since 5x05 is the Jack episode and 5x06 is Mac+Riley+Bozer episode with no mention of Desi at all!]

The writers know we are a dedicated bunch and they know that once MD breaks up for the last time the entire fandom will be waiting and watching. That's when the show will be at its peak. That will be the perfect moment to bring in MacRiley’s arc to a new start!

Congrats if you stuck with me through this whole thing! if you agree/disgaree with any of these or have other reasons why they could be endgame in s5 let me know!!

[shimmershae]

My thoughts on Episode 8--For Blood

As always, placed behind a cut for those of you that would rather escape my babbling, lol.  You’re welcome.  

Sadly, I don’t think this is anticipation I feel.  I’m pretty sure it’s dread but okay.  Here we go.  

This episode has to go up from the rock bottom boredom of last week, right?  

Let me preface what I’m about to say with the truth that I in no way hate Maggie.  She’s been with us since Season 2 and I have an emotional attachment to her, mostly due to my love of Glenn and the way he loved her.  She’s not my favorite by any means, but the fact of the matter is, I do like and appreciate her and don’t mind that she is back because it’s nice to have old familiar faces with us to take us into the final season.  That said?  Forcing Maggie front and center after her long absence ultimately, IMHO, has not worked in these first 8 episodes.  I can’t help but feel if ASZ had been the A story with Maggie/Negan and Daryl/Leah/the Reapers the B1 and B2 story?  These episodes would have been better received overall and not feel so much like they’re trying so hard.  Maybe lead me toward the water instead of shoving my head in it next time, Angela?  Hmm?  

Oh goodie.  They’re opening at Meridian.  Should I get my bathroom break out of the way now or give myself an out for later?  Call it Shae’s choice, lol.  

That flicker of a smirk Leah gave to Carver after their mini walk down memory lane had more spark to it than the entirety of her and Daryl’s toxic relationship.  In the future, maybe Angela will lean all in on them instead of Leah and Daryl.  Something tells me Leah knows this “brother” biblically.  

Daryl recognizes Whisperer moves when he sees ‘em.  Somehow, he realizes Maggie and Negan have banded together however reluctantly.  

Pope doing it “Dixon’s” way but not allowing Dixon to do the actual thing shows the level of distrust and paranoia the man still haves for outsiders. 

Look at Daryl chewing his lips with worry for his people.  If he and Leah know each other even a little bit, she has to recognize that as one of his tells.  

Ooohhhh.  Who took the first stab at Wells?  Maggie?  Negan?  Father G?  I swear.  I took my eyes off the “ball” one second and the whole damn play is halfway down the field.  Sorry.  If you cannot tell, I watched football with the fam yesterday, lol.  

The Walking Dead logo didn’t crumble this time.  Interesting.  Parts of it looked like it had been rebuilt.  With brick.  Wood.  Other parts of it looked reclaimed by nature.  Call me crazy, but that almost looks like an eye/part of a face on the first D.  

Okay then.  Babbling nonsense about the logo over, lol.  Tell me.  Please.  Anybody.  How do the events at ASZ line up with the events at Meridian?  Because it’s night and full-blown storming in ASZ and still daylight at Meridian.  But hey.  Thank fuck we’re in ASZ.  

All the babies huddled together giving me feels.  Sorry.  I know some feel they have no place on the show, but I personally enjoy their inclusion from time to time.  It usually plucks hard at my heartstrings.  

Connie tenderly comforting an injured Virgil is sweet, not gonna lie.  

Aww.  Is that Hershel petting a scared RJ’s hair?  Unless it’s a case of me not being able to pick out and place all the little hands, which it most certainly could be, I’m thinking Judith’s got her hand on her knee and that’s Hershel’s hand in RJ’s hair.  Regardless of whose hand is where, it was a sweet little scene.  What can I say?  I’m easy because Baby Glenn and Baby Rick, ya’ll.  

Oh snap.  The windmill’s on fire and pieces of the wall are blowing down main street ASZ like steel tumbleweeds, lol.  

Anybody else having flashbacks to the barn from Season 5?  Good times.  We still had most of Team Family with us then.  They were in a bad place, hurting and lost and just trying to survive--when are they not just trying to survive?--but they were together.  I miss them.  

Carol and Lydia holding each other.  These two, lovelies, have my whole heart.  

Wells is Walker Jerky, Shaw.  Stop wasting your breath.  

“She did.  My enemy.”  I mean, are we supposed to get the impression Maggie’s been a formidable adversary to Pope?  Because she feels more like a roach that simply knows the best rocks to hide under.  Granted, roaches are hard to kill but still.  I’m gonna need them to give us something better than Maggie being Pope’s enemy simply because she didn’t want to give up her home without a fight because this is frankly unbelievable and bordering on stupid.  

Alright.  So they’ve obviously been sowing the seeds of distrust and defiance between Leah and Pope because she doesn’t like losing family but Daryl?  Man?  You and Leah have differing opinions about how family operates.  Trust me on this.  

So.  Three teams, huh?  Aaron fighting the windmill fire, Carol repairing the breach in the wall, Rosita protecting the babies that represent their future.  Choose your fighters, lol.  Seriously, though.  Why do I have the sinking feeling only one group is going to be shown actually doing their thing?  

Listen.  Am I pissed we haven’t gotten the scene we deserve yet between Carol and Connie after all that’s happened and we’re getting crumbs mainly because Angela wrongly feels the Reapers/Maggie & Negan/Daryl & Leah need more focus?  Absolutely.  You bet your sweet asses.  But Melissa fucking McBride just took the crumbs allotted her and made a magnificent, work of art cake out of it trying all on her lonesome to feed us starving Carol fans.  

Bless Connie wanting wanting to go with Carol.  What a show of trust and sister-like solidarity that must have some hate-rotted guts about to turn themselves out.  

I love Kelly and Connie’s sister bond.  No ill will intended, but It takes the good parts of Maggie and Beth and elevates it beyond anything those two ever showed us.  I really feel like that’s a testament to Angel and Lauren’s real life ease with each other.  

Magna choosing to go with Aaron makes me wonder if it’s possible she feels some kind of residual guilt over Connie.  Not guilt for anything she’s actually done, but simply guilt over making it out.  

Virgil volunteering to help.  Okay.  Damn.  I’m honestly starting to like the guy.  

Judith offering to go with her aunt Carol had me all up in my feels.  I mean, granted.  It was a blink and you miss it scene.  We really deserved a longer heart to heart between that little girl and the woman that’s sacrificed so much to keep her safe and loved her for so long, but you know I’ll gobble any and all Judith/Aunt Carol content up.  Seems to me, Little Ass Kicker is just as afraid of letting Aunt Carol out of her sight as Uncle Daryl.  My heart.  

Gracie and Aaron are sweet.  And honestly?  I find them more realistic and true to what normal parents and children would be like in a ZA than Judith and Michonne no matter how much I love that bond.  I mean no disrespect, but I really do.  

“Why am I keeping you around?”  Pope asking the question we’re all wondering.  

Not Apocalypse Popeye comparing Daryl to a stray dog.  Joe from the Claimers already declared Daryl an outside cat that thought he was an indoor cat.  I did have to internally cheer when Daryl was like “I’m ain’t gonna lick it” talking about the helping hand Pope had extended him.  

“Somehow she has turned the dead against the living.  Oh, that’s impressive.”  The thing about Pope respecting Maggie so much as an enemy is I just find it hard to buy, lol.  Like if this had been Carol, yeah.  But Maggie?  Nope.  They’ve mostly shown her (with Gage being the bewildering exception) to be all bark and no bite.  

Has the house in ASZ really become that dilapidated that they can see through its walls?  Because its original owners dodged a bullet if so.  

Look at Grace hero-worshipping Judith.  It’s sweet.  

Virgil telling Judith Michonne would be proud of her is nice but doesn’t feel as earned as if someone like Daryl or Carol that actually knew Michonne well said it.  But maybe that’s the whole point--Judith needs to hear it from someone she knows isn’t going to just say what she wants to hear.  

Call me jaded, it was a touching scene, but also?  It felt designed to allow Judith to move beyond her very normal and realistic feelings of being abandoned by Michonne, even though she gave her the “okay” herself.  Like she’s still a kid.  Wants don’t always line up with feelings.  Anyway.  Cailey continues to be a bright, shining little star and I love how she’s managed to make Judith a true amalgamation of all the people she’s loved who have loved her in return.  Not just Michonne.  I know people like to overlook and cheapen the fact, but it’s taken a village and entire family to raise her from infancy.  

Gracie really should have known better than play in front of the windows during a storm period, but oh well.  Plot point, lol.  

Seriously, though.  I feel like they’ve teased poor Gracie’s demise in a multitude of ways since the beginning of the season.  I hope nothing ultimately comes of it but I fear it will.  All I can say if the worst comes to happen is poor Aaron.  

Where are Negan and Elijah though?  Ouch.  There they are, taking on shrapnel for the cause.  

Ready the what now?  

There’s ASZ’s Baby Sitter Extraordinaire!  Barbara, is it?  That lady’s been putting in the work since Season 5 at least.  

I’ve honestly grown to love Rosita.  More of her and less of Maggie, please and thank you.  

“Let’s stay away from the windows.”  I’m sorry but I had to LMAO at that.  Still a badass moment though.  

Gabe hobbling toward his assigned sentinel.  At least they haven’t forgotten he’s injured like they seemed to forget Daryl was near death last season before the attack on Hilltop, lol.  

“It’s hard to watch something you care about change.”  Listen, Leah.  Chick.  You and Daryl obviously never really knew each other.  It’s always been obvious but I have a feeling “DIxon” is finally going to show you, spoilers or no spoilers.  

WTF are they calling that thing?  Sorry.  I have just as hard a time understanding Pope’s accent as I do Maggie’s sometimes.  

That’s not love that has Daryl telling Leah she can come with him.  That’s care for somebody he used to know.  There is a distinct difference that’s obviously lost on so many.  How can you really and truly love someone you cannot trust?  Especially in Daryl Dixon’s case?

Why does Angela hate us so much?  Giving us all these Reaper scenes and leaving us to simply imagine Carol and Connie and Kelly working side by side to save the wall?  

I think I honestly could have enjoyed this whole Reaper storyline more, at least a little bit anyway, had they not retrofitted a half-assed romance between Daryl and the story’s weakest link and if only they’d made it the B storyline and given earned deference to the goings-on in ASZ instead.  

I wonder if Glenn taught Maggie how to hot write a car?  I miss my baby Glenn.

Apocalypse Popeye is several fries short of a Happy Meal.  What else is new on this show, lol?  

I care for Maggie.  Mostly for nostalgia’s sake and Glenn and Baby Hershel but damn, man.  She’s not actually proven herself got be worth killing your entire “family” for.  But are too far gone, so.  We’ll make allowances.  

I will say at least this episode is not as abysmally biring as last week’s episode.  

Leah finally giving Pope the throat punch he’s been asking for but I’m not fooled she’s on Daryl’s side here.  She’s always been on her own side.  

Look at Father G returning the favor for Maggie saving him in the tower.  Taking Deaver down!  Poor Deaver barely saw the light of day.  

Here comes that woman scorned part.  I can feel it.  

“Pope is dead.  Dixon murdered him.  He’s with the enemy.”  

Please, Angela.  I’m begging you.  Bring Carol into this story and ramp it the fuck up.  You been idling too damn long and the car is fast running outta gas.  

Bitch really has to die to framing Carol’s Pookie.  

Rosita and Lydia and Carol and Connie and Kelly and Magna have literally been holding up this damn show while Angela farts around with the Reapers bullshit.  Honorable mention goes to Aaron but these lovely, badass ladies been putting in the real work and not getting any of the glory.  You just know they’re tired AF.  

Not my babies Lydia and Judith being the cliffhanger!  Oh and Gracie.  Angela?!  A word.  

Listen.  Carol’s already done that fireworks trick.  That Reaper dude owes her royalties.  Granted, it was on a smaller scale but much more impressive for it because she was left to be the sharpshooter.  

Angela has a point.  It is kind of cool how Team Family have learned from their enemies and assimilated their useful points into their own cache of knowledge.  

I truly feel like the Leah/Reaper storyline would have benefitted from a much stronger actress.  Just saying.  

I know Judith annoys some with her precociousness but Cailey just keeps teeing off on what they give her and personally?  I feel she’s so very talented and light years beyond her little acting counterparts so it still works.  

“They’re never gonna choose each other over the people that they’ve loved and fought for because they simply cannot really trust each other.  There’s sort of, like a toxicity at the base of that relationship.”  Straight from Angela’s mouth.  

“At the end of the day, Daryl chose his family.”  Yeah, he did.  That “I belong with you” shit only happened when he felt they were all gone, including the one he loved above all others--Carol.  Fight me.  

Overall impression of the episode?  

On its own, disregarding how much I can’t help resenting how much time I feel has been “wasted” setting this story up, it was much more entertaining than Episode 7 which was only epic in that it was an epic bore.  There was still too much focus on the Reapers when I just just kept wanting to see what was happening at ASZ.  I mean, they cheated us out of Carol and Connie and Kelly working together. Of Aaron and Magna.  Call it personal preference coloring my opinions if you want, but the characters I care about feel like they’ve been shown the backseat for this self-indulgent exploration of Angela’s OC and her version of self-insert FF with Daryl Dixon.  If we can return to Team Family?  The whole Team Family and not just Maggie and Co. against the world?  You’ve got me.  If not?  Well.  You’ll keep losing me by degrees and you don’t want to do that on the final season.  

Anyway.  The ASZ parts were my favorites per usual.  The episode could have used a lot more of those.  

[controloffandoms]

Buck Begins Fic Recs

For @thisissirius 

Here are a couple of fics that I have written. And I’ll probably add a couple of favorites that I’ve read along the way!

Nothing I Ever Did Was Good Enough

Buck bit his tongue, looking away from his father. It was too early in their get together to have a blow out. He especially didn’t want to have that blowout in front of Chim and Albert. “You know, firefighting, until recently, has had a huge amount of off duty suicides due to improper care of mental health. The department has changed to help firefighters through hard times of losing patients or families in fires by hiring departmental psychologists and having service animals available for visits to the firehouses after really tough calls. If someone isn’t in the right mindset, we could lose more people, not to mention our own people and that person. Mental health is no joke,” Albert stated. Buck had to hide is smile, but he turned to Albert, giving him a knowing look and small smile. His parents spluttered for a few seconds before Phillip turned to Albert. “I don’t think I was talking to you. Mind your own business, this was a family matter.” “Don’t talk to him like that,” Buck nearly growled. “He is family.”

~~Or the one where the parents visit and Buck is in over his head...luckily his family has his back.

~~~~Part 1 in the Nothing I Ever Did Was Good Enough series

Nothing I Ever Did-

~~~~Part 2 in the Nothing I Ever Did Was Good Enough series

"Watch your attitude, Evan," Margaret glared. "Why should I? All you've ever done is put me down and compare me to Maddie and try to make me into her. News flash, I'm my own person and I'm different! I get that nothing I ever did was good enough, but I don't have to keep trying to appease you and let you walk on me or my family. So if you could kindly drop the attitude and rude comments regarding Eddie and Christopher, it would be much appreciated. They invited you into their home and you've been nothing but assholes since you got here! Clearly you came here with opinions and baggage and a want to have your way, but that's not going to fly here. You best just head out of town tonight, you're not wanted here in my life or Maddie's life. We don't want your toxicity melting into our families because I'll be damned if the shit you've said tonight will ever affect my niece or my kid!"

~~Or the one where Eddie hosts the Buckley parents and just tries to be supportive in general...but the parents are nightmares. Featuring cuddles with Chris, Eddie, and Buck.

Not The One You Wanted

“Evan, I don’t know what you expected us to do.”

“Love me anyway,” it had been said like his heart had been ripped out...which, it felt like it had. Because that was the truth, wasn’t it...all he ever wanted was for them to love him anyway. He wanted his parents to give a damn about him but they never did...it was like he was a responsibility that they never wanted.

Maddie had said that their parents had been different back then when they were sentimental and made a box for her...and now Buck knew why. Daniel. His older brother Daniel...a brother that he didn’t even know existed until he sat down with Maddie to look at all the baby photos in the box...and there were plenty...Buck can hardly remember ever getting portraits like these done during his childhood….but his parents were different back then.

-OR- Evan Buckley deserves love and hugs because of how shitty his parents are.

*This is honestly one of my favorites that I’ve written...it’s like a character study while Buck was trapped in the warehouse with some liberties surrounding the reason Buck’s in the warehouse*

Secrets

He’d been lied to his whole life...Maddie had never thought to tell him about not being his actual sister...his parents were acting like it didn’t matter...like he should just get over it. Buck’s eyes met Chim’s...and his whole body went rigid. “You knew,” he whispered, looking directly at Chim. “You knew and you didn’t tell me?!” He rounded on his sister, “you told him, but not me?!”

“Evan, I was trying to protect you-”

“No, you don’t get to do that! You don’t get to try and protect me! I’m a grown ass adult, I deserved to know but instead of telling me, you told him and even though I’ve known him longer he still didn’t tell me!” Buck shook his head, backing from the room. “I can’t do this,” he whispered.

-OR- Buck finds out the secret Maddie's been keeping from him while his parents are visiting...he is understandably betrayed.

*Basically, Buck Begins and the Daniel scenes hadn’t happened yet and I wanted to know what the secret was, so I came up with this.*

Ambush of the Parents

Based off the new Promo (or the one I just saw) where we see Maddie, Chim, Albert, Buck and (who I believe) are Buck and Maddie’s Parents. Buck’s dad says “you’ve been seeing a therapist?” and Buck responds “Well, the job can be stressful.”

Disclaimer: Please don't read if verbal abuse from parents triggers you.

~~~~Or Buck’s parents  are absolutely horrible and Buck’s family defends him.

Buck Begins

Buck always tried to please his parents. He wanted to be recognized and loved. He tried to get their approval but it was never enough. *Includes flashbacks, this was before Season 4 was even in production*

~Evan had thought that the SEALs would make his parents proud. He tried out for the SEALs, he went through training, but it still wasn’t enough. Then he’d dropped out. That had been the icing on the cake. Evan had never had a big blowout with his parents. He’d always tried to appease them. He tried to be the perfect son…but they never thought he was good enough. So when he dropped out of the SEALs, having a shouting match with his father as a consequence, he left for South America. He bartended and had fun. Then he’d gone to LA and became a firefighter and he hadn’t contacted his parents since the blowout. 

Here are some fic recs that are not my own works

double vision wrapped in last night’s party clothes by amirlywritingfanficnow

"I have always been honest with you." When Eddie's voice cracks, Buck's composure almost cracks with it. "Why can't you just be honest with me?"

or

When Buck is let in on a long kept family secret, he doesn't know what to do. He almost ruins things with the one person that keeps him from feeling like he's floating away with no way to land, but it ultimately turns out okay with help of a little communication.

*This one pulled at my heart strings a little*

but i leave it in my heart, cause I don’t want to stay in the dark by neoncrayolas

Buck hadn't meant for the confession to come out like it did. He'd wanted it to be more eloquent and not so full of snot and tears.

But once it was out, there was no going back.

Or, part character study of Buck, part coda to 4x05.

*Basically, Buck isolates himself, Eddie gets worried, and Buddie is endgame

Learning to Breathe by TearsThisSideofHeaven

Boy, he thinks as the city lights blur a little in his vision, my therapist is going to have a field day with this.

*Short little fic that delves into Buck’s emotions with Eddie trying to support him

Finally Safe by WinterLioness

In the aftermath of finding out a family secret Buck finds himself going to Eddie. Christopher and Eddie use their Diaz charm to help.

*This picks up on the emotions Buck feels not only because of the family secret but because Maddie kept it from him (not full on hate, but what any normal person would need to work through) and Eddie is there to support him. Features cuddles with the Diaz Boys.

Not Related to the story line of 9-1-1 but has a whole ‘Buck Begins’ vibe because I was world building: The Life We Live

*The Old Guard AU no one asked for* "Athena had seen many a millennium and many men, women, and children die. She had seen the rise and fall of civilizations. She had felt the pain of loneliness and the happiness of community...but she’d never, in her many years of living, seen something like Eddie, Buck, and Chris. She’d never seen this profound of a bond, even between herself and Bobby. After Buck lost Abby and, later, Ali, Athena wasn’t sure he would have let his heart reach out to another person that he could lose...but she was proud of him. He built something that was hard to come by in their way of living. He built a home."

*I’m really proud of this one, it turned out well*

Not Related to the Story Line of 9-1-1, Fics by others!

Please Don’t Say You Love Me (because I might not say it back) by Queerfeministdork

"Say I love you loud, and say I love you often. It was an easy sentiment, and it was a beautiful background picture. But something clenched tightly in Buck’s chest when he saw it flash open as he handed Hen her phone. Because he knew it was a simple thing for most people, that most people could just let those three little words slip out without a care. But he couldn’t. They always got caught in his throat, stuck behind his chest. Tamped down before he could think to breathe them out."

Buck always wished he could just say the words. Turns out, maybe people just know.

*Basically, Buck can’t say ‘I Love You’ as easily as everyone else and panics about it...but eventually, everyone understands.

everything is blue by amirlywritingfanficnow

When Evan Buckley is ten, he discovers nail polish.

-

In which Buck paints his nails, Eddie is flustered, and May is a matchmaker.

*Basically Buck and Eddie saying fuck toxic masculinity. Buck enjoying painting his nails and Eddie is definitely in love with him.

Coming Home To You by kariberri13

The 118 want to know more about Buck, but the man won't give them many details. That is until the biggest detail walks through the station's bay doors.

*Not focused on his past, but a different story focusing on the fact that Buck is married to Eddie and has a kid that he didn’t tell the Fire fam about.

There are tons more, but this is what I could think of off the top of my head! 

Hope you like them!

[roccinan]

1/? simply because you have the most galaxy brain thoughts ever,,, what do you think would've happened if they waited until s5 to reveal sergio and andrés were (half)brothers?

i do know that when my fam started watching lcdp at first i was so put off. like i watched ep 1 and the prof creeped me out. ""berlin"" creeped me out. e v e r y o n e creeped me out. and i was cringing so hard becz of the short lived romance angle with alison parker. i literally did not watch s1 at all xcept for like sneak peeks. highlights being the scene where berlin discovers monica is alive and does his dramatic door by door thing? that was so SUSPENSEFUL even tho i had no idea what was going on. DOMINGO DE RESURECCION remains forever iconic.

2/? And OF COURSE the group bella ciao dance when they hit earth (hahah i thought the banda were actually like a "found family where they all love each other LOL") i am a SUCKER for found family. but anyhoo when i properly got intrigued was s2 when tokyo was kicked out (the music from that scene is still my favourite) it's just so dramatic..!! why am i telling u all this again? right, i haven't slept a wink and it's nearly 7 am pls forgive me if these rambles make no sense. i have a point with this.. i'm going somewhere

RIGHT. so when the fam actually rewound the ep cz i wanted to know WHY berlin did that (didn't fully realise how batsht crazy he can be), the russian roulette scene played. and pedro's acting. MAN. and like just that ep they made a point of showing us these flashbacks where sergio and andrés hug....

Hi anon! Thanks for stopping by- sorry took me a while to get back to you, will do my best to answer this string of messages (got all 4 parts)! Glad you like my thoughts XD

Firstly, I believe Andres/Sergio would be the biggest LCDP ship if the writers were evil enough to wait until s5 to reveal that they’re brothers asdfasdf. They’re already the two most popular male characters anyway. 

It’d be especially crazy because it’s not like they tell the actors these things beforehand either. So that means there’d probably be a Serdres vs Berlermo vs Serquel fight every 5 minutes. I mean, even if not everyone agrees on everything in the lcdp fandom, it’s the most “peaceful” one I’ve ever been in because no character really gets in the way of any other ship (like even with helermo and berlermo there’s no true conflict since Andres is dead). But with Serdres in the mix?? CATASTROPHE. Everyone out here writing essays about how much of a bastard/bitch/homewrecker/motherfucker that Andres or Sergio or Martin or Raquel is. Never a moment’s peace!! so basically, a regular fandom lmao.

Then when we find out they’re brothers, it goes from catastrophe to Apocalypse. Suddenly serquel and berlermo have the upper hand. Everyone would double down and harass the crew/cast into whatever’s going on.  Plot-wise, everything is the same though, just without Andres calling Sergio “hermanito.” Fandom however, would be a minefield! And I’m glad that’s not the case because I’d probably be an unfortunate serdres shippers XD No joke, my mother and I thought they were a couple in S1. So bullet dodged!

Secondly: haha, everyone creeped me out in S1 too, especially Berlin, I hated him, but thinking back, I think I mostly hated the fact that I didn’t hate him as much as I should have. I’ve made peace with it now but oh boy, was he a controversial figure in my head. I actually like the professor on sight though! IDK why, maybe because I thought his plans were cool or because of Alvaro’s delivery. I was afraid of an Alison Parker romance thing too- like, I do feel like she had a storyline that got dropped, but that part was quite cringey and overall unnecessary to the plot. Same with Ariadna, which was even cringier and even Less necessary to the plot. 

Domingo de resurrecion was iconic though yes! And even with all that said, I genuinely enjoyed parts 1 and 2 because it was so different from anything else I’d seen. Not content wise, but maybe tonally? IDK, they were just really bold with a lot of things, like being objectively unafraid of having the protagonists (plural because all of them did LMAO) do objectively shitty things. Really kept me in suspense from beginning to end! 

I’m usually a big fan of found families too! The funny thing is, then banda never struck me as a “family” until season 3. In 1 and 2, I was wondering what felt different about this show; then it hit me that these people remained colleagues to the end. Like, they backstabbed each other (repeatedly) and everyone was quite selfish, and only the bonds that were already there stuck. They were the opposite of a found family LOL But I think by S3, they went down the found family route and I didn’t mind because it makes quite a lot of sense for them to feel that bond after the Mint heist and almost dying/living together (and having witnessed 3 deaths together on the team). But I still doubt Berlin and Palermo were ever really part of this found family, with good reason XD

LOL the scene where Tokyo got kicked out is also among my favorites!! It was so funny and dramatic, and it was like, wow we can go anywhere with this now! Don’t worry- your rambles and thoughts are always welcome :D

I’m rolling over how you watched the Tokyo expulsion scene before the Russian Roulette scene haha. Also yes, PEDRO. Berlin may have been “controversial” to me at first, but I became Pedro’s fan from day one! Also the Hug is probably what made me like Berlin (despite my determination to hate him rip) in the first place. 

3/? ... and like now that i think about it... tokyo had real guts huh. like she KNEW berlin was close enough to el prof to know his name (fhshshs imagine if she'd heard andrés saying 'hermanito' it's unrealistic that she didn't TBH. i mean obviously they decided to make them brothers only towards the end but like in canon universe. how tf did andrés de 'i raised my bby brother since he was 12 and i'd actually die for him and his stupidly brilliant plans' fonollosa go 5 months without slipping up once and calling sergio hermanito. or like,,, i like to imagine sergio kinda gave him lots of leeway(?) sergio's a lil oblivious too but like i'm sure half of it is.. that's my dumbass older bro shut up i'm not being partial you all have city names .. andr-berlin, pass the salt. like OOF. + sergio also knew his big bro was dYiNG so like. i'm sure they were sneaking in some quality time (i hope they did 😭 gosh imagine if sergio really did not ever consider the possibility of andrés dying in the heist so he'd tell himself he needs to perfect the plan now & anyway he'll have enough time to spend w/ his brother post heist in philippines. and then ... that happened :/

Tokyo has guts in place of braincells you bet that she’d do something like this, consequences be damned XD I also think it’s unrealistic for Andres not to slip up, but I have a feeling nobody besides Tokyo really tried to spy on them in private. I headcanon that Andres instead slips up and does things like ruffle Sergio’s hair or adjust his tie when other people are around. I also think Tokyo was convinced that they were a gay couple when she saw them hug XD And if Sergio never went on to tell the banda that Berlin was his brother, everyone would be giving Palermo such awkward looks after Nairobi accused him of being in love with Berlin LMAO. 

I agree! I also imagine Sergio giving Andres leeway because he’s just so used to interacting with his brother that way haha. So either he’d go out of his way to ignore Berlin in front of everyone else or IDK, borderline telepathically communicate with him. Not even “pass the salt” has to leave his mouth- Berlin just puts salt into his food and cuts it up for him, in front of everyone who’s just staring like O.O

I actually do think Sergio never considered the possibility of Andres dying in the heist because he was just that confident in his own plan. Plus, Andres was probably the one person he expected to survive. And a lot of it has to do with Sergio’s attachment to him + Andres’ own habit of downplaying any illness/injury over the years, which I think is safe to believe canon. He was really in no condition to be in the heist, let alone lead it. Just the fact that he needs to take those injections is a big sign that he shouldn’t be there, but Sergio didn’t catch it because he’s human and blinded by faith :’) So yeah, I think Sergio was planning to spend proper time with Andres in Palawan and at Toledo, they just settled for those little moments by the fireplace. 

4/? what always also just GETS me in the feels is that el prof was shown to be this in control creepily calm dude who is miles ahead of everyone. + in the 1st Toledo class itself we see how detached,, like how impersonal he is, how professional - choosing frickin CITY NAMES?! no 'personal relationships' ? (after recruiting his older brother, a father son pair, and war cousins... oh sergio 😂 he's such a frickin nerd and i love him) but like the earlier seasons really emphasised how robotic and down right COLD he can be. it still sometimes bothers me that he put the button in the car. he lead the police to his own damn brother, his blood, who took care of him and adopted him and was terminally ill and like - UGH i try to rationalise that sergio is that cold and unbothered. or that he has strict morals. but it still bothers me becz that button really sort of tipped andres' already unstable sanity. like andrés tells denver someth like you've robbed my future and after that he just seems so much more suicidal and accepting that he can't get out of the mint alive - WHY SERGIO WHY. I KNOW THAT AT THAT POINT YOU BASICALLY DIDN'T KNOW ANDRÉS WAS GOING TO BE YOUR BROTHER YET BECZ IT WASN'T WRITTEN IN THE SCRIPT BUT WHYYYYY

That’s so funny to me too LMAO No personal relationships, then he recruits these guys. Sergio, hello?? Also can’t forget how he just recruited his own girfrleind in the second heist too. Buddy! Love this nerd.

I don’t think that cold aspect of Sergio went away in later seasons either; he just had more opportunity to show a more open side of himself + without Andres, he had to metaphorically leave his comfort zone without a safety net. But in earlier seasons, he really did seem heartless at times XD Then again, we can argue that the same goes for Andres.

To be fair, I didn’t feel sorry for Andres over the button thing lol, but once the brothers reveal happened and all of Alvaro/Pedro’s headcanons came out and we know everything Andres did for Sergio, it makes what Sergio did REALLY harsh. We really just have to explain it through Sergio’s strict morals and him believing this to be the best non-fatal punishment for Andres, who at that point had convinced him he killed a hostage. And because he knew the television interview was coming up, maybe Sergio assumed Andres would use it to “clear” his name anyway. And empathy isn’t one of Sergio’s strong suits either, so through that lens, I can rationalize it.

Also it was lowkey funny to me how Andres was there like DENVER MUST DIE until he found out Sergio put the button there, then he was like “oh hermanito, you and your practical jokes <3″

Still, like you said, Andres and Sergio weren’t brothers yet at this point. They were probably supposed to be lovers lmao and had a dysfunctional Hannibal Lecter x Will thing going on. But because they made #hermanos canon, that button moment just feels very out of place now, especially given how much the two genuinely love each other.

Guess we could also say that Sergio’s just generally kinda bratty with Andres XD Like, he knows no matter what, Andres would forgive him anything. That’s how I see it anyway!