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holyhellpod · 4 years ago

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4. Fambily

In this episode, we skim the surface of the fambily dynamics in Supernatural, which are--ah. Dicey at best.

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Transcript under the cut!

Content warnings: domestic violence and family abuse

[Growl]

Ah, the Winchesters. Where do we even start. Unhinged, deranged, and continually traumatised in every way, Sam and Dean complete each other. At least, that’s what the show wants us to think. Despite the ways they betray each other, lie to each other, and piss each other off, they are fambily. And fambily is the most important thing. The concept of Fambily in the show Supernatural (2005-2020) takes many twists and turns throughout its run. In the first five minutes of episode one, the heteronormative, nuclear family of John, Mary, Sam and Dean is ripped apart by an unknown, antagonistic force that represents all the evil in the world. It creeps into a nursery and eviscerates a white, blonde mother while preying upon a 👶, I mean, how much more evil can you get? It’s fantastic that, in the later seasons especially, Supernatural embraces this idea that fambily doesn’t end in blood, but blood doesn’t always mean fambily. By the end of the series, the fambily concept has expanded to include two dads, an aunt and uncle, and a thirty-year old infant. I’m going to talk about the finale in its own episode, so that my ire will have its proper outlet.

When the show starts, Sam, Dean and John have each other, and only each other. By the time season 2 really kicks off, Sam and Dean don’t have John anymore, but they do have Bobby Singer. The concept of the triumvirate follows them throughout the series as though they’re in a less sexy Italo Calvino novel—first Sam, Dean and John, then Sam, Dean and Bobby, then Sam, Dean and Ruby, then Sam, Dean and Cas, then Sam, Dean and Mary, then Sam, Dean and Jack. It’s broken in seasons 13-15 when Cas comes back and they have a family of four, and then five when Mary can stand to see her boys.

But the Winchesters are not the only fambily in Supernatural who matter. In season two, we’re introduced to the Harvelles, mother Ellen and daughter Jo, who are a hunting fambily who run a hunter pub in the middle of whoop whoop. A pub that Eric Kripke famously hated, and rejoiced when he burnt it down at the end of season 2, because the Winchesters and by extension everyone they know aren’t allowed to have anything good ever. It’s revealed in season two episode “No Exit” that John got Jo’s father killed on a hunt, which obviously affects Jo more than it does Sam and Dean.

[Editing note:] Okay I’m editing this episode, and I’m not happy with it. I’m not going to scrap it completely because I think I do have good points to say, but the general analysis of this episode is so surface level. It is basically contributing nothing to the conversation. And I started this podcast in order to actually contribute something to the culture. I could make a bunch of text posts on tumblr or I could spend hours and hours and hours and hours of my life to something that — I don’t know. Is it bringing me joy? Not at the moment. But, yeah. So I’m not going to scrap this episode completely but this is my way of saying from now on the episodes are going to take as much as they will take and I will commit myself to having deeper and more thoughtful analysis. And if I have to spend an entire episode on one aspect of one thing, I will. I could be at university right now studying a masters or a PhD in fucking literary analysis but instead I’m sitting on my bed making a Supernatural podcast because it brings me joy. It does. It really makes me happy and I don’t want to abandon this project, because people are listening to it. I don’t know why, I don’t know what you like it about it, but you’re listening. And I just think I owe it to myself to make things that I support 100%. So I’ll continue this episode and hopefully this rambling hasn’t put you off it completely. But from now on, I’m going to really, really talk about things that matter in regards to Supernatural… Kind of an oxymoron. Kind of a contradiction. But things that contribute to the cultural consciousness instead of just rehashing the road so far. That’s all I want to do. I want to contribute. I want to say good…ful things. Okay this is making me happy. It’s already working, it’s already making me happy. I’m just going to keep rambling and laughing. Okay so, more thoughtful analysis, deeper analysis. Things that make you think. Things that make me think. Instead of just a bunch of words that mean nothing. Okay, continuing on.

Okay to figure out which episode this was I had to watch a little bit of season two, and I’m still on my season 13 rewatch. The difference between the two seasons. I don’t know if I can even put into words the growth this show has gone through, and the characters have gone through, over the last 15 years. It would be like summarising my own growth by combing through my extensive diary collection and the years of societally- and governmentally-enforced heterosexuality that has plagued my entire life. Those boys are babies in season two. The bootcut jeans alone. Sam is literally 23 years old. I don’t even talk to 23 year olds. I block them on social media.

The Harvelles are a blip in the Winchester map. While the actors Samantha Ferris and Chad Lindberg did attempt to resuscitate their cultural currency months after the show ended by participating in an event — okay I can’t. I can’t even go into it. Like, clearly Samantha Ferris heard back from her representation as soon as she started posting those tweets and realised she wouldn’t continue to get money if she endorsed, well, the gays. And Chad Lindberg was just using the clout to push his Etsy wares like a 14th century merchant, so I gotta respect the hustle. But Jo and Ellen die in season 5 episode “Abandon All Hope” and are barely mentioned again except the episode Ash appears in, season 5 “Dark side of the moon,” Jo in season 7, “Defending Your Life,” and Ellen in the season 6 episode “My heart will go on.” They didn’t exactly leave what you would call a lasting impact for the next, you know, ten seasons.

To be honest, I’m not sure when it’s revealed that Bobby’s wife died after being possessed by a demon. It’s made clear in season 5 “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid,” and I did not have to look that up, because season four and five are burned into my retinas like a particularly nasty sun flare. Bobby outlines the horrific way he killed his wife, because why not throw some spousal violence into the mix, and later in season 7 “Death’s Door,” it elaborates on their life together. I saw this sentiment expressed on TikTok, which we all know as the foundation of cultural knowledge, which was that fambilies don’t need to be two parents and children. Fambilies can be spouses or partners. You don’t need to have children in order to be a fambily. I think that’s a very nice sentiment and I’ve chosen to adopt it for these purposes. Bobby and his wife Karen are a fambily. While Karen wants kids, Bobby chooses not to have them for fear of becoming like his father and repeating the trauma he inflicted on Bobby. Bobby and Karen’s fambily dynamic is ruptured in the same way that John and Mary’s is—by an intrusive, demonic force that brings Bobby into the hunting world and ends Karen’s life. But by the time we see him at the end of season 1, Bobby is already ingratiated into Sam and Dean’s lives as their surrogate father, and this bond only deepens as the show progresses. Bobby expresses the sentiment to Dean to not be like John, that Dean is already a better man that his father ever was. Isn’t that what we all want to hear? That we have superseded our parents and outgrown them in ways they could never comprehend? Don’t we just want to be better than the generations that came before us, in order to mould a better world for the generations that come after us? Don’t we want to make things easier for our children, and our friends’ children, and our siblings’ children? Dean is a better man than John, and Bobby is better man than his father ever was. It’s about breaking the cycles of intergenerational trauma. I have to believe that Sam, Dean and Bobby did this, because then it’s possible for me to do the same thing. Include here that speech about representation in media that I didn’t bother writing for the last episode. Bobby is the surrogate father to Sam and Dean, a better father than John was, a better hunter even. He crafts an entire network of hunters who report to him, as seen in the season 6 episode “Weekend at Bobby’s,” and he continues to act as Sam and Dean’s mentor until his death in season 7 “How to win friends and influence monsters”. An alternate universe version of Bobby is introduced in season 13, which I have my reservations about, and he and Mary get together, which again, why. Season 13 is so hard to sit through.

A fambily that is introduced late into the series and is simply NOT given enough screen time is the Banes fambily. In season 12, “Celebrating the life of Asa Fox,” we are introduced to the Banes twins, Max and Alicia, who are by far the most gorgeous hunters we’ve seen in the series. They are hunters raised by a witch, Tasha Banes, who doesn’t appear yet, and they manage to survive the trial by fire that is overcoming the demon Jael. Later in this season, in the episode “Twigs and Twane and Tasha Banes,” both of which are written by the late great Steve Yockey, we are introduced to Tasha in a way that seems awfully familiar: Alicia calls Sam to say their mother has gone missing on a hunt, and hasn’t checked in in a few days. By the end of the episode, Alicia and Tasha are dead, and Max has ostensibly sold his soul for the power to bring Alicia back. The Banes twins’ storyline directly parallels Sam and Dean’s from the pilot, but it’s a tragedy from the outset. We already know Tasha is dead and they can’t save her, however, like Dean does for Sam at the end of season 2, Max chooses to save Alicia at the expense of his own soul. Spin off when. Banes twins series when. I’m waiting. They were in two episodes and I’m still thinking about them. The Harvelles are dust.

In season 7, “Reading is Fundamental,” a waifish 17 year old honour’s student Kevin Tran breaks into a rehabilitation facility to steal a tablet. This starts a chain of events that ingratiates Kevin Tran in the apocalyptic, death-succumbing world of the Winchesters, starting with Dick Roman, head leviathan, and continuing, but not culminating, with his death at the hands of Gadreel, who was possessing Sam, it’s a whole thing. Any time you attempt to summarise anything on Supernatural, you sound like a lunatic. And I say that as someone who has a supernatural podcast, with an audience of only supernatural fans. We are lunatics, but we’re lunatics together. Kevin’s arc was cut way too short, but we at least got to see him with his momma Linda in the beginnings of season 8 with the unfortunately named episode “What’s up, Tiger Mommy?” It introduces Linda Tran as a capable and worldly woman, hell bent on protecting her son. She offers up her soul among other things in exchange for Kevin and the tablet with him. During the episode, she is possessed by Crowley, and Dean attempts to kill him, which would mean killing Linda as well. Kevin considers this the ultimate betrayal and leaves with his mum. Later in season 9 episode “Captives,” Linda is reintroduced as a captive of Crowley, who escapes with Sam’s help. Back at the bunker, she reunites with Kevin, who is now, thanks to the Winchesters’ incompetence, a ghost 👻. My macbook keeps suggesting little emojis in the smart bar so I just gotta put ‘em in. That’s the last we see of Linda, so I’m drawing my own conclusions about whether she gets to live a long and happy life. Kevin is a fan favourite and despite my reservations about Osric Chau which I will not get into like ever I really like Kevin too. He outsmarts Crowley many times and shows remarkable tenacity to get an impossible job done. His desire to see his mum again, the driving force behind his actions, mirrors Dean’s desperation to have his fambily together again like they used to be. I would call this a parallel but I don’t believe they purposefully did this, I just think they accidentally rehashed the same tired storyline they’ve been peddling since 2005. But yeah, if I was Kevin and all I had was my mum, seeing her again would be the driving force for my actions as well. Kevin’s father is never mentioned, and it honestly isn’t a big deal, which is great. Sometimes fathers are just absent, and you don’t need throw a hissy fit about it or make it your entire personality, Dean.

Missouri Moseley, played by the inimitable Loretta Devine, is introduced in the first season, episode “Home,” in which she helps out on a case involving Sam and Dean’s childhood house. We find out that Missouri is a long-time friend of John’s and helped him to understand that supernatural forces were behind Mary’s death. She is Sam and Dean’s first point of entry into the world of the Supernatural, and they didn’t know it until they meet her in “Home”. In season 13 episode “Patience,” another layer to Missouri’s character is added with the advent of her family: estranged son James and granddaughter Patience Turner, who is also a psychic. We get a lot of backstory for Missouri in this episode, even if it is sloppily written and contradictory to the way they initially set her up. If Missouri and James had been travelling when he was a child, why was she stationed in Lawrence in both 1983 and 2005? What did he mean that Missouri was hunting? I can’t be bothered unpacking the confusing bits of information presented in this episode. It’s not a good episode and I really don’t see why everyone goes apeshit for Bobo Berens. He kills Missouri in this episode, in a really horrible way. Like the history of Supernatural’s racism and misogyny should not be dumped on one man, but nor should it be perpetuated and it is continually throughout the entire show. Confusing, contradictory and badly written backstory aside, she is an interesting character, and her willingness to sacrifice herself to save her family echoes that of Mary in “Home”. I’m actually really mad that Patience never gets to have a relationship with Missouri, and later in season 13 episode “The Bad Place,” Patience’s father tells her that if she leaves to help The Winchesters and uses her psychic abilities, she’s not welcome back in his house. To me that’s just unnecessary. We have a family that has already been ruptured by the death of Patience’s mother, further ruptured by Patience’s father cutting off contact with Missouri, and then to go a step further he disintegrates their family unit by kicking Patience out. Like how much loss do the Moseley-Turners have to endure? It’s really just cruel at this point. But Patience does find family with Jodie, Donna, Claire, Alex and eventually Kaia, and while I love the concept of found family and this found family in particular, it comes at the expense of biological family, which is something that the show has pushed from the very first episode. So that’s evolution in itself. Going from “fambily is the most important thing to these characters” to “found fambily is where we find love” is great, but ripping apart a biological fambily like the Moseley-Turners, and indeed starting the episode by saying Missouri has been shunted out of her son and granddaughter’s lives for trying to bring her son comfort, is just fucked. Like, I couldn’t name a single Bobo episode that I actually like without having to comb through them. I’m trying really hard not to shit all over him because as a writer I know how much that sucks and I know how hard is it for any marginalised writers to get a start, but I’m allowed to have my vendettas.

If you’ve watched the “Runs In The Family” angels MV from 2010, and only if you’ve watched the “Runs In The Family” angels MV from 2010, you will understand just how jacked up the angel family really is. The angelic counterpoint to Sam and Dean are the archangels Lucifer and Michael. We are introduced to two different versions of Michael—one in season 5, who possesses their dad in 1979 and their brother Adam in 2010—my god that was literally over a decade ago—and Apocalypse World Michael, played by four different actors: Felisha Terrell, Christian Keyes, Jensen Ackles, and Ruth Connell, who plays Rowena. I don’t know what in the hell Jensen Ackles was doing performance-wise when playing Michael, but I consider it a federal crime akin to drug trafficking or money laundering. As for Christian Keyes playing Michael, Andrew Dabb, you know what you did and you’re going to have to live with that.

In season 5, during the apocalypse, Michael and Lucifer only interact in the last episode, “Swan Song,” but the entire season is built around their conflict. Lucifer disobeyed their father, and Michael as God’s most powerful weapon must defeat him. It’s meant to mirror Sam’s descent into, uhhhh, badness or something, disobeying John to run away to Stanford, or, like, drinking demon blood? It’s unclear. Lucifer and Apocalypse World Michael interact in season 13, and Michael kills Lucifer only to take over Dean’s body and start a season-long arc of, like, bad acting and barely thought-out plots. I would say to Jensen Ackles “don’t quit your day job,” but this is literally his day job.

The angels as they’re introduced in season 4 are warriors of god, and all they know is obedience and killing. Even Cas can’t break out of the cycle of killing his angel siblings, and often justifies it by saying that it’s for the greater good, that he needs to do it to take down a stronger force like Raphael or Metatron. Anna manages to break free of her family by falling and becoming human, but when Cas betrays her and the angels capture her, she is lobotomised, tortured and sent back out to kill Sam. Then she’s burned to a crisp by Michael possessing John, not the last time a woman would burn to death on this show. The angels are dysfunctional at best, and actively hostile to each other, especially Castiel, the infamous spanner in the works. I could write an entire academic paper about how the angels think of Castiel as this rebel slut who murdered his way to the top and is going to be the downfall of angel kind, but Dean thinks of him as this little nerdy guy with a harp he carries around in his back pocket. Which honestly Cas would love because he’s obsessed with Dean and wants to touch his butt. I don’t know what else I can say about the angels without turning this into a dissertation, so I’ll continue on.

While all seasons of the show are about family, season six is especially about matrilineal family. It introduces the concept of the mother of monsters—Eve—and focuses on Mary as a solution to the loneliness the characters feel after her death. Samuel Campbell, Mary’s father, is brought back to life and manipulated by the promise of seeing his daughter again. He asks Sam and Dean what they wouldn’t do to see Mary again, which is kind of the general thesis of the show. What wouldn’t John, Dean and Sam do for each other? Dean sells his soul. John makes a deal with the demon who killed Mary. Sam teams up with Ruby to kill Lilith in revenge, which begins as a suicide mission because he doesn’t know how to handle his grief for Dean. The difference is that Samuel betrays Sam and Dean, his own grandchildren, for the promise of seeing Mary again. This cardinal sin alienates him from being a good guy, because good guys never betray Sam and Dean. Sam and Dean are our protagonists! Our heroes! The bringers of the light! The knights in shining armour! The white on rice. The cherry in cherry pie. They are the ones we’re meant to align ourselves with, because it’s their story the narrative is telling. And anyone who doesn’t align themselves with the Winchesters is an enemy who needs to be defeated.

We’re introduced to the character of Gwen in the first episode of season 6, “Exile on Main Street”, and she says in the episode “Family Matters” that Samuel, the patriarch, doesn’t like her very much because she reminds him of Mary. While Samuel, Christian, Gwen and co are technically family, Dean has no connection to them past bloodlines. And as I said before, while family doesn’t end in blood, we learn throughout this season that blood doesn’t always mean family. Gwen dies in the episode “And Then There Were None,” because of course she does, and Mary doesn’t come back, at least not in this season.

In “Family Matters,” the alpha vampire, played by the irreplaceable Rick Worthy, mentions that “we all have our mothers,” referring to Eve, the mother of monsters, the one who spawned every other monster and who has been trapped in purgatory ever since. Eve is pulled from Purgatory to wage war against the hunters and Crowley because they have been preying on her first borns, the alphas. I love Eve. I love her. She’s my favourite villain after Metatron. Mainly because I think she is like… sexy as hell. Like wow I am just so attracted to Julia Maxwell and this, like, bored smokey affect thing she does where she barely moves her mouth when she speaks and her strong brow makes her seem so intimidating. I don’t know anything about her personally, but I feel like she would’ve bullied me in high school, and I’m into it. It’s really hard to judge just from this one role whether she’s a good actor because Eve has such limited range and few things to do, but I really wish she’d gotten more screen time. Yeah, she’s doing the bare minimum and I’m completely obsessed. But Eve isn’t just a monster, she’s literally THEE milf. The original milf. And I really think she should’ve stayed around, but since they kept Lisa alive they had to kill at least one high profile woman.

Continuing with the family storylines in season 6, Dean tries to establish a family with Lisa and Ben, and for the most part succeeds. He gets a job, plays the role of the doting boyfriend and stepfather, and protects them as best he can. I’m going to spare you the rant perched at the tip of my tongue about how this is at best a lavender marriage or staying together for the kid, and that Lisa only exists to be an ideal for Dean, not an actual partner he can grow with throughout the rest of the show. It’s his first attempt at a fambily outside of Sam, Bobby and John, and it fails miserably because Lisa isn’t a good match. The fact is, she will never be able to fit into the hunting world because of the way the writers wrote her—as mother and girlfriend archetype, and we’ve seen how well they do with those—in fact they actively paralleled it in “Exile on Main Street” where they had Dean hallucinate Azazel coming back and pinning Lisa to the ceiling. It couldn’t be more obvious that they don’t respect her. At least they didn’t fridge her for Dean’s man pain. It’s honestly horrible because Dean put so much effort into believing this was his one chance at happiness, and when it crumbles like a tim tam in hot tea he beats himself up for it and uses it as an excuse to never be happy.

He does seem to be happy for the most part with Lisa, but because Sera Gamble doesn’t know how to write interesting or complex female characters, when Sam reenters the picture it once again becomes about the original premise: two brothers on the road, fighting the forces of evil. There’s no room for any women in that sphere. Up until this point I think—correct me if I’m wrong—there has been one female hunter who survived, and she was in one episode. The hunter Tamara in season 3 “The Magnificent Seven,” whose husband died in maybe the most sadistic way anyone has died on this show. Don’t rewatch it, just google it. All women die, including Mary, their mother, who is brought back in season 12 and killed in season 14. AND FOR WHAT? For WHAT Andrew Dabb.

Often, the loss of a parent, child or significant other is used to excuse bad behaviour and terrible choices. The hunting life causes Mary’s whole family to die before she can escape it, and because she makes a deal with Azazel for John’s life, the same demon John makes a deal with, Azazel kills her anyway. John abused his kids and brought them into the hunting life, because he was obsessed with getting revenge for Mary’s death. Sam does the same thing when Jess dies in the first season, and it starts a 15-season long arc of pain and misery. He sets Lucifer free in the season four because he is obsessed with getting revenge for Dean’s death and obsessed with the power drinking demon blood gives him. Then again, Sam is actually right for saving people by exorcising demons, which is literally the first part of the family business motto, instead of just gutting them with the demon knife, but because Dean doesn’t agree with it, it’s bad. Sam always wants to do the right thing, he just gets a little caught up in the details. But you know what? Bloodfreak rights.

When Cas dies in season 13, Dean is so overcome with grief, a grief that echoes John and Sam’s, that he mistreats Jack and threatens to kill him. In season 14, Nick, Lucifer’s vessel, boo snore hiss, kills everyone involved with the murder of his wife and child before he finds out that it’s actually Lucifer’s doing, and then he tries to raise Lucifer from the empty because he’s addicted to killing? Whatever, stop employing Mark Pellegrino. Stop writing men as obsessed with getting revenge

The biological fambilies in Supernatural suck shit. Honestly every time I watch an episode about fambily I’m even more glad I don’t talk to mine. Dean and Sam need to spend some time away from each other, while they’re both still alive. Their fambily dynamic gets better as the show progresses, and I was pleased to see in season 12 that they do away with the codependency, constantly sacrificing themselves for each other, isolating themselves, betraying everyone they know for each other—they started to act like, you know, normal people. And that’s good. Sure, the show would not be anywhere without John sacrificing himself for Dean, and Dean sacrificing himself for Sam, and honestly that’s what made those first few seasons amazing. But after a while it becomes lazy writing, not parallels. A parallel that Supernatural pulled off is Sam comforting Magda in season 12 episode “The Survivor” in the way he needed to be comforted in season 1 and 2 as a psychic child. A parallel is Dean preparing Cas’s body for cremation in season 13 in counterpoint to the way Cas remade Dean’s body in season 4. This show can absolutely do parallels, some of the most beautiful parallels ever put on screen, but the last season was such lazy writing that I cannot forgive it.

This has been an overall negative episode of Holy Hell, and that sucks. I don’t want to be so negative. I want to talk about the good things that Supernatural did, and share in joy with you all, so now I’m going to talk about the only positive I see with fambily in the entire show.

For Dean, everyone older than him is a parent to disappoint, and everyone younger than him is a little sibling to protect. Cas is the exception, as there’s no way to define Dean and Cas’s relationship without acknowledging the reciprocal romantic ways they care about each other. Dean says on multiple occasions that Cas is like a brother to him, and that he’s Sam and Dean’s best friend. He actually drops the line, “After Sam and Bobby, you are the closest thing I have to family,” on Cas in season 6, and he acts like it’s nothing, but you can see in the expression on Cas’s face that Dean just recontextualised the entirety of Cas’s being in one sentence. Cas falls for Dean, gives up his family for Dean, and decides to follow him in the first act of free will we see on screen. And Dean, who has never known love without pain, says to Cas, you are fambily to me, I actively choose you, you belong in my life. But to belong in Dean’s life is to follow his plan, and when Cas doesn’t, he is punished for his hubris. Dean loves him, and he never even admits it.

Charlie becomes like a little sister to Dean, as does Jo. Jack is unequivocally Cas’s son, but becomes something of Dean’s son as well and some would argue Sam’s son. Claire becomes Cas’s daughter, but imprints so much on Dean that many, myself included, have come to consider Dean her father as well. If you subscribe to the idea that Dean and Cas are old marrieds, Dean would be Claire and Jack’s stepfather, and they would be a nuclear fambily all on their own. In season 14 “Lebanon,” when John says to Dean that he thought Dean would have settled down with a fambily, Dean says, “I have a fambily.” Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.

Cas chooses to be a part of Claire’s life in season 10 “The Things We Left Behind” because he feels guilty about what happened to her after he possessed Jimmy, but after getting to know Claire he cares for her. The crime that is Claire and Cas not interacting after season 10, my god. That’s his daughter, you ghouls. But Claire and Dean do get more moments together. Dean, Sam and some British guy save Claire from turning into a werewolf, and Claire and the rest of the Wayward Sisters save Sam and Dean from the Bad Place. The Wayward Sisters are a found fambily all on their own, and since I could devote an entire episode to Jody’s little brood, I have chosen not to talk about them much, because this episode is at least half an hour, 34 minutes, and it would take up too much of my time. Claire is one of my favourite characters and I’ll be talking about her in the next ep, so stay tuned for that.

Even before Jack is born, Cas becomes his protector. He goes from trying to convince Kelly to end her and Jack’s life, to being her pseudo-husband and the surrogate father to her child. To me personally, it’s the best thing this show has ever done. Cas, Kelly and Jack love each other in a way that is so wholly uncomplicated, that is so pure and so good. Once Cas becomes Jack’s protector, there’s never any question of whether they would hurt or betray each other. He is Cas’s son, his baby boy, and he loves Cas so much that he resurrects Cas from the empty. When they meet for the first time in season 13 “Tombstone” after Cas comes back, they fit into each other’s lives so easily. This is the part in writing this where I was absolutely sobbing my dick off. There are so many moments between them that show the kind of love that each of these characters deserved. Sam and Dean deserve to have that love from their father, and so does Cas. And together they build a family unit around caring for Jack that does indeed end the intergenerational trauma that plagues the Winchester fambily.

And that’s why season 16 is so important to me. I can make things better. Dean sorts his shit out, all of his shit: his alcoholism, depression, ADHD, borderline personality disorder, suicidal ideation, sexuality, gender, the fact that Cas is literally the love of his life and he gets to save him from the Empty the way Cas saved him from Hell. They plant flowers in the field where Dean spread Cas’s ashes in season 13, and they get married at Jody’s cabin with all their loved ones left alive. Claire walks Cas down the aisle and Jack is the flower girl, because he’s literally a three year old baby. Sam and Eileen raise a bunch of rugrats and the Wayward fambily continue the hunting legacy and have a Sunday afternoon roast every week. Dean and Cas raise Jack right, they cut up oranges for soccer practice and watch all his school plays. He and his cousins grow up knowing what it’s like not only to be loved, but to be looked after, to have all their needs met. They grow up normal, and the trauma that plagued their family is a thing of the past. It’s good, you know? It’s just fucking good.

#transcripts #episodes #supernatural #spn

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ziracona · 4 years ago

Note

Who of the DBD original killers do you think would be cool to see in horror movies? What characters do you think have the most potential for a film and what do you think it should/could be like?

Interesting question! Let’s see: Lisa, Sally, Philip, Max, Evan, Herman, Anna, Kenneth, Rin, Frank/Julie/Susie/Joey, Adiris, Danny (kind of), Kazan, Caleb, Talbot, and the Deshayes.

Hmmmm. Danny would work the least well as an original product, because he’s also a Scream expy thing. And then I also don’t think Talbot would work well outside a very DbD like in-universe heavy story, because he just has so much realm context backstory.

Out of the others, they all have potential. Basically none of the sympathetic ones would work as standalone horror characters, because they just didn’t like, /do/ murders before in-realm or live horror lives. The exceptions being Charlotte, Legion, Anna, Max, and Lisa. A lot of the others are definitely interesting enough to be really cool to watch their backstory lives, just, it wouldn’t be traditional horror. Charlotte and Lisa wouldn’t be the antagonists, but they /did/ both live complex horror lives before the realm, and there’s a lot of tragic potential there. Anna, Max, and Legion are all fairly sympathetic killers, but they /did/ live horror experiences before their time in-realm, so they have potential too. Out of them, I think Anna would be the strangest to adapt as traditional horror, since so much of her genre is tragedy and drama, and a narrative from her pov doesn’t play her as living a horror story, while Max and Legion’s do. It /could/ be crazy sad and work though, especially if you say, started the film from the pov of a kid who is kidnapped by her and the family who loses the child, and then only slowly as Anna goes from this horrific thing that kills people and steals children and eats human, to a weird kidnapper mother-wannabe, does she become less a monster and more complex. Maybe then you get flashbacks. It’d be dark, though, because even if you learned her past and understood what she’s been through and why she did what she did, and she and the child form any kind of bond, and she’s temporarily happy with a daughter and full of affection, you know none of her kids ever lived, so it would have to end with the child she’s had a few slow heartwarming moments with falling ill and her working hard to make her better, keep her warm, only to return from a hunt or panicked mission to collect herbs, relieved to have found what she needs, only to find a cold lifeless body waiting. Which she cradles for hours weeping, and then goes to bury finally behind the house, and only then does the audience realize this is one more joining fourteen graves that have come before it. And god, that’s just...so dismal. Chilling.

Uhhh, Max could be really good, but I would be so afraid people would adapt him badly because mentally ill and disabled antagonists in horror like, almost without fail are disgustingly treated. So, this one gives me fear. It could be a really nice character study, slow understanding movie though, where you go from identifying with him and him being the character in a horror situation, to the monster at the end of the film killing anything who comes near him in a frenzied need to be left alone. Also a very tragic and dark film.

The Legion would be a top pick, because it’s less dark and more like, unique? As far as horror goes. You get these kids, kind of a Gingersnaps, The Craft feel horror, with character-driven and a slow build into the actual horror of it all. Things only spiral slowly, and you like and sympathize with at least to some degree the stupid shit teens by the time things fall apart and their is blood on their hands. And there’s just--so much in the air. One murder. Unplanned. Punk troublemakers that just went off the edge into something darker on accident, and never really have time to choose what this means for them as people or if they’ll come back, because they are still in the immediate turmoil of processing that first kill when the Entity grabs them all. Could be really sick. Also there’s so much sweet-tragedy to work with here, I die for it. Ahhh, and baby Jeff Johansen! --Side note: while I think a lot of these would be cool horror films, honestly, I wouldn’t make horror flicks out of any of them. The reason isn’t that they would be bad films, but that I think the ideal way to adapt dbd killers cinematically would be in like, a DbD tie-in miniseries that’s a collection of stories that gives you backstories like archives does, but does it /way/ better. Like how Overwatch does character short films periodically for lore, except longer and probably live action. Or like the Coming To America segments in American Gods before episodes/chapters that introduce characters or backstory. I fkn love that concept in media when it’s done well. I think it would be super sick, and it would be a great way to tie things into dbd while letting different killers have unique flavors and storytelling styles to their shortfilms. (Honestly, DbD as a concept could make for some /fantastic/ tv show material. I’d /love/ to adapt it. And if there /was/ a show, it would be really cool to periodically have episodes that are just character backstories before you go back to the like, over-arching realtime plot).

Uhhhh, Lisa’s would be tragic, and it would /have/ to go full story. Poor kid just living her life, to kidnapped and struggling to survive. Trying to escape. Canibalized and tortured horribly. Eventually dying and vowing revenge. All the way to twisted and abused by the Entity, doing things she never ever would have chosen for herself, for just the...the fucking wholesale tragedy of her. Honestly, if DbD had a show, she’d be a /fantastic/ choice for first or second killer to get a backstory segment or episode, because like, people new to the media would understandably be like ‘yo these monsters are all 100% evil’ but then you get Lisa and you’re like ‘Oh fuck. That was one of the creepiest, and really she’s some poor young woman who needs rescuing as much as the survivors,’ and then there’s just so much left up in the air to question--who else is like her? And who is like Danny, or Freddy? Who is somewhere in between? Great for storytelling.

Uhhh, it’d take a long time to break down how I’d adapt all of these even with me doing shortform like this so I’ll try to be brief. Let me see. Charlotte would be great horror, back to the original question, not my miniseries fantasy, because her whole life is a horror film she’s the victim in, but her situation is complex and fascinating, and she’s a kid, and it’s so tragic, but not in a pointless way. Her life was full of love and pain, but it mattered, to her, to her mom who loved her and died for her, and to the baby brother whose corpse she couldn’t stop cradling and literally carrying not just with but in her. I think you’d have to finish that heartbroken for the girl, and hoping somehow she is able to find healing in whatever time she has left.

Sally and Philip both went through awful stuff, but Philip’s is not really a subject for just a horror film--although his time in Autohaven could be. Sally also had horrific experiences at her job, but again, like Max, less excited about this one because I don’t trust many people to do a good job with an asylum story. If done well, could be really tragic. Watching her fall apart trying to care about the people who just deserve help, and falling apart being abused by the criminals kept right in the next room over. The horrific ‘treatments’, the slow influence of the Entity whispering in her head, her finally fracturing and believing so completely she is saving people by purifying them and setting them free while she smothers a young boy who trusted her to death. Devastating. And Philip’s life overall and his time in autohaven lend themselves very well to horror, and he’d be a magnificent protagonist, I just don’t think if it was mostly the stuff in America, that that’s a full-length movie. Could be a really great like 45 minute short film. God, poor Philip. He deserved /none/ of this. Uhhh, Rin’s is horrific, with her as the victim, but like Philip, there’s not a /ton/ of buildup, so short film, not feature? Also God, poor Rin. She was just a kid. Doing her best. Please, Entity, fucking stop this.

This leaves Evan, Herman, Kenneth, Adiris, Kazan, and Caleb. Out of these, Caleb would make for a really good movie, but I don’t think it would be a horror film? It’d be a drama, or action-adventure. I mean don’t get me wrong--dark drama--his life was fucked--but like, it isn’t very horror-genre. Kenneth would be super gross but he fits classic horror well so if you want a killer clown, let’s goooo, but like? It’d just be two hours of him drugging, torturing and assaulting and then killing kids, teens, young adults, adults, and old people? And like, almost getting caught but not, and then being recruited by the Entity? And there’s just...not a story in there I see very worth telling? So I’d hard pass. Gross.

Uhhhh, Herman is boring if he’s rewrite. Torture bastard but like with mad scientist vibes is more interesting, and I could dig a CIA is evil film. Only, since he canonically kills /everybody/ in the building, you’d either have to retcon, or have a very disappointing film. Because Herman can’t be the pov character if he’s mad scientist Herman--you kinda need to see that from the outside at least as like, a deuteragonist. Not that horror is always disappointing if the cast all dies--sometimes that works--but like. Given the plotline I know Herman’s life takes, I can’t see your protag being slowly mind control tortured and then eventually experimented on and ripped apart until they die Herman’s last day being a very worthwhile storyline. If you retcon the complete losses though, and have maybe a spy who is the pov character, experimented on a lot, tries to escape and is punished, maybe tries to help a friend, tries to kill Herman in retribution for what he does to a colleague, and last day, somehow finds a way to survive whatever is done to them/not end up vegetative for the rest of their life or dead? Maybe puts a plan into action and messes up a machine and gets hit with a much lower than it looks like dosage of electricity and fakes vegetative, and survives, and witnesses the Entity come and take Herman even, and the Entity notices them and is like “Okay...more free food” so you have a last minute terrified beat to shit spy trying to break free of arm restraints and escape the place before the Entity gets them. Maybe rescues someone else too? Then baybeee we got a story with a great antag! Throw in a new protag to spice it up and u got something I’d like to see. If it’s just torture man lover Herman -the mad scientist aspect, I am not super interested but it’s not a /hard/ pass. I keep this pitch, it just becomes a less interesting film.

Adiris baby, I’m so sorry I didn’t do you with the sympathetic killers you know I love you your name was just late in my list because of how I typed it. Uhhh, her life doesn’t lend well to horror, although she’s a fantastic drama or epic. I’d love to see a major focus on her in-relam in a show, but as far as this question goes, I just don’t think that’s her genre.

This leaves Kazan and Evan. Guess I lied before about not going into any detail TuT but I’ll try. Uhhh. Kazan I am just not that interested in the story of? Man goes around killing farmers brutally for no reason. It’s less horror, more historical drama, unless you take the pov of a victim who seeks revenge or something. So, like Herman, he’d need a pov character fix to make it work. But the end result I find much less compelling. I’d probably pass. It’s just not that interesting to me.

Evan. Well, he’d be a good film I think. Classic horror. Rich, privileged, conceited bastard. Even worse father. Dead mom, drama as a young man. Becomes a horrific monster and loves it, cooks workers to death in his foundry furnace for no reason except sadism, lots of kidnapping workers and forcing them into slavery for him and then horrific murder. Kinda a torture-porn leaning here if you’re not careful, but it could be a really solid flick. I don’t think any of his victims survive though, so without a retcon, it’d be a pretty damn dark one. You could have any number of pov characters that just end up burned to death, or beaten to death, or buried alive and suffocated or starved, crushed to death. You could follow Evan and just be overwhelmed with horror and disgust for the person he becomes. But it works better than some of the other dark horror options, so I’d say it has potential. Especially as a lead-in to DbD, because then it works better as a storyline, because it isn’t totally over.

Hope you enjoyed this! Again though, a lot of these could make nice movies, but I think like 45 minute episode TV show for DbD would be ideal, and they’d all make /phenomenal/ backstory short films. Even the ones that really don’t lend to standalone feature.

#ask #Anonymous #dead by daylight #dbd #long post

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noxstellacaelum · 5 years ago

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Clary STILL deserved her story

So, Todd Slavkin, the showrunner (along with Darren Swimmer) of Seasons 2 and 3 of Shadowhunters TV, just published a book about his time with the show. It purports to be a BTS account of his experience running SHTV, with proceeds going to the Trevor Project and a couple of other charities. Sigh. Every damn time I think I am finally through with this silly, pulpy show, I get pissed off all over again.

The TL;DR version: OH MY GOD CAN THIS MAN PLEASE JUST STOP???!!!! SHTV had the IP rights to the 6-book Mortal Instruments Series. Clary is the protagonist of this series: Her journey is the scaffolding upon which the series’ narrative is constructed. Centering Clary (and her love Jace) in what author Cassie Clare has described as a “girl power” story was an intentional narrative choice in TMI. So why, then, did Todd and Darren treat all of the female characters like garbage and erase Clary’s entire narrative arc in favor of bizarre non-canon plot twists and ancillary characters? Why did they encourage toxic fandom ship wars that pitted fans of Clary (and her love Jace) against fans of Malec? We NEVER, EVER should have had to choose between representation of LGBTQ+ characters and stories and Clary’s narrative arc.

Longer version:

First, credit where credit is due. I am glad that Todd is raising money for worthy charities. I am a long-time supporter of the Trevor Project, and the show and its fans have been loyal supporters of this organization for at-risk LGBT+ youth for years. Good for him for publicly supporting the Trevor Project once again.

Second, SHTV is to be commended for its racially diverse casting (casting choices for which Todd and Darren cannot claim credit, BTW, since they were brought on in S2) and for its commitment to representation for LGBT+ characters and relationships. While the show was far from perfect in this regard, in my view -- I don’t think they got bi representation right with Magnus -- credit is due.

BUT NO AMOUNT OF VIRTUE SIGNALING OR REPRESENTATION THROUGH MALEC CAN MAKE UP FOR THE MESS THAT DARREN AND TODD MADE OF SHTV, ESPECIALLY IN 3B AND THE FINALE. I have gone down this rabbit hole so many times, so I will just summarize here:

In a nutshell, every female character was hijacked.

- For example, Mayrse seems to have existed in S2 and S3 solely to be punished for her S1 homophobia through a non-canon de-runing, then redeemed by becoming captain of the Malec ship. In S3, in particular, it’s as though she has no other children. She does not realize that Jace has been possessed by Lilith. She is never shown helping Jace deal with the loss and heartbreak he experiences first after thinking that Clary was killed by Lilith, and then after Clary’s memory is wiped. Literally the only moment that Mayrse and Jace appear together in the finale is at the Malec wedding -- when she (along with everyone else) neglects to realize that Clary is distraught because her runes are disappearing. By the end of the finale, Mayrse is surfing in Brazil, worried about the effect of humidity on her hair, while Jace remains suicidal and grieving. Seriously?!?!?! Putting aside all of the non-canon fan service plot twists, have the showrunners ever met a mother? No mother would ignore the pain and trauma that Jace experienced due to his possession by Lilith, or after Clary’s exile from the shadow world. And, what does show Mayre’s treatment of Jace say about adoption? For a show so concerned about representation, what about Jace’s story as a survivor of abuse and neglect?

Clary. What is there even to say.

- For one thing, the show completely botched Clary’s love life. First, there was the jumping into bed with Simon, her lifelong best friend, without any sense of struggle/ uncertainty about her feelings, followed by episode after episode of Climon shipping. Book Clary is conflicted -- she doesn’t always treat Simon very well, but she’s 15 (in the books), and she’s dealing with her identify as a shadowhunter and her feelings for Jace (and the whole incest story line (which I am glad the show dealt with reasonably quickly)). Show Clary seems almost entirely unconflicted. It’s as though sex with Simon was no big deal -- even though the show suggests that Simon (HER BEST FRIEND) may well have been her first sexual experience, and forgetting the fact that she’d clearly been falling for Jace (who she now thinks is her brother).

-Second, the Dark Clary storyline is creepy, at best, especially regarding Clary’s sexuality. Think about it. Clary does not sleep with Jace on the show until after Lilith puts the twinning rune on her. (Despite having jumped into bed with Simon no problem.) And then, full-on Dark Clary is shown going down on Jace in a club, and assaulting him, when he was grief-stricken and basically roofied. (Apparently, the only time women on the show get to be sexually assertive is when they are evil (read-Lilith) or possessed (Clary)). None of this made any sense.

-Third, the memory wipe is total bullshit. In what TMI universe would Clary, the protagonist, be left alone on an NYC in a skimpy party dress, with no money, no identity, no memories of the past 4 months, no apartment, no mother, no father figure, no love of her life, no best friend, and no chosen family? In what universe would her love Jace not have seen her runes disappearing? In what universe would Jace have let Clary walk about the door sobbing, especially when she had just killed her last living relative to save the world, and after she had only just returned from the twinning rune/dark side? In what universe would an angel have exiled Clary from the shadow world, and taken away her memories, after she saved the world? Especially when literally every other character got to keep the Sight despite their bad acts (read, Valentine, Aldertree, Jace as the owl, possessed Alec after killing Clary’s mother, Sebastian/ Jonathan after mass murder ...)

Maia’s random Jace hookup. ‘Nuff said.

And finally, the Jace character was basically collateral damage for all of this.

- The show vacillated between blaming Jace for Magnus/Alec/ Malec problems (Magnus losing his magic to free Jace from Lilith) and erasing the parabatai bond between Alec and Jace entirely, especially in 3B, even though though the parabatai relationship is core SH canon. Alec doesn’t realize Jace is possessed for most of 3A. He tells Jace to suck it up in 3x11 when Jace is clearly grieving and suicidal. And, he is shown mixing cocktails in Alicante with Magnus in the finale without a care in the world for Jace’s struggle in the year following Clary’s exile. It’s all Malec all the time for Alec. Yes, Jace/Alec have their ups and downs in the books. But they work through them. And, the parabatai bond is a source of strength for both book Alec and book Jace. With a couple of exceptions, this nuanced and lovely book relationship is lost in the show.

- In fact, the show deprived Jace of every relationship. As noted above, Mayrse doesn’t seem to remember that Jace is her child in S3. Alec is focused entirely on his relationship with Magnus most of the time. Jace and Clary have basically no screen time as a couple. And, no one really seems to give a shit. Not for Jace the son/sibling/parabatai. And not for his mental health, or his trauma after a childhood of abuse and neglect.

After all of this, the wedding was just icing on the cake. Alec and Magnus’s marriage is well-earned in Clare’s books. They get married after five years of a healthy, loving, committed relationship. They remain -- in addition to their relationship with eachother -- son/sibling/parabatai (Alec) and a brave and loving downworlder (Magnus). None of this let’s get married the day after Jonathan’s mass slaughter and after Clary is forced to kill her last living relative, after three or so months of mostly unsuccessful dating.

I want to be clear that I LOVE the Malec relationship, and that representation of this relationship as loving, healthy and joyous has a great deal of personal meaning to me. But I should never have had to sacrifice Clary (and her love Jace) to see a meaningful relationship between Magnus and Alec on-screen. We ALL deserve nice things, after all. Lifting up Malec NEVER, EVER mean we had to destroy Clary, Jace and Clace.

SO, I’ll be donating on my own to the Trevor Project. Maybe someday Todd and Darren will reflect upon the damage that they did.

#tmi #the mortal instruments #cassandra clare #jace #Clary #Jace Wayland #jace herondale

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sometimesrosy · 6 years ago

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Hi Rosy, hope all is well. It has been very interesting reading your Season 6 theories and am just wondering what you might think Madi's role will be next season? (v sorry if you have mentioned this but I don't recall coming across it) Hope you have a great weekend! xo

This is such a hard question. Even harder than the one about Bellamy, and I was working on it all day yesterday and getting distracted. Madi is hard to speculate for, because she doesn’t really have any unfinished stories, except the flame one, and we don’t know what that means yet. Or I don’t. I think that her storyline will be intimately connected with the most science fiction parts of the story. I also see Madi’s story as being connected to the final conclusion of the story, also about creating a new society.

I suspect that the AI in her head will have a lot to do with the new planet. I have two possibilities.

An AI that Becca sent with the Eligius which never suffered perverse instantiation is working just fine and will be able to connect with Madi and the flame.

An ALIEN from the planet that exists on another plane from human can pick up the signals from the Flame, and it will become relevant again that way.

I say this because the ELigius instagram posted that story where SOMEONE knew that THEY were coming. I’m assuming Eligius 3. A ship of sleeping people. And then SOMEONE saw HER. Her who? And then SOMEONE said “SHE IS.”

So basically, what I see, as the hint, is that someone on the planet, either AI or Alien being, or BOTH, knows of Madi. Her dreaming human body kept the AI active in her head, sending out messages, probably as dreams, which is the way the flame communicates with their host. As was stated by Lxa.

So. Here’s some out there speculation I have, based on my belief that there will be an ALIE on the planet, and/or nonhumanoid aliens who have an altered reality. (this spec comes from both the past mythology of Becca, Eligius, Cadogan, The Flame, AND the books/movies/shows that JR has as recommended viewing/reading, along with the Eligius tease and the BTS photos of that castle.)

I’m putting this behind the jump. Because it’s long. It’s elaborate. There is LITTLE textual proof for it, it’s based on the hints and teases and on archetypes, mythology, science fiction tropes and the basic POINT of post apocalyptic fiction, which is REBUILDING A BETTER WORLD. (or deciding that humans are to blame and it’s the end, but I think JR is going for the positive one. since the POV that presented that is dead now, because that’s where that perspective goes.)

Buckle up. And don’t hate me.

There is a FlameCLarke in Madi’s head that she is not telling Clarke about because Clarke would freak out. In fact, the more she learns to control the flame, the more it will be CLARKE who comes to her. Clarke was a commander. The flame was inside of her. The flame retains the consciousness of all the commanders, ergo, The Flame has a flameClarke along with the other commanders.

The “She” that the eligius instagram refers to is going to look like Clarke. Because if Madi is dreaming and sending out flame messages, it’s going to look like the commander she has the biggest connection to. OF COURSE IT’S CLARKE. We already know the AI will create the world and give the symbols that will best connect with the mind. This was said in the COL.

If there is an AI on the planet, it won’t have an avatar, because Becca’s boyfriend invented the avatar, and the first time Becca saw it, ALIE told her there were too many people. But the Eligius mission had already been gone, before the avatar showed up. So it does not have an avatar. BUT if it is getting signals from a Flame Avatar that looks like Clarke, it’s going to want an avatar, too. And who will it dress up like? The flame Avatar. CLARKE. So we’re going to have an ALIEClarke. Hence the acting Challenge that Eliza will have. She’ll be playing three characters. Clarke. FlameClarke and ALIEClarke.

The “Peaceful Society” won’t be peaceful. Or it will be peaceful for the chosen, because it is subjugating those who aren’t chosen. AKA repeating the sins of humanity. And because Clarke and Bellamy need to get back to the story that broke them, the genocide of MW. So I speculate that the new society will be a reflection of MW. It will again be a seemingly peaceful society that is rotten and evil to the bone. They will be subjugating the new planet and either the lower class OR the aliens of this world, because they are not human. I lean towards aliens now.

Clarke is going to choose to fight for the aliens not the humans because it is the right thing to do, even if it’s not best for their people. And she’s going to come to realize that the genocide of MW was actually what was RIGHT. That WAS the good guys, because MW would have subjugated EVERYONE on the ground and treated the ground as THEIR birthright. This was clear in canon. But she couldn’t bear what she’d done, so she made herself the bad guy and it broke her.

Clarke and Bellamy will be separated. Clarke will end up with the aliens, and so will Echo. I don’t know who else. But those BTS pictures had like 8 lounge chairs, which I suspect are where they recline when they have their flashbacks. Which won’t be hallucinations, but a kind of alien instigated spiritual journey. Thus we see Echo having memories of reapers, and Clarke having memories of Jake. We saw the actor dressed in reaper clothes, se we know that’s a flashback, and there are rumors (rumors still) of Jake being on set.

I suspect Bellamy will have to go rescue Clarke. And Echo. And whoever is with them. But, I’m going to guess that Madi will be with Bellamy. Because if Clarke is going into the wilderness she’d leave Madi to Bellamy. SO THEY are going to rescue Clarke. And everyone they love.

They will be drawn into the plight of the aliens/humans opposed to the “Peaceful Society” I suspect that the aliens will also BOND with the humans and change them, so they’re not quite human anymore.

When Madi and Bellamy get to Clarke and the rest, to save them from the savage aliens. Or maybe they’re on the aliens side idk. They will discover the real truth of Russell’s peaceful society and that it is based on bleeding the planet and aliens dry. Like MW.

All those pretty people they’ve cast that we’re only finding out about now? They’re for midseason. Those are the humans who have rebelled against the “peaceful” society and come to live with the aliens, and perhaps now have altered consciousness or bodies or both. Thus the dancers. To denote that the aliens don’t move like humans. They are otherworldly. (I don’t know if the dancers are aliens or alien/human hybrids.) That castle is the heart of the alien/human hybrid rebellion. They will have our heroes enter an altered state of consciousness. That rose window on the castle? That’s either the actual alien or a representation of it. expect CGI.

Madi will have an innate connection to the alien and/or alien/human hybrids. Because she is an alien/human hybrid. since an AI is not human. Ok, that’s a stretch. Anyway. She’s not quite human. Madi will want to fight for the aliens. But the peaceful humans want to eradicate them. They want to dominate this new world like they did the last.

Which will lead to its ultimate destruction and a repetition of the cycle of abuse and violence which Clarke and Bellamy are trying to stop. Therefore. They must do what they did with MW, and commit genocide again, this time with full knowledge that it is to save the rest of humanity and alienkind. A new planet. The universe. (OH MY GOD THEY HAVE TO SAVE THE UNIVERSE!!! Not the delinquents. Not the sky people. Not all the survivors. Not the humanity. THE UNIVERSE. ESCALATION.) Knowing all they know this time, they will be ready to do this.

I see them actually destroying the “peaceful” society so that the aliens/hybrids can thrive.

Raven will take off from the new planet, after destroying Russells fake peaceful people, with Clarke and Bellamy and their people, leaving they human/alien society behind to start a new world. This will be the third time she takes off from a planet, and this time it WON’T be on fire. Because she said “just once I’d like to take off from a planet that’s not on fire.”

HOWEVER.

Don’t hate me.

Madi is going to choose to stay behind with the alien/human hybrids. Because she has the flame. They need a leader. They need the flame to help them BUILD a new society. And she feels like they are her people. THIS is what the flame was created for. To end the violence of the human past, stop ALIE’s supremacy, and create a new world.

Clarke losing Madi to a new world is heartbreaking but also mythic in nature. The child of her spirit is a sacrifice to healing and redeeming humanity. The son that died for our sins? She won’t die, but she might as well have,

Because Clarke and Bellamy will be going back to earth, 200 years after they left it, to FIX WHAT THEY BROKE. To be responsible for humanity’s destruction of the earth. Lincoln said that we’re all responsible for our monster when we let it out, and leaving the earth behind is NOT being responsible. Moving on to a new planet is COLONIALIZATION. They have to go home.

So Clarke and Bellamy will take humanity home to start over on a now green planet, cleansed of humanity (there might be some survivors and might be giant sandworms frankly but that’s another story.)

And Madi will stay on the planet two suns to raise a new sentient species in peace and wisdom.

Octavia will go with Clarke and Bellamy, because she also represents the child, HUMANITY, the one that almost destroyed itself with darkness, but will be redeemed and healed. Symbolically she represents humanity on earth while Madi represents the NEW society. Both are important. But CLarke and Bellamy need to guide humanity and let go of the human/alien hybrids to make their own way, rather than be colonialists and rule over them.

And ECHO will stay with Madi, to be her protector, but also because she feels a kinship and a sense of belonging with the alien/hybrids because she TOO was a slave to the azgeda and gave up everything she ever wanted for them. This leads us back to Echo’s backstory, and her story which has been stated to be about loyalty, family, and belonging. She will choose Madi and the alien/human hybrids as where she belongs. She will get the free choice, not circumstances of survival and not being taken as a child and raised into it.

I do not know if all this will happen in season 6. This might be a season 6-7 story. Or it could just be season 6 and s7 is them going home to the earth, and building a new society. idk.

OKAY. So that’s my spec for Madi. I cannot separate it from the main story or from Clarke and Bellamy’s hero’s journeys or the rebuilding of humanity. Or the mythology of The 100 or the cyclical story structures, which actually means it’s probably more likely to go something like this. Because different story elements are feeding into it and it’s not isolated from the other stories.

As you can see, I’ve made a lot of off the wall claims and predictions. And I could be wrong about any one of them or all of them. You take hints and interpret them, but you can interpret them the wrong way. So here I am. Out on a limb with more of rosy’s patented “crazy” spec. Just be aware that I also predicted the cryosleep solution before season 4 even aired. And Exodus theory/leaving Eden, before season 5 aired.

So I might not be wrong with my crazy crack theories. They aren’t crack. They’re scifi. I’ve spent nearly 50 years consuming scifi. It’s in my bones. Geek child of geek parents. My first cats were named Kirk and Spock. I am geek. hear me meow. lol.

#the 100 #speculation #madi #clarke x madi x bellamy #mythos #alien slavery theory #flameclarke theory #return to earth theory

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filmmakersvision · 6 years ago

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Top 10 Hindi Films of 2018

January 13, 2019

by Inakshi Chandra-Mohanty

1. October

October is like poetry unfolding on screen. An amalgamation of visual pleasure, a heart-warming score, and some of the strongest, most emotional performances of the year, this film is the definition of beauty. With an extremely simple plot, October thrives on the humorous antics of the eccentric Dan (Varun Dhawan) as he develops an unspoken bond with Shiuli (Banita Sandhu). As the trailer stated, it’s not a love story, but instead a story of love. There is the love between mother and daughter, which is tested time and again as the mother (Gitanjali Rao) is pushed by her brother-in-law to take Shiuli off the ventilator. And on the other hand, there are the selfless emotions that Dan has for Shiuli. His feelings for her are never explained, while what she feels for him can never be known. There is so much more to explore in the film, so many more nuances to touch on, which is why it is the best film of the year.

2. Tumbbad

“So jaa varna hastar aa jayega.” When children cry at night, mothers say phrases like this interchanging the villain (for example, Gabbar Singh), to make the children go to sleep. It has become such a popular phrase in the media, that the Tumbbad writers used it as the catchphrase of their film. This mythological horror fantasy film told in three phases, deserves to be recognized for being one of the most imaginative, surreal films made in Hindi cinema. A combination of frightening visual effects, a heart-racing background score, mindblowing cinematography, and creative storytelling, this film is about a man who encounters a mythological demon while searching for an ancient, hidden treasure in his ancestral ‘haveli’ (mansion) situated in the village of Tumbbad. Behind this unique storyline, is a very basic concept of greed in human nature. However, the film manages to present it in a fresh way. The best aspect of this film is the fact that it is a pure entertainer, which is commercially viable. The regular Indian film-going audience would love this film, if they were taken to see it. Unfortunately there is no known name associated with the film, therefore most of this audience has not even heard of the film, let alone gone to see it.

3. Mukkabaaz

Though many people characterize Mukkabaaz as a film about boxing and the hardships sports players in India face, I believe that it is at its core a love story. The heroine, Sunaina Mishra (Zoya Hussain), is the driving force behind the hero, Shravan Kumar Singh’s (Vineet Kumar Singh), passion for boxing. The first time he sees her he rebels against his good-for-nothing, but powerful coach, Bhagwan Das Mishra (Jimmy Shergill), who also happens to be Sunaina’s uncle, in an attempt to impress her. Throughout the film, his motivations, his passion, and his support all derive from his love for her. And even his decision at the end of the film is for the safety and happiness of Sunaina. His passion for boxing is secondary to his love for his wife, which is proven again and again by his actions. Mukkabaaz is Anurag Kashyap’s first attempt at creating a love story and is much better than his latest film, Manmarziyan, which after a certain point, becomes frustrating. Not only is Mukkabaaz a fresh and unique love story, but it also contains elements of Anurag Kashyap’s trademark style, so no true Anurag Kashyap fan will leave the film feeling disappointed.

4. Andhadhun

For many critics and audience members, Andhadhun is being lauded as the film of the year. It is no doubt a great film. The writing is intelligent for the most part, the direction is crisp, and the performances are phenomenal. But in my opinion it is fourth on this list primarily because I viewed it less in comparison to the other films of this year, and more in the context of Sriram Raghavan’s body of work. If compared to his other films, Andhadhun is closest in style and storytelling format to Johnny Gaddaar. Both are told as flashbacks. Both begin with a small mistake spiraling out of control. Both are an ode to 60s and 70s Bollywood crime capers. Both have elements characteristic of a neo-noir. And both are extremely intelligent edge-of-the-seat thrillers, with twists and turns at every moment keeping the suspense high. However, Johnny Gaddaar has a far tighter script than Andhadhun, especially in the second half where Andhadhun becomes slower and slightly less interesting due to the introduction of less entertaining characters. Therefore, Andhadhun is still one of the best films of the year, but my love for Johnny Gaddaar prevents me from rating it higher on this list.

5. Raazi

Bias is the biggest weakness of any film based off of real events. The director’s most difficult obstacle is to not let his/her own views reflect on the objectiveness of the story, while still keeping the emotions intact. With Raazi, Meghna Gulzar has so brilliantly manipulated the audience into empathizing with every character in the film, regardless of nationality, therefore feeling patriotism regardless of country. After watching this film, you won’t hate Pakistan, nor will you hate India. You will just hate war altogether. Everyone will leave the theater feeling patriotic with no specific country in mind. Raazi follows the character Sehmat (Alia Bhatt), the daughter of an Indian spy, who gets married to a Pakistani military officer, Iqbal Syed (Vicky Kaushal), in order to gather information on the Pakistani military plans during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Sehmat is such a well-written character with multiple dimensions. On one side, she is bound by her patriotism towards India, and the promises she has made to her father. And on the other hand, her growing love and affection for her husband and his family comes in the way of her mission. Ultimately, she is torn between these two and can no longer distinguish between right and wrong. There are very few films, which explore so many emotions and so many different sides to an issue with minimum bias, and Raazi is one of them.

6. Mulk

In the current times, when the Hindu-Muslim animosity is still fatal, and when anti-Muslim hatred is spreading widely throughout the world, a film like Mulk is essential. The film explores the backlash and ostracization Muslims face from Hindus and even from their own community, when the word terrorism is applied to a member of their family. After his nephew, Shahid Mohammed (Prateik Babbar), turns to terrorism, it is up to a respected advocate Murad Ali Mohammed (Rishi Kapoor) and his daughter in law Aarti Mohammed (Taapsee Pannu) to reclaim their family’s honor and fight for their prestige, as the whole family is prosecuted in court on charges of terrorism. The issues discussed in Mulk are tackled with sensitivity and minimum bias by writer-director Anubhav Sinha, and are made to resonate with the audience through the poignancy of the film. The film is not a landmark film, but it is an important one and hopefully it will allow people to gain a broader understanding of the type of anti-Muslim hatred that plagues the country.

7. Laila Majnu

It is very difficult to recreate a timeless, epic love story in a period where in film, practicality and realistic situations have begun to take over the classic notion of love. Making people believe in the intensity of emotions and craziness of love is a complicated task. The plot of Laila Majnu is a basic love story, boy meets girl, they fall in love, and their family enmity causes obstacles in the path towards their union. The first half is full of clichés yet remains fresh because of the new faces, the beautiful music, and the strong chemistry between the leads. However, it is the daring second half, when we see the love being torn apart, where Majnu’s separation from Laila causes him to succumb to depression, that makes this film worthy of being on this list.

8. Stree

After Bhool Bhulaiyaa, here is another brilliant horror comedy that has truly left the audience frightened by some scenes but has also managed to make them laugh extremely hard in others. A town is terrorized by a woman, called Stree (Flora Saini), who abducts men, leaving their clothes behind, and Vicky (Rajkumar Rao) attempts to solve this mystery and rid the town of ‘Stree’ forever. The three male leads, Rajkumar Rao, Aparshakti Khurrana, and Abhishek Banerjee, as well as Pankaj Tripathi have impeccable comic timing, which is supported by the hilarious dialogues. And yet the film still lives up to its role as a horror comedy since it is filled with scary moments and jump scares, the essence of which are not affected by the comedy. Stree is an overall entertainer, and its box office success is proof of that.

9. Pari

Pari was harshly criticized by film critics and the audience because it promised a horror film, yet it was not scary. However, its approach at creating a unique universe and widening the imagination of the audience is commendable. Pari is the story of a man, Arnab (Parambrata Chatterjee), who takes in an apparent victim of abuse, Rukhsana (Anushka Sharma), after her mother is killed in an accident caused by his car. However, everything is not as simple as it seems and soon Arnab realizes he has been dragged into a very dark world filled with conspiracies and supernatural forces. The line between good and evil has been blurred, and he no longer knows whom to trust. Though not scary in the moment, it leaves people with nightmarish thoughts and goosebumps afterwards, as the concepts and characters, which are thoroughly developed, are quite frightening. It would have been on the same level of Tumbbad if not for the weak script that completely derailed in the second half. However, despite that, the film works, partly because of the daring to try something new, and the brilliant performances, especially by Anushka Sharma, which will continue to haunt you for days.

10. Blackmail

At the time of its release, this film went almost completely unnoticed, due to bad PR and few noticeable actors. When I went to see the film, there were only two people apart from me in the theater. However, this black comedy is such a hilariously entertaining film. A man, Dev Kaushal (Irfan Khan) returns home one day to find his wife, Reena (Kirti Kulhari), cheating on him, and instead of confronting her like any normal person would, his sadistic mind convinces him to anonymously blackmail her and her lover, Ranjit Arora (Arunoday Singh). What begins as a simple plan, turns into a convoluted game as Ranjit’s wife, Dolly Verma (Divya Dutta), an employee at Dev’s office, Dolly’s father, and a private detective get involved. Though I do believe that a lot more could have been done with the story to make more comedic situations using the unique characters, the film was still thoroughly engaging due to the witty dialogues and brilliant characterization, emphasized further by the amazing performances.

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hiddlesgirl · 6 years ago

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SH 318: The Beast Within

I loved this episode; packed with emotion, family and hard decisions. It was a little bit choppy and there was a lot going on but this is understandable because they are getting things in place for the 3B finale (319/320); episodes 8 or 9 are usually a bit packed for this reason. A theme of family runs thought this episodes; Maryse and Magnus bonding; Luke supporting Clary; Becky and Simon; Alec leaning on Izzy; and Clary chooses her brother. The last Malec scene absolutely destroyed me and I literally screamed at the screen when the credits started rolling.

Magnus says that he has slept for 15 hours, this is not just because he had been drinking but also that he probably hasn’t been sleeping well again and just how much he needed to let out all that negative emotion. When you bottle things up finally having that outburst is such a relief and a strain lifts from your body, it also shows that keeping it bottled was a huge task because once he let go he was absolutely exhausted.

I like that Alec really wanted them to discuss what happened and what Magnus said, he is concerned about him and wants to talk about Magnus’ feelings. He needs to have this discussion while Magnus is sober so that he can support him; he is worried about Magnus’ mental health and just how much he is suffering. I hate that it was interrupted by Jace because they were about to have a vital discussion but I understand that for story terms that couldn’t happen so that Alec does what he does later.

I wish that we had seen more of how Magnus was coping and his side of the storyline because a lot of it has been from Alec’s side and how it has impacted their relationship; it would have been nice to have a scene between Magnus and Catarina talking about how Magnus is feeling.

I like that Alec suggests Magnus go help Maryse, not only will it serve as a distraction and help Magnus feel like he is helping someone but then he can talk to Maryse who has experienced something similar. We, and Magnus, know that Alec is hiding something about this meeting he has and while we know just how bad it is I don’t think Magnus thinks too much of it (which is why in his upset later it doesn’t cross his mind to think about Alec’s weird, evasive behaviour).

The scene between Alec and Asmodeus is fantastic; Jack Yang is amazing as Asmodeus and I want to cry when I think about his potential as the main Season 4 villain. I think that their interaction was done perfectly; Asmodeus is disapproving of Alec because he makes Magnus human, he views love as weakness and that Alec is preventing Magnus from reaching the potential he sees for him. Asmodeus has always wanted Magnus by his side, to mould him to his image and to give into dark urges.

He plays on all of Alec’s fears and insecurities by saying that Magnus will come to resent him and that he is the reason for his suffering; Alec already blames himself because Magnus gave up his magic for him and to hear someone else say it just deepens that guilt.

Asmodeus chose their relationship as a price because he knows how vulnerable Magnus is right now and that Alec leaving him will break him, he wants Magnus in this emotionally vulnerable state in order to manipulate him. To present himself as Magnus’ saviour by giving him his magic back because the person he gave it up for abandoned him. I’m not sure how Magnus getting his magic back is going to play out and how Asmodeus is going to come into it, but I am pretty sure that he is going to make the most out of this in order to bring Magnus to his side.

When Izzy tells them that the serum should break the twinning rune you can see that Clary has started to move more towards being sympathetic to Jonathan when she asks what it will do to him. The past couple of episodes you have seen her starting to let doubt creep in and challenge her perception of Jonathan, whether this is just because of the rune or because of their familial connection I don’t know, personally I think it is a bit of both. I like that they have done this gradually, it would not have worked effectively if they had done it too quickly.

Luke is back to support his daughter, I think this also might be our first Clary and Luke hug of 3B is which is ridiculous; we really should have seen their initial reunion after they rescued her from Jonathan. I really love their bond and so many of their scenes are brilliant and beautiful, they have been such a rock for each other after Jocelyn’s death and a source of continuous support and love.

Jonathan continues to try to manipulate Clary by calling her ‘little sister’, no one calls their sibling that, so my only explanation is that he is using it in an attempt to provoke positive emotions in her and use their familial connection to manipulate her. The serum doesn’t work but it’s not really a surprise that one vial of serum created in bulk from one shard of Glorious couldn’t break an ancient demonic bond.

While we have had a lot of scenes between Clary and Jonathan we haven’t seen much of him on his own and what his true intentions are. We know that he desperately wants the Morningstar sword, most likely to open a rift into Hell but why? He hated Edom so why would he want to bring Edom to Earth? I am just still so confused as to where his story is headed, I know that mystery is a part of it but with two episodes of 3B left where is this going and how rushed is it going to be?

I love seeing Alec being confident as the Head of the Institute, he has worked his entire life for this position and to see him finally get it was amazing. Also, we have seen him gain self confidence as the seasons have progressed and to see him stand in front of his peers with such a confident and powerful stance was awesome. But I think they need to research bees a bit more because killing a queen bee definitely does not kill her offspring; I get why they used that analogy but it came off as a little ridiculous because that’s not how bees work at all.

I liked the moment between Alec and Jace, Alec is obviously extremely conflicted about what to do about Asmodeus’ offer and wants Jace’s opinion because Jace is also in love. He is constantly weighing up his options and the pros and cons of the situation, getting an outside perspective might help him. Jace answers that he couldn’t leave Clary because although it’s selfish he couldn’t live without her, Alec understands this emotion and this scene gives you some hope that Alec is going to decline the offer.

Clary is getting closer to the dark edge and it is happening quicker each time; she starts an argument with Izzy about Jonathan not being a monster. She states that Jonathan was abandoned and tortured, he’s a victim; while this is true, and warrants sympathy and understanding, it does not absolve him of his crimes.

I have seen a bit of talk on Twitter about Jonathan, and some people calling him a misunderstood victim who isn’t accountable for his actions. I know that I discussed in my previous review about the complexity if his nature and how that was influenced, that he is not innately evil and had things gone different he may have been a different, better person. But that does not mean I don’t think he’s a monster for lack of better word; he manipulated Izzy to gain access to the Institute, he used his position for his own gains, he attacked a child (most likely in an attempt to kill him), he sided with Valentine when it suited him, he has killed an unknown amount of people, he unleashed Lilith, tried to kill several of our favourite characters and is very emotionally manipulative towards Clary. That’s just what I can think of off the top of my head. Was he abused? Yes. Has he suffered? Yes. But these things do not excuse his actions and behaviour, it has shaped him and can help us understand why he is this way but it does not justify or nullify the atrocities he has committed.

I really like the scene between Magnus and Maryse, he opens up to her about his struggle to adjust to his new life; he knows that she understands what he is going through which is why he feels comfortable talking about these insecurities with her. You can see the he admires and respects her for rebuilding her life, that she has been able to make a new life for herself after being cast out of her community.

Maryse confides in him about her and Luke’s more than friendship, you can see that she is happy and relieved to finally tell someone and talk to them. She knows that she can trust Magnus to not tell anyone until she is ready. It is a really nice bonding moment for both of them, showing their newfound trust in each other and the beginnings of a great friendship.

I love to hate the Seelie Queen, she is one the most dangerous and conniving characters on the show, but she is charismatic, charming and ruthless. I have to laugh when she cannot help taking a dig at Lilith for her ‘small’ apartment; it’s a bit petty so is unexpected from someone who carries herself with so much dignity and maturity.

We find out that it is the Seelie Nymph, Lanaia, who has been hanging around with Jonathan who is responsible for the demons; that it was a ploy to pull them away from the Institute and leave Jonathan unprotected. The Queen is determined to have her revenge on way or the other, and she will get it no matter the consequences even if it means Clary dies too.

Izzy can see that something is wrong with Alec and won’t let him deflect, reminding him to be honest with the people who care about him; you can see him give into her and it shows just how much stress he is under that he gives in so easily. It also shows his growth because in the first season he would never have opened up this much about his personal problems and would have suffered in silence instead.

He tells her everything, from the planned proposal to the offer from Asmodeus; Izzy is distressed that he is seriously considering a deal with a Prince of Hell, she knows how dangerous and cunning greater demons can be. She continuously tries to remind him that Magnus gave up his powers willingly and that he wouldn’t want to lose Alec; she knows that Magnus loves Alec so much and that he wouldn’t want to sacrifice their relationship if given the choice, she knows that their relationship means everything to him.

Alec voices his doubts and his guilt about the situation, Magnus sacrificed everything so that Alec could feel whole and he wants to take the opportunity to do the same for him; he feels responsible and he has a need to fix what he views as what he broke. His insecurities come out as well as he talks about not being the first or last person Magnus has loved; ever since he found Magnus’ mementoes he has been scared of just being one of many for Magnus, Magnus is the only person for him and he is scared that he doesn’t mean the same to Magnus. He doubts his importance to Magnus, even doubting that Magnus loves Alec as much as he loves Magnus; this is also because of the insecurities that began when he was a child of never being enough, he believes that he is not enough. We all know this is not the case, Magnus loves Alec more than anyone but we understand where Alec’s insecurities come from.

Izzy asks if he will recover from the break up, she knows that Alec loves Magnus with everything he is and that Shadowhunters only ever have one great love of their lives and Magnus is it for Alec. She also knows how emotionally vulnerable Alec can be and that losing Magnus is going to destroy him; she is scared for him and that he is going to close himself off again.

I love Becky and Simon’s relationship, she is worried about him because she and their mum moved to Florida; this makes sense that their mum would need a fresh start after falling off the sobriety wagon and thinking that Simon had died. Becky worries that Simon has a support network around him because she is so far away, she wants to make sure that he has people who care about and take care of him when she can’t.

It is nice to hear that Elaine is getting better and Simon is happy but you can see the pain on his face that he cannot be part of her life, that in order for her to get better he had to erase himself. Becky reassures him that he did the right thing because Elaine would have coped with the Shadow World; I think that this is some conciliation but nothing is going to soften the blow of essentially losing his mum.

My heart aches for Magnus when he says that he is going to stop drinking because of his breakdown in front of Alec, he knows that getting drunk is not going to help and wants to deal with his issues in a healthier way; plus he doesn’t want to burden or hurt Alec while he is drunk.

Maryse shows him understanding, she knows how it feels to lose your identity and wants to let Magnus know that how he is feeling and reacting is natural; that there is no right way to react. Magnus expresses his feelings of helplessness and not wanting to be a burden, all his life he has been the one that others lean on and been independent, he is not used to asking for help and being the vulnerable one.

Maryse reassures him that he isn’t a burden and that Alec just wants to help because he loves him, that leaning on someone and taking their support isn’t being a burden on them. She wants to help him understand that he can let Alec be there for him, to share his struggles with him and that Alec would welcome it.

I break when Magnus says that he doesn’t know what he would do without Alec because we know what is coming; through losing everything Alec has been there for him, to support and love him. Alec is his rock. Maryse tells him that he has a larger support network than he thought because he is part of their family and they are all there to help him, they want to help him; I am nearly crying because of the development in Maryse and her relationship with Magnus. To come from calling him ‘warlock’ and ‘downworlder’ to calling him ‘family’; you can see how much it means to Magnus that she accepts him and considers her a part of her family.

Seeing Maryse’s scenes with Magnus you wish that Alec had thought to speak to her before going to Asmodeus to get her perspective, to understand what Magnus is going through right now and that one emotional drunken breakdown does not mean he is completely unhappy. That to make such a huge decision, without Magnus input, based on an emotional low is not a good idea and that they need to have an in-depth conversation about Magnus’ feelings first. Alec is always desperate to ‘fix’ the people he cares about which sometimes leads him into making rash and unwise decisions.

After witnessing Simon and Izzy interacting Becky sees the spark between them, she confronts Simon about it because she knows that deep down he is a romantic and he is very people orientated. I love her line about being friends hasn’t stopped him from developing romantic feelings before. I hurt a little when he says that he isn’t Izzy’s type and that she wouldn’t see him that way, he is still insecure and not very self confident; he doesn’t believe that someone as amazing as Izzy would be interested in him.

Becky is insistent that there is something between them; she is not going to let him let this slip through his fingers because she wants him to be happy and can see that potential with Izzy. I hope that we get to see some more of Becky.

I admit that I jumped when the demon dropped from the ceiling; Clary gets thrown through a wall and passes out. I really liked the dream sequence. I thought the wings were not only clever in showing the two sides of her, dark and light, but also that Jonathan and Jace are visual representations of that. Also, the wings themselves look beautiful; the entire scene, the lighting, the snow, was so visually stunning.

The queen demon is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen; I love seeing Alec being a badass archer, and using five arrows at once is awesome. I liked seeing the Parabatai fighting together again, even if it was only for a moment.

I don’t really have much to say about the Jordan and Maia scenes, mostly because I don’t like them but I have done all my ranting already. I am a bit frustrated with the storyline because she seems to have forgiven him much too quickly, he came back into her life about two weeks ago and now she is ready to forgive him for everything he did? I’m not saying that at his core he isn’t a good person but he treated her really badly; he started taking out his emotions on her which cause her to break up with him; he then, unable to accept the break up, stalked her for an undetermined amount of time but it must have been at least a couple of weeks because he saw her out on a date; then unable to control his jealousy he turned and attacked her; realising what he had done he abandoned her to deal with it by herself instead of staying, apologising and helping her.

Her saying that she can see he has changed also didn’t makes sense because he has shown he is still a coward, he was going to leave Simon alone after seeing Maia again without a word; he was going to just leave without giving Maia an explanation about their past until she confronted him; he still has anger issues, he attacked the leader of the New York vampire clan which led to the slaughter of Maia’s pack; he was going to abandon the Praetor without a word because he messed up. None of this behaviour shows that he has changed, if he had done some anger management and had approached Maia in order to give her closure then maybe it could have been plausible.

I just think that her forgiveness of him has been rushed; if it had been paced better, his behaviour reflected growth and change then I may have felt differently and would have accepted them being able to become friends. I can understand Maia forgiving Jordan so that she could let go of the resentment and move past it for herself, but this whole situation has been very Jordan centred and sympathetic; and I really do not want it to move into romantic territory (but from the 319 promo it looks like it will and my gut reaction is that I really dislike it).

I really like the Sizzy moment, I think that their development has been paced right; you could see them growing closer and starting to see each other in a different light. It hasn’t moved too quickly and I have enjoyed the growth of it, I was scared at the beginning of 3B that it was going to be rushed into and I am happily surprised.

I admit that I was shocked when Clary hit Jace around the head with a metal pipe because it was just so brutal, but I have to say that I am excited for dark Clary but also slightly disappointed that it looks like we aren’t going to see much of her.

Is everyone ready for the angst and pain that is the final Malec scene? No? Me neither?

Magnus seems to be more at ease and relaxed after his time with Maryse and I love that he starts giving Alec a shoulder massage, giving us another little insight into their domestic routine. My heart starts breaking when Alec says he needs a break because Magnus thinks he means a holiday, he is so completely unprepared for what is about to happen because this situation has never crossed his mind. He never thought that Alec would leave him, especially with everything Alec said after his health scare.

You can see that Alec is trying to keep his emotions in check and is avoiding eye contact so that he can get through this; he knows that if he allows himself to become too emotional or sees Magnus become upset then his resolve will start to crumble. He is reminding himself every second that no matter how much this is hurting he is doing it for Magnus, for Magnus’ happiness.

Realising that Magnus cannot wave away this argument he opens up and admits that he is in pain right now, that he is suffering but he doesn’t understand how breaking up will fix it; he doesn’t understand why Alec is doing this. Alec is his rock, the thing that is keeping him from completely falling apart and he cannot accept that Alec doesn’t want to be with him.

Alec’s ‘There’s no fixing this’ is so honest, while Magnus thinks it is about their relationship we know that Alec is talking about the broader situation; he wants to help Magnus get his magic back but to do that he has to end their relationship; there is no fix that will end with them together and Magnus having his powers. Alec starts to break when reminding Magnus that he said there was nothing Alec could do to make it better; Alec is so used to ‘fixing’ issues that it is killing him that he can’t fix this.

Magnus tells him that it isn’t his job to make it better; he knows that nothing is going to help him right now but just Alec being there is what he needs. He doesn’t need Alec to fix him, he just needs Alec to love him and keep loving him even though he doesn’t quite love himself right now.

Alec’s ‘What am I supposed to do? Watch you suffer for the rest of our lives?’ hurts so much because Alec sees his future with Magnus so completely, and he cannot bear to have Magnus suffer through it; he wants them both to be happy. He cannot stand by and do nothing while Magnus is suffering.

Magnus is confused because he knows that Alec is not a selfish person but this appears like a selfish decision, to cut himself off from Magnus so that he doesn’t have to watch his suffering; Magnus is so blindsided by the entire conversation. Especially because Alec told him that he couldn’t lose him just a couple of days ago, he cannot believe that Alec’s feelings have changed in such a short time but is scared that they have.

Alec’s line ‘I didn’t know that the spark inside you, the one I fell in love with, was out for good’ is so completely painful because it is using Magnus’ insecurities against him. He knows that Magnus thinks his spark is his magic, so in saying this he is trying to inflict pain to cut the argument short, trying to finish the deed as quickly as possible.

My heart breaks for Magnus because he believes that everything amazing about him came from his magic and to hear the man he loves confirm that is destroying; it’s going to reinforce his insecurities and feelings of worthlessness without magic.

Magnus stops Alec from leaving by pulling him towards him and crowding into his space, standing on his tip toes so that he can press their foreheads together getting as much physical contact as possible. It is such as desperate and fear fuelled action that is breaks my heart, he is physically trying to keep Alec with him because he cannot bear to be without him. He has lost so much and he cannot bear to lose Alec too, Alec is the last good thing in his life right now and to lose him would absolutely destroy him.

The little details of intimacy in the scene makes it hurt even more; Magnus being on his tip toes because Alec didn’t lean down; him stroking the nape of Alec’s neck; the little desperate kiss; nuzzling Alec’s face when he doesn’t respond; the two following kisses that increase in desperation and the way Magnus keeps a firm hold of Alec’s face while he mutters ‘Stay with me. Okay. Come on. Stay with me.’ I am full on crying at this point because Magnus is so vulnerable, scared and desperate in this moment.

When Alec begins to pulls back he has to pull Magnus hands away by his wrists, and I am pretty sure that you can see Magnus’ fingers trembling and that really stabs my heart because shaking is such an uncontrollable bodily response to fear. Alec’s whispers ‘I can’t. I’m sorry’ before leaving, all the while avoiding eye contact because he knows that he cannot bear to see the pain in Magnus’ eyes right now because he would never leave.

What crushes my soul is the timing of the editing, the song stops as the door of the bookshop closes, emphasising the feeling of emptiness, sadness and loneliness that Magnus is feeling right now. Plus the way they shot it, with Magnus off centre of the frame implies that there should be another character in the frame, but there isn’t.

Asmodeus manipulates the warlock into bringing him to Earth and then he kills her, remarking ‘my son needs me’. It is chilling because Jack is so amazing and Asmodeus is such an interesting character but you know that his intentions with Magnus are anything but good.

Also, I noticed a parallel between Alec and Asmodeus; we get a shot that is almost identical from both of them, the shadow of Alec when he is entering the warlock’s shop and the shadow of Asmodeus as he leaves it. I thought that this was really interesting because it symbolises Alec walking out of Magnus’ life and Asmodeus walking into it; but also that Alec was the doorway for Asmodeus to get into Magnus’ life. I may be reading too much into it but I thought it was fantastic imagery.

This was a great episode that excited me and broke my heart.

In 319, I am so ready for dark Clary and Team Evil; Alec is going to be hurting; and Magnus wants his memories of Alec erased! Brother Zachariah is going to be our Malec saviour in refusing to erase his memories and I am excited to learn more about his and Magnus’ friendship.

#Shadowhunters Review #The Beast Within #Shadowhunters #SH 318 #SH 3x18 #SH 318 Review #Shadowhunters 318 #SH 3x18 Review #SH318 #SH3x18 #Shadowhunters 3x18

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janiedean · 7 years ago

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Why is Kylo even considered abusive tho

...... hahaha. uhm. this is gonna be fun.

(ps: anyone who hates kylo or reylo pls skip this post okay? k.)

people have decided that any relationship (not even romantic, any) that’s like, even moderately problematic or not healthy or in between a villain and a hero is inherently abusive, because of course EVERYTHING is abusive now, and villains that aren’t, er, how we shall say, Approved By Tumblr Standards, are inherently horrible abusive people;

kylo is, sadly, technically a mix of All the things tumblr finds automatically problematic in someone, ie that he’s: a) white, b) a cis man, c) comes from a **privileged background** (let’s just say that for the sake of simplicity), d) has obvious anger issues, e) a villain, f) heterosexual as far as we know (or better: we don’t know he’s not, but you know that for people on tumblr when they hate someone and their sexuality isn’t specified straight becomes the default because obviously if u r evil then you have to be straight. ofc kylo could be bi for all we know, but never mind that, right?), g) not conventionally attractive (or, in tumblr lingo, UGLY, because of course everyone’s canon of beauty is the same!!), which means that given point one above, he’s of course abusive, not even a shred of doubt given. (of course if one or more of these fail to happen, tumblr does the contrary and excuses whatever the bad person does but I’ll shut up before I say things I’ll regret.)

which means that of course any rship he could have with rey is abusive when it’s fucking dumb because in order for a relationship to be abusive you actually have to know that person and be in a relationship of any kind with them - your parents can be abusive (but they’re your parents and you grew up with them), a friendship can be abusive (but then you have had to know this person and be friends with them), a romantic relationship can be (but you have to actually be in love with them or at least be together), and kylo and rey have no such relationship because they met, he captured her, they had their mind-force argument where he tried to get inside her head and she got into his (compare that with what happened with poe I mean XDDD) and then they fought and the next time they met each other it was through the force bond and then you can say they developed a relationship.... where she was the one pretty much taking the first step most of the time and where she saw that there was some good in him? I mean, there’s no bloody way any of that falls under abusive relationship. is it problematic? obviously it has problematic elements because any relationship you have with a dude or woman you fought with/tried to kill/is on your opposite side of the fence can’t not have problematic elements. is it 100% fluff unicorns and rainbows? no. but like, from that to say he’s abusive in general is ridiculous, at most he could be to hux but I mean kylo and hux are generally terrible to each other in turn and that relationship is your usual rival/hateship that’s been around since the beginning of times. at most it’s mutually toxic if you ask me, and anyway no one who ships either reylo or kylux goes around saying it’s The Purest Ship, or at least no one who’s not the usual bad apple that you find in any shipper group.

this also is a perfect mirror of how people on tumblr can’t distinguish what’s coded as abusive and what’s not, because if there is one relationship in the new trilogy that’s explicitly coded as abusive it’s.... snoke and kylo, and kylo is not the abusive part, he’s the abused part of it. I mean, tlj made it overtly clear and the point is that whether you like it or not this guy has been groomed/tormented/lied to by snoke (who is, uh, THE BONAFIDE BAD GUY I mean guys it’s star wars being the palpatine stand-in in the dark side part should say everything really) same as palpatine did to anakin and guess what kylo wants to be anakin/thinks that he’s honoring his grandfather’s footsteps it’s kind of heavily implied, and while obviously there’s no overt sexual subtext because it’s still a disney movie made for kids too I’m fairly sure it’s kind of very subtly implied and other people wrote about it more in-depth than me, but tldr: kylo’s issues (he’s unstable, he’s angry, he doesn’t really know what he wants, he’s volatile and blah blah blah) are all direct consequences of a) being heavily force sensitive, b) feeling like his family failed him (and luke AGREES because wow what did he do before they fought in tlj? apologize to him for failing him, and if you don’t think that han let him kill him also because he thought he failed him idk what movie you watched), c) being groomed and lied to by the evil bad guy of the situation for most of his life, which makes... him... an abuse victim.

of course, tumblr has a really unhealthy approach to how you get to be an abuse victim, which is a whole other wasp nest, but basically on this bloody website anyone who doesn’t meet the Good Victim Standard (ie: they fight against their abuser immediately, they do Good Things, they Show Clear Morals and it’s obvious that They Are Good Guys) is automatically Not A Good Victim and is therefore denied any basic empathy/decency, and anyone who tries to be nice to them or to help them out is there to help the villain’s storyline HOW BAD, OR, if the Bad Victim dares being a man, of course it’s all OH MY GOD CHARACTER X IS GETTING SACRIFICED ON THE ALTAR OF Y’S STORYLINE AND THEIR MANPAIN, because of course if you’re a man you can’t, like, suffer, without it being manpain and not, like, legitimate feelings. which means that poor kylo cannot win because even when the story is coded otherwise and rey helping him out/wanting to reach the good part of him/seeing him as ben solo/etc people don’t see it as, like, rey being a good person and regular character development (nvm that the entire point of the light side in SW is, like, forgiveness, but okay then), but as her character being sold off for the male’s development or whatever else they think it is. which is obviously not true, but the fact that you take a character who has being a decent person in their basic traits and think that in order to Be A Good Person they should want to murder their adversary who is most obviously coded as someone who needs help and has issues but not as the ultimate bad guy rather than, like, did what rey did in tlj ie trying to help them out, says more about whichever anti thinks such things (ie: nothing good) than about the sw writers or whatever. I mean, I unfollowed people for reblogging fanart where rey killed kylo and finn/poe were doing the cheerleading and not just because I don’t want that kinda toxicity but also because it’s absolutely OOC that finn, poe or rey would cheerlead each other over murdering anyone that’s not snoke or the likes -

ah, but wait, who killed snoke?

I mean, given that kylo killed the guy who abused him for years because he threatened to murder the one person who had taken the effort to be nice to him and see his side of the story I think that it’s fairly obvious that he’s not abusing anyone himself and that next movie he’s going back to the light side no question also because they’re not gonna kill the last character with direct skywalker lineage around.

but of course most people around here can’t see past their own preconceptions and don’t understand that if you want to care for mentally ill people/abuse victims you also have to give a fuck about the kylo rens and not just about the finns. let’s just put it out there, I care about finn more than I care about kylo and I’m light side trash so of course I’m into the character and I love that finn understood at once he couldn’t kill people and defected and I love the journey he had, but you can’t just support the people that immediately see the way out and do things the way Good People Are Supposed To Behave. because if you support the finns but ditch the kylo rens then you really will end up with horrible people, because if someone who has the potential to not be a terrible person is left to their own thing without anyone trying to help them out of course they’ll convince themselves they’re not worth it and the more time passes the worst they get. and you can’t go around parading that you care about victims/mentally ill people/abuse victims/whatever if you only think the good ones are worth it. it’s such a calvinist way of thinking that makes my skin crawl tbh but then again tumblr is puritan calvinism hell so what do we even expect.

tldr: because tumblr is calvinist af without knowing it and because people have decided to give up on text comprehension for the joy of being asses to anyone who actually enjoys fictional villains, characters who aren’t necessarily the heroes and the likes.

and before anyone decides to murder me for the above and thinks that I’m a ride or die kylo fan or whatever, I’ll close this saying that: in tfa I really couldn’t care less about kylo (really, I was 100% indifferent), my favorite new trilogy character is actually poe which I find way more interesting/relatable/whatever than i could find kylo, my main ship investment in the new trilogy is finn/poe and before tlj I couldn’t care less for reylo (after... well it’s obvious I’m shipping it, but I started when it turned out to have infinite h/c potential/redemption arc potential because that’s what appeals to me in ships, I don’t care for mutual rivalships/hateships or villain/hero ships just for that, I only am into it if there’s the whole potential h/c angle so I wasn’t into it from the get-go). but I’ve liked enough characters who had stuff in common with kylo to at least recognize the pattern and I’d be fairly not coherent if I stanned theon and hated kylo on principle. ah, and I don’t find kylo particularly attractive either (honest I’d take oscar or john over adam any moment if I had to pick based on attractiveness level to me), but I also don’t feel the need to shame poor adam driver over it, especially when I think it’s a very good thing that people find attractive a type that’s not very hollywood-common and that’s actually considered not pretty/beautiful by canonical standards, so I mean, who cares. but it’s a question of intellectual honestly. *shrug*

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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heka-write · 6 years ago

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Six of Crows Thoughts and Discussion

Just finished this book a week ago.

Not doing a review because I find that boring. The book was amazing. That’s all you need to know. Definitely recommend for buying if you can.

A solid 4.5/5.

I thought I’d do my thoughts on the book and story as a whole, since that’s more fun and would love to open it to discussion.

(Spoilers are a given)

Again, I loved this book. It reminded me a lot of The Lunar Chronicles in the sense that this book was a archetypical revenge/heist plot set in a fantasy world and The Lunar Chronicles was a traditional fairy tale plot in a fantasy/sci-fi world.

I also did not read the original Grisha Trilogy but was still able to read the book and understand the story completely. There was plenty of world-building that intertwined seamlessly into the story, and while a few details went over my head, I was still able to have a decent understanding of the environment and politics and enjoy the story. You don’t have to read the original series to understand the spin off, and that’s another reason I would recommend the book.

(Though, now that I have read this I am quite interested in going back and reading the original series. )

I especially loved the cast. The morally grey, chaotic neutral characters are my favorites. The ones that are victims of society and rebel against it to survive, but still have heart and care about each other. They are Bad and ruthless but sympathetic and forgivable. They are the type of Bad that you wanna be. #SquadGoals.

They remind me a lot of Team Taka from Naruto, a team of people that were also victims of their societies and taken in by a bad crew, but learned to care for each other. Unfortunately, the author dropped the ball on those characters so the “good” characters could have their happy endings, but I’m glad I get to experience that dynamic in this book.

I loved all the characters, but I think my favorites would be Kaz, Inej and Nina. Nina was great throughout the novel but her ending was so hardcore. I’m hoping we will get to see her struggle in the next book, and she won’t be out of commission for too long. She’s sassy and her relationship with Matthias reminds me a lot of Anastasia and Will from Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (another spin-off series! Much better than the original imo). Both these relationships are about a couple who loved each other making mistakes and working to forgive one another. The tension between them sliced through the page and I really felt their struggle. They have a great reason to love each other too; each taught the other about the common humanity among people. Matthias showed Nina kindness that she didn’t receive from her oppressors, and Nina showed Matthias friendship that he didn’t see in the propaganda he was taught. The flashbacks and progression really helped solidify them as a believable couple. I think what works the most about fictional couples like them is that you are shown how much they care despite being mad at each other. That’s how real relationships should be like.

I was also pleasantly surprised by Jesper and Wylan as a couple. Growing up it was pretty much impossible to see gay relationships in mainstream books (only in the LGBT genre could you really find them), so I was pleasantly surprised. At first I saw Wylan as very young (for some reason) and probably a little brother figure to Jesper, but I’m glad I was proven wrong. They are hilarious together, and it was really heartwarming to see someone care for Wylan after witnessing his father reject him.

Even though I did like these two couples I wasn’t a fan of the need of having everyone paired off. I mean seriously? Can no one be single in fiction?

I feel this was especially since I did not see Inej and Kaz as a strong couple. I love them both as characters. Inej is a tough girl who had to work through her insecurities and heal from her past. Not to mention her cool skills. Kaz is the intelligent boy prodigy who is dark and out for revenge. They are both badass with tragic pasts, but I don’t think that’s a good enough reason for them to be together. Kaz is the bad boy type character that I usually would rather see stay a loner than have a romantic interest. If he has troubles keeping friends, how would he be ready for a romantic partner? I’m glad the author addressed that in the book, when Kaz asked her to stay and she said she needed commitment and he was too cold to give it to her. Bardugo did a good job of addressing that at least.

But the flashbacks and longing looks didn’t really convince me for this couple as they did for NinaXMatt. They both have tragic pasts, and can sympathize with one another, but nothing of what I saw gave me reason to believe that Kaz would bond with her more than Jesper or any of the other characters.

What really annoyed me about their relationship was that it seemed that all the moments used to show how much they cared about one another required Inej getting kidnapped or hurt. Kaz shows how much he cares for her by torturing the person who hurt her. The author shows how much Kaz cares by having a villain kidnap Inej and making Kaz go to his worst enemy for help. I’m not against female characters ever getting hurt or needing help but Inej didn’t even get a chapter in her POV after getting kidnapped. It doesn’t sit well with me. I know another book is coming, so I’ll reserve my final judgement for then.

Again, I liked seeing Inej overcome her fears and achieve her goals. The chapter where she was able to climb up the chimney was the most empowering to read, personally. Even though I’m glad she got her revenge on Tante Heleen, I’m annoyed that we had to repeat the trope where women have to sexually please men to survive. I know the author was trying to do a subversion, because Nina and Inej were working undercover (and seductresses are staple in the Heist/Revenge plot storyline) but men are never put in this position in fiction unless it’s a joke (if anyone can come up with serious examples I’d still stand by that women are subjected to it more). Yes, I’m glad that this plot point was brought up in the issue of poverty (the author is very cutthroat about the dark aspects of the book, which I like), but I don’t understand the need to put females in this position after they escaped it.

It was an especially frustrating point in the book because Inej spent so much of her dialogue talking about how girls were trafficked into the pleasure houses, how much abuse she suffered there, and how she left for the Dregs because it was so awful, and then says something about someone “choosing” to do it. I think the author was trying to paint that she hoped someone would choose it so it was less horrible (this is a real tactic that women in these positions use in order to cope with abuse, btw), but the fact is women in these lines of work in third-world countries rarely choose it.

(Speaking of Inej, here’s a fun fact: My friend rented the book from the library and someone was kind enough to leave their artwork of Inej, I’ll post it if I ever get permission to).

I think those are my most solid opinions just based on the first book. Kaz turning to Rollins for help was interesting...to say the least. I think I’ll need to see what happens next to really understand if he has given up his Revenge for Inej or if he does intend on coming back to fry that evil man’s ass.

Let me know your thoughts ~

#six of crows #ya lit #inej ghafa #kaz brekker #nina zenik #blog #reviews

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themagnificentartofshipping · 7 years ago

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Im planning on rewatching Once Upon a Time, mostly to watch Emma and Hook fall in love again. Also just to help me realize when exactly I stopped liking certain characters and what has changed in the way i see things now with the series being basically completely over and it being a few years. I might make posts about it, I’m not sure. I’m going to on this, have the opinions i have now prior to rewatching. That will be under the cut because you might not care and some of it is reference for me.

Season 1:Its a great opening for the show. I really enjoyed Regina as the villain and her and Emma’s antagonistic dynamic was great. Emma learning about Henry and their blossoming relationship was the cutest and so great. I also loved the friendship between Emma and Mary Margaret. Had some great quotes. Loved the introduction to the characters and how they are connected to each other. I WILL NEVER GET OVER GRAHAM’S DEATH!!!! It hurt me so much and Regina’s reasoning for killing him was such bullshit. The curse breaking was pretty great. The duality between the Enchanted Forest stories and the Storybrooke ones was very well done and well balanced which i missed in later seasons.

Season 2: I loved this season mostly cause we meet Hook but also because it just continues the storyline nicely. Seeing everyone deal with the aftermath of the curse breaking was good. Emma and the Charmings awkwardly trying to figure out how to do the family thing was endearing. I still liked Regina’s character, the conflict she had in this season made sense and I liked it. Cora was very interesting in this season. Seeing Rumple’s actual reason for using the curse(finding his son) was nice. I got to see more Bae which I liked. Backstory and flashbacks were used well. Seeing Emma’s past was great. The addition of characters in this season felt organic and just fit really well. And Mulan is a queen, i love her so much. Emma being in the enchanted forest. Great set up for the next season and Neverland. I love Belle so seeing more of her was great. I also enjoy the development Hook has from his introduction til the end of this season and his willing to give up revenge to save Henry/help Emma. As much as I hate Neal, I think his addition to this season was necessary to Emma’s storyline as well as Rumple’s and even Hook’s to a degree. So even though he sucks, his character was able to show us different sides and dynamics of other characters that I thought was important. Even though I wish certain things involving him were handled in better ways.

Season 3: This is my favourite season. Both 3A and 3B are amazing. Neverland is great, Everyone trying to work together to save Henry is great. Sassy Hook and Sassy Regina, amazing. Emma taking charge is great. Hook’s belief in Emma. More of Hook’s backstory. That fucking kiss. Hook’s secret. Emma using her magic. Meeting Tink. “I hoping you were dead” Peter Pan was a cool villain. Regina and Rumple’s evil shit not meshing with the Charmings. Hook saving David. Neverland was kind of my life. I’m gonna say it is around the time that I start to have some issues with Snow. I also didnt love that both David and Snow were pushing Emma towards Neal but, I believe they likely didnt know the whole story. Rumple killing himself to kill Pan was fucking epic. Pan being in Henry’s body was a boss twist. Emma and Hook’s goodbye. Mulan being into women, yay!! Her heart being broken boo!!! Belle and Ariel teaming up was chill, I think this season had Belle’s hero flashback and that was great, but I honestly don’t remember when that happened. 3B was amazing. Hook believing Emma was his true love, him going to find her. Zelena was a good villain. Also the Cora flashback was fucking crazy. Neal was an idiot in this season but, whatever. Hook and Henry bonding. Hook’s regret for what he did to Belle and Ariel. Regina and Tink flashback was into it. Outlaw Queen loved. Liked that David and Snow had another baby, didnt like the name. Regina suddenly getting light magic was weird and not totally into. Loved Zelena/Regina showdowns though. The finale was the greatest thing ever. Like everything about it was great. “Someday I’ll stop chasing this woman” “I’d go to the end of the world for her, or time” “We both know i’m his type” Past!hook scene. When they kidnap Marion. When Emma deprived Hook of his dashing rescue. The ball!!! Watching Emma watch her parents meet. David and Hook’s talk. “You traded your ship for me?” “Aye” That fucking kiss!!! Rumple and Belle’s vows were amazing even though there wedding upset me. Like I was really pissed cause this mofo was lying to her again. Regina not getting to be happy w/ Robin sucked but, her bitching to Emma about it was trash. And i forget about how adorable Roland is.

Season 4: I like 4A like alot actually. I know a lot of people aren’t a fan of the frozen arc, but I like it. I love Elsa in this. She has a really great friendship with Emma and I like that their friendship isn't over complicated with connections to her family. Elsa also helps Emma accept her magic which I love and she understands that part of Emma in way no one else does. I kind of wish Elsa could have been on longer so Emma could continue to have her own friendships. I enjoy Emma trying to learn how to control her magic. I dont love Ingrid as a villain but I like her backstory well enough and I like how her involvement gives us a look into Emma’s past/childhood. Killian and Emma trying to have a relationship after the whole epic kiss thing is nice. There date is amazeballs. They are like really in love and become committed to making it work through this season and I love that. I’m not a huge fan of Snow through either half of this season, I felt like she was the person who saw the worst in Emma both presently and in the past. I find it really telling that in 4B we see that she is the one to see the vision of evil!Emma. I think this is the season I stop liking Regina cause her angst is kind of dumb and she’s very pity me about it. I love Belle at the end of 4A when she sends Rumple away, I think it is a very empowering moment where she stands up for herself and is able to stand up to her abuser. I like how 4A has a nice intro to Lily through the things we’ve seen of Emma’s past. 4B I liked significantly less then 4A. The season really putting Snowing in a bad light particularly Snow and I believe it definitely highlights the fact that David’s relationship with Emma is closer and healthier then the one Snow has with Emma. The fact that they gave Emma potential for darkness to another kid is super fucked up. I actually find this whole concept kind of dumb, like I don’t think it was a good storyline, it just dumb. Killian trying to make amends with Belle and succeeding til the point that they are friends is great. Rumple scheming to get Belle back is awful. I find Operation Mongoose pretty awful like I feel that Regina blaming the universe for her not getting a happy ending with Robin is dumb. I think that this idea that a villain can’t get a happy ending might be true when you are still a villain but it isn’t true if you are a reformed villain case in point being Killian his relationship with Emma is great this season and he is an actually villain who has and continued to have a really good redemption arc. So the fact that Regina isnt getting a happy ending and her line of thought is along the lines of the actual villains of this season proves she hasnt had a real redemption arc no matter what the characters in universe seem to believe. I do like Maleficent and Regina friendship. Cruella being a villain with no tragic backstory was refreshing. The introduction of the author was cool. Zelena pretending to be Marion was so fucked up and the fact that she got pregnant means that Robin was sexually assaulted(he consented to sleeping with Marion, not Zelena). I liked Lily being involved but I hate that she was never mentioned again. Henry become the author was pretty great. I really liked how the apprentice was all over this season leading to Merlin's involvement next season. Emma sacrifice herself was an intense moment.

Season 5A: I didnt like this season, I believe it was an okay idea but executed poorly. I loved Merlin and liked Camelot and evil!King Arthur was interesting. Violet and Henry were cute and I loved seeing Henry’s first relationship. Emma and Hook’s thoughts on a future together were nice. Getting to see Mulan and Ruby again was great. I thought Merida came out of nowhere and i didn’t think she had a reason to be there so, I didn't love her. Belle giving Rumple another chance upset me. Emma made grave errors in judgement but she did do everything for love, so I felt conflicted. Dark hook was sort of entertaining. Emma killing Killian was heartbreaking.Her threatening Gold was badass. Gold lying to Belle again was fucking annoying. Emma going to the underworld to save her mans was great.

Season 5B: I have issues with this Arc on many levels. One being I like greek mythology and because of that I hate when Hades is portrayed as like super evil when he’s really not, he’s stern and stubborn but not evil. He tends not to actually torture people there are other people in the underworld to do that and that only really happens in Tartarus where only the worst of the worst go and though he implements punishments he tends not to be the one who created them, that tends to be the gods that the people in Tartarus actually messed with. So they vastly misrepresented him and I was not a fan of that. And as cute as Zelena and Hades might have been Hades is married and is the only god who doesnt really cheat on his wife so I’m not overtly a fan of that. If we discard everything that is wrong about Hades and the underworld there are other issues I have with this season. Regina is just pretty awful in this season. She tries to force Robin to forgive Zelena as well as let her see his kid when this woman raped him. She also treats Emma like crap like she’s a super hypocrite, the way Regina treats Emma when Hook dies and the way she expects Emma to treat her after Robin dies is ridiculous. Robin’s death is also fucking awful. And Regina blaming Zelena pisses me off but whatever. I thought Liam was kind of dick. And Rumple was even more garbage then I expected. I loved getting to see Milah and I found the flashbacks really good. I enjoy that even with Rumple trying to cause Milah and Emma to hate each other they didn’t. I’m really pissed that Rumple made it impossible for Milah to move on. I wish there was more Milah. Seeing James was fun, like it was hilarious. Cruella and James as a couple was pretty great. Emma and Killian being confirmed true love was amazing. OTP of the gods!!! Emma’s family was very supportive of her. Ruby and Mulan being in an episode was nice and I liked that we had a true love kiss between two women but I would have loved for the first LGBTQ couple on the show to have Mulan be apart of it because I want her to have love so bad. Also I’d rather it be two characters I care about then One character I care about ,Ruby and a character that we barely know, Dorothy. Henry trying to destroy magic was dumb, I understand why he tried, it was just misguided though. He also needs to stop hero worshipping Neal. King Arthur running the underworld is boss. I don’t remember much from the finale other then the destroy magic thing and i know that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was introduced.

Season 6: Wasnt great. I liked Emma and Hook moving in together and the wedding. The musical episode was good. Belle choosing to leave Rumple and having the support of her friends specifically Killian was very moving and empowering. It felt like she was finally done with Rumple which was great and why her getting back with Rumple at the end of the season was so heartbreaking for me. Hyde actually being the good one was cool. Regina using the serum was awful and stupid and I hated it, it was just her trying to take the easy way out of redemption. The wish universe was awful and truthfully nothing in it actually made sense like the timeline has to have totally change for Emma to have met Neal in a universe where the curse didn't occur. Wish!Robin ending up with the Evil half of Regina was ironic and hilarious. The flashbacks were used a lot to add unnecessary drama particular the Hook ones. I found the black fairy to be a let down in terms of villains, especially after basically having the evil queen as the villain. She was also basically Rumple and Regina as one villain but with a lot less character depth to make me care in anyway. Rumple being a saviour was awful and didn't make sense. Belle not getting to raise Gideon sucked. Gideon over all was annoying and I think the writers wanted me to sympathize with him and I just didn't. All the added characters happened way too fast and there was just a bunch of characters that were forgotten.

#once upon a time #my thoughts on the seasons minus 7 #anti rumple #anti regina #i guess anti snow but im not sure #Captain Swan #gonna rewatch #this is really long #I dont expect anyone to read #might not make total sense #anti rumbelle

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thesummerfox · 7 years ago

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I loved your Kylo meta... I enjoyed the movie but my heart hurt for him so much and I felt myself start to lose hope for him getting a satisfying storyline. But I've read some things now that made me feel a little better, including yours, and it's nice to find others who are holding on some hope. Thanks for that.

Thank you so much, I’m so glad you loved it and that it made you feel a little better! I have more thoughts, so I hope you don’t mind me sharing those in light of this!

I have more hope for Kylo now that I’ve seen the movie, and I already had a lot of hope for him to begin with. His storyline is one of the key points in the ST, as he is the last of the Skywalker line, and his journey as the unpredictable and undecided factor has come to run entirely parallel to Rey’s journey as our main protagonist.

Already in TFA, we see a Kylo Ren who has aligned himself with the FO because they are the closest thing he has to a place in the world. His indoctrination/seduction by Snoke (I feel dirty just typing that, but it is what it is) created that automatic alliance with the FO, but there are small moments within TFA and now also in TLJ that show that Kylo is supremely unconcerned with the FO’s goals and sometimes even seems to disapprove of the course of action taken by the FO. In that light, it’s a genius move to set him up as the new Supreme Leader: someone like Hux, whose fanaticism and belief in the FO are huge, would have been a safer bet for leadership by far. It’s a position that Kylo cannot hope to sustain for himself, and I think he knows it. Even within the FO, he is always alone. His relationship with Hux is outright antagonistic at this point, which might lead to some kind of coup in future considering the fact that Kylo’s actions lost the FO their one shot at ending the open rebellion they face.

With Kylo’s position in the FO rendered unstable, there is that sense of him being on shakier ground than ever before. My dad and I watched TLJ together and we were talking about his arc in the narrative in the car on the way home. My dad said that there is so much inner turmoil coming out into the foreground with Kylo right now at the end of TLJ and we both agreed that he seems undecided on who he is as a human being and on what to do/where to go next. There is that real sense of him being lost, and a huge part of that is because he’s entirely alone for the first time in his life. Canonically speaking, we know that Snoke already began to press in on him when he was in the womb. We know darkness came to claim Ben Solo before he was even born. Ben Solo grew up with the yoke of the Skywalker legacy on his shoulders, grew up with two iconic parents whose role in the universe may not always have left him enough space and time with them, grew up with Snoke’s influence in his brain 24/7, grew up around people who came to fear his abilities and his strength, grew up into one of the most powerful Force users while remaining conflicted about his path in life.

It’s not really any wonder that Kylo Ren, at his core, acts out of selfishness and acts on his immediate passions/instincts throughout the narrative. He has learned throughout the years that he only has himself to fall back on. Abandonment is a recurring theme in his life and I daresay he has grown used to being left alone. Used to it, but always and forever hurt by it. Hurt by it so bad that he lashes out indiscriminately in his pain and rage – and, at the end of TLJ, we see that hurt finally going inward. We see him break at the end. We see him desolate, alone, and all the while the light is creeping back into the darkness that surrounds him. There is so much pain in that, but there is hope at the same time. And all of that pain has to go somewhere, all of that hope cannot be in vain.

In TFA, he took some shaky steps on the road to redemption. Call me crazy for saying it, but the scene in which you see that most clearly is the scene with Han. We know how that turned out, but that scene highlights so much inner conflict and history with the dark and the light at war inside of Kylo. Han knew this, too, and I feel as though he knew that meeting Kylo there at that halfway point would spell his own death but allow cracks of light to seep back into his boy. His boy, who he feels he has failed. His boy, who’s hiding behind a mask. His boy, his son, who has always felt so deeply and has always been capable of so much good and so much evil all at once. It’s the first act of ultimate selfless love that Kylo encounters.

In TLJ, Snoke remarks “you have too much of your father’s heart in you, young Solo”. That line alone tells me all we need to know: redemption is on its way. Through Han’s death, Kylo’s more fractured and splintered between light and dark than ever before. I think this allows Rey to get a foothold that strongly that fast with him, too – he is receptive to her, wondering and marvelling at their connection all the while, to the point where there is an almost childlike sense of shyness and joy inside of him about it. And when Snoke threatens that? When Snoke claims to have forged that bond between them? When Snoke infringes on the one thing that gave Kylo a sense of peace and belonging? That’s when Ben Solo rises to the foreground, furious, in pain, and lashes out at his abuser with an unflinching finality. Snoke’s voice inside his head goes silent for the first time ever, Snoke’s presence in his life and in his inner world fades for the first time ever, and young Ben Solo stands before Rey and extends his hand. He does so clumsily, does so with the remnants of his convictions ruining his speech to her, does so because he feels she might understand.

Rey’s heartbroken reply is understandable, too, but Kylo doesn’t yet see it that way. He feels alone again. Abandoned again. And he lashes out, furious. Takes up leadership of the FO on what I consider to be a whim born out of necessity – Kylo needs a place in the world, and the FO is still the only place he has left at this point. And then? Then comes Luke Skywalker, and Kylo rips himself to pieces in the attempt to tear Luke apart. Luke arrives in his role as a teacher, make no mistake about that. Luke is there to impart one final lesson on Ben Solo, and leaves him with the same words that Han Solo must have told his own son a million times: see you around, kid. That’s where the light gets in: through the cracks of Ben’s abandonment and isolation, through the pain and hurt of being failed by his teachers/masters, through the agony of his father’s death that he is responsible for, through Rey’s rejection of him.

And when he kneels on that planet, Han Solo’s trinket fading from his grasp, Rey’s presence and connection still alive alive alive despite Snoke’s claim over their bond, his mother making her escape once more... Ben Solo is alive, and Kylo Ren is set to die. That’s how you do a successful redemption arc for a character like him: take it all away until there is nothing left for him to cling to, let him kill the past and face his demons, give him agency over his own actions and decisions, and give him space to come back. Put him in that position where we know as an audience that all it’s going to take is one final push. Where we know, as viewers, that Kylo Ren’s fate hangs in the balance and that the only one who decides its final outcome is Ben Solo. Where the only logical thing for the narrative to do next is to give him that space to decide – and where the only emotionally satisfying thing for the narrative to do next is to bring Ben Solo back into the light in a way that gives him peace.

#tlj spoilers #small trash son #kylo ren #reylo #meta meta meta #I'm sorry I can't shut up about him #his character arc is my fave in the entirety of SW #Anonymous

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kylosrehn · 7 years ago

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for the tv series thing, I know it isn't one but star wars?

send me a tv film series and I’ll tell you:

my all-time ultimate fave character:

Since the sequels came, I’m highkey loving Rey. But before that it was Vader. Still is, I guess. They’re kinda tied. Yeah I like the villains okay fight me.

a character I didn’t used to like but now do:

Hmm…Kylo I guess. I never disliked him, but I was pretty meh about him. I just didn’t care all that much. But I like how they fleshed him out in TLJ and built-up his backstory, and I’ve warmed to him since. He’s very much a tragic character and I always like that. Between the two of us, he reminds me a little bit of Ward—or FW Fitz, take your pick. It’s the whole lack of affection/evil mentors make monsters out of good boys/men thing all over again.

a character I used to like but now don’t:

I actually left this question til last to see if I could think of something, but nah, I’ve got nothing. I don’t think I went from liking to disliking any one character completely, just kind of…liking them less. Padme is one of those. She used to be my girl through my childhood and now I’m more meh about her. I guess that’s the closest example I can think of right now.

a character I’m indifferent about:

There’s a good few. Rose, Finn, Holdo out of the sequels. They’re the first ones that come to mind. Boba Fett, Phasma, Hux (aside from the fact that he makes for good comic relief). I don’t know, probably a few more.

a character who deserved better:

Maybe Padme, because the whole ‘breed and die’ trope, but it was obviously necessary because she never shows up in the originals and they had to explain that somehow. And Obi-Wan. Though it’s less of a ‘deserved better’ and more of a ‘fuck he’s been through a lot of shit in his life.’ The Rogue One crew I suppose, though again that was a plot thing.

a ship I’ve never been able to get into:

Finn/Rey. I’m just not very interested in friends to lovers ships (looking at you FS.) And maybe Han/Leia. I know they’re basically at “iconic” level by now, but they never really wowed me. Tbh most SW ships are like, “eh, okay” for me. I tolerate/moderately like them, but there are very few that make me go into hardcore shipper mode. Mini-me loved Anidala growing up, they were literally one of my biggest childhood OTPs, but over time the allure has started to fade and I’ve picked up on more and more flaws, and honestly, I think I’ve just outgrown them. Now I’m focusing on Reylo because it’s just such a cool dynamic that’s never been explored in the films before (I mean, a telepathic/empathic bond that lets them tap into each other’s skills and memories? That’s so awesome, I’m so here for this) and all that build up and development in TLJ really got me. I was kind curious (but mostly in the worried kind of way) to see how they’d approach it after TFA but now I’m 100% on board. I loved what they did with them. Aaaand that’s not the question. (Totally unrelated: I lowkey shipped Vader with Aphra from the Comics. It’s such a rarepair, but the dynamic was quirky and I’m always here for that. She was kinda like a S1-Skye cracking jokes at this evil, murderous Sith Lord. Plus, the line “you’re what I’ve been waiting for my whole life.” ‘Nuff said.)

a ship I’ve never been able to get over:

Reylo. Please don’t screw it up in IX, please please please.

a cute, low-key ship:

Jyn/Cassian. Also, I really like platonic Finn/Rey. And Luke and Leia’s relationship. And I wouldn’t be opposed if somehow Finn/Poe happened. And Poe/BB-8. Okay so not all of those are ship-ships, but y’know.

an unpopular ship but I still enjoyed it:

Tbh I lowkey wanted Poe to be with Paige, Rose’s sister, but lol she got killed off pretty quickly. Unpopular…well, I’m kinda looking forward to seeing how Han/Q’ira plays out in Solo (I’m 99% sure she plays him somehow. But hey, that seems to be my type.) I don’t know.

a ship that was totally wrong and never should have happened:

Eh, I don’t hate any ships, really, or think something was “wrong.” Not a huge fan of Rose/Finn just because I don’t see any chemistry between them and it sorta feels one-sided, but I mean, you can develop feelings over time, so that might change in IX. I don’t mind them, they’re just kinda…there. Not a fan of Kylux but that’s just a fan thing, so whatever.

my favourite storyline/moment:

Right now it’s the Reylo Force Bond scenes. Yeah, all of them, lol. And the throne room fight scene because you expect them to start attacking each other, but instead they work together and subvert all expectations and I loved it. That scene at the end of Rogue One where Vader just demolishes the rebels. It was so dark and chilling and just all around ahh. Also, the Obi-Wan/Qui Gon/Maul fight from TPM is one of my all-time favourites. And the music! Ahh, awesome. Oh, also, the arena fight on Geonosis. I’m not sure I have a favourite storyline—though I’m admittedly a sucker for the whole ‘here, go on a totally-not-romantic trip to protect to senator on this beautiful, lush, fragrant world and try not to fall in love lol bye’ storyline because it’s just so wonderfully tropey. It’s like something pulled straight out of fic (and not necessarily in a bad way.) I’m kinda tempted to write a fic based on that, ngl. One day.

a storyline that never should have been written:

Predictably, lol, I’m gonna say the Jar-Jar Binks/Gungan stuff from TPM. The whole underwater kingdom concept was cool, but it just felt like it took up way too much screentime. I wouldn’t have minded if it was just more of a background thing, or if it was of lesser importance. They’re just a huge part of this film and then they’re virtually never brought up again (in the films) in any significant way, so all of that just feels so moot and unnecessary, like it was just a run time filler. The political plot, although somewhat frustrating, does prove relevant to the story later on so I’m cool with it. I don’t think I hated any storyline really. TFA was a disappointment for me in that it felt a little too familiar and I really wished they would’ve taken more risks and tried to pave their own path as opposed to recycling elements (I mean, ANOTHER Death Star? Sorry, Starkiller Base. Really? And the Empire’s defeated but like, merely a few years later they’re back and crushing the rebellion again? Sorry no, that’s…It’s the First Order now. Got it. Totally different. My bad.) from the originals just to please the hardcore fans, but luckily TLJ assuaged most of that frustration. I can only hope the mood for IX is closer to TLJ than TFA because that would be regression and honestly just a huge insult to the saga.

my first thoughts on the show films:

I think I just loved them straight away, lol. I must’ve been…five at most when I first watched them—well, the originals and I and II, they were the only ones that were out at the time—on the good old VHS with my dad because he was/is a huge fan and he got me into it. Obviously the more nuanced stuff flew over my head as a small kid and certain things only really clicked when I rewatched them years later, but the love was there.

my thoughts now:

I still love it, though my love tends to come in sporadic bursts now as opposed to being linear all the time. Like, I can just push it to the back of my mind for a year/two/three but then something like Rogue One comes out and reminds me just how much I love that world. I ride the high for a few months, read fic, etc. and then the hype tapers off and plateaus for a while. Nothing for another few months/a year, new movie, and wham, I’m sucked back in.

I try to stay in my own little corner though and not get too involved in fandom because the drama is just nasty and can really suck the enjoyment out of, well, everything really. For a long time I guess I just wasn’t aware of how nasty the SW fandom was—aside from the group that hates on the prequels for the sake of hating the prequels because it’s what the cool kids do or whatever—probably because I didn’t actively go looking for this type of stuff. But then TFA came out and it kind of erupted like a volcano that’s been…somewhat dormant since III in 2005. Still, I stayed away from it for the most part, only hearing stories of hate in passing, and never really engaged until after TLJ, when it became a little “safer” for the Reylos to emerge. Before that it was two years of hell and name-calling and threats and verbal abuse and general fandom wank, to my knowledge. And that’s fucked up. No one should have to endure that, not in any fandom. Stuff like that just pisses me off so much. But I’m sure you already know that.

#replies #ilosttrackofthings #thanks for asking!#i got rambly lol what else is new #star wars #about me #long post

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woozapooza · 5 years ago

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Poldark: The Verdict

THIS POST IS SO LONG OH MY GOD

I haven’t read the books so idk how much of the stuff I’m praising or criticizing comes from the books.

Really wish Ross hadn’t raped Elizabeth, folks. Really cannot get past that. But other than that, it was a good show. Beautiful visuals, memorable characters. I have seen a lot of criticisms I agreed with and a lot I didn’t.

Uh, rapist tendencies aside, I’m not a big fan of Ross. Obviously I don’t want my protagonist to be perfect, but sometimes it felt like Ross wasn’t even really trying all that hard to improve. His tendency to keep Demelza in the dark is really annoying. He doesn’t tell her when her BROTHERS ARE ON DEATH ROW. He sneaks off to duel Monk Adderley and just before the duel starts he whispers like “forgive me Demelza” or something like that, so you know he knows he’s doing something wrong BUT HE DOES IT ANYWAY. And even in the very last episode he’s sneaking around with Tess and the French guys, leaving Demelza to think he’s lost interest in her. I’ve only seen the show once so I don’t have the best grasp of everything that happened, but based on my limited memory I feel like Ross doesn’t really make an effort to change very often. Even when he comes home after his night with Elizabeth, he seems more concerned with how Demelza is reacting than with the fact that he betrayed her.

DWIGHT BEST CHARACTER DWIGHT BEST CHARACTER DWIGHT BEST CHARACTER. I liked that his indiscretion with Keren Daniel (which, by the way, he never made excuses for and which he regretted because it was morally wrong—take notes, Ross—actually, I might make a separate post about this) came up in the finale. It felt like the show was saying “this guy doesn’t just exist to be friends with Ross and take care of people and display good values, he’s his own character with his own journey.” Sure, it’s a little weird that Caroline would bring it up in the context of her jealousy of Kitty, when he wasn’t being unfaithful with Keren because he wasn’t in a relationship at the time, but hey, sometimes people say things that don’t make sense when they’re in their feelings, and besides, the point (from a plot standpoint, not from Caroline’s POV) was to spur Dwight to confront Ross about acting in ways that hurt people. And what a satisfying confrontation! Sure, it would have been more satisfying in a context in which Dwight wasn’t working with incomplete information and therefore Ross would actually be convinced to change his behavior in the present moment, but “Ask George. He lives with [the consequences of your actions] every day” was a real oh snap moment. Dwight is so much better than Ross. As I’ve said before, why isn’t the show called Enys?

George second best character. WHAT a dude! WIthout reiterating everything I said in this post, the show was definitely unfair to him. He is not as evil compared to Ross as Debbie Horsfield wants us to think. I wish his s5 arc had been a little less all over the place. He’s having delusions of Elizabeth, he’s abused by Doctor Whatsit to the point that he tries to kill himself, he bonds with Dwight, he apparently forgets that he was ever mentally ill (???), he’s working with the Slavery Guys, he can’t condone collusion with the French, he kind of neglects Valentine but then in the finale he’s like VALENTINE IS MY SON NOT YOURS, at the very last minute he has some genuinely positive interactions with Ross…? That’s a lot to process. Well, taken in isolation, his scenes in the finale were SO good. WHEN HE SUDDENLY SHOWS UP AT THE DUEL AND SHOOTS HANSON AND THE FRENCH GUY! WOW! I found it hard to explain why Hanson and Merceron’s complete lack of integrity was such a dealbreaker for him. Unless I’ve forgotten something, that could have been better foreshadowed. But still! I feel like it’s basically the law that if you’re going to such a consistent, long-lasting, not to mention interesting antagonist, by the last season of the show you have to give them at least a little redemption, not because no bad person ever stays bad all their lives (I’m not talking about full redemption anyway) but because it’s just boring to not follow through on the promise of the character showing some decency. Despite what some reviews I’ve read have implied, George was never a one-dimensional villain to me and I would have been really disappointed if his dynamic with Ross ended where it began.

Caroline third best character. It was nice that she and Dwight got to do something new in the final season, but their conflict all felt so forced, both Caroline’s bitterness and Dwight’s impatience. While I was relieved that Caroline’s jealousy didn’t play out as the tired old “oh no my heterosexual partner is paying attention to a person of the opposite sex, there can be no innocuous reason for that” trope, I found it hard to buy that Caroline contrived her jealousy of Kitty because she was afraid to open her heart to another child. That’s an incredibly elaborate excuse not to have sex with Dwight. I guess I can buy it slightly more if I assume that her insecurity wasn’t 100% feigned...but in that case, I still have a hard time buying that Caroline would suddenly be all that distressed about her husband seeing her as vapid and sheltered. Also, I was disappointed that it was implied that Caroline wanted to have more children after Sarah died. It had been refreshing to have a female character in a period drama who was not the maternal type. I know Dwight loves kids but he’s got friends who have kids that he can borrow.

The Ross/Demelza aspect of the first three episodes was super rushed. They had, like, no chemistry for the first two episodes, then in the third episode they have sex AND get married?! Is this really how we want to introduce our main couple?

One thing I respect about this show is that it frequently surprised me with its willingness to have things go irreparably wrong. For example, I thought Francis wouldn’t drown; I thought Geoffrey Charles and Cecily would get married; I thought Morwenna would get custody of John Conan. But none of those things happened. The show can be sappy, but it’s not that soft.

I respect the show trying to deal with mental illness in a way that’s both sensitive and historically plausible, but the results were mixed. You have that wonderful storyline about Caroline not understanding that Dwight has PTSD and Hugh coming along to help him process, and then at the episode either Hugh or Dwight says that while Dwight isn’t fully healed, he’s moving in the right direction...then after that Dwight never shows symptoms again, and the only time I can think of it even being mentioned was when he was trying to reach out to Morwenna. (Side note, I was sad that Morwenna shot down his attempt to relate. I understand that his trauma was not identical to hers, but it would have been nice if later on she had been like “actually, can we talk some things out?” Fanfic idea, anyone?) On the other hand, Dwight’s interest in mental health in season five is a nice bit of continuity—not explicitly linked to his bout with PTSD, but I know from interviews with Luke Norris that the connection was very intentional. In Morwenna’s case, her trauma lasts longer than an episode, which is a step up from Dwight’s case, but letting go of John Conan and becoming ready for another child apparently cures her fear of physical intimacy all at once. Finally, George’s delusions of Elizabeth...give way to amnesia? That was weird, but his s5 storyline allows my main man Dwight to be the voice of justice and compassion.

Apparently unpopular opinion, but I liked the inclusion of the Ned storyline. I liked the concept of Ross coming face-to-face with his own flaws in Ned, even if I feel like he didn’t really use that experience to change much.

Tess was a pretty pointless character. She kind of reminded me of Sarah Bunting from Downton Abbey in that her unpleasant personality is used to make her political opinions look bad. Except at least Sarah was actually sincere in her opinions and not just trying to get in her married boss’s pants. Idk which storyline is more annoying. But I actually liked the part in the finale where Demelza expressed sympathy for Tess. It shows progress from her attitude toward Elizabeth back in the day.

I know it’s in the books but LOVEDAY IS A TERRIBLE NAME WTF DRAKE

Cornwall pretty.

Overall grade: B+. I really wish I could give it an A-, but, well the main character is a rapist but isn’t treated as such. Ugh, let’s not end this post on such a heavy note. DWIGHT BEST CHARACTER DWIGHT BEST CHARACTER DWIGHT BEST CHARACTER

Oh, that reminds me! Anyone want to recommend me any juicy Warlenys fics? :)

#x #Poldark #Anna watches tv #Anna watches Poldark #verdict #rape mention

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killingdoll · 8 years ago

Text

Warnings: spoilers, inappropriate jokes, careless language, messing up the order of events, the usual stuff

First, congrats to JoMo on a very successful episode. The Originals is getting better week by week, the storyline is intriguing and unpredictable, and frankly I don’t understand why some people are complaining it’s an uninteresting plot. Guess they’re just hard to please eh?

The opening scene treats us to a nice view of Charles Michael Davis’s muscled back. I mean, the night view of Nola is pretty and all but I’m mildly distracted by another view…

Just like Sofya’s attempt to distract Marcel from his distraught day, which is leaning towards success until…

… Vincent comes bringing more bad news. Way to go, Vince.

Last episode I thought poor Will was possessed by the blue light; turns out I was wrong and Will seems pretty willingly kidnap the kids. I’m getting vibes that this episode will be the last we see of him.

Yeah, this is the last we see of Will. Our token human is gone. Looks like we’re not going to have a Matt Donovan in this show, are we?

On the other hand, it’s pretty ironic and tragic that Klaus, who once saved Will from Lucien’s compulsion-induced suicidal depression, is the one to severe his mortal coil.

In the French Quarter, Klaus, Elijah and Hayley are bringing Hope to the old Mikaelson compound to meet with Vincent. What a shame to see the once-beautiful compound become a ruin.

Why are there so many crows gathering at the compound, waiting to be killed by mysterious force to form a circle around Hope?!

Anw, Vincent’s mojo isn’t working and Hope’s condition appears to worsen. I wonder why the way the Hollow affects Hope is a bit different from the other kids: she dreams of and draws the Hollow; she doesn’t have to be present at the scene of the ritual, she has visions of other kids and premonition of her dad’s possession. Maybe it’s because she’s very special and the Hollow wants something different from her? Taking over her body and powers, perhaps?

Anw it’s too early to say anything regarding the Hollow as we have just learned its name.

Honestly I have no idea why Klaus has to clean up the bodies of dead crows. It’s not like this place can get anymore trashed, right?

Multitasking huh?

So, not only witches are involved in this evil-mojo business but humans and wolves as well, just like Eva’s narration in the last episode stated. Now, here are some question that I hope will get the answer in later episodes: if this Hollow thing has been present in New Orleans soil since Vincent summoned it (he “gave it breath” right), how come it hasn’t been mentioned once during the course of seven years? And why is it suddenly and violently active now after having laid dormant for years? Whom can it affect? Witches, wolves and humans, but what about vampires? Can’t it reach vampires as well? And does it affect Nola-born individuals or any individuals standing on Nola soil?

Wait a minute, the reason why the Hollow is suddenly active may be because the link with the Ancestors was severed. When Vincent summoned it, the link was weak due to the Harvest girls stuff, so that thing sneaked in and got to Eva. Then the link got stronger and so it laid dormant until Vincent and Davina planted that witch bomb to destroy the link. Plus, that bomb was created by Eva and who knows, maybe she made it under the Hollow’s influence since getting rid of the Ancestors was what it wanted. Without them, it’s easy for this wicked thing to brainwash Nola citizens.

Well, that’s just my theory.

Elijah is particularly handsome in all-dark suit. Like every time he wears all-dark suit, it’s expected his suit will be ruined.

The scene where he blocks the bullets for Vincent and doesn’t even flinch is just too cool. I know he’s immune to bullets and all but it still looks so badass.

Elijah’s having some badass quotes this episode. I wonder if the scriptwriter(s) is secretly his stan.

“That’s quite the monster you got lurking in there. You want to see mine?”

“I will violate everything sacred under the sun in the name of rescuing my niece.” This quote gives me both thrill and chill because it’s not bluff or boast, just bare truth. For his family Elijah’s willing to become the Devil himself.

Nice to see Vincent and the Mikaelsons working peacefully together for the greater good.

I actually feel kind of… sorry for Lara. I don’t think the show means to make viewers feel for her; she has like 5–7 minutes screen time and bamf, drop dead minus the gorgeous. Maybe it’s just me, maybe the actress is really that good that she makes me feel for the wolf girl although I’m not sure if I write her name right. Lara or Laura?

But short-lived Lara dear makes two points before she’s off to wolf heaven. Let’s discuss them one by one.

Marcel makes himself the king and claims to protect the city and its people and maintain peace and such, and he makes good to his words; still, it doesn’t change the fact that Nola isn’t his to rule. In this aspect he’s exactly like his ‘family’ (putting it in quotation marks because Marcel’s vehemently denying it), especially a certain Hybrid whose main concern used to be getting as much power as possible (now it’s just his little girl).

Another wolf blames Hayley for abandoning her pack and choosing the Mikaelsons, leading to the wolf pack disintegrating. So your alpha failed you, you felt bitter, but hello, you’re wolves, get yourselves a new alpha. Aren’t wolves good at that? Choosing the strongest wolf to be their alpha?

Klaus and Hope’s bonding is getting better and better by the episode. He’s super determined to become the exact opposite of his abusive father, Mikael, and this is partly thanks to a certain brave bartender who was there to believe in the good in him and wouldn’t stop encouraging him to nurture it.

Speaking of Mikael, it looks like we get to meet the Destroyer in the next episode.

More Freya x Keelin vibes this episode. They’ll make a powerful couple with intriguing contradictions: the wolf and the witch, the young one and the ancient one, the scientist and the magic user, the lone one and the family protector.

Probably both

Freya’s impressing Keelin again with her magic.

Freya’s being the badass matriarch of the family and honestly, she’s the sister we want to have in our lives.

Klaus’s worried look when Marcel gets dragged into the magic circle. Despite everything the Hybrid still cares about his first child. I’m hopeful that somewhere along the season Klaus and Marcel will mend fences and Hope will get to call Marcel “big bro”. That’ll be very cute (except the tiny fact that ‘big bro’ and auntie Bex screwed each other once upon a time).

.. the Hollow gets to Marcel and Klaus. Nothing surprising because we’ve already been spoiled by the synopsis of the fifth episode. Of course Freya will save her little bro but let’s hope Marcel make it out in one piece too.

That Klelijah moment where they casually share a drink. It’d have been perfect if Elijah didn’t look so depressed. I mean, I don’t think I have ever seen ‘disheveled’ him like this, his shirt dirtied and untucked and him drinking straight from the bottle. There’s no question he would have done the necessary evils if Vincent hadn’t found the loophole, and after that he would have been gnawed by the guilt; even if he hadn’t done it, he is still much troubled. So, to people who wonder how Elijah-stans can still stan him after what he’s done, here’s why: he will do whatever necessary to save his family, and to him it’s the ‘right’ thing to do, but he won’t feel any good from it; instead he’ll be burdened by its weight for as long as it takes for a new guilt to step in and takes the old guilt’s place, and the cycle repeats. That’s the tragedy of his character. If you think he is remorseless, we are clearly not watching the same show.

Hayley’s armor-piercing question and her resolution for them to “do better” for the sake of Hope are much-needed for their relationship building. I’m all for a healthy, supportive and sympathetic relation where both partners are striving to help each other to become better.

Finally an auntie-niece moment to end the rant on a lighter note. Imagine how wonderful and badass it’ll be if by the end of this season, auntie and niece will join hands (figuratively and literally) and use their awesome magic (maybe channel some energy from their family) to kick this vile Hollow thing’s ass all the way to oblivion.

Looking forward to the next episode… and Mikael’s appearance.

[Rant] Keepers of the House – The Originals 4×04 Warnings: spoilers, inappropriate jokes, careless language, messing up the order of events, the usual stuff First, congrats to JoMo on a very successful episode.

#elijah mikaelson #freya mikaelson #hayley marshall #hope mikaelson #keelin malraux #klaus mikaelson #marcel gerard #original groupies #the originals #vincent griffith

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puclpodcast · 7 years ago

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Pokemon Catch-Up: Looking Back At Season 1

Welcome to Pokemon Catch-Up and our special post where we look back at season 1. Pokemon Catch-Up is a post series where we look back at only the most important Pokemon episodes and follow Ash along in his journey per the Pokemon Fast Track Viewing List. Today, instead of covering an episode, we’ll jump into covering the entire season and discuss how Ash progressed, pick out the more interesting parts of the season, and what we have to look forward to.

A lot of Pokemon fans hold season 1 with a certain sense of nostalgia. Many revere it and honestly, it’s for a good reason that I’ll get into later on in the article.

One thing I’ll mention before moving forward will be that I’ll cover one more season 1 episode after this article, mainly because the episode is listed as season 2 in some lists and as season 1 in others. To me, this last episode is a great teaser for season 2 and a wonderful “bonus” episode for season 1 so that’s how we’ll treat it.

Without further ado, let’s talk about the season 1

What did Ash do?

Without listing off each episode, let’s jump into what happened in the season as a whole:

Ash received his first-ever Pokemon, a feisty little Pikachu. With this companion, he traveled the Kanto region. Along his journey, Ash met MANY friends, two of whom followed him through most of the journey: Misty and Brock.

Ash also met many new Pokemon, a few of which he caught. Among his closest companions are the three Kanto starters: Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle. Only Charmander evolved along the way.

Upon learning about the Pokemon League, Ash started battling gym leaders. He didn’t win each match the first time but he did beat the eight Kanto gym leaders, granting him the access to the Indigo Plateau Conference. There, Ash battled his best before losing his sixth match.

Every so often, our hero ran into his rival, a trainer by the name of Gary Oak. Gary was a fantastic trainer with a lot of ego but strength to back it up.

And in just about every episode, Ash also ran into the notorious Team Rocket who tried to steal Pokemon for their own evil purposes; however, Ash’s Pikachu blasted them into the next episode almost every single time.

“Exciting” is probably the best word I’d use to describe season 1 to everyone.

Note: we should also mention that the plot of MewTwo Strikes Back took place in season 1.

Ash’s Pokemon

Ash started out with a Pikachu, a Pikachu that hated the trainer and would not go into the ball. Spoiler alert: Pikachu never makes it into the ball. But Pikachu is not the only Pokemon Ash catches.

One thing to really point out here is that Ash has a “pattern” he follows that usually ends with Pokemon trusting him. He often screws something up, endangering the Pokemon along the way, and then he fixes it by sacrificing himself in some way. Let’s sound off real quick on all the Pokemon Ash caught.

Caterpie. Caterpie has the most heart-breaking story in season 1. It’s Ash’s first true catch. Caterpie shares its dream of becoming Butterfree with Pikachu by the moonlight on its first night with the boy. Ash helps Caterpie achieve its dreams by helping it evolve into Metapod and finally, Butterfree. It battles with heart.

However, during the episode “Bye Bye Butterfree“, Ash made the difficult choice of letting Butterfree go. I know that I, as a fan, cried during this scene and waited for Butterfree to return for several seasons before giving up. It was a heart-breaking moment and it demonstrated the deep connections with trainer and Pokemon. It also displayed Caterpie’s desire to be caught and trained.

Pidgeotto. Ash caught Pidgeotto just the next episode. The relationship between the two isn’t fully explored and so I’d say that Pidgeotto was very much a utility Pokemon for Ash. It fought hard, it got Ash out of a few jams, and it put out countless fires.

Bulbasaur. Whilst observing the Hidden Village, Ash befriended Bulbasaur who hated the trainer at first. In fact, the boy had to gain the Pokemon’s trust and even when Bulbasaur desired to accompany the hero, it requested a fair match first. Ash had to prove himself to Bulbasaur and that he would train it well. Bulbasaur was the first of the three Kanto starters that Ash caught.

Charmander. Charmander’s story is a heart-breaking one. Its original trainer abandoned it to die by telling it he’ll come back and making it stay in one place. And yes, to die! Charmander’s story is the first time we confront the idea of Pokemon death in the series. Ash and his friends obviously save it but even then, Charmander is reluctant to join Ash’s party. Again, Ash has to prove that it will take care of this abused Pokemon. The boy does so selflessly, caring less about his own team make-up and more about the Pokemon’s safety.

Charmander is the only Kanto starter that Ash evolves and it evolves all the way into a Charizard. Charizard’s own storyline is a fascinating one. In its case, Ash did not prove himself to be a worthy trainer in season 1. Charizard never follows orders or connects with Ash, even to its own detriment. It doesn’t actively want to leave, it just disrespects Ash. Charmander wasn’t enough for its trainer, and now, Ash is not enough for Charizard. The boy has to train himself harder and become a better trainer in order to gain Charizard’s respect but when will that happen?

Squirtle. Squirtle is a “bad boy” at first but through getting to know Ash, he chooses to follow Ash. In “Here Comes Squirtle Squad“, we learn more about the trainers that abandon their Pokemon. They are not “released” into the wild (in my mind) but they are simply left alone. The boy hero befriends their leader and earns Squirtle’s trust. Squirtle then joins Ash without a fight.We get a small glimpse into the dark side of the Pokemon world again. Charmander’s trainer was cruel, he told Charmander he’ll be back and never came back while Squirtle’s trainer is an unknown individual that left it outright. Ash and Squirtle develop a very close bond.

Krabby. Krabby is Ash’s seventh Pokemon and so it gets automatically transported to Oak’s lab. I think Krabby is a comic relief to some extent as it often shows up unexpectedly when Ash calls the Professor. Oak is very happy to have Krabby as a companion. It eventually evolves into the powerful Kingler during the Indigo League Conference. We don’t see much of it otherwise.

Muk. Muk joins the team somewhat reluctantly but becomes very affectionate quickly. Known for its hugs, Muk plays very well with everyone else and shows its true power during the Indigo League Conference.

A few honorable mentions. Ash had several Pokemon that temporarily joined him on his journey that he let go. I mentioned Butterfree exclusively because of its importance to Ash’s personal journey but its slot never gets permanently filled. Along the way, Ash gets to battle with Haunter and Primeape. He also catches MANY Tauros.

Ash’s Friends

Ash was off to a rough start at the beginning of the show but throughout, he became friends with many people. He gained respect of the Gym leaders, and he proved himself to not only Pokemon but to humans as well. All in all, Ash’s friendships always helped him move forward.

Misty. In the first couple of episodes, he quickly left a negative impression on Misty in particular, destroying her bike very early on. But she stuck with him and together, they became close friends. They traveled together through the entire season and they battled only once when Misty represented the Cerulean City Gym in the Water Flowers of Cerulean City.

If I recall correctly, Ash pretty much beat her before Team Rocket interrupted. And since then, she became more of a coach to Ash, advising him and guiding him through his battles. Misty had her own journey; however, we did not see much of it through the fast track viewing list. There was definitely some chemistry between the two characters but again, nothing really came of it.

Brock. Brock is still around, almost twenty seasons later. Ash and Brock first met when Ash challenged him to a battle at the Pewter City Gym where he lost at first and then Ash had to power through and win against Brock…through a technicality.

Brock’s own journey is an interesting one, too. He went from being a hardcore Gym leader to becoming a Pokemon Breeder. He cooks for the group, their Pokemon and he he heals the Pokemon, too. Just like Misty, he becomes Ash’s coach and helps him get better over time.

The trio became iconic and set up a standard for the rest of the show where Ash is usually flanked by two friends that focus on the Pokemon world without conflicting with Ash’s own journey to becoming a Pokemon master.

And while we rarely ever met other characters that Ash befriended in the Fast Track list, we did one more very important character.

Ritchie. Ritchie showed up for a handful of episodes all the way at the end but he exemplified a more refined version of Ash. A true friendly rival that could push Ash toward becoming a better trainer. Ritchie had his own Pikachu and even a Charmander. He was the perfect counterpart and when they battled, it showed where Ash excelled and where Ritchie did.

You see, Ash had powerful Pokemon including his Charizard but Ritchie had better control over his Pokemon which lead to Ritchie’s victory. Ash used cunning strategy and that’s where the trainers matched evenly.

The Rivalry

I already mentioned Ritchie and I think Ritchie is Ash’s true rival. Looking at later gens, the dual protagonist setup makes much more sense and shows up in Indigo League with Ritchie being the friendly rival whilst Gary being the unfriendly rival

Gary. Gary Oak shows up in the first episode and then pops in and out every so often. While he is very arrogant, he is also strong. I’d say he’s actually a bully but his poking and prodding of Ash gets the boy riled up enough to keep getting better.

Ash and Gary never end up having an all out epic battle you’d expect from other anime. In fact, they rarely ever clash. But Gary is always several steps ahead. When Ash is getting his eight badge, Gary already has ten. While Ash caught less than ten Pokemon, Gary had already caught dozens.

Eventually, we get some semblance of how they measure up against each other when Gary drops out a round prior to Ash at the Indigo League Conference.

Where to next?

We don’t yet know where Ash will head but he’s done with Kanto, there’s nothing left for him to do with the Indigo League Conference being over. But we should see pretty soon!

from Pokemon Catch-Up: Looking Back At Season 1

#pokemon #pucl #pokemon podcast #ORAS #nintendo #video games

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