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salmonthestoryteller · 3 years ago

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Okay, now for my complaints about RNM season 3 (C’mon, you knew they were coming!) Warnings for statements that could be considered Anti-Maria and Anti-Wyatt. I personally view it as being against the writing of certain plots, not necessarily the characters themselves, but forewarning for potential discourse.

I said it last season, and earlier on in this season, but I’ll say it again: Please stop making every side character a love interest or romantic foil. It truly lowers my interest in a character, and it can ruin a character - especially if the character lacks any sort of relevance to the main plots or interactions with the other characters. Both Steph and Forrest are examples of this. Honestly, I don’t think anything would have made Steph interesting, but the fact that she basically only existed to give Kyle a non-Liz romance and ended up keeping him disconnected from the main plots for a long stretch of season 2 because she was so non-plot relevant? Yeah, not a good look. Forrest, on the flip side, was a complete waste of what would have otherwise been a fascinating character. He first revealed useful information about the history of the Long Farm that ended up connected with the Pod Squad’s parents. He also had a lot of potential with his connection to both the Longs and Deep Sky to be a complex and interesting side character. But then he was demoted to romantic foil. He became nothing so much as Alex’s temporary love interest, there for the sole purpose of preventing Malex from getting together “too soon”, with what turned into an unnecessary and unexplained connection to Deep Sky that could have been provided completely by Eduardo in season 3. They didn’t even bother to bring him back for Wyatt’s badly written and unnecessary redemption plotline despite them being cousins and Forrest previously claiming he supposedly hung out with him and Kate in their childhood.

I felt the same disinterest in Heath in early season 3 as I felt for Steph in season 2. He seemed like nothing so much as a knock-off version of Kyle whose romance with Liz really didn’t serve any purpose aside from being a romantic foil to Echo. Honestly, not a single of the plot relevant parts of Heath and Liz in early s3 would have changed by having Heath be just a good friend and colleague rather than a love interest. Until the reveal of his friendship with Dallas, I was honestly annoyed by the reappearance of Heath into the plot. I held so little interest in his character until then.

Which brings me to Anatsa. Who is suffering from a really frustrating whiplash of this same issue. I really don’t understand the writing choice to basically introduce a character they were planning on having in a romance with Isobel by having her have a one night stand with Max. Honestly, if they wanted Isobel with an old fling of Max’s, Jenna Cameron already existed. (And already knows about the aliens, Project Shepherd, and Deep Sky.) At first I thought Anatsa was going to be another Echo foil, so I was pleasantly surprised when, instead, her one night stand with Max remained a one night stand, and instead her character focus seemed to shift to being plot relevant. Yay! And then, instead of having her continue to be involved with researching the mysteries in Roswell and become a potential danger/ally to the group, she’s turned into a love interest. Sure, we’re told she’s researching for a story, which is why her and Isobel break into Dallas’s office, but suddenly she just… what? Stops researching it? Never shows up anywhere else or interacts with other characters except in relation to Isobel and her romance for the rest of the season? Anatsa being in that scene is used solely for the purpose of furthering Isobel and her romance rather than her actual involvement in a plot being used to allow their romance to further.

And I can literally use Kybel as an example of the parallel. Because they gave us so much of Kyle and Isobel this season. Think of the scene between them while they work to save Dallas, Pretty plot relevant, right? Yet the moments between them exist inside this plot, rather than the moment being manufactured to further their romance. Kyle continues to interact with other characters, continues his own involvement in the plot. By comparison, Anatsa is left cooling her heels and only showing up to romance Isobel, twice specifically so Kyle and her don’t share a moment. Which makes her trend towards romantic foil even more than love interest. It’s really only the early parts of season 2 that prevent her from falling completely into that category. And that’s not good.

I feel like a traitor to my own sexuality, but I’m not feeling much interest in Isobel and Anatsa as a couple. First, after everything that happened with Noah, and between Echo and Malex and even Miluca, Isobel is really going to get serious with someone she’s lying to? Who she’s unwilling to share their secrets with? I don’t see it. Secondly, we didn’t even get any kind of on-screen build up of sexual and romantic tension between her and Isobel, we basically get a “tell, don’t show” with Maria suddenly shoving Isobel at Anatsa and claiming they had a moment. Not a fan of the lack of on-screen preface. It makes the whole thing feel very contrived rather than natural. Thirdly, I don't see them putting Kyle into another love triangle where he loses out in the end. Which means Isobel and Anatsa aren’t even going to be in a serious relationship? They’re, what, only together to be a romantic foil for Kybel? I’m so confused by these choices. Like Forrest before her, Anatsa could be so much more than a romantic foil, but the writers don’t seem interested in taking advantage of that. I have been dying for some w/w on RNM, and disappointed doesn’t even begin to cover how I feel about what they’ve given me.

To be honest, I already wrote a post about my struggles with the handling of Maria’s character. (Which involved my belief that she, too, was demoted from side character to romantic foil.) It doesn’t help that I heavily disliked season 2 Miluca. I liked Season 1 Miluca. Couldn’t stand season 2 Miluca. So putting Maria directly into another romance seemed an odd choice for me. And, to be honest, I felt like what they did to Gregory this season was very similar to what they did to Maria last season. He went from a side character who was relevant to the plot, to being a love interest. At least he escaped the romantic foil, since he did interact with other characters a handful of times and isn’t interfering with another potential romance. But there was no reason for him to not be more involved with the plot this season - especially in regards to Alex’s arc. We only got one conversation between the brothers in season 3. We got no scenes between them after Alex got involved with Deep Sky. I would have loved to see an interaction between him and Eduardo given his protectiveness towards Alex. He would have had words for Eduardo. (I like Eduardo, don’t get me wrong, but I definitely feel like Gregory would be suspicious of him.) And, honestly, as much as Jesse Manes deserved to die, I really would have liked more about Gregory’s struggles with killing his own father. Hell, given Michael’s breakdown about the same subject, we could have had an excellent interaction between Michael and Gregory on it. The lack of touching on that subject is a disservice to his character.

I feel like I could like Delmanes (That’s their ship name, right?), but a few things are in my way. One part is, as I said, Gregory, not getting more involved with the plot and lacking solo interactions with other characters. Hell, why wasn’t it him interacting with Max thanking him for looking out for Maria rather than Michael? Why wasn’t he more involved with Maria’s quest for having more visions? Jenna was Max’s season one love interest and Echos’s romantic foil, but still managed to have solo scenes with Jesse Manes, Alex and Kyle, and even Liz and Isobel. While it is true that Cameron is a character from Roswell High and her season one plot is directly taken from the novels (With the exception of her being romantically linked to Michael in the books rather than Max), if they could manage all that with her in season one, I don’t understand the lack of the same courtesy for Gregory in season 3. I would have also felt so much better and interested in Delmanes if even one scene between them was used to delve into Gregory’s backstory and struggles. Not just Maria’s. Balance is important, and the writers never seem to balance Maria’s romantic relationships well. So instead of using pretty much any of Gregory’s scenes to further his character, his scenes were almost all used specifically to move his “relationship” with Maria forward. And, yes there’s a reason for those quotes. I really wish they’d simply started the season with them already in a relationship, rather than having them get together during the season because - and I’m going to say it:

They do realize people that age date, right?

Like us older people, we still go to dinners, and movies, and art museums. We don’t just have a drink at a bar and hop into bed together and call it a relationship? They do know older people can properly date, right? Cuz I’m honestly getting a “older people don’t go on dates” vibe. I know they do know that, seeing as Echo got a date last season, and Liz got one with Heath this season, and Michael mentions to Isobel how he and Alex are going on their first real date in the season finale. But almost every relationship in the show just seems to skip that part. Miluca, Delmanes, Isobel and Anatsa (what’s their shipname, btw?) Technically even Malex and Echo skipped that part and didn’t go on dates until after getting together. (I mean, I guess we can count Echo’s desert trip at 17, but then they didn’t go on another date until Max had amnesia.) And, honestly? I’m starting to get pretty salty about that approach to older relationships. Sex is great, but so is actually taking time to get to know the other person first. To see if they’re worth putting yourself out there for. Healthy relationships, people. They really aren’t unsexy if you write them right.

Another thing I’m going to just say - the idea that Maria is the heart of the RNM Found Family is utter bullshit. It’s the writers trying desperately to sell an idea they haven’t bothered to put the effort into. You know what the “heart of a group” does? They're the ones others in the group rely on when they need help. They’re the ones who help protect and prop up their friends when they flounder. Who respect others capabilities and would never speak ill of them behind their backs. To their faces, maybe, but never behind their backs. Maria has not been that character since Season One ended. Period.

Do you know who is the heart of the RNM Found Family? Kyle Valenti.

Kyle is the one Liz first tells about the aliens. Who moves past his previous romantic feelings towards Liz to form a friendship with her and even checks in on her even after she leaves Roswell.

Kyle is the one who in season one apologizes to Alex for his past actions and forms a friendship that allows him to encourage him and support him in the following seasons.

Kyle is the one who helps save Isobel in season one despite his mixed feelings towards what happened with the murders and who continues to be a good friend to her and encourage her as the show progresses.

Kyle is the one who manages to move past his old rivalry with Max enough to work to save his life, to work with him to uncover what’s happening in season 2, and continues to look out for his health in season 3 - even when Max doesn’t want him to.

Kyle is the one who, despite a continued antagonistic relationship with Michael, shows respect for his skills regardless. From trusting the alien pacemaker he made to seeking him out for help in regards to the radio.

Kyle is the one who looks out for Maria’s health. Who is willing to go so far as risk his career to help her with her quest to have more visions. Despite being against her doing so as her doctor - he still supports her choice.

Kyle is the one who is shown to be there for Rosa multiple times the last couple seasons. Including when she was initially spiraling during season 2. And coming to her aid after she drugs Wyatt.

No amount of lip service for Maria can compete with the sheer number of scenes where Kyle is shown to care for and support the other characters. So, yeah, no, Maria is not and never can be the heart of this version of Roswell. That is and always will be Kyle.

This isn’t even about my own struggles with Maria’s characterization. They simply have not put in the effort for that claim. Her interactions with Max have been almost non-existent since season one. Her interactions with both Kyle and Michael have almost all been about them supporting her. After their scene together with Arizona, Maria did not support Michael’s character once until finding him stabbed at the end of season 3 - including their entire romantic relationship! The scenes between Kyle and Maria were scarce and equally slanted towards him supplying support for her rather than her for him. In season one, Maria and Alex’s interactions were evenly about checking in on each other’s well being, but since the start of season 2, Maria has done absolutely nothing to support Alex. Even her relationship with Liz suffered - with the writers not bothering to even write a full scene for their reconciliation in season 2 after their fight! Rosa and her were fleeced in season 2 - we never even got to see her give Rosa the necklace! The only real relationship of Maria’s that is developed properly on screen with a show of equal support of each other is her and Isobel! Don’t get me wrong, their scenes are excellent. But you can’t skip over every other relationship Maria has on screen and then try to sell us on this idea she has become irreplaceable in importance to the group. Especially in the same season she complained to Isobel of feeling left out! You can’t have it both ways!

Sigh. I don’t think I’ll ever love Maria’s character again like I did in season one. But, hey, the writers managed to make me hate Max a lot less this season, so anything is possible.

I have written no less than two posts (One. Two.) about my dislike of Wyatt’s amnesia plot. If they were dead set on doing this plot, however, they needed to do it correctly - and they didn’t. At all. How Wyatt is written? Hoo boy.

Look, hard facts. As someone who has literally taken management seminars on this sort of thing. People can be completely unaware of their own prejudices. They will make statements or form opinions that they have no idea are based on prejudice. Until someone smacks them across the face with it. And that is people raised in, as much as I hate the use of the word, “normal” environments. Who weren’t subjected to racist beliefs from a young age. Before they were even old enough to form their own opinions.

And, yes, people can overcome these types of upbringings. They can go out in the world and realize their family beliefs are wrong. They can do better. But it takes time and effort. And they will find themselves messing up and making mistakes. Thinking or even saying the wrong things.

Wyatt is not written like that. At all. He is written as some pure innocent character completely without prejudice. As if he’s unaware and horrified by its very existence. That’s… wrong. It’s insulting even. Wyatt, even if he was a friend of Rosa’s in the past who had been working to escape his family’s beliefs, would be fully aware of prejudice. Of the terrible things his family and others like them do. He would still mess up and probably say the wrong thing and need someone to call him on it.

In my opinion, this plot should never have been bothered with at all, not for Wyatt. To me his previous actions were too far down a road of violence that speaks of something psychological being wrong with him. People can become assholes. Even prejudice assholes. But that isn’t the same as being violent. That definitely isn’t the same as being an unrepentant murderer. And the way they have written this plot has taken it from bad to absolute worst case scenario.

So, yeah, my biggest complaint about season 3 is Wyatt. And how absolutely wrong it was to write this arc at all. Let alone the way it has been written.

And, seriously, seriously, if they do not give me a Flint Manes redemption arc after making me put up with this Wyatt Long bullshit, I will never stop complaining about it.

#roswell new mexico #meta #character thoughts #discourse #spoilers

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qqueenofhades · 4 years ago

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DARKLINA!!!! Ahhhh! Like I shipped them so bad form the beginning, I had no idea what happed after cause I have never read the books, but damn they have so much chemistry!!!!! And I was so sad that they were not going to be a trying!!! 😭🥺

I mean... like....

She's the Sun Summoner. He is the Shadow Summoner. Light/dark, Persephone/Hades, queen/king, hero/villain, You Are The Other Half of Me/There Is Nobody Like Us. There is angst and desire and trash and "we are on opposite sides now but still drawn to each other anyway." There is the whole "we want to protect the Grisha but have fundamentally different ideas how to do that." There is them both being pretty people (and obviously Ben Barnes) and him being an ancient immortal sorcerer who just goes around simping so hard on her at All times (and we approve). Like. What were we SUPPOSED TO DO?!??!

Also, there is definitely plenty of stuff that is not going to make me ship them any less yet to come (he can visit her at night alone in his chambers which are now hers, she sleeps in his bed, there are more kisses and almost kisses, psychic connection, she uses his power after he uses hers, etc) and I'm over here sitting atop my cranky Make More Villains Love Interests You Cowards hill and shouting at clouds. Like no, it absolutely does not work out in the books, but also, they said they were gonna change things, I'm still shipping them no matter literally what happens, and that's that.

Also... Mal is just...boring? I'm sorry, but he is. He is a perfectly nice match for Alina in real life (though he develops serious Wyatt s2 syndrome in book 2 -- if you don't know the reference this is not a good thing), and he is acceptably sweet in the show, but he is not really that interesting of a character. He grew up with Alina and they have a childhood crush on each other and he's a good tracker. Like that is... pretty much all we know about him (as I said in some tags earlier, he only exists as a corollary of her story and her needs, while Aleksander exists dynamically entirely separate from Alina). She starts and ends in pretty much the same place with him and loses her powers and goes back to live on a farm with him in obscurity? Nah son. Give me the epic romance and drama and FANTASY and darkness and other stuff that is much more complex and interesting. Give me Alina/Aleksander and make it messy and passionate and twisted and escapist. I don't need my fiction to be real life. That's the whole goddamn point.

Anyway, I have a whole other rant on how the "villains/antiheroes don't get to have love interests because it is a reflection of how love interests are treated in media as a reward for 'good people' and treating morally grey people as nonetheless human and capable of love is too scary and complicated for those in need of neatly packaged Moral Messages" thing almost always gets in the way of the really most interesting ships, heh, but yes. Anyway, Darklina Rights, there is always fic and I am planning to write more of it for them myself, I'm super used to ignoring canon that I simply do not vibe with, and that is just that.

#anonymous #ask #darklina

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captainpikeachu · 4 years ago

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So having recently rewatch the first Cap movie for my MCU rewatch, I have so much feels about the ways many things about Steve in this film actually echoes John’s story in TFATWS.

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Steve: Bucky, come on! There are men laying down their lives. I got no right to do any less than them. That’s what you don’t understand. This isn’t about me. Bucky: Right. Cause you got nothing to prove.

In a way, Steve did have something to prove, to prove that he could do his part for the war effort and not be left behind, forgotten, considered worthless, and not given a chance. He fights to have the chance to prove himself. In this way so did John. John comes into the story with a chip on his shoulder, to prove that he could live up to the legacy and the mythology set by Steve. His chance to prove that he could do the right thing and help people.

The thing is though, Erskine did give Steve a chance to prove himself, he believed in Steve and had faith. John never really had someone who would fight for him and believe in him on his behalf to others.

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Phillips: Hodge passed every test we gave him. He’s big, he’s fast, he obeys orders. He’s a soldier. Erskine: He’s a bully. Phillips: You don’t win wars with niceness, doctor. You win war with guts.

I know that everyone consistently compares John to Hodge, that John is what Erskine was afraid of happening and what would have been if Hodge had been given the serum. But that surface level comparison is misleading at best, because when Phillips throws that fake grenade to test everyone’s guts, Hodge runs away. John would have jumped on the grenade just like Steve did. John wouldn’t have hesitated. Hodge was a bully who purposefully tried to mess with Steve in training and mocking him. John didn’t purposefully try to mess around with anyone, he only ever just wanted to do his duty just like Steve did. In fact, John has far more in common with Steve than he ever does with Hodge.

Phillips said that you win war with guts, and Steve jumping on that grenade showed that he had guts, this links directly to John's comments while doing that GMA interview, he specifically brings up that he may not have flashy gadgets or super-strength but that he has guts and that’s what Captain America always had and needed. And John does have guts, nobody earns 3 Medals of Honor without having guts.

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Erskine: The serum amplifies everything that is inside. So, good becomes great. Bad becomes worse. This is why you were chosen. Because a strong man, who has known power all his life, will lose respect for that power. But a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows compassion.

This comment from Erskine is often used by fandom to show why John is the wrong choice as opposed to Steve. He’s the bad that becomes worse or the strong man who has had power all his life. But that interpretation is only there if you take everything Erskine says to be a binary choice of good and bad. It’s this automatic assumption that because John is not Steve, then he has to be the bad. Except John is really the middle ground. He has light and darkness within him, it’s a constant civil war, the serum didn’t just amplified everything bad to become worse, it also amplified the good in him to become great. The interpretation that John is a representation of only “bad becomes worse” plainly ignores John’s decision in Episode 6 to let go of revenge to save people. This choice was made AFTER he got the serum, if he is only bad that becomes worse, then he wouldn’t have saved those people. By saving those people, John shows that the serum doesn’t simply work on a binary standard, just like people aren’t binary of only good and only bad. John’s story deepens what the first Cap movie set up about how the serum works, and shows a story progression that is very much like how in real life as kids, we are first taught those fairy tale stories of good versus evil, but we grow up and learn the world is more complex and that people aren’t just one thing or another.

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Senator Brandt: With all due respect to the Colonel, I think we may be missing the point. I’ve seen you in action, Steve. More importantly, the country’s seen it. Paper. The enlistment lines have been around the block since your picture hit the newsstands. You don’t take a soldier, a symbol like that, and hide him in a lab. Son, do you want to serve your country on the most important battlefield of the war? Steve: Sir, that’s all I want. Senator Brandt: Then, congratulations. You just got promoted.

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Steve: I don’t know if I can do this. Brandt’s Aide: Nothing to it. Sell off a few bonds, bonds buy bullets, bullets kills Nazi’s. Bing bang boom. You’re an American hero. Steve: It’s just not how I pictured getting there.

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Peggy: I understand you’re "America’s New Hope"? Steve: Bond sales take a ten percent bump in every state I visit. Peggy: Is that Senator Brandt I hear? Steve: At least he’s got me doin’ this. Phillips would have had be stuck in lab. Peggy: And these are your only two options? A lab rat or a dancing monkey? You were meant for more than this, you know?

Steve’s desire for service and duty being manipulated by politicians to sell bonds is the exact same scenario as John’s desire for service and duty being manipulated by politicians to make him the new Captain America. It’s even echoed by Val’s continued manipulations in using John’s loyalty to service and country into getting him to do what she wants.

Steve was nervous, reluctant, and unsure of going on stage to perform. We saw the same concerns that John had in that locker room before his big interview. Neither Steve nor John wanted the fame and pageantry, they just wanted to do the job, they just wanted to help, but both having to accept that the “dancing monkey” aspect came with the job description.

But Steve breaks free of the confines of others’ demands of him because Peggy not only points out that he has other options, but also because it was in that moment he discovered that Bucky was either missing or dead and he could do something about it. If Steve wasn’t having that conversation with Peggy, if Steve hadn’t heard that Bucky was missing, then he might have just stayed with the USO tours and been a dancing monkey his whole life. Circumstances arose in Steve’s favor, and he had people who believed in him helping him to get to the goals that he wanted. John on the other hand lost the one person who did have faith in him and there was no way to bring Lemar back, and Val swooped in at the exact right time to give a lost and in-mourning person the opportunity to feel like not everything had been lost.

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Senator Brandt: I am honored to present this medal for valor to my personal friend, Captain America!

This is an interesting moment because I don’t know if this “medal for valor” is a Medal of Honor or not, but if it was, then it makes Steve’s story and John’s story even more of a similar parallel.

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Private Lorraine: I read about what you did. Steve: Oh! The…yeah! Well, that’s you know? Just doin’ what needed to be done. Private Lorraine: Sounded like more than that. You saved nearly four hundred men.

When Natalie Dormer’s character comments on how Steve was able to save nearly 400 men and get them back alive, all I could think about was Lemar’s line to John in Episode 4, “think of all the lives we could have saved that day if we had that serum.”

If John and Lemar had the serum on the day of the event that gotten John his Medals of Honor, maybe everyone could have made it back alive, maybe it wouldn’t have been the worst day of John’s life, maybe he wouldn’t have looked at those medals like badges of failure because he couldn’t save everyone.

And it also reminded me of comments from Wyatt Russell during an interview where he mentions that John was in the service while Steve was still operating as Captain America and going around to save the day, but Captain America never saved the day for John. In a way, there is almost a sense of resentment, that Captain America could save the day for everyone else, but John still had to fight through the horrors of war and find a way to survive on his own and protect his men, all without the serum, without Captain America’s help.

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Peggy: He damn well must have thought you were worth it.

Peggy’s comments to Steve about how Bucky must have thought Steve was worth dying for just reminds me of how Lemar jumped in to tackle Karli and stop her from killing John, all knowing of the risks to his own life, because Lemar definitely thought that John was worth dying for.

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Anyways, these were just some of the moments that really jumped out at me in regards to how Cap 1 laid a very interesting foundation for what would be John’s story in TFATWS. This is why I love doing occasional rewatches, it really makes you look at the story in new ways when there’s new information that recontextualizes the film.

#john walker #steve rogers #lemar hoskins #wyatt russell #the falcon and the winter soldier #captain america the first avenger #marvel #mcu #tfatws #tfatws meta #marvel meta #mcu meta

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infinitecrime · 4 years ago

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Spoiler free TFATWS Episode 5 review:

Another very solid episode. A huge amount of pay off for many of the various subplots at play and a great progression of the overall story. Some conversations that really needed to be had were finally had and it was immensely satisfying. Other than a strong opening action sequence, this episode was mainly character and dialogue focussed, which I think is going to upset some of the fanboys, but for me it might have been the strongest episode yet.

Spoiler heavy review:

Writing/Plot:

The opening fight was fantastically choreographed and heart breaking in a lot of ways. The acting was noteworthy which is rare for a fight scene where people normally phone it in or we don’t really see much of their expressions because they’re stunt doubles. I’m glad this was the only real action this week - it felt nice to get a break and return to character and plot driven scenes.

Overall this episode was just really satisfying in terms of plot progression and pay off. We resolved Bucky’s beef with Wakanda, Zemo’s fate, Bucky and Sam not seeing eye to eye, Isaiah’s story, Sam’s issues with the shield, and closure for Lemar’s family. We’ve progressed Sam and Sarah’s money/boat issues and whatever the fuck Sharon and Batroc have going on. Next week we’re setting up to give Yori some closure and put an end to John and the Flagsmashers.

Even the Flagsmashers, who we barely saw, got more development than it seems they have for a while - we now know they are all in on criminal behaviour, are willing to kill, have a distinct target (the GRC), and a distinct goal (stop the Patch), and have a mini army to do it with.

The vibe of this episode was just... soft, which is surprising for a hyper masculine superhero bro show. The whole community coming together to help the Wilson’s and Bucky being inducted into the family was just so wholesome. Even the Isaiah scenes, heart wrenching as they were, would have been intercut with violent and graphic torture flashbacks under some other director, but Kari knew that the story was powerful and upsetting enough on it’s own.

Sam:

Sam and Sarah are just amazing. Really really hope we see her in future Marvel properties. It's so nice to see the perspective of someone so grounded in a world of wizards and shit. I love that he seems to tell her everything and values her advice just as much if not more than that of soldiers and superheroes.

Watching him grapple with Steve and Bucky’s expectations of him vs Isaiah’s expectations of him vs Sarah’s expectations of him vs his own wants and needs was very impactful, and in the end, he’s going to honour them all and pick up the shield, but on his own terms, as his own man, because he wants to, not because some old men told him to/not to.

Sam finally got some of those deeply emotional beats that I have been hoping for this whole time, which gives Anthony a chance to really flex his acting muscles. He’s great at subtlety but he really shines in this episode now the writing has allowed him to. Everything with Isaiah and the scene of him wiping blood off the shield was so raw.

Isaiah, who gets his own section this week:

God, his entire section was so powerful and well done. I’m so glad he came back and we got to learn more about his story and his situation. I’m so glad it was explicitly addressed what was done to him, why it was done, how it affects Sam and his perception of the shield, how it affected his family, and how he still carries all that trauma to this day. I’m so glad it was a one on one between them.

Carl Lumbly was absolutely fantastic and Anthony played off of him wonderfully. The injustice and pain is so stark in this scene. I would love to see more of him in the future but I also want him to be able to finally rest.

Isaiah did exactly what Steve did. Went against express orders to do the right thing and saved a group of POW's that the top brass had written off as expendable. In return, Steve got his fake Captain title made real, a fancy new shield, and was lauded as a hero. Isaiah was imprisoned, tortured, experimented on, and treated as a criminal. For the same. damn. thing.

I was perplexed in previous weeks about people condemning Bucky for not telling anyone about Isaiah, when doing so would have disturbed his well earned peace and put him in extreme danger. In this episode we get the confirmation that Bucky’s choice was right: Isaiah is legally dead and in hiding and the government don't know he's alive. He wants to be left alone ("Leave me dead, my name is buried") and that’s more important than what Sam wants or what you think Bucky should have done. It’s up to Isaiah; and Bucky (and later Sam) respected his wishes.

Bucky:

Ayo calling Bucky White Wolf, telling him to steer clear of Wakanda “for the moment” but not forever, and making Sam a vibranium Cap suit shows he’s fully forgiven. To be honest, they likely don’t have an extradition treaty with Germany so they actually never would have gotten their hands on Zemo if Bucky hadn’t broken him out, so they’re probably happier with him than they let on right now.

The Zemo-Bucky relationship and the grudging respect and understanding they have for each other is so interesting. I honestly don’t believe this is the last we’ll see of Zemo. He’s straddling the anti-hero/villain divide and he’s just so fascinating. Bucky getting his closure with Zemo and showing him that he isn’t the weapon Zemo treated him as was powerful, although I don’t think Zemo actually thought he would kill him. He knows that Bucky wasn’t corrupted by the serum, and even admitted as much.

Fighting John with the shield must have given him flashbacks to the helicarrier fight with Steve which can’t have been pleasant. The pure rage on his face at seeing the shield misused was clear here.

Seeing him helping the Wilson’s and being integrated into the community and the family in a way he hasn’t had since the Howling Commandos (and even then, they were at war) was just so, so sweet and wholesome. And his boat fixing skills corroborated my science nerd/mechanic Bucky headcanons.

Bucky and Sarah lightly flirting is very cute and I would like to see that relationship be developed more.

It was nice to see him explicitly apologise and recognise why Sam didn’t want the shield, as well as explaining why he reacted the way he did. I don’t understand the people saying it wasn’t good enough at all - it was a clear and sincere apology and completely proportional to the actual offence, which was not quite understanding a perspective that he wasn’t really equipped to immediately understand. He doesn’t need to beg or plead - just acknowledge his ignorance, say sorry, and improve, which he did. Sam was perfectly happy with it and accepted the apology, his gift, and his help on the boat. Drama over nothing as per usual amongst the Bucky antis.

I still wish they would be more explicit about Steve’s fate and how they both feel about it, but I liked the scene we got.

Other characters:

“You built me.” - Wyatt is extremely good at mining sympathy out of an otherwise unsympathetic character. As much as I hate him, I did feel for him in the courthouse scene and with Lemar’s parents. He's an example of the veterans that are exploited until they crack then left in the dust as damaged goods when they do. I’ve been so, so impressed with Wyatt and the nuance and complexity and sympathy he’s managed to inject into the character. In anyone else’s hands he would be a two dimensional power crazed villain, but in Wyatt’s he’s a lot more than that.

Val is intriguing. Skrull? HYDRA? Power Broker? Something new entirely?

I wish John’s wife got a name. This is the second love interest minor female character (after the bartender) without an onscreen name, unless I missed it.

I am still somewhat perplexed by Sharon. Is she a double agent? A triple agent? Is she the Power Broker? Is she against the Flagsmashers, or with them, or only out for herself and against everyone? I’m not sure how this can all be resolved in only one episode but I guess we’ll find out. I wonder if she’s being set up for a future project. Is she a Skrull?

I knew Batroc would be back when we didn’t explicitly see him die - is he being used by Sharon without his knowledge for some other purpose, or does she genuinely not give a fuck if he kills Sam?

Nice to see Torres and to see that he has an obvious crush on both Sam AND Bucky. He’s for sure swooping into the final battle next episode having fixed Sam’s wings.

Is the inclusion of Eli Bradley setting him up for a future Young Avengers series, or is he just a nice comic cameo and nothing more?

Lemar's parents had me tearing up. Fuck Walker for lying to them but at least he gave them some closure I guess? Poor Lemar. He deserved so much more and we deserved more of him.

Fuck John Walker and his fake shield.

#tfatws #the falcon and the winter soldier #tfatws spoilers #tfatws meta #a day late because yesterday was a mess #but lots of thoughts on this one

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holyjareau · 4 years ago

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imo, the show was often unilaterally focused on Piper, but only on what she could do for others (Piper the wife and Piper the mother) rather than who she was as a person. Piper's individual characterization was lost sometime around s5 as soon as she got pregnant, and being a mother and wife pretty much became her sole defining characteristic for the rest of the series. I would be very interested to hear what you define as Piper's mental issues/trauma, bc as you say it doesn't get said enough

this has been in my inbox forever and i’m just getting around to it so my apologies.

but okay. so. yes. i think a lot of tv shows fall into this weird place where like. all of their characters begin with these kinda vague personalities because you’re just getting to know them. and as the show goes on, you pick up more pieces and stuff . and that’s great. that’s interesting and entertaining and it takes you on a journey and all. but often what happens is many shows fall into this pit where writers either get lazy, they change, or whatever, and the actors are tired of playing the part or whatever . and like. the characters become like. caricatures of themselves. and it just gets exhausting to watch because they’re not like. real people anymore.

Piper's individual characterization

so now for the charmed thing. so from the beginning. i have loved piper. like she’s the middle sister, overlooked, quiet, reserved, pessimistic but also realistic, gentle, thoughtful, all that. we see right away that she loves to cook .. she’s so happy her family is back together. she kept in touch with phoebe behind prue’s back. but she’s loyal to the both of them. her first idea was to have a reunion dinner when phoebe came home. she’s literally so cute n she deserves a hug. but no like. as we go on, we see that she wants to be good, she wants a stable life with no more loss, she Loves Love !! like. she wants to just be happy , open her own restaurant n just cook. she’s also so shy .. definitely panicky and anxious. and she doesn’t trust herself. she’s skeptical of everything, and she’s very thoughtful when it comes to big situations. even in the early days with leo and into season 2, she mentioned a few things about like “i’ve been thinking a lot about this...” and you can see she’s good at communicating with people. she’s also got these other dimensions to her like . she is interested in lots of cuisine types, she loves to read (and is a camus fan !!) , she drives a jeep (which i wanna know how she got bc i have questions), when she found out she was a witch her first thought was just . i need to go and see if i am still a good person . and she went to church. prue was surprised to learn that piper enjoys knitting. in the early seasons (especially mid-late season 3) we saw her with her plants and all. she’s just this natural peacekeeper. but like. we literally got a crying scene in the second episode because she was so conflicted about this. and she’s such a deep and complex character that i fell in love with so fast . and like . literally my favourite fictional character to exist . genuinely holly breathed so much life into piper . anyway . so. here’s the thing.

being a mother and wife pretty much became her sole defining characteristic for the rest of the series

like. piper was who i described above. and like . i kinda think . a bit. that like . the writers . especially in s4 . were like . hmm well . she’s just lost prue, she’s gonna be grieving . and like we need more for her. so. she’s been married to leo for the better part of a year, been with him for like . 3 years. so. let’s maybe consider giving them a kid but not just yet . just Content kinda stuff. so anyway they drop little hints in here and there starting in like . 4x07 i think? which . brain drain really paid the rent . fully just. holly did so well. but like. that ep was just. a neat way of looking into her mind and seeing the horrors of manipulation and gaslighting and everything . and of course holly knocked it out of the park. but at that point, they were kinda like . hmm . kids ? and they started toying with the idea, having piper and leo consider it, talk about it, they had paige and phoebe ask about it , all of that good stuff. as you do. made for some funny tv at some points. and like . i really, really Get It . when piper’s like . ahh the baby wouldn’t be safe around here !!!! like. Girl, Valid . your sister just died and like . you went on forever about how she was The Most Powerful One . The Strongest One . and yet she still died . so she’s like ??? am i next ?? and like obv it doesn’t make sense for her to jump on this train of like . i’m gonna have a kid !!!! so she’s really valid in her thought process there. and like. after having wyatt . i think the writers really . idk. couldn’t do waaay too much with her character anymore because i feel like . to an extent, anything she does will be scrutinized bc i’m not just . saying this . i rlly feel like sometimes piper’s the easiest to hate. like idk why but i loved her. but anyway. if she stays at home with wyatt and doesn’t wanna fight demons n all . then she’s selfish towards her sisters n she’s awful n prue wouldn’t have let her do that !!!! etc . but if she fought demons it’s like . uh sweetie you have a child . really ??? why put yourself in a situation that might have you ending up like patty 2.0 ... bc i could do a Whole post on how patty’s situation messed piper up the most. but anyway.

it’s the way i’m fully rambling so if you’re reading this . i love you . anyway okay . so . i think in a tv show you’ve gotta kinda check boxes. the best tv shows have characters you see yourself in . you relate to them. you hear them and understand their decisions and actions and thoughts. the things they do just makes sense 2 you. so like. with prue, anyone married to their job could relate to her. any oldest sibling could see themselves in her, you know ? she was hard-working, committed, logical, protective. and with phoebe, anyone who couldn’t “settle down” in their early 20s related 2 her, anyone who felt like the outcast of the family, the “screw-up” .. right. makes sense. she was so kind, caring, had-your-back kinda girl. we all love those. paige was like . the new kid, trying to fit in, creative, curious, and definitely a lifelong learner. and then there’s piper who was shy, resistant, really just wanted to be normal. and loved. and i think everyone could kinda identify with at least one of the sisters regardless of where you stood in your own family. so as the show went on, it’s like . they still want you to keep watching and keep being able to identify with them because it’s not like they’re humans with normal lives so they’ve already kinda lowkey got that going against them . so their more “human” and normal lives... we’ve gotta be able to identify with them to be able to invest time. so they had prue always working, having trouble balancing love and work, looking out for her family. we had phoebe kinda living her life, getting her career going, then kinda wanting a family. we had paige learning magic and being super interested and involved and then getting married. and we had piper who had her career pretty early on, got married, and had kids. like. i think the big thing is the marriage and kids. and when you’re a mother . the only mother really in the show, the show lowkey centres around you . like. for starters, the show usually is in the manor, and if you’re a mother, you’re very likely at home, esp with young kids. so i think that alone kinda was like . huh yeah . won’t see piper out waaay too much anymore i guess !!! but no like . there’s That. that’s kinda. the thing that really can’t change with the show . like. piper’s got kids now and a husband and very, very likely . her life will be centred around her home. which. listen she’s wanted that i think - the stability . she’s wanted that forever. and this is the form it came in. but i should stop rambling here and cut to the point .

Piper's mental issues/trauma

disclaimer: i’m not diagnosing her, i’m just speculating based off of my own experiences with mental health

so. okay. very early on. we saw that anxiety. like. yes . she was nervous about like a whole new life experience . or whatever we’re gonna call it when you figure out you’re a witch . but like she was Anxious . like. crying in the attic over being a bad person . needing phoebe to talk her down by telling her she’s such a caring person, she’s always doing things for other people . and then there’s the whole anxiety that comes with. my family’s falling apart because my sisters are fighting so i use really awkward methods of getting out of things . like using humour as a coping mechanism !!! which. gave us some iconic one-liners. but that’s beside the point . anyway. point is. early on, that anxiety was there. there’s an ep in season 1 where she’s literally entering a panic attack in her kitchen and phoebe’s using a menu to cool her down. like. Yikes! and then she’s just. her awkward self around everyone but that’s endearing and is just part of her personality . and i think a lot of the anxiety stemmed from childhood. we heard a few times about how prue and phoebe had boyfriends growing up, were always pretty and popular and all. phoebe was popular, too, just, in the other crowd. but nonetheless, piper faded into the background, doing well in math - well enough to go off and be a banker . and like. she sacrificed a lot for grams. she stayed in san francisco ... we all know the girl had the marks for stanford or something . like. though . still, i think she liked the stability of home and prob would’ve stayed . but in 3x17 she’s all !!! grams !!! the doctor said no caffeine !!! and when grams was taking the pic of them outside and she had an episode , piper was all !!!! shallow breaths !!! like. it was clear piper was the one taking her to the appointments and footing the bill. like. she literally became a banker just bc it had benefits n stuff. like. poor girl really thought . anyway that’s a whole spiral. but no. like she really sacrificed The Most for her family and everyone still thought she was selfish for wanting to move out . when like back then grams was literally ... sick ... and prue was out here moving out and phoebe was nowhere to be found . so. that . definitely would have added to her anxiety about even wanting to do anything for herself because she’ll be perceived as selfish in a heartbeat. even if it’s not Mean . it’s just. she’d never risk it. but there’s the anxiety. there are a few lil things here n there about how she gets nervous n stuff, she represses things (3x07 i think was where phoebe said piper represses her anger n just sucks it up n does whatever) . she literally cancelled her doctor’s appointment Twice . anyway. it still angers me. then in season 7 . patty and victor were like . oh she had night terrors that were so bad we took her to the doctor ! and i just ... honey . baby. she thought she caused the divorce. at 4? 5? she watched victor leave on her 5th birthday, watched a demon attack her, grams, and victor. prue said she didn’t cry at patty’s funeral and i’ll make a safe bet that piper did. and i think growing up without patty was strange for sure. prue had more memories and phoebe had none. and piper had fragments of this person everyone loved . and she was stuck between knowing her and not knowing her. and when patty was sent to her for her wedding day, (as well as in 1x17) . both times when patty hugged them . prue and phoebe hugged her, eyes closed n all. while piper was on the outside, eyes open . looking numb as all hell . and you know. i rlly think she was Giving Them That because phoebe didn’t get her and prue kinda . in a way. lost more of her . if that makes sense ?? and i just. patty really was like . they sent me to You. and 5 seconds later . piper’s like . they sent mom to Us !!! and it’s that idea of sacrifice and never having anything for yourself because she was never just . given anything for herself . everything in her life has been a sacrifice and as a mother, that’s perpetuated. she can assume that role with more of a purpose . like. people won’t really feel sorry for her now as the “forgotten” sister, they won’t try and coddle her or anything. and another thing. control. piper craved stability and control. i think while cooking was something she loved, it also gave her a lot of control . she could control her whole kitchen . even in season 8 .. maybe vaya con leos actually . leo mentioned how much piper craves control. and the control motif makes sense with her powers too. like. piper craved control so much that her powers allowed her to control things down to the atom. so there’s the whole anxiety and needing to control things to ease her anxiety and all. there’s That whole thing.

and then we get to the infamous season 5 fearless spell . ms girl really sat in the attic just writing everything on the wall and it’s the way i screenshotted it and like . zoomed in and tried deciphering it . and like . there’s words like “stop” and i think “sister” is in there a few times, so is “loss” or “lost”. when i watch it next i’ll grab a cap because it’s . disturbing. girl was so scared . literally was writing a spell to get rid of her fears . she also writes Fear . as in. capital F . and like. yeah that’s deep but i do it too like i emphasize words with a capital letter . and like holly marie combs might just have quirky n fun writing but like ... capital F . for Fear. for real . that’s . trauma !!! and she also was having panic attacks at the beginning of season 5. let’s not forget those. which ... we should’ve gotten more of an explanation for . i hope that girl is getting help bc she was Going Through It . and in season 7 when zankou reads her diary . firstly. we Knew this girl kept a diary like . for Sure . she did. and just that little excerpt of when prue died . oops. i’d pay big money to see the rest because again i just think she’s got such a complex mind and like. i’d be so interested to read that. and i think everything re: prue is just Awful for her. like . idk if this is just something quirky i noticed but obv we know prue died in may 2001 . but at the end of 4x03, when piper goes 2 paige’s work 2 bring her muffins !! soft !!! the calendar on one of the desks reads july 2001 ... and i really just. ms girl. i Know they prob just filmed the ep in july but it honestly tracks that she’d be so awfully upset about everything and just . barely able to do anything but cook . for 2 months. like. honey. baby. i wanted 2 just cuddle her bc she was so sad. and like. she tells paige she’s having “good hours” and “not so good hours” . she’s going by the Hour . by the Hour . just. need i say more . i’m so . but no like. if anything like i could see her having like . depression where she’s high-functioning and like just . walking depression i guess ?? like . not even after prue. i think in general. like . she definitely has a melancholic temperament and a type 6 enneagram (the skeptic). that’s For Sure . but i think. just. she’s always just had time to think bc she’s always alone, reading, knitting, cooking, tending to her plants, all that. and i just . think. she has issues. and i think prue knew that. of all people. and i think her knowing that . and then dying. destroyed piper. she lost the last person that was truly a constant in her life . like they shared a roof over their heads forever. and then she was just . gone . and piper was suddenly left to pick up the pieces . and become the oldest sister . and i’m So glad she didn’t fully assume her personality. i’m glad she stayed as piper . just. she’s more cynical and snarky and defensive and cold and that’s okay. she’s hurting. she’s always gonna hurt . and i think it makes her human . she’s pessimistic and sad and has a short fuse at times . but just. again. i love her to bits and i think those issues make her more relatable for me. because while many like to say she became selfish and a negative person and just . awful to be around . i’d say the opposite . i won’t sit and apologize or justify things. also i don’t think piper’s done anything wrong . i just think she’s hurt. she’s been wronged so many times. and she’s .... scared. i think she’s scared . and in season 5 “sympathy for the demon” we learn her true biggest fear is her happiness being stolen away. and like . it’s not that she’s scared she won’t be happy. she’s scared all of the good she’s got will be taken from her . and that’s . terrifying . so . i see why she’s so snarky and bitter and tired and all . she’s terrified of things being taken from her like they have been her whole life. and as i watch the show i really like to just keep that in mind as i get further and further in because yes. she did become a mother and a wife and we saw her arguing with leo a lot and their marriage falling apart and That Whole Era . we saw how it kind of took over her life but i think it happens . i think she even said at one point . i’ve been so many things to so many people, i don’t know who i am anymore . and i think it sums her up perfectly. she doesn’t know who she is because she’s someone to everyone . she’s just. nobody to herself except this scared little girl who just wants Something . Anything . to make sense . some Stability . and her babies, her husband, and her sisters . are all she has for that idea of stability to make sense in her mind. and it was an easy hole to fall into - the Mother - but i think she jumped in. because at the Very Least . nobody could take that title away from her . regardless of how hard they tried .

#i really cannot believe i did an entire ted talk #like did anyone actually read this #if you did . wow #piper halliwell deserved better #tw: mental health #tw: depression #tw: anxiety #tw: panic attack #but no listen #she deserved so much better #holly paid rent #ask me #charmed #ramble #💌

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falconwintersoldier1x03eng · 4 years ago

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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier 1x03 Season 1 Episode 3 watch Series TV online

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier 1x03 Season 1 Episode 3 online - https://bit.ly/3sJoHD8

Symbols are becoming increasingly central to superhero fiction, as the power and meaning of modern and classic images, heroes and structures continue to plague commentators and audiences in reality. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier contribute to this speech, as it continues in S1E2 to frame the entire series around not only the Captain America shield, but what the idea of the American hero as a symbol represents. The episode begins with a jazzy orchestral version of 'Star-Spangled Man', which sounds like a hot metal band 8, first heard in Captain America: The First Avenger (and written by supreme composer Alan Menken) as a propagandist representation Captain America's strength and heroism. "Who is strong and brave, is here to save the American Way?" sing the line of choristers as Steve Rogers parades on stage. "Who swears to fight like a man for what is right night and day?" It is intentionally stimulating and, of course, full of inherent stereotypes, fallacies and contradictions, but it works clearly in the context of the American moment in World War II, launching itself to destroy the “idiots of Berlin”. There is a reason, however, that music was avoided once Steve was unveiled these days and why she returns in a new form here, even borrowing the title of the episode (“The Star-Spangled Man”) from him . That reason is John Walker (Wyatt Russell), the new Captain America, briefly revealed at the end of the 'New World Order' as an encapsulation of the changes that the Falcon and the Winter Soldier are undergoing as a series. To the credit of the Malcolm Spellman series, Walker is immediately more than a cipher and an empty image. We spend time with a man who seems to be aware of the legacy of the shoes he is stepping on and comes with his own experience of what we would consider an American "hero". “I'm not trying to be Steve. I'm just trying to be the best Captain America I can be, ”he later said to a questionable Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). However, Walker is, in its entirety, a symbol of the appropriation that permeates 'The Star-Spangled Man'. That's why the song and the title are revived. Walker is not a representation of America's future, but of America's tranquil past. His introduction reminded me of Eric Kripke's violent, nihilistic version of the superhero culture, The Boys, which I suspect will stand the test of time more acutely than any Marvel property. Walker is presented as a human being in a relationship, with his own doubts and questions about the role he is assuming, yet he is directed on stage in the same way as 'The Seven' in The Boys and evokes the character Homelander from that show . Homelander is, of course, an Oedipal psychopath beyond redemption, and Walker will never be portrayed as such in Marvel's softer cinematic universe, but he was cured just as much to appropriate a cultural symbol of America's celebrated history. The “American way” of music, which may have been clearer in 1942 - a thriving democratic nation of individuals struggling to free the world from the oppressive and totalitarian fascist domination - is cloudy, complex and troubling in 2020. Walker is designed, with its square chin, blond hair, charming arrogance and “totally American” behavior (even the square, solid root of its name), a United States of the 1940s or more than the 1950s that never existed entirely. One wonders whether Russell's cast is a coincidence, being the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, two examples of home-made American beauty and charm that emerged in the era of counterculture that largely ended up reinforcing power structures now challenged in an unstable century.

Previously on The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: Sam Wilson, aka "The Falcon", is once again working with the U.S. Air Force and rescuing one of its members: an Air Force captain held hostage by a terrorist group called LAF He then has to deal with giving Captain America's shield to the government (which tells him that doing so is the right decision) to have it show on the Smithsonian, and to help his sister, Sarah, keep his fishing business going so that the The family boat does not need to be sold. Bucky Barnes, who was pardoned for crimes he committed during brainwashing as the Winter Soldier, has participated in government-required therapy sessions (in which he refuses to admit to his therapist that he still has nightmares about the crimes he committed during the wash. brain as a Soldier) and trying their best to make amends. A terrorist group called Flag-Smashers, who firmly believe that life was better during borderless and orderless The Blip The Snap, and who want the world to adopt that way of life once again. And Sam soon learns that the reason the government said that giving them the shield was the right thing to do was so that they could actually give it to the new Captain America, who is introduced to the world at a news conference. ADS THE STORY UNTIL NOW: Sam and Bucky cross paths once more when Bucky confronts Sam about his refusal to accept Captain America's mantle. The two end up on a plane to Munich, where Bucky accompanies Sam on his mission to track a shipment of vaccines stolen by the Flag Crushers. Sam and Bucky's attempt to stop them is not easy or successful, and it does not help when John Walker (known as the new Captain America) joins the battle to try to stop the Flag Crushers as well. Bucky informs Sam about a disturbing secret about the Super-Soldier Serum story, and how he and Steve Rogers were not the first or the only ones to receive him at that time. Captain America 2.0 quickly realizes that Sam and Bucky have no interest in working with him, and the Flag-Smashers are soon hunted down not only by the authorities, but by a mysterious individual known as The Power Broker. WHAT'S GOOD IN THIS EPISODE?: Sam and Bucky finally appearing on the screen together and headbanging like only they can. Bucky trying to rescue Karli Morgenthau (played by Erin Kellyman, whom some of you will recognize as Enfys Nest in Solo: A Star Wars Story) because he believes she is a hostage to the Flag Crushers, only to clear up this confusion by kicking him at fifteen meters from the rear of an eighteen-wheeled truck in motion. John Walker, also known as Captain America 2.0, preparing for the responsibility of what is to come and then being introduced to the world (along with his skill set and qualifications) through an individual interview with Good Morning America. The fight sequence between Sam and Bucky and Captain America 2.0 and Battlestar (also known as Lemar Hoskins, Cap 2.0's partner and Black's best friend) against Karli and the rest of the Flag-Smashers. Cap 2.0 and Battlestar trying their best to win over Sam and Bucky in the beginning, only to say the wrong things and end up failing miserably. Sam and Bucky going to Baltimore to meet Isaiah Bradley (played by the legendary actor Carl Lumbly), an African American super soldier who gained his skills in 1942 after being forced to pass tests in which the US government tried to recreate the Super- Soldier Serum that was given to Steve Rogers, and who fought against Bucky-as-the-Winter Soldier during the Korean War in 1952 before being sent to prison for thirty years and constantly experimented (even by scientists at HYDRA) for more attempts to recreate the serum. Sam being confronted by white cops who think he is a threat to Bucky until they recognize him and realize who he really is (and before they put Bucky under arrest for missing his therapy appointment, although they are still much kinder to Bucky than that were for Sam).

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maninthehigh-castle · 5 years ago

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Bitter opinions about The Man in the High Castle Season 4

It's been a week since I watched the finale and I'm still processing. There are things I need to say, good and bad, about this show, which used to be my favorite.

So here goes.

Overall, the rhythm was fine, episode 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9 worked especially great. The sets are fantastic and the acting is perfect. So I'll only focus on characters and storylines from now on.

This season went deep into Kido's character and I loved that. I loved his relation to his son, to his duty and to his beliefs. More than that, he had the best arc over the series, his evolution was smooth, believable, with memorable moments (with Toru, Gina, Frank, Tagomi and John mostly). His ending is also very satisfying and into character.

Now let's talk about the Smiths as a family, an other amazing part from this season. Amy is scary as hell, brainwashed, opposite to Jennifer, finally questionning her parents, heartbreaking to watch. And there are Helen and John graviting to protect them as they're both becoming very dangerous to themselves and that was great to watch! Bonus for alt Thomas being so similar to the one we knew, so keen to sacrifice himself for what people say is the right thing.

What about Helen? Guys, Helen is full of guilt and her redemption arc is well done, complexe, so satisfying to watch. Her final scenes were especially moving and I loved her alt self being her true nature.

Let's move to John. Ah. Things are getting complicated, you too can feel it. Most of his scenes were great, especially with Thomas, omg, these were really emotional. But he's also getting deeper than ever in his power madness in the last episode when everyone believed in his redemption. Is it good or bad? That's up to you to decide, but in my opinion, he stayed into character and that's what matters most. He doesn't care about the cost of anything, of anyone, as long as his family is safe. That's John. That's all he is.

Gray area : Childan. Not happy or unhappy with his arc, I found him boring and not funny as he was before. His relationship with a japonese woman was interesting enough and his ending quite good, but I wasn't invested. It also applies to Wyatt, which I found quite boring and repetitive in his actions. But that's subjective.

Now we're getting into bitter stuff and I'm not happy. I'm really not. This is why this show has failed me in the end.

MISSING CHARACTERS. I repeat for everyone in the back, they erased important people! Ed, Nicole, Gina, Thelma, Trudy, Jack, Juliana's parents... We followed them over two of three seasons to what. Forget about them? Pretend they never existed? This is far from okay. You don't do that. You don't create major characters to never talk about them again. I'm mad. Let's move on before I scream into frustration.

The BCR. Interesting. But. Introduced. FAR TOO LATE. We never heard about them before and now they're taking down the regime? This is not how storytelling works, this is deeply frustrating for a viewer to see a great idea wasted in a final season and taking all the screentime from the characters you already care about.

Oh, and Hawthorne is pretty much useless. They did something interesting with him working with nazis but it never goes far enough to have a real impact.

Also... Guys... Tagomi's death doesn't make ANY SENSE. Period.

Same for Joe's. Come on. And the films are barely used, even the one in the mines. This is waste. The entire show is about these films and nobody talks or acts about it anymore.

The worst is yet to come. The worst is Juliana. My favorite character has here been reduced to an almost passive character and this doesn't make any sense to do that to the MAIN CHARACTER. Hawthorne said she was the key. The key to what? Do nothing? I'm really angry about this, you have no idea, they just dismissed her and treated her like a girl who needs to have a man at all times (Frank, Joe, now Wyatt? Come on, let her grieve). She used to be the quiet badass. Here she was just quiet. It broke my heart into a thousand pieces.

The finale itself was confusing. Beautiful in its meaning, all the people sent by nazis coming back home, but somehow you just watch it feeling empty. Down. Disapointed. It falls too soon to be really understood or accepted.

We had two AMAZING first seasons, a great third season and a bitter fourth. I'm sad it ended like this, I still love this show, but not as much as I used to because of how it ended. And for that, I think I'm still a bit mad today.

#the man in the high castle #tmithc #tmithcspoilers #season 4 #analysis #opinion

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ambitionsource · 5 years ago

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i had no idea nate was on scholarship! (unless its been mentioned and i’m just dumb) could you tell me a little about his home situation and his life?

yes, totally! one thing that i know i’m really grateful for in ambition (and that we’re really getting to appreciate to the fullest in s3) is this awesome, varied, fun, quirky, weird, delightful ensemble we have in the a class. like i would say that s3 has more exploration of the class as a whole as well as the individuals in it than anything else so far (which makes sense, i feel like the deeper a show goes into episodes the naturally more deep the background characters will become -- at least on shows that know how to utilize all of the tools they’ve been given in their toolkit). we started this a little bit with the techie crew in s2 and delving into them more closely, but we’re gonna do even more and with a wider scope in s3. super excited about it!

so yes, nate. nathaniel dean martinez. to answer your first point, no, him being on scholarship was never explicitly mentioned, i think we only ever canonically mention maya having one on screen. but each class has about 10 scholarships to give out (that including both the a and b class), and the notion of how scholarship works at aaa is something else that will be explored in s3.

nate is from the bronx, so just north of manhattan. it’s considered by the us census to be the most diverse area in the country, with high populations of african-americans, whites, and hispanic / latinxs. it also has a wide range of income level, but has some of the poorer districts in the country. according to my dear friend who is from the bronx, it really is its own identity and experience, and nate definitely matches and encapsulates that.

he lives with both his parents, but he has a better relationship with his mom because his dad is out so often working. he has two younger siblings, a brother about 4 years younger than him and a sister about 8 years younger. so there is a bit of an internal pressure there to make something of himself so he can support his family and siblings, even though he’d never admit it. in some ways, nate and maya have a lot of similarities despite how much they dislike each other -- both ace, both low income, both mainly living with their mothers, both using fashion and attitude to compensate for the materialism they want but don’t have...

this is also why nate is so particular about money. in “how the twinks saved christmas” (the dasher special), nate is the only techie who initially refuses to give his usual donation to help with putting the holiday party together. he only does after getting an “insurance fee” guarantee from asher, showing that he’s business savvy and pretty street smart.

i refer to nate affectionately as the “bulldog” of the techies, because he basically is. he’s obnoxious and flippant and will pick on all of them just for fun, but he also (usually) knows where the line is and knows how to keep the teasing truly playful and not step over the line. that said, he’s given up not trying to upset asher and jade, because they’re sensitive and get upset no matter what. however, if anyone else even so much as breathed wrong in the direction of his friends, he will attack faster than lightning. he’s extremely loyal, but his loyalty is also fickle -- as evidenced by how quickly he turned on isa when he perceived her actions as “wronging” the collective techie crew. he’s a bitch, but he’s their bitch, and he’ll defend them to the death.

additionally, nate is what i call “ace thotty” -- on the surface he seems like a total fuckboy in terms of the way he dresses, the fact that he likes to twerk, his behavior half the time... but he actually has literally zero interest in dating or sex. he’s one of three techies who are a-spec (the other two being dave and lucas, who is demisexual). but the thottiness is basically another angle on his obnoxious exterior Bit. he’s the reason that tracks like “sexy and i know it,” “talk dirty,” and “bootylicious” are on the techie playlist.

his interests include video gaming, basketball, skateboarding (often with dylan), and eating. he’s also really good at sound mixing and audio work, which is what he was admitted for as a student technician (and demonstrated by him creating the “singin’ in the rain” remix for his and isa’s project in 110). he wants to go into the business of music remixing, combining his interests in technology and business, even though he has no stuff to practice at home with.

of the a class, nate is closest to dave (arguably his best friend), dylan, and jeff. his least favorite classmates are sarah, maya, and formerly wyatt. nate never submitted to the aaac when it was in its prime, but if he had a better mobile device he probably would’ve gotten sucked into it (and found some of the posts people made hilarious). he’s more complex than meets the eye (as are most of the a class), but all in all he gives a little much needed grit to the techie crew, but in a way thats fun rather than depressing like lucadora.

-- Maggie & Es

#nate martinez #techie crew #a class #aaa supplementaries #ambition quarantine 2020 #thank u for asking about him!!! he appreciates it #judahslewis #answered

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whitewolfofwinterfell · 6 years ago

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My favourite Charmed episodes - season 7

This is the seventh part of my Favourite Charmed Episodes meta series all posts in the series will be tagged as #favecharmedeps.

Season 7 is a strange one for me to analyse, because I have very mixed feelings about it. Generally I think of it as a rather forgettable season, but then when I started trawling through the episodes to pick out my favourites, I realised there’s a lot of episodes that I really enjoy from this season. Although the Avatar storyline didn’t reach it’s full potential, I actually think it’s one of the most interesting plots from the series. It posed a lot of questions about the key themes of the show regarding morality and good versus evil, and it also created a lot of conflict for the main characters. Part of me clings to the golden days of Charmed when times were simpler for the Halliwells and the family felt like a more cohesive unit. But I can’t deny that the Avatar storyline brought about very interesting character development and conflict amongst the characters. In addition to the Avatars, Zankou is objectively one of the most interesting and baddest villains to ever be on the show and for the first time since The Source, it felt like the sisters really were going to lose the battle. This also has one of my favourite minor characters from the entire show - Drake. I can’t help but enjoy the episodes that feature Drake. He’s a breath of fresh air in what’s overall a rather dark season, and his chemistry with Phoebe is great. The moments when she’s with Drake are the moments when I feel we catch a glimpse of the old Phoebe that followed her heart wherever it led her and was a free spirit. Strangely, I think that season 7 is the better season between the two weakest ones of the series. I have chosen 7 favourite episodes from season 7 (which is the most I’ve chosen from any season tied with season 3!): Cheaper by the Coven, There’s Something About Leo, Charmageddon, Carpe Demon, The Seven Year Witch, Imaginary Fiends and Something Wicca This Way Goes.

Cheaper by the Coven (7x03)

For those of you that have been following this meta series, you’ll already know that I generally love any episode with Penny and/or Patty, and this episode is no exception. I enjoy this episode because not only do we get Penny and Patty, we also get Victor. One of the main aspects I love about Charmed is the emphasis on family and the core of that is the sisterhood, but there’s something special about any episode which features other family members.

The sibling rivalry between Wyatt and Chris was authentic and very realistic of sibling relationships. We know from future!Chris that their relationship was strained, so it’s no surprise to see that developing now. When Grams casts the spell to remove their rivalry and it transfers to the sisters, it shows that you cannot erase complex emotional issues with the wave of a wand.

Seeing the sisters revert back to a child-like state is comedic, albeit a little cringey, but I always get a kick out of seeing it. As the seasons progress I feel we see less and less of the playfulness and closeness between the sisters, so it’s nice to see it in this episode. Likewise, it’s touching to see Victor and Patty come together as a co-parenting unit for perhaps the first time ever to help their daughters. It was also sweet for them to see the girls in a child-like state since they both missed out on a majority of their childhood and likely never got the chance to see them interact as children.

The sub-plot with Leo and Wyatt is also a necessary exploration of the aftermath of Leo killing Gideon. Although I’m generally not a fan of Wyatt’s character and the way he’s written, it makes sense that the trauma and emotion of being kidnapped and nearly killed by someone who was a trusted family friend and mentor, then witnessing his own father murder that man, would manifest itself in a complicated manner. After all, the sisters always say their powers are linked to their emotions. Although this issue was quickly resolved in this episode, I still think the fact that the episode tackled this was really important.

Overall, I enjoy this episode because it’s fun and it brings together the Halliwell family (there’s even a discussion about Prue between Grams and Piper) in a nice way.

There’s Something About Leo (7x09)

This episode has a very gripping plot that I find suspenseful and engaging. There’s a lot of conflict throughout since Leo is an Avatar and wants to tell Piper, whilst Kyle wants revenge against the Avatars because he believes they killed his parents.

Generally, although Leo is a main character from season 1, he doesn’t get much attention or many of his own story lines until season 6. I personally find the Avatar story line one of the strongest ones involving Leo and this episode is a culmination of that. In the past Leo chose his duties as an Elder above the love and duty towards his family, and once again we see him in a similar position with the Avatars. He doesn’t want to lie to Piper and keep secrets from her, but the Avatars insist Piper (and the sisters) aren’t ready to know the truth. It’s interesting to see Leo having little control over his new powers and using them based on emotion. After having been split from Piper for a while it poses a real challenge to their relationship for them to have secrets between them, particularly when Piper sense that he’s hiding something from her. It provides good development for them as a couple to see them having to overcome something like this as a couple. When Leo tells Piper the truth, it’s interesting to see how she’s able to remain open-minded and trust that the Avatars aren’t in fact evil. It demonstrates the strength of their partnership and the love they have.

On the other hand, the reveal about Leo being an Avatar wreaks havoc on the family because of Kyle and Paige finds herself in an incredibly difficult position, caught between the man she loves and her family. It’s one of the first time that the family is divided in this manner and although it’s sad, it’s interesting to witness. The Halliwell family as a unit seem so solid and together, but this episode shows that despite their closeness and how much they love each other, they’re not immune from facing these kind of problems.

When the truth leads to Leo and Kyle’s deaths, it’s a dramatic and shocking moment that proves what the Avatars said to Leo about it being too soon for him to reveal the truth. Piper may have been ready but Kyle (and Paige) weren’t ready and the consequences of that were disastrous. The episode ends with Leo revering time to before he told Piper the truth about him being an Avatar and everything that happened in the episode is undone.

Since Charmed is generally follows a demon-of-the-week format, I appreciate episodes like these that are very plot heavy and are the piece of a puzzle for an ongoing plot. The Avatar story line spans across the majority of the season and although the damage done in this episode is reversed, it doesn’t end on a particularly positive note. It demonstrates how dangerous the situation is and provides an insight into how the plot may develop as the episodes continue and the devastating impact it could potentially have on the family.

Charmageddon (7x13)

This episode is very much the follow-up of There’s Something About Leo and the culmination of the Avatar story line. Once again, I like this episode because I think the plot works very well. It’s an interesting and solid episode that takes you on a journey and has a strong ending.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, the Avatar story line in general poses big questions about a lot of key themes that are present throughout Charmed and this episode really highlights that. One of the most significant themes throughout this episode from my perspective is be careful what you wish for.

Throughout the series we see the sisters time and time again crave and wish for a “normal” life free of magic and demons, and this episode sees their wish granted. They live in a perfect utopia - a happy world with no violence or pain - and they all seem happier than they’ve been in a long time. After all, what could possibly be more perfect than a world like that? Of course, it’s not long before the cracks begin to show and the reality of maintaining a world like that means that innocent people are removed from the world is they pose a threat to the peace.

After seeing the journey Leo has been on in this season with the Avatars it’s interesting that he of all people is one of the first (with Zankou’s help) to see the flaws in the Avatars utopia. Having Leo pair up with Zankou to reverse what the Avatars have created builds on the conflict that has been present within the family throughout the season. It’s good to see Leo make such a huge decision by himself on the basis of his own morals and sense of right and wrong. He makes a lot of mistakes in seasons 6 and 7, but he’s still able to see the right path and knows that he has to work with Zankou to achieve that.

On the flip side, this episode (and this season overall, actually) shows how much the sisters have lost their way. Despite the years of experience and the knowledge they have of the magical world, they’re naive enough to believe that the Avatars really can create this perfect utopia without there being any consequences. It shows that the sisters are so desperate for normalcy (and I don’t really blame them) that they’re willing to believe what is clearly a fantasy. Phoebe and Paige, in particular, knew that such a world can’t exist after their experiences in It’s a Bad, Bad, Bad World. They were catapulted into a happy parallel universe where everything was sunshine, rainbows and smiles, but where people were shot in the street for blocking their neighbours drive-ways or had their tongues cut out for swearing. The sisters should’ve been smart enough to realise that a world like that can’t exist without consequences. And Phoebe’s resistance to see the reality of it, even when Leo explicitly told her about it, further demonstrates how desperately they were clinging to a fantasy.

It’s great to see the sisters (and Leo) team up with the Big Bad of the season, Zankou and reminds me of season 4 when the Seer teamed up with the sisters to help them defeat the Source (although it was actually a manipulation on the Seer’s part). It demonstrates that under certain circumstances, even enemies can come together to right a wrong. It also hammers home one of those core Charmed messages that good cannot exist without bad and vice versa.

Overall, I love the plot of this episode and the important lessons it contains. When Phoebe goes to the Book of Shadows, like Leo told her to, and had a premonition of all the people she’d lost over the years, it was a beautiful moment. We all go through life avoiding pain and hoping we don’t have to feel it, but it’s a natural part of life and being a human. And although it’s a cliche, it’s true that we all have to feel those things to be able to fully feel the good parts of life - love, happiness, kindness, empathy, friendship, family etc. Life without pain is not truly living. Likewise, this episode provides a valuable lesson on how the things we wish for may not always live up to the expectations we have or turn out the way we imagined. The sisters wanted the utopia that the Avatars provided, but it wasn’t what they expected or hoped.

The episode ended with Kyle returning to Paige as a Whitelighter, which regardless of personal feelings towards Kyle and/or Paige and Kyle as a couple, was very sweet and fitting. Paige needed that closure after the way in which Kyle died and it was the right way to end his story. As a child I strongly disliked Kyle, because I found him annoying and hated him for wanting to kill Leo. As an adult, I now completely sympathise with Kyle and feel that as a whole the fans are a little harsh on him. He was a little boy whose parents were killed and his entire life was shaped by the trauma of that one event. As a result, he spent his entire life clinging to the idea of avenging his parents deaths and when he was faced with that opportunity, he couldn’t let it pass him by. Yes, it was selfish of him to try and kill Paige’s brother-in-law, but under the circumstances it’s also easy to understand why he felt so strongly about it. He believed wholeheartedly that the Avatars were evil, and although they weren’t necessarily, they were still corrupt and to an extent he was right about them. They created a world that on the surface may have seemed better, but in reality it wasn’t, because it was all an illusion. Everyone’s minds, emotions and behaviours were manipulated by magic, forcing them to conform and essentially transforming them into robots. That’s simply inhumane and immoral.

Despite the fact that the Avatar story line was a bit iffy in places, I really like this episode and think it’s a strong culmination of the plot and a very strong ending too. My one and only criticism, is that I feel like this should’ve been a turning point for the sisters in realising that they’d lost their way a little bit and lost sight of the purpose of their magic. From the beginning, being the Charmed Ones was all about protecting the innocent, but by this point, the sisters had grown so tired of demon-fighting and everything that went with it that they lost sight of the real reason they were fighting and became too focused on what they needed and wanted.

Carpe Demon (7x14)

In terms of plot and the events of this episode, I don’t really like it much at all. But anybody that follows me or that is familiar with my Charmed posts will know that Drake is one of my favourite characters on the show and that is the only reason I like this episode. Therefore, nearly everything I discuss about this episode will be entirely about Drake.

To skip over the plot quickly before I get into Drake, I think this episode is generally a bit meh, a rather forgettable episode that lacks in any real plot. It has a bit of silliness and fun with Drake becoming Robin Hood, which I’m partial to, but there isn’t a whole lot going on in this episode. If you remove Drake from the episode, this definitely wouldn’t make it onto my list.

So, let’s talk about Drake, shall we? I honestly love Drake. He’s a breath of fresh air and from the second he arrives on-screen he transforms the entire vibe of the show. He’s the sort of character that lights up any scene he’s in and his chemistry with Phoebe from the beginning is so lovely. She comes alive around him and we get to see a more playful, passionate and free-spirited Phoebe once again. His energy, positivity, philosophical mindset, interesting background (as a demon), humour and playfulness perfectly offset the darker tone of the season with the Avatars. His arrival is perfectly timed to lighten up the show a little after the Avatar story line and although he’s only on the show for a short amount of time, I find his presence very impactful. There’s a lot of characters that come and go throughout the seasons, but Drake’s one that is very memorable to me and he always stands out. None of the other minor or recurring characters seem to bring the same energy to the show as he does and I always enjoy watching his scenes and watching his dynamic with Phoebe.

The Seven Year Witch (7x16)

Honestly, it’s kind of crazy that I still commonly think of season 7 as an average/poor season, because this episode is probably one of the best across the series. However, if anyone ever asks me what my all time favourite episodes are, this episode would never enter my mind, mostly because I just have a more personal connection to the earlier seasons.

I love the plot and emotion in this episode. It’s such a sad yet beautiful episode for Piper and Leo, who have been through so much. Leo, in particular, has had a rough couple of seasons with the Elders, Gideon and the Avatars, so to see him have his memories wiped and be placed in the middle of nowhere is quite difficult. As I’ve said before, I’m not a hardcore Pleo shipper, but this episode proves 100% that they’re soulmates and are meant to be together. Throughout the series Leo has always been torn between his magical duties (as either a Whitelighter, Elder or Avatar) and Piper, and this episode finally ends that conflict that exists inside him as he makes his final choice. Without Leo, Piper’s soul cannot survive and the fact that her imminent death is enough to wake Leo from his amnesiac state is a testament to the love they have. Leo’s literal fall from grace, looks ridiculous (there’s something about it that’s so funny to me, I don’t know if that’s just me being weird) but is actually one of the most beautiful moments on the show, once again showing how strong his and Piper’s love for one another is. And the scene where they reunite is so beautiful, it’s probably one of my favourite Piper and Leo scenes.

Of course, the guest appearance from Cole in this episode is a pleasant surprise. Despite how he and Phoebe ended, he always loved her and never wanted her to give up on love, so it’s fitting that he should return now when Piper and Leo (the greatest love that Phoebe has witnessed) risk ending. Likewise, it’s a nice twist, but a fitting one, that Cole was actually the mastermind behind Drake coming into Phoebe’s life all along. We saw in Happily Ever After how important it was to Cole for Phoebe to never give up on love. I really see that as part of how deeply he knew and understood Phoebe as a person. She was so loving and passionate, that she would never be completely fulfilled or happy without love (despite what she may have said) and he felt largely responsible for closing her heart off to other prospective lovers because of how deeply he hurt her.

This episode is also where we saw goodbye to Drake. It’s a sad moment, but I love how it’s done. The final scene between him and Phoebe is so lovely and very heartfelt. Despite how short a time they knew each other, it’s easy to see why Phoebe fell in love with him. Drake had a very similar spirit to Phoebe (particularly early seasons Phoebe) and he brought joy, light, positivity, fun and passion back into her life. Despite having had other relationships after Cole (Jason, Miles, Leslie), none of those men brought out the same side to Phoebe that Drake did. He just captivated her from the very beginning. Seeing how Drake and Phoebe had come to fall in love also fit within the theme of love in this episode with Piper and Leo, but stood in contrast to it. Whilst Piper and Leo were able to overcome the obstacles that stood in their way to be together, Phoebe and Drake weren’t and lost one another. But ultimately, the message remained the same - love is always worth it.

Imaginary Fiends (7x20)

I’m not particularly a big fan of Wyatt as a character. That probably makes me sound like an awful human being since he’s only a child, but I never really felt like children fit on the show, although I understand the value of seeing at least one of the sisters enter into motherhood during the series.

However, I really like and value this episode. There’s quite a lot of episodes from season 5 onwards that center on Wyatt, but this is one of the only ones I genuinely like and think is handled really well. The idea that Wyatt has an imaginary friend is one that, from a psychological stand-point, is interesting because of the nature of his life and upbringing. He has a far from traditional life and has been faced with demons, warlocks and all manner of evil creatures trying to kill him or turn him evil when he was still in the womb. Having that kind of lifestyle and a lack of normalcy is obviously going to have a profound affect on a child. The fact that his imaginary friend is in fact a demon is a very good twist that works well, in my opinion. Whilst the notion that Wyatt has an imaginary friend serves as a metaphor for some of the complex issues he has (e.g. not verbally communicating and being very reserved and unsociable), it also raises awareness of grooming. Vicus (the demon), emotionally manipulates Wyatt over a prolonged period of time, gaining his trust and turning him against his own family, all to get the outcome he desires (turning Wyatt evil). The fact that it happens practically right under Piper and Leo’s noses without them being able to stop or control it correlates a lot to cases of grooming.

The appearance of future!Wyatt is a lovely addition to this episode. Although we saw future!Wyatt in season 6 during Chris-Crossed, this time we get to meet good Wyatt rather than evil Wyatt. It’s so nice to see him interact with the family and to see the wonderful young man he will grow to be, particularly since we don’t see much personality from little Wyatt. It also provides a couple of funny moments such as when Wyatt reveals that baby Chris swallows a marble. Most of all, it’s lovely to see how all of the Halliwell clan shape adult!Wyatt and how the things he says and does show the closeness he has to his parents, Chris and aunties in the future.

Leo being the one to turn Wyatt from evil to good is a particularly nice moment to see, since the father-son bond between them is so strong. After the crap that Leo went through in season 6 with being separated from the family, it’s good to see that the love Wyatt has for his dad is strong enough to overcome evil. It’s also very telling that adult!Wyatt, even when he’s evil, can’t bring himself to harm Leo. And of course, the end is very sweet with little Wyatt finally speaking and smiling, and seeming to open up a little bit after what was a difficult episode for him.

I definitely think this is one of the strongest (if not the strongest) Wyatt-centric episode from the series and bringing future!Wyatt into the picture only improves the episode. I admire the writers for tackling the complexities that come from a child who has grown up in such a unique lifestyle and encountered so many traumas. It’s not an easy task, but I think it’s handled quite well in this episode in comparison to previous episodes.

Something Wicca This Way Goes (7x22)

This is by far the best season finale of the entire series. It’s dramatic, it’s suspenseful, it’s emotional and the stakes are so high that it feels like anything can happen. Although I personally never connected to Zankou as a villain, he’s by far one of the most threatening and powerful Big Bad’s that the sisters face and in this episode it feels like maybe the sisters have finally met their match.

The episode gives me Charmed and Dangerous vibes (which is one of my all time fave episodes), with the sisters going up against the greatest evil they’ve ever faced and having their powers stripped away, meaning they have to find a way to defeat Zankou without their active powers. I’ve always been a fan of episodes where the sisters are forced out of their comfort zone when it comes to magic and can’t rely solely on their active powers. As the seasons progress I feel that the sisters got more and more dependent upon their active powers (particularly Piper’s explosive power) and as a result their creative thinking when it came to their use of magic declined. So it was great to see the sisters coming up with fresh ideas of how to beat Zankou in this episode.

The sisters’ visit to Victor is very emotional. It’s clear that the sisters believe there’s a high chance they’re going to die in their fight against Zankou, and seeing Piper say goodbye to her sons and hand over the deeds to P3 and the Manor is heartwrenching. But I also love that they chose to entrust Victor to be the one to care for Wyatt and Chris, the house and the business, because it shows how far their relationships have come since he was first introduced to us in season 1. As a quick side-note, I’d just like to say that Victor’s development is perhaps one of the best on the show and is very overlooked. He starts the series as an absentee, irresponsible father who seems to care little for his own children, and ends it having a fantastic relationship with all of his daughters, an amazing relationship with Chris (as we learn from future!Chris in season 6) and Wyatt (who trusts him so much he orbs baby Chris to him).

In addition to Victor, I love that Darryl and Shelia are in this episode. After how much of a significant part they’ve been in the sisters lives, it’s only fitting that they should see them one last time before their impending deaths.

The sisters show brilliant flair and intelligence in their plan to defeat Zankou, and they succeed. Those final scenes where they cast the spell and hold hands knowing what’s about to happen is such a shocking moment, and the first time I saw it I genuinely believed the sisters were dead, even though a part of me knew it couldn’t be true. That final twist with the sisters walking out as new people and telling Leo about their plans to start a new life is fantastic, and one that I didn’t see coming. And Darryl watching as the sisters and Leo walk across the street and realising that it’s them is one of the most beautiful moments from the entire series period. I love that moment, it’s brilliant.

As much as I like Forever Charmed and appreciate the happy ending we got, I actually think I would’ve preferred if the series ended here. It was a great and dramatic ending that was happy but open ended. In my opinion, this as a series finale tops Forever Charmed in almost every single way. The only thing that Forever Charmed improved on is having other characters like Penny, Patty, future!Chris and future!Wyatt etc. Besides that, Something Wicca This Way Goes is by far the superior series finale. Even the title is more fitting, since it plays on the pilot episode.

And that brings me to the end of my favourite season 7 episodes. As I said at the beginning of this post, it’s strange that I consider season 7 to be one of my least favourite seasons considering how many episodes I actually like from the season. I largely put that down to the fact that the early seasons are so good and so special to me, that I’ll always consider them my favourites. I think thematically, season 7 is a strong season and has some of the best plots from across the series (e.g. Zankou, the Avatars and Leo’s arc) and some very strong episodes. The season also benefits from having Drake, a decent amount of Victor and future!Wyatt. My biggest criticism of season 7 (and seasons 6-8 generally) is that the characterisation of the sisters is very weak. As much as I love the sisters, I don’t really like them much in this season. Paige’s vibrance and quirkiness seems to dim in this season, Phoebe and Piper seem increasingly self-obsessed with themselves and their own lives and the closeness of the sisters is significantly less. The scene near the beginning of Charmageddon when Piper and Phoebe comfort Paige following Kyle’s death is one of the many scenes that highlights for me. Their attempts to comfort her are so pitiful, they don’t even hug her properly. This is obviously down to the writing, but I find it very difficult to adjust to the lack of sisterly moments and the reduction of affection and tactility between the sisters in the later seasons. You can notice this immediately when you compare this post of Prue, Piper and Phoebe to this post of Piper, Phoebe and Paige. There are so many more scenes between Prue, Piper and Phoebe where they’re hugging or holding hands or stroking each others’ hair, whereas the ones of Piper, Phoebe and Paige are mostly of them standing by each other. Anyway, I digress. Season 7 overall, is an underrated season and writing this post made me realise how many episodes there are that I enjoy from the season and how many good aspects to it there are.

Next time I’ll be writing about my favourite season 8 episodes. Since season 8 is and always has been my least favourite season, there probably won’t be many episodes that I’ll be analysing.

Thanks for reading!

#charmed #mine #my meta #charmed meta #favecharmedeps #text post #it took me by surprise when writing this to realise how many aspects of s7 i actually like

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phoebehalliwell · 5 years ago

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i will take any excuse to talk ab the next gen & run with it

an unnecessarily long continuation of the answer to this ask that answers so much more than was ever asked : )

wyatt wyatt is definitely looking for a sunday kind of love, like his dream fantasy is to be making breakfast in the morning and for his sleeping husband to sneak up behind him and hug him and like sun is streaming in through the windows and the birds are chirping blah blah blah the love you find at the end of a disney movie. speaking of disney movies he definitely had a huge crush on aladdin growing up. like he doesn’t necessarily want boring but more like gets really flustered by mundane acts of love. i think he would really want someone who has a sense of adventure and who would want to go on spontaneous adventures all that. i also think wyatt has a thing for guys with tattoos but Only if they’re well done if like it’s got poor line weight and bleeding ink there’s like no bigger turn off. it might just be the art history major in him but like someone with really nice tattoos, he’s like wow they themselves are like a work of art i could stare at them forever type shit but if the tattoos are shitty he has to suppress a gag reflex. just as a little fun fact.

chris i think chris’s type is really just the people who’s type is chris if that makes sense. like if they look like they’d really be into some skinny tall brunet with daddy issues than odds are chris is into them as well. and he like lowkey knows that this in fact stems from his daddy issues and his inferiority complex all coming together to form the desperate need to be wanted but that really only then fuels the aesthetic so that psychological problem can be saved for another day.

melinda i really have no permanent set in stone ideas for melinda as again i can’t quite say i have any specific love interests in mind for her i do want to add in a journey of her sort of “discovering” her sexuality and realizing she’s not as straight as previously thought but i wasn’t really planning on doing that through a relationship and all that. i almost wanna make her one of those people who are really into fixer uppers like especially given her empathetic abilities but at the same time i feel like thats a super unhealthy trope and every time i see it i’m just like girl,,,, it’s not worth the emotional strain ur putting yourself through,, so i don’t think i’ll do that.

kat listen kat probably didn’t watch kim possible growing up bc she was born in 07 but like emotionally she was definitely one of those kids who had a crush on shego growing up. she’s definitely the type of person to qrt a picture of her celebrity crush with step on me please. she could hit me with a bus and i’d thank her. that type of energy y’know.

tamora okay, so, you remember in like what was in 2014 when tumblr had this obsession with british guys i bet i can find some examples on pinterest one sec

wow really hated travelling back down that rabbit hole i forgot how many poeple were genuinely attracted to benedict cumberbatch but that’s not the point the point is that energy of a cute london boy who always calls you “love” or “darling” and reads books and makes tea or whatever like super kind and british that idea yeah that’s tam’s type and honestly every day we should thank god that she wasn’t old enough to be a 1d stan because she would have definitely started a fan account

pj let’s start by saying pj is attracted to almost every girl like if you ask her her type in men she can answer pretty confidently (himbos) but when it comes to girls she’s like wow. every girl ever. i feel like there’s the specific type of character tho like the tv trope of this sort of doe eyed optimistic blonde who like always sees good in the world and wants to do the right thing and is sometimes viewed as naive but really isn’t (i’m specifically picturing like supergirl or karen page here) i feel like that is easily a large part of pj’s type. just someone who’s very just like earnest i guess is the word? someone who’s not embarrassed by love you know who wants to embrace all the “cringy” stereotypes of having a song and giving flowers all that. her favorite childhood movie was definitely descendants because she had a crush on like half of the characters.

henry like absolute disaster idiots. morosexual. henry once saw a guy accidentally skateboard into a bush and then dated him for like a month. he just really wants someone who’s like genuinely funny and can make him laugh. like the ideal partner for henry can also sorta keep up with him intellectually and challenge him in that manner, but he tends to find those people a little too uppity (it also probably doesn’t help that those under that qualification are usually people he meets at the library in magic school, and eventually him being mortal and all that always manages to get weird). so, henry usually just dates other humans and doesn’t actively seek out those of a superior intellectual caliber because he always sorta thinks those people are dicks. that being said he may or may not have an on again off again will they won’t they dynamic with the captain of the mock trial team that always starts off as debates and then devolves into hook ups.

parker parker’s type is basically simp but not like in aesthetics if that makes sense. like for her it’s very important that whoever she’s with knows that she can kick their ass and love her for it, but that they’re not just like that in general. like specifically someone who is strong and independent and can kick ass on their own, but still sorta yields to parker y’know. her ideal relationship is definitely someone she can by symbiotic with in combat that kind of unsaid understanding where when they fight, the two sorta flow together y’know

peyton peyton i think is the only one of the half cupids who doesn’t really look for the grand gestures and endless devotion and the this and the that. i don’t think she really enjoys being the center of attention, and getting a dozen roses on her doorstep would honestly probably just embarrass her (bc you know pj and parker would never let it go). i think she really looks for someone like her, who’s maybe a bit more quite & studious, and her ideal date would really just be sitting together and watching a movie and not feeling the need to talk but just really enjoying the comfort of each other’s presence. a simple yet sturdy love.

dency dency is already the type of gal to be the step on me / hit me with a bus like she really has the strong, quasi impervious, looks a little like she can kill you energy. that being said i think she’s still a total softie. she has like a slight fear of love and intimacy bc of her whole parentage and the undeniably abusive relationship they had but at the same time she was raised by a cupid so even though she’s definitely like scared of love she’s seen the wonders and joys true love can bring and blah blah blah, it’s just she has a really big fear that she’ll fall for something that she think’s is true love but is really just an elaborate con. because of that she comes off as really closed off and aloof, but just a little info for her soulmate out there she’s an absolute sucker for forehead kisses. just soft, cutesy, almost cheesy love; that’s her ideal. she’s just too guarded to ever really let herself go for that.

#wyatt halliwell #chris halliwell #melinda halliwell #kat mitchell #tamora mitchell #pj halliwell #henry mitchell jr #parker halliwell #peyton halliwell #dency halliwell #next gen #charmed next gen

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fuckyeahcharmcaster · 6 years ago

Text

An Ode to Omniverse!Charmcaster

OV’s Charmcaster is the non-Man of Action-involved Charmcaster that doesn’t entirely suck, and she has as much good points as bad points, all of which I’m analyzing in this post.

PROS:

Sensible progression in her story - Charmcaster’s story in OV went from point A to point B and so on in a logical way, a far cry from how it went in UAF. We understand why she first gets involved in the show to start with (because the Alpha Rune was stolen by Zs’Skayr while she was busy contending with Darkstar trying to steal magic from her realm), why she goes to Friedkin University (to take the family heirloom staff from Hex in order to replace the Alpha Rune as a power source), why she goes for the power of Bezel (she hears about it while trying to get the staff again and decides it’d be an even better power source), and why she seems so much more rational and reasonable in the game show episode (she’s been deprived of power for a while, and this has a healing effect on her mind). It all adds up.

A return to form in villainy and point of character - The original Charmcaster was all about seeking various sources of power for the validation of her own ego (she has a Inferiority Superiority Complex), with the point being that she did so in place of seeking love, which she subconsciously wants but consciously considers a weakness, a contrast to Gwen who is just as ambitious in the pursuit of growing stronger but does so with love and support from others. After UAF’s version of Charmcaster completely dropped this angle, it’s nice to see it restored with the OV version, who is blatantly portrayed as a troubled young addict to magic power that is too hung up on getting back at people she hates, only hurting herself in the process.

A fantastic design - Derrick Wyatt may have not had any interest in Charmcaster as a character, but he knocked it out of the park with her design, combining her OS design with aspects of her UAF design and topping it all off with stitches in her coat, giving the sense of someone broken trying to put herself back together. The purple hair highlights are cool too.

Badass magic powers - I was far more impressed with OV Charmcaster’s skill with magic than I was with UAF Charmcaster’s. The writing also backs this up, returning to the OS fact that Charmcaster was “always the better sorceress” compared to Gwen, rather than the bullshit retcon about Gwen always being the stronger one because she’s “made of magic”.

Kari Wahlgren’s performance - Just listen to it here. Kari sounds like she’s actually having fun with the role again, as opposed to the drab take on the character she performed in UAF.

Great character interactions - Charmcaster got to have some fun and interesting interactions with Darkstar, Adwatia, Zs’Skayr, Ben, Rook, Hobble, Hex, Gwen and Bezel...she even had non-verbal interactions between many of the other female contestants in the game show episode (providing plenty of crack ship fodder as a result). That was highly appreciated.

A far better ending - UAF’s Charmcaster ended on the worst note you could possibly leave the character on: alone, unloved and mentally broken inside of her awful home dimension. It was a slap in the face to her and to any fan who wanted better for her. OV’s Charmcaster ends in the custody of people who love her on Earth and is mentally recovering. Despite UAF’s Charmaster being the one saddled with the name of “Hope”, there’s actually far more to be hopeful about regarding OV’s Charmcaster. Seriously, just look at the difference here. I am forever thankful that this is where we left the original continuity’s Charmcaster* on.

*The original Ben 10 continuity before the reboot, known as the Prime Timeline, was a timestream, made of three different branches: OS, UAF and OV. So the OS and UAF branches and their Charmcasters technically still exist separately from OV, but not as part of the Prime Timeline. The Prime Timeline’s Charmcaster thus started as OS!Charm, shifted into UAF!Charm, and then finally into OV!Charm which is what she is left off as. Complicated, eh?

CONS:

Mischaracterization - I’m not going to say that I didn’t find the zany, cheerful, energetic, high-on-magic Cloudcuckoolander personality OV Charmcaster had entertaining. I did. But the fact remains that it’s not the personality Charmcaster is supposed to have. Take away all the witchy trappings, and Charm is a “thug life” girl. Strip her of her magic and she’d be ready and willing to throw down with her fists. She’s sarcastic and tough-talking, insolent to authority figures, competitive and kind of tomboyish. Basically, she aspires to be the kind of woman Rojo is: the baddest bitch around who nobody oughta mess with, and she’s constantly frustrated when her own awkwardness gets in the way of this and she is unable to back up this egotistical self-image, though she often blames the likes of Gwen for it instead of herself. UAF’s varying depictions of her as a sultry femme fatale, high school alpha bitch, sadistic and obsessively vengeful murderer, sympathetic outcast and freedom fighter, troubled daddy’s girl, or whatever the Hell she was supposed to be in “Couples Retreat” were not the right characterization, and neither is what was done with her in OV no matter how much more enjoyable than those UAF characterizations it may be. Only the reboot got it right.

Her story hinges too much on UAF’s crap - Just when you’re enjoying OV Charmcaster’s story, you suddenly hear things like “Ledgerdomain”, “Alpha Rune”, “Spellbinder”, “Adwatia”, or “Darkstar” get brought up, and you zone out thanks to the bad memories that are awoken. OV Charmcaster would’ve worked better without all this baggage from her previous self.

Unfortunate Implications - Some of this connects to the previous point, as it exists solely due to the UAF crap (ex: OV Charmcaster’s story means denying the route of Charmcaster becoming a better ruler in Ledgerdomain, sending the message that women aren’t capable of being good rulers because they just aren’t mentally up to the task). Others are just OV’s fault, particularly where Hex is involved - I get what they were going for with him, but to do so they had to whitewash the fact that he and Charmcaster weren’t a loving, mutually evil family; Hex abused Charmcaster in order to drive her to evil. To make Hex sympathetic by having him reformed and upset at his niece’s self-destructive behavior that ends up harming him while dancing around the fact that said behavior was Hex’s own damn fault to start with is gross.

Her relationship with Gwen is a non-factor - OV didn’t butcher the dynamic between Gwen and Charmcaster the way UAF did, but this is mostly because it barely did anything with that dynamic at all. The third act of “Charm School” is the only time the two actually get to interact, and it’s as basic as you can get, with Gwen being all “Charmcaster, you’re not well, stop this so that we can help you!” and Charm being all “How dare you get in my way? I wasn’t even looking for a fight, but now I’m gonna finish you once and for all!” They fight, Gwen wins, Charmcaster retreats, and that’s it. In “Third Time’s a Charm”, Charmcaster turns Gwen into a stone totem right at the very beginning, paying little thought to her for the rest of the episode. Gwen, meanwhile, doesn’t really have anything to do with Charmcaster until the very end of the episode, with her line about hoping to finally make friends with Charmcaster now. For a character who is meant to be Gwen’s foil, Gwen barely mattered to Charmcaster here.

No character development - UAF attempted character development for Charmcaster and did it badly. Once again, OV’s answer was to simply not even try. OV Charmcaster is static to an irritating degree, with the exception of her final appearance, in the game show episode, where she appears to be mentally healed...which naturally happened completely off-screen, since putting it on-screen would mean taking Charmcaster’s mental issues seriously, which OV was not willing to do...after all, it hardly takes anything seriously. I think that this was a missed opportunity, as it could have made OV Charmcaster’s conclusion even stronger.

Horribly paced, minimal appearances - Charmcaster appears in 5 out of 80 episodes in OV. Worse still, her first appearance is a brief cameo toward the end of episode 42, showing up afterward in episodes 47, 63, 75, and 78. This means that Charmcaster and her story is primarily a factor in the episode 61-80 period, which is considered by many to be the worst period in the whole show! It is transparently clear that the people behind OV did not have any real interest in Charmcaster whatsoever, she didn’t fit in with their preferred focus on Ben, Rook, the Plumbers, and stupid shit like “harem” antics and Blukic/Driba shenanigans.

The spin-off that never happened - A justification as to why Charmcaster was so underplayed was that Gwen was not a regular on OV and thus too many Charmcaster appearances without Gwen would feel weird. As it stood, an OV spin-off focused on Gwen at Friedkin University was being planned, and Charmcaster would have been a regular character on that show. The problem is that this spin-off didn’t happen due to OV bombing and the franchise getting rebooted, so Charmcaster having few appearances and no character development in a story arc dedicated to putting her in place for her role in that spin-off just ends up feeling like a total waste. As painful as it is for me to admit this, even UAF Charmcaster ultimately felt more meaningful to UAF than OV Charmcaster does to OV thanks to this misguided decision.

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squidproquoclarice · 6 years ago

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Would you be able to explain your thoughts on not liking characters dying for redemption more? Like other people have said, you make things easy to understand.

All right, gather round the campfire, kids, and we’ll sing a round of Jack O’ Diamonds or Ring Dang Doo and let’s talk about the trope of “This character has done bad things, and deliberately choosing to sacrifice themselves for the survival of other people, in dying, finds their ‘redemption’.”Which can be powerful and eloquent. The issue is when it becomes the only acceptable ending for a character with problematic actions, where it becomes an equation of “redemption=death”. Establishing the notion that there is no redemption possible in life, that this character has done things that render them unworthy of surviving, of living, of happiness. And that’s…kind of an issue.There’s a conflict between the viewpoints of retributive and restorative justice. Retribution, which is more the Western legal system, and has become largely our cultural view, tends to take the notion that you can’t escape your past. You can’t erase it. Your sins will catch up to you, and you will pay the price for them in some kind of suffering. Eye for an eye. Action, consequence. Crime, punishment.Restorative justice looks more at the balance of things. You’ve done wrong. What can you do to fix that specific sin to your victim, or if not, how can you make the world around you better and pay for your wrong in that way?Look, this is a moral conflict that Victor Hugo explored in detail in “Les Miserables” (and you can bet your ass that’s a very pertinent novel Arthur will be reading during his TB convalescence). Jean Valjean is an escaped convict. Javert is very much the retributive justice POV: you still need to pay your punishment to society. Others, like the Bishop of Digne, tell Jean that the best way to pay for his sins is to look at the world around him, to do good, and to make it better. Can Jean make up for being a dick to Fantine in her hour of need and helping cause her suffering and death by becoming an amazing adoptive father to her daughter? Can he make up for his criminal past by it? Debate at 11!This is why I love RDR, to be honest. You have two very different men and situations, and the notion of “redemption” is handled in interesting ways for both of them.I love John Marston. We see him now in 3 different eras, and the evolution between 1899, 1907, and 1911. And he’s a fascinating character presenting that dilemma of an ex-criminal living a quiet life. He’s made up for his mistakes as a husband and father, but has he truly earned a peaceful life? As of 1907, he’s still fucking up, getting into fights, taking Abigail and Jack for granted, pursuing revenge for Arthur which is the last thing the man would want. As of 1911, I’d say “no”, he hasn’t quite earned absolution. He’s not hurting anyone any more, and he’s a fantastic husband and dad, but he’s running from his past. He’s not adding to the red in the ledger, but he’s not really putting any black to offset it either. He still seems to have left the gang mostly because of it breaking apart and Dutch’s betraying him, rather than genuine soul-searching and contrition. He goes after Bill and Javier and Dutch because he’s forced to, not because they’re hurting people. Though I’d say by the end of RDR1, he is becoming more the man who deserves the peace he seeks. He’s making more honorable choices to make the world around him better, helping strangers rather than looking out for only his own family. Unfortunately, it’s too little, too late, as he’s caught in Ross’ snare and is killed to tie up loose ends. John is a great character who can’t quite leave his past behind, or come to terms with it, and it catches up with him before he can complete that evolution. (And man, that really sucks for Arthur, because John’s becoming a good man living a good life is what he hoped for so much.)Arthur? Gaaaah, much as I loved John, R* found a new level of storytelling with this boah. By the end of RDR2, yes, from a restorative justice POV, I think he’s earned that chance at a happy life. He’s squarely faced who he is and what he’s done in the past, sincerely regrets it, recognizes he can’t directly fix many of his past actions (though damn, does he try where he can, in cases like the Downes family) but he’s actively chosen to do good. To spread kindness and mercy, to make the world better where he can. And I have to believe given another 30 years of life, he’d continue taking on that role of fighting for the downtrodden where he can, because this is a man who now genuinely believes. But from a retributive justice standpoint, he still deserves to die for the things he’s done. So therein lies the dilemma: which justice system wins? Restorative, and the good he can do for so many, or retributive, and “making him pay”? While I respect the tragic poetry of his sacrifice for John, I choose to believe that Arthur surviving the TB, finding a way to challenge himself to continue to be better, and doing so, and finding peace with himself, is a really profoundly meaningful ending. Like Sister Calderon says, we’ve all lived bad lives, but to choose to love others, and to selflessly help them, makes a big difference. So yeah, flipping over to Timeless, the notion as per the writer of the Christmas special that Garcia Flynn has “done too many bad things” and doesn’t “deserve” a happy ending so he should randomly go sacrifice himself for the happiness of Lucy and Wyatt is kinda BS-y. He acknowledges his sins. He fights for others, fights to try to become a good man again, without hope of personal gain for himself at this point. He’s saved a hell of a lot of lives. Compared to Wyatt, who’s been equally violent, hurt many people, and genuinely seems to believe his needs always take precedence, and yet “deserves” happiness including Babies Ever After, that’s really kind of a shitty reductive claim compared against the thoughtful complexity R* put into the “death via redemption” trope.In conclusion, use retributive justice where appropriate, but c’mon, let’s stop hitting the lazy button and see more restorative justice storylines for characters with “bad” pasts who are desperately trying to be better.Thank you for coming to my RED Talk.

#rdr2 #timeless #john marston #arthur morgan #garcia flynn #sipping tea on the shade porch #Anonymous #thank you for coming to my red talk

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hopevalley · 6 years ago

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What did you make of the new synopsis for ep 1 of s1 that is doing the rounds? Gowen and Bill are going head to head to buy the saloon - interesting?! Also who do you believe Abigail was best suited to....I think she and Bill could have gone somewhere if the fallout between them had been written differently. I mean come on, you've got people believing she and Henry are a thing and he is responsible for the death of her husband son! Bill could've been forgiven his drama with Nora too.

First, this is almost 3,000 words long. I’m so sorry..

I assume you meant S6E1—and naturally I have a lot of opinions!

I’m into the general concept of that plotline. It’s so easy to picture. I imagine it’ll happen something like: Gowen makes a comment about buying the place and Bill is instantly like, “Or I could prevent you from doing that” and then it escalates almost instantly into a competitive irritation-fueled bidding war. It’s perfectly in character for both of them.

Bill has proven he can be jealous (see S2) and petty (see S3), sometimes to the point where he can be cruel (see S5). Henry is a very competitive guy who will do what it takes to get what he wants, often at the expense of others (see pretty much every season). We also know there’s absolutely no love lost between them. Despite the short moment where Bill was almost friendly to Henry in S5 (when Henry turned in the woman who offered him a job if he betrayed Lee), it’s clear Bill and Henry are bound to be…well, I don’t want to say “lifelong enemies” so maybe: lifelong personal antagonists?

Their history is complex and interesting, and it goes back at least 20 years. They’ve known each other (or of each other) longer than they haven’t. Think about that. And there’s that whole mess with Nora getting pregnant, Bill marrying her and raising Martin, the comment Bill made about how Nora “always had a weak spot for [Henry]”—and the fact that Bill has investigated the mining company Henry worked for more than once, both ending in prosecutions; but the first time he did this ended with Henry being spat out as a scapegoat for the company: banished to Coal Valley.

So Henry blames Bill for a lot of the things he’s had to deal with. On the opposite side of things, Bill has known Slimy Gowen for so many years that it’s hard for him to really believe the man is capable of change, especially a drastic change. Neither of them…are really wrong, though; to a certain extent, it’s a matter of perspective. Bill thinks Henry is a scumbag, and Henry thinks Bill has always had it out for him.

And, sure, Henry didn’t let Ray Wyatt shoot Bill, but 1) he’d be implicated in that, and 2) all it really says about his character is that he has a moral line he won’t cross. He sicced his goons on Bill in S1, worked to ruin Abigail’s livelihood for literal years, and used Nora. He wasn’t a good man. But he knew who he was and he knew how far he’d go.

I like to think he’s still that guy, just…maybe better—or at least willing to try to be better?

And you know what? I like that even though Gowen has been making an effort to be a better person, the series hasn’t tried to push the two of them into some kind of happy friendship. Their history together isn’t good, and neither is their present. “You testified against me, Bill. Now, I see you taking a stroll down the boardwalk with my co-conspirator” (S5).

It’s just nice to see that “second chances” don’t always have to be these grand gestures of love and friendship and closeness; they can be just…staying in your own lane? I mean, even if Bill absolutely hates Henry, he mostly just ignores him/leaves him alone/lets him do his thing—and vice versa. That’s a form of giving a second chance. It doesn’t have to be on a personal level, and I think with these two characters, any kind of “wholesome, wholly-trusting” resolution would just feel…really bad. They need to retain their integrity as people, which means they’ll probably never actually like one another.

So of course they’d get into a bidding war over the saloon.

The only real question I have about it is…uh…where’s Henry getting the money? That must be some promotion Lee gave him, huh? I love the plot, but this is a huge oversight.

Look, Bill can theoretically have a lot of money. We don’t actually know how wealthy or un-wealthy he is. He’s been working an unpaid position off and on for the last two years as the sheriff of Hope Valley, but he also owns half of Abigail’s Café.

And this can’t be overlooked, either: he worked at a very high-profile and no doubt high-paying job before this. Does he pay alimony to Nora? We actually don’t know. It’s possible the café ownership keeps him afloat enough that he doesn’t have to touch his savings, but he could have a substantial amount of them, even though it’s obvious he used some of those to buy out Gowen’s half of the café. Still, early-seasons Bill was something of a workaholic, so even when he was making a lot of money, it’s doubtful he had the time or inclination to spend it. He could still have a sizable amount of it left after 30 years in the field!

But Henry? He’s poor. We’ve established this. He more or less came crawling back to town and had to take what was offered to him: a position at the bottom of the lumber mill totem pole. But he worked it and he didn’t complain.

So again, my question: where’s the money coming from? How can Henry competitively bid against Bill at this point?

Are they both intending to take out a loan or is part of Bill’s offer that he can pay in cash? I’m curious to see how they juggle it, but I really hope Henry’s stint as being poor isn’t just…overlooked. If he has to take out a loan for it, I’d be fine with it; I really love the idea of Henry getting that businessman spark back and taking a risk because of it! But I guess we’ll have to see.

As far as Abigail’s best suitor goes: my answer is Frank. I feel pretty sure that he was just about everything she needed in a partner. He wanted to communicate, he worked through things, he was good at talking about his feelings, he brought her flowers, he spent time with her, he had family meals with her and Cody… The list goes on. They were a great match! It’s unfortunate that he was written off the show.

As for Abigail and Bill…I have to agree with you.

But I should disclaim my post.

I don’t see them as romantically inclined toward one another at all—in fact, I can’t watch their dating scenes in early episodes without cringing because it just feels awkward and performative to me. But if the show can will-they won’t-they with Henry and Abigail, it feels kind of yucky to me that we never even got a sincere discussion between Bill and Abigail about what happened between them, let alone a genuine apology and acceptance scene.

Don’t get me wrong; they make amazing friends. I loved the end of S5 when he went to Abigail because he knew she’d get it—she’d get him, even the things he couldn’t make himself say.

But there’s something to be said for attraction and what a person wants in a relationship at different times in their lives, too.

Let me explain.

When Abigail met Bill, she was just starting to move past the grief of losing her husband and son. That’s not an easy thing to do. But it’s like she says in S1: “Life goes on for all of us.” Abigail didn’t want to steep herself in grief forever. She wanted to move on. And Bill, unrelated to the accident but in town to help solve it and give her peace of mind, was the perfect…I don’t know. He wasn’t a “rebound guy” but for lack of a better term, let’s call him that. He wasn’t that well-suited to her but he was available and she needed…some of what he was capable of offering right away—especially assurance and (lawful) action.

She was married from the cusp of womanhood until her husband died, so it’s doubtful she had a line of beaus on a string in her youth. Abigail never played the courting game. But here she is years later, a widow ready to try and move on…and Bill shows up and is nice to her, respectful, kind of charming, and sincerely helpful…and at this point in her life, that’s exactly what she needs! She needs someone who feels dependable and can take care of her in the way she needs taken care of, which at this point was…bringing her peace of mind/bringing justice to the town and the men who died: her immediate needs (that could be fulfilled by a non-suitor Bill, too, by the way).

But Abigail was having a nice time. Again, a good-lookin’ guy comes to see you and talk to you and tells you that your cooking is great and that you look nice…and you’re not wrong and it’s okay to want justice and he’s gonna make sure you get it…

It’s flattering and confidence-boosting. And hey, except for the whole…lying thing, he was the perfect rebound guy. He didn’t want to rush anything; he respected her space; and he actively worked on the things he promised to work on (getting justice for the dead men).

But there were other aspects of Bill that just…didn’t work for her and probably still wouldn’t. He’s an emotional husk most of the time and he’s not a Romantic Man. I don’t know how to explain it, but for an example, let’s go with flowers.

Bill gives her flowers “for the café, to brighten things up.” It’s a romantic overture, but we’re not shown him actually giving them to her so it feels…kind of disconnected. Frank brings Abigail flowers and not only do we see it, everything about it is intended to be romantic. He brings her favorites, demonstrating he knows what she likes; he smiles a lot; he wants to touch her and be touched; he hovers around after and offers to help her with what she’s working on…

Bill does these types of things because it’s expected of him.

But it’s like, you can’t forget the kind of person Bill is, either.

He’s a workaholic at this point in the series. All he does is work. And he was in a marriage for an indeterminate number of years (anywhere from 15 to 25 of them) with someone he didn’t love. “I married her as a favor to her father.” Bill never had to romance his wife; he married her out of obligation—because her father made sure he got his schooling.

Bill is the guy who, at least at this time, did things because “that’s what you do.” It’s almost like he’s following a manual. You give flowers to the woman you’re courting. You offer your arm. You say romantic things. Or in the case of his job, you follow the rules, you fill out the proper paperwork in the right order. You submit cases on time. In the case of Nora and her father, too. He did you a life-changing favor so you need to do one for him, too.

Because he’s just doing what’s expected, the things he does don’t feel romantic when you have time to think about them (and compare them to others). It’s like taking out the trash because it’s expected of you, or doing the dishes. That’s what these kinds of things seem to be to him, at least when he’s low-key courting Abigail: they’re tasks. He’s just doing them to check them off the list; there’s not much feeling in them and personal preference isn’t taken into consideration.

Which brings me back to Bill’s, uh, emotional constipation.

He was definitely lying in S1/S2 when he didn’t admit he was Divorce Pending. But even at moments where Abigail was trying to communicate feelings to him, he was just…completely avoidant. Remember this scene?

Yeah, the way he just…segues away from feelings or attachment is cringey. It’s hard to watch a second (or third, or fourth) time. Bill is Bad At Feelings (dealing with the ones he has AND admitting when he doesn’t have them), and Abigail needs someone who is good at them: at understanding what they’re feeling and why, and a person who is willing to regularly and effectively try to communicate them with her.

(Just quickly here I want to point out that Bill’s emotional constipation may have been why he and Dottie didn’t work out, too, though the writers sort of dropped the ball on that one… And it’s why he was so mean to AJ in S5; this man literally can’t talk about his feelings short of an actual breakdown, and that is NOT the kind of thing most people are equipped to deal with. And to be fair to the Dottie/Bill relationship, him cooking for her was a marked improvement in him trying to court a lady, but there are aspects of it that just feel like he’s just checking off boxes.)

This is mostly why I prefer that Abigail and Bill just…stay friends. Because neither of them need to settle for a romantic relationship they’re not wholly into, but also…they both need very different things in a relationship; they just don’t seem compatible to me that way.

So sure, Abigail thought he was pretty good-lookin’ when he showed up, and he’s nice to spend time with, but everything beyond that isn’t really her cup of tea: he doesn’t forgive easily; he holds grudges; he’s extremely independent; he doesn’t like asking for help; he’s terrible at communicating feelings; etc. So I mean, even if he improves in the feelings department, it’s probably not going to matter enough.

Bill’s needs matter too, of course, and Abigail fulfills some of them, but not all of them: he really needs someone who’s gonna call him out, keep him on his toes/things from getting boring or stagnant; he needs an opinionated complaining partner; he needs someone who knows their own heart well but who will also understand his without him having to spell everything out/their feelings getting hurt when he doesn’t spell it out for them; etc.

And I mean, it really sucks because they do have a few things that are good for one another. And for what it’s worth, I think they could make a relationship work if they had to/felt inclined to. Bill isn’t very good at compromising, but Abigail’s better at it. Still, would they both be happy, or would it ultimately just rob them of their ability to be and feel independent? Bill doesn’t like being told what to do and he’d HATE having to, say, be home at a certain time. I think when he met Abigail, that wasn’t important to him, but now it is. He likes being able to do what he wants, when he wants to do it.

(Which reminds me of Frank, who spent a lifetime extremely independent but was more than happy to have someone to answer to; the issue between he and Abigail was that he needed that expectation communicated to him; that was it! I feel like Bill would find it stifling and ultimately it could breed resentment.)

Anyway, I don’t disagree with your message. I think if things had been written differently, if Bill’s character had gone in a different direction maybe, they’d be more suited to one another right now.

As far as Abigail and Henry goes… I pretty much loathe the idea of them as a romantic couple, so if you’re ever down for a good rant: feel free to hit me up privately. That said, I want to be fair to the characters in terms of like, feeling attraction…or uhhh the lack thereof if you interpret anybody as asexual!

At the end of the day, it’s not unreasonable to think that Abigail could be attracted to Henry.

Maybe she was attracted to Bill at one point, but no longer is (mainly because she’s realized they’re just not that romantically compatible, even though they get on great as friends). And maybe she finds Henry attractive even despite the things he’s done, because, uh… I don’t know, he looks THAT GOOD in a hat and scarf.

I still think the writing surrounding Henry and Abigail is weak, though. Like you said, he was complicit in the deaths of her husband and son. He’ll need a lot more redemption material before I’ll buy into Abigail being romantically interested in him. An attraction? SURE. She’s not blind! But more than that? I hope it doesn’t happen.

Actually, right now I’m kind of hoping Abigail just stays single for a couple of seasons while they focus on other romantic plots that are in town, like Jesse and Clara, and Rosemary and Lee. Abigail needs a little less focus for S6…and I’d prefer it remain romantic-free.

(Don’t forget, we’re getting a storyline for her that’s a two-parter about someone from her past! I’m still hoping it’s one of her brothers, though. That’d be SO cool.)

But that’s just personal opinion, y’know? I’ve noticed that over on Instagram, the fans are really divided in the different Abigail-relationship camps. It’s kind of cool that everyone gets something different out of each type of relationship presented…and of course, seeing everybody’s different interpretation of the characters is fun, too.

So I’m not saying, “you can’t ship X” because you can enjoy whatever it is you like. This is just my interpretation. ♥

(Sorry if there are any mistakes, I didn’t really proofread this multiple times as usual. Let me know if you see anything glaring!)

#when calls the heart #answered mail #anonymously asked #abigail stanton #bill avery #henry gowen #character studies and information #analysis and meta discussion #to be clear again this is just my interpretation of the characters

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