#might talk about the parallels between the first three seasons and the last three seasons

[six-seasons-andamovie]

The fact that the end of bjhm S3 is the death for not only Sarah Lynn but also bojacks career:

Bjhm s3 is most well known for Sarah Lynn's death, and how it also essentially marks the beginning of the end for bjs career, as her death is what led to Paige Sinclair and Max investigating bjs past which all lead up to his cancellation.

But season three is also the last season to focus primarily on bojacks professional life as all seasons that follow are mainly about his personal life and relationships, ( and are also parallels to the first half of the season), thus the death of the series focusing on his career.

( Whilst yes season five does focus on bjs new big break in his career, it focuses more on the bojacks as a character outside of his professional life and his relationships, ( dating Gina, his friendship with Diane, the entire free churro' episode and his relationship with his mother ),

compared to that of season two, which while yes does focus on his personal life (new couch and Beatrice, Wanda, the aftermath of the telescope and how it all comes to a head in let's find out) it does so less than season five I feel. )

So the end of season three is the end really of bojacks life in the light in more ways than one

[couldpolyamorysavethem]

ELIZABETH BURKE, PETER BURKE, and NEAL CAFFREY from WHITE COLLAR

Justification:

"okay listen this might already be in the queue but i sincerely believe the last three seasons of the show would've gone in a completely different direction if peter got that last little push away from his bullshit cop behaviour by neal pulling some grand romantic gesture for him + el. like, come on man, you've already come to peace with legality not being the same as morality after you ran all those cons and let neal cut and run, but he's so convinced the ONLY way to do good in the world is being an fbi agent that he like, actively makes things worse for neal (AND HIMSELF? AND ELIZABETH?) over and over again just so he can preserve the status quo of neal being his CI + while peter's an active field agent. would kissing about his devotion to their dynamic and neal's rehabilitation and peter's complicity in neal's dehumanisation by the state solve that? maybe not! but considering the alternative is neal fucking dying (he got better) about it i think we should give it a shot!

that previous paragraph was more or less me preaching to the choir wrt this relationship but still here's my pitch:

neal is essentially already the third in elizabeth + peter's marriage, with how much he lives in peter's brain during pre-series sequences, how INVESTED he is in their relationship (reminding peter of anniversaries), and then IN the actual series that only increases when he's coming around to their place all the time

each pair within this trio have supporting but distinct relationships w one another that they all benefit from (and they often need the support of all three dynamics to get through Issues™)

that one episode where peter ends up on the run w another fbi agent and neal gets paired up with that guy's CI, and there's just an unbelievable amount of parallels between the two pairs and their relationship, even after its established that those two are in a romantic relationship and peter and neal 'aren't'. like peter says he'd go to neal first if he was ever in trouble LIKEEE

fucking everything about the run up to the finale of season 2 where we hear over and over again that the only two ways conmen end up are with 'one last score' (which inevitably leads to the next, because they can't help themselves), or going to prison. OR, the 'true love' option, where an ex-conman is able to genuinely settle down and go straight (more or less). this 'secret third option' is literally even spelled out to us IN an episode about a trio of thieves (byron june and ford) who meant the world to each other!

neal uses the engagement ring he was GOING to give to his TEXTUAL 'true love' in order to pay for peter's ransom that one time and isn't even cut up about it??

also like the episode before that neal and peter switch identities (very well) and neal acts like elizabeth's wife, and the only issue peter (or anyone) has with it is that he's also committing the crime of impersonating a federal agent.

season three finale where peter asks why neal didn't run when he just got the score of his life and the first thing he says is 'you, elizabeth', before listing literally anything else. INCLUDING HIS CURRENT ROMANTIC INTEREST?

also the scene before that where neal immediately folds from his season long cat and mouse game with peter and hiding the treasure because elizabeth's in danger! and peter only believes he's not lying abt any of it bc it's elizabeth!

that one shot in the pilot where neal and elizabeth look up at peter and you can so clearly see he has a type.

literally everything about elizabeth + neal's interactions in s1. get you a girl who sneaks you into her house past dozens of fbi agents so you can talk to your handler personally about being framed for a crime that she has no reason to suspect you didn't do other than believe in your and her husband's relationship!

im losing track of my argument at this point. anyway can someone please knock peter upside the head with some kind of bi awakening for the love of god this homoerotic 'partners' situation has an unbelievably high body count not to mention all the violation of civil liberties and frankly you could've all moved to paris and started a detective agency YEARS ago and this show would become slice of life" - @time-is-restored

[ladyfromaspookyforest]

Lumax vs Milevn

One thing that I absolutely love about contrasting Lumax and Milevn is that they followed such similar paths up to a point at which they diverge. And that point of divergence is EVERYTHING.

For starters, Lucas and Mike start off as each others' love interests biggest haters. They try to shut El and Max out of the party respectively.

Next, Lucas and Mike are the only ones who treat Max and El with full respect and acceptance right off the bat. They develop a closer bond than the others, Max and El confiding in Lucas in Mike more than they do the others.

This one's obvious...

And then we get into the absolute ridiculousness of season 3. The girls break up with their boyfriends, laugh about it, the boys bemoan. It's all humor. It's the epitome of youth. Teenage drama.

Sidebar: I hated both of these ships when I first watched this show. I could not get over the ick factor I felt watching children kissing. I kept being like EVERYONE STOP! YOU'RE TOO YOUNG FOR THIS! Am I really meant to LIKE this??? IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE ROMANTIC???

*cough* Anyway, that was my first impression. So the fact that I am a hardcore Lumax shipper now really demonstrates just how phenomenally that story was told in season four. Bringing us to the divergence.

Breaking up versus staying together. I'm not even going to talk about El lying to Mike for six months in this post. This is just about the breakup.

Breaking up Max and Lucas for real (as opposed to how she used to break up with him every so often for the fun of it) while simultaneously entering these characters into high school allowed them to evolve separately from one another and confront more adult struggles. Max distances from her friends as a consequence of trauma and Lucas distances in an attempt to fit in. The conversation between Lucas and Mike

shows how much Mike is taking for granted. Lucas's desire to belong is due to his experiences with bullying and we have canonically seen that for Lucas, this was rooted in racism. Maybe he joined the basketball team because he's just good at basketball, but I think it's worth mentioning that he joined a team with at least three other black boys on it. I'm not going to write a whole article about Lucas's struggles with racism here, but my point is that what Lucas went through with Billy probably had some lasting effects on him just like it did on Max.

So both characters struggled with finding out what they wanted and who really mattered in season 4 and ultimately, this led them back to one another.

On the other end, we have Milkdud doing the exact opposite. Lumax is physically near one another but broken up. Mildew is physically apart but still together. They struggled alone and pretended things were the same between them, not allowing themselves the opportunity to reassess.

THIS STEP WAS NECESSARY. Maybe that's just opinion, but they are not the same people in season 4 as they were in season 2, especially since a lot of the trauma of season 3 has forced them to mature quicker than they otherwise would have.

These relationships parallel one another in seasons 1/2 to demonstrate how boy-meets-girl might play out. How a crush can evolve into a friend and into a relationship. Then in season 3, they parallel to show how shallow the relationships BOTH are at this stage. How inconsequential young romance is in the grand scheme of things. And they diverge in season 4 to show us that trying to continue on as though you are still the same people in the same relationship as you were when you were kids is not going to grow your relationship into a healthy and mature one.

Personally I think Mike is gay, but IF HE'S NOT, Mike and El could have strengthened their relationship had they allowed themselves distance from one another. I didn't ship Byler yet when season 4 came out. Had Milelevator been executed differently, I fully believe I could have shipped them. Lumax is proof of that. The fact that I don't is a consequence of the INTENTIONAL differences between the ways these two relationships were written.

[lonesome-greenery]

It's 2:30ish y'all! | Part two electric boogaloo

Alright folks, buckle in because ooh boy, this episode still doesn't feel real to me.

Spoilers under cut

First off, that vaguely endearing Dokana executive, yeah, you remember him? Not so endearing anymore and I wanted to reach through my headphones and spray him with a butt ton of water like how you spray your cats when training them to associate peeing on your floor with a negative experience so they don't do that anymore.

Juno fighting tooth and nail to survive and deciding he doesn't want to die is probably one of the best ways I've seen a character arc like his executed, and man is it satisfying and beautiful to see. He's grown so much since the season one finale, and he's so much better for it. He got to make the healthiest choice for himself and take hold of his life, and really hold his life between clenched fists, refusing to lose it when he's now found it.

"I'm an adult goddamnit!"

I know there are plenty of good lines through out the series, but this is probably my favorite line. It's so reflective of everything Juno has struggled with so far. He's had so much of his life skewed and screwed over by others, but half of it was his choice too. He's struggled with just functioning as an adult and has felt like his life is out of his hands and in the power of some corrupt bureaucracy for the longest time. And here when he's certain this could be the end of his story, he takes ownership of that part of his identity and that frustration at where his decisions have gotten him. It's such a loaded statement and also points to where his choices have been invalidated by people he's trusted, stripping him of his autonomy. He's not going to allow that to be the last thing that Nureyev does before he sacrifices himself for him because he loves him too much for that to be the end of their story.

Others have already talked about the parallel between Juno's speech to Nureyev in this episode and the season one finale so I won't add much more to it other than I loved the parallel and I'm so glad for it. I like to use bookending in my own writing and it's amazing to see it used here.

Slip's dead. I might not have liked him much, but that ending for him did actually make me cry, especially with him playing the song for Nureyev that he played that first time to let him know that 'that dream has passed', but instead of it being the dream to be some protector of the universe forever with the looming destruction of the people of the planet he grew up on shackling him to his guilt, it's that dream to bring Slip back, to wake him up from the drug induced dream he had shared with him that's shackled him to this immense guilt and Slip has handed him the keys.

And here's a giant cheer to the Ruby 7 for making it through this whole mess! It almost died at least three times in the last few hours and it came back more powerful than ever with quite literally the power of love and friendship and talking about feelings and saved our gay space detective and master thief. I'm so glad that the Carte Blanche crew still stays so close to it and Juno's mind through out this whole season.

I honestly loved this episode so much, and I had a lot quieter but more complex emotions about this than I was expecting.

Now the only question is, what's going on with Rita?

And does she think Juno and Nureyev are dead?

[rivalsforlife]

first three episodes of lotrop s2 dropping in an hour, I am making the bad decision to continue watching despite liking season 1 less and less as time goes on, hoping beyond hope to see the celebrimbor and sauron dynamic done justice. this hope only exists because shadow of mordor also did it so crappily that this show actually has a low bar to compare to and yet it still may fall short. anyways. general wishlist:

celebrimbor/sauron dynamic has to Hit. My negative prediction is that it is going to largely involve sauron mind-manipulating celebrimby which will suck. I'm hoping that it will be mostly if not entirely sauron playing on celebrimbor's ambition which was always my interpretation

I want Feanor Mentions. I'm guessing we're going to get celebrimbor talking about how feanor is an inspiration at least in part, but I want SOMEONE to bring up how fucked feanor ended up being even if it's not in extreme details. something like "and yet his pride was his downfall" or whatever. increases the parallels between feanor and celembrimbor

galadriel/adar teamup will be sick I think I put that in one of my s1 posts and I think it might actually be happening? I hope we get more elf+orc theology stuff because that's cool and if you're gonna put galadriel in this kind of role we might as well get some orc theology out of it.

I want to say I want sauron and galadriel to not interact at all but we know it's going to be happening. I hope that they don't build on that as much as they did in s1 because if they have an even close to canonical last alliance then galadriel is not going to be in that final showdown directly against him and then WHAT ARE YOU SPENDING ALL THIS TIME DEVELOPING THIS ENEMYSHIP FOR. This whole part of how they handled the dynamic between galadriel (who was ONE OF THE ONLY ONES NEVER DECEIVED BY SAURON) and sauron so far has sucked so I'm really hoping they kinda tone that down

the hints at possible romantic arc were actually the worst part of the season and if they do confirm even one-sided romantic interest on either part then I am dropping the show immediately and possibly even putting up a whiny review

second worst part of s1 was the silmamithril and I'm hoping that either gets deconfirmed or at least not brought up again. the only way they can justify this is if they bring maedhros into it. and I know they won't.

I want gil-galad to do more things and I want him to be interesting. also parentage reveal at the most unexpected time would be hilarious but I don't think that would actually happen

there are other arcs than the elves?? ummmm . I want tom bombadil to do something horrifically tone breaking. I don't think he will though

I want the stranger to not be gandalf

annatar name use. although if they just avoid it by making sauron say the word "gift" constantly that would also be pretty hilarious

Also I made this post after season 1 and we did get a) more focus on celebrimbor (at least the impression I get from the trailers, don't know if it will be up to my unreasonably high standards for him) and b) galadriel with her hair in a braided crown. so at least I will be winning a little more than I thought I would be.

[exuberantocean]

Ted Lasso s3e01 - Observations

And anyone who guessed the starting close up for s3 was Ted would be right (I thought Keeley or Roy)

I also like that we can see some gray in the stubble (he’s in England so should I say grey instead?)

Also that text...oof  way to set up Ted’s headspace though.  That whole start was like a punch in the gut.

I’m adding the “I remember being left at school when I was Henry’s age” story as another to my list of “Ted’s parents not showing up/abandoning him” situations in his past...”Until my dad remembered to pick me up” 😭 )

Also what a crazy story all around though

And Ted cleaning up after Henry is all kinds of heartbreaking

Still uncertain if Ted’s flat has a bedroom for Henry.  I’d imagine he’d ask for one.  No clue if the fort and Ted’s bedroom is where he slept and, if so, if it was because he wanted to or had too. I suppose it doesn’t matter, just a little detail.

Is that a new shower scene or did they reuse the last one?  His hair looks longer in the shower than it does for the rest of the episode.

Brendan’s partner and kid!

Ted’s still nosy about Doc’s personal life which is...iffy to me but makes sense for his character

Rebecca.  Rebecca.  The thing is, this is exactly what Rupert’s after.  Whether you win or he does is, on a deeper level, immaterial.  He wants her obsessively thinking about him and he’s getting it.  The truth is, West Ham will sometimes win, sometimes lose and she needs to learn how to divorce (heh) her feelings about Rupert from the game. 

I’m glad that she has Higgins, Ted, and Keeley to bring her back down to what matters.  I hope she starts listening.  All three might need to be a bit more blunt going forward though.

Keeley babe.  I think you need help.  It’s 100% normal to be overwhelmed and I’m glad she’s reaching out but it sounds like maybe she’s trying to do too much too quickly.

I was thrilled that Higgins also has mascara stains.  I would hate to imagine the Higgins-Rebecca-Keeley trio is gone.  It thrills me that Higgins is still obviously in Keeley’s life

I love the team’s anxieties and the way Ted takes care of it.  I love Jamie stepping into “Ted Lasso” for the team shortly after.

I feel like the situation with Nate and Rupert really shows how well an abuser starts a toxic relationship.  Obviously they’re setting us up to look at Ted and Nate’s relationship some more this season, but I’m also hoping we get a look and Rebecca and Nate.  I feel like there’s some strong parallels there.  There always has been.

This is why I had Rebecca be the first one to talk to Nate in my fic “So Close”

I really thought the car thing was a good illustration of that.  It’s a gift but a rather backhanded one.  No fucking way Rupert didn’t know he was towing Nate’s car.  He set the whole situation up.

The whole conflict between Ted and Rebecca about taking the team to the sewers was interesting to me.  Something I think I need to think about.  But Ted’s doing the work that needs to be done and Rebecca’s worried about image.  “Rupert’s laughing at me, Ted.” But Rupert’s relationship to people and things is always shallow and condescending.  He’ll always laugh at Rebecca (or otherwise look down on her). That said, she’s not 100% in the wrong, as a business owner, to be concerned about image.  I’m not saying she’s right, just that she’s maybe not 100% wrong either (Ted was still right to do it, the need to get the team out of their own head was more important.) idk I need more time to think about it.

Not 100% sure I like the scene with Ted mocking himself.  I get why he did it and it was effective, but particularly when it came to mocking his own mental health.  It made me wince both because we know Ted’s struggling already with anxiety and probably some amount of depression and because, well, a lot of people with mental health struggles really aren’t taken seriously.

Overall, a great episode and good start to the season!

[bookqueenrules]

18, 18, 18…..Symbolism and the number 18 in the DD spin-off.

In episodes 2 and 3 the number 18 is specifically mentioned.

In episode 3 the “walker experiment” lasted 18 seconds.

To have TWO prominent mentions of the same number can not be a coincidence.  So, I went back to the first 18 in TWDU.  When interpreting symbols there is the rule of "first mention" meaning that you should go back to the first time something is mentioned in a work in order to determine its symbolic meaning.

Season 2 episode 10 was titled “18 Miles Out”.  First, the episode starts out of chronological order(like WHWGO) with a scene of Shane and Rick trying to get away from a herd of walkers that were set loose  when Shane throws a red hatchet into a glass because he was aiming at Rick but misses.  Shane seeks cover in a school bus. We get our first shot of a bus AND a fire truck.  LOTS of symbolism and foreshadowing in just the sequence.

Then, it flashes back to Rick and Shane on the road before the opening. Shane and Rick are supposed to take Randall 18 miles out and drop him off. They blindfold him, tie him up, and put him in the trunk of the car.

The episode focuses on conflicts between Shane and Rick and Maggie and Beth.   I won’t do a scene by scene breakdown, but there are two themes running through the episode.  The first takes center stage in Rick and Shane’s story. It’s the theme of “being too far out” meaning you have lost your humanity in order to survive. Rick wants to let Randall live and Shane not only wants to kill Randall, but will make his first attempt to kill Rick.  He argues with Rick telling Rick that he won’t do what it takes to keep Lori, Carl, and the baby safe.

This crossroad is about 18 miles out.  It is at the crossroads that Shane explains how he had to leave Rick in the hospital in order to save Lori and Carl.  He had no choice.  He explains that there were military personnel at the hospital killing the living and the dead. The best he could do for Rick was to block the entrance to his door and leave.  I believe this was a direct foreshadow of what TF had to do with Beth’s body at Grady.  Then, Shane says that after leaving Rick, “I didn’t keep Lori and Carl alive.  They kept me alive.”  This parallels Daryl’s experience after leaving Beth’s body.  Daryl was needed to help keep TF alive, but it was really them that kept him from “going too far” into his grief for Beth. 

Then, they both get in the car and have the STRANGEST conversation. Rick starts talking about winter and how it might slow the walkers down if it is as cold as last winter.  He tells the story of his cousin being stuck on 85 for 24 hours and having to eat the birthday cake he was taking to his girlfriend in Virginia. I believe this was a coded story. 85 was code for 5X8 aka Coda. I believe the 24 hours might have been how long Beth was “stuck in the car” before they could come back to her.  It also foreshadows TF going to Virginia after Beth being “stuck in the car”. 

In this episode, Rick and Shane pass the crossroads symbolizing going “too far”. Shane shows this by the end of the episode.

This connects with the walker experiments in DD episode 3.  Experimenting on walkers is Genet’s going “too far”.

The second conflict is Maggie trying to convince Beth not to “lose hope” and kill herself. So, the second theme of 18 miles out is that each individual must find their own reason to live despite facing grief and loss. Beth says that is “pointless” to keep going.  Maggie says that even though they lost their mother, Beth still has her, Daddy, Jimmy, and Patricia. Beth says something like “I’ve been dating Jimmy for three months and now I’m married to him?” Then, Andrea and Lori have an interesting argument in the kitchen.  Andrea tells Lori something to the effect that maybe she should tell that girl(Beth) that she will have a husband, a son, and a baby one day just like Lori. This foreshaow’s Beth’s “happy ending” at the end of her arc. Sound familiar?  

Next, Beth tells Maggies that their farm will be overrun with walkers and, “We’ll lose each other anyway, and I couldn’t stand that.”  Beth doesn’t want to be gutted by walkers. She wants Maggie to commit suicide with her so that they can end things on their own terms.  SO MUCH foreshadowing in this conversation.  Pretty much everything Beth feared happened(except the gutted part, but that must haunt Maggie). Yet, when Beth does cut herself, she instantly regrets it and decides to live, showing that you can decide to cross a line, but come back as long as you aren’t “too far gone”. You can lose your hope but find it again.

The 18 reference in DD episode 2 was a call back to Beth and her arc.  Lou symbolized Beth even down to her hair.  Her taking care of the kids was much like Beth for the kids at the prison. It was a call back to Beth and the theme of not losing hope despite loss.  It is interesting that the marriage theme was also brought through Daryl and the kids watching that Mork and Mindy episode. I believe this reference shows that Beth and her arc are still alive.

In episode 3, there are 64 people in Fallou’s community.  Another specific number call out. This calls back to 6x4.  This is a standalone episode about Morgan being taken in and brought back from being “too far gone” by Eastman.  I believe it may be referencing in DD to show that Beth was taken in by someone who helped her keep going after the loss of TF. Interestingly 4X6 is a standalone about the Governor and what happens to him after he is “separated” from his people. He too finds another group with which to connect, but in the end he is “too far gone” to change.

I would love to know if anyone else made any connections with these numbers. 

[slutneto]

Bfmfjfnfj for REAL like. I think part of it is bc Shiv took a really huge blow with Logan's death so everyone's like how can Tom be an asshole now of all times. But here's the thing. Her dad dying doesn't erase the shit she put Tom through, which is more than just cheating on him (already horrible), and it irks me so much that they downplay Shiv's abuse towards him. Like yes he's an asshole and selfish, but you don't need to pretend like Shiv has done nothing wrong to justify your anger. Like. Shiv's abuse is so layered and constant especially during the first season, practically every scene between the two she's dismissive and mocking with him. And it's not like we're saying Tom isn't equally fucked up in how he behaves with her especially in how he's so pushy about getting her pregnant. And that's the thing, they're both horrible towards each other and we don't need to water these characters down to Victim Woman and Evil Man to enjoy them. Please stop!!!! Also I feel like people jump to Shiv's defense over made up arguments from made up people??? At least here on tumblr I've never seen the "tomgregs who hate Shiv" everyone's always whining about. At most I see posts saying she's not perfect and then people complaining about sexism in fandom LOL. Also also, last ep with the ear flick scene made a lot of people uncomfortable and rightfully so imo, it was meant to, but the virtue signaling is getting a bit too much gjmdjdk and equating an ear flick with domestic violence is a BIT fucked up in my opinion.

In any case I hope the writers aren't planning on escalating this and that it was meant to read as Tom just reacting to Shiv not backing off, bc if they take the Tom-Logan parallels to the extreme I might have to check out lol. I'm scared bc they have shown us Tom's violent side with Greg, and with the dynamics shifting... Idk.

This is going to get me cancelled for sure but fuck it, right?

I like Shiv, but only when she is without Tom? They are just fucking terrible with each other. Shiv uses her sexuality as a weapon, or perhaps a tool to hurt Tom. Perpetually. With cheating, with the open marriage, and trying tom to participate in it, etc., in early season one and late season three by hurting him during sex the first physically, the other mentally. I don’t think it as refreshing and ground-breaking or even entertaining as some fans, but hey, to each their own, tomgreg also has mental and physical abuse in there, to some extent.

I don’t want to defend Tom in anyway, because you are right, he is no saint, but we talk used (before season 4) talk about the pyramid of abuse in succ, where Logan’s abuse of his children was getting passed on to other people via his children, and just how fucked up that was, and how this needs to change, why are we suddenly so against Tom calling Shiv out on her insecurities and pointing out he has been hurt by Shiv? It’s true? Yes, she has just lost her father, but you are right, their issues started way before that.

To me, the ear flick was did not equal to domestic abuse but stayed on the same level of childishness as Shiv relentlessly trying to step on his shoes because she was feeling bad for herself. Tom deciding to take direct action against the source instead of this usual move of weathering through abuse and then taking it out on Greg in most insane ways imaginable is, at least to me, quite interesting. We don’t talk about it and what it might mean enough.

The fandom seeing any critique directed at a female character and saying it borders on fans being sexist is nothing new, but it is worrying here, where, textually, the point of this character is to be flawed and fucked up? We joke about them all being our poor little meow meows but surely critical thinking has not been lost along the way? The whole point of this show is to question how much of the kid’s actions can be blamed on Logan, and how much of it is the kid’s fault. If we decided everything is Logan’s fault, then the kids are nothing but his reflections, his agency in the world, with no autonomy, all of their actions can be traced back to Logan.

I am not sure I enjoy this season at all, which is super odd, because we are now halfway done? The writers did say we will get to find out if tomshiv were ever anything real in the second art of the season, which is good because my POV on this changes daily. Yeah, Tom used his relationship with Shiv to breeze through the ranks, but he also seemed genuinely in love and therefore hurt by Shiv’s actions too? Yes, Shiv has been historically abusive, cold, and dismissive, but she seems to care about Tom from time to time. But is it enough? Idk.

[undertheknightwing]

just finished s2 and finally met Jon-El!

rip to whoever the writer for this season was but I'm different. Au in my head where Jon-El's horrified "I've never killed anyone before" actually mattered in the show, the Kents managed to convince him that he wasn't broken and he didn't have to keep doing things he didn't want to do, and suddenly have triplets instead of twins <3

Even if the show didn't go down that path it's absolutely absurd that Jon-El didn't start poking at Jon's insecurities and all the ways the Kents had failed him to try getting Jon to merge! Especially if Jon-El was manipulating Jon not out of a place of malice, but because he genuinely believed that merging could "heal" both of them. That could have been so interesting to see on screen! And that's just the tip of the iceberg; as an angst writer myself, I can think of so many amazing plotlines and arc ideas for Jon-El and I'm genuinely baffled that the writers didn't try to pursue any of them.

But anyway, love Jon-El, and he can commit all the crimes he wants because he's amazing and has all the rights <3

and on an unrelated note: CLARK LITERALLY LEFT JON DOING *CHORES* WHILE HE AND JORDAN WENT TO WORK ON POWERS??

Taking a billion points of psychic damage from that alone, but then Clark never actually talked to Jon when he was upset about it?? AHFDKJHADSKJFHSAKJFHKSBG. absolutely murdered me. okay. I genuinely cannot get over the way Clois acted, mostly around Jon but there were some bad moments with Jordan too; their lack of parenting skills this season left a really bad taste in my mouth at so many parts. I might have to rewatch s1 to remind myself why I liked them at all in the first place tbh

Anyway, I'm glad that this season gave us sweet moments between Jon, Jordan, and Nat. I'd love to see more of the three of them being chaotic siblings in the future.

You just described the perfect ending 😭

I wanted to see Clark trying to save Jon-El from his self-destruction so badly. He only tried once to get Jon-El to see what he was doing was wrong and it was a lame attempt at that.

And really why should have Jon-El believed Clark? He's currently being manipulated by a cult leader who's so strong she has a hold over thousands of ADULTS, who he sees as a person who truly cares about him, and has most likely been emotionally abused by a man who looks just like Clark. Of course he's not listening or caring about Clark's attempt that was pretty much just "hey you're bad right now, but if join me and you'll be good". But considering Clark can't even talk to or understand his Jon, it's not a surprise he can't reach Jon-El, who's just a darker parallel of his son.

Also I just wanna say that Jon-El's "I never killed anyone before" line reminded me so much of Gar's "I bit him" line AND THAT SHIT HURT.

Jon-El was done so dirty storyline wise, they took this tragic and complex character and turned him into Jordan's villain of the week to beat up. He didn't even get a proper send off, he just got beat up in a school gym and that was it. Never see or hear from him again. Such a waste of a character.

I don't think him wanting to merge was ever out of malice in canon. He did genuinely believe merging would fix him, that's what Ally made him believe. She made him see himself as broken and without purpose, told him he'll only be fixed/healed if he merges with Jon, so he saw Jon as the last thing that would save him and wouldn't let anything or one get in his way. Jon was a lighthouse in a raging storm to him.

And as badly as I think Jon-El wanted to merge, I just want to point out that after rewatching his episodes a few times I noticed there was many times Jon-El could have killed the Kents but he didn't even though they were keeping him from Jon. He never threatens his bizarro family with death either, only tells them to disappear.

I think he has no problem throwing punches as warning or threat to stay out of his way but killing his family? even if they aren't his family. I don't think that's a line he could cross. If did have no problem crossing that line he would have killed Clark with the kryptonite shard but he didn't, he left him there with Lana who he had to know could have saved Clark before he died.

I agree 100% I support Jon-El's rights and wrongs <3 but also want him to go to therapy and heal.

Clois' parenting damaged me in so many ways in season 2. It was such a huge mess. Even the official S&L insta joked about Clark ditching Jon to spend time with Jordan instead which isn't funny. Especially after a scene where it seemed like Jon was hinting at having concerning thoughts.

Such a weird season with an even weirder storyline.

[daniels-rwby-blog]

CRAZY episode!! That wasn't the Red King. It was in fact the Red Prince. And something happened to the King. So that means as I predicted something.. someone or perhaps time itself is changing the story.

I am more suspicious of the blacksmith...as the voice we hear feels like it could be hers? The question more is...is it?

Princey shrunk Weiss, Yang, and Blake down in size. So this means Ruby has to fend for herself. The whole chess-like game. Another test of her leadership. Something she's so greatly doubting herself on I am sure. There's also that fear of others getting hurt. the moment of hesitation between the prince's insistence they should yield and her defiance, I think ruby was thinking back to the hope jar.

originally (pre season) I thought that Ever After might be more based on Carroll's Through The Looking-Glass (the sequel to Alice In Wonderland), and I think Weiss's idea that they're in the sequel to The Girl Who Fell Through The World implies that as well. after all, Through The Looking-Glass revolves around Alice's journey across a giant chessboard, tile by tile, acre by acre, at the behest of a Red Queen who can move at impressive speed (because the Chess Queen can move any number of spaces in any direction) who offers to make Alice a Queen as well, if she can make it to the other side of the board (Alice is a pawn, and becomes a Queen at the opposite row, just like in the Red Prince's game). at some point, the Mad Hatter reappears in disguise, and later in the book, a "White Knight" appears to protect Alice as well (and I'll give you three guesses as to who that might be)

No, no it wasn't, that was the first step in ruby's metal snapping but not the last by a long shot, let's be honest that was pretty dam mild. by the way, the first thing Yang says is “Blake?” so ya know, we are nearing the confirmed ship zone.

anyhow; the thing is, their shadow selves aren't even Beacon Era, they're PRE-Beacon Era.

it's why Yang's self-consciously standing in a Cool Pose to emphasize her curves

it's why Blake's speaking with a flatter effect than we've ever heard her before because at that point she was still with Adam it's why Weiss doesn't have her scar. it's why Ruby talks about her mother more.

Ruby is the only one without her weapon everyone else on the team managed to find their weapons relatively quickly but CR is nowhere to be found It rains whenever Ruby specifically is upset Penny’s sword managing to find it’s way to Ruby and calling her to it explicitly, something Yang couldn’t do with her arm All of the creatures are obsessed with asking “what are you,” which given the context now feels very targeted toward Ruby specifically Every single “plot point” that the gang has followed from Alyx’s journey has resulted in a failure or loss for Ruby specifically The vol 9 intro makes deliberate parallels between Ruby and Alyx, with symbolism that might be implying she’s getting replaced by Alyx or following in Alyx’s footsteps from this ep I think it’s fair to assume following in Alyx’s footsteps would not lead down a very good road Something in the Ever After has it out for Ruby Rose and I mean that genuinely. but what about everyone else?

well yang says at 2:50 that 6 inches isn't enough so take SOME GOD DAMN NOTES YALL.

ahem. sorry Well, I think Blake is actually the next largest issue, and while Weiss is pretty hecking bold with her definite statements, that's all they are statements, Atlas fall is clearly now somewhat behind her, but she already had most of her rebellious streak in earlier volumes. The thing is, if you'd told me before v9 started that the climax of one of the episodes would include Blake pulling her weapon on her past self, I would have thought Blake was having the breakdown, not Ruby.

Yang confronting the loss of her arm and how she feels about it, Weiss confronting how she'll handle her own legacy, these are really intuitive, apples-to-apples conversations and moments of clarity that have been building up for a while. Blake's, on the other hand?

““It's simple, really. You could just be human… or, just a cat. If you wanted. Really, it's up to you. Like I said, it's simple-- much simpler than trying to be a bridge between humans and Faunus. Why struggle with that responsibility? Isn't that what you want-- to be something simpler? Nothing about her cowardice. Nothing about how she always runs away, no shame over her past mistakes, no raking herself over the coals for how she brings pain to the people she loves.””

That's astonishing. It's astonishing because of how far she's come, but it's also astonishing because of what she's embracing now. complexity, nuance, "yes, and" instead of "either/or." the bi girl, the one who passed to avoid racism at school, saying loudly and clearly, No, I can be both. It's important that I'm both. The absence of Blake's formerly overwhelming self-loathing and guilt and toxic blame just keeps hitting me like a 2x4. because even though her shadow doesn't bring it up, Blake responds to it anyway-- "I belong to them just as much as they belong to me." She no longer is framing herself as a burden or a leech or a selfish monster; she knows she's GIVING as much as she's TAKING, that she's wanted and that she's good enough, which I think was Monty’s vision for blake from the start, the stand-out, the MLK of Remnant, and I want at least an epilogue where she gets the place she now deserves back home on remnant.

And then the red elephant, the **absent** mindedness from ep2 comes full swing as ruby does not say the now episode defining words “I am a huntress”

I've had this feeling since I first saw the intro for this volume. This journey, "Alex's" journey, is for Ruby. Think about it. The rest of Team RWBY all have their weapons. When Yang got hers back, it was in a typical Yang way, with an energy I haven't seen from her since Volume 3. She's back to being the sassy, fun-loving fireball we fell in love with. Yang, Blake, and Weiss' declarations show that they are more sure of themselves now than they ever were before. Because they spent so much time NOT being sure of themselves. Yang after losing to Adam. Blake and her history with the Fang. Weiss and her corrupt father (who's probably dead now) and her family name. They were all unsure of who they were before. All that was in their minds is who they were trying to be. Ruby was always the opposite. Unsure what the outcome would be, but always so sure that she was doing what she wanted to do, and who she was. And now faced with her current situation, she's lost her identity. She's so confused as to what to do, she doesn't know who she is anymore. That's why she still hasn't found Crescent Rose. She's missing a part of herself, and she needs to find it. Once she does, everything will fall into place for her, and for the team. She'll be more Ruby Rose than she ever was before, and a better leader than ever after. (see what I did there) I can't wait to see it happen.

(note: sorry, this was pretty long and all over the place, most of these thoughts were from ep3 and ep2 but I've somewhat rewritten them to add these ep's crazy ass nuttiness. No live reaction this time around as I was watching ep4 while traveling and forgot to write my notes hope the text wall makes up for it. shoutout to Singapore airlines for the dopest wifi in star alliance (suck it air Canada) )

[yourdudeval]

shout out to my second time attempting to edit this because my phone didn't save the first time

I'm gonna quickly edit this reblog with more superficial thoughts or thoughts that have depth but I'm kind of circling a point on

the underrated macguffin bit at the beginning of the episode.

the animation really pops off in this episode despite it being a bottle episode. Really makes you feel how much they're dragging this out, not in a bad way in the slightest. Its the right amount of dragging

Launchpad attempting to distract the kids from Scrooge and Beakly fighting (I love him)

the dark wing duck outro bit. also underrated. I just think the part where the kids all start humming the outro together is cute

"there has never been a reason for the kids to worry about their safety." "Uncle Scrooge we're worried about our safety!"

something really interesting I noticed in the details regarding which direction the Sunchaser falls depending on what secrets people are hiding and what kind of tension is happening in the episode. for instance for most of the episode they're all either hiding things from each other or refusing to admit things, and the plane keeps tilting back. But whenever Dewey goes for the paper, it starts leaning forward, notably the safe way to fall. (something something, if they keep keeping secrets it will result in more damage than if they just communicated with each other. sure the fall out is still there, but its much less worse than if they had decided to dig their heels in on it all.)

the scene where Dewey throws the walkie talkie off the plane after everyone tells him to let it go (I think this could be in my friend and I's dissertation on why DT17 has the most fascinating deconstruction of Nature VS Nurture)

we also dont talk a lot about how Della didn't want the rocket for herself, she wanted to take her boys to space. she wanted to give them the stars. what started out as an innocent birthweek present ended up taking her from them.

this is a minor note, but I wish the show went into more detail about Donald estranging himself. I wish the show had more Donald in general.

The big drama might be in the last 10 minutes of the episode, but it pulls no punches and is the most perfect climax to the mystery set up all through season 1 and the answer to the question a lot of people were probably asking at the time this episode aired. "What happened and what will happen once everything is out in the open." Everything that is said is cruel, but painfully in character in the most fascinating way.

Dewey: So you're the reason our mom is gone?... you built her a crazy dangerous super rocket!

Huey: then you encouraged her to keep flying through a cosmic storm?! You could have told her to land, there were too many Variables!

Louie: And you're the richest duck in the world! Why didn't you send up more ships after her?!

and there's also webby's line, which I think is one of the only times she has said anything bad about Scrooge in the show, especially to his face. I feel like it gets overshadowed by scrooges heart wrenching line right after it, but I think its important to put here too.

Webby: ... Even if gifting an experimental rocket to a mother of three was clearly a bad idea!

and then there is the final shot of the episode. there parallels to the Pilot in this episode. but there's also a phenomenal parallel between the beginning scene where Scrooge has a similarly framed scene where he's constantly in motion talking about the Macguffin (happy, with his family who he has grown to love dearly, on top of the world) vs when hes alone and stagnent in the chair (bitter, alone, at one of the worst moments in his life, losing his family for a second time in ten years.)

Anyway this was longer and more in depth than expected.

Last crash peak and I feel sad saying that when its up against shadow war. another really good story.

ROUND #1

[esther-dot]

At one point I was thinking that maybe Jonsa is romanticised more in show than it would be in books. D&d had romanticised many relationships in show so I thought maybe jonsa will also be romanticised one. But after looking so many visual parallels with almost all couples in GOT made me think why are they super focussed in this ship. Why did other ships get some kind of closure but not Jonsa? In books too Jonsa clues are there and it seems most positive. So why the makers backed out?🤔

There are so many possibilities, anon!

Jonsa wasn’t ever a thing (books or show), and we’ve made connections no one intended to exist

Show Jonsa was something that happened as a result of Kit and Sophie’s unexpected chemistry and the writers played with it just because it was good tv without ever planning to actually go there

Show Jonsa was something they came up with, toyed with, thought about making explicit, but then abandoned

Book Jonsa is a thing and D&D wanted to hint at it but were never going there themselves

Book Jonsa is a thing and D&D didn’t want to do it but Kit and Sophie had such great chemistry we made show Jonsa a thing despite their distaste for it

I’m probably missing some variation, but you get the idea. Personally....

I have a hard time believing that the same showrunners who tried to shoehorn in a last minute reason for Dany burning KL (even though they knew that was happening for seasons and she talked about her willingness to burn cities to the ground from like s3 on) were thoughtful enough to create a meaningful dynamic between Jon and Sansa (while they simultaneously kept hinting at Sansa being a traitorous bitch) that spanned three seasons. 

Even if I can accept that as a happy accident, I don’t believe for a minute that D&D came up with the idea of Jon and Sansa reuniting first of all the Starks or working to protect the North/their family together. They whitewashed villains, but they cast a lot of doubt on whether or not Sansa was loyal to her family, and they stripped her of her romanticism, and they didn’t give her a love interest although all the other mains had one, so, their habit of painting with a gentler brush never extended to poor Sansa.

What could have happened is that they looked at what Martin told them and thought they’d mix and match, shuffle the order of things to make it work better for their audience. As in, Cersei and Dany, the only women in power were dying in the end, so they thought making Sansa queen after that would forestall accusations of sexism. I think Sansa will be queen in the books too, but it’s possible that Jon is chosen KitN, his identity becomes known, and he marries Sansa to unify the North when it might all fall apart otherwise. She could be queen earlier in the story, but obviously, that ticks different boxes than her being chosen by her people to lead. If that were how the books were to play out, then I could imagine D&D thought it felt more empowering to do away with the Jonsa marriage and allow Sansa’s rise to power to be about her alone and it might make their lives easier if it happened in the same episode in which Dany was killed.

Or, another option is that book Jonsa is a chaste love. Emotionally rewarding and fulfilling for the characters, meaningful as they choose each other over and over, but ultimately, can’t be together. If it’s something that romantic but not absolutely plot necessary, D&D could have decided to have their cake and eat it too. Still use the Jonsa relationship as an important part of the arcs emotionally, but never acknowledge the nature of their feelings, and instead do Jxnerys which was far more popular with the fans.

I really don’t know what to make of what D&D did, especially because it doesn’t feel like they dropped it before s8 in which they had Sansa behave in such a noticeably jealous way people who hated Jonsa before started to wonder after 8x04 if it was real. My tendency is to think that when they opted to hide Dark Dany, the nature of Jon and Sansa’s bond (whether it was ever meant to be acted on or not) couldn’t be revealed until after the burning of KL, but then they realized how badly this all was going to come across and scratched it.

[dinitride-art]

Five Act Structure: Seasons vs. Acts

Reworking some thoughts and ideas here. If Stranger Things is set up in five act structure (which is so cool and I never want to stop talking about it also here’s this post where I explain what I’m talking about) then the parallels between season two and season four change a bit- but also viewing the story as a whole might change too (when looking at it in five acts).

Season one had a pretty cut and dry story: Will went missing, supernatural elements introduced, character introductions, banishing supernatural elements, Will comes back. If they didn’t get a second season the story would still hold up. This is also a really good set up for the rest of the story, it’s the ~prologue~. Also it’s ACT I. But just talking about the story within the season- it’s solid stuff. There’s stuff that’s unresolved yeah, but not to the point where you’d watch it and think, what’s next. We’re not done here- hey! Get back here- like you would think at the end of let’s say, season four. (Also season one has the first major death that effects the narrative later- barb)

Season two is more complicated than season one. We’re well aware by the end of it that this story is not done- the Mind Flayer is still a problem. The last scene where we flip over into the Upside Down tells us that this part of the story isn’t finished. Season two also starts developing Lucas and Max, and Mike and El’s (although really different from Lucas and Max) relationships. It also explores Mike and Will’s relationship.

The Snowball is a really interesting point in the season because it’s the last episode and the last scene. It’s also a weird sort of misdirection that’s telling us everything worked out okay. But it’s not okay. Bob is dead, El literally just ran away and was being confronted with her past, Will was just possessed, Barb is still dead, the Mind Flayers still alive- the Snowball is like a bandaid on you’re feelings for your best friend. Unhelpful and clearly hiding something. Season two is a good portion of ACT II, and it makes sense for things to be unresolved at the end of season two- because ACT II hasn’t run it’s course yet.

All characters usually are introduced by the end of ACT II, so Robin being introduced in season three would make sense if we’re actually still in ACT II at the start of season three. Season three also continues to follow the Mind Flayer. We’re still dealing with the same problem as season two. Character wise, we’re exploring Lucas and Max’s romantic relationships, El and Max’s relationship (continuing from Max’s interests in El in season two), Mike and El’s relationship, and Mike and Will. We’ve also continued on with Dustin’s focus on girls, and his friendship with Steve. We’re dealing with almost all the same problems for everyone, just continuing in a different season. Our main problem is the Mind Flayer, and that leads us straight to the climax- the Mind Flayer at Star-court and Hopper’s “death”.

Right before the battle at star court is where ACT II ends. Then we get to ACT III, the climax, where everything big happens all at once. Usually the climax is one scene so that’s why I’m saying it’s when they defeat the Mind Flayer, Billy dies, Hopper “dies”, and there are literal fire works going off making everything that much more intense. After the climax, the Byers move away, Mike and El (get back together?) have a relationship development and Mike seems all out of sorts about it, and everything starts going in a downwards spiral.

However, going back to ACT II for a second here, looking at where we are by the time of the climax (and during) everything has pretty much been resolved- Suzie’s revealed as a real person/Dustin’s girl problems stop, all party relationships are pretty okay again. Max and El are friends, Nancy and Jonathan are cool again, Hopper and Joyce were going to go on a date, Mike and El are cool again, pretty much every problem that’s had a clear cut story line from season two finds an end in season three. Of course there’s still things that aren’t resolved, but for the most part, when the season ends it’s okay. The cliff hanger comes separately from the end of the season (like Will in season one).

Season four is a lot like season two; it’s the start of and act but it also stops in the middle of that act. A new problem is introduced in season four: Vecna/Henry Creel/One. This is not the same guy as the Mind Flayer at all. Everything also starts going terribly in season four because now we’re in ACT IV- the bad one. After the climax everything falls to pieces- and where we’re sitting right now, in the middle of ACT IV, it’s still falling apart. Season four problems are going to carry over into season five, much like the Mind Flayer into season three, because it’s the same act.

So this all got me thinking about the act structure in relation to the story, and what if ACT II and ACT IV are paralleling each other, and not just season two and season four? That would mean that all of season two and most of season three could be seen as paralleling season four (and most of season 5). That really changes things for me because that expands the possibility of what’s actually happening quite a bit. It also messes with the idea that season two and season four could be related to each other in specific ways(like being inverted), because ACT II and ACT IV cover different things. However, it would make more sense for ACT II and ACT IV to be paralleled because of the Snow Ball scene in the middle of both of them.

Mike also makes a lot more sense as a narrator when looking at Stranger Things in acts. Season one was a single act, so we saw a lot of Mike. We focused in on him and Joyce because they’re guiding us in season one. In season two, there’s less of Joyce and more of Mike and other characters stories- but Joyce makes a return in season three where Mike falls a bit more off to the side. But looking at season two and three as a whole, it’s pretty well divided between all the characters in respect to their placement and roles within the story. In season four we got a lot more Joyce and a lot more of the other characters development. Mike fell a bit to the side again, but it makes sense for that to happen if ACT IV isn’t completed. We haven’t really gotten to Mike in ACT IV yet. Similar idea with how Will goes from being the focus of season two, to being sidelined in season three. They’re still there and present in the narrative but they’ve done their part of the act- and now are helping the others do theirs.

Season five looks like it’s going to finish the rest of ACT IV (the downwards spiral) and pick up the storylines that haven’t been covered in the act yet. Mike and Will, Jonathan and Nancy, Max and El, Vecna and the Upside Down, the consequences of Eddie’s death, what happened to Owens, mystery around the Upside Down- and everything else that season four started to get into but didn’t actually conclude.

[scarlettriot]

Stood Up

Pairing: Sero/F!Reader

Summary: When you find your dating making out with someone else at a Halloween party, Hanta swoops in and reclaims your evening, rekindling an old flame.

Contains: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Demisexual Reader, Astronomy/Greek Lore Nerd Sero, Old flame

Warnings: 18+ Below the cut, Minors DNI! Swearing, Demi Problems, Praise/Smidge of Degradation, Name-calling (slut & whore), Pet names (Love, good girl, pretty girl), Car Sex, F Masturbation, Oral M Receiving (Road Head) I think that's everything

A/N: This took me much longer than I expected. It's also my first time writing Sero. Given the season, I decided to add a touch of Halloween and costumes to this one.

If you'd like to read other's in the Stood Up series, here are the links:

Stood Up - Bakugo - WC 3,502

Stood Up - Kirishima - WC 3,612

Stood Up - Kaminari - WC 2,461

Word Count Starting Below: 3,494

Denki Kaminari's annual Halloween bash was in full swing by the time Hanta had arrived. He'd come straight from patrol, wrapping himself up in his own tape making a half assed mummy costume for himself. Not like anyone would notice with the flashing colored lights, loud music, and abundance of liquor.

However, Hanta didn't even make it up to the double glass front doors of Denki's home. Not before doing a double take at the very familiar pirate that ran by him.

"Y/N?" You stopped allowing him the chance to catch up to you, "Holy shit, it is you, when the hell did you get back?"

Three years you'd been gone, working in America. Time differences and busy schedules made it so the two of you barely kept in touch. It was a shame, Hanta thought, considering how close the two of you used to be.

"I- uh- just a few weeks now. I heard you were helping out with the disaster relief after that storm."

It had to be his eyes playing tricks on him, the funny colors of the dancing lights were what made your cheeks look wet, right? Those couldn't have been tears.

"I was, yeah, but I got back yesterday. I didn't know-"

"Get the hell outta here!" His head snapped back towards the front of the house, just in time to see Eijiro, dressed in an impressive werewolf costume, literally throw someone out of the party. The guy drunkenly stumbled off, Eijiro walking over towards where Hanta was standing with you. "Y/N, you good?"

You nodded while Hanta tried to piece together what'd happened. "Sorry, it took me a second to find the bastard. Do ya wanna come back in? I'll make sure he leaves."

"No, Eijiro, thanks though. I'm just gonna head home."

The wolfman frowned but understood. "We'll have a smaller party for ya! Just the gang as a welcome home! You know Denki will look for any excuse to throw a party." He turned his gaze on Hanta. "A mummy, really?"

"You've been a damn werewolf for the last two years! You don't get to give me crap."

Eijiro poked the fuzzy pointed red ears carefully set into his spiky hair. "Mina and I worked real hard on this costume... seemed like a waste to only wear it once."

"We both know you haven't just worn those once, big man."

That got a chuckle out of you while all Eijiro could do was shrug and try to hide a shit-eating grin.

He asked you again if you'd like to stay and once more you said you were going to just head home. It was when you specifically said you were going to be walking home that Hanta spoke up offering to drive you back to your home since it was Halloween and people were creeps.

You were a damn pro hero but he still didn't feel right about just letting you walk home alone.

When you agreed he told Eijiro he'd be back soon and walked over with you to his car.

>>><<<

A part of you missed the old station wagon Hanta used to drive, not that this BMW he now drove wasn't absolutely amazing, you just sort of missed the comfort of the old car.

He waited until he'd reached the end of Denki's long, winding driveway to finally speak. "So, you wanna tell me what happened back there, or am I just supposed to pretend like Kiri didn't kick someone out on your behalf?"

"You could probably just ask Kiri and he'd tell you."

"I could, but, I'd like to hear it from you."

You knew you could tell him, there was nothing you couldn't tell Hanta. There was once a time when the man knew every single detail about your life. Sure, time and distance had put a strain on that relationship but you were back now. There was no reason why you couldn't at least start rebuilding what you and Hanta once had.

"Y/N, if you don't wanna say anything-"

"I was just casually seeing this guy. You know me and dating, how we don't always work out." You said abruptly and he quit talking, "And so, we weren't like official but we said we'd go to this party together. Well, I got here and went looking for him and found him making out with one of Hawks' sidekicks. I got a little upset when he noticed me and, well, he just said he found someone better."

Hanta actually stopped the car, pulled off to the side of the road, threw it in park, and looked right at you because he knew what found someone better meant exactly. You'd used those words in high school when that guy from Shiketsu that you'd been seeing got pissed off that you wouldn't put out and ended it with you. You went to his dorm crying because he 'found someone better', is what you told him. It took him a few hours to get the truth out of you.

You'd always been the kind of person to love with your entire heart but sexually, you'd confessed that you felt different from all the other kids your age back then. Not having the same urges and desires that everyone else seemed stricken with.

"Hanta, it's fine, really. Kiri heard the whole thing and, well, you saw what happened."

"Doesn't make it right! So, you went on a couple dates with a guy, that doesn't mean he just gets to expect you to put out for him! Even if you weren't demi, no one gets to just assume they deserve sex."

His lips were pressed in a narrow line, nostrils flared once in annoyance. He was usually so calm and laid back that you thought it rather cute when he got overprotective. "It's alright, Hants, really."

He still gave you a look that said he disagreed but then shook his head, dropping the subject for now at least.

"Still like those late-night drives?"

"I love them."

"Good."

Hanta waited for a car to pass and whipped the car in the other direction.

It wasn't long before he had the windows rolled down, conversations filling in the blanks of lost time, in between belting out choruses of your favorite songs. Minutes slipped by the further he drove, you lost track of both time and kilometers, letting him tell you all about the ridiculous antics the group had been up to.

Eventually, you caught the scent of salty air and even in the dark, you had a pretty good idea where Hanta was going. He followed a winding road, making two left turns and then a right leaving you on a stretch of road that paralleled the ocean.

You let your head fall against the seat, eyes falling shut and inhaling that wonderful smell you missed so much. Hanta had just one hand lazily on the wheel, his elbow resting out the open window, a relaxed smile was illuminated in soft orange lights off his dash.

You let your head roll onto his shoulder, not as easily done without the bench seat in his station wagon but it worked nonetheless. "Thanks."

His free hand came to rest on your knee, "Anytime."

He turned the wheel, pulling over and parking in front of a small beach access that you guys had found at 3 in the morning five years prior. Hanta kicked off his shoes, leaving them in the car to avoid them being sand-filled and you did the same with the knee-high boots purely because you longed to feel the sand between your toes.

The wooden planks were worn, parts buried beneath the sand until eventually, none remained. Breaking waves flooded your ears and you made a run for them! Before you could reach the lapping water though, tape had wound around your middle and yanked you backward.

"Not happening!" Hanta said firmly. "Last time I let you talk me into late-night swimming we didn't have a change of clothes either and we both got so sick! I think I might have actually died without Bakugo's soup!"

You chuckled, remembering being nineteen and curled up with Hanta on the sofa in the living room of the apartment you all shared for nearly a week. The sniffles didn't cease for almost three weeks.

"Okay, okay, no swimming." You flopped back down into the sand, his tape still attached meaning the cellophane hero was pulled down with you. "Tell me about the stars then, Hants. Who's out tonight?"

Astronomy was a hobby of Hanta's you learned about after moving into the dorms your first year. It wasn't uncommon to find him out on the roof most nights, laying on his back and looking up into the clear night sky littered with twinkling stars, usually with a joint pressed between his lips. It became almost a habit for him to grab you on his way up, pulling you along because you were more than happy listening to him tell you about each constellation and the stories behind them.

It was around this time of year, in your final year of high school; somewhere between him recalling the greek mythos of Aries and Sagittarius that you noticed your heart beating a little faster. You realized something had shifted between the two of you, and, holy shit, was this what it felt like to have a crush! When the hell did that happen?

You'd entrusted everything to Hanta back then, and now, laying in the sand shoulder to shoulder while he talked about Draco, that familiar feeling stirred again. You remembered what it was supposed to be like when you weren't forcing it for some random guy. How simple it was supposed to be.

You inclined on an elbow and he stopped mid-sentence. "Eh, everything alright?" You nodded but he looked anything but convinced, mirroring your position and asking you again.

It was easy for you to lean forward, to brush your lips against his for the first time in three years. And, when you pulled away, he looked about as shocked as he had the night you'd done it when you were eighteen.

"You- you still like me?"

When you left for America, you'd both agreed to put a pause on your sort of relationship. Free to date and screw whomever you pleased because three years was a long time and it just seemed like a fair decision to make. The realization that he might now have someone else special in his life dawned on you...

"Yeah but I totally understand if things are different now and I shoulda asked- oof!"

He kissed you so hard you toppled back into the sand, quick pecks, one right after another, ending them with a long one that nearly left you breathless.

"I didn't know how to bring it up. I didn't want to make you feel awkward about things or make you think I expected something. I thought that maybe since we didn't talk for a while your feelings might have changed."

"I can say with confidence they haven't."

"Thank fuck." He groaned and captured your lips in another searing kiss.

It was easy to lift his shirt off, the shreds of tape that remained were now covered with gritty sand that clung to your fingers as you traced the chest and torso you knew so well. Gliding over defined muscles, lingering on old scars and mapping out new ones he'd collected in your time apart.

His own hands were busy flicking open the brass fastenings of your corset, huffing about it being so much more difficult to get to your chest and something about it being very unfair.

By the time he'd undone the last one, bright headlights shown across the beach. "Shit."

Giggling ensued from the walkway and you both sighed, at least it wasn't the police or a hero patrol. Hanta gathered his shirt and ran back to his car with his hand in yours.

"I thought our days of being caught were over."

"At least it wasn't Mr. Aizawa this time."

A chill ran down your spine remembering the night and the lecture you'd received when your teacher had caught Hanta sneaking out of your room early one morning.

"So, uh, do you still plan on going to Denki's party?" You asked innocently enough but Hanta knew you far too well.

"I think I'm gonna miss it this year." His hand found a home on your upper thigh. "Apparently, you and I have a lot of catching up to do. Lost time to make up for and all that."

"Too bad you don't have that old station wagon anymore. If you did, we wouldn't have to wait to get back."

Dark eyes glanced over at you not so subtly parting your legs.

"I dunno. It's not too often I travel in the backseat of my own car but I've been told it's pretty roomy. Lots of legroom."

Your hand ran over your legs, dipping down to lightly brush your more sensitive parts, thankful you opted for the thin pair of black leggings rather than the dark skinny jeans. Your fingers danced again and this time you let a soft moan pass your lips. "Eyes on the road, Hants."

"That's a little hard to do when I've got you spread out in the passenger's seat." He grabbed your free hand and pressed it against the bulge in his pants. "You've got me distracted, filthy little woman."

You appreciated him testing the waters, a subtle way of checking if you liked those nicknames he used only in private with you, giving you a chance to protest if your likes had changed. They were one's that only felt right coming from him and you were eager to hear more.

Forgoing your own high, you leaned over the center console as best you could, undoing his belt first, followed quickly by his zipper letting his strained cock be free.

His grip tightened on your leg when you kissed the tip of him. "Just like old times, huh?"

A chuckle turned quickly into a moan, taking him in your mouth, pushing yourself further on his cock, fighting your gag reflex to get him down your throat. Hanta reclined his seat further, giving you more room to work with.

Your legs clenched tighter with every groan you pulled from him, wiggling your hips in the seat, letting a hand fall back between your own legs. There was an attempt of a moan around his cock when his fingers coiled in your hair. "Such a good slut. Keep fuckin' goin'." He let you continue at your own speed, needing to focus as best he could on the road rather than what you were doing but, damn, you were making that increasingly difficult.

He wasn't stopping you though. He rarely did. You'd sucked him off on countless drives before and only stopped when- "That's it." He lifted you off him by your hair at the same time he pulled off the road. There was a convenient turn-off, hidden by overgrown brush you noticed before he shut off the headlights.

Hanta took you by the chin, smearing drool. "Backseat, pretty girl." He reached into the glove box and pulled out a foil wrapper, "What do you say we test out that legroom?"

He wait to watch your smile grow wide before crawling into the back because he had to be the first to go if this had any chance of working. Once situated, pants under his thighs, he patted his lap for you to climb over.

You slid easily onto his lap, hands traveling up and over his shoulders, kissing hard while you rocked your hips against impossibly hard length.

There was so much comfort in the familiarity of him. It wasn't awkward to fall back into rhythm with Hanta, to remember that he loved the feeling of your nails dragging down his chest. And he was just as eager to get your shirt off, reach your breasts he'd missed so much, and get his tongue on your nipples.

Your head tipped backward, loving the pace he set, hips bouncing creating the perfect tug on your nipples between his teeth.

"Love, if I promise to buy you a new pair, can I rip these damn leggings? They're just so thin and-"

"Please." Your breathy moan had him smirking and with a single grunt the leggings were ruined, cool air from the vents had only a moment to touch your bare ass before Hanta's hands reclaimed it.

There was no way he hadn't felt your arousal before ripping your clothes off, you soaked through your panties and leggings, you knew that, but that didn't stop him from commenting on how soaked you were now on his fingers. "Want me inside you, whore? I think you do."

You nodded with a whimper and he slipped a finger in. "Hants, noo- I- I want your cock, please."

"You're gonna take my fingers like a good little slut first." You clenched at the words falling from his mouth. "So fuckin' tight you can barely take a finger. How'm I supposed to fit in here if you can even take a single finger? Need you to loosen up, alright." He pushed another finger in, scissoring the two inside you.

"This gonna make you cum? You need this bad, don't you? Tell me. Tell me how bad you need to cum."

"I want it. Please, please, I need it. I'm so close," You babbled and ripped the foil open with his teeth, rolling it with one hand on his cock. In an instant, his fingers had been replaced with this dick. Sticky fingers on your ass helping you ease down on him with a hiss.

"Fuck," Hanta let out a throaty chuckle, "You still fuckin' feel the absolute best." He dropped a kiss between your breasts, letting you adjust to his girth. "Perfect. Good girl. Such a fuckin' good little slut."

He wasn't about to last long. Not once you started bouncing up and down on him, your tits right in front of his face.

"Couldn't even wait for me to get you home, had to fucking tease me in the damn car." He held onto the fat of your ass, pulling you along him and slamming you down hard.

"Kinda pathetic how desperate you are. Fuck. Kinda hot too."

When the top of your head bumped the roof of the car, he scooted lower, trying to give you as much room to ride him however you pleased.

"What do you need? You wanna cum, don't you, pretty girl, what do you need?"

"Faster, faster please."

Hanta shifted even lower, making you grab onto the two headrests while he thrust his hips up into you at a rapid speed. His thumb on your clit was the additional stimulation you needed to fall over the edge. Nails clawing at the black leather as he continued to moan below you now chasing his own release.

You stayed poised above him, using every last bit of strength to stay upright until his mouth was rambling and his cock pulsed inside of you. Fingers bruising your skin before holding your pelvis snuggly against his.

He was bent in a way that looked entirely uncomfortable and yet he still smiled so widely. Reaching up to brush hair out of your eyes, "You okay?"

"Perfects, Hants. A little sore but I'm sure you are too." He moved off his lap, letting him slip out of you with a groan, "Is your neck gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine. Having you back, love, is more than worth a little bit of a neck cramp."

As he tied a knot in the condom, depositing it into a plastic bag he had tucked away under his seat, Hanta raised a brow, "Love, really, are you alright? Please, tell me if I hurt you at all."

"No! I'm good, why?"

"You're sitting silly."

You were sitting a little odd, perched on your knees rather than sitting on your ass because the leather was chilly and you told Hanta as much making him laugh. "Wait, I think I can help." He leaned back to the front of the car, flicking a button making it glow. Once he tucked himself back in his pants he hopped out of the car and you could see him rummaging in his trunk through the rear window.

"I keep forgetting to take this out from our camping trip a couple months ago. Guess it turned out to be a good thing." He laid the blanket down over the passenger's seat, declaring that should help a bit.

You wrapped the now toasty warm blanket around your bottom half while Hanta drove back towards the city, your head on his shoulder, his hand on your thigh.

"So, shopping tomorrow? I believe I owe you a pair of leggings..."

"It's a date."

[vidavalor]

@drconstellation @sonkitty Thanks for reading and commenting.

@drconstellation I guess I wonder what other demon is important enough at this point to matter? Hastur is not smart enough for this... though he could be involved. I debate with myself whether or not we're going to see in S3 that Maggie encountered him when she went to get milk and came back determined to suddenly talk to Crowley & Aziraphale... would go with Hastur and Sister Theresa in S1 and how Maggie ends S2 in that eerie, unconscious-looking position the same as Sister Theresa did in S1. (I know Maggie is supposed to be asleep at the end of S1 and well might be but that she doesn't actually appear to be breathing in the shot, like she wasn't in the parallel in S1. That, along with the fact that Nina looking at Crowley through glass as he leaves is also a parallel to both times the camera held on Sister Mary while Crowley walked away in S1.... it just creeps me out in a good way lol and I'm still kind of debating what I think It All Means but I'm pretty sure the answer is "nothing good" and ties to The Devil.)

I'm not super-familiar with 'The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-time' so I'd be interested to learn more about that, especially if you're saying that there's a dog that doesn't bark that's key. The Hell Hound in S1 is also, imo, a parallel to Crowley in a lot of ways so I'm intrigued.

The end of S2 is the big, climatic moment of a three act play, basically. That's another reason why I'm convinced it's Aziraphale's fall because that feels almost inevitable at this point and it setting up the last season makes sense to me.

I agree with both of you on "The Metatron's" coat being so dark as to basically look light black in every scene as being important. Even Sandalphon-- who is basically Bigotry: The Character-- wears tans. "The Metatron" showing up in dark colors is a major red flag. I don't really think the pockets have much to do with it. The doors, though, @sonkitty? YES. Absolutely, yes. I think the doors are everything. From the first shot after Before the Beginning being the bookshop front door to the final moment of the elevator in The Dirty Donkey doorway and all of this and much more in between:

I'll also throw something else in here that probably could have gone in the "Wrong Boy" meta but it's really dark so I left it out but it's actually kind of a good "clue" so... TW for SA for the rest of this post.

I wrote about this Dagon line in another meta but not how it ties to "The Metatron"... in the group scene, before the arrival of "The Metatron", when the angels and demons are arguing over who should get to choose how Gabriel and Beez are punished, Shax demands of Michael that they be handed over to her to be delivered "as gifts for Our Master, Satan." Dagon-- head of The Dark Council and not known for having a filter lol-- has her most significant line of the season and it's somewhat surprising and very disturbing. She says that Satan "wouldn't want" Gabriel and Beez except "maybe as hors d'ouerves."

No one argues with Dagon's assessment; they all subtly agree with her. Crowley is out of the bookshop when this conversation takes place-- he is coming back in from taking Maggie and Nina outside on the end of Dagon saying "hors d'ouerves" but did not hear anything about Satan. Rape is not about sex-- it's about power-- but Dagon's comment is so horrifying because of the show constantly using food to talk about sex and then basically correlating rape in this way, in a scene that is structured to remind of Crowley and Satan. Then, moments later, this happens...

That line is already kinda squicky and weird if that's The Metatron, right? It already has this darkness to it and it feels like it has a weight that's hard to pin down if you think it's The Metatron... but if that's Satan saying that? To Aziraphale? With Crowley basically frozen staring at nothing in the chair a few feet away? Jesus...

Wrong Boy

What Bildad the Shuite, Mr. Dalrymple and Warlock's birthday party can tell us about what's going on in the 2.06 Final 15. Another post in a series about how "The Metatron" with Aziraphale at the end of S2 is actually Satan.

Warlock Dowling. The kid Crowley and Aziraphale took care of for a few years, believing him to be The Antichrist. Not actually The Antichrist. The wrong boy.

Warlock's 11th Birthday Party. The reason why Crowley and Aziraphale were there was to try again to stop Armageddon. Hell was supposed to show up at the party. The Devil was sending a gift to his son-- a dog. The Hell Hound. The gift, once accepted by The Antichrist, was supposed to signal the start of Armageddon.

Crowley and Aziraphale were undercover at the party in an effort to stop Warlock from encountering and naming The Hell Hound and starting the end times as a result... but The Hell Hound was late. The moment that results in them realizing they got it all wrong starts out with dialogue that is referenced again in S2-- in relation to The Meeting Ball.

Aziraphale followed Crowley out to The Bentley, mortified by having put on a terrible magic show in front of Crowley. Crowley, though, was gentle and caring in his reply. He tried to reassure Aziraphale and gas him up a bit.

Aziraphale: "That was all a bit of a disaster, I'm afraid."

Crowley: "Nonsense. You gave them a party to remember. Last one they'll ever have, mind..."

As they're sitting in The Bentley and after communicating with Hell during this scene via the radio, they realize that they fucked it up. The kid they thought was the spawn of The Devil is not actually that. Warlock is not The Antichrist. They had the wrong boy this whole time.

Nonsense. The meaning of "balderdash" and "piffle"-- the words spoken by "The Metatron" when he first arrives in 2.06. The first word of what Crowley said to Aziraphale in the "wrong boy" scene.

The gift for the "son". The Hell Hound. The Coffee.

A disaster termed "a night to remember": The Titanic.

The Titanic. Big ship, first of its kind. Hit iceberg. Was thought to be unsinkable. Turns out, it could very much sink. Angels can be tempted. They can sink-- can fall-- to the bottom of the ocean floor. Aziraphale falling is "The Titanic" of his story and the story overall.

If Warlock's birthday party = The Meeting Ball, then Crowley and Aziraphale have the "wrong boy" once again at the end of S2.

Instead of Warlock being mistaken for The Devil's son, "The Metatron" is really The Devil... who appears in the form of the closest thing Aziraphale has to a father-- The Metatron.

"My Heart Will Go On." Theme song from the film 'Titanic' and on Aziraphale's playlist for S2. Uh oh...

Then, there's this:

"It will be a night to remember!" Aziraphale, describing his then-upcoming Meeting Ball in an episode-ending bit of important dialogue while pointing Upwards, foreshadowing both Crowley going Up and Aziraphale's "going Up to get Down" that happens at the end of this Titanic hitting the iceberg. Crowley will actually wind up trying to keep most of the partygoers from not remembering as much of the events of this party as possible... ironically, since Aziraphale says "a night to remember" to Crowley in reference to the kind thing Crowley said to him about the kids being happy to remember Warlock's birthday party.

The next morning, Crowley will use dialogue that references Warlock's birthday party again... either consciously or unconsciously. Either way, it's a dialogue reference to it for us to notice... and it makes sense that Warlock's party would fit into 2.06's Final 15 here because the dialogue we're talking about is from a scene that's actually after the party... and this is all taking place after, well, a party.

The dialogue shows up here:

Crowley: "Oh, I know you. Last time I saw you, you were a giant, floating head, mind."

Welcome to the only other scene in the series in which Crowley has used "mind" at the end of a sentence but for the casual time he did post-Warlock's birthday party. It's calling our attention to the late Hell Hound not arriving at that party... in the moment that "The Metatron" has just arrived here, in the aftermath of the mirrored party.

The Devil himself is here this time.

It might also be worth noting that when Crowley and Aziraphale figure out that Warlock is the wrong boy, it's because of Crowley having just spoken to Hell via the radio in The Bentley... which is also how Satan attacked Crowley in 1.01. Those two scenes are then tied together and both of them are in play in 2.06.

The show also takes pains to call the meeting a "party" several times. Besides Aziraphale saying "we're having a ball", the character who is of The Devil and whose actions let The Devil Himself into the bookshop-- Shax-- twice refers to what's going on as "a party." When she arrives: "how sweet-- they're having a party" and, later, she corrects Mr. Brown of Brown's World of Carpets when he says that what is going on is a meeting. She tells him that it's not a meeting because they were "dancing." That it's a party is referenced several times, further drawing correlation between the climax of S2 and Warlock's 11th Birthday Party.

Crowley-- a demon-- is called upon by "The Metatron" to identify him to everyone else after every single other being in the room fails to recognize him. Every single other being in the room besides Crowley is an angel and *all* of them fail to recognize this being as The Metatron. Every one of them. How can five angels fail to recognize the leader of Heaven? Maybe because that's not actually the leader of Heaven? Maybe because The Devil had to get someone he can control-- and we've seen that he can control Crowley in 1.01-- to tell everyone else that he's The Metatron... which is exactly what happens in this scene?

Crowley identifies the being in such a way that the other angels see him as The Metatron. No one questions him. Rather hilariously, since angels who don't like Crowley are in the room, everyone just believes him and takes what he says at face value. This includes Michael, who has now done this twice-- they also did this during the Job minisode, which we'll look at in a moment.

Michael (gloriously bitchy, asking THE question): "And who are you?"

The context clues suggesting this being's fake identity that led everyone to believe it after its reveal were planted by "The Metatron" upon his arrival... and that's familiar, too. We've seen that one before... Crowley did it earlier in the season.

Remember where we saw that and another significant who are you? one before?

Here, with Sitis:

Crowley gives Sitis suggestion as to who he will appear to be to her, even if they've never met before. Who is he? He's "an old friend, here to offer some comfort." Sitis is having A Day over here and is somewhat resistant at first to influence and she's never met this being before so she naturally has this question:

She's paralleling Michael in 2.06 here. All who are you and why are you interrupting me? I'm a bit busy over here... and what did Crowley say?

"You tell me." Crowley gave her the answer he wanted and when Sitis was resistant and Crowley needed to get to the kids to save them, he influenced her so she'd help him get to who he wanted instead of standing in his way. Crowley seeks to protect the kids, obviously. He has the opposite motivation of Satan in 2.06 but the methods are the same.

Sitis falls under Crowley's suggestion at "you tell me"-- she responds normally-enough but there's enough of her reaction at the start that shows that her mind is being influenced. She gets a little quiet, her eyes widen, she's staring for a brief moment... kinda like Crowley in the chair before he speaks in after "The Metatron"'s arrival in 2.06. Crowley was in Sitis' mind and made her say back to him what he'd told her to say:

"Bildad" quite literally means "old friend" so Sitis basically regurgitates Crowley's "just an old friend" by translating it into a name in her mind. Crowley's "sure" is comedic but this is also an example of Crowley using magical influence over someone-- one of two that happens in S2. In both times, Crowley's use of it is benign in overall intent but it's still not really with the full awareness of the person he's using it on.

This kind of power when used by The Devil, though? Yikes...

The second time we see Crowley do this is with Mister Dalrymple. And what did Crowley suggest-- at Aziraphale's request-- that Mister Dalrymple do? So that Aziraphale could have time to try to lure Mister Dalrymple into his way of thinking-- though the opposite wound up being true?

Invite them to stay and have a chat... over a drink.

A chat over a wee tipple of whiskey. That moment has a paralleling friend in 2.06, too...

A chinwag over a large oat milk latte with a dash/hefty jigger of almond syrup...

Now, we're also referencing The Resurrectionist minisode in The Final 15. You know, the one where Crowley is dragged back to Hell in Edinburgh... the same place Aziraphale went to alone during S2. When asked where Aziraphale was during that time by Shax, Crowley replied that Aziraphale was:

Stocktaking. In the basement. On the surface, this is an excuse Crowley gives Shax to explain why she can't see Aziraphale through the window of the shop while Aziraphale is in Edinburgh. Shax clearly doesn't buy it and tracks down Aziraphale in The Bentley on his way back from Scotland. But this is also a metaphor on two different levels.

The first is that Crowley was dragged back to Hell in Edinburgh in 1827 and that Hell is the basement of the whole Heaven/Hell skyscraper office situation. Edinburgh is Hell is "the basement" to Crowley. While Aziraphale was there, he was working on some of his trauma related to 1827-- taking stock of what he had and where he was at in order to move forward. Aziraphale going to Edinburgh actually is Aziraphale metaphorically "stocktaking in the basement"... it's just that it also potentially foreshadows that once Shax actually gets through that door, it's the start of how Aziraphale is going to wind up doing some further stocktaking in the actual basement that is Hell.

Jump back to Sitis for a moment. Why does Sitis say "Shuite"? It's more important than it seems.

We already looked at why she says "Bildad"-- it's because of Crowley's "old friend"-- but why does she say "the Shuite"? It's not what Crowley said this time, so much as what he did-- jumping into her mind.

Remember later when Crowley uses a homophone-- "Shu-ite" and "shoes"-- and cracks this joke:

Crowley says "shoes" and Michael says "the land of Shua" but Bildad is Bildad "the Shuite" because Sitis was trying to say the other word that's a homophone for "shoes" and "Shu-a" here: "shoo."

Was there was a part of Sitis that was aware of Crowley in her mind was telling him to get out, to leave, to go... or was the fact that she had been trying to get Crowley to leave before he influenced her a factor in how she came up with his identity?

It shows that a person under suggestion by a supernatural being in Good Omens is forced to say and do whatever that being is forcing them to say or do but they might have some mild level of resistance where their words are concerned, if they can find a way to do so. Crowley was not exerting a terribly powerful influence over Sitis because he prefers to not do this at all. But The Devil himself is not going to have any such qualms... and we've been shown in 1.01 that when he takes over Crowley, Crowley really can't resist the influence. Still, he might have been trying, since The Devil needed him to speak and it was Aziraphale in the crosshairs.

And, of course, back in 2.06, The Big Damn Villain Music in the score goes insane at this moment here when "The Metatron" looks at Crowley without Aziraphale noticing-- a look that can be interpreted not just as a glare but as instructions. It's what keeps Crowley in the bookshop. It furthers the suggestion that "The Metatron" is magically influencing Crowley and since Crowley's main contribution is to identify him as The Metatron, well... casts some serious doubt over the idea that this is anybody but the one being who can exert that kind of control over Crowley-- Satan.

Now, go back to Crowley and to "...last time I saw you, you were a giant, floating head, mind."

Aziraphale doesn't totally seem to realize it but the events of the previous night letting everyone into the bookshop has, well, let everyone into the bookshop. Aziraphale thinks of the bookshop as a safe haven where Crowley's concerned and, until The Meeting Ball, it was. But Shax allowed in tipped the dominoes and now means that the bookshop is now overrun, all of Hell can get in, and Crowley's no longer safe from Satan while inside the bookshop.

"...giant, floating head, mind" isn't just about Warlock's birthday party.

It's a reference to The Devil taking over Crowley's mind in 1.01.

It's a reference to that for us and, if Crowley is able to resist at all or is trying to on some level, then it's an equivalent to Sitis saying "Shuite" in an attempt to say "shoo"-- it's a word Crowley is choosing sneaking out in the influence that Satan has over him in that moment. He's screaming wrong boy wrong boy wrong boy and he's in my mind beneath the calmer way that Satan is having him identify him to everyone as The Metatron and hoping Aziraphale will get it.

Everyone believes Crowley when he says the being before them all is The Metatron because the reveal of it makes sense with the clues laid out by what "The Metatron" has said upon his arrival. Old British white guy-sounding being? Using old language-- "balderdash", "complete piffle"? Being a smarmy, patronizing dick towards Michael? Yeah, that sounds like The Metatron... enough that everyone doesn't stop to notice what else this being says the moment he has them all convinced. Phrases like "spit spot"... the signature line of the Hell-aligned 'Mary Poppins'... but we'll look at all the 'Mary Poppins' in end of S2 in another meta.

Back to our next bit of dialogue referencing signifying the presence of The Devil in 2.06. That is "go on." Whether this is just a clue to us from the other scene or whether it's also Crowley, trying to resist the influence to try to warn Aziraphale is interpretable but, either way, when Crowley stays put and doesn't seem to notice Aziraphale silently trying to get Crowley to come with him and The Metatron, there's this dialogue:

Crowley: "Go on. Day can't get any weirder."

Weird means strange, unexpected, unnatural... Something's wrong, something's wrong, something's wrong is what Crowley's basically saying. But it's the "go on" that's the real 👀 because of what it references from earlier in the season...

Remember this?

Crowley: "Go on. Have an ox rib."

Yeah, that's a direct dialogue comparison that calls what "The Metatron" is doing with Aziraphale temptation... which means "The Metatron" is The Devil.

Gabriel showed up in S2 and what he could remember was a quote from The Book of Job-- something God said that night Crowley and Aziraphale found her speaking "to Job" (really: to them, but it's unclear if they've figured that out yet.) God warned at the beginning of S2 that Aziraphale needs to remember the Job minisode something fierce for what's to come. He's being tested. He's being tempted. The Devil shows up in 2.06 to tempt him... and it parallels the ox rib scenes by both echoing and inverting it, like the mirror that it is.

Angels actually can be tempted but that's not really what Crowley was doing in Job's cellar. The ox rib scene is actually about consent. Let's look at the start of it.

As the storm started in 2500 B.C., Crowley started pouring wine. He poured two glasses and offered Aziraphale one. Aziraphale did not take it.

Aziraphale did not take it because Aziraphale, at the time, was not interested in wine. He didn't wish to drink. "The Metatron" manipulates Aziraphale's emotions when it comes to the coffee. He preys on Aziraphale's need to be polite and on how afraid Aziraphale is of The Metatron. Aziraphale has never had any such fear of Crowley-- he hilariously was pretty direct about his distaste for wine back in Job's cellar. The Devil gets Aziraphale to take the coffee by manipulating his trauma but Satan's minister Crowley? Back in 2500 BC? He didn't push Aziraphale to drink.

The ox rib scene is actually about choice and consent. It's important to Crowley that Aziraphale feel safe with him. When Aziraphale expresses that he doesn't want to drink and doesn't want to get drunk, Crowley is fine with that and offers food instead, pointing out that you can't get drunk on food. He's a little mischievous and dry when replying that "angels can't be tempted" to Aziraphale's question of whether or not Crowley was trying to tempt him but it's because he's actually not. He's trying to have a little date with the angel, not get him to fall to Hell. He likes him. He's amused that Aziraphale is finding the offers of food and drink to be tempting-- that he's into it and wants to give something a try. There's no manipulation, just the offer of it.

It's Aziraphale's own choice to try the ox rib. He chooses to take it.

He chooses to try something new and see things a little differently and spend some time with Crowley. It's a healthy choice. It's the polar opposite of the choice Aziraphale makes when The Devil offers him the one thing he wants: a way within his control to be with Crowley forever.

The conversations at Marguerite's that Aziraphale has in S2 are interconnected. He sits at a table there separately twice-- once with Crowley and once with The Devil. Again, Crowley offers Aziraphale a glass of wine-- this time now thousands of years after Aziraphale rejected the first offer of one. Aziraphale drinks now. He and Crowley have shared a thousand bottles of wine since.

They never get to food. Aziraphale doesn't actually eat in the present at all in S2. (Which is the whole damn problem lol.) Doesn't have an eccles cake. Doesn't dine at The Ritz. No vol-au-vents at The Meeting Ball. And, at Marguerite's, he doesn't have a glass of wine and a little late lunch with Crowley. He has one sip of tea in the present for the entirety of S2 before That Damn Coffee-- to try to teach Muriel to do what Aziraphale has actually been rejecting while being in his Heavenly feelings during S2. The healthy choice is actually some food, a glass of wine, and Crowley... not a trauma-loaded coffee from The Devil.

Crowley and Aziraphale joke about temptation where each other is concerned and it's off of the scene in Job's cellar. We've seen it in Rome in 41 AD and we've seen it in the S1 finale in 2019. This is what temptation between them looks like:

They can poke fun at the idea of it because their relationship is built on the idea that they see each other as individual people who make individual choices and that Heaven and Hell don't own them. They own themselves and they choose to share themselves with one another. It's the opposite of the manipulation of temptation, which is why it both parallels how Aziraphale falls prey to The Devil-- by how he does being the opposite of what he has with Crowley-- and why it's over Crowley that Aziraphale falls in the first place... not because loving him is "bad"... for the exact opposite of that. Because loving him is good and it's not loving him to try to find a solution to their problems by saying that the people who have harmed the two of them should come first. That's the point-- no nightingales.

Aziraphale doesn't want power. He doesn't want to run Heaven-- he rejected that first attempt to tempt him by The Devil. He doesn't want to go back. He wants to stay on Earth and live his life with Crowley and he wants so much to never be apart from Crowley. The two things that Aziraphale wants most in the world are both related to Crowley-- he wants to be with him forever and he wants Heaven to admit that they fucked up and that Crowley is good.

Aziraphale already knows Crowley is good. He loves him as he is. He's just furious at Heaven and at The Metatron for what they've done to the being he loves and he's incensed at God for allowing it. Aziraphale has been an angel this whole time and, in his mind, he's been powerless to do anything to fix this. He can't stop Crowley's pain over falling-- over the fact that he still feels like he's unforgivable in the eyes of God. He can't stop him from being hurt by Hell. And Aziraphale has had that rage on simmer for 6,000 years.

His every "I forgive you" is an attempt at, since he's an angel of Heaven, trying to give Crowley what he needs and can't get from Heaven... and Crowley knows it is but he hates it because what he truly wants and needs is just Aziraphale himself. Aziraphale's love is enough.

All Aziraphale wants is for Heaven to admit they fucked up because he thinks forgiveness from God will help Crowley. He thinks it will make this better:

If Crowley were an angel again, would that stop the pain that Aziraphale can't stop? Aziraphale wonders if it might. Because he can't stop it. He's tried. He's not enough. It's a lot of pain to watch the being you love still suffer and try to do what you can to make it stop but to not be enough-- Crowley and Aziraphale both know what that feels like.

The solution is not to run away and it's not to go to Heaven. It's to just make like Gabriel and Beez and choose to live their lives together. If enough people say "nah" to Armageddon, there's no Armageddon. You can't have a war without war. Aziraphale doesn't understand that at the end of S2 yet, though, so when The Devil shows up in the form of the abusive dad who never loved him and basically says:

You know, you were right-- we need people like you. The way you live isn't a sin. I made a mistake. You could come back to Heaven and show us how to be better-- how to do things your way. You could bring your husband. We can all be a family. He can be an angel again and you'll never again have to worry that you'll lose him. You can be together forever...

This is all Aziraphale has ever wanted. The angel who was losing his mind hosting a party for the first time the night before-- one where his human friends and Gabriel mingled together and where everyone knew Crowley was his and they got to dance together like everyone else-- well, that angel is tempted as all fuck.

He falls for (falls in love with) Crowley and he falls (falls from Heaven) for Crowley.

It started, in part, with an arrival at the door. Not "The Metatron"'s arrival. Bildad's much happier, paralleling one:

This is also a note to us: remember him-- Bildad the Shuite. It's important that we do if we want to understand what comes later when a group of people, some of them angels, can't recognize who just came through the door... for the second scene in this season.

Right on cue to ask the Big Damn Question in 2500 B.C. was the first arrival at the bookshop door in S2 and the character most representing Aziraphale's inner struggles in S2... and the one who had been sent away for his own good by the point that The Devil arrives in 2.06...

Gabriel, asking THAT question: "Aziraphale, who is this?"

Aziraphale:

He. Says. He. Is. God told Aziraphale to remember this but he seems to have forgotten that he and Crowley cloaked Crowley's real identity for greater good purposes but the opposite of that could just as easily happen. He didn't really listen to the messenger God sent him-- Gabriel, whose name literally means "messenger"-- when he told Aziraphale to remember Job and so Aziraphale didn't recognize The Devil when he, like Bildad before him, came through the door.

In a sweet way, it's because he so loves Crowley that he doesn't really see him as demonic and so couldn't make a connection between Bildad and "The Metatron."

The Body Swap. Crowley and Aziraphale each pretending to be one another to survive the end of S1. They fooled everyone around them by looking like someone they, technically, are not. In both cases, they were forced into suicide by Heaven/Hell-- by getting into a bath of holy water and by stepping into flames of hellfire-- and survived it because neither of them actually were who they said they were.

Aziraphale's fall parallels the body swap plot as it's a fall of despair.

"We call it 'The Second Coming'." Aziraphale knows who was really at the door in this moment. He knows that there is no Supreme Archangel job, no promises of safety and an eternal life with Crowley. There never was. He made the wrong choice. He let his despair rule him and now the fall he thought was coming in 2500 B.C. is actually here.

Upon realizing that he's been fooled-- has played himself for a sucker, as is the case with negative thought cycles-- Aziraphale steps into the elevator.

S1-- they save each other from being killed by Heaven and Hell in methods that look like forcing them to kill themselves.

S2-- Aziraphale effectively tries to kill himself by getting into the elevator, now knowing who it is who is holding open the door.

He knows the likelihood of his memories being erased is high, which makes choosing to get into the elevator a form of suicide.

Banana, fish, gorilla, shoelace, with a dash of nutmeg. Aziraphale's mantra. His magic words. In the bookshop attack and through the end of S2, though... a banana peel thrown at Maggie. Shax referencing "the sushi." Only the banana and the fish are here.

The Bananafish. A short story by J.D. Salinger about PTSD, trauma and suicide. After some short interactions with a girl representing a daughter-like figure to the main character (Maggie, in Good Omens, who kicks off Aziraphale's S2 plot and provides his motivations throughout)-- the seemingly-fine man who is actually a traumatized war veteran suffering from PTSD suddenly and quickly succumbs to the pain he carries around and the cycle of negative thoughts he suffers and shoots himself dead.

[annabelle--cane]

sooo, in the last part of the season five q+a, jonny mentioned how he sees a lot of our lovely jon jarchivist's journey as analogous to addiction, and I hard agree on that, that metaphor is an aspect of tma that always really stuck out to me and I think was done well, but I don't think a huge number of people actively recognize it? or, if they do, they don't tend to talk about it. I might. have spent a certain amount of time getting real specific with my keyword searches to look for it.

I do think most people get that jon's compulsion to read and extract statements is an addiction metaphor by late season four, as it gets pretty explicit in the text around there, but I don't see people use that same lens on his interactions with georgie in season three, at least not as much as they use similarly applicable lenses of anti capitalism or trauma/mental illness more generally.

take this bit from mag 083:

ARCHIVIST: Look, Georgie, it’s not… You don’t need to worry. I mean, I’m not, I’m not on drugs or anything.

[GEORGIE LAUGHS DISBELIEVINGLY]

What? … I could be on drugs!

GEORGIE: Sure. I just… I know that you get obsessive about stuff, and this right here, I… I’m guessing someone dragged you into something weird, you got hooked in and then it all went wrong.

ARCHIVIST: I mean, that is almost exactly what happened.

obviously, this is a bit of comedy, jon comes off as being in the human-manifestation-of-a-sweater-vest probably-doesn't-even-know-how-to-buy-weed vein of person, but also, yeah, that is kind of what this looks like. georgie's anxious, impulsive, obsessive ex with a tendency to self-isolate and an already established nicotine addiction shows up on her doorstep having recently gone through some fairly spectacular trauma and seeming even more stressed and high strung than normal all while being unwilling to tell her what's going on. the conclusion that he might have picked up a drug problem is not an unreasonable one at which to arrive, and even though that's not literally what's going on with him, it continues to be an easy parallel to draw.

under the cut I've put a whole bunch of quotes (no analysis from me on these, I'd just like to prompt some thought) between the two of them from season three that, as it were, hit different if you continue to keep that lens in mind.

mag 087

ARCHIVIST: Uh… Look, you just have to trust me, okay.

GEORGIE: Yeah, and I want to do that, but how can I when you still won’t tell me what’s going on?

ARCHIVIST: You wouldn’t believe me!

GEORGIE: Try me.

ARCHIVIST: … [Sigh] You’re right. It’s… It’s alright. I can just go.

GEORGIE: Come on, I’m not throwing you out, Jon. I know you wouldn’t be here if you had anywhere else to go, and I… I do want to help, but… y’know, you’re a good person. You were, at least. But whatever this is, it’s messing you up! [Sigh] Look I’ve, I’ve got work to do. You listen, or don’t listen, or cross-record, or whatever you want, just… just think about it first, okay? You can choose to leave it alone.

mag 087 (cont)

GEORGIE: That’s it. Whatever the hell this deal is, the tapes, documents, I don’t want them in my house.

ARCHIVIST: Look, look… No, no… Look, you, you don’t need to be scared.

GEORGIE: I’m not! You are! Look at you, you can barely stand!

ARCHIVIST: But I… But I need –

GEORGIE: Listen to me, Jon. I can’t stop you doing… whatever secret bullshit you want to do, and I’m… not going to throw you out on the street, but I’m not having it in by home.

ARCHIVIST: No… No, they won’t. I’ll make sure it doesn’t… I’ll keep it far away.

GEORGIE: No, you need to stop.

ARCHIVIST: I’m not sure I can.

mag 093

GEORGIE: So, what? You were just packing this away?

ARCHIVIST: Georgie, I just, I needed to do one more.

GEORGIE: I asked you not to record them here.

ARCHIVIST: I’m sorry, I… I honestly forgot. It’s been a hell of a week.

GEORGIE: Yeah, not just for you. What, you think you just disappear for five days, then turn up looking like the, like the end of Die Hard, and I’ll just write it off? ‘Classic Jon, what an interesting life he must lead.’

mag 093 (cont.)

ARCHIVIST: Look, I’m moving out anyway, so just… just forget it. I’m out of your life. Alright?

GEORGIE: No.

ARCHIVIST: No… No, what?

GEORGIE: You leave, you don’t get your tapes back.

ARCHIVIST: What?

GEORGIE: When you disappeared, I took the tapes you recorded, and locked them away. Honestly, I thought I might need them as evidence. You want them back, you tell me what’s happening.

ARCHIVIST: Georgie, please… You’ll think I’m… You’ll think I’m delusional.

mag 099

GEORGIE: I said I’m fine with it. At least until you’re properly back on your feet. You’re not doing well. You keep apologising and saying you’re changing, but it’s all just the same. If you leave, I think it’s just going to get worse, and I don’t want that.

ARCHIVIST: I do appreci – I mean, I don’t… Georgie, you literally can’t feel fear! Are you sure that that’s not –

GEORGIE: Don’t! Okay. I’m well aware of my situation. It does not make me an idiot. And it doesn’t mean I got a death wish, either.

ARCHIVIST: Is it… Why are you so insistent on keeping me around?

GEORGIE: Because you’re trying to cut yourself off, and that’s… that’s really bad. Look, when’s the last time you spoke to someone who wasn’t me?