#most dramas these days take those first 8 eps to establish the story and characters well | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

maariarogers · 4 years

Text

Why Webtoon!Suho is Superior and K-Drama!Suho Needs To Catch Up 👏

Hello, everyone!

Am I here again with another semi-controversial meta? Why, I might be.

If you’d like to catch up with my last meta, which was: Thoughts On True Beauty and Why I’m On Team Suho, you’re going to get a whole butt-load of information on why I’m mostly a Lee Suho-simp, thank you very much.

With that said, to cut the story short, I’ll be listing down some points I’ll be bringing up on this particular topic. Feel free to skip some points if that’s your cup of tea, or if you’re just cruising and find that the points I’m bringing up are not of your interest at all and you’re scrolling by? That’s fine too!

If you’re sticking around though, thank you!

The Points:

Intro: What Do I Mean? a.k.a. What’s The Deal With Suho (Again)?

Webtoon!Suho vs. KDrama!Suho Is K-Drama Suho ‘Mary Sue’?

Why K-Drama!Suho Needs To Step Up

How K-Drama Lowkey Didn’t Capture Seojun and Suho’s Friendship

Conclusion: #TeamJugyeong

Full disclosure: I absolutely, completely adore True Beauty — both the drama and webtoon — and this is purely written from my own point of view, based on the thoughts I’ve accumulated by my own deductions. There certainly will be criticism, but mostly I just want to put it out there to hear out what others are also objectively thinking about this. So, let’s go!

I will try to make this one short, but let’s see how this goes :D

Now.

Intro: What Do I Mean? a.k.a. What’s The Deal With Suho (Again)?

To start this, if you’ve read my first meta, then you would know first-hand that I’m completely fascinated with Suho. That is, the webtoon version that’s been presented of him. I find him intriguing for a character that is quite “dull” — but only because that dullness played a part more than just him being a “cool” and “distant” character.

I’ve mentioned before that I do critically think Suho is clinically depressed. It’s actually proven in the original Webtoon that, especially after Seyeon’s death, he went to a therapist and was taking medications for it. Though I’m not quite sure if he’s still following any medical routine in this current arc (the adult arc), we do see a recurring theme in Suho wherein he seemed to struggle with finding any proper passion, it became an important plot device when it was made clear to him that “he never tried hard enough [for anything]”. and him falling back into a certain habit (studying) to avoid the sadness.

(I’m not quite sure the exact quote, but it’s been mentioned again that he was studying to distract himself when his sister confronted him about it.)

I find the way the author portrayed what I’ve perceived as a protagonist with this prominent mental illness was quite refreshing? Not in the way that it glorified the mental illness or the trauma Suho was experiencing which some authors or dramas tend to do, no — what the author had planted was precise, it was realistic.

Suho struggled in a way that’s consistent (from his teen years up to his adulthood, I mean), but you can’t really tell. And that’s the thing with mental illness, a lot of the time, we don’t really see it – but it’s there. In Suho’s case particularly, it doesn’t just go away when Seyeon’s death was finally accepted and the friendship between Seojun and Suho were amended. It’s still there.

That’s quite intricate for the author to do, isn’t it?

Of course, there is so much more to Suho — which I think I’ll be implying here and there throughout this meta — but if you’d like to read more on it, the first meta is just me fangirling from the start till the end.

Now that that’s over with...

Webtoon!Suho vs. KDrama!Suho

I think I briefly mentioned that, for a moment there, I was kinda scared — but also superbly interested and excited – when they announced that True Beauty will be adapted to a drama.

For the first few episodes, especially episodes 1 - 6, it was super engaging, it was sweet, and the chemistry between the casts were absolutely *chef’s kiss*

Now, episode seven was where it went a little downhill for me.

I’ve always had a slight problem with how they’ve portrayed Suho being a “fighter” — that is, him picking up Jiu Jitsu in the drama.

Now, I know! I know! I have the same thought — the drama and the webtoon are two completely different adaptions that really mirrored one another based on characters and premise, and that’s about it. I’ve made peace with that, I enjoyed it even! But I was still a bit iffy about this particular trait because, for me particularly, it was important for me that Suho wasn’t perfect.

And guess what? He wasn’t.

In the webtoon, Suho can’t fight. The one time Seyeon and him almost got into a fight when they were in middle school, Seojun was the one who actually had experience in street fighting or brawling to defeat the bullies. And this is quite important, especially if you’ve been a writer or an author or, hell, even an audience to these mediums, “perfect” characters can often become “mary sue”.

But the thing about the k-drama is, Suho’s ability to fight was purposeful — which was why it was okay for me in the end. It was a way to introduce his father and the strained in relationship they had, he faced foes several times, and, most importantly, he had to protect Jugyeong (karaoke scene).

Now that I’ve seen (SPOILER FOR PREVIEW EPISODE 9) that he could also be musically-inclined? ...yikes. And, yes, okay, I get it! The actor is an idol, so it’s a great homage to his career, but it was still...

It felt like the writers were desperate to fill the gaps for Suho possibly being “dull” as this typical cool and distant character — when, in reality, Suho’s existence as is was quite enough. He didn’t need to steal Seojun’s fighting ability, and he especially didn’t need to rob Seyeon’s musical passion too, to be interesting and have depths of his own, do you get me?

In fact, he was without all of that, and his romance — however short-lived — with Jugyeong was still so sweet and enjoyable in the webtoon. And that’s the appeal of Suho, I think; Suho doesn’t need to be “more” for Jugyeong (like, all he did was study and read horror comics with Jugyeong), just as Jugyeong doesn’t have to appear “more” (with her make-up etc) for them to be interesting to each other. They like one another in spite all of that.

To be honest, if they had made the room about Suho’s mom, which would've thrown people off because “aren’t we still stuck in the Seyeon Arc”?, that’d be an interesting plot line since I have a feeling that the webtoon will be using that as a major plot device soon BUUUUUUT that’s a theory for another day! So—

Why 👏 K-Drama!Suho 👏 Needs 👏 To 👏 Step 👏 Up 👏👏👏

Because, honey, being unnecessarily possessive doesn’t look good on you.

I’m so, SO GLAD that Seojun actually talked some sense into him! Seojun’s absolutely right! In the end, it’s up to Jugyeong who she will choose as her romantic partner! All this, him-walking-in-and-demanding-Jugyeong-to-come-to-him-in-the-slightest-chance-she’ll-be-going-out-with-another-guy is getting boring. And you know what, my guy, you haven’t even asked her out or anything! (Besides from THAT scene at the end of Ep 8, you know what I mean lol)

Like, I didn’t mind when he was just following her because he was curious and jealous, and that led him to quietly “put a stop” to Jugyeong's blind date because the man obviously had bad intentions. I also understood when he threatened Semi Lee’s boyfriend into apologising. That’s fine - while he was manipulating the situation, it wasn’t exactly him telling and/or demanding Jugyeong to blindly follow him and/or go with him or anything.

I actually find it so, so sweet when it became a common phrase between them for Suho to always ask Jugyeong how she’s doing ( “Are you okay?” ) because that’s essentially what his character builds up to: this protector, that goes beyond keeping Jugyeong’s bare-face a secret. He’s really out there making sure Jugyeong is safe, and that’s okay!

That was the character he was establishing to be.

But then the writers pulled out this obsessive and possessive jerk out of their ass? That isn’t Suho. That’s contradicting through the whole build-up of Suho and Jugyeong’s characters from episode one to six. The whole point of why they leaned on one another is because they trust each other so, so, so much.

But in episode seven, Suho was falsely blaming Jugyeong (for sleeping when he was the one who napped) just because he’s “flustered”, taking it out on her when the baseball player just asked for her number (which, well, was understandably creepy, but like, chill bro); and in episode eight, Suho was glaring at Jugyeong the whole time just because he thinks she’s ignoring him and she was around Seojun so much?

Dude....... you never even apologised for those words that you knew hurt Jugyeong in episode 5.

Suho, babes, I love you, but - no.

I get so frustrated because ‘anger’ was never Suho’s default expression; he never truly has a temper. That was always more of Seojun’s trait and it worked with Seojun because it’s consistent throughout his character (in the webtoon). The few times Suho was actually angry to the point of nearly instigating violence in the webtoon are only because he’s pushed by this deep sadness [over the loss of Seyeon].

Rather than a glare in the scene in the beginning of the camp, it’d be more in-character if Suho’d looked like a sad puppy. Because if anything, wouldn’t Suho feel threatened since he has this deep-rooted belief that he doesn’t deserve happiness (a canon line admitted by Suho, himself, in webtoon, and spoken by Seojun towards Suho in K-Drama) and therefore, would have this inferioty complex and would never think Jugyeong would be interested in him? Which was why she’s going to Seojun a lot?

Now, let’s talk about Seojun.

How K-Drama Lowkey Didn’t Capture Seojun and Suho’s Friendship

I think one of the most prominent thing about Seojun and Suho’s friendship was how much they respected one another — especially when it came to their shared love interest in Jugyeong.

This K-Drama? (Sighs) Butchered it a little? Yeah.

Which isn’t wrong, no! But I felt like... firstly, it’s overdue; it’s making Suho look really, really not pretty (character-wise) next to Seojun, which I think is a misstep for the production because shouldn’t your male lead be persistently desirable? (But I didn’t mind lol, my heart is half-rooting for Seojun already *sighs dreamily*); and it really, most importantly, hurt the absolute loyalty and pureness that Suho and Seojun shared together in the webtoon.

Because when Seojun knew that Suho and Jugyeong liked each other? He backed off. He did. He didn’t say one word — not even a slip of a tongue — about his feelings towards Jugyeong.

But Suho somewhat knew, right? And he backed off when he knew he was disappointing Jugyeong by his departure. He makes way for Seojun to be there, however he can be, for Jugyeong while he’s not around. And when they started dating, Seojun and Jugyeong? Suho was supportive throughout.

He was never jealous, there was never one instance where he showed his dislike, and even when Jugyeong casted doubt or talked with Suho about her relationship problems, Suho was always rooting for the both of them. He wanted them to work.

They were all excellent friends.

I understand why and how the K-Drama ended up the way they did currently at episode eight, but in my opinion, I feel like it’s a bit disrespectful to the true friendship that Seojun and Suho shared in the webtoon only to present them as these unending rivals when... when you think about it, it isn’t really Seojun and Suho?

Cause obviously webtoon!Seojun and webtoon!Suho, once they’ve made up that is, were extremely reliable towards one another; they were very encouraging (besides from the slight hiccup when Seojun got a bit jealous); and they were incredibly loyal and understanding of one another’s situation.

I hope we’ll see glimpses of it more in the future, ‘cause I’d pay for nice and slightly-realistic progression of friendship that’s somehow mixed up with romance and how these people are coping with it, rather than just seeing two boys glare at one another while my girl Jugyeong just wanted to go to the toilet 😆

Conclusion #TeamJugyeong

I just want this girl to stop being pushed-and-pulled and happy, man.

I’m still looking forward to more of the episodes and the webtoon, though! I still love the casts, the production, the way the story is flowing so far (because I wanna know what’s gonna happen, you know?) but I do think Suho could’ve been written a bit better? Or, at least, with a bit more consistency?

Or, I mean, maybe he could just start apologising for every reckless actions rather than him getting away with it because he saved Jugyeong? Maybe?

I really still adore him, and I’m still rooting so much for Suho because the times when he was alone with her, he was super sweet? And immediately the sincerity and the core of what made Jugyeong and Suho so appealing to me just came out? Like he has that potential that webtoon!Suho is already at.

I love them so much, ugh.

(Although Seojun, bro, I’m lowkey on your side too. That bracelet he did for her was 💗💗💗💗💗)

I hope everyone’s doing well, keeping each other safe, and if my head’s running wild again, I’ll keep you posted akdjksjhskdhf

Thank you so much for reading!!!!

#True Beauty #Lee Suho #suho x jugyeong #team suho #im sorry why am i like this?#BUT #YOOO #ENDING OF EPISODE EIGHT #AHHHH!!!!#me: im angy at character development #also me a simp: wow the 3227864387 fanfics idea i already have #True Beauty Meta

14 notes · View notes

ybyg · 6 years

Text

Another round of TGD theories (no reviews and The Guest this time, because I’m feeling like shit and I can’t think. Give me 10 drinks, then we can talk.)

After the Chuseok cutoff, it’s hard to make any theories and that’s sad because two of my theories from last week were debunked. The ‘cliffhanger’ timings are all off due to this. I meant to discuss, but I don’t feel like it. Maybe in a few days when my brain works again.

If you’ve read my posts before, you know the drill: This Post Contains Ghost Detective Spoilers because I’m an asshole who has to reveal everything, so if you’re trying to avoid spoilers, don’t read until you’re all caught up. I have no idea how to write a goddamn show and I have no idea what I’m talking about, but I just love typing and talking and thinking and giving unsolicited opinions. No, seriously. Ask my friends.

BTW, if you’re reading this, why are you reading this?!

How did Dail end up in the middle of the street?

Let's get one thing straight: the 'jump' between 'Dail in the interrogation room' scene and 'Dail in the middle of the street in broad daylight with bloodshot eyes and seemingly had sucked out the bad juju' scene is... drastic. So who did he meet in between these scenes?

Based on the first scene, Dail entered the interrogation room in the most dramatic way possible. He forcefully turned Deokjoong's face as he realised that the latter was mind-controlled by Hye because the sclera turned red (heh I slept in science class, so thanks Google). In order to turn Deokjoong's face, he has to touch him. Right, there was no pain response from Dail. Should he be in pain, the response would be immediate. Cut to: Jungdae in his superior's office. Then, we were greeted by a shot of Dail somewhere in Seoul with bloodshot eyes, black veins visible underneath his skin, in pain, and he looked lost.

It's worth noting that all the pain responses Dail has gotten were moments he touches ghosts like Hye and the tunnel ghosts. When it comes to the victims of mind control, like Deokjoong in the interrogation room and the boy at the hospital, Dail has made contact with them, and yet hasn't shown any signs of being affected by the pain. But why were his eyes red? He could touch ghosts without his eyes turning red. So this means he was angry, and his evil side emerged (since Evil!Dail will only make an appearance when he's angry).

What happened in between the two scenes? Who did he meet that made him angry and simultaneously sucked the bad jujus from? He can't meet Alive!Hye, because, at that point of the story, they have yet to cross paths. He won't be able to meet the tunnel ghost because the helpful half (Chaewon's spirit mother) is gone for good (or is she?)

Since TGD has a track record for answering theories (doesn't matter if they're debunked or turned out to be true), I should expect to find out about this bit because it's been bugging me. If the intention of this scene was used in a way to establish the moment of realisation where he had heard the tourism fair jingle, then it's a huge loss for the story. If it's left unanswered, then it will be a frustrating loophole, and we want to avoid that.

The 'Can Chaewon Hear Dail' Saga Continues (because it's been bothering me)

We've previously established that Chaewon is one of the mysterious characters in the show. This has led me to believe that one of my theories about her to turned out to be true: as much as she's the outgoing character we all have fallen for, she's secretive and has a dark past. In this section, we'll talk about how this very character fucks with my emotion and why I'm starting to doubt my formerly 'confirmed' theory.

In the last review/theories post and also on Reddit, I theorised that she hasn't told the truth about the ghosts she can hear or see hence, we get to see her interacting with the grandpa ghost in Ep. 7/Ep. 14. But in Ep. 8, she was in a 'conversation' with Dail (patience... we'll get to this), it seemed like she could only see the silhouettes of the ghosts and not hear them, just like how we see Dail through her eyes. As of now, it's conclusive she's able to see only ghost grandpa and the tunnel ghost.

...or is it?

[Dail enters the elevator. We don't see Dail, but we know Chaewon does.]

Chaewon: Did you find anything?

Dail: Sunwoo Hye isn't here. Maybe she already approached everyone and controlled them to commit suicide.

Chaewon: It's impossible to control many people at once.

[Dail does a double-take. He expects to be in a one-handed conversation because Chaewon can't hear him.]

Chaewon: [cont.] If that was possible, she should've done it when she was in a coma. Point 1

[Dail looks at her up and down in confusion.]

Dail: You can hear me? Point 2

[Chaewon smirks.]

Chaewon: You're quite taken aback, aren't you? Point 3

[Dail looks away. Possibly feels awkward, but definitely confused.]

Chaewon: [cont.] I don't know about anything else, but I know what you might want to ask me. Point 4

[At this point, Dail shoots her another bewildered look in her direction. After she says her line, he relaxes.] Point 5

Dail: We need to find out how she's going to try and kill everyone.

[An idea hits Chaewon.]

Chaewon: Let me tell you something I found out yesterday.

Okay, let's stop right there and try to analyse the italicised dialogues and action.

It sounded like she could hear him and replied his query. She answered his question and didn't even hesitate. Her timing was spot-on too. Interesting.

Dail looked genuinely perplexed. He wasn't sure if he heard her right. Honestly, same. For that one second, he seemed convinced that she could hear him and that she replied to his remark. Remember: she wasn't supposed to hear him, but we've seen her doing this before and it was revealed that she could see him... well, not like how Yeowool sees him, but you get the picture.

Again, she answered him, but in an indirect manner. Instead, she posed him a rhetorical question or Dail simply just couldn't reply because he was baffled. Yay vagueness! On the other hand, Chaewon also didn't answer him with a definite answer like "Yes, I could hear you all along!" and we don't know for certain if she could hear him. We know that she is secretive and we discover more about Chaewon when she thinks if it's appropriate for her or when someone finds out about her (examples: Yeowool instructing Sangseob to find out about Chaewon, and when Jungdae finds out about her ability as he peeks from afar.)

This one frustrates me because I'm not sure if it's something that gets lost in translation, or if I'm the one who just couldn't understand it. If it's the former, I'm not blaming the translators because these things happen and not everything is translatable. K-dramas have the tendency to use flowery, vague-ass language, and since we only have one line to work with, let's try to dissect it. I'll be honest: I don't see how that very line connects with their previous questions or remarks. What about Chaewon expecting Dail to ask her a question, and her knowledge on this 'thing' is limited? We might be able to look at it this way: she can't hear him, but anticipates questions from him; basically, she'll blurt whatever she thinks Dail wants to know. If that's the case, how could she be certain that's what answers his questions? And her reply to him ten seconds prior to this 'revelation' was very specific. From here, the Dail's-and-Chaewon's-conversation end up being a one-sided conversation once again. Is this the writer's way to tease (in both sense) the viewers?

And Dail lets his guard down. Why? Probably there are more important matters at hand? Could he realise that Chaewon was just pulling his legs? So far, Chaewon hasn't tricked him about her abilities and everything she said and had done reveals that she knows what she's saying and doing, and she had done it with purpose. If this character is just playing that 'Haha, got you!" card, then it's a waste of time and is directionless.

As I rewatch the flashback scene with Chaewon and ghost grandpa, she did make an attempt at talking to the ghost child by asking it a question. She asked, "What do you want?" before ghost grandpa interjected with the information about how the other ghosts died.

Once again, when it comes to revealing her secrets, Chaewon does them whenever no one's watching, especially without Yeowool, Sangseob and Jungdae around. By right, based on this elevator scene, this means she could hear him.

So, could she really hear Dail? Is Chaewon taking a shot at answering Dail's questions, hoping that she answers his question? Could she just be playful and tricking him?

Why is Hye still so powerful?

Trigger warning: mentions of suicide.

So... Hye's not dead? And she's committed to terrorise everyone's lives, especially our Korean Scoobies'. We have six episodes (or twelve episodes, depending on how you see it) left for this drama, and we've just witnessed what might be one hell of a stretch so far... but with worldbuilding (which is our keyword), anything is possible.

The biggest questions like why Hye is the murderous rampaging bitch she is and why is she adamant on killing everyone have been answered. I guess in this particular story, anger is justifiable for acts of violence and manipulation... by a 12-year-old. Young!Hye didn't want to die, so she switched the laced Coke with her father's and fessed up to Dail, saying, "Yes, I killed [my father]!" rather than rationalising it as an act of self-defence. What can a 12-year-old do except to feel angry about what she had done when she was alive? Also, what can a child rationalise?

I have to say I don't get why Deokjoong said those words because he was the only adult who was with her since the death of her family. This is why Hye was angry: to hear someone say that she should be killed and that she's not able to survive alone is disheartening. He was guilty of encouraging a traumatised 12-year-old to attempt suicide, and he hasn't made an attempt to rectify his words or tell her what she's done is wrong and it's not her fault. What the writer didn't explain was this: was Deokjoong an idiot that he didn't realise how damaging his words were, or was he under some kind of influence (at this point, not Hye's) to say those horrible things? Could it also mean that 12 years-old Hye misinterpreted what Deokjoong was saying?

Alright, let's talk about why Hye might be able to retain her psychic powers. (Again, this is worldbuilding and has got nothing to do with how real life operates. Duh.)

Theory 1: Dail realises and knows a fetch's powers are learned skills. For example, if you know how to build a table from scratch, you should be able to do it from scratch, regardless of your form as a person or a fetch. Like Dail, he's still a sharp detective, and he knows his shit even when he's a fetch because that's what he's good at. Whereas Hye who have been a fetch the majority of her existence is good at mind manipulation. What she learned as a ghost gets carried to when she's alive.

Theory 2: I've mentioned show Hye's a great manipulator, and how she tricked both Dail and Yeowool into believing that only one of them has the power to kill her. Let's say Dail was the one who wasn't supposed to kill her, and it's Yeowool who was supposed to do it (which I think is the truth), Hye wasn't 'properly' killed, and with him doing the deed, he entrapped her spirit. Someone who's been in comatose for 25 years is basically dead, for lack of better word, despite Deokjoong going out of his way to keep her alive, hence why he wanted Yeowool's body to become Hye's new host. But what had happened was that it was Dail who'd done it, and he used the weapon that killed Yirang. So back to Theory 1: because of this, she was able to return to her body along with her powers.

It's safe to say that in a fictitious story, in my aunt's words, the bad guys will have the advantage, and the good guys will need to struggle in order to defeat the bad guys. However, there's a downside to Hye being advantageous (alive and possesses mind manipulation powers).

I'm not going to pretend as if I liked this Alive!Hye thing. I genuinely don't like where it's going. We've seen Dail and Yeowool in distress in their attempts at defeating her, and Hye's always been the strongest, and just like a sadist, I love it. To end Fetch!Hye, it'll be an equivalent to a boss level fight. It would've been fun to watch them go through Hell in order to defeat her, and in return, we'll be able to see better characters' development especially Dail, Yeowool, Sangseob, and Chaewon. It could be done with the involvement of Dail's newfound powers; how he insists on gaining and perfecting the powers he gain, and he ends up being an evil spirit (because we can't all win.)

Alive!Hye's appearance was great -- it created a buzz. Despite it being exciting, I can't help to feel like the writer chickened out from a crazy yet effective plan because they can't outline what will lead to the final battle. It's too easy to kill Alive!Hye, but had it been harder, it'd be worthwhile. For the sake of the story in a long run, it's a half-hearted and desperate attempt to find an easy way out/way to end the story after what the writer had panned out at the beginning of the drama which was very promising.

I enjoy overthinking things. Anything you folks have in mind? :)

#the ghost detective #qila rambles

4 notes · View notes

thethirdwheel404 · 4 years

Text

Med Rewatch Series (#4)

S3: Nothing to fear. See what happens.

-GUYS IT’S AVA

-yes.

-Ava: “It’s leaking.” Connor: “that’s impossible.” BITCH FUKCING BET

-Ava’s like bruh you ain’t shit

-ava undermining connor to latham. hmm...... not that good for my argument, but... it just means, greater redemption arc

-okay why does Connor gotta look at her so mean tho?? bro chill

-literally why is everyone so horny

-haha sarah yessss. the clipped ‘dr. reese’ ‘dr. charles.’

-i have no idea why but sarah and noah are just walking through the ed and I keep expecting ava to fucking pop out of nowhere and save her from the convo. oh my god.

-okay sarah’s storyline in this one is pretty good. the lady, the patient, she’s great.

-sarah is adorable right now. so professional but also chill

-’disingenious’ okay damn go off

-okay but back up to my point before, i’ve always thought of ava of being like this lowkey protector of women (ik it’s a little out of left field) so everytime I see a guy trying to talk to flirt with a girl i am always expecting ava to just swoop in and save the day. ESPECIALLY with sarah, and its gotten to the point while watching her and noah I ACTUALLY expected her to pop up. dumb monkey brain never learns --- I actually wrote this so here it is

-god sarah is the fucking best

-uh oh, the fact that there’s an ava/connor scene right after this is SENDING ME (not in the good way bc literally stop it - especially)

-this is the scene where ava brings him coffee and his hair is a mess. It shows empathy (if you take away the romantic ava subtext). Like if you look at it on the surface, it’s a great scene, she’s nice. But then she goes and starts talking about robin and how she is also kind of his patient, which could be read as undermining (listen ava stans I promise i’m not looking for negative ava points it just happens)

-BUT THE BEST THING IS IT DOESN’T GO THAT FAR. I was fully expecting him to get accusatory of her criticizing robin but he doesn’t so we’re good. This scene is completely fine without the romantic subtext, which is fantastic

-this scene is also fun if you think about those au’s where sarah or ava has really severe mental illnesses that effect her work bc then the exact things she says to connor ‘you work our schedule then you go home to your girlfriend who is basically your patient too’ and- Now that i think about it in those stories connor would just be super super supportive aw well

- i do really like that scene - one of the best points of connor/ava brotp

-Ava: “At least it hasn’t affected your sunny disposition” ma’am I love you

-Ava: “keep up the good work” she said keep making mistakes and I keep getting paid let’s go this is the team

-is this the one where the baby was fake? that was a really good episode

-aw wait there’s actually a baby nevermind

-ava’s best storylines are one’s where she’s independent of connor. we’ve established that. it’s not that I hate connor, I just get scared when they’re in the same room for a long time bc then they inevitably start talking relationships and undertones

-when we get to the actual relationship i’m gonna vomit

-why does Connor have to be right everytime? Come on, it’s annoying, and not just for me, right?

-everytime he’s right and ava is wrong, it makes ava seem impulsive. As we’ve established before, she’s not impulsive (EXCEPT WHEN CONNOR IS BOWLING OVER HER DECISIONS AND CONGRATULATED FOR IT). she’s a good doctor, she wouldn’t be at med with connor if she was not

-yeah it’s that classic thing where surgeons are always partial to surgery

-ava tends to lead to the more serious possible outcome. actually, that’s really all it is, she tends to believe the most drastic possibilities. she makes the tough decisions when no one else can/will. she’s fucking amazing, and that’s why we love her - but everytime connor bowls over her decisions, she seems impulsive, she seems incompetent, almost dramatic. med. no.

-especially on this case - remember that this is CONNOR’S mistake! ava is cleaning up after it! connor should not be congratulated when, from the way I look at it, connor’s just getting lucky.

-gosh sarah’s fantastic

- nobody:

-sarah: *rolls sleeves*

-oh yeah she steals sarah’s prescription pad. i really do hate all the people sarah treats bc they like totally take advantage of her and make her distrust them so much that she feels super unsafe. ava will protect her (in my brain ava is a instinctual protector of women)

-okay but literally in this scene sarah is like floored and she makes a deal of apologizing to charles but like,,, sarah Was right. babey no...

-ik that most medical dramas are all about doctors disagreeing over things but,, med would not be able to propel story without it. literally everything story beat is-

character A: I think this.

Char B: No! we’re going to do this.

*does the thing* *thing goes wrong*

B: See? I told you so.

-also most of the time something Else happens and A happens to be right the entire time. (and the amount of times character b happens to be female and char A is a man is astounding. literally ava in her first ep, and ethan and april now. holy shit I hate this show so much.)

-i boiled down med to its bare essentials!

-sarah: *prescription pad goes missing* *sees woman who wanted a note* *dramatic music plays*

-sarah... please no. she’s about to do a bad thing....

-sarah’s storyline makes me so fucking sad.

-the way sarah fixes her shirt/jacket when she tries to be in control

-SARAH GOING TO BE ALONE SO SHE CRIES ON THE ROOF - MY FUCKING HEART????? stop it med fucking stop it (i got so upset in my first draft i wrote stopping fuck it) - but that’s some reesker inspo right there

-med writers really try to make everything a ‘thing’

nobody: ...

april: it’s because i’m not a doctor, isn’t it.

(alt:

ethan: ...

doris: it’s bc you two are fucking, right )

-but maggie is taking none of their shit

-maggie: if you two don’t stop misbehaving i’m gonna move your desks apart

-the way all the people with common sense talk to the doctors like children is fucking hilarious (sharon: ‘I expect better from you, Dr. Manning’

-if nat pulls the ‘i know this, i’m a mother’ card i am suing.

-I’m suing.

-she pulled the ‘I’m a mother’ card AND the ‘my husband died’ card oh wow! a two for!

-okay honestly. Im gonna be real with u. If i came up with nat’s story about her fear of heights, then I wrote will helping her over her fear of heights, I would be proud of that. That being said, it feels suuuuper out of place right here. it’d be in place in like a thirty minute comedy (like the emotional development and pay off is on brand for like brooklyn nine nine) but it just feels suuuper weird.

-like having an hour per ep means it feels like they should have had enough time to better develop the story

-latham: ‘Did you go behind my back?’ YES LATHAM YES HE DID. FLAME HIS ASS

-i want to see what happens with connor’s benching storyline

-now i get anxious whenever they’re in surgery (you can use this for inspo)

-okay what. just bc connor found something wrong he gets to SCRUB IN??? BRO HE SHOULD NOT GET A SURGERY FOR NOTICING A MANUFACTURING MISTAKE??? this is so FUCKING STUPID

- i hate it here

-the way sarah folds her hands behind her back when she goes into charles’ office - adorable.

-okay what the fuck. charles asks sarah into his office and asks for her diagnosis of him, which makes it seem like he is actually trying to get better, but then when sarah answers his question (incorrectly btw, charles is not fine) he’s such a complete jerk. dude everybody needs to stop hating on sarah come on wtf. that’s literally so mean.

-god she is literally too pure she should not be a psychiatrist.

-that being said. she is beautiful.

-I FUCKING FORGOT THAT THE PATIENT SLASHED SARAH’S TIRES

-she really can’t catch a break. babey

-sarah noah brotp is probably peak

-its very rare for med to have two characters of opposite genders interact and not get together so this is a special thing

This episode wasn’t the worst. I wrote that fun little thing about Ava shutting down Noah’s advances on Sarah. The Ava/Connor cafeteria scene is fantastic for their interactions with each other, and like always, we just sit through the other storylines.

thanks for sticking through. not a lot to say, this was more me just talking about the general tropes used on med, but i did write a whole 500 words for casual reesker so its a good day

read the rest here:

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Extra

#chicago med #med rewatch series #mine #nothing to fear

0 notes

idontneedasymbol · 8 years

Text

The trouble with twelfth season?

Under a cut for length and because it gets critical. I’m not hating this season by any means...but I haven’t been loving it, either, and the reason why might be a fundamental shift in the show’s format. To wit -- Sam & Dean are basically being used as supporting characters.

I was one of the many fans who were really excited when Andrew Dabb was handed the showrunning reins. While he’s not my favorite writer on the show (Robbie Thompson vs Ben Edlund in a steel cage match, to the last feel?) he’s been consistently one of the best, with a lot of episodes I’ve loved and a strong sense of the characters that I really enjoy. His characterizations have always been somewhat counter to standard expectations -- from his very first ep with Daniel Loflin, “Yellow Fever,” he likes Sam being a badass and Dean being vulnerable. Which is the polar opposite of the most basic reading, and very much how I see them myself.

Actually, my one fear of Dabb taking over was that he’s take this too far and Dean wouldn’t get to kick ass anymore. Which hasn't been the case at all; instead it's an issue I didn't see coming.

For the entire run of the show, Sam and Dean have always been at center, both in terms of the story and the emotional involvement. This has its strengths and weaknesses -- the show struggles to do truly epic plots, because those require the audience to care about the fate of the world, while in SPN, whatever is happening to the universe, we tend to be more concerned about whether the Winchesters (and friends) make it out of it, because that's where our major emotional investment is. Likewise if you stop caring about Sam and Dean and their relationship, the whole show falls apart, because they, their emotional states and their interactions, are the keystone.

Every showrunner has been aware of this, but all of them handled it differently. Kripke liked to explore slowly building scenarios, in which the audience was kept in the dark as much or more than the boys themselves, being shown graphic evidence of their emotional turmoil but not understanding its source, until the dramatic reveal. From Sam not confessing the source of his nightmares in season 1, to Dean struggling with John's last order, to the demon blood and Dean's memories of hell, to them both being the chosen vessels -- the stories changed but kept you interested, because you wanted to know what was going on with the Winchesters.

Gamble kept up some of this, such as playing out soulless Sam as long as it did. This era also added in an element of dealing with more real-life issues, especially with Dean, between the Lisa story arc of season 6 and his alcoholism in season 7. But the story struggled with resolution, dropping the plot threads and then drop-kicking them far away (especially in season 7), so there wasn't as much of the eventual reveals and emotional catharsis as we'd come to expect from Kripke's run. Season 7 also has a plot that's about as far removed from the Winchesters as it gets; they have less personal stake with the Leviathans than any other big bad, as they aren't responsible for releasing them (and Cas is MIA for most of it) and don't have any special reason to be the only ones who can fight them (why they don't spend the season building a hunter army is anyone's guess.)

Then Carver went in the opposite direction -- his plots are entirely centered on testing the Winchesters and their bond. He was all about the catharsis, but less willing to do the work to build to it; instead he set them at odds from the start. Unlike Kripke, who liked to play out the 'what is really going on in their heads?', with eventual (and generally satisfying) reveals, in Carver's high-conflict era it's either clear to the audience what's up with the boys (if not to the characters themselves, who got significantly worse at communication to keep the contentious tension going as long as possible, such as with Gadreel) or else the emotional ramifications are implied but never fully explored (whether it's hashing out why Sam didn't look for Dean in Purgatory, or how Dean feels once off the Mark). In some ways this is delicious for fans, because there is so much fertile room for speculation; but it's also frustrating because it leaves space for polarized views of the characters that canon doesn't deny, even it doesn't support.

At the end of season 11, it looked like Dabb might be able to strike a balance -- while Carver was all about the interpersonal conflict (for the emotional catharsis of getting over it), Dabb seemed more interested in having the boys get along, working as partners, communicating better. Not caring about each other less, but more healthily; not demanding as dramatic tests of their relationship, but showing them working together to save the world.

Which has kept up -- and this is great for people in reality; but less great for TV show characters. We're watching for drama, and the reason why romances and all other kinds of relationships on TV tend to be so fraught is because it makes things more interesting. It's partly show vs tell -- characters who honestly say how they feel about each other can be sweet, but it doesn't pull you in as much as those who can't bring themselves to say it, but prove it in huge dramatic actions (like selling their soul, or starting an apocalypse...)

But I think this could work, due to SPN's nature -- season 11 was so satisfying because after so long of the boys so often at odds, it was great to see them finally getting along. And that still holds true -- it is a lot of fun to see them working so smoothly and effectively together, and after this many years establishing their characters, there's a lot between them that can simply be taken as a given. In 12x09 we don't need to see both Sam & Dean volunteer themselves, because we know for sure that they would, that they would never accept their brother dying for their freedom, but both would be willing to sacrifice themselves to get their brother out.

The problem the show is having now, though, is that in cutting out the conflict between the brothers, it also seems to have cut out the main part of their other emotions -- and largely cut them out of the story as well.

In the first ten eps of season 12, there are only two episodes (12x04 and 12x05) that Sam & Dean are actually proactive with the plot -- in both cases, by finding a hunt and going on it. Every other episode they are either reacting to what's happening to them, or they are pulled into a situation by another character (the BriMoL, Mary, Cas, Jody.) Even in those two eps (also the only two eps that have no other recurring characters besides Sam & Dean), a large part of both the plot and the emotional weight of the story is on the person they're helping (Magda and Ellie). Likewise in the other eps, it's often other characters who are getting the emotional storylines, especially Cas and Mary, while Sam & Dean are acting more as observers and assistants. They get stuff done, but they're not the ones making the sacrifices or other dramatic choices to do it.

Relatedly, this might be the longest period the show has ever gone that neither Sam nor Dean are being directly affected by something supernatural. (The only other time is possibly the first half of season 8, before the Trials, and that's arguable because Dean's having Purgatory flashbacks for much of it.) Usually, as well as hunting being their job, they are personally involved, with the supernatural and usually with the arc, whether it's having psychic visions or bearing the Mark of Cain. Without that connection, they're acting more as bystanders than we're used to.

But it's more than that. Even if they aren't supernaturally compromised, it's not like the show is lacking in opportunity for personal drama now. While Sam & Dean are not at odds with each other, there is a ton going on that should impact them emotionally, both individually and together. Mary coming back, the BriMoL, Lucifer -- unlike season 7, these are all stories they should be intimately involved with. But the only one of these threads that's really been emotionally explored at all is Mary, and even that's been restricted to the single question of whether she’ll go or will hunt with them. The brothers haven't had a single conversation about what it means to them that their mother is alive again -- or how Mary feels about them; putting aside that they're hunters, does she know how many times they've saved the world, or nearly ended it? Does she know that they've both died and come back themselves? It hasn’t come up, nor have the boys shown much motivation in helping Mary find whatever it is she’s seeking on the road.

With Lucifer, Sam & Dean have seemingly been content to let Cas take point; they offer help when needed, but haven’t been doing the research themselves. And the BriMoL who tortured them and are invading their territory, are getting treated like an entirely logistical issue; the boys aren’t acting like they have any personal stake in the matter, though they've been proud to be legacies for years. Even when Sam started to call in the BriMoL in 12x08, we saw it happen, but with no exploration of Sam's feelings to explain why he thought it was a necessary step (or why he stopped) or how Dean felt about it. And he didn't actually go through with it, so them turning up was more the BriMoL's choice than Sam's -- he basically summoned them accidentally.

Some Sam fans have noted that Sam seems unusually detached these days -- the end of last season, he never was as disturbed by working with Lucifer as one might expect given their history, and likewise in this season he hasn't seemed overly bothered by that or anything else. But Dean's been almost as muted -- he still expresses some feeling (he's be wildly OOC if he didn't), but not nearly as intensely as usual. While for Dean this can be seen as character development -- he hasn't been drinking that much, he's been cranky but not violent -- for Sam, who is given to keeping calm and carrying on in dire circumstances, it comes across as an unhealthy amount of repression.

And even with Dean, his emotions have pretty much been limited to worry (expressed as grouchy anger, because Dean) for Mary and for Cas; it's as much about their stories as Sam & Dean's. The question isn't what Dean's going to do, it's what Mary or Cas are going to do, while Dean's only story arc is learning to accept it. It's more than Sam's getting, but not by much.

(Meanwhile, while the show is allowing Dean emotions, Sam is the only one with history -- there’s been mention his psychic powers, being Lucifer's vessel, oblique references to him being soulless in 12x10; while there's been almost no mention of Dean’s past (Toni did mention Benny -- but when she's describing torture techniques there's no mention that Dean 'trained' under Alistair.) This is partly because Dean hasn’t had much time to talk about himself; Sam's been the one to connect with all the people they've helped on hunts, never Dean, though usually they rotate that position.)

But maybe it's not that they're not feeling anything, but just that we haven't been shown their reactions. A major reason the boys seem so uninvolved is because one of the staples of Supernatural has always been the dramatic conversations between Sam & Dean (as the show itself references several times in the meta episodes.) Sometimes these are used to explore their relationship, other times to explore one or the other's current character arc. But while they're still talking, we haven't had a classic "boy melodrama" scene -- with Baby, talking about their feelings -- since 12x04, and that was pretty underplayed.

They haven't had a chance to express anything with other characters, either. While Mary and Cas both have had opportunities to share their feelings and emotional struggles, Sam or Dean's stay untouched. After two episodes of intense torture, not a single person asks Sam if he's okay, physically or mentally. More recently, Sam & Dean were imprisoned for weeks in solitary, an experience apparently so terrible that they were both willing to DIE to escape it...but it's not mentioned at all in the next episode. They're not asking each other about it (which is somewhat in keeping with their style, though one would hope they'd have gotten better about talking?) but neither Mary nor Cas are concerned about it, either, at least not on-screen.

Before the second half started, I blamed most of the season's issues on Bucklemming getting the episodes that should have had the most emotion and drama, as they handle resolution as well as they handle the show mythology (to the point that I wonder if they even read any other writers' scripts, or let the others read theirs). But after "First Blood" it's starting to look like Dabb is deliberately trying to avoid writing emotional moments with Sam & Dean -- that entire episode was structured such that Cas and Mary bore the dramatic weight; in order to leave the audience in the dark about the deal until the end, we couldn't see Sam & Dean talking about anything important. Even in the final confrontation with Billie, it's Mary and Cas who act, while the brothers do nothing except explain what's happened, with little emphasis on why they took such a terrible deal. (Compare to the emotional buildup of, say, Dean trading his soul to bring Sam back, or Sam deciding to use the Book of the Damned to remove the Mark from Dean.)

We'll see how this plays out as the season continues, but it's getting frustrating. The brotherly melodrama is one of the biggest draws of Supernatural for me -- it's a genre show that gives me the emotional buildup and catharsis of more classically character-oriented dramas (except non-romantic, which is the best part, for me!) I like badass action as much as the next fangirl, but my favorite part of fanning is the feels, and I've always been able to count on SPN to provide them -- maybe not realistically or healthily or logically; but for all its many flaws, it's always delivered on the emotional front with regards to the brothers. The only real exception is season 7 (and that's inconsistent, there is some great stuff.) But season 12 is sorely lacking in that element so far -- and being nearly halfway through, it seems like this might be the way Dabb wants it to be?

(I also suspect that next episode, 12x11, which has the set-up be a veritable orgy of brother feels to match "Mystery Spot," is going to skip most of them in favor of comedy -- which I'm looking forward to, we haven't had a good humor ep in a while; but I also want to see beautiful Dean angst and Sam falling apart, and given this season's track record I doubt it's going to happen.)

What I'm curious about is whether this is an intentional change, or just how it's turning out due to other decisions. I'm wondering if Dabb is deliberately trying to shift the focus of the show somewhat off Sam & Dean (because they've had the spotlight for so long he thinks it's time to shake things up, as showrunners sometimes are wont to do? Or is it possible that J2 requested some easier stuff, given their years of commitment and expanding families?) If it is purposeful, are they trying to disengage Sam & Dean from the plot and that's separated them from emotional development as well; or is the show trying to tone down their emotional involvement, and that's more easily done by reducing their role in the plot? As mentioned, Cas and Mary have been getting the more emotional storylines -- and I don't mind having them developed (am looking forward to Cas's arc especially -- a lot of his storylines before, he was off doing his own thing with angels; having him at the center of a story but with Sam & Dean along to worry about him, like in 12x10, can be a lot of fun!) But they're still supporting characters; Sam & Dean are the leads, the only ones in every episode, and if they're not as involved with the stories, it makes both the plotty and the monster of the week eps less compelling.

Which isn't to say all is lost, or even that the show is losing my interest. I've still enjoyed the majority of the episodes this season. And I've enjoyed Sam & Dean in them -- I do love to see the brothers getting along; they've been working together so well, and if Jared & Jensen did want a break, they're generally still giving it their all when they are on. And every season has its strengths and weaknesses. I just hope Sam & Dean get more involved in the arcs, both emotionally and in their impact on the plot, as the season continues. There's a lot here for them to care about and angst over and make bad decisions (or good ones!); I want to see it!

#season 12 #spn meta #winchester brothers #andrew dabb #spn speculation #meta #my meta #my post

4 notes · View notes