#nate is one of those characters who really demonstrates

[not-poignant]

I'm currently reading FFS while waiting for UtR updates, and the difference between Nate in both series is such whiplash 😭😭

Yeah it's pretty intense.

I mean the main thing is... we just never see Nate properly at all in FFS. Not once. We only see him around someone he doesn't like, at a point in his life when he's already healed from most of his issues, and we never really learn anything much about him. And that was intentional, in a way, Nate and Efnisien butt heads so much because they remind each other of the things they like least in themselves.

But we never see Nate's PTSD, we never see Christian's abuse of him, we never see Nate being insecure with Janusz like he is in Underline the Blue. In that way, we kind of never get to violate Nate's privacy in FFS. He gets to maintain his own walls, his own autonomy, his own sense of self.

They're actually, to me, basically the same. Like some characters I write across AUs are very very different "people" to me (FFS Efnisien vs. canon Efnisien being the main one).

But Nate in both UtBlue and FFS for me is the same. You've just never seen Nate in UtBlue healed, with autonomy, believing he has a right to his own privacy, talking with someone he doesn't like very much. Just like we never see Nate in FFS broken, post-abuse, without autonomy, believing he has no right to his own privacy.

But we see a lot of the glimmers of it. From Nate's scathing self-talk, his constant judgement of Janusz which reads very similarly to how Nate judges Efnisien out loud, to his disdain for a lot of broken systems in the world, and his ability to switch off from things he often doesn't care for. All those things are there, they're all happening in his inner thoughts in Underline the Blue, and if/when - one day - we blow away the worst of his self-hatred, what will be left is the Nate from FFS, just you know, from his perspective, instead of the perspective of someone who doesn't like him.

[chainofclovers]

Ted Lasso 3x9 Thoughts

This one might be tied for favorite episode of the season for me. While I’ve been mostly willing to vibe with the jam-packed episodes, I approached 3x9 with a bit of concern; if it felt like the story was getting bigger instead of smaller here in the final third of the season, I was going to start to lose my patience. (To translate: I am an impatient person but I'm also a pretty long-fused person, and me starting to lose my patience would be akin to someone with a short fuse going fucking ham on someone.) Luckily, I felt like each thread here spoke to the other threads really neatly, like watching a cohesive conversation take place in multiple rooms. Magically. 

For this one, I'm gonna attempt some bullets that cover 3x9 itself, then I need to attempt to process this weird experience of MISSING TED (while also basically appreciating what he's doing, but missing him, but appreciating him, lawjefpawoijfapweoijafwepklajwef) that has me very :eyesemoji: about the next three weeks of my life.

Nate’s desire for connection and camaraderie didn’t overshadow his ability to recognize that Rupert was trying to manipulate him into a toxic night out! There will be consequences for pulling away, and he knows it, but he did the right thing anyway. I’ve seen some discussions and arguments re: Jade’s influence on Nate and whether we should attribute Nate’s backbone and ability to make better choices to the love of a woman, and whether that’s disappointing and belittling to both characters, but I think a lot of those positions (on either side) are too hard-and-fast. Nate has always valued the things he values, and his relationship with Jade hasn’t changed his values or the fundamental truth of who he is. At the same time, being physically and emotionally close to a person you trust feels really, really good. Why shouldn’t those good feelings have a positive impact on the reserves of strength you must draw on to do things like stand up to an evil asshole you hadn’t entirely let yourself notice is an evil asshole? Nate in all his multitudes has always been Nate; Nate who is in love is able to see himself more clearly. If we were all only allowed in our real lives to experience character growth purely independently, we wouldn’t get very far.

I’ve been thinking a lot about influence and obligation when it comes to Rebecca’s storyline, too. I was a little afraid, after 3x3 and the way she initially responds to Tish’s prophecies, that Rebecca would end up a lone actor, in a sense, tracking down clues and answers at the expense of fostering her actual existing relationships. While I’m still curious and nervous and excited about what all of it means, I really appreciate that Rebecca has shown up for people this season, especially here in the latter half. Rebecca is almost certainly being driven a little crazy by the unfinished parts of what Tish told her, but she isn’t isolating herself. In calling Roy out for his avoidant behaviors and lack of accountability for the press conference (and, of course, the way his work performance mirrors his decision to leave his relationship with Keeley), she demonstrates accountability as a boss and as a friend. I don’t need to see Rebecca conducting meetings or writing emails to know she’s working, but it felt really important to me to see her get upset with Roy, both professionally and personally, and break through his exterior. Ted, Trent, Phoebe, and even Keeley have chipped away at it this season, but the epiphany required Rebecca being Rebecca. And the energy between Rebecca and Roy is very !!!

I loved the way the Nate-Rupert-Jade, Rebecca-Roy, and Roy-Isaac(-Will!) interactions all reinforce the idea that no one has the full picture of what is happening in another person’s brain, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t act on truths as they are revealed, as difficult as it may be. 

As a queer person who is thankfully many years removed from the most stressful coming-out experiences I’ve had (although of course there are still plenty of moments of having to explain or identify oneself to another person—it never really ends—I consider myself “out” in that everyone in my life who I care about knowing knows I’m queer, and, so long as general safety is established, I feel able to explain it to additional people in most contexts without much or any stress), I really loved and appreciated Colin’s storyline here. Very little about my identity or place in the world resembles Colins, but so much of this episode resonated. We’ve already seen Colin describe his relationship to his sexual identity to Trent, and within that same conversation he spoke about not wanting to be a spokesperson with the pressure of publicly representing gay men. I absolutely love that the framing of the locker room scene respected those desires; he tells his teammates and coaches he’s gay, but we the public aren’t part of the several seconds that the literal announcement occurs. We get to see the freedom and relief the truth brings him, but the lessons of this episode are for the people around him. 

The downside of writing this a couple days after the episode airs means I’ve read a lot of discourse, but I don’t think this episode did a disservice to Isaac or Colin. The writers room in s3 included writers specifically experientially equipped to tell this story, and to me, it shows. It shows in the realism of Isaac’s well-meaning questions (which Colin wouldn’t have answered so graciously if Isaac wasn’t so genuinely curious and caring!), and the tiring ways that queer people are burdened with conversational “obligations” and explanations that are just different than what straight people deal with. Ignorance and awareness exist on an incredibly long spectrum, and for me this story was affirming, not traumatizing, beautiful, and yet it also included the exhausting imperfections that cloak even the most positive coming-out experiences. 

I’ve also been thinking a lot about Ted’s speech. Basically ever since Colin said the thing about Grindr in s2, I’ve been certain Colin would come out as gay to the team and reckon with being closeted in the context of the men’s Premier League. And literally since he made that little comment, I’ve been nervous about how Ted would react. I already knew he was a politically progressive person who identified himself as an ally, so I wasn’t afraid he’d have some kind of bigoted rejection reaction. But I did worry that his reaction would be sooooo cringe and try-hard and awkward that I’d legitimately run into issues writing and posting fiction about his obvious latent bisexuality on our home away from home, Archive of Our Own. And while Ted’s seven-layer-dip Denver Broncos analogy WAS cringe and try-hard and off-base, I absolutely loved how unflinchingly imperfect it was and how, despite those imperfections, his instinct re: the point he actually wanted to make was spot on and extremely valuable. If a white, middle-aged, (past-tense-ish hahahahahahaha I’m so normal about the word “was”) straight man who’s worked in sports his whole life had figured out the perfect thing to say, I’d have rolled my eyes at the screen. It felt realistic to me that he desperately wanted to find an analogy or connection point, immediately regretted it, and still—because of who he is when the din of his thoughts gives way actual clarity—managed to articulate that it’s very, very important that Colin’s community actually cares about who Colin is and that he was able to share this information with them. It’s the difference, in many ways, between being doomed to continue to feel like you have two lives (because you’re surrounded every day by people who look past something important to you or pretend not to see the differences) vs. knowing that even if you never come out to the entire world, you aren’t splintering yourself because you’re able to be your whole self around the people who actually matter. Anyway, the speech was imperfect and unwieldy, and that was the point, and his actual message was essential for everyone in that room to hear, and that was the point, and I will be capable of continuing to write fic in which Ted is attracted to men without his reaction to Colin haunting me. (I actually already have an idea for a future fic in which he reflects more, but that’s literally a story for another time.)

At this point in the season, I feel so curious about, um. What is happening. With Ted Lasso. The guy. In both s1 and s2, I felt about a millimeter away from him at all times, even when he wasn’t onscreen. This season, he’s so intentionally obscured. Getting to go to that museum in Amsterdam with him—and, perhaps even more importantly, the Yankee Doodle Burger Barn, and perhaps even more importantly than that, the back of that bus—was a relief and a reconnection point that was much needed, but I am absolutely FASCINATED and MYSTIFIED at this point in time at just how effective and maddening it is that I’m having a lot of trouble understanding how he truly feels about himself and the people around him. Like, I would obviously love to watch him be in love with Rebecca. But I would also love to watch him be in love with a place, or with two places, or with coaching, or with his partially-lost Beard, or with the words and images that have come to him in visions, or even with the unhealthy things that pull at him, like booze and stewing and obsession. Basically every episode—at least for me—contains some glimmer of connection, to his self or to one of his friends, and it’s always fleeting, and I’m holding onto the almost certainty of the fact that the decisions he has to make are going to require some kind of visible reckoning. Most of my nerves about the final three episodes of this show as we know it are related to these questions. 

As for this episode, I don’t think I’ve quite captured the FEELINGS I felt while watching it. (I also completely failed to go into Ted sharing his biscuits with Keeley and continuing his perfect streak of making it super weird whenever he shares biscuits with a non-Rebecca person. I LOVED IT.) This was the episode that made me the most audibly squeal-y this season. And the most curious about how Ted has managed to get so far into his own brain that I actually miss him on his own show! Very curious stuff. What are the next three Tuesdays going to do to my brain and heart?

[hacash]

ted lasso 3x01 thoughts

WE’RE BACK BABY

God, what a corker of an opener - whenever I take a break from Ted Lasso I forget how much I’m going to enjoy it and then we open up and fuck me it’s always so good

and the big news on everyone’s lips: Ted is officially the character under focus for season three! I wasn’t sure if they’d go there but if this episode has shown us anything it’s that Ted desperately needs something to change! someone else on tumblr pointed out that there was a washed-out feel to the entire cinematography in this episode which was clearly corresponding with Ted’s long-term depression, and that really landed with me - as someone who’s had depression come and go in waves that’s exactly what it is: you’re making the same jokes and doing the same stuff, but there’s this colourlessness that begins pervading everything. Ted’s never been more self-deprecating :( he’s making slip-ups like walking past his own front door….God, the poor man’s a mess.

BUT he’s still talking with Doctor Sharon! Ted’s taking his mental health seriously! this is a good thing!

and on that subject

GET IT DOCTOR SHARON

(I honestly thought that was Hunky Luca she was with for a second; what a turn around that would have been)

so the big question that this season is clearly going to be ramping up to is does Ted decide to stay in Richmond or go back to the US. I can’t wait to see how this unfolds - I did have a minor heart-pang moment when Ted was about to go in and comfort the team about Nate, but Jamie jumped in without even being asked and did a Tedism into the bargain. It was so sweet and so demonstrative of how Ted has planted those seeds for his team, but it will beg the question: if the boys are doing this on their own, will Ted feel he’s still needed at Richmond?

I’m worried about Rebecca this season: it’s clear there are some serious issues around the West Ham v Richmond rivalry that ain’t going away any time soon. It was interesting seeing her scoffing at Nate when he (unbeknownst) ducked away from the press conference to have his panic attack. Bear in mind, this was before he started being a dick about Richmond: so she’s clearly bitter about Nate moving to West Ham (which, as I’ve said before, is pretty unfair: people move jobs all the time) - it’ll be interesting to see if her anger at Rupert starts blinding her judgement again.

It’ll also be interesting to see if her desire to beat Rupert clashes with Ted’s own style and issues…

(I’m also predicting here and now that new, potentially high profile player Zava might end up being another Jamie Tartt but more arrogant and more aggressive on the field - and while Ted may worry that he’s not good for the team, Rebecca will want to keep him around because he’s such a significant player. Watch this space!)

Nate

NAAAAATE

From Nate’s ongoing addiction to Twitter to his unkindness to the players, to Rupert’s constant manipulation of how Nate talks and what he drives, to his dressing down a dickish journalist, to that panic attack, to the car - I am flailing about so heavily right now. Nick Mohammed is going to ruin me this season, stg

Did we notice when he was talking about settling in with his new team, Nate’s comments were that he was ‘getting to know all about them….getting to like them…getting to hope….’ straight before having a flashback of being bullied by the team? Did we? Are our hearts hurting yet?

Even his insults about Richmond - ‘they’re in the sewer because they’re a shitty team’ - are just childish! he’s trying to be a killer because that’s what Rupert wants but it doesn’t work!

Also Disco’s only spoken one line of dialogue yet but I’m immediately adopting him as my new favourite character

I’ll be honest, because we all predicted Keeley and Roy would have broken up, the reveal scene didn’t hit as emotionally hard as it did some people. But on the end I’m absolutely convinced it isn’t going to last - both Roy and Keeley clearly have some growing in their personal lives* to do, and when they eventually find their way back to each other it’s going to be beautiful. I also think that if it was an actual Planned Plot Point (TM) we’d have seen that scene play out in real time; as it is, I think it’s less important how Roy and Keeley break up than how they get together again.

*God, can you imagine Nate’s reaction if he realised Roy was comparing himself unfavourably to him?!

The sewer school trip was such a lovely little reminder of what a good team dad Ted really is. That being said, after two years of this shit, Ted could probably have realised that the sight of Richmond team dropping down into a sewer in broad daylight probably wasn’t going to play out all that well.

Katy Wix is joining the cast!! well, at least we know where she went off to after BBC Ghosts.

SHIRTLESS LOCKERROOM SCENE IN THE VERY FIRST EP; this show truly does give us everything. 

I’ll be honest, I may have inhaled a mouthful of tea here; at the sight of Sam’s arms and shoulders I became a simple Victorian maiden prone to the vapours and in need of a good lie down on a chaise longue.

I, like Dani, am traumatised that Paddington Bear doesn’t actually exist

Colin gets bullied by nuns. (also I swear he was in more lingering shots this episode; the impending Colin storyline is making me so nervous and so excited)

All of the himbos are just so fucking pretty in this episode. Even despite Jamie’s hair choices. I’m also so delighted by the increasing amount of himbo interactions we’re getting: I can really imagine that the writers didn’t quite realise how popular the footballers themselves would be, and are now looking to include more himbo content for sheer funsies. Particular shout out to Phil Dunster for making Jamie as cocky and oblivious as he ever was, but this time using his powers for good. It’s a 

God bless Henry Lasso for joining the Nate Shelley defence squad, and God bless Ted for listening to him. That was such a telling little moment and a promise of things to come, and I can’t believe I got that emotionally affected by a freaking Lego set.

There was so much emotional stuff in this episode, I can’t wait to see what happens next...

….nope, still distracted by Sam’s arms.

[vickyvicarious]

Leverage Redemption Pros/Cons List

Okay! Now that I've finally finished watching the first half of Leverage: Redemption, I thought I'd kind of sum up my overall impression. Sort of a pro/con list, except a little more just loosely structured rambles on each bullet point rather than a simple list.

This got way out of hand from what I expected so I'm going to put it all under a cut. If you want the actual bulletpoint list, here it is:

PROS

References

Continuity

Nate

Representation

Themes

New Characters

General Vibe

CONS

'Maker and Fixer'

Episode Twins

Sophie's Stagefright

Thiefsome

You might notice the pros list is longer, and that's because I do love the show! I really like most of what it does, and my gripes are fewer in number and mostly smaller in size. But they do exist and I felt like talking about them as well as the stuff I loved.

PROS

References

There is clearly so much love and respect for the original show here. Quite aside from the general situation, there's a lot of references to individual episodes or character traits from the first show. For example, Parker's comments on disliking clowns, liking puppets, disliking horses, stabbing vs. tasing people. The tasing was an ongoing thing in the original, the stabbing happened once (S1) but was referenced later in the original show, the clown thing only had a few mentions scattered across the entire original show. The puppet thing was mentioned once in S5, and the horses thing in particular was only brought up in S1 once. But they didn't miss the chance to put the nod to it in there; in fact with those alone we see a good mix of common/ongoing jokes and smaller details.

We got "dammit Hardison" and "it's a very distinctive..." but also Eliot and Parker arguing about him catering a mob wedding, and Eliot being delighted by lemon as a secret ingredient in a dish in that same episode (another reference to the mob episode). Hardison and Eliot banter about "plan M", an ongoing joke starting from the very first episode of the original show. We see Sophie bring up Hardison's accent in the Ice Job, Parker also makes reference to an early episode when describing "backlash effect" to Breanna, in an episode that also references her brother slightly if you look for it.

Heck, the last episode of these first eight makes a big deal out of nearly reproducing the iconic opening lines of the original show with Fake Nate's "we provide... an advantage." And I mean, all the "let's go steal a ___" with Harry being confused about how to use them.

Some of the lines are more obviously references to the original show, but they strike a decent balance with smaller or unspoken stuff as well, and also mix in some references between the team to events we the audience have never seen. If someone was coming into this show for the first time, they wouldn't get all the easter egg joy but most of the references would stand on their own as dialogue anyway. In general, I think they struck a good balance of restating needed context for new viewers while still having enough standalone good lines and more-fun-if-you-get-it callbacks.

Continuity

Similar to the last point, but slightly different. The characters' development from the original to now is shown so well. I'm not going to go on about this too long, but the writers clearly didn't want to let the original characters stagnate during the offscreen years. There was a lot of real thought put into how they would change or not.

It's really written well. We can see just how cohesive a team Parker, Hardison, and Eliot became. We get a sense of how they've spent their time, and there's plenty of evidence that they remained incredibly close with Sophie and Nate until this past year. The way everyone defers to Parker is different from the original show and clearly demonstrates how she's been well established as the leader for years now - they show this well even as Parker is stepping back to let Sophie take point in these episodes. Eventually that is actually called out by Sophie in the eighth episode, so we might see more mastermind Parker in the back half of the show, maybe. But even with her leading, it's clear how collaborative the team has become, with everyone bouncing ideas off one another and adding their input freely. Sometimes they even get so caught up they leave the newbies completely in the dust. But for the most part we get a good sense of how the Parker/Hardison/Eliot team worked with her having final say on plans but the others discussing everything together. A little bit more collaborative than it was with Nate at the helm.

Meanwhile Sophie has built a home and is deeply attached to it. She and Nate really did retire, at least for the most part, and she was living her happy ending until he died. She's out of practice but still as skilled as ever, and we're shown how much her grief has changed her and how concerned the others are for her.

There's a lot of emphasis on how they all look after one another and the found family is clearer than ever. Sophie even calls Hardison "his father's son" - clearly referring to Nate.

Nate

Speaking of Nate! They handled his loss so, so well. His story was the most complete at the end of the last show, and just from a narrative point, losing him makes the most sense of all the characters. But the way he dies and his impact on the show and the characters continues. It's very respectful to who he was - who he truly was.

Nate was someone they all loved, but he was a deeply flawed individual. Sophie talks about how he burned too hot, but at least he burned - possibly implying to me that his drinking was related to his death. In any case, there's no mystery to it. We don't know how he died but that's not what's most important about his death. This isn't a quest for revenge or anything... it's just a study of grief and trying to heal.

Back to who he really was real quick - the show doesn't eulogize him as better than he was. They're honest about him. From the first episode's toast they raise in his memory, to the final episode where Sophie and Eliot are deeply confused by Fake Nate singing his praises, the team knows who he was. They don't erase his flaws... but at the same time he was so clearly theirs. He was family, he was the man they trusted and loved and followed into incredibly dangerous situations, and whose loss they all still feel deeply.

That said, the show doesn't harp on this point. They reference him, but they don't overwhelm new viewers with a constant barrage of Nate talk. It always serves a purpose, primarily for Sophie's storyline of moving through her grief. Anyway, @robinasnyder said all of this way better than me here, so go read that as well.

Representation

Or should I say, Jewish Hardison, Autistic Parker, Queer Breanna!

Granted, Hardison's religion isn't quite explicitly stated to be Jewish so much as he mentions that his "Nana runs a multi-denominational household", but nonetheless. He gets the shows big thesis statement moment, he gets a beautiful speech about redemption that is the emotional cornerstone of that episode and probably Harry's entire arc throughout the show. And while I'm not Jewish myself, most of what I've seen from Jewish fans is saying that Hardison's words here were excellent representation of their beliefs. (@featherquillpen does a great job in that meta of contextualizing this with his depiction in the original show as well.)

Autistic Parker, however, is shown pretty dang blatantly. She already was very much coded as autistic in the original show, but the reboot has if anything gone further. She sees a child psychologist because she likes using puppets to represent emotions, she stims, she uses cue cards and pre-written scripts for social interactions, there's mention of possible texture sensitivity and her clothes are generally more loose and comfortable. She's gotten better at performing empathy and understanding how people typically work, but it's specifically described as something she learned how to do and she views her brain as being different from ones that work that way (same link). Again, not autistic myself but from what I've seen autistic fans find a lot to relate to in her portrayal. And best of all, this well-rounded and respectful depiction does not show any of these qualities as a lack on her part. There's no more of those kinda ableist comments or "what's wrong with you" jokes that were in the original show. Parker is the way she is, and that allows her to do things differently. She's loved for who she is, and any effort made to fit in is more just to know how so that she can use it to her advantage when she wants to on the job - for her convenience, not others' comfort.

Speaking of loved for who you are.... okay, again, queer Breanna isn't confirmed onscreen yet, and I don't count Word of God as true canon. But I can definitely believe we're building there. Breanna dresses in a very GNC way, and just her dialogue and, I dunno, vibes seem very queer to me. She has a beautiful speech in the Card Game Job about not belonging or being accepted and specifically mentions "the way they love" as one of those things that made her feel like she didn't belong. And that scene is given so much weight and respect. (Not to mention other hints throughout the episode about how much finding her own space meant to her.) Also, the whole theme of feeling rejected and the key for her to begin really flourishing is acceptance for who she is, not any desire for her to be anyone else, is made into another big moment. Yeah, textually that moment is about her feeling like she has to fill Hardison's shoes and worrying about her past, but the themes are there, man.

Themes

I talked a bit about this yesterday, so I'm mostly just going to link to that post, but... this series so far is doing a really good job in my opinion of giving people arcs and having some good themes. Namely the redemption one, from Hardison's speech (which I'm gonna talk a little more about in the next point), and this overall theme of growing up and looking to the future (from above the linked post).

New Characters

Harry and Breanna are fantastic characters. I was kind of worried about Harry being a replacement Nate, but... he really isn't. Sure, he's the older white guy who has an angsty past but it's in a very different way and his personality and relationships with the rest of the crew are correspondingly different. I think the dynamic of a very friendly, cheerful, kind, but still bad guy (as @soundsfaebutokay points out) is a great one to show, and he's got a really cool arc I think of learning to be a better person, and truly understanding Hardison's point about redemption being a process not a goal. His role on the team also has some interesting applications and drawbacks, as @allegorymetaphor talked about. I've kind of grown to think that the show is gradually building up to an eventual Sophie/Harry romance a ways down the line, and I'm actually here for it. Regardless, his relationships with everyone are really interesting.

As for Breanna, first of all and most importantly I love her. Secondly, I think she's got a really interesting story. She's a link to Hardison's past, and provides a really interesting perspective for us as someone younger who has grown up a) looking up to Leverage and b) in a bleaker and more hopeless world. Breanna's not an optimist, and she's not someone who was self-sufficient and unconcerned with the rest of the world at the start, like everyone else. She believes that the world sucks and she wants it to be better, but she doesn't know how to make that happen. She outright says she's desperate and that's why she's working with Leverage. At the same time, Breanna is pretty down on herself and wants to prove herself but gets easily shaken by mistakes or being scolded, which is a stark contrast to Hardison's general self-confidence. There are several times when she starts to have an idea then hesitates to share it, or expects her emotions to be dismissed, or gets really disheartened when she's corrected or rejected, or dwells on her mistakes, or when she is accepted or praised she usually takes a surprised beat and is shy about it (she almost always looks down and away from the person, and her smile is often small or startled). Breanna looks up to the team so much (Parker especially, then probably Eliot) and she wants to prove herself. It's going to be so good to see her grow.

General Vibe

A brief note, but it seems a fitting one to end on. The show keeps it's overall tone and feeling from the original show. The fun, the competency porn, the bad guys and clever plans and happy endings. It's got differences for sure, but the characters are recognizably themselves and the show as a whole is recognizably still Leverage. For the most part they just got the feeling right, and it's really nice.

CONS (no, not that kind)

'Maker and Fixer'

So when I started writing this meta earlier today, I was actually a lot more annoyed by the lack of unique 'maker' skills being shown by Breanna. Basically the only time she tries to use a drone, the very thing she introduced herself as being good at, it breaks instantly. I was concerned about her being relegated into just doing what Hardison did, instead of bringing her own stuff to the table. But the seventh episode eased some of those fears, and the meta I just wrote for someone else asking about Breanna's 'maker' skills as shown this season made me realize there's more nuance than that. I'd still like to have seen more of that from her, but for now the fact that we don't see a lot of 'maker' from her so far seems more like a character decision based in Breanna's insecurities.

Harry definitely gets more 'inside man' usage. His knowledge as a 'fixer' comes in handy several times. Nonetheless, I'm really curious if there are any bigger ways to use it, aside from him just adding in some exposition/insight from time to time. I'm not even entirely sure how much more they can pull from this premise in terms of relevant skills, but I hope there's more and I'd like to see it. Maybe a con built more around him playing a longer role playing his old self, like they tried in the Tower Job? Maybe it's more a matter of him needed distance from that part of his past, being unable to face it without lashing out - in that case it could be a good character growth moment possibly for him to succeed in being Scummy Lawyer again down the line? I dunno.

Episode Twins

This was something small that kind of bothered me a little earlier in the season. It's kind of the negative side to the references, I guess? And I'm not even sure how much it annoys me really, but I just kinda noticed and felt sort of weird about it.

Rollin' on the River has a lot of references/callbacks to the The Wedding Job.

The Tower Job has a lot of references/callbacks to The White Rabbit Job.

The Paranormal Hacktivity Job has a lot of references/callbacks to the Future Job.

I guess I was getting a little concerned that there would be a 'match this episode' situation where almost every new Redemption episode is very reminiscent of an old one. I love the callbacks, but I don't want to see a lack of creativity in this new show, and this worried me for a minute. Especially when it was combined with all three of those episodes dealing with housing issues of some kind. Now, that's a huge concern for a lot of people, and each episode has its own take on a different problem within that huge umbrella, but it still got me worried about a lack of variety in topics/cases.

The rest of the episodes failing to line up so neatly in my head with older episodes helped a lot to ease this one, though. Still, this is my complaining section so I figured I'd express my concerns as they were at the time. Even if I no longer really worry about it much.

Sophie's Stagefright

Yeah, I know this is just a small moment in a single episode, but it annoyed me! Eliot made a bit of a face at Sophie going onstage, but I thought it was just him being annoyed at the general situation. However, they started out with her being awful up there until she realized the poem was relevant to the con - at which point her reading got so much better.

This felt like a complete betrayal of Sophie's beautiful moment at the end of the original show where she got over her trouble with regular acting and played Lady Macbeth beautifully in front of a full theater of audience members. This was part of the con, but only in the sense that it gave her an alibi/place to hide, and I always interpreted it as her genuinely getting over her stagefright problems. It felt like such a beautiful place to end her arc for that show, especially after all her time spent directing.

Now, her difficulty onstage in the Card Game Job was brief and at the very beginning of being up on stage. @rinahale suggested to me that maybe it was a deliberate tactic to draw the guy's attention, and the later skill was simply her shifting focus to make the sonnet easier for Breanna to listen to and interpret, but he seemed more enraptured when she was doing well than otherwise in my opinion and it just doesn't quite sit well with me. My other theory was that maybe she just hasn't been up on stage in a long time, and much like she complaining about being rusty at grifting before the team pushed her into trying, she got nervous for a moment at the very beginning. The problem there is that I think she'd definitely still get involved in theater even when she and Nate were retired. I guess she could've quit after he died, and a year might be long enough to make her doubt herself again, but... still.

I just resent that they even left it ambiguous at all. Sophie's skills should be solid on stage at this point in my opinion.

Thiefsome

...And now we come to my main complaint. This is, by far, the biggest issue I have with the show.

I feel like I should put a disclaimer here that I had my doubts from the beginning about the thiefsome becoming canon onscreen. I thought the famous "the OT3 is safe" tweet could easily just mean that they are all still alive and well, or all still working together, without giving us confirmation of a romantic relationship. Despite this, the general fandom expectations/hopes really got to me, especially with the whole "lock/pick/key" thing. I tried to temper my expectations again when the character descriptions came out and only mentioned Hardison loving Parker, not Eliot, but I still got my hopes up.

The thing is, I was disappointed pretty quickly.

The very first episode told me that in all likelihood we would never see Hardison and Parker and Eliot together in a romantic sense. Oh, there was so much coding. So much hinting. So much in the way of conversations that were about Parker/Hardison's relationship but then Eliot kept getting brought into them. They were portrayed as a unit of three.

But then there was this.

I love all of those scenes of Parker and Hardison being intimate and loving and comfortable with one another and their relationship. I really do. But it didn't escape my notice that there's nothing of the sort with Eliot. If they wanted a canon onscreen thiefsome, it would by far make the most sense to just have it established from the start. But there aren't any scenes where Eliot shares the same kind of physical closeness with either of them like they do each other. Parker and Hardison kiss; he doesn't kiss anyone. They have several clearly romantic conversations when alone; he gets important conversations with both but the sense of it being romantic isn't there.

Establishing Eliot as part of the relationship after Hardison is gone just... doesn't make any sense. It would be more likely to confuse new viewers, to make them wonder if Parker is cheating on Hardison with Eliot, or if they have a Y shaped relationship rather that a triangle. It would be so much clumsier.

Still, up until the Double-Edged-Sword Job I believed the writers might keep it at this level of 'plausible hinting but not quite saying'. There's a lot of great stuff with all of them, and I never expecting making out or whatever anyway; a cheek-kiss was about the height of my hopes to be honest. I mostly just hoped for outright confirmation and, failing that, I was happy enough to have the many hints and implications.

But then Marshal Maria Shipp came along. And I don't really have anything against her as a character - in fact, I think she has interesting story potential and will definitely come back. But the episode framed her fight with Eliot as a sexyfight TM, much like his fight with Mikel back in the day. And then his flirting with her rode the line a little of "he's playing her for the con" and "he's genuinely flirting." The scene where he tells her his real name is particularly iffy, but actually was the one that convinced me he was playing her. Because he seems to be watching her really closely, and to be very concerned about her figuring out who he really is. I am very aware though that I'm doing a lot of work to interpret it the way I want. On surface appearance, Eliot's just flirting with an attractive woman, like he did on the last show. And that's probably the intention, too.

But the real nail in the coffin for me was when Sophie compared herself and Nate to Eliot and Maria. That was a genuine scene, not the continuation of the teasing from before. And Sophie is the one whose insight into people is always, always trustworthy. She is family to the thiefsome. For this to make any sense, either Eliot/Parker/Hardison isn't a thing, or they are and Sophie doesn't know - and I can't imagine why in the hell she wouldn't know.

Any argument to make them still canon leaves me unsatisfied. If she knows and they haven't admitted it to her - why wouldn't they, after all this time? Why would she not have picked up on it even without an outright announcement? Some people suggested they wouldn't admit it because they thought Nate would be weird about it, but that doesn't seem any more in character to me than the other possibilities. In fact, the only option that doesn't go against my understanding of these people and their observational abilities/the close relationship they share.... is that the thiefsome is not a thing.

And furthermore, the implication of this conversation - especially the way it ended, with Eliot stomping off looking embarrassed while Sophie smiled knowingly - is that Eliot will get into another relationship onscreen. Maybe not a full-blown romantic relationship. But the Maria Shipp tension is going to be resolved somehow, and at this point I'm half-expecting a hook-up simply because of Sophie's reaction and how much I trust her judgement of such things. Even if she's letting her grief cloud her usual perceptiveness... it feels iffy.

It just kinda feels like I wasn't even allowed to keep my "interpret these hints/maybe they are" thiefsome that I expected after the first couple episodes convinced me we wouldn't get outright confirmation. (I mean, I will anyway, and I love the hints and allusions regardless.) And while I'm definitely not the kind of fan who is dependent on canon for my ships, and still enjoy all their interactions/will keep right on headcanoning them all in a relationship, it's just.... a bummer.

Feels like a real cop-out. Like the hints of Breanna being queer are enough to meet their quota and they won't try anything 'risky' like a poly relationship. I dunno. It's annoying.

.

That's the end of the list! Again, overall I love the new show a lot and have few complaints.

[eugeniedanglars]

I would like to see the Colin Hughes psychoanalysis (I am also obsessed with him, ever since "that's too many ghosts")

oh god okay so what little we know about colin's psychological state is that he's got issues with self-worth and is somewhat insecure about his place on the team, hence the need for a mantra to remind himself that he is "a strong and capable man". and something i think is especially interesting is that the show demonstrates that those insecurities aren't entirely unfounded—colin's fairly middle of the pack in terms of his status on the team. like, he's good enough to be on the starting lineup, but he's nowhere near as talented as jamie or dani or even sam, who gets a fair number of big plays. he's reasonably well-liked by his teammates, but they don't rally around him the way they do for sam or dani, and he doesn't command the respect of someone like isaac or roy. as nate cruelly but accurately says, colin just kind of... does the job. he's just there.

now, IF the grindr comment turns out to be more than a one-off joke and colin really is gay (i go back and forth on how convinced i am of this, but god knows this show needs lgbt characters so even if it's not canon i'm still gonna hc colin as gay), i think those insecurities would dovetail really nicely with a coming out/homophobia in sports storyline, because you really can't do justice to a storyline like that without addressing the fact that male pro athletes face a huge risk of retaliation and ostracism if they come out, especially if they play a team sport. and after two seasons of seeing this team grow into this ride-or-die found family that unquestioningly loves and accepts each other, it would be pretty hard to convince the audience that there are any emotional stakes to one of the team members being gay. BUT. colin being nervous about facing personal or professional retaliation if he came out to the team is something the show could totally pull off, because he's not so good as to be indispensable and he's not so beloved that the team would never turn on him, and he knows these things and worries about them.

[leverage-ot3]

notable moments from The Mile High Job

leverage 1.08

Nate: We need a key card.

Eliot: And I hate to say it, but you know who we could really use --

Nate: Don't even say his name. I don't want it spoken aloud

eliot begrudgingly admitting they could use hardison because although they may bicker all the time, he knows to appreciate him

- - - - - 

[Leverage Headquarters]

(Hardison is watching a microwave, which dings)

Hardison: Yeah, buddy!

(he tries to pick up the pizza pocket but it is too hot and he drops it)

Hardison: Damn it!

(he blows on it and picks it up to eat it, then takes a watering can and heads out of the kitchen)

why do we (and parker and eliot) love this fucking idiot so damn much ???

- - - - - 

(Hardison walks through the offices watering plants)

he’s such a nester + he’s probably watering parker’s plant too which is adorable

- - - - - 

Eliot: All right.

(open the door to the hall to find Parker waiting)

Parker: So, what are we waiting for?

Eliot: How does she do this?

Nate: I don't even ask anymore.

Hardison: Don't bother with the stairs. I got you a ride down.

(elevator dings and they enter)

we love to see parker defying all laws of physics and logic and the team being baffled by it e v e r y time

- - - - - 

(Nate, Parker and Eliot run into the lobby, headed for the door)

Nate: No, it’s right behind us, it’s right behind us!

(guards put their hands on their guns)

Parker: It’s furry, it’s big, it’s chasing us, get down now!

(they grab Sophie on the way out the door, leaving the guards confused)

Nate: Come on, we need to get to the airport, now!

that’s actually a really clever way to escape a situation ??? it was very effective to distract the guards ???

- - - - - 

Hardison: What I.D.s have you got on you?

[LAX Airport]

Nate: Let's see...

(team begins looking through their pockets)

Nate: We got, Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy, and I have a Tom Baker. Yeah.

Sophie: Ooh, yeah, I have a Baker. Sarah Jane.

[Leverage Headquarters]

Hardison: Perfect. I now pronounce you man and wife. (typing on keyboard) Now go on and kiss that bride.

[LAX Airport]

(Sophie hands Nate a ring that he places on her finger)

hardison bases their ids on doctor who characters, what a fucking nerd

also, we gonna talk about how sophie carries a bunch of different wedding rings with her at all times or ???

- - - - - 

Sophie: How did you both know there'd be an extra uniform in the bag?

Nate: Everyone knows flight attendants are required to carry extra uniforms in case they get called to work unexpectedly.

Eliot: Or if something happens to the one that they're already wearing.

Sophie: How does "everyone" know that?

Nate: Worked airport security.

Eliot: Slept with a flight attendant

sophie being exhausted + eliot never mentioned the gender of the flight attendant so let my bi heart dream okay

- - - - - 

(security guard opens Nate’s luggage to find many BSDM items inside. Nate gives Sophie a look)

Sophie: What? We needed luggage. Lost and found.

Nate: You didn't check the bag first?

Sophie: We were in a bit of a hurry. (to guard) Yeah. Cuffs are his. Whip's mine. (slaps Nate’s butt) Second honeymoon.

Eliot (picking up his bag): Idiots.

me watching this scene: part horrified part secondhand embarrassed 

- - - - - 

Hardison (on computer): Let's see what we can learn about Nathan Ford today. Online poker? Online chess? Sudoku. Crossword. What... Damn. Somebody needs to get laid.

y i k e s

- - - - - 

[Coach]

(Parker on P.A. while another stewardess demonstrates)

Parker: Place the mask over your mouth and nose and breathe normally. In the event of a water landing, your seat cushion can be used as a flotation device. But let's face it, if this thing goes down in the water, more than likely the impact will kill you. 

(Eliot grabs the bridge of his nose while the other passengers get alarmed)

Parker: Please take a moment to locate the nearest emergency exits, because if this plane's on fire, you're gonna want to get out quick. Jet fuel burns at over 1,000 degrees. That's hot, folks.

Eliot: All right, Nate. We're here. Now what?

eliot looks exhausted like 300 different times during this episode

+ bless the other flight attendant that just carried on with the crazy white chick being crazy over the speaker 

- - - - - 

poor eliot with the guy sleeping on him, he’s so exhausted already lmao

- - - - - 

Steve: Nothing. It’s just... I could've sworn I saw a maintenance guy get in that elevator.

Hardison: A- A maintenance guy? Wow. Real nice. I bet you think we all look alike.

Steve: That's not what I meant.

Hardison: You know what -- If I have to go to one more of those damn sensitivity seminars, I know who I’m blaming.

Steve: No, no, no.

Hardison: I know who I’m blaming.

Steve: It's not what I meant.

Hardison: I blame you! You! (walks away)

hardison using societal tendencies of racism is iconic every (every) time

- - - - - 

(Eliot gets up and begins going through luggage in the overhead racks. One of the passengers watches him suspiciously)

Eliot (to passenger): Can I help you with something? Watch the movie.

what would you even do in this situation ???

- - - - - 

Marissa: I know. It's just -- It's like a placebo effect. It's not really working, but it makes you feel better anyway.

Parker: Yeah? So, when's that supposed to kick in? (she moves forward) Look. Flying isn't really all that scary when you think about it. I mean, there are a lot more likely ways to die than on a plane. Car crash, house fire, electrocution, drowning, autoerotic asphyxiation. I mean, the fact is, death haunts us every day. No matter where we are.

(Parker smiles and moves away)

Y I K E S

- - - - - 

Hardison: You kidding? Did you get the new expansion pack? Woman, I was up all night. Now, look, I mean “Burning Crusade" was great, but this new one is mind-blowing.

Nate: Hardison…

[First Class]

Nate: …you bailed on the job because you were up all night playing a game?

[Genogrow Break Room]

(Hardison turns aside and opens a cabinet door to hide his face)

Hardison: First off, "game" is hardly adequate, okay

hardison is DONE with them not taking his “games” seriously ,,, also LMFAO that’s why he was late 

- - - - - 

Hardison (opens door): The meeting's starting, sir. (closes door)

Haldeman: What meeting? (sighs and puts on his jacket)

that is such an effective tactic tho ???

- - - - - 

Parker: Hatbox full of Euros, pouch of uncut diamonds, and a stolen Stradivarius. Now, I’ve never lifted one of those.

Nate: Parker..

let! her! steal! it!

- - - - - 

Eliot: Ms. Devins, those payments were not made in error. They were bribes. He was trying to pay off the researchers so they would not testify.

Marissa: What are you talking about? What the hell is going on here?

(Parker sits down next to Marissa)

Parker: The guy in 1D wants to kill you. Ginger ale?

Eliot: Just – sh-she--

that poor lady is NOT having a good time

also eliot looks sO DONE WITH PARKER LMFAO

- - - - - 

Eliot: Erlick's a pro. He had a ceramic knife. If anything was going down, he'd sniff 'em out when he saw them coming.

Nate: How would they do it?

Eliot: Easiest way? Take 'em out in transit.

Sophie: You mean bring down the plane they're on?

(everyone looks at her pointedly)

Sophie: You mean bring down the plane we're on?

Nate: Yeah

that’s interesting meta to know but we hate to see it

- - - - - 

Nate: Okay, Parker, I -- Parker, I need you – (to Eliot) All right, we got to talk to Erlick now.

[Plane Bathroom]

(Dan is still unconscious on the toilet as Eliot and Nate come in)

Nate: Geez!

Eliot (patting Dan on the face): Hey!

(Dan does not stir, Eliot sighs)

Eliot: When I knock people out, they tend to stay knocked out.

Nate: Hey!

(Nate taps the guy on the face)

Nate: Luggage tags.

(they search Dan’s clothes and take his luggage tags. Eliot grabs the ceramic knife before they leave the bathroom)

eliot doesn’t fuck around lmao

also he did the flippy thing with the knife

- - - - - 

Hardison: Parker, the device you found -- is it anywhere near an orange box?

Parker: Yeah.

[Haldeman’s Office]

Hardison: Oh, god. They tapped into the black box.

[Cargo Hold]

Parker: No, no, it's not black. It's orange.

[Haldeman’s Office]

Hardison: Yeah, the black boxes, they're orange.

[Cargo Hold]

Hardison: Makes them easier to find in the debris.

Parker: Oh. Oh…

[Haldeman’s Office]

Hardison: They've hacked into the flight's computer, which means they have access to the system, which means they can spoof the black-Box data all at the same time.

[Cargo Hold]

Parker: Crash the plane without anyone knowing it was sabotaged.

[Haldeman’s Office]

Hardison: Exactly

that’s terrifying

- - - - - 

Nate: Listen to me!

[Haldeman’s Office]

Nate: You can do this! I trust you!

(Hardison looking very unsure of himself)

[Cockpit]

Nate: No matter how many times you goof off or screw up, you always come through in the clutch.

[Haldeman’s Office]

Nate: You're the only guy I can count on in a situation like this.

Hardison (cracks his neck): You know what? I-I-you... You're right. 

You're right. I got this.

[Cockpit]

Nate: Yes! Yes! Yes, you can!

Hardison: You're right. You're -- I'm the man.

[Cargo Hold]

Hardison: I'm the man. I got this. I'm gonna do this.

hardison is amazing and they need to appreciate him more

- - - - - 

[First Class]

(Nate and Eliot stumble into seats and belt up)

Nate: Sophie?

[Coach]

Sophie: Yes?

[First Class]

Nate: You okay?

[Coach]

Sophie: Yeah. You?

[First Class]

Nate: Ask me again in 10 minutes.

[Coach]

Sophie: You're gonna remember this one, aren't you?

[First Class]

Nate: Oh yeah.

everyone else on the comms: ,,, y’all have to flirt right this second ???

- - - - - 

[Haldeman’s Office]

(Hardison watching footage on the Internet of the plane landing)

Announcer (on monitor): …emergency landing on the seven mile bridge…

Hardison: Whoa! (gets up and dances) Baby! Unh! Age of the geek! Smooth! Too smooth! Lord, I was so scared, I wanted to cry, call my mama. Y'all cool? Y’all cool?

Nate: Yes, cool.

Hardison: Family. All right.

hardison is baby + HE CALLED THEM HIS FAMILY !!!

[not-poignant]

Your characterization and dialogue are incredible, how did you make me fall in love with Nate in one fell swoop like that? how did that happen? what is this magic

Hi hi!

This one I can actually kind of answer! :D

A really great way to introduce an unlikeable character who you want to be kind of likeable, at least to some people, is

* Have other characters who you already like, like that character. Including cheerful characters, like Janusz. Nate becomes immediately a bit more accessible when we learn that Janusz both a) likes him and b) isn’t threatened by his attitude (which indicates that his attitude actually isn’t a threat).

* Then have more characters respect that character, in the case of Leo, and the other members of the poetry group.

* Have the character who is treating your main character kind of poorly, actually be not the worst to other characters (Nate was pretty cool to those 70 year old dudes, and also is generally milder around Janusz).

* He’s an underdog. Chances are if you like my writing, you like rooting for the underdog already.

* Nate is protective. It’s clear that he is a) getting information for Janusz which indicates he cares about what Janusz thinks about Efnisien going to choir and b) he’s protective of his poetry group - he says clearly that he’s not interested in people joining if they’re tourists, and while that puts Efnisien on the spot, it does indicate a leader who is protective of the people he does actually care about, even if he doesn’t show that care in ‘typical’ ways.

* He’s actually pretty honest, and while he may be lacking some qualities (er, like, some politeness), authenticity gives people the sense that he’s not dicking Efnisien around even if he’s being, well, a dick.

* Despite being pretty closed off, he has an open enough personality that he’s willing to a) sing in a group and b) write poetry in a group. He also demonstrates that he’s more than capable of a) not giving critique when it’s not wanted. He also asks Leo for his consent to critique before offering it. So we know that Nate cares about consent, which in this story, is a huge fucking deal.

* And to a degree, to some people, he’s just relatable.

There were people who already liked Nate just based on Efnisien’s encounters with him in the choir (but there were people who also thought he might be an upcoming villain so ymmv), but the poetry meet kind of cements that for more people.

But yeah like, there’s several writing techniques I tend to employ when I’m turning around characters or introducing characters that aren’t typically likeable. Nate’s was probably one of the easiest, because I could introduce so many ‘counters’ to his rudeness in the poetry meet, and it wasn’t like...say, the Raven Prince (or even Efnisien lmao). There are lots of reasons to like Nate now! :D

[abigailnussbaum]

Legends of Tomorrow, Season 5

I was going to write weekly reviews of this season, and then with one thing and another ended up dropping it in the spring (hey, remember when there was so much weekly TV that you couldn’t keep up with all your shows? Wonder how long it’ll be before that happens again). I caught up with the entire season this weekend, and honestly, that feels like a better standpoint from which to write about it - I think if I’d stuck with weekly reviews, I would have ended up saying the same thing week after week.

A couple of years ago, Emily VanDerWerff suggested that there is a standard lifecycle for high-concept, large ensemble, off-the-wall genre shows: 

Season 1: still figuring this whole thing out 

Season 2: now we’re cooking with oil 

Season 3: we can do anything! 

Season 4: whoops, no, we’ve gotten a bit over our skis here 

Season 5: ??? 

Legends, I think, encapsulates this progression to a T. The show’s second and third seasons were some of the best and most exciting genre storytelling on television, but last year was a bit of a mess. That’s not entirely the writers’ fault - Nick Zano’s limited availability due to family obligations forced them to beef up the Time Bureau’s role in the season, and their desire to keep Maisie Richardson-Sellers on board even after Amaya’s story had wrapped up led them to create a character, Charlie, who had no real reason for being on the Waverider. But a lot of it was self-inflicted. The cast was too unwieldy, the Time Bureau story seemed designed to expose the thin spots in the show’s self-presentation as irreverent but fundamentally compassionate (it certainly didn’t help that the decision to rewrite Nate Sr. into a good guy was made almost at the last minute, requiring the entirely unconvincing argument that forcing magical creatures to perform in a circus act is somehow morally superior to forcing them to be secret agents), and some of the character choices felt entirely parachuted in (Zari/Nate, anyone?).

Season five, therefore, had a lot of clean up work to do, while also demonstrating that the Legends formula had more life in it than just those two transcendent early seasons. And while this is undeniably a more successful, more enjoyable season than the one preceding it (which also does a great deal to address some of the show’s structural issues, chiefly the overlarge cast), I also can’t help but notice that instead of finding new places for the show to go, what the fifth season delivers instead is a hodgepodge of story elements from seasons two and three. So we’ve got a mystical object that can rewrite reality (The Loom of Fate vs. season two′s The Spear of Destiny); a token hunt across time and space in which the Legends face off against the estranged relatives of one of their members (the totems in season three vs. the search for the pieces of the loom, Amaya’s evil granddaughter vs. Charlie’s evil sisters); a late season loss that forces our characters into a nightmarish alternate reality in which they don’t even remember who they are (the Legion of Evil rewriting the Legends’ lives to make them ordinary and unsatisfying vs. being stuck in TV shows in a world run by the Fates); which comes about because of a betrayal by a member of the team (Charlie in season five, Mick in season two) whose eventual return to the fold enables to Legends to win in the end. There’s even an abandoned, abused girl who has turned evil, and has to be won back to the side of good through the offer of true companionship and understanding (Nora Darhk vs. Astra Logue).

This isn’t exactly a bad thing - a lot of these storytelling beats cut to the very core of what Legends is and what makes it work, so it’s not necessarily wrong for the show to repeat them. And even if the basic structure is the same, Legends just keeps getting more adventurous in how it delivers that structure. I’ve already written about how well done the season’s mockumentary episode was, and the same can be said for the 80s slasher movie riff, the Mr. Rogers parody, and of course, “The One Where We’re Trapped on TV”. Like the multiple universe episode in season four, these are things the show couldn’t have done when it was just a few seasons old, and they’re proof that whatever other issues it has, Legends is constantly pushing the envelope in terms of the kind of tropes and genres it can graft onto a superhero template. That said, there’s a very real possibility that this is all the show will ever be - a standard story template, enlivened by increasingly gonzo riffs on existing tropes.

Some more thoughts on where the season worked and where it didn’t below.

THE GOOD:

I really hated the decision to make Nora a fairy godmother in season four, not least because it felt like yet another way of infantilizing her (it certainly didn’t help that it was a choice she was forced into, and that she spent the remainder of the season catering to the every whim of Gary, a character I still have very mixed feelings towards). But season five really reclaims that choice. Having Nora embrace the fairy godmother life as a way of both helping children and working through her own issues makes a lot of sense, and the character feels happier and more confident than we’ve ever seen her (certainly a step up from how gloomy she was last season). I even like the wardrobe change - once the fairy godmother dress was ditched except for specific occasions, having Nora dress all in teal is a nice touch, and certainly an improvement over her rather boring season four wardrobe. I still think Legends missed a lot in how it handled Nora last season (I will never stop being annoyed that she and Sara didn’t develop a deeper friendship, given how similar their life trajectories have been), but this was a good way of righting the ship, even in a very limited timeframe.

I already mentioned this in the episode review, but watching the rest of the season really cemented my admiration for how quickly the show embeds Behrad into the crew, and makes it feel as if he’s always been there. That’s all the more impressive given that Behrad doesn’t really get an arc in season five. Most of that storytelling energy goes to establish Zari 2.0, and Behrad is, of course, absent for much of the latter half of the season. And yet he feels almost instantly like a fully-rounded character who is integral to the show, so much so that you’re heartbroken by his death (and convinced that it will be rolled back, even though Zari could easily take over his superpower). That’s really excellent work by both the writers and Shayan Sobhian.

I was a bit nervous when Zari 2.0 was introduced, because replacing a heroic, cool-girl-coded, nobly self-sacrificing character with a version of herself who is extremely femme-coded and obsessed with things like fashion and social media is the sort of move that is ripe for easy misogynistic point-scoring in the guise of feminism - of course the Zari who is good with machines and eats donuts is superior to the one who has a perfume line and spends hours in the bathroom every morning! But the show very quickly established that Zari, though certainly not without her flaws, is awesome in any guise, and it did so without trying to change her into “our” Zari, eventually even establishing that they are two completely different people, each with a right to exist (though not simultaneously, unfortunately). I get why the show didn’t keep both Zaris around - it would be asking a lot of Tala Ashe to play two characters, much of the time against herself, not to mention a production nightmare - but I appreciate that it didn’t decide that Zari 2.0 was the lesser version. (Also a nice touch: Behrad, though obviously fond of Zari 1.0, doesn’t think of her as “his” sister, even though to us she’s the “real” version of the character.)

Similarly, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when Ava moved to the Waverider full time - obviously, it would be an improvement on her playing a tinpot fascist at the Time Bureau while the show pretended that this wouldn’t really bother Sara, but at the same time Sara and Ava are both so similar in their functions and abilities that I worried they’d step on each other’s shoes. Instead, the show leaned into their differences and made the season about Ava finding her place as captain of the Waverider, a role she fills in very different ways than Sara while still doing a good job at it. It also allowed her to expand her point of view a little - bonding with Zari 2.0, or reaching out to Astra, both things that would have been outside of her comfort zone in the past. Obviously, this is setup for Ava taking over as captain in season six now that Sara has been abducted (though I hope not for very long - Legends isn’t Legends without Sara), but good on the show for taking the time to bring Ava to a point where she’s ready for this, and in a different way from Sara.

And speaking of looking ahead, the show takes the wise step of thinning out its cast. Personally, I would have kept Ray, Nora, and Mona and written off Constantine and Nate (and possibly also Gary), but either way, it’s good that the writers realized their cast was getting unwieldy. I was concerned, for example, that the show figuring out what to do with Charlie and giving her an elaborate backstory was a sign that she would stay on, but instead she leaves once that story is resolved. And I think that in an earlier season, Astra would have been positioned to stay on the Waverider after the end of the season, but instead she’s clearly a one-off character, who goes off to live her own life once the show has brought her story to a satisfying conclusion. (This also, however, means that Legends has written off two black women in a single season, not to mention Mona, and in fact has only one WOC main character remaining; I hope that’s something season six addresses.)

THE BAD:

I realize that I am very much in the minority on this, but I’m sorry: John Constantine does not belong on Legends of Tomorrow, and certainly not as a main character. Season five feels, in fact, like a perfect demonstration of this simple truth. The early parts of the season feel like two different shows, the Legends show and the Constantine show, that happen to have some points of intersection and shared characters. And even once those storylines converge, it’s notable how John’s quest for the Loom of Fate very quickly becomes Astra’s quest for it, and then Charlie’s, and how they both feel more grounded in that story and more affected by it than he was. What it comes down to, once again, is that John Constantine is a character who can’t change, and putting him on a show that is all about change and growth can’t help but feel unsatisfying for both the character and the show. Season five tries to suggest that change is possible for him - he finally comes clean with Astra and make a real apology to her; he admits that his pursuit of magic has cost him relationships and a chance at happiness; he reaches out to his friends when he thinks his life is about to end; he even quits smoking. But the character just doesn’t have that much give in it. To be John Constantine, he has to be the cynical, arrogant, self-destructive fuck-up we’ve always known. On a show like Legends of Tomorrow, that can work in small doses, but not as the main character that Constantine has been positioned as.

Though I’m glad that the show figured out something to do with Charlie before writing her off, the similarities between her story and Mick’s can’t help but shed a light on how poorly thought out this character has been, and how much her season five story is parachuted in. When Mick betrays the team at the end of season two, it’s barely a season after they’d put him off the ship for being perennially untrustworthy, leading to him becoming their nemesis. They only take him back out of pity for the decades of torture he suffered, and sympathy for the loss of his only friend, Captain Cold. His betrayal is a direct outcome of those cracks in the relationship - he does it because he wants to live in a world where he hasn’t been hurt or hurt others, and where his friend is still alive. When he changes his mind at the end of the season, it’s a culmination of two seasons of character growth, the realization that holding on to the pain in his life is worth it if it means he gets to keep the friendships he formed on the Waverider, and to continue to grow as a person - as expressed by his choice to put Snart back in his timeline, where he will become a better person (and eventually inspire Mick to do the same) but will also die. Charlie’s very similar storyline just doesn’t have this kind of depth. Neither her heel turn nor her face turn feel particularly earned, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that it took the writers so long to figure out who this character even was.

For a season of Legends, this was an awfully heteronormative stretch of episodes. Sure, Sara and Ava are still center stage, and that’s fantastic. But every other romantic relationship in the season, and there are quite a few of them, is a straight one. You might blame this on the fact that season five is a housecleaning season, wrapping up dangling storylines like Ray/Nora or Nate/Zari. But even the new characters like Behrad or Lita express only opposite-sex attraction (I guess Astra never demonstrates a preference). I mean, if you give John Constantine two different love interests in a single season and they’re both women, surely something has gone terribly wrong?

And speaking of John Constantine’s love interests, is putting him together with Zari meant to make the old her’s romance with Nate look organic and true to the characters in comparison? Because I can’t think of another reason for it. Do not want.

THE UGLY:

Words cannot express how much I hate the Damien Darhk episode. Not all of it, obviously - the Mr. Rogers riff, as I said, is pretty good (and pays off handsomely later in the season), and pretty much all the Ray/Nora stuff, especially the moment where she realizes she’s not going to lie to her father about the man she loves and the life she’s chosen, are golden. But it is simply mind-boggling that after two seasons in which Nora was firmly established as the survivor of a lifetime of abuse, Legends takes an entire hour to not only rehabilitate Damien, but pretend that he was always a loving father who just made some mistakes. For crying out loud, the man fed his daughter to a demon in order to gain power for himself. It was always an interesting wrinkle in his character that he clearly saw himself as a loving, protective parent, and was even capable of some level of self-sacrifice on Nora’s behalf, but I had assumed that the show realized this was at least partly a self-serving lie. To discover that we’re actually meant to think that one act of sacrifice cancels out a lifetime of abuse is nauseating. I wanted Nora to stand up to her father, but as a victim calling out her abuser, not a loving daughter trying to renegotiate a relationship with an overprotective parent. It certainly doesn’t help that the episode features inexplicably popular wedding story tropes, such as the groom asking the bride’s father for permission to marry her, or the father trying to keep the couple from physical intimacy before the wedding, which are gross in any context but especially so here. I suppose in the end it’s all worth it to be rid of Damien once and for all, but I was squirming with discomfort and rage throughout the entire episode.

[lovemesomesurveys]

What Rhymes With “ATE”?

1. What’s the last thing you ate? Ramen.

2. Do you have a gate to your backyard? Yeah.

3. Who’s your best mate? My mom.

4. How often do you mate? Have sex? Never have.

5. What would you use as bait on a fishing hook? I wouldn’t even go fishing let’s be real, but fine if I did I’d use worms or whatever I guess alkjfklfjklf. I wouldn’t be the one to put it on, though!

6. What do you bate your breath with? Any anxious situation. 

7. What’s the last thing you got in a crate? I don’t get things in crates.

8. When’s the last time you went on a date? Where did you go? Almost 5 years ago. It was a cute coffee and bookstore date with Ty. That was our favorite thing to do.

9. Do you believe in fate? No.

10. Have you ever seen a freight train in person before? Yeah.

11. Do you like grated cheese? Yesss.

12. Do you have an awkward gait? As a paraplegic, no I do not. Everything else about me is awkward, though.

13. When’s the last time you truly felt great? When I was a kid.

14. Who do you hate? Besides myself, no one.

15. Do you know of anyone named Kate or Nate? No.

16. When’s the last time you were late for something? I don’t recall. I’m big on being punctual.

17. Do you know how to plait hair? I haven’t heard it called that, but yes.

18. Do you have a favorite plate? Paper plates, ha.

19. Would rather ice skate or roller skate? I can’t do either one.

20. How would you rate this survey so far? I’ve enjoyed all your surveys!

21. Do you ever just wish for a clean slate? Yesssss.

22. What state do you live in? (if you’re American) California.

23. What is your current state of mind? Blah.

24. Are you straight? Yes.

25. Are you straight-laced? Straight-edged? No, because apparently you can’t have caffeine or narcotics to be considered straightedge, both of which I have.

26. Have you ever visited a strait? No.

27. What’s your best personality trait? Sense of humor.

28. How long will you wait for someone/something? I don’t know? 

29. What is your weight? I’m not exactly sure, but I think mid to low 70lbs. 

30. Are you awaiting anything special? No.

31. Do you berate anyone? Nooo.

32. Is there anyone you’d like to castrate? Uh, no!

33. Are you a cheapskate? Lol I have my moments, but I also can overspend. Just depends, really.

34. When was the last time you collated papers? I don’t recall.

35. Last thing you created? Uhhh.

36. What was your last debate about? I really try and avoid those.

37. Last time you inflated something? Or deflated? I don’t recall.

38. Do you dictate what other people can do? No.

39. Have your pupils ever dilated before? When I go to the eye doctor. 

40. When’s the last time you donated something? A few months ago when I got rid of some clothes.

41. The last time you felt elated? My Disneyland trip earlier this year.

42. Have you ever been to an estate sale? No.

43. What are you fixated on? Health related stuff.

44. How often do your floodgates open? I cry often.

45. Last thing you equated? Hmm.

46. Last time you felt frustrated? The last few days. I feel that way quite often.

47. Do you remember to stay hydrated? Yeah.

48. Do you live upstate? No.

49. How often do you post status updates? I very rarely post status updates on Facebook anymore, I just share things now and then. I tweet a lot, though.

50. How often do you use Google Translate? Not often, but sometimes. I actually did a couple days ago.

51. Who is a classmate that you are still friends with?

52. Have you ever had a teammate before? No.

53. Have you ever tailgated? No.

54. Have you ever reached a stalemate? That’s how I’ve felt the past few years.

55. Have you ever been sedated? Yeah, several times.

56. Do you rotate your mattress? No.

57. Last time you got a rebate? It’s been awhile, but I used to use Ebates (called Rakuten now). I keep forgetting to use it for some reason, which is dumb.

58. Have you ever felt like you could relate to someone? Yeah, many times.

59. Favorite primate? I don’t have one.

60. Do you have something ornate? Uhh. I don’t really have anything fancy.

61. Has an action ever negated the effect of your efforts? Yes.

62. Could you be described as a lightweight? Ha, yeah. For sure.

63. Would you like to visit Kuwait? I haven’t thought about it.

64. Last person that gyrated near you? No one.

65. Do you know someone who is irate or innate? Hmm.

66. Do you know of any inmates? Yes.

67. How long does it take you to acclimate? I struggle with change.

68. Last time you activated something? Not too long ago.

69. What do you advocate for? Stuff.

70. Last time you felt agitated or aggravated? Recently.

71. Last time you had to annotate something? Recently during my Bible study.

72. Have you ever felt alienated before? Yes.

73. What was the last caffeinated beverage you consumed? Starbucks Doubleshot energy drink.

74. Do you like carbonated drinks? Yeah.

75. What captivates you? Staring out at the ocean and listening to the waves crash in and out.

76. What do you allocate a lot of your hours towards? Watching YouTube videos and checking my social medias.

77. Last event you celebrated? 4th of July. Well, we just went out and watched fireworks from the driveway.

78. Last time you were compensated for something? I don’t recall.

79. Do you tend to make things complicated? Yepppp. :/  “Why you gotta go and make things so complicated?”

80. Do you find it hard to concentrate at times? Yes.

81. Have you ever had anything confiscated? No.

82. Last place you congregated at? I haven’t been around a large crowd of people since my Disneyland trip earlier this year. I won’t be again for a very long time given the current state of things.

83. How long are you with someone before you consummate the relationship? I’m a virgin.

84. Last time you had to conjugate a verb? I did that recently when I was helping my mom with her Duolingo Spanish lesson. It amazes me how much I still remember considering I haven’t taken a Spanish class or even really practiced it in almost 10 years. :O I mean, I’ll occasionally try and speak it or if I hear or see it somewhere I’ll try to translate it, but it’s not very often, so I’m surprised I’m still able to at all.

85. Last time you were constipated? I don’t recall.

86. How often do you contemplate life? Often.

87. Are you hard to cooperate with? No, I don’t think so.

88. Do you know anyone who cultivates land? No.

89. Would you want to be cremated? Yes.

90. Do you have any issues with your prostate? I don’t have a prostate. 

91. Have you ever decimated someone’s character before? No.

92. Do you decorate your home for the holidays? Yesss. Well, for Christmas. I used to for Halloween, but I haven’t the past few years. I should do that this year.

93. Who would you dedicate a book you wrote to? My mom.

94. Are you good at delegating group projects? I felt like I always had to take lead in group projects and make sure everything was getting done. I hated doing them, they stressed me out even more.

95. Do you know how to demonstrate things in order to show someone how to do something? I do feel like I suck at trying to explain things to others for the most part, but I guess it depends on the thing. 

96. In what ways do you deviate from “the norm”? I’m soon to be 31 years old and I still live at home with my parents, with no plans to move out anytime soon. I don’t have a job. I don’t have much, basically none, relationship experience. I’m a virgin. I’m just not a functioning adult.

97. How long after you take a painkiller does the pain start to dissipate? It typically takes about 30 minutes, but on really bad pain/flare up days it can take an hour or so and sometimes not until I have the next dose.

98. Do you feel the need to dominate in conversations? Nooo. I’m much more of a listener and I’ll throw the convo back to the other person.

99. Would you ever domesticate a wild animal? Why or why not? No.

100. Who is the last person you congratulated? For what? I don’t remember.

101. Would you like to decapitate anyone? Who, and why? Uh, no!

102. Do you ever think that you could duplicate something you’ve tried before?   Uhh, like what?

103. What do you feel you could educate others about? I don’t know. Remember before how I said I suck at explaining things to others?

104. What elevates your stress level? My heath, my life (including things related to my loved ones in my life, such as their health issues and things they’re dealing with/going through), and just...life in general, man. There’s a lot going on this year alone.

105. Do you have a tendency to make situations escalate? In my mind cause I jump to the worst conclusions. My natural reaction is to freak out.

106.  How good are you at estimating? Uhh, depends what I’m estimating.

107. Do you fabricate your stories? No. 

108. What is something that fascinates you? Psychology.

109. How long does it take you to formulate a game plan? Hmm. Depends.

110. What tends to make your blood pressure fluctuate? Stress and anxiety.

111. How do you generate enough energy to get through your day? What energy? I’m seriously lacking.

112. When did you graduate? I graduated UC back in 2015.

113. When you’re in a department store, which section do you gravitate towards most often? The clothes.

114. How often do you hesitate before doing or saying something? Often.

115. Do you ever wish that you could just hibernate? Yes.

116. Does anyone try to imitate you? Does it get on your nerves? No, but that would most definitely get on my nerves.

117. Do you like to instigate others? Nooo. I’m not an instigator.

118. Could you illustrate a children’s book? I couldn’t illustrate anything, I’m an artist at all.

119. Do you marinate your meats? I don’t cook.

120. Do you masturbate? No. What a way to end, ha.

[a-zebra-is-a-striped-horse]

[mobius-prime]

173. Sonic the Hedgehog #105

You Say You Want a Revelation?

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Ron Lim Colors: Josh and Aimee Ray

We're finally back to the main series plot! Sonic is disheartened to see Nate's things being moved out of his house, knowing that by leaving Nate behind in Robotropolis they consigned him to the fate of roboticization. However, he's not content to leave him in there without at least trying to rescue him, and so leads Tails and Uncle Chuck to the castle in the hopes of talking to Elias, unaware of his disappearance. In Robotropolis, Hope goes to her step-father along with her grandmother to voice her concerns about the Robians she saw escaping the city, stating her beliefs that her uncle created them. Colin initially refuses to believe her, but Eggman steps out of the next room with Snively, grinning evilly as he informs them that she's totally right. Back in the castle in Knothole, King Max is experiencing true regret for perhaps the first time since we've seen him come back from the Zone of Silence.

Sorry, Alicia, but I have to wholeheartedly disagree. A lot of this is Max's fault - he refused to listen to either his son or daughter, and picked someone who was clearly not cut out to be a leader to put in charge of everything, over his daughter who was trained her whole life to lead a kingdom. In Robotropolis, Eggman airs an announcement over every screen in his city that he's "discovered" that everyone is infected with toxic waste poisoning, and must come to him for treatment immediately lest they succumb and die. Colin is outraged, pointing out that Eggman should be infected as well then, only for Eggman to reveal his true colors - literally - as a robot.

Uncle Chuck and Sonic both explain their plan to use the sword to King Max, who seems somewhat apathetic, upset not only at the loss of his son, but the loss of Nate as well. He's uncertain, as he only knows of two people who can even use the sword's abilities: himself, and –

Max reluctantly agrees to Sally's plan, ordering her to take Sonic with her as an escort. Sonic is pleased, but finally notices Sally's somewhat lackluster responses to everything he says, asking her if he did something to upset her. Before she can respond, Mina suddenly rushes up, hugs Sally while thanking her profusely for saving her mother, and then races off again, leaving her speechless. Meanwhile in Robotropolis, Hope runs for her life through the streets, trying to hide in a back alleyway with Eggman's voice following her the whole way. He finds her through a hidden screen in the alley, and tries to manipulate her into surrendering by saying he'll spare her grandmother. Agnes, of course, yells for her not to listen, and as Hope watches…

Hope is surrounded by shadow-bots, but Sonic suddenly appears, smashing them up and ushering her over to Sally for protection. Eggman is furious to see her being rescued, until he hears Sonic's voice behind him, Sonic of course having run at light speed all the way into his headquarters. Eggman tries to grab hold of him to roboticize him, but Sonic smashes the floor underneath him, sending them both plummeting into the room below. There, Sonic is horrified to find a familiar, frozen face staring back at him.

Eggman gloats that the sword doesn't seem to affect roboticized Overlanders, and then, with the rest of the city's Overlander population gathered within the room, offers them a demonstration. He calls Snively forward, informing him that he, too, is poisoned from the toxic waste, and while Snively is upset, having thought that as his lackey he would have been protected, Eggman offers him a deal - take his hand. You see, apparently Overlanders only become frozen after roboticization if they're unwillingly turned, but if they take the offer of their own free will, they retain their ability to move and act… and with a grin, Snively takes his uncle's hand.

And that is the awful true scope of Eggman's plan. He let everyone live within his city for two months, ensuring that they'd become sick, and then offered them supposedly the one thing that could save them, making sure that they'd have to take his offer willingly and become his slaves. Of course, we just watched this backfire, but Eggman knows that by rejecting his offer and going with Sally and Sonic, all the Overlanders are likely to get even sicker and stretch the already strained resources of Knothole. However, we know that Sally is smarter than that, and there's already a hidden city of Overlanders - or sorry, humans - out there that might have some room…

Before we move on to the conclusion of Myth Taken Identity, we have another character file to peruse - this time, for Snively! Unlike the previous couple, this one actually contains some new information about his life - but first, the technical info. Calculating his real-world height gives us the absurdly-short height of 97 cm, or 3'2". For reference, someone is considered to have dwarfism if they're anywhere below 147 cm or 4'10" tall, so Snively definitely qualifies. (Nate Morgan probably would too, but we're never actually given any information on his measurements, so there's no way to say for certain.) Snively also weighs 38.4 kg or 84.5 lbs, and his birthday is on May 14. Interestingly, his birth year indicates that he's actually only thirty years old! He definitely looks a lot older due to male-pattern baldness, but if you think about it it makes sense - after all, he's Robotnik's nephew, and the original Robotnik was likely in his late forties or early fifties at the time of his death.

What really makes this entry noteworthy, however, is his life history. He was born Colin Kintobor, Jr., which is an ordinary enough name, and his mother died giving birth to him. He was treated terribly by his father Colin Sr., who is actually the one who gave him his nickname. You'd think it would have been Robotnik who stuck him with such a humiliating nickname, but no, his own father called him Snively because of his lack of social skills. He compensated all throughout his childhood by immersing himself in the world of technology, and found a way to take advantage of every friend he made. He was kicked out of the house as a teenager, and with nowhere to go, turned to his uncle Julian, whom he helped seize power over the Kingdom of Knothole. However, he soon found himself being mistreated by his uncle as well, and as we know, eventually grew so resentful that he rigged the Ultimate Annihilator to target only Robotnik so he could be free of him once and for all.

While one could argue that these are the actions of a sociopath, or a narcissist, I'm gonna go ahead and say that Snively would have had a very different personality had he actually grown up with a family who loved him and looked after him. All this poor kid ever knew was bullying and emotional abuse. He's been taught, by life and by the actions of those around him, that the only way to look after himself is to be selfish, and to latch onto those more powerful than him for security. I touched on once before that Snively seemed to be basically in an abusive relationship with Robotnik, and didn't know how to go on after he thought he was dead, but this page confirms that things are only sadder than we originally realized. It was this page, plus some other events further into the comic, that made me realize that I actually liked Snively as a character, and wanted to see him break free of Eggman's control and come into his own. Unfortunately, having just allowed himself to be roboticized, that's not likely to be happening any time soon…

Myth Taken Identity (Part III)

Writer: Mike Gallagher Pencils: Nelson Ribeiro Colors: Frank Gagliardo

Guru Emu, upon discovering the dam from last issue, has found himself with rekindled hope that he can find and save his friends who have been kidnapped by the bunyip. He descends into the dam, discovering that it was originally constructed by Crocbot, who of course used it to power his various weapons and detention camps. It turns out that this dam is behind the strangely dry riverbeds and the disgusting lake, as it's been disrupting the local ecosystem, even more so now that it's abandoned and not being maintained. But what of Walt, Barby, and Bill? Well, as it turns out, they're also inside the dam, protected by an airtight compartment with a window through which they can see the bunyip gazing in at them. Barby, apparently, speaks many languages, including whatever ancient language the bunyip speaks, and convinced it that they're no threat. She gets it to explain its plight, as well as why it's been attacking everybody.

I mean, that hardly seems like a good excuse for just attacking random people on the street who clearly aren't Crocbot, but the Downunda Freedom Fighters want to help anyway. While Barby informs the bunyip that Crocbot was defeated some time ago, Guru races down the hallway toward them, having overheard everything. He has discovered a room full of explosives elsewhere in the complex, and so…

The bunyip is grateful, and leaves to spend its happy days in the clean water, and though the D.F.F. briefly consider inviting it to join their team, they ultimately decide that they'd rather stay as a four-person group from now on, knowing that no one can replace Stu.

And now we have one last character file to look at for the issue, this time for Dimitri! Dimitri is actually the tallest individual so far, at a height of 133 cm or 4'4". That's a full foot taller than Sonic! He weighs 39.9 kg or 87.7 lbs, and his birthday is on September 28. He's 378 years old, finally giving us a clearer idea of exactly how long the Brotherhood has existed, considering earlier issues were very unclear and inconsistent on the matter. Like Sally and Julie-Su, however, his character file doesn't give us any new information, merely recapping the previous events of the comic as well as history we've already been shown. Still, in a way, having such inconsequential information as his height, weight, and birthday really kind of serves to humanize him in a way - or, er, "Mobianize"? Eh, whatever, you know what I mean.

[vickyvicarious]

Hello! I love your posts about both of the Leverage series. What role does Breanna as a Maker fulfill in the team?

First off, sorry I took so long to answer this. I was holding off until I watched all the episodes because I wanted to see how much more was or wasn't done with 'Maker' Breanna.

And the short answer is? Not much.

But the long answer... well, to sum it up, that might change pretty soon in the next part of the season, and it's actually pretty character-based that we don't see it yet. Let me explain my reasoning.

Breanna tries to sell herself as a team member like this:

Breanna: "I'm not as good a hacker as you."

Hardison: "Damn straight."

Breanna: "But hacking's kinda old-school anyway, it's like any script kiddie can do that. I'm really better with, like, the social media part. Or like, drones, physical builds, you know, like... relevant skills."

So. First off, in this scene she's clearly trying to make herself sound valuable to the team. She doesn't want to just present herself as 'Hardison, but not as good.' She acknowledges that he's a better hacker but then tries to point out her own skills that could be useful, and the 'relevant' dig is just a joke because she's nervous and also he's her sibling so she's gotta.

No one really responds, so she asks them to give her a shot, to let her in because she found them and she's earned this. Hardison, though, is still stuck on her calling him a "script kiddie":

Hardison: "S- I'm s- scrip-script who? Who you calling script kiddie?" [to Eliot, standing behind Breanna] "Bruh, script kiddie? You hear this?"

Eliot: "Hey. Head chef." [pauses, tilts his head towards Breanna] "Chopping lettuce."

I bring this up because I think it's pretty relevant to what we see from Breanna. She literally just tried to present herself as different from Hardison, to emphasize her own skills in drones and social media manipulation. But the very first thing she hears is "head chef/chopping lettuce." Without the context of Eliot and Hardison's earlier conversation about Hardison being torn between his other work (that only he can do) and needing to let go and delegate some stuff, all she's hearing here is Eliot essentially calling her the less experienced cook. Same job really, just not as good at it.

We don't see much reaction on her face to this line. But throughout the rest of the season, a recurring aspect of her characterization is that she gets frustrated or disheartened when people shut her ideas down, and she tends to be less confident in herself/hesitant about offering ideas or surprised by getting praise.

She tries to prove herself quickly in the Rollin' on the River Job by going for the pearl despite being told not to, and then gets very upset and resentful when she's confined to the van for the rest of the con. Thing is, she was trying to prove herself by demonstrating Parker skills - skills which Breanna does not have at this point.

She's also compared negatively to Hardison in I think the same episode or maybe the next one? When she finds the shell corporation and is all proud of herself and then the team just kinda goes "even Harry coulda done that." They're not mean about it, but Breanna clearly isn't going as deep into the research as they like or are used to. Similarly, Eliot complains about having to apply for a job instead of just having it given to him and changes his backstory on the fly when Breanna really isn't ready. She doesn't have all the backups built like Hardison, she isn't able to change them as fast as he can. Again, there's a scene where he left her manuals and she kinda skimmed them but failed at something that would have been explained in the manual if she'd read it all.

She showed up wanting to be an addition to the team, to fill a different role from Hardison. But he took that as the impetus to leave and do his own thing, meaning Breanna now feel like she has to fill his role. And it's not going super well at first because that's not what she's good at. Not that she's bad by any means - but the Leverage team is very used to Hardison, and they aren't slowing down enough for her, or aren't always clearly explaining what they want from her.

Also, they're planning their cons with two things in mind for her: a) her safety, and b) her doing tech. Parker tries to teach her thieving skills onscreen, and just generally be a mentor. They put Breanna in the van early on and hesitate to let her out too much until they're more confident in her skills. This isn't helped by the whole pearl fiasco, obviously, but in general, they build plans around her being with someone else guiding her at first, or her being back at base doing Hardison's old job. Partly because they see that as safer but also because that's just, what they know to plan for.

Breanna is someone who feels bad about herself pretty easily, in my opinion. She gets discouraged. Eliot's early comment and Hardison leaving was enough to push her into the reckless pearl grab to try and impress the team with her skills. When that backfires, she gets a lot less bold about protesting a plan. Part of that comes from Harry's pep talk to her, as well. He encourages her to work as part of a team with the rest of the crew. And she basically takes that and throws herself into being what she thinks they want her to be.

Now, I'm not saying she never offers any ideas of her own. But it takes a while before she's very confident doing so, and it's not until the Card Game Job (which happens to be very emotionally significant for her personally) that she really tries to argue her point. (She repurposes her Halloween decorations to help the con the episode right before, but it's not quite the same situation.) And then she's still shut down. This is partially due to Parker's own hangups about being a mentor meaning she should always be the wiser one and not have to learn from her own student, and that does change over the course of the episode. But Breanna doesn't push super hard for Parker to use her notes at first, despite clearly wanting to. However, she does grow in confidence once her relevant knowledge starts being the key to figuring out the riddle. And at the end of the episode Parker makes a point of mentioning that Breanna's a good teacher.

The very next episode, she brings a drone to a job.

Now, sadly poor little Frodo the drone is killed basically instantly, but that timing seems pretty telling to me. The other incredibly important thing that happens that episode, is that Breanna opens up, at first to Eliot, and then to the rest of the team (minus Harry), about her past and her regrets and mistakes.

We never actually learn what those are, because the team tells her it doesn't actually matter to them. Eliot tells her directly that they don't need her to be Hardison. Parker goes a step further and says "All we need from you is to be exactly the person you are."

And I think that is the key. Breanna was trying really, really hard to show them that she's a worthwhile member of the team. She was trying to live up to their perceived expectations of her, trying to fill Hardison's shoes. And because they aren't familiar with any other skills of hers/don't often work with things like social media and drones, they don't make plans for those. Breanna needs to take the initiative to offer her own skills and ideas, because unlike Nate in the original show, Parker and Sophie don't have the same knowledge of everything Breanna is capable of. They put her in plans in ways they knew she'd be safe, and doing things they expected she could do. And it wasn't exactly wrong of them, but it didn't give her the opportunity to bring many of her own unique skills to the table.

Now, the Double-Edged Sword Job (where they tell her all this) is the second-to-last episode, and the finale is entirely focused on Sophie and the ghost of Nate. Breanna plays a relatively small role in that one, so we don't see instant payoff from this conversation. But I do believe that, now she's no longer carrying the yoke of 'being Hardison', we will see her feeling more confident in offering up her own skills. We will see them succeeded and her own ideas and techniques becoming something the rest of the team learns how to account for in planning cons.

The two things Breanna brags about at the beginning are social media and drones/physical builds. As of yet, we've seen her utilize social media once (to throw the rave in her first episode - when Hardison was still there), and a drone once (the episode after her knowledge was key to the con succeeding). The drone didn't work that time, but I hope to see more, and see more clever applications of whatever "social media manipulation" and "physical builds" even means, in the second half of the season.

(Granted, Hardison never fit fully into a box of just hacking in the first place, and I'm sure there will still be a lot of overlap with Breanna being the primary tech person, but I'm excited for more variety as well.)

[travllingbunny]

The 100 rewatch: 4x03 Four Horsemen

Another strong episode, which introduces an important element of world-building – the Second Dawn cult, features the return of Luna and sets up several important plot points that are going to play a big role in the rest of the season (the bunker, the list, Nightblood as the solution to Praimfaya, and the fact that the end of the world is coming sooner than anyone thought). It also has many great character and.or relationship moments – especially for Murphy, Clarke and Bellamy, Jaha, and Indra and her two ‘daughters’.

Not only is Luna – one of the most interesting Grounder characters –back, but so is Nyko, one of my favorite minor characters, who’s always been one of the nicest and most reasonable people in the show. He brings the Boat people to get the advanced medicine that the Sky people have. They seem to have been the first ones to get seriously infected by radiation because of their diet – (irradiated) fish. It’s heartbreaking that Luna first had to kill her husband and several other of her people last season, and now she has to watch her daughter and every single one of her people die right in front of her. At one point, she even wonders if the sickness is somehow a punishment for refusing to take the Flame (and save the human race from ALIE), before Bellamy tells her that it can’t be true, no one deserves to suffer. In the end, while her daughter died in spite of being given the medicine, Luna was the only one who got better, even though she had been given no treatment – which makes Clarke realize that the Nightblood protects people from radiation. This sets up a major plot about our protagonists trying to use Nightblood as a solution to save everyone, as well as Clarke’s eventual fate, with repercussions up to the current season.

But before Clarke came to this realization, it seemed that it would only be possible to save 100 people inside Arkadia – so Raven gives Clarke the task to make the list of 100 people from Arkadia to be saved. (Kind of funny that they always come up with those round numbers? How likely is it that it’s exactly 100 people that can survive in Arkadia? Isn’t it more likely that it’s, say, 97 or 105 people, or something like that?) And I know that Raven is very stressed out, but she again displays her biggest character flaw – tendency to be judgmental, self-righteous and hypocritical, especially in her interactions with Clarke. She says she’s in charge of rationing, but then “deciding who lives or dies” is Clarke’s specialty. Ouch. So she tells her that they must decide who lives or dies and makes that Clarke’s responsibility instead of her own, but at the same time she is making Clarke feel like crap about it? WTF, Raven?

Jaha proposes another solution: finding the bunker that was built by a doomsday cult, Second Dawn, which could sustain many more people.  This is something that Jaha has obviously done a lot of research on. The bunker they do find is a huge disappointment – it was never sealed and didn’t save anyone. However, this is just a setup for what happens later in the season, when Jaha finds another Second Dawn bunker.

We find out a lot about Second Dawn and especially their leader, Bill Cadogan. The actor cast in the role, John Pyper-Ferguson is a rather well known actor with lots of recurring guest starring roles in various shows – so it’s really unlikely that he was cast just for a 5 seconds speech. We’re probably going to see him again, but I don’t know if that will happen in flashbacks on The 100, or in a spinoff prequel. Two season 4 episodes are named after Second Dawn slogans – this one is named after the SD hashtag #fourhorsemen (of course the cult had an apocalyptic theme), and 4x06 is “We Will Rise”, after their motto “From the ashes, we will rise”.

The mission to find the bunker is an opportunity to Jaha to have some interactions with Bellamy and Clarke. He is very perceptive about the relationship between those two, pointing out to Bellamy: “Leadership is a lonely pursuit. She’s lucky to have you. You center her”. Bellamy thinks he got it backwards, but Jaha is right, as the rest of season 4 and subsequent seasons show. Yes, Clarke also centers Bellamy, but what Bellamy doesn’t realize is that it’s a two-way street: they bring out the best in each other when they are working together and moving in the same direction. But both Bellamy and Clarke tend to see each other in worse light and look up to the other.

Jaha’s line about leadership being a lonely pursuit probably reflects like he felt as a Chancellor – even though he had friends such as Abby or Kane and even Jake, he didn’t have someone he considered a partner the way Bellamy and Clarke are to each other. His advice to Bellamy about his guilt is very different from the advice Kane gave to Bellamy in 4x01. Both of them were trying to help Bellamy come to terms with his feelings of guilt over his actions in season 3, but they do it in very different ways, which reflect their different mindsets and approaches to their own guilt: Kane has accepted Abby’s view about needing to “deserve to survive”, and his advice to Bellamy was to try to do better every day, until he “deserves” to survive – which is obviously what Kane had been trying to do since the culling, back in season 1. Jaha, on the other hand, points out to Bellamy that everything he did, he did for “pure” reasons, trying to protect his people. He has always justified his own actions that way. However, Bellamy is not so easily forgiving of himself or others – he had previously told Raven and Clarke he wouldn’t be in the bunker, and now he says “if there is Hell, I’ll see you there”. He may be on good terms with Jaha now and have had an almost father/son relationship with Kane, but (as seen here and later in S4 when he makes a similar remark to Kane), that doesn’t mean he has forgotten that they were the oppressive regime on the Ark and that they executed his mother and many other people. Forgiveness is a complicated thing when it comes to Bellamy. Maybe he has forgiven, but he doesn’t forget.

Since the bunker solution seems to have failed, Clarke makes the list – and that scene is one of the famous moments that demonstrates the strength of feelings and devotion between her and Bellamy. She is doing something that is very “Head over Heart” – trying to be cold and rational and focus on the survival of the group, rather than any of the individual people (something she tries to do throughout season 4), so she doesn’t even put some of her closest friends on the list. I don’t think season 2 Clarke would have been able to leave Monty or Harper or any of the Delinquents from such a list. (Now, leaving Monty actually doesn’t make sense, but more about that later in 4x04.)  But she can’t ever make herself not listen to her heart when it comes to Bellamy. And I think this is one of the ways that he centers her – because it is a good thing for a person to not ignore their heart completely, even when they think they must.  Bellamy feels the same: “If I’m on that list, you’re on that list”. Clarke is unhappy about what she has to do, essentially condemning 400 people to death, so she really can’t make herself put her own name on the list – it would seem wrong, but Bellamy writes it instead of her. Those two don’t have that many interactions in season 4 – there’s a stretch of episodes (like almost every season) when they are physically separated (from 4x07 to the end of 4x10), but scenes like this are some of the most intimate between them, from the way Clarke watches Bellamy sleep, to the way he gives her comfort and support – and while the way he puts his hand on her back is something he was already doing in 1x07, before they were even exactly friends, the way she responds to it is much more intimate.

Murphy has a lot of focus and character development in this episode. For starters, I’m happy that there’s a serious conversation between him and Emori about Ontari, where Ontari gets jealous, but Murphy points out that he didn’t have a choice. I was less than impressed with how that plotline was treated in season 3, so it’s good to see the show somewhat rectifying that by treating the subject seriously and making sure the audience understands what was going on (even if they don’t use the word rape).

Murphy and Emori have been surviving as hunters, but he realizes he’s a better thief than hunter and goes back to Arkadia to steal food. He has some typical snark he has with Nate Miller, who’s guarding the entrance with his father, but when Murphy makes a joke about Bryan, thinking he and Nate are still together, Nate looks awkward, because Bryan left him in 4x02.

While stealing food, Murphy overhears Raven and Abby talk about Praimfaya and finds out the truth. Abby is asking for medicine to treat Luna’s daughter, Raven is trying to be rational and cold, a Big Picture thinker who uses Head over Heart, because it seems necessary, and insists that they can’t waste medicine on the Boat people without knowing it will even work. When Abby retorts that she should be aware that her she will be the one killing Luna’s daughter, Raven ends up in tears, even though she only shows them after Abby leaves.

But Murphy steals medicine for Luna’s daughter and brings it to Abby. As Jackson reminds Abby, the situation must have made Murphy think of his own history, the fact that his father stole medicine to cure him, and got executed for it. Abby says she always knew Murphy had it in him. Which surprises me a bit, because don’t remember those two having many interactions previously, except, to be fair, when Murphy saved her life in 3x15.  But later, after Luna’s daughter has unfortunately died anyway, Murphy goes back and tells Emori they need a shelter because of the upcoming disaster, and he’s ‘working” Abby already to prove how useful he is. This storyline is played ambiguously at this point – we are left to conclude on our own if Murphy was sincerely moved by the plight of Luna and her daughter, which reminded him of his own family, or if he was just being opportunistic. I think it was a combination of both, but this time more the former than the latter – but he is still not ready to admit to himself that he is anything but a ruthless survivor and that he actually has deeper feelings and wants respect, care and belonging.

The storyline in Polis revolves around the fact that Gaia has stolen the Flame, because she thinks it is a blasphemy that a secular ruler has it. Roan thinks that Flamekeepers are religious fanatics, and wants Gaia dead. Octavia has quickly become Roan’s right-hand person for dirty deeds (it’s interesting that he is not using Echo for that – probably because he doesn’t trust her to not be against Sky people). This is where we get the revelation that Gaia is Indra’s daughter, resulting in some family drama. As we learn from their conversation, Indra and Gaia are estranged because Indra wanted Gaia to be a warrior and leader, while Gaia was fully into their religious worship of the Flame and went around looking for Nightbloods. (She doesn’t seem to have find any – Madi’s people were determined to hide her from Flamekeepers.) There’s some pseudo-sibling rivalry between Gaia and Octavia, because Gaia realizes that Indra found the “daughter” she wanted in Octavia – which explains a lot. Indra being so quick to accept a complete novice and make her a favorite among other warriors and warriors in training, starts making more sense now.

At this point, Octavia and Gaia work together and their relationship is still not antagonistic, as Octavia comes up with the plan how to save both Gaia and the Flame: by tricking Ilian and the other looters, who are destroying every type of technology, into smashing the fake Flame, actually Gaia’s necklace. (Ilian really took Kane’s words from 4x02 way too literally – if it’s not Sky people who are to blame, but the chip, then he must “avenge” his mother by destroying technology.) But the show loves shocking moments, fake-outs and twists, so it fools the audience into thinking for a moment that the real Flame is really destroyed, before it’s revealed what the ruse was.

Octavia lies to Roan and uses one of the looters as a scapegoat to blame him for stealing and destroying the Flame. Roan’s response is to hire her as his assassin. He may not be a bad guy, but he’s a pretty ruthless and morally grey character: “One death to prevent thousands, that’s good politics”. Octavia has already become known for her sudden murders, and has a brand new nickname, “Skairipa” – death from above. Does any other character have as many nicknames as Octavia gets throughout the show?

Timeline: This probably takes place not long after 4x02, so it’s probably been about 10 days since Clarke shut down the City of Light. Raven realizes that they have only about two months of survivability, so the initial calculations were off by about 3 and a half months.

Body count:

Luna’s clan, the Boat people, had already lost 40 people before they came to Arkadia, and 6 more of their people die in this episode, including Luna’s daughter Adria, from acute radiation syndrome

Terro, one of the looters, killed by Octavia, who delivers his head to Roan to makes him a scapegoat.

Rating: 8.5/10

[originaljediinjeans]

Avengers: Endgame (Spoilers) Reaction

Things I didn’t like:

Seriously Thor had to end up LIKE THAT? SERIOUSLY THEY REALLY RUINED HIM

Tony being “stuck in space” just wasn’t a huge deal after all, thanks a lot

Just...five years of trying to “accept” what Thanos did? They literally can’t do anything? That is just so wrong. 

Also REALLY BRUCE? Sheesh so tacky

Tony comes right back from space, settles down w/ Pepper and refuses to talk to anybody

First thing when he comes back he’s all like “Steve UR a liar and I hate you” Like he doesn’t want to go after Thanos bc deep down he’s like “Bringing back half the universe means bringing back your precious Bucky but I don’t think so” (he’s actually just bitter about losing to Thanos but you know me, I’m autistic, it’s all about Bucky) gosh

Wait, so the cosmos depends on the Infinity Stones existing? So Steve just puts them back where they came from, nothing is changed, what happens now that Thanos is no longer around, where do they end up? 

Or did they get destroyed?

So Thanos isn’t really dead? Neither are his minions? Someone can bring them back? They’re really just in the soul realm?

Everything about that one death scene. Like they used the exact same footage and imagery from Gamora’s death in Infinity War. 

About 30% or more of the movie is montages, I needed more actual scenes with dialogue and characters connecting! 

Also Thor taking off with the Guardians 2b a space bum forever. That is like...the worst. Who wrote that?

Things I am on the Fence about:

“Resentment corrodes. BTW you can have your shield back. Dad made it for you.” okay, guys, that’s great but this is a three-hour-movie, surely you have time to sit down and have a real heart-to-heart apology session 

Captain Marvel as 80% CGI and 100% goddess

Really? It was that easy to get the Aether out of Jane without the Svarthaelfen coming for it? Also Rocket what did you do to her? 

Steve Rogers ending: I guess it’s what the fandom wanted. Judging by Hayley Atwell’s smug face she may have written the scene herself. But I was kind of getting used to the idea of Sharon (even them just being friends), and Steve actually moving on...

Also I get that it’s more politically correct to let Sam be Cap, and that “poor Bucky has suffered enough”

TBQH I get why he’s okay just saying goodbye to Bucky and leaving him in the present. They grew up together in Brooklyn, so they had those happy years together, and now Steve has freed him from Hydra and Bucky can go live his own life so it’s all good. Steve only knew Peggy for 1-2 years so he needs the time with her, if he wants it

Heil Hydra: I know that this is totally a reference to that one thing in the comics. But dude, did you want them to think you were Hydra? Or you were just telling them you were onto them? Well, either way it worked. 

Things I Did Like

The Ancient One meeting Bruce Banner and serving him the tea, also his astral form is still Bruce Banner and this pleases me a lot

Tony and his dad afjlfakjfdsajhladfhk j

Clint and Natasha being space pilots can I get more of this please?

Tony being a selfish jerk and hiding from the Avengers and ignoring that the rest of the world is suffering...but at the same time being a dad and a husband and living his best life and taking time for himself and not suffering

And then Tony getting off his high horse

Natasha refusing to not be vigilant or give up even though everyone else has

Scott Lang talking to Tony Stark like, what up, dude! We need to take a chance!

PEPPERONY OFFSPRING IS A THING! BLESS!

STEVE DID THE THING!!!!!!!!!

Ebony Maw is back and he is uglier than ever

*cackle of laughter* Justice. Sweet justice. 

Thor having the talk with his mom 

Thanos over the course of the film slowly becoming a better villain, and finally attacking with all of his powers and deciding that benevolently destroying half the universe isn’t enough

Thanos real desire: to satisfy his own ego

Thanos is not in Endgame as much but by the end of it he is a 50% better villain than he was in Infinity War

AND THEN EVERYONE COMES BACK AND ALL THE PEOPLE COME THROUGH THE PORTALS AND IT IS AN EPIC BATTLE, A TRULY GLORIOUS FIGHT

Like everyone who got snapped and then some come out of those portals armed and ready 2 fight like they’ve been itching for this for 5 years

okay so their “souls” still existed in the Soul realm, good, I was afraid they were all disembodied particles floating in random

Captain Marvel showing up to the boss fight and smacking Thanos but him being able to smack her back, finally she’s not invincible!

Also her shorter hair --ooooh hair envy!

Rocket talking to Thor on Asgard and telling him to get a grip, that was good

“I am inevitable.” “I am Iron Man.”

4-year-old Nathanial “Nate” Pietro Barton, Cooper and Lila, Laura--Clint’s family--yeah if Clint had died it would have been devastating

Clint and Wanda’s moment after the funeral, demonstrating how she and Nat were also part of Clint’s family

Scarlet Witch versus Thanos, YEAH THAT’S RIGHT YOU SON OF A MOLDY CASSEROLE, YOU GONNA PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO VISION

FEMALE AVENGER BOSS FIGHT

VALKYRIE LEADING THE ASGARDIANS

“Avengers...Assemble.”  

I WAS LITERALLY CHEERING AND SCREAMING DURING THIS WHOLE SEQUENCE YOU HAVE NO IDEA IT WAS SO COOL

Just seeing Bucky again my heart afdskjfad;l

Just the epilogue and the funeral and seeing everyone together again as they should be, more or less

Steve and Tony going back to the 1970s--the whole segment is just great. Loved it. Steve’s undercover uniform is nice

I didn’t realize he could possibly run into Peggy until just before he realized he was in her office!

“Bucky is still alive.” Well, that’s one way to scare a body

Sam, Wanda, and Bucky at the funeral

New Asgard is a thing. This pleases me. 

Re-enacting Peter Quill entering the temple on Morag and then him getting hit over the head *points finger and laugh* like that was literally the only good thing about the time travel and revisiting the past

The GOTG staying for the funeral, that was nice of them. 

I have literally never been happier to see Spider-man in my life

Sebastian Stan’s face, that’s all

Steve and Bucky hugging goodbye, “Don’t do anything stupid until I get back.” “How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.” OKAY NOW I’M HAVING FEELS

Also it’s really nice of Hank Pym to go to Tony’s funeral--did he go to Howard and Maria’s?

Things that Should Have Happened: 

Where the heck is Loki? 

Steve and Bucky should have had a scene together during the battle, fighting side-by-side

Bucky should have been the first person that Steve saw

Bucky carrying the gauntlet during the big hustle would’ve been a nice bonus

Loki stealing the Tesserract and disappearing--all that does is set up his Disney+ TV show. Shouldn’t that have led to more problems?

Like they seriously set up everything that could possibly go wrong but only one or two things do--well the movie was only 3 hours long, if they’d had five they could have made it more complicated

They could have made Thor a weepy alcoholic without making him a gross bum. 

More of the main characters dying besides the two that did. 

Tony and Nebula needed 10 whole minutes of relationship time. 

Just more of the 06 Avengers and Rhodey spending more time with Nebula and Rocket and their personalities bouncing off of each other

We should have at least been shown Tony and Pepper having a private civil ceremony, also her telling him that she’s pregnant

If Natasha needed to die at all, it should have been her going down in a fight, getting stabbed or something. Like someone could have showed up at Vormir, like Thanos sent someone once he got the intel from Nebula, and Nat and Barton had a boss fight at the top, and then Nat gets stabbed and thrown off

I was still actually expecting Tony to literally adopt Nebula

They could have done something about the fact that the Red Skull is the freaking Guardian of the Soul Stone(TM). Wouldn’t Nat or Clint have recognized him? Like the fact of his identity isn’t even relevant to anything--gosh, him meeting Steve must have been interesting

So Nebula didn’t kill Thanos. Hmph. Was there a way it could have happened, though? Is there a way she still “beat” him? Maybe by killing the past self that was still loyal to him? 

You had three hours to tell a great story and make the things we didn’t like about Infinity War better, and all you give us is beer-belly Thor and a lot of time travel gimmicks? sheesh marvel

[nineteenthmay]

Ranking Gossip Girl seasons: my opinion

1. Season 2 - The season when Chuck and Blair became the central couple of the show and it has a lot of memorable Chuck/Blair scenes (I counted that a half of my top 10 Chuck/Blair scenes belong to this season) and a lot of great episodes. We get to learn more about them as characters, and other characters and their storylines are interesting as well. My favourite episode on the entire show, my favourite music moment, season opener and season finale - all come from this season. What not to love?

2. Season 1 - Another great season I love dearly. The plot flows effortlessly, the characters and their stories are interesting and unlike other seasons it doesn't have obvious filler episodes, everything seems relevant and important. It's also the only season where I'm ok with Dan. The only reason I don't put it first is that a lot of Chuck/Blair stuff happen off-screen. I would love to see more of their secret affair between Seventeen Candles and Hi Society (how did they come together and start to sleep together regularly after Seventeen Candles in the first place?), Blair's drunk dialing to Chuck he refers to in 1x17 and how they schemed against Georgina and ended up asleep on Blair's bed.

3. Season 3 - It's less exciting than the first two seasons, I felt that the writers struggled to tie everything together smoothly without the uniting high-school setting and I found Dan/Vanessa and Nate/Serena super random (I rolled my eyes at Dan developing romantic feelings for Vanessa out of blue and Nate suddenly remembering about his feelings for Serena after we had seen no trace of them since the first half of Season 1) and Lily's cancer storyline unconvincing. But it still was a solid season. I appreciate that we finally saw Chuck and Blair together as a couple and demonstrating their deep love, tenderness to each other, acceptance and understanding (all those domestic cuddling scenes in bed, the Thanksgiving kiss etc.). Although their relationship broke down in 3x17 and it was obvious that they still had a lot of growing up to do, to learn to trust each other and honest communication, I love them together, they are the only couple on the show who behaved like married before getting married. I also appreciate that it gave a glimpse of a great man Chuck was capable of being when his emotional issues didn’t obstruct him. In the first half of the season Chuck indeed, as Blair said, carried people.

4. Season 6 - I actually like this season. Its biggest problem is that it has only 10 episodes and therefore it feels rushed. Who knows, maybe the lack of time was a major reason why the showrunners failed to solve some storylines in a believable way. It's really pity that the poorly written Season 5 buried a full Season 6, it would have been great to have more episodes. But even with some reservations (like, the Dan/Serena endgame) I enjoyed this season more than anything I saw on the show since the mid-season 4. It didn't have stupid, drawn out love triangles or over-melodrama, instead it was more reminiscent to the early seasons. Chuck and Blair's individual character arcs were completed resolving their individual issues, we saw them supporting each other, trusting each other and working as a team and their ending was deeply satisfying. Also, "It's Really Complicated" is my second favourite Thanksgiving episode after Season 1.

5. Season 4 - This one is really split in the middle to me. I like the first half of the season, The Witches of Bushwick and Double Identity are among my favourite episodes on the entire show. But after the Juliet thing was resolved everything descended into a boring mess that was making less and less sense and was hard to get through. Dan and Blair's friendship felt forced, the same can be said about Chuck's relationship with Raina, the Bass Industries and Russel Thorpe storyline was very convoluted and confusing, Blair's decision to get engaged at the age of 20 to a man she barely knew forgetting all her career aspirations was nonsensical (tbh, this revival of the fairytale fantasy was regress into childhood and I found it really annoying), Chuck breaking the window in rage seemed ooc, I didn't care about "Charlie Rhodes", I don't even remember what Serena did other than that Ben guy and Nate had become more underused than ever.

6. Season 5 - The worst season, hands down. Blair's pact with God, Dan/Blair romance, Diana as Chuck's fake mother, "maybe Jack is my father" - all were terrible storytelling ideas and should have never materialised. In fact, I would rewrite everything post-car accident. Also, I was never fond of the prince Louis fairytale storyline that dragged on and on, he too should be gone post-5x10. I didn't mind splitting Rufus and Lily and Bart's resurrection but I didn't like how it was executed. The same goes with Blair's pregnancy - they killed her baby and then swept her miscarriage under a rug to never be mentioned again, just what the hell? There had to be a scene, if only a tiny one, of her coming to terms with her loss. The lack of it made Blair look shallow. In many ways this season also was stagnant and probably the darkest for the main characters: Chuck made a considerable progress as a character but he was depressed 24/7 and non-stop suffering for Blair almost the entire season; Blair spent the season being passive, lost, confused and increasingly helpless first playing her fairytale fantasy with Louis, then hiding from her reality in Dan's fiction until 5x22; Serena after a promising start - she had gotten a job and stopped to latch onto guys - was losing everything and everyone bit by bit until she hit rock bottom in the finale; Dan continued his path of moral degradation without noticing it and in process became more insufferable. Only Nate fared relatively well, the newspaper thing finally provided him with something to do. But I wouldn't say that the Nate as a journalist storyline was very convincing either. All in all, I think that the showrunners wasted a lot of screentime that could and should be used better.

[aroworlds]

Aro-Spec Artist Profile: Nate

Our next aro-spec creator is Nate, better known on Tumblr as @astriiformes!

Nate is an asexual, aromantic, neurodivergent and mentally ill trans guy/person continuing the tradition of aro-spec creators demonstrating an impressive diversity of talent. He writes, cosplays, creates filk music and produces visual art--and that’s when he’s not playing D&D and attending conventions!

You can find him on Twitter as planar_ranger and on 8tracks as azhdarchidaen. He’s also found on AO3 as azhdarchidaen, with a prolific selection of works for the Gravity Falls, Doctor Who, Critical Role and Pacific Rim fandoms! If you have a dollar or two you’re wanting to invest in worthy aro-spec talent, please take a look at Nate’s Ko-Fi!

With us Nate talks about expressing emotions through creativity, the intersection of aromanticism and perfectionism, the importance of storytelling as self-expression and his passion for D&D as a way of giving voice to his aromantic experience. His love for fandom, creativity and storytelling shines through every word, so please let’s give him all our love, encouragement, gratitude, kudos and follows for taking the time to explore what it is to be aromantic and creative.

Can you share with us your story in being aro-spec?

While I didn’t know the word “aromantic” until I was 15 or 16, and took a while to embrace it even then, when I look back on my childhood I can definitely see some of the earliest signs. Perhaps the most prominent was my mild disappointment at age 12 or 13 in discovering the Star Wars EU novels only to learn that Luke Skywalker, one of my most pervasively favorite characters since I first watched the movies and likely my earliest aro headcanon, ended up getting married! I ended up writing what was technically my first fanfiction after that discovery, an alternate take on the post-Return of the Jedi universe in which he didn’t.

But I didn’t really start to realize I was aro, or even know it was an identity at all, until two things happened. First, I joined an LGBTQA+ group on a writer’s forum I used to frequent and started to not only learn the vocabulary but also that identifying as something other than straight or cis was even allowed. Second, I entered what was essentially the closest thing to a romantic relationship I’ve ever experienced. By some measures it probably was one, but there really wasn’t much romance involved – because I wasn’t pushing it (for reasons that are now obvious to me), and the guy I was sort-of-dating was pretty respectful of my boundaries and was probably waiting for me to make some of those moves before trying himself. The relationship eventually broke off several months after he moved to Europe. He messaged me to say he felt bad about the fact that our long-distance “relationship” was probably holding me back from finding someone I could be happier with, and he would be more comfortable breaking it off. The fact that I felt no real sadness over that was a fairly big bit of evidence for my aromanticism, second only to the fact that I had actually become more comfortable with our situation when he moved across the Atlantic Ocean.

Clues like those eventually lead me to adopt the label and really begin to understand myself, I think around age 16 or 17. I went through a slow process of accepting all my queer identities one-by-one and kind of see them all as pretty interconnected. The aro one was in the middle.

Can you share with us the story behind your creativity?

I really like making things. For all the frustration I experience trying to write something I’m happy with, or panicked near all-nighters trying to finish props before a convention, I really am at my happiest when I have projects to engage in. I take a lot of pride in my identity as a content creator as a result, though it also means I can set discouragingly high standards for myself. That being said, there’s nothing that makes me happier that someone enjoying something I put time and effort into and being able to go “I made this.”

Writing was definitely my earliest outlet (I did draw things when I was younger, but I didn’t show my art to anyone until this time last year). I was posting fics (under a different username, fortunately; I don’t want my early teenage writing unearthed ten years later) on ff.net by early high school, a narrative I’m sure I share with plenty of other creators. I’ve done more interesting things with my writing since migrating over to AO3 though, and I continue to feel like my writing is growing (even if, sometimes, I worry it’s going too slowly).

Getting into cosplay was something I picked up only a year or so later, though again, comparing my current work to those first few attempts feels almost silly. My first cosplay was a patched-together Eighth Doctor mostly made out of thrift store finds that looked only debatably like the real deal. Since then, I’ve gotten better at sewing my own things and have realized one of my true strengths lies in elaborate props. My two most recent cosplays were Stanford Pines from Gravity Falls, with a fully-illustrated and screen-accurate copy of the third journal, complete with blacklight effects, and Taako, from The Adventure Zone, with an Umbra Staff that I had re-covered in fabric and had fully-functional LED “stars” built into it, stars I could make twinkle via a secret remote. I’m attempting two characters that are even more ambitious for conventions this year, but we’ll have to see how that actually goes…

My filk contributions aren’t massive, but the community aspect (and that it connected me to someone who is now one of my closest friends, who made me go from enjoying the genre to contributing to it) and some of the things I’ve done as a result of it make me feel it has a place as part of my creative identity. You haven’t lived until you’ve performed decades-old songs about space travel with your friends, in cosplay, in a crowded convention center! (Okay, a debatable statement. But a truly wild experience.) It’s also been a good outlet for me in some ways, because music is a powerful way to get across emotions. I play viola and piano, and have for years, so I knew that to some degree before I started writing my own lyrics to things. But personalizing songs by making them be about things you have really strong feelings for is another level entirely.

And then, art. Like I said, I never really shared it with anyone (or drew much at all) until about a year ago. Part of that was due to wanting to try my hand at digital art but not really having an understanding of what programs to use or how to get started with it, and part of it was the inertia of feeling like “if I’m not good at something immediately, I shouldn’t try at all!” The thing that really got the ball rolling for me is the long D&D campaign I’m currently in. When I was excited about other stories, chances were someone else had drawn art of it that I could enjoy and reblog. That’s not really the case with one you’re telling with only 5-6 other people. I had a sort of epiphany moment a couple months into the campaign, as the story really started picking up, that if I wanted to see the kind of art I appreciate for this new story I was falling in love with, I would probably have to do it myself. I’m still not incredibly happy with my work, since I’m surrounded by friends who are incredible artists and my style is fairly simplistic and oddly stylized, but I have gotten to a point where I draw fairly regularly, and generally put up what I create on our shared campaign blog. The same D&D game has wrenched over 15k words of original writing from me, which is pretty astonishing. Most of that isn’t anywhere to be found on Tumblr just yet, though – it’s largely still-top secret character backstory.

Are there any particular ways your aro-spec experience is expressed in your art?

The most obvious way is that I write fics about characters being aromantic and dealing with their aromanticism. All headcanons, unfortunately (I’m yet to find a canon aro in anything I love that I didn’t help create myself), but there are several stories on my AO3 about characters from Pacific Rim, Star Wars or Gravity Falls realizing they’re aromantic. And the fics that don’t deal with that are still all gen – I’m too romance-repulsed to write anything else, and I feel the world needs a lot more genfic anyways.

One other way, though I feel a bit silly calling it “art”, is that I am intentionally playing an aromantic character of my own creation in my current D&D campaign. I’ve been playing for several years now, and did have another character back in high school who I also imagined as aromantic. (Partially because of an awkward flirting mishap – an enemy tried to get my character off her guard with romance and it all backfired because she didn’t know how to respond. All my own fault – I don’t even know how to roleplay that!) But none of the campaigns I’ve played in until this one were particularly intent on exploring characters and their feelings all that deeply, or really making them a part of the story.

With my current character, it’s become incredibly validating to view him as aromantic and asexual, like myself. It’s that same impulse that got me started doing more art – if the fiction I like isn’t going to provide me with aromantic characters, I’ll have to make one myself! And it’s slowly leading to some very interesting explorations of aro identity and the normalising of it in our world. We’ve established that identifying that way isn’t particularly unusual for elves and talked about what that means for worldbuilding. Do they hold platonic relationships in the same regard as romantic ones? Is there a special kind of relationship that signifies that? What if we put friendship under the banner of the goddess of romantic love too? Though at the same time, I’m exploring some of the same feelings I experience with him – he’s a particularly lonely person, who worries about people actually wanting to stay with him, both of which are prominent features of my own aromantic experience.

What challenges do you face as an aro-spec artist?

Like many of us, I do worry that my genfics will be less enjoyed or circulated as a result of choosing not to include ships. And whenever I post a fic about a character actually being aro, I definitely get that little stab of “Someone is going to have a problem with this” fear.

I also feel that my experience with aromanticism has shaped a lot of my perfectionistic tendencies. Because I worry so much about trying to remain important in my allo friends’ lives, and because I think of so much of my identity as associated with creativity, I tend to get really wrapped up in my work needing to seem amazing somehow, to make people think I’m worth their time. It’s a silly thing to get preoccupied over, but it has had an impact on me. In some ways wanting my work to be really good is not a bad thing – it encourages me to do my very best whenever I can – but the motivation is really all wrong.

How do you connect to the aro-spec and a-spec communities as an aro-spec person?

I’m honestly pretty disconnected from them. I might be less-inclined to be if this website wasn’t suddenly experiencing such backlash against a-spec identities, but as is I’m almost afraid to engage with anything that might make me a target. Which is really unfortunate. That being said, whenever I do make any aro content and I see it circulated to other aromantic people, I get a lot of joy from it. The comments on my multiple aromantic-focused fics are some of my favorite ones I’ve ever received. If I can channel my experiences into something that elicits that kind of a reaction from our community, I consider my work well done.

How do you connect to your creative community as an aro-spec person?

When I’m able to talk to other aromantic people about headcanons (or even some of my very understanding allo friends who absorb them from me, too), pretty well! Unfortunately, that’s a pretty tiny fraction of my fandom experience. Even some of my interests where you’d think I wouldn’t run into problems have been difficult at times. I once had someone dressed as a character often (non-canonically) shipped with the one I was cosplaying, and they assumed that I would be interested in hearing that they shipped our character. Instead, they just made me very uncomfortable, particularly with the way they chose to do so.

In general, the expectation that as a member of fandom, producing fandom works, I will be interested in creating and consuming romantic content is hard to deal with. I’ve had people ask me to put ships in my fics, the aforementioned convention incident, and been heckled over having aromantic headcanons at all. That being said, aromantic headcanons were how I met at least a few of my good friends. Finding each other may be hard, but since we all feel so isolated I think that finding other aro creators inhabiting the same or similar spaces can lead to pretty quick bonding, or at least an appreciation of each others’ works. I do like that.

I’ve also, as I have mentioned a couple times now, realized the worth of telling my own stories, particularly if I have other people to share them with who will respond positively. Right now, most of my D&D group is not aro, but they are a group that respects my and my character’s identities, and being able to tell an aro narrative that means a lot to me and get a positive response is a breath of fresh air. I count them as fellow content creators and they’ve really encouraged the story I want to tell. I hope that someday the inspiration I’ve gained from that will lead me to publishing my own original fiction (with aro characters, of course), but it’s been due to this small start that I’ve decided that’s something I could realistically pursue.

How can the aro-spec community best help you as a creative?

Comments on my fics are one of the biggest things that keep me writing, so they’ll always be a boon to me. Even old ones. It makes me happy to see people still reading and enjoying them. Same goes for reblogs of any of my stuff – art, writing, filk, cosplay photos, anything else I might post. The biggest thing that keeps me wanting to create and share more creative works is knowing that other people are enjoying them, so if you do enjoy them, any way you can let me know that is wonderful.

I do hope that in some point in the future I’ll have original fiction available and a science writing blog (I consider non-fiction to be creative expression, as long as you’re putting your spark into it!), but neither exists quite yet. If you follow me on either of my main platforms though, those might pop up someday. Seeing either be circulated when the time comes would be massive. I also intend to, perhaps in the much nearer future, start publishing D&D content (likely homebrew 5e subclasses, but who knows) on the DMsGuild, starting with a pay-what-you-want model for downloading my content. If that goes up and I make something you’re interested in, and you want to pay something for it at all, I would be massively grateful.

Can you share with us something about your current project?

I’ve been working on a Critical Role Modern AU story since January or so that places heavy emphasis on the platonic relationships in the show (Percy and Keyleth’s is particularly dear to me, so they’re likely to get a fair bit of the spotlight) that’s my most current fandom fic.

I’m also tackling two ambitious cosplays at the moment, though the timeframe is making me wonder if I’ll actually pull either off. Especially given what I need to get done. One involves sewing pseudo-historical menswear, and I’m going to have to learn how to make armor for the other one. If I can figure it all out though, I’m really excited about them both!

Have you any forthcoming works we should look forward to?

Hopefully the next chapter of the CR fic, if I get hit with the inspiration (and motivation) to work on it soon. I also have another aromantic Luke Skywalker fic I really want to get down on paper at some point, though thus far it’s proven a little elusive.

My two big cosplay projects are Percy de Rolo (from Critical Role), which I intend to take to a local convention, and Erwyn, my own D&D character. I hope to do a photoshoot with the rest of the players as their own characters sometime late this summer.

As for art, I fully intend to keep drawing major or touching moments from my ongoing campaign, likely with much more frequency than any of the things above. It may not be as engaging for people to interact with as my fandom-focused projects are, but I still really do love sharing it.

[kijiboop]

Cable x OFC: Muscle Memory - Chapter Three

Chapter One | Chapter Two

A/N: Warnings for angst.

[Wade] And extensive and graphic massaging of canon, both comic and movie. I’m curious about those new characters, Linn. When are we gonna see them? 

[Linn] Maybe in the Thanos story.

[Wade] *whines* Unfair!

“You impossibly adorable and yet still manly and rugged moron.” Wade turned to glare at Cable and swung the apartment door closed behind him. “You are really bad at this.”

“At what?” Nathan asked in exasperation.

Wade half-stormed past him into the room. “Getting to second base. Getting to first base! Touching a bat to begin with. Finding the stadium. I think you’re still wandering around the parking lot.” He opened Nathan’s small fridge unit and rooted around inside until he found a beer, opened it and began to drink. “The things I do for you, man.”

“I am not trying to get to any base with Jane.” Nathan started to turn away and his eyes found the empty coffee mug sitting beside the sink, still unwashed. He twitched. “I’m married.”

“Is that it?” Wade’s expression softened and he sighed. “I’m sorry, Nate. I guess I didn’t think--”

“That I’d still be thinking about my wife?” Cable snapped at him and Wade winced. “That I’d still feel married even when I know I can’t see her again? We were married for six years, Wade. We had...have a son who I will ALSO never see again.” He stepped up until he was uncomfortably close to Deadpool and glared. “Sex may not mean much to you, but it does to me. I’m not looking to get laid. I’m sure as hell not looking for another relationship.”

“I’m sorry,” Wade said quietly. “Truly. I am. I wasn’t thinking.” Nathan turned away and picked up one of the electrical tools from his workbench, rolling it back across his fingers. “I know you’re not big on the public demonstration of feels, but do you want to talk about it? About them?”

“What does it matter?” Nathan paused the rolling of his fingers to glare at the tool in his fist. “It’s just reopening the wound.”

“Dude, the wound is still spurting. I consider this first aid.”

In spite of himself, Cable smiled. “I know every man says this about the love of his life, but she was beautiful. Her name was Hope. I found her in a foxhole, pinned down by one of the newer classes of Sentinel. Her and her team. I think there were four of them still alive then. Hope, Ivory, Manassas and J’tue.”

“Did you just spit on the floor?”

Cable snorted. “J’tue was a Shi’ar renegade, one of the ones who made Earthfall without getting slaughtered by the Sentinels first.” He paused and waved a hand at the couch. “Do you want to sit down?”

Wade smiled.

***

Cable told him everything he could think of. He told him about Hope and her team, how they had escaped the firefight, how Hope’s smart mouth and irreverence had driven him mad with frustration until he realized how much he loved her. He told him about their wedding, their discussions on whether or not to have kids, the decision to try and how excited they had both been when Hope had turned up pregnant. He told him about Tyler’s birth, how it had changed everything and clarified so much more.

“I’ll say. Movie versus comic canon-bending versus making it up from whole cloth at its finest, Linn.”

Not right now, Wade. Seriously. Besides, my blog’s name is “noncanon and proud.” I might as well go with it.

“That’s my girl.”

Shut up, Wade.

When he started to get to the point that had sent him into the past, Nathan slowed down. He looked at Wade, who had finished three more of his beers and was still listening intently. “None of this really matters anymore,” he said softly.

“Nathan, you lovable, musclebound doofus,” Wade smiled. “Of course it does. Tell me.”

“It doesn’t, though. It doesn’t happen. We… you changed what happens with Russell. Hope and Tyler survive.” Nathan’s eyes found the restored teddy bear sitting on the bookshelf to one side of the door. 

“But you still lost them.” Wade leaned forward and loosely folded his hands together. “I mean, you don’t have to talk about it. But if it helps…”

Cable considered for a while then stood and retrieved the last of the beer, handing one to Deadpool and keeping the other for himself. “I don’t want to talk about the event, actually,” he admitted as he sat down again facing Wade. “There’s been enough grief in my life at this point that reliving the bad parts when I don’t have to seems masochistic.”

“There’s a big market for masochists,” Wade replied. “If you go in for that, you could probably make a decent sideline in porn.” At Cable’s irritated glance, he smiled. “I would apologize, but I’m really not sorry for that one.” They sat in silence for a few minutes before Wade asked, “What happened in the gym?”

“Present conflicting with past conflicting with future.” Nathan smiled thinly into his beer. “I’m still human even if I’m grieving my marriage.” When Wade just raised a scarred eyebrow, he shrugged. “I can admit Jane looks good when she runs. It’s just the awareness that I think that is harmful to my mental health.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time you went crazy over a woman,” Wade pointed out. “I think I’m jealous.”

Nathan closed his eyes and leaned back in the armchair. “I’m not ready to let her go, Wade. I still love Hope with everything I’ve got. She was… is… the mother of my son and everything I ever wanted in a partner. How am I supposed to get over that?” He opened his eyes again to look at Wade. “You’re not over Vanessa. And you never will be. That’s how I feel about Hope.”

“True,” Wade said quietly. “But that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the company of the people I care about who are still alive. Since, y’know, I do actually care about some people.” He set his half-empty beer aside to frame his argument with his hands. “You said I don’t take sex seriously, but you’re wrong. I take sex as seriously as I take life. Life’s huge and crazy and it doesn’t take much to make it vanish entirely. I’m still breathing when I shouldn’t be and that hurts like hell, especially when Vanessa isn’t and should be. But I’m still here. I take things as I see them. The world is fucking random and doesn’t really follow any kind of rules or laws, no matter what we puny humans try to do to force laws on it. Sex isn’t that different. It doesn’t always make sense or follow a set pattern, but when there’s attraction, to say there isn’t is like staring someone with a pulse and active lungs and saying ‘You’re dead.’ Life keeps going. I guess I feel like sex does, too.” He paused, then added, “and love.”

“You really do remind me of her,” Nathan said with a small smile. 

“Considering how much you still love her, I will take that as a compliment.” Deadpool picked up his beer again and finished it while Cable slowly rolled his empty can between his hands, thinking. “Get some sleep, Nate,” Wade said as he stood up. “Maybe things will look better after a time jump.”

“A what?”

“Never mind.” Wade swung himself out of Nathan’s doorway by the door frame and waved. “Good night, handsome.”

***

When Jane woke up the next morning, she found Neena curled up around her, big-spoon. She didn’t remember the other woman coming in last night, but she wasn’t about to complain about the feeling of her arms around her. “Where did you come from?” she asked softly.

Neena stirred and pushed her face deeper into Jane’s hair. “Bed was empty. Got lonely,” she mumbled softly. “You okay? You were crying in your sleep when I got here.”

“Liar.” Jane stretched and rolled over to face Neena, running her fingers through her hair and tracing her cheek. “Yeah, I’m fine. My workout didn’t exactly go as planned and I think I fucked up.”

Neena raised her eyebrows. “Fucked up?”

Jane nodded, then paused. “Do you know Nathan that well? Wade made it sound like he’s made of glass or something.”

“Glass cannon,” Neena chuckled. “I just know he’s from the future and he only had enough juice in his equipment for two jumps: one in and one back.”

“So why is he still here?”

Neena’s eyes were serious. “He used his return jump to save Wade. Blocked a bullet that would have killed him. It’s a long story, but that’s the short version. He saved Wade but now he can’t go back home. I guess he had a family.”

Jane lay quietly for a while, then closed her eyes. “And I told him to move on.”

“When?” Neena gasped, her eyes almost glittering with schadenfreude.

“When we were teasing Sam?” Jane blinked and sat up in the bed, rubbing her hands through her hair. “I’m surprised he managed to be civil in the gym. No wonder he didn’t want me to spot him.”

Neena followed her when she stood up to get dressed. “You worked out together last night?”

“Yeah.” Jane discarded her tanktop in favor of a fresh bra and t-shirt. “We lifted for a while, then ran the track. When I looked up, he was just gone, though. Vanished and turned off his communicator. Freaked the fuck out of Wade when I told him.”

“Cable turned off his communicator.” When Jane nodded, Neena slowly shook her head. “There’s a first. And I thought he hated to run.”

“He said he ran like a fucking orangutan,” Jane said, unable to suppress her grin at the memory. “He wasn’t far off.” 

“He likes you.” Domino looped her arms around Jane’s waist as Jane pulled up a pair of jeans. “He wouldn’t have stuck around if he didn’t.”

“That’s bull,” Jane snorted. “Cable doesn’t like anyone, not even Wade. Maybe especially not Wade. He tolerates all of us and only barely most days.” She swatted Domino’s hands away from her waist so she could fasten her fly and button. “You’re just playing off of Wade.”

Domino hugged a little tighter and Jane sighed, leaning her head back on her friend’s shoulder. “I didn’t say he wants to fuck you,” she whispered. “I said he likes you. I think he likes you and it scares him.” When Jane didn’t answer, Neena rocked slowly and kissed her cheek. “I think you like him, too. Wade only seems to spout shit like he did yesterday when there’s really something going on. It’s like he knows something we don’t.”

“He’s just crazy,” Jane murmured. “He wants you to think he knows something.”

“He might be unpredictable, but he’s still perceptive. Maybe he saw something you missed.” Jane remained stonily silent and Domino sighed. “Love you,” she said and planted another kiss on Jane’s cheek and let her go. “I’m glad we’re one of those friendships sex doesn’t mess with.”

“Some friendships are founded on sex,” Jane said with a smile and squeezed Neena’s fingers. “I want to check on something. I’ll see you later.”

“Sure thing, gorgeous.” Neena waved and Jane waved back before they walked in opposite directions down the hallway.

***

“Your block is getting lazy.” Nathan strike to Wade’s right then reversed to kick for his ankles. 

“Just like

“Nope. Nope. It’s not working, Linn. Try something else.”

I’m having trouble moving forward. I’m sorry, okay?

“Turn off Star Trek and maybe we can get somewhere. And mute your damn Discord!”

But the button keeps flashing.

“Ignore it and write, girl! I know you’ve got plans. I can see ‘em and they’re great. Just hurry up already.”

“Where’s your mug?” Wade poked the back of Cable’s hand on the table. “I wanna see that mug in every scene from now on, Daddy.”

Cable raised one eyebrow and shook his head. “Don’t call me that. Things are weird enough without that.”

“You can say that again, Daddy.” Wade collected his pop tarts from the toaster and spun away with a little wave. 

The mug next to his hand was a different one from his usual and Nathan eyed it thoughtfully. It was a black mug covered in brilliant blue butterflies that spread upward on the mug before transforming into a cobblestone road. The text read, “Desna’s blessings.” He wasn’t sure why he had picked it from the cupboard this morning, but he liked it. Whoever or whatever Desna was. He picked it up and sipped his coffee before returning to the paper.

Distantly, somewhere in the compound, a phone rang. It connected to the whole-team cell circuit and made the phone sitting on the counter behind him vibrate obnoxiously. Nathan reached back to pick it up. “X-Force headquarters, Cable speaking.”

At first, he thought it was a bad call, one of those robotic automatic calls that tried to tell him about car insurance. Then, a female voice said carefully, “Nathan? Summers?”

“Yes?” 

The voice made a soft, nervous throat-clearing sound and then she continued, “This is Jean, at Xavier’s? He asked me to call and invite you and your team to the mansion for the weekend. He said some of the students here would benefit from training with X-Force in the Danger Room.”

“Ah.” Jean. Jean Grey. Nathan closed his eyes and shook his head sharply to clear it. She wasn’t Redd. Not yet, anyway. Someday, she’d know him as a child, when she and his father came forward two thousand years to raise him. The loops of time were enough to make anyone dizzy and he knew Jean had been uncomfortable with him from the moment she had met him, partially due to his resemblance to Scott, his father. “Yes, I think that would be fine. I’ll check with the others and call back later. Would that be alright?”

“Yes, sir.” They both stuttered to silence. His stepmother as a teenager. It was still hard to figure out. “Thanks. I… uh… I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye.” Nathan tried to make the ending as kind as possible, but it still sounded abrupt in his own ears. As he set down the phone, he triggered his communicator. “Call all members.” When the communicator beeped to alert him to the connection, he said, “Group invite to Xavier’s for the weekend. Anyone in?”

“I will tap that silvery ass so hard!” Nathan closed his eyes with a sigh. Wade would be the first to respond.

“I’m in,” Neena answered more sedately. 

“Me, too,” echoed Sam.

“I can drive,” Dopinder offered.

“Another country heard from!” cheered Wade.

“Yes, Mr. Pool,” Dopinder said cheerfully. “I am still around. How are things there?”

Nathan tried not to smile. Dopinder never ceased to make him grin, usually without trying. He felt a little bad about it since a lot of it had to do with how incredibly dedicated the younger man was to Deadpool and the idea of X-Force, even though he himself had no mutant abilities at all. “Jane?” he called. “Coming?”

“Yes, Daddy, please!” Wade cried in falsetto. 

“Do you ever shut up?” Jane’s voice finally added to the conversation. 

“Nope,” said Wade and everyone could hear the grin on his face. 

“I think I’ll stay here,” Jane said. “I’ve got some stuff to catch up on.”

Something in Nathan’s chest sank and he sighed, rolling his eyes at himself. “It’s not like you don’t live in the same fucking building, Summers,” he muttered to himself without engaging the communicator. Into the conversation, he added, “He offered the use of the Danger Room.”

“I’m in.” Jane’s reply was so fast that she practically cut him off. 

“Full house,” Deadpool caroled. “We’re going on a road trip!”

Nathan smiled to himself and cut off the connection. He looked at the butterfly mug with his coffee and sighed. He just couldn’t seem to make himself pick up the one Jane had used this morning. He finished his coffee, rinsed the mug and set it to dry, then turned back toward his apartment. 

Admitting to Wade that he had noticed Jane’s positive qualities had had the effect of haunting him most of the night. He had slept fitfully, dreams of chasing her around the track merging together with memories of some of the few good times with Hope, when they had been free enough to be a family, to have fun without being afraid or on guard. The restlessness had made it harder to focus on his telekinesis and he had finally given up on sleep around daybreak. At the moment, the only thing keeping him focused enough to both walk and avoid further infection at the same time was the coffee. At least he would have another night between this and trying to keep from dying in the Danger Room.

“Nathan?” 

Halfway to reaching for his own door, Nathan sighed and closed his eyes. Jane. “Yeah?” he responded without turning toward her.

“I’m… I’m sorry for what I said,” she said quietly. “About moving on. I didn’t know what I was talking about.”

“I know.” They’d been talking about him. He knew it happened, but it was a little surreal to have clear evidence of it. Nathan turned to smile at her, trying to shake the strangeness of acknowledging that she knew something about him he hadn’t told her. He found it hard to keep track of himself most of the time. He still wasn’t used to being known. “Who told you?”

“Neena.” Jane was hugging one arm in front of her with the opposite hand, a gesture that made her look much younger than she was, nervous and uncertain. “I’m sorry.”

Nathan shook his head. “It’s not your fault. I’m sorry for stinging you. I’ve usually got better control than that.”

Jane looked surprised. “That was you?” He smiled thinly and nodded. “I didn’t know you had that kind of… I thought you were just--”

“Human?” Nathan chuckled at the embarrassed expression on her face. “Telekinetic. I don’t use it much if I can help it.” What a fucking lie. He was only constantly using it. Though the truth was still there: if he could avoid demonstrating his power externally, he would.

“Oh.” Jane’s face flushed and Cable smiled at her. She was really cute when she blushed. Thoughts of Hope needled his kidneys again and he let the thought go. “That’s why you’ve been so willing to help me train.”

Not the only reason, certainly, but he did know plenty of tricks to help focus telekinesis like hers. “I’m willing to help anyone train,” he said. “It’s kind of what I do.”

“When you’re not time jumping around history, killing people.” Nathan flinched and looked away and Jane gasped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. It just came out.”

“Spending too much time with Wade,” he said with a weak smile. “It’s what I do now.” Since I can’t train my own son to use his abilities when they manifest. Since I can’t watch him grow up. He pushed away the thoughts and sighed, rubbing his temples with one hand. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t sleep well last night and I’m thinking about trying to catch a nap before we leave for Xavier’s.”

“Of course,” Jane scrambled to find words. “I just wanted to apologize.” When Nathan nodded, she gave him a quick, nervous smile. “Have a good nap.”

“Thanks. I’ll try.” He watched her turn and walk away, then closed his eyes and leaned against his door. He missed Hope.

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