#nx season 3

[whatsabagel]

why is northern exposure season 3 just back to back to back bangers

like every single episode is classic beyond time

[northernexposureonly]

NORTHERN EXPOSURE

(Original Air Dates in the US)

SEASON THREE / 23 EPISODES (1991/1992)

23.09. - 3x01 The Bumpy Road To Love

30.09. - 3x02 Only You

07.10. - 3x03 Oy, Wilderness

14.10. - 3x04 Animal R Us

28.10. - 3x05 Jules Et Joel

04.11. - 3x06 The Body In Question

11.11. - 3x07 Roots

18.12. - 3x08 A-Hunting We Will Go

09.12. - 3x09 Get Real

16.12. - 3x10 Seoul Mates

06.01. - 3x11 Dateline: Cicely

13.01. - 3x12 Our Tribe

20.01. - 3x13 Things Become Extinct

03.02. - 3x14 Burning Down The House

24.02. - 3x15 Democracy In America

02.03. - 3x16 Three Amigos

09.03. - 3x17 Lost And Found

16.03. - 3x18 My Mother, My Sister

23.03. - 3x19 Wake Up Call

27.04. - 3x20 The Final Frontier

04.05. - 3x21 It Happened In Juno

11.05. - 3x22 Our Wedding

18.05. - 3x23 Cicely

[weerd1]

ENT Rewatch Starlog, 26 April, 2024: Episode 3.20 “The Forgotten”

Enterprise heads to the rendezvous coordinates provided by Degra while Archer eulogizes the 18 crewmembers lost in the battle at Azati Prime. He asks Trip to write the letter to the parents of a young woman from Trip’s team who was one of the victims, Crewman Taylor. T’Pol meanwhile is not showing more withdrawal symptoms, and the Trellium is all but gone from her system, but she has lost the ability to ignore her emotions. 

Arriving at the coordinates, Enterprise initially finds only more subspace anomalies, but then as if from nowhere, Degra’s ship appears and leads them through a cloaking field to a nearby sphere.

Archer begins to talk to Degra and the Arboreal names Jannar, then brings them on to Enterprise to show them the Reptilians recovered in the 21st century along with their bioweapon. Jannar remains somewhat skeptical but Degra begins to believe Archer. 

Trip dreams of Taylor and realizes how much she’s reminding him of his sister Elizabeth. He’s called to action though when a plasma conduit bursts, and the flow must be shut off from outside of the ship. He and Reed go out to stop the burn, and Malcolm is overheated, but they are successful. Trip repeatedly confronts Degra angrily, with both T’Pol and Archer get him to back down. 

A Reptilian ship appears planning to capture Enterprise, but Degra works with Archer to destroy them; he has seen the data Archer captured from INSIDE the damaged sphere earlier on, and it all begins to come together for him. He give Archer coordinates though a subspace corridor to appear before the Xindi council in three days and departs. 

Trip realizes how badly he’s conflating Taylor with Elizabeth and breaks down in front of T’Pol, she comforts him and they each lament how they envy how the other experiences emotions. Trip completes his letter, and says farewell to Elizabeth afterward. 

This episode puts things in place for the last act of this season with the maker of the Xindi weapon now fully aware of how the Sphere Builders have deceived them, and willing to assist. Trip’s anger with Degra works here, and we get some really good work from Connor Trinneer as Trip goes through the torment of loss. 

Yes, I still despise the “T’Pol is an addict” storyline, however nothing but praise to Jolene Blalock in how she plays it, in particular the scene where T’Pol comforts Trip.  A lot of things I’d have done differently in her story, but my little TnT/Tri’Pol/Floridaman in Space and his Gorgeous Alien Girlfriend shipper heart feels that scene keenly.  

Also, keep your eyes open for a Trek/Orville crossover before there even was an Orville, as Seth MacFarlane has a short guest role as an engineering officer Trip yells at. And this episode is very ably directed by none other than Levar Burton expanding his Trek credits!

NEXT VOYAGE: Enterprise finds some very familiar faces on “E2”!

(Images taken from the main website for @trekcore; I am happy to remove the images if asked.)

[the-physicality]

.

[northernexposureonly]

NORTHERN EXPOSURE 3.02 “Only You”

“Think about a woman who doesn’t know you’re thinking about her, doesn’t care you’re thinking about her…makes you think about her even more.”

[stra-tek]

Big random list of things that NEARLY happened in Star Trek with no context or citation...

Harry Kim was to appear in Picard season 3 as a Captain (possibly of the Voyager-B)

Sarek was to use the Guardian of Forever to go back in time to become Surak of Vulcan, in a Next Gen episode

An episode was pitched where an NX-01 med tech played by Alice Krige was captured and assimilated by the Borg, becoming their queen

A Star Trek movie was almost made about undoing the Kelvin Universe, and would have had Shatner and Nimoy appear

They considered having Will Riker die, Data become first officer and Thomas Riker the Ops officer in TNG's "Second Chances"

JJ Abrams wanted Nichelle Nichols to cameo as the mother of Zoe Saldana's Uhura

The first season of Enterprise was to be set on Earth, culminating with the launch of NX-01 at the end of the season

They considered a shock reveal in ENT season 4 that it was actually the Vulcans who split off from the Romulans, and Romulus was their original homeworld

William Shatner wanted to return as Kirk from the Mirror Universe, in an Enterprise episode that involved time travel and creating the mirror universe with the transporter

Elnor was going to "explore his sexuality" in early Picard season 2 plans, before a change of showrunner and his character mostly vanishing

The ENT writers wanted Shatner to play Chef, a Kirk look-a-like hired by Daniels and trained to act Kirk-like to give an important speech at some point in history the real Kirk is mysteriously absent from

Data was originally created by mysterious aliens, and was to have a twin sister

Prodigy season 2 writers discussed having Chris Pine's Kirk from the Kelvin universe join the crew for a few episodes

In the originally filmed cut of Star Trek: Generations, Kirk is shot in the back and dies

Very early discussions for what eventually became Star Trek: Picard considered an adaptation of the Star Trek: Destiny novel trilogy

These discussions span off from a Short Treks pitch where a young cadet Jean-Luc Picard met Nichelle Nichols' Uhura

Early plans for the 2009 movie had wholesale destruction of the Prime universe, including the destruction of Earth. Thank Perpetual Entertainment for getting the destruction scaled back to Romulus so Star Trek Online had a Federation left to feature

There's was a story treatment written for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock where Spock stays dead

This one might be a little sus, but Christopher Pike in Discovery season 2 was planned to be very religious and fall to his knees at one point before the Red Angel, and clash with Michael over science vs faith

Early ideas for Star Trek Into Darkness had Benedict Cumberbatch as Robert April, former Enterprise captain turned rogue

Seven of Nine was going to sacrifice herself in order for Voyager to get home

A time travel Justice League of Trek movie by Brent Spiner, bringing together all eras of goodies vs all eras of villains, was considered

Spock shot JFK to fix the timeline in a proposed sequel to The Motion Picture

Ripper/Ephraim was originally going to be a regular, if giant tardigrade, crewmember on Discovery

Prior to Leonard Nimoy's involvement in what would become the 2009 Star Trek movie, a story outline was written about prime-universe cadets Kirk and Spock, in a story inspired by TNG's "The First Duty"

The Enterprise crew went through a black hole, back in time and introduced primative man to fire in another 70's movie script

A TNG movie was written where Picard summons a hologram of James T. Kirk for advice

George Kirk was to be found in the pattern buffer of the wrecked U.S.S. Kelvin 30 years later and resurrected

Voyager's EMH was originally to take on the name of his creator early on in the show, and the first Voyager novels call him "Doc Zimmerman" assuming it would have happened by publishing time

There's concept art where the U.S.S. Cerritos is a Galaxy-class starship

Riker was planned to dislike Data, and treat him poorly because he was an android

They considered making Troi's loss of powers in "The Loss" a permanent thing, because of how much hassle they caused the writing staff

Harry Kim wasn't originally planned to survive Species 8472

[allstartrekgames]

The Roddenberry Archive

Original Release: 2023

Developer: The Roddenberry Estate, OTOY

Publisher: The Roddenberry Estate

Platform: Browser

The ultimate bridge explorer is finally here. The Roddenberry Archives brings up digital recreations of a ton of Enterprise bridges, including concept bridges brought to life. The website provides a lot of information about the various different version of the Enterprise, and what the digital recreation of the bridge is based on.

All of these bridges can be explored in full 3D. It uses cloud technology so that you get the full detail no matter what PC you’re running (although it does have to be a desktop with Chromium browser) and can walk around, interact with some objects, sit down in chairs or turn on a fly camera. With the vast amount of detail, it’s a phenomenal experience and it’s amazing to look at the bridges in detail.

It starts off with a concept bridge: the XCV-330, the ring ship Enterprise seen in pictures in films and in Enterprise. It uses an early concept for the original Enterprise, with a round holographic table and a science room above it before moving on to the NX-01, which I loved seeing in closer detail, even finding doors I never knew were there.

Then onto the NCC-1701, which gets by far the most love. It has versions of the bridge starting with a concept bridge from early production then showing us the set from The Cage, Discovery, Strange New Worlds, the TOS pilot, TOS Season 1, TOS Season 2, Mirror Universe, TOS Season 3, a live action version of the bridge from The Animated Series, the bridge from the cancelled Phase II show, The Motion Picture, Wrath of Khan and two versions of the Kelvin version bridge, each one showing different versions of the bridge.

Then we get a look at a recreation of a wild concept for a cancelled film called Planet of the Titans, which featured a redesigned Enterprise from Ralph McQuarrie, which ended up inspiring the USS Discovery. It’s a lovely bridge, but not very practical.

From there we see the Enterprise A, B, C, D and E (with the D having multiple extra rooms), all looking absolutely stunning, but it doesn’t end there. It’s fully up to date with the bridges of the Enterprise F and brand new Enterprise G, which looks absolutely glorious. It ends the Enterprises with a new version of the Enterprise J featuring a see-through hull with visible cities, parks and water inside.

But it doesn’t end there, there’s a bonus Voyager bridge, with more to come in the future – hopefully we see the rest of the hero ships as well as other locations on ships, and some non-hero ships as well as alien bridges.

I look forward to the future updates of this software.

[multiverserift]

Why do so many people not like Star Trek Enterprise?

Different reasons.

The theme song broke the rules Star Trek traditionally had big orchestral arrangements as intro songs. Enterprise tried something different. The song “Where my heart will take me” is a pop rock song with actual lyrics. It also sounds like country music, which many fans associated with a rather conservative mindset. Many fans criticised the song for being campy, right wing, not Star Trek. I personally like the song, but I'm not from the US. They ruined it with a horribly worse version from season 3 on, though.

Enterprise right-wing mindset 9/11 happened two weeks before the first episode of the show aired. Especially Enterprise's 3rd season gets a lot of criticism for being too right-wing, it's basically an allegory for 9/11. This assessment seems a bit unfair. in contrast to the real US, the Enterprise crew went out of their way to clear the air and explain a misunderstanding. Not let their emotions and rage control their actions. In that regard, it's very Star Trek.

Character development The show focuses on Archer, Trip, P’Pol. Phlox and Malcolm Reed get their (fewer) moments too. But Hoshi Sato and Travis Mayweather are totally abandoned by the writers. And those two are the black man and the asian woman. Malcolm’s actor wanted to play the character gay, which was shut down by Rick Berman. So what we get from ENT (Enterprise) ist straight white characters, others get left behind. The Original Series (TOS) did the same thing. The show focusses on Kirk, Spock, McCoy. But time moved on since then. We had DS9, with a great diverse cast, a black, widowed father as the captain. Voyager with Janeway and a (sadly, fake) native American XO. After this, ENT felt out of date. The focus on the core characters gets also critiziced on Discovery.

Sexism Also out of date and forced felt the blatant “sex sells” attitude. Decon gel. Hoshi falling out of an air shaft, losing her shirt so she has to cover her breasts. Shower scenes. Star Trek in the past liked to code their sex stuff into alien metaphors. ENT was more like “look, sexy straight white people in the nude!” No nuance. Gets critiziced a lot up to this date.

Simply bad episodes Star Trek always had episodes that are really bad, since TOS. Spock's Brain is a good example for that. But ENT did worse: They even copied previous episodes. In season 1, we have an episode where a man fills his home with fake hologram people, for his daughter. Ironically the man is played by Rene Auberjonois, who played Odo in the Deep Space 9 (DS9) episode where a man fills his home with fake hologram people. Phlox in season 3 has to stay awake while the whole crew sleeps. For weeks. He starts hallucinating. In a precious Voyager episode, Seven of Nine had to stay awake while the whole crew sleeps. For weeks. She starts hallucinating. Even in the (liked and well received by many) season 3, there are episodes that are just bad, like Extinction. And they are so bad that you can't even watch them and have fun, like DS9’s Move Along Home. And the there are episodes where the solution of the ethical dilemma just feels off and un-Star Trek-y. Cogenitor. Dear Doctor. Yeah, some episodes of ENT simply suck. More than usual.

Akiraprise The NX-01, the titular ship of Enterprise, is just an upside down version of the Akira class from the TNG (The Next Generation) era. Felt like copy-paste. People were upset.

Enterprise is still good Finally, I want to tell you that , besides the bad stuff, I like ENT. I love the design of the NX-01. They had to ruin it with the refit, though. Although this doesn't happen in the show. Just in extended canon. There are great characters here, great stories, great retro design. The interior design, the retro bridge, the retro warp core were actually of the most expensive assets created at the time. For all of TV. So I recommend to watch Enterprise. It's mostly nice. It has Shran. The final episode never happened.

[holmesandwhatson]

Do you have a Northern Exposure crush? If so, who is it? Asking for a friend who is crushing hard on Chris Stevens and has no one to talk to about it

First off, what a great ask. Thanks for giving me an excuse to ramble on about one of my favourite shows. I'm always beyond happy to talk about Northern Exposure, hope your friend knows that ;)

Do I have an nx crush? My immediate thought was "no, not really", then of course I remembered Chris was on nx too. I mean, isn't that a given? Sometimes I think most people could be divided into two groups: those who love Chris and those who haven't watched Northern Exposure yet (I might be wrong on this one but honestly I have yet to meet a person who doesn't love the character). While I can imagine a guy like him could be annoying at times in real life, as a fictional character he's just gorgeous (come on, there is even a whole episode about him being irresistible!) and his random philosophical reflections are some of the funniest parts of the show for me.

Apart from that, Chris is one of my favourite characters of all time. I think he would make an amazing friend. I love the episode (season 4 spoilers!) where he gets arrested and the whole community speaks up for him, testifying to his generosity and kindness. He is the kind of friend you who would answer your call at 3 a.m. (and probably quote Jung in response). I think we could do with more Chrises in real life :)

An overall great character if you ask me. (I vaguely remember some ooc chris' moments in season 6 but I watched it only once because everything felt off post-Joel and I think they should have ended the show when Joel left.)

Come off anon so we can chat about nx more :)

[whatsabagel]

“all a film maker can do is show what it’s like to be alive at a certain place and time- and it’ll be different than everybody else’s movie”

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 072 - The Ship that Waited

Star Trek: Enterprise - Season 3 Episode 21 - E²

Somewhat unusually we open with some old Vulcan Woman. Apparently, another 7 million people are dead, and this Vulcan needs to find Archer. What is happening?

After the intro, we cut to T'Pol on Enterprise, and Trip is stopping by for Neuropreasure, but because of T'Pol's heightened emotional state, she's reluctant to spend time with him. Apparently she hasn't left her quarters unless she's on duty.

Really really strangely, Enterprise encounters another Starfleet NX class ship. It can't be the NX-02, because it's still under construction, and then, the name of the ship comes on Screen: It's another Enterprise.

The crew of this second enterprise, captained by a Vulcan warns them that they'll be thrown back in time if they travel forwards. A perfectly reasonable explanation for how this has all come about, even if the attempt to stop it happening transgresses the First Law of Time.

Apparently the Lorian's Enterprise has ways to modify Archer's Enterprise to reach speeds as high as Warp 6.9, which definitely gonna be helpful! Archer and T'Pol don't believe Lorian however, so they got o Phlox to check DNA and apparently Lorian is Trip and T'Pol's child, which is a bit of a huge reveal!

Lorian got a nice scene with Trip. Apparently Lorian's Enterprise's Trip died when he was young, and the scene is kinda sad. Archer also got to spend time with his great granddaughter, and even with a much older T'Pol.

Lorian is an absolutely amazing character. He's sort of a reflection of the path Archer started going down in Damage. Just like Archer there, he's filling to sabotage Archer's Enterprise in the name of his mission, and justifies it with "We have no other option". Hopefully, this serves as a wake up call for Archer.

A firefight between both enterprise ensues, and Archer's solution of Transporting Lorian's Enterprise's key components onto our own enterprise was a genius way of getting around their equal firepower.

Lorian's Enterprise's sacrifice at the end, to keep fire off of Archer's enterprise was a really touching ending, and redemption for his character. I hope this isn't the end for him, but it seems like he either went down or it's mission erased itself from history. I would make a Faction Paradox reference, but not even most Whovians would understand that.

This episode was really good. Both crews interactions with eachother were brilliant, and the premise of this episode was a very creative way of furthering Trip and T'Pol's relationship. This episode feels a lot like Eleventh Doctor episode "The Girl Who Waited", just with less tragedy to it, and that is a high compliment. This was a really good episode.

[weerd1]

ENT Rewatch Starlog, 21 April, 2024: Episode 3.19 “Damage”

The NX-01 continues to reel from the Xindi attack, when suddenly the ships break off. It is too late to save the warp drive however, as their primary warp coil has been damaged beyond the capacity Tucker can repair; they are trapped in this part of space.

The Reptilians rail at the other XIndi who stopped the attack, but the council has been at least partially swayed by Archer’s arguments. They insist on Archer being transferred to the council instead of the Reptilians holding him, and later reach out to the Sphere Builders to question if they had assisted the Reptilians in working behind the XIndi council’s back to go back to the 21st Century and try to drop a bio-weapon. The Sphere Builder admits it, but says it was to help hold the Xindi council together in this critical time, and to remember who the real enemy is. Degra is not convinced. 

Enterprise picks up an escape pod from a Xindi ship and is surprised to find Archer on board. As Hoshi translates the pod’s data, she finds evidence that the Xindi scientist Degra has arranged for Archer’s return, and he has provided a rendezvous point in space set for a few days later. With the warp drive inoperable, it’s impossible. 

T’Pol begins to become more erratic and have strange dreams; she risks her life to get into a damaged cargo bay and secure some Trellium D. We later her see her process the mineral and inject it into her neck.

Enterprise is approached by an alien vessel damaged in the Expanse. Archer offers to trade Trellium and other supplies for a warp coil. The alien captain refuses as it will strand their ship three years from home. After much deliberation and an almost violent argument with the unstable T’Pol, they go ahead with a plan to board and take the coil by force. They leave supplies and protections with the aliens; when confronted by the alien captain, Archer tells him, “I have no choice.”

T’Pol confesses to Phlox that she has become addicted to the presence of Trellium D, and he offers to help her through withdrawal, as the ship warps away with its stolen engine to reach Degra’s coordinates.  

Enterprise takes on some DS9 level ethical questions here, and for the most part it’s a pretty interesting study. There does not seem to be any other way to face the problems ahead, and Archer having to question his moral code, and even break it is itself heartbreaking. The idea of an unavoidable war would have been pretty solidly in the minds of the writers when this episode aired, and one can certainly debate if there is such a thing, or how we should or should not respond when we as individuals, or as a society, face that choice. 

Something that diminishes the overall argument though, and certainly T’Pol voicing her opposition, is my single most disliked story element in all of Enterprise: T’Pol’s addiction to Trellium D. The show certainly has its foibles, but Rick Berman and Brannon Braga making T’Pol an addict to subvert her strength infuriates me.  It’s a consistent theme in their era, subverting or diminishing women, and luckily individual writers and performers were able to keep these characters inspirational anyway. What really makes this all the worse for me in this rewatch, is there really isn’t a lot of lead up to this. Yeah, we know Trellium affects Vulcans from earlier in the season, but we don’t really get a slow burn of T’Pol suffering this addiction (unless we want to say her feelings for Trip ARE the anomaly, and I REFUSE that outright: T&T=OPT) that might warrant such a turn; it’s really just this episode when the ship is damaged and she can’t get her fix.  

What KILLS me here, is if you wanted to have something affect her for the drama, you could just as easily have said the damage to the ship, so many hull breaches, had increased her exposure to Trellium used to protect the ship, and had begun to change her mental state. Nope, we instead get a scene where she risks her life to get her drug and we even get the 22nd Century equivalent of holding a lighter under a spoon. Disgraceful, Berman and Braga, and bless you Jolene Blalock for managing to keep an engaging performance. 

There’s a neat moment in this episode though where Hoshi and Travis have a conversation about whether they will get home. Considering how criminally underused they both are this season, that was nice to see. And speaking of DS9, always good to see Casey Biggs who doesn’t get the grist that other show gave him as Damar, but glad he gets some more Trek under his belt. 

I would be fascinated to know though why in the age of computer models that ENT was already delving into, why the alien ship is obviously the repurposed main hull of a Romulan Warbird? 

NEXT VOYAGE: Funerals and a chance at halting the Xindi, if the NX-01 can remember “The Forgotten.” 

(Images taken from the main website for @trekcore; I am happy to remove the images if asked.)

[fbfh]

rocks at your window pt. 6 - ricky bowen x reader

disclaimer: this series contains smut and chapter by chapter warnings, so as with all nsfw works, ricky is aged up to 18+!! ricky and reader are 18 and in their senior year

additionally, we're working towards a ricky x therapy plot so he's going to start expressing some symptoms of mental illness and bpd but he does get therapy eventually and has a good support system but he gets worse before he gets better yk. Obviously I'm not a professional and this is for entertainment so while I have done my research pls take this with a grain of salt!! or several!! /lh

!! contains some spoilers for season 1 of hsmtmts, and previous chapters of this fic !!

wc: 5.3k

genre: hurt/comfort, fluff, smut

pairing: ricky bowen x (afab she/her) reader

warnings: mike's a good dad, mike and your mom are the most iconic single parent bff duo, mike and ricky are both water signs so there's a lot of feelings fromt he bowen boys, LYNNE IS SO TOXIC, intentional and unintentional guilt tripping, todd /derogatory, ricky's spiraling just a tad /s, lynne calls herself mommy once /nx, passive agression and emotional manipulation from lynne, comforting ricky, more (brief) one sided gina pining, more background slowburn ashlyn x red, nina being a tacky toxic bitch </3, groping, grinding, fingering, bathroom sex/hitting it from the back, wrap before you tap, pressing on stomach/external g spot stimulation (we need a name for that), mirror sex, one brief mention of porn, clit rubbing, attention whore hours, trying not to be too obvious about sex, I think that's it

summary: As if the holidays aren't enough of an emotional minefield, Ricky gets blasted with back to back phone disasters from his mom, and trusts you implicitly to help him navigate through it. You turn the night around by going to Ashlyn's thanksgiving party with your theatre friends, where it's only a matter of time before you're sneaking upstairs together.

song recs: are you in love - the regrettes, nothing came out - moldy peaches, ribs - lorde, into you - ariana grande (bathroom at a party edit), lover's spit - broken social scene

a/n: got bad burnout/depressive episode in the middle of writing this (i'm fine now /gen) so it took longer than I wanted but I'm really happy with how it turned out!! I love you all and I'm really glad you're liking this so far, it really does mean the world to me babes <333 Also thank you again Cici for proofreading!!!!!

tags @yesv01 @thatawkwardlittlefangirl @afidiofobia @aliyahsutherland @hopefullhearts @pikzel @demirunner @matiere-detoiles @ifilwtmfc @uselesssapphickitten @nxstalgicnxbxdy @ggclarissa @n-slayaaaaa @stormi-ames

Ricky has been dreading the holidays this year, and he knows his dad has been too. When she left, she took that warm hustle and bustle, that rush of excitement was with her. But he and his dad weren’t totally without holiday spirit, thanks to you and your mom. Your mom and Ricky’s dad bonded over PTA meetings and having their kids star in the same show, quickly becoming the single parent friend the other needed. Since your mom has been through the divorce wringer, she’s been there to support Mike, encouraging him to be there for Ricky and prioritize him. Mike has found a lot of strength and camaraderie in your mom, so when the holidays begin to approach, a joint thanksgiving seems like the obvious option. 

Pooling resources, helping each other cook, and navigating relatives together will both be much more manageable with a friend by your side, so they’ve been bouncing between each other's houses for the last week or so, coordinating recipes and travel plans. You and Ricky have been helping around rehearsals and homework too - just last night Mike watched you two sit at his kitchen table making paper leaves and turkeys, laughing for hours. 

It’s finally turkey day, and you and Ricky are wrapping up the last decorations while your mom and Mike get the final dishes out of the oven. Mike watches you two talk, giggling at something or other ever few minutes. He hasn’t seen Ricky like this in a long time. A few months ago if Mike had asked his son to do festive arts and crafts with him, he would have laughed. Now you’re both approaching him with a giggle, asking him to decide which hand turkey is better. Yours is really colorful, but Ricky’s has a funky little hat. He sucks in a breath.

“That’s a toughie… I gotta say it’s a tie.” 

“I called it,” you say with a knowing smile, and Ricky lets out a loud laugh.

“She did,” he tells his dad as you walk back to the dining room table, “she totally called it.” 

Ricky stays in the kitchen for a few moments to throw away all the scraps of construction paper and synthetic feathers, tacky with glitter glue. He watches you until you’re out of sight, and his gaze lingers. He lets out a soft sigh, overjoyed from being in your presence. It’s quiet for a moment. Mike lets out a soft sigh.

“You really like her, huh?”

Ricky looks at the last piece of cut up construction paper in his hands, the one you’d been using. He watches the way the glitter shifts in the light, the glitter you’d placed with your own two hands, and it feels like he’s looking at the starriest night sky he’s ever seen. He’s enchanted. 

“Yeah…” he breathes, obviously deeply lovestruck, “I really, really do.” 

That’s putting it lightly. He’s been trying not to dwell on the dream he had last night where you two had moved into an apartment in portland and adopted two dogs. He didn’t realize how badly he wanted that sort of thing, that life, until he saw it last night, but now it’s consumed his thoughts in every spare moment. 

Mike places his hand on Ricky’s shoulder. The gesture is reassuring and comforting, and brings a sudden unexpected wave of emotion over Ricky. 

“You work well together.” 

His words are simple, but there’s so much meaning behind them. Ricky understands this, and he’s grateful for his dad’s blessing. 

“Thanks.” Ricky says with another one of those smiles Mike hasn’t seen on his face since you came into his life. He’s happy he’s been seeing them again. He pats Ricky on the back one more time before sending him back into the dining room with you to hang up the decorations you finished. 

Mike goes back to the stove to check on the potatoes, and as it so often seems to, his mind wanders to Lynne. He's been doing his best to take your mom's advice, to let Ricky decide when and how much he wants to talk to her - if he does at all - but it's been hard. He knows how much a call from Ricky would mean to her, especially this time of year. Your mom enters the kitchen through the back door a few minutes later, and holds up a shopping bag triumphantly. 

"Butter, yeast, and nutmeg." She states, pulling out the ingredients they had run out of. Mike thanks her, but she doesn't miss the solemn look on his face. 

"You okay?" She asks, a knowing tone to her voice. Mike is so glad that she's been here. It's nice to have a friend, and some feminine energy in their house. He lets out a sigh, and finds himself rambling before he can stop himself. 

"I just know she’s miserable." He says, "All alone in a cold apartment, and during the holidays? We used to get so excited this time of year, I can't imagine how alone she must feel." 

Hovering outside the doorway, Ricky feels his stomach sink. Guilt creeps in, and he’s running up to his room before he can think.

As his footsteps recede, your mom lets out a knowing sigh. They've had this conversation many times before, and she’s happy to be there for him, to give him that support to make sure he doesn't backslide. The cleaner the breakup the better, especially when kids are involved - she knows from experience. 

"Mhm." She starts, and Mike fights a smile. He knows what she's going to say, but he needs to hear it anyway. "And what did you and her decide about communication with Ricky?"

"She promised she'd call at least once a week and I'd tell her if he wants her to call him less."

"And…?"

His silence is all the answer either of them need. 

"She’s probably upset," he says, reaching for an explanation, "I know she misses Ricky-"

"Screw that." Your mom says, pausing on the rolls she's making to look up at him. "If she wanted to, she would, Mike." 

He's quiet again. 

"Is there anything," she questions, that seriousness in her voice that only comes from a parent talking about their kid, "anything in this world, any bad feeling that could keep you from talking to Ricky for weeks?" 

"No." He doesn't even need to consider. "Of course not." 

She holds out her hand, point proven. Mike silently concedes. He's not sure what it is about Lynne that makes it so hard to detach, so hard to set and keep boundaries, but he’s grateful for the support. He couldn't do it without your mom. 

“Why don’t you put on some music?” she asks, knowing his favorite part of the holidays are his playlists. 

If Ricky had stuck around for a few more seconds, he wouldn't have found himself where he is now; pacing his room, biting his lip as he keeps opening and closing the phone app. The idea of calling her feels gross. Not calling her feels gross. He feels so fucking gross and he just wants it to stop. A wave of laughter passes downstairs as his dad starts singing along poorly to the Michael Buble now playing out of the Alexa in the kitchen. It should make him feel warm, happy, good. Instead it just makes his stomach drop and tears spring to his eyes. 

It feels like the universe is conspiring against him, throwing in his face everything she’s missing right now. He can’t get the image of her alone in a sad dim apartment out of his head. His hands shake as he holds his phone to his ear, dial tone ringing softly. She needs this more than he does, he thinks. No matter how much it’s hurting him to call her right now, he can keep it together. He can do this for her. He can be civil for a few minutes over the phone and that will give her at least a decent Thanksgiving. 

“Hello?”

Ricky stops in his tracks as an unfamiliar man’s voice reverberates through his phone speaker. 

“Uh, hi,” he starts, confused. He knows he called her contact in his phone. “...I’m trying to reach Lynne Bowen?” he swallows thickly hoping the stranger won’t hear the way his voice cracks. He doesn’t remember the last time he had to use her full name. “I think I have the wrong number.” he chuckles dryly. 

“No, you got it,” he doesn’t have time to process that before the stranger keeps speaking. “Ricky, this is Todd. I’ve heard so much about you.” 

Todd? 

“Lynne’s in the shower, can I take a message?”

He briefly wonders why she would have a stranger in her apartment answering her phone while she showers, but he knows this guy - Todd - must be her… He knows his fleeting hope that he’s wrong and this is some crazy stalker that broke into her house is just that, fleeting hope. His stomach is twisted up in knots and he can’t breathe right. His mind is racing, swirling and repeating the 10 seconds of this terrible phone call over and over. 

“Ricky?” 

Part of him wishes he could scream at this guy to keep his name out of his mouth. Hers too. He has no right to be anywhere near her. Not when she needs time to herself; so much time to herself, to figure this all out, that she can’t even be around her son. A very jaded part of him might understand if she never wanted to see his dad again, but a small voice in his head is screaming, asking why she’s okay with abandoning both of them. He’s her son, her child. Aren’t parents supposed to care about their children?

He hangs up the call before he can further this horrible pointless train of thought. He rushes into the bathroom, locking the door. He paces around. He splashes cold water on his face. He tries to get his shit together. He tries to make it look like he’s not about to break down. It’s Thanksgiving; this holiday might be ruined for him, but he won’t ruin it for his dad, or you, or your mom. He can pull it together, he can act like everything’s fine. He’s supposed to be an actor, right? 

After he desperately tries to collect himself, he heads back down, bumping into you on the stairs. 

“Hey, I was just looking for you…” you trail off. You take one look at his face, and he knows you know something’s wrong. “You okay?” 

Your voice is so sweet, so sincere that it digs everything he just tried to bury. He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. It doesn’t have to, though. He can tell from the look on your face that you understand. 

“Do you want to go talk?” you ask gently. He nods. He can feel himself fighting tears, brow scrunching up at the effort. 

A few minutes later you’re sitting on his bed while he tells you everything. He knows he’s probably not making it sound as horrible as it felt, but he’s backpedaling. He can hear her voice in his head, telling him not to get so worked up over nothing, that he’s blowing this all out of proportion. 

“What the fuck?” you ask, looking as confused as he feels. He’s about to agree, this is stupid, and you should just go downstairs and- “What the hell is wrong with him?” 

He stops in his tracks.

“That was so outrageously inappropriate. I don’t know whether or not she told him not to talk to you, but obviously she should have.” 

He lets out a small breath, the first time he’s been able to since this whole incident. 

“It was pretty out of line, right?” he says hesitantly.

“Way out of line!” you say with a disbelieving laugh, “I can’t believe you just went through that!” 

He lets out a nervous laugh, feeling some of his distress transmute into anger, and because of you, he’s sure it’s justified. 

“What kind of lunatic answers their… I don’t know who he’s supposed to be - a friend, assistant, weird invasive neighbor -” Ricky laughs, and you continue ranting, worked up for him, “But unless he’s literally her life coach or personal assistant or something, there is no fucking reason why should have answered her phone. Also why the hell would he try to strike up a conversation with you? This isn’t some little league game, or PTA meeting!”  

He can feel himself coming down from the panic that had gripped him so tight before. 

“You know, maybe - just if you’re ready for this -” you amend, wanting him to know he’s not pressured to do anything, “maybe you should take her out of your favorites.” 

He sits with your words for a moment, considering. 

“Yeah,” he says, “maybe I should.” He’s already opening his contacts to remove her, when a voicemail pops up. He must have missed the call when you were talking, but he recognizes the number as hers. He lets out a weary sigh.

“I got a voicemail…” he turns his screen toward you so you can see. 

“Do you want me to… proof-listen to it?” You offer gently.

“Could you?” there’s a fragility in his voice that makes your chest squeeze. You accept the phone with no hesitation, pressing play and holding it to your ear. 

“Hi sweetie, it’s mommy…” 

Off to a bad start.

“Sorry I missed you, Todd told me you called, so I called you right back but I got your voicemail instead.” 

Her voice drips with a tone that’s obviously looking for sympathy. 

“I hope you’re having a good holiday. Tell your dad not to burn the turkey like he did a few years ago. I won’t be here to fix all the recipes, so help him out in the kitchen, okay?” 

There’s an edge of condescension to her voice that you don’t appreciate. Ricky’s dad has been doing great, especially under the circumstances. 

“My Thanksgiving is going well,” she continues, chuckling “Todd and I watched the parade, and some of those performances were really terrible. I don’t know who let them go out looking like that, and that tacky little girl on the turtle float was seriously tone deaf…”

You and Ricky had also watched the parade, and all the performers did great. You both loved the girl on the turtle float, she killed it. She hit a high C that left you both speechless. 

“Anyway, we’re meeting up with some friends later; I think this will be the first holiday party I’ve been to in years without children. Other than that, things have been fine. It’s been quiet, and a pleasure not to spend all day slaving away in the kitchen. Call me back when you get this, I’d like to hear your voice. Bye bye.” 

If you’d like to replay this message, press 7. 

You pull the phone away from your ear. You don’t say anything, but the expression on your face tells him everything he needs to know. You slowly hand him back his phone. 

“Yeah, I wouldn’t listen to that now.” Your voice is quiet, trying to maintain your composure, “Or ever. Maybe just delete that one.” 

He chuckles dryly. “That bad?”

“Oh yeah.” you state. He lets out a shuddering sigh, and it’s obvious the toll this whole ordeal has taken on him. 

“C’mere,” you say softly, flopping down on his bed and opening up your arms for him. His chest squeezes and he’s overwhelmed with another wave of emotion. He wonders when it will stop, constantly being bombarded with complicated horrible situations he can barely handle. It’s a lot. It’s too much. 

You wrap your arms around him, dragging your nails up and down his back in that soothing way that you do, and he feels it start to slow down. He’s still upset, anyone would be, but it feels like he can handle it somehow. He buries his face in your neck, soothed by your smell, your touch, even your breathing and heartbeat. He lets out another sigh, this one relieved as he finally starts to come down from the acute distress he’s been in for the last little while. 

“You’re gonna be okay,” you say, just loud enough for him to hear you. “It’s all going to work out with some time. It’s gonna be okay.” 

He doesn’t say anything, just holds you tighter. 

“Hey, kids!” You both look up as you hear Mike call you from downstairs, “Everyone’s here, come say hi!” 

You share a look with Ricky, silently asking if he’s ready. As I’ll ever be, his expression says. 

“Coming!” you reply. 

You spend the next hour or so greeting aunts, uncles, and family friends that both your mom and Ricky’s dad had invited. A handful of elementary school kids run around; cousins, kids of coworkers and the like. After a substantial amount of wow you’re so tall, the last time I saw you you were still watching sesame street, and countless so how’s school going? comments, the parents finally rescue you from someone's grandma - you’re not sure whose - and pull you into the kitchen. You’re about to ask when you can go to Ashlyn’s thanksgiving party, but they jump in before you can.

“Thank you guys for all your help with the cooking and decorating, you did a great job.” Your mom says.

“And,” Mike continues, “since you said hello to everyone you can go to your friends party whenever you’re ready.” 

You smile, blurting out a thank you in unison and hugging your respective parents. 

“Take these with you, and tell Ashlyn’s parents we said hello.” Your mom hands you a box or two of pumpkin bites to bring with you. 

You’re grabbing your coats when Ricky gets a text from Gina, offering to walk him to the party. He texts her back, letting her know he’s driving there with you and asking if she needs a ride. A second later, his phone buzzes again.

‘Of course you are. See you there.’ 

“You ready to party?” you ask, drawing his attention back to you where it so often resides. The drive is short and pleasant. When you arrive at Ashlyn’s a few minutes later, everything’s in full swing. Making your way through the house, you see Nini in the kitchen, having some intense girl talk with Gina. Most of your other friends are in the living room, including Big Red, who seems to be flirting with Ashlyn - or at least trying to. Ricky makes a mental note to ask him about that later. You pass by EJ on the stairs, who’s ranting to no one about getting ratioed. You start to sit down with your friends, then turn to Ricky.

“Do you want a drink?” you ask, and he nods, thanking you. You make your way to the kitchen, smiling when you see a case of Ricky’s favorite soda. You grab a can for him, then look around to pick one out for yourself. You turn around only to be met with Nina. You jump slightly at the unexpected presence. Before you can even greet her, she starts talking, staring you down. 

“You need to stay away from Ricky.” You’ve been here for three minutes and she’s already off to a strong start. “You’re not his girlfriend, so stop acting like it. I should know, I’m the one who’s known him since kindergarten.” You’re trying hard to be mature about this, even with the ridiculously incredulous look on her face. You take a subtle, grounding breath and think for a moment about how to respond in a way that will get your point across without causing even more drama. 

“Wow,” you start, “okay- uh, look, we haven’t made anything official, but full disclosure, we have hooked up a few times.” 

She looks irritated, and you continue.

“Also, you broke up.” you state, a shrug, your expression bewildered at how she’s acting, “You’re not his girlfriend either.” Having said what you need to say, you grab your own beverage and leave the kitchen as Ashlyn enters. On your way out, you hear her tell Ashlyn how she’s right, that she should stop writing songs about crappy relationships and crappy boys and just write about life. 

You sigh as you reenter the living room, glad Ricky wasn’t in earshot of that. After the day he’s had and all the shit he had to deal with from his mom, you’re sure the last thing he needs is another person to confirm all of his fears. You perch on the arm of the cushy chair he’s sitting in and hand him his drink. He smiles up at you, looking sweeter than ever, and you wonder how anyone could think he’s anything close to crappy, anything less than the most wonderful endearing boy you’ve ever met. You really don’t trust Nina’s taste in people. 

“I am so sorry,” Ricky says for the millionth time, ushering you into the bathroom. You let out another sweet laugh, genuinely unperturbed by the drink he’d spilled on you by accident. You make your way to the sink, turning on the warm water and grabbing a wad of tissues. You briefly run them under the water to get them damp, and start blotting at the very large stain. Ricky does the same, attempting to remove the sticky sweet liquid from your clothes. 

“God, it’s all over you,” he smiles, and you can tell he still feels bad. 

“It’s okay,” you say with a giggle, “Now I have a tangible memory from tonight, and a great story for the drycleaners.” He starts to relax a little, sensing that you’re telling the truth, you’re not upset. Even if you were, he’s sure it wouldn’t be at him - you know it really was an accident. After a few more minutes of trying to get it out with partial success, you grab more tissues to dry your sweater back off. Ricky stands right behind you, watching you in the mirror as you do. He’s enamored by you. Everything you do draws him closer and closer to you like a magnet. 

Satisfied enough with your work and mostly dry, you turn to throw away the damp tissues. 

“Okay, I think that’s-” the words dry up in your throat when you turn, suddenly face to face with Ricky. Neither of you had realized how close you got in the last few minutes, but now your body heat is mixing and it makes your stomach twist. Your eyes are locked on each other, and the air is pulled from your lungs at the way he looks at you. The atmosphere is suddenly thick with lust, and you can hear a song playing on repeat downstairs. 

His eyes flick between yours and your lips, bringing butterflies to your stomach. His hand rests gently on your waist as he finally leans in to kiss you. It’s sweet for a few seconds, then it melts into tongue and teeth and breathy sighs. Before you can fully turn around and hop onto the counter to let him stand between your legs, he’s kissing down your neck. You sigh at the feeling, bracing yourself on the counter, and he wants to make you moan. He wants to make you whine and scratch his back like you do, he wants it more than anything right now. 

His hands run along your back, down your hips and thighs, leaning into you. He reaches the bottom of your skirt, slipping his fingertips under and inching the fabric up. He squeezes your hips while he sucks dark bruises into your neck. All the noises, the soft little sighs and halted breaths are making him want to touch you more and more. 

His hands on your thighs and mouth on your neck are making you dizzy. You want him even more, and find yourself grinding your hips back against him. He lets out a hiss, and you can feel him harden against your ass. Your eyes flick up to his in the mirror, lingering on how flushed you're making his cheeks just by grinding against him. He catches your gaze,  noticing the way you smirk at every sigh he lets out. 

“Oh,” he mutters into your neck. His tone is playful as he gets dangerously close to your ear. “That’s how you wanna play…” He nips your neck before finally sliding his hand between your thighs. His fingertips brush against your clothed cunt, feeling the wet spot that’s already formed on the fabric. When he dips his fingertips between your folds, he can’t believe how wet you are already. It makes his head spin, as he slowly pushes into your entrance. After just a few pumps, sticky beads of arousal are already dripping down his fingers. He lets out a shuddering breath at the sensation. The noises you’re making, both your moans and the wet sounds of your walls around him, make his head spin. After a few minutes, you’re holding back whines. You need more, leaning onto the counter and sticking your ass out. It’s not a hard cue to pick up on, and he’s quick to grab a condom from his wallet. He pumps himself a few more times before slowly pushing in. You both choke back a moan as you squeeze around him. He feels his head grow fuzzy at the euphoric feeling of your bumpy walls squeezing around him, and it feels like being welcomed home. He braces against the counter with one arm, the other wrapping around your hips, holding you close to him as he thrusts into you. 

His face is right next to yours, and you can feel his warm breath against your cheek as he pants at the sensations wracking through you. He squeezes you tighter, and the pressure against your lower stomach has you choking out a moan, eyes rolling back in your head.

“Fuck-” you moan, trying your hardest not to be too loud. Everyone else should be downstairs, but you’re sure anyone nearby would be able to tell what’s going on. Ricky’s staring at you in the mirror. He tries to look away, tries to bury his face in your neck and press his nose to your skin but he can’t. You look so beautiful fucked out like this, so ethereal with your eyes clouded with lust. He can’t believe he made you like this, it’s all from him, from his touch.

Your expression, the noises tumbling from your pretty lips he’s just itching to kiss are better than any porn, because you’re the one making them. Everything is better with you. It always is. You’re whining, begging for him, and you feel the vibrations of his voice as he moans right next to your ear. You feel so good, you touch him so sweetly in a way he didn’t even know was possible before he met you. He’s so close, and by the way you’re squeezing and pulsing around him, gripping tight onto his arm, you’re not far behind him. 

He holds you closer, adding more blissful pressure against your lower stomach, leaning into you even more. His other hand moves from bracing you both against the counter to rub your swollen clit, sending jolts of electricity and pleasure through you. He’s been hitting that spot inside you over and over, and it’s more than enough to send you over the edge. You hold onto him for dear life, legs shaking  as you hit an intense high, your cum beginning to drip down your thighs. You throb and pulse around him milking as his hips push and stutter into yours. 

“Fuck fuck fuck-” he babbles into your ear, against your skin, “shit, I…” 

“Oh god, Ricky,” you pant, distracting him from the words that had come up as suddenly as his high. You have his full attention, looking prettier than ever.  He keeps his mouth busy, kissing and sucking your neck, running his tongue over your skin. 

A few minutes later, you’re cleaning yourselves up and trying to fix your clothes. You’ve been up here for a while, and with how loud you got toward the end, you’re sure someone is going to have a few questions. Ricky wraps up the tied off condom in tissues and shoves it deep into the garbage can, hoping no one will find it. You start to make your way downstairs, Ricky keeping his hand on your waist to help you when your legs wobble. In spite of your best efforts, you know it’s obvious - anyone could take one look at you and know what’s going on. You don’t mind in theory, figuring it’s only a matter of time before someone puts the pieces together, but the last thing either of you need right now is more drama. 

“Hey!” Seb exclaims, bumping into you on the way back to the living room, holding two drinks. “What took you so long?” he smiles. There’s not a thought behind his eyes, and you’re pretty confident he didn’t pick up on anything between you and Ricky. You look to each other reflexively, smiling nervously. 

“Oh, uh…” you start, fumbling for an answer. “Just cleaning up.” Not technically a lie, so that works. Ricky laughs, a blush still present on his cheeks. 

“Yeah, we started talking about the show and we just…” he suppresses another giggle, “got distracted.”  He keeps looking over at you, staring at your pretty face. He can’t help it. You’re glowing in the warm lighting, the glow of the fake candles scattered around other autumnal decorations. 

“Well, come on, we’re about to start playing board games!” Seb says with an excited shrug, before returning to the rest of your friends. You nudge Ricky playfully. 

“Real smooth,” you tease, at his lovestruck gaze. He laughs and nudges you back.

“I guess I need to get better at improv. Maybe you can tutor me?” He leans into you as he speaks, living for the flustered expression on your face. You laugh and nudge him again, knowing your friends could walk around the corner and see you two like this at any minute. His gaze lingers. 

You finally enter the living room, and before you can sit next to him, Ricky pulls you into his lap. Everyone’s crowded around the coffee table where Carlos has the game set up - it’s even High School Musical themed, which is really amazing - so you’re sure the lack of space is at least some justification for where you're perched, why his arms are wrapped around you like that.  

“Okay,” Carlos says, a small smile appearing on his face, “...you two, pick a team. Knights or Wildcats.” 

You and Ricky reflexively share a look again. 

“Uh… Knights.” he says, arbitrarily. 

“I’ll be on his team,” you say. 

“Alright,” Carlos says, and begins explaining the rules. Ricky tries to suppress the smile, the warm feeling swirling and puffing up his chest at your words. You want to be on his team. He tries to pay attention to Carlos, but it’s so hard when you’re so close to him like this. He thinks that aside from the rocky start, this is the best way to start off the holidays. He can’t think of anywhere better to be than holding you, still a little blissed out, and having a great time with all your friends. 

Your thumb brushing over the back of his hand, you’re trying not to space out too. You’ve been having a great time tonight, but you can’t shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen. You let out a sigh, trying your best to ignore it, to stay present with your friends, with Ricky. It doesn’t matter now, you remind yourself, if anything bad does happen, we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it. But for now, you’re going to have a nice night with your friends, and stop stressing about what could happen next.

[northernexposureonly]

LIST OF EPISODES

NORTHERN EXPOSURE 3.03 “Oy, Wilderness”

“Five-thousand-some-odd years of recorded history, centuries of thought and planning, trial and error, research and development, finally, indoor plumbing is perfected. And, in one fell swoop, I’m reduced to squatting in the woods like a German Shepherd!”

[isagrimorie]

for the reverse unpopular opinion – 12 Monkeys and Star Trek Enterprise? (thought i'd give you one easy one and one hard one)

for this ask game: Reverse Unpopular Opinion meme

Let's start with something hard:

Star Trek Enterprise:

This is... going to be interesting. I'm not a fan of this show and it has alienated me from the first time I've watched it.

But I will give this the good old College Try.

Things I like about Enterprise: I appreciate that as a show, it was trying a new thing and that it was experimental. They tried to distance itself from the Star Trek franchise by not using 'Star Trek' at first, but they returned to it.

I appreciate NX-01's sparse interiors that gave it a more submarine look showing it's one of the first ships out in space. It reminded me a bit of SeaQuest but for space.

I appreciate seeing an Asian woman in space! I wish there was more of Hoshi just like I wish there was more of Toshi Sato on Torchwood. But also there are more Japanese surnames than Sato.

T'Pol was really interesting and I appreciate T'Pol and Trip's love story and how hard it is for them as the first Vulcan/Human pairing. Jolene Blalock is also a good actress.

Braga and Berman handed-off the show to Manny Coto who did a really good job for season 4. Only good things can come from that except for the finale.

Phlox is a fun character.

Now for the easy one!

12 Monkeys

"Death Can be Undone. But Love cannot."

I wish 12 Monkeys was more popular than it is.

It's so damned good. 12 Monkeys has a really great cast of characters, I love the awesome women.

I love how everyone is so complicated and messy. The first season, admittedly, is slow because it was building blocks for what will happen but also if you watched the last season and the first season -- it legit blew my mind because it contextualized a lot of moments in season 1.

Season 2 is when 12 Monkeys becomes the show it wanted to be from the start. (SyFy forced Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett to rebrand their show idea from something original to 12 Monkeys).

IMO, 12 Monkeys is the best Time Travel show I've ever watched. It also had such a great soundtrack!

It is also such a romantic show, in every sense of the word. The whole beating heart of why the characters do what they do. Right or wrong and right and wrong. Because of love.

Cassandra Railly

Goes through a journey from the beginning to the end -- she starts thrown into the middle of a time travel story. She cares so much for people but ends up hardened and cynical.

She always, always is about owning her own agency. (Season 3 starting episodes are rough because of that). Right or wrong, she owns her decisions and she doesn't want anyone to take that from her.

Jennifer Goines

The Artist Currently Known As Primary! Jennifer started out very lost in season 1 and first half of season 2, she's had a tragic childhood but when she finally knows who she is in this 'verse and what she can do, she slowly gains power.

And, essentially, Jennifer is the most Important Person on this 'verse

Dr. Katarina Jones

She's the leader of the Splinter program. Katarina Jones is like Kathryn Janeway except a lot more morally gray and more willing to be ruthless. She will do whatever it takes to fulfill her goal.

And she starts off unlikable (but I actually liked her from the jump). She is complicated and thorny. And she has hubris for days.

And, of course just like Janeway -- she has a moment when Jones meets her past self and it's just as fun when Past and Present/Future Janeway meet!

In the beginning, Team Splinter didn't even like each other much but by the end of the series they are a family.

It's a serious show but 12 Monkeys also has time for levity and fun, a fun time travel heist in the 80s is one that comes to mind. Or when some team member gets stuck in the past and has to find a way to earn some money.

Or when the team realized they had to steal from their past selves.

Anyway, I highly recommend this show:

"Iniate:"

"Splinter Sequence."