#once we've seen the season in its entirety

[emblazons]

forewarning: this is the longest "this is mike's arc and I'm tired of denying it" breakdown i've done in a min (it's def about gay mike bar none so. skip if you want)

I keep reading posts about "where Mike is with his feelings for Will" all across the dash now, and...while I get the idea of wanting a Mike as devastated by not hearing from Will as Will was because Mike's aware he has romantic feelings, *Arya Stark Voice* that's not him?

In the show, Mike Wheeler wears his heart on his sleeve. He is prone to emotionality and doesn't really track his feelings within himself the way Will does—is "less interior," for a lack of a better phrase, which both plays dramatically into how things are playing out with both El and Will and makes it (dare I say it) out of character to believe he's as "hurt by his own hope" as Will is when it comes to mutual feelings.

Let me see if I can explain.

First: I think it's important to keep in mind that, at least with Mike, you get someone who will subconsciously act on "inner truths" before he even realizes they're true about him—and someone who will behave according to whatever external reality deems "correct" until he realizes 1) its bullshit or 2) its not true for him personally. We see this season over season:

First with how he willfully breaks rank with authority (his parents, the police, even the community) first to find Will and then again breaks rank with even his friends to protect Eleven in season 1

Then in S2 when he throws "proper" behavior to the wind (which is even slightly acknowledged in Will's 'don't tell the others' / 'crazy together) to be there for + lowkey confess the depth of his feelings to Will (everyone say thank you shed scene)

Again (though slightly different) in S3, with how there's this bubbling thing being gay he doesn't realize has started to manifest itself—cue that comment the duffer's made forever ago about S3 being about "the monster of puberty," aka when people start to understand their own attractions—until the very end of the season with how he realizes he's not attracted to El

And finally in S4, when he consciouslly knows for a fact he's not into El and tries to hide it—quite poorly, because, as I said, he can only abide a "lie" when he doesn't realize it is one—but hasn't yet realized that the thing bubbling up inside him THIS season (that keeps slipping out without him realizing it) is his attraction to/romantic feelings for Will.

In Season 4 especially, its easy to track how this "I can lie...until I know it is one" affects Mike's romantic prospects; we see plainly that his lying about his feelings to El during the monologue was a failure because the power of Mike's whole character is rooted in the importance of him being true to himself and his heart. Season over season, we've seen that Mike has to be honest with people once he knows what he feels in order for his leadership to be effective—and by S4, he knows he doesn't love El romantically (+ has known for a HOT minute, aka since his little S3 post-kiss revelation)—which is why he tries to skirt around the issue with that "I care for you so much" rather than lie to El's face about his lack of romantic feelings.

Basically: once Mike consciously knows something is not right in either the world or inside himself, he has to act on it...or suffer the consequences of his lack of honesty. But then....what does that have to do with him not being the one "not trying to be in love" with Will?

Despite the fandom urge to deny it even in the wake of The Duffers and Finn Wolfhard themselves telling them it's true: Mike being oblivious to his own feelings, or at least consciously unaware, of his own romantic feelings for Will is a solid amount of what's driving his character's growth right now. Mike "friends don't lie" Wheeler has spent the entirety of this show trying to be as honest as possible with the people around him, and we've clearly seen as of S4 what happens when he isn't honest—the world (quite literally) falls apart.

When it comes to his romantic arc especially, it's important to remember this is true, because it means, through logical deduction, that Mike isn't hiding the fact that he has feelings for Will throughout season 4—he's hiding the fact that he's not in love with his girlfriend the way he's supposed to be, which both plays into the whole forced conforming through-line of the season and explains the crux of his narrative even as we are primarily shown that experience through Will's eyes—unreliable as they are. The thing leaking out of Mike without his knowledge is the fact that he likes boys—but the thing he's consciously hiding and lying about is the fact that he doesn't like girls the way he knows he's supposed to.

Now: does that mean he doesn't have a million subconscious responses to things regarding Will—one's rooted both in his attraction to men and his friendly/romantic/evolving feelings for him? Absolutely not. Half of what drives Mike's S4 narrative was built into his wordless/subconscious actions throughout S3, from the way we see him look disgusted with girls when they're mentioned, the way he take's El's hands off him when she tries to kiss him, and even the way he looks conflicted by her kiss at the very end of the season. Just because Mike is consciously unaware that something is happening to him doesn't mean the thing isn't happening—it just means that Mike himself is oblivious to it.

Even so: Mike being oblivious to the fact that he's attracted to men/in love with Will means he isn't consciously trying to keep himself away from Will—which is clear, if you pay attention to every moment before he gets guilted into remembering he has a GF by Argyle.

Basically, the crux of Mike's own experience with his problems is—

"I don't love El the way I'm supposed to, and it's going to cause problems if I can't do that for everyone I care for,"

not

"I am trying to hide my feelings for boys/Will and have to pretend they aren't there to be normal."

—which is a subtle but critical distinction in understanding both where he is by the end of S4 and where he's headed moving into S5.

Now: I get that it's more fun to imagine a Mike fighting his feelings for Will consciously throughout S4, but....that's Will's story and experience of his feelings, not Mike's. Mike is fighting with his lack of attraction to women more than his attraction to men/Will—which is also why you see it slip out so much despite the time/era/what he knows of what happens to gay men in Hawkins.

If Mike knew he loved Will/boys consciously, he'd be much more afraid of himself and Will than he is even as of the last shot of S4—but he's not, which is shockingly telling if you consider how he already knows what he doesn't feel for Eleven. Once he does know what he feels—his "a-ha" moment about liking Will, the same as his consciously realizing he didn't love El "like that" as of end of S3—it will be impossible for him not to address it in himself...and finally be honest/undo the damage of The Lie he told El (he loved her) during the monologue.

That's the (canonical) trajectory of Mike "The Heart" Wheeler—and why him being oblivious to his feelings for Will, not just "secretly longing without wanting to indulge hope he might have the boy he loves" the way Will is experiencing moving into S5. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Big fan of you and your blog 👋🏼 you have such great analysis on everything ❤️

Do you really think Tommy will be gone before the mid season finale? Don't you think there's a chance he'll be there the whole season like Taylor? I'm sure he's not staying but what if Tim decides to give him more screen time for the plot?

I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Hey Nonnie

I'm so flattered you enjoy my blog and find my analysis interesting! I don't know what to do with having a fan - how exciting - I've never had one before 🥰🥰🥰

I really really do think Tommy will be gone before we go on mid season hiatus and he definitely won't be there all season like Taylor was. The Taylor lasting an entire season was created by a variety of things going on all at once - JLH was going on maternity leave, which left a gap in things that they needed to do something with and the network was actively blocking the show from telling the story it wanted to tell, so they were forced into a situation that they tried to make the best of, and tried to do something different with - the entirety of season 5, but especially the first half, was a mess from a production perspective - they reshot a pretty sizeable chunk of ghost stories and lots of discussions were going on behind the scenes and Tim had also stepped back as a show runner (because he was throwing his toys out of the pram because Fox wouldn't let him tell the story he wanted to!) Fox didn't really want to fund the show and didn't really care about it. Things are very different now were on abc - the network is really excited about the show and are giving Tim and the writers room the freedom to tell the story they want to - hence the fact we got Bi Buck last season and as the 100th episode no less.

The other aspect to this is that I don't think Tim is all that impressed with LFJ's behaviour - there are rumours that he has apparently been difficult on set and refused to play some scenes out how they were written. He was also making all those cameo's and making borderline to definitely not ok comments on other platforms. He's clearly damaged his standing in the industry and I think it likely that he won't get much work come his way from the disney studios going forward!

The show clearly took action on the sm front as he went entirely silent for the entirety of the summer and even now his sm presence is next to non existent - unless its been carefully curated on the 911 sm platforms. This is very likely because they are managing him and his access (even to the point of ensuring he isn't taking pictures and video when on the lot so he can't post to his pages). We've also had only the 1 singular tv interview outing for Lou - with Oliver (because he couldn't be trusted alone as much as the fact that its Bucks arc) which is a clear indicator of things - because this was a pretty big thing when it happened - for not just bi representation, but for the queer community more widely - this is prime time network tv showing someone coming out later in life - thats perfect fodder for

My impression (very much from the outside of things but based on what I've seen and experienced over the years) based on some of the things Tim said both at the end of s7 and the beginning of s8 (which should always be taken with an entire vat of salt!) is that he has made some changes to his plans for the show - because he decided to get rid of Tommy earlier than he had intended to when s7 was still airing.

The impression I was getting from the subtext of what he's been saying, is that he had plans for the bt arc which were a bit more substantial that would've lead to a bt break up sometime in the last 2 episodes before going on mid season break. But we're now in a situation where its looking like he'll be gone by roughly half way through 8a (well it would've been half way through had he not made the plane emergency in to a 3 parter rather than a 2 parter) and that other storylines have been shifted around to accommodate this.

so yeah - I don't think there is any risk of Tommy being given more screen time for plot purposes - Tim is clever enough to have figured out how to reduce it without it impacting the story he wants to tell. So trust the process and just know it won't be much longer (and I'm sure Oliver will be the one throwing the biggest party when he's gone!)

I hope you've had a wonderful day as well 💜

[dragon-pups]

You know I've seen a decent amount of post questioning how the batch ever managed without Echo or Omega. So I've come out of my hibernation to explain from my own experience as a chaotic bitch and an adult being with responsibilities to other living beings. I can go from no thought head empty only bonk to what are you doing? don't eat that! where are your shoes its raining?! It just depends on the group.

So we all now know that Crosshair and Hunter physical fight like all siblings have and still do, hells I just watched a pair of my cousin, my adult cousins, fight to the point of actually scrapping on the ground over something not that important and in two hours they were lounging against each other watching videos and sharing memes. Siblings do this shit. We also know that they also have some verbal only spats like some small ones we've seen between Wrecker and Tech. Also normal.

What is also normal is the transference of responsibility between members of groups. Depending on the members present at the time.

Like in a family group if the parents leave for a time and there is an eldest sibling home then that sibling, depending how they were raised, will most likely increase the responsible behavior to care for the younger, or at least see them alive til the parents come home.

Or in friend groups, yeh know the "mom friend" they one that could be anything from an always assertive person to someone who couldn't speak up for themselves but will absolutely maul a bitch that insults their friends. While they may be the leash holder for one set of friends they could very well be the fuck lit dynamite stick of another, or even of the same set of friends if you add an even more mom friend to the equation. Or the opposite if you take away a mom friend one of the chaos gremlins may take up the mantle of responsibility.

That being said, the batch are brother they fight, but off the top of my head I don't remember in the few interacts before order 66 of Cross and Hunter physically or verbally fighting during a misson, with each other, but we didn't get to see much. Hunter was the responsible one, the leader. It's only once Echo was back in the picture during season 3 that it got physically during a mission. Which makes sense, Echo is Hunter's Corporal he has the rank and the experience to take charge in Hunters place. So Hunter doesn't have to be as tight, and to be fair anger will break anyone out of a responsible headspace.

I'm also extremely certain that Echo being an ARC and being from the 501st means that when Hunter is in charge that he is also a chaos gremlin.

So yeh it makes sense for them to fight with each other especially during this whole debacle. But they're highly trained soldiers they had to be efficient the entirety of their lives, I say they get to be little shits on camera as a treat.

PS I also know that the whole "the batch couldn't manage without Echo" thing is a joke. I just thought it would be a good thought experiment and behavior dissection.

[i-think-were-alone-n0w]

if i see ONE MORE PERSON say that season 4 five was "mischaracterised" or "written poorly" im gonna seriously say some (not) nice words.

So, here's a break down of five and lila's arc importance to his character, and to the show

note: this is not biased, and not centered on the ship. this is purely an analisys on his behaviour and it's not held togheter by the fact i ship them. in fact, i was the biggest diego and lila shipper, with diego being my favourite character.

to begin with, as we know, five has only ever "loved" a goddamned mannequin before.

throughout the entirety of the show, how many times have we seen this man be happy? how many times have we seen him genuinely smile?

it felt like for the first time in a good while, we saw five happy. we saw a smile on his face like never before. the look in his eyes when talking to lila, especially in this exact scene;

here we can see how in love he looks, he looks like lila put the stars in the sky just for him, he looks as if they were the last humans alive.

at last, five's ideal timeline was growing old with lila, even if it meant abandoning his entire family and leaving the two of them alone.

now, can you imagine his emotions when lila was upset and wanted to go back? can you imagine his heart shatter when he heard her saying it all meant nothing to her?

because to him, it meant everything. she was his everything now. after seven long years, he was ready to give it all up. here we see five opening up in a way, (for probably the first time in the show), where he's soft, he's emotional, and he has so much love to give. he would make her a hand-made bracelet. he would hunt for their food. he would sit there alone and water those stupid strawberries all day, if it meant being by her side and loving each other. and at last, he would tell her the truth, risking his ideal life he's achieved, but hoping that she felt the same.

but she didn't.

no, i will not deny any of diego's pain. he's been through so much and he did NOT deserve any of what happened to him. lila managed to hurt both of these men and managed to make it a mess. i dont entirely blame her, but you get me. at the same time, yes, i will pity five. he's been through so much, and at his final moments, he managed to get stuck and fall in love with someone he can't have. no matter how hard he loved her, theres was something to stop it.

in this arc, its important we see through and to five. its important we see once again how much he values love. after all, all he does fir his family, is from love. do you people remember how much he valued delores in the first season? he was protecting that mannequin with his life. here we can see how a man's desperation can push him to things, sure. but some of you don't see how he was genuinely in love here!

i love them ALL so much, and they will forever hold a special place in my heart. if you're still not convinced five was in love with lila, here's some further evidence:

- of course, the bonding moments they've has during those years, that we've already seen or never got to

- the look in his eyes whenever they talked

-"okay, love." after he gave her the bracelet;

-at the end, when he held her in the subway. that look, that hold. it held so much love. the soft and reassuring action here, as well as the "i know." in response to lila's "i hate you for this"

- the way that, even when her and diego were arguing, and she already told him she has to go back, five was still looking at her with hope and anticipation. hoping she could still love him.

-the way she's the only one he's ever opened up to. he's been in that apocalypse for far longer, and when he came back, he didnt open up to any of his family that he trusted. but to lila, he did. he would.

i could probably add more, and i'll make more if needed. what's real is that five and lila have always had great chemistry, and i didn't hate them as much as everyone says. in fact, i kind of ship them. however, this is heavily influenced by the fact i just want five to be happy, but it seems he's fell in love with the wrong person. well. not like it matters now. they're all gone. happy tua ending, fuck me

[gayelectro]

I tentatively recommend the Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds sub after you’ve finished Dungeon Masters. A friend roped me into watching it and while it has its issues, poor pacing and poor animation quality at times, the overall experience is one I highly recommend! When it hits, it HITS!

So we're doing a lot of "play by ear" on our Yugioh watch! Basically, we're going with the flow of where our hearts take us. This has been a very random and fun ride thus far. So far it's been:

Jumping in to the series with the English dub starting at the beginning of season 3/the filler Noah arc/Digital Nightmare arc. Genuinely a random and insane place to start the series after not having seen it in decades.

Finishing out season 3 and thus the conclusion of the Battle City arc. I was truly and completely lost the whole time, asked a metric fuck ton of questions. Once again, really random. Once we get to the end, I stopped her and was like "babe I have no context for these characters, we need to go back to the beginning". I love her but she simply cannot watch something chronologically unless I force her LOL

Finally we go back and watch season one and two. I sort of remember most of season one from when I watched the show as a child. Because my wife is an absolute YGO DM expert, she gives me full commentary throughout about things that differ between the manga, season Zero, the original Japanese anime, and the 4kids English dub. Sometimes she'll find a scene that's pretty egregiously changed and we'll watch the dub and sub back to back. I genuinely think this is the coolest and best way to watch YGO ever, she has so much passion and knowledge.

Then we rewatch season 3, but with Japanese dub/English sub. Now that I actually know these characters, this makes a lot more sense. I'm adopting the Ishtars. My Lord, they need therapy.

We skip season 4 in it's entirety. I cannot adequately express enough how much my wife hates the Orichalcos filler arc. There are "amazing character moments, but that come at the cost of awful characterization, a nonsensical shit plot, and easily the worst paced duels in the entire show". She says that maybe one day we can visit this season with the assistance of recreational drugs. So that might be fun in the distant future, but I doubt we will ever actually watch it.

We jump into season 5, English dub again, starting with the Grand Championship arc. The animation is pretty abysmal here, same with the characterization, but we have a ton of fun anyways. Both Kaiba and Yugi really get to shine, despite everything. It helps knowing that this is another filler arc and basically meant to save money for the finale of the show, which she tells me is when the show is at it's peak in regards to just about everything in terms of quality.

We are JUST ABOUT to start the Capsule Monsters mini-filler arc. After that is Millennium World/the finale. Very excited for these.

After we finish the show, our plan is to wrap back around and watch the movies and then season Zero. Or maybe we were gonna do S0 and then the movies, I forget!

We have discussed a little bit what Yugioh shows we want to touch on once we've gone through everything Yugioh Duel Monsters related.

We both tried to watch GX when it originally aired, but it mutually did not grip either of us. She says that the fandom at large says it gets better as it goes on, but truth be told, neither of us are interested in trying. The premise of "duel school" already bores us, to be honest, and we both remember the characters being extremely dull. We most likely are not going to watch GX ever, or at the very least for a looooooong ass time.

Yugioh 5DS, funnily enough, is absolutely the series we are most curious about. This is the one that we are most likely to watch next and it would definitely be the Japanese dub/English sub. I can't guarantee that we will watch it, but if the mood strikes us to continue watching more Yugioh but that has no Yugi Moto in it, it's gonna be this show. But we'll both be going in blind, as neither of us knows shit other than "card games on motorcycles".

And holy shit, we don't even think we've heard of any of these.

[teavandbookscuits]

Hello everyone!

As will come as a surprise to exactly nobody, I completely forgot about this blog. I did finish Sweet Home though, so there's some improvement here.

Over recent years I think we've all been in need of a cup of tea, and media is no exception. Sweet Home was where this all started, and so here is where I shall once again begin.

I had left off at episode 5, in hindsight rather early in the series, with the conclusion that two characters must have their tea privileges revoked, and one character could offer me a cup of tea. I would rather like to put you all out of your misery and reveal those who have recieved such honour and dishonour, but alas, my memory fails me in many ways. I will, however, reveal that Eunhyuk was the one lucky soul from whom I desire tea. I dare say I shall be quite irritating about this man if I indulge any more, and as such I will move on swiftly for all our sakes.

One thing tea is, among all its other wonderful medicinal qualities, is antibacterial. This, as any who have seen the show will know, would've been particularly helpful information during a rather traumatic procedure. The tea could've served as not only a morale boost for all involved, but as a true wonder drink to aid a swift recovery. Alas, I was not there to inform them of this. Instead, they had no cups of tea, and drank soju in its place.

Yes, it is true, there is not one cup of tea in the entirety of this show's first season. I hate to break the awful news in such a brusque manner, but sometimes it's the only way. Perhaps a cup of tea will help soothe your woes.

And many a tea-worthy woe the characters themselves face. Among deaths, medical emergencies, and simply sleepless nights, the potential for sit downs is positively fertile land waiting to be sown upon. I'd argue everyone in this series needs some rest and respite; a cup of tea and a sit down is all they need. A biscuit perhaps to go along with it, I know Korea has some particularly nice ones available, although perhaps these were eaten off screen. But it is clear to me that tea was not drunk. There simply could not be this level of angst and trauma if they had!

As for forgotten cups of tea, well, this show is gripping, once you get into the swing of it. You'll want to be sat down ahead of time as the show goes on, with the constant devastation necessitating a hot flask consistently on standby. But with the determination that a good cuppa can give you, I believe in you Reader. Within us we hold more strength than any of us are truly aware of, and this show is a wonderful testament to the unbreakable human spirit.

Thus my final ratings for Sweet Home Season 1 are as follows:

9 cups out of 10!

A thoroughly enjoyable and engaging show, with loveable (and hateable) characters throughout, but try not to get too attached, or you'll need more than just a sit down.

As for its appalling rating for the presence of tea in the show, I have to reluctantly give:

0 cups out of 10

Reader, it is with a heavy heart I admit, I could not find one single cup of tea in the entire show. I couldn't help but wonder, with the world falling apart, are the OSulloc tea fields going unharvested? I shudder to consider the truth. If there were a monster made of my own desire, I am sure you would agree, I would become some sort of teapot or teacup, perhaps akin to Pokemon's Polteageist or Sinistea. In an ideal world, there would've been someone there to remind everyone of the one true morale booster.

My final thoughts are as I've said above. I grew to love many of the characters, and many of my favourites died. In fact, it could easily be argued, all of my favourites died except one. But I have hope that this one will last longer. I know in my heart it is a tall order, but between you and me, I'm no stranger to my favourite characters dying. I have braved worse storms before, and can weather this one too.

As long as I remember to put the kettle on.

[rawwkfingers]

The Androids of Tara

Well. Every season has to have a stinker of an episode I guess.

I initially was really excited to see where the serial was going; having the bulk of the drama not involve the Key was a great way to offer up a different story in an otherwise fetch-quest oriented season so far. It just failed to capitalize on that with an actually interesting story

There were two main problems with the serial imo. First, there's nothing actually new in this story. We've seen the Doctor help the rightful prince get their throne from the villainous usurper before, and we've had multiple stories involving duplicates, including one explicitly using androids before. Though, credit where it's due, I did like the Romana/Strella thing. This combined with the many times the Doctor has had a look-alike heavily implies that a Time Lord's appearance on regeneration comes from the body of someone else already existing and that is a fascinating concept

Even worse though is the fact that we once again have a story about medieval politics that just fails on every level. I really tried to justify it to myself by saying "this isn't actual medieval Europe like the last story we had like this. Its an alien planet so there must surely be different rules"

But like. We're told that not only is the prince the rightful heir, but that he is literally getting crowned tomorrow. And yet the his retinue of soldiers on hand, the entirety of his military, political, and economic power is... two guys. That's it. Not even just "two guys on screen but that's as much as our casting budget allows." We're explicitly told he has two guys under his command, while the noble attempting to usurp the throne has dozens of men, on screen and off. Even once the prince is officially crowned they only have access to a few more guys despite being the literal ruler of their country

I get that they believe they're raising the stakes here, giving us the underdog to root for. But there's such a thing as too much. It immediately ruins any suspension of disbelief, especially when combined with other jarring moments. The one guard who is so absurdly trigger happy that it very quickly goes from comedic to tiresome. The religious leader who supports the prince but then just willingly goes along with the counts very explicit plan to kill the prince and take the throne for himself.

It all adds up to a serial that was at best boring, and at worst terrible. While the rest of this season has felt fresh and exciting, offering up some really interesting serial ideas within a larger Cosmic framework, this felt like something I'd have expected to see in the 60s when the writing was much, much weaker.

[denimbex1986]

'You just never know what quirky aspects of a long-running television show will begin to take on a life of its own over the course of the series. In "Peaky Blinders" alone, much has already been made of the frankly horrifying amount of herbal cigarettes the cast had to smoke throughout each season, or the somewhat shocking reveal that those distinctive hats worn by the Peaky Blinders weren't actually all that historically accurate to the real-life gang. But there's one oddity in particular that stood out to lead actor Cillian Murphy in the early going, which soon transformed into a running gag that everyone was in on.

If you ever noticed during your viewing of seasons 1 and 2 of "Peaky Blinders" that the gang ringleader Tommy Shelby never actually ate a lick of food — despite several scenes taking place in dining rooms and bars with plenty of options to choose from — you're not alone. Once Murphy himself picked up on this unintentionally recurring motif, he and creator Steven Knight apparently decided to lean into this for kicks and giggles. In an interview with BBC Radio 1, the "Oppenheimer" star took on a bemused tone as he recalled how this came about:

"These things develop over the course of the show. For example, I remember we had gotten through the first two series and then we realized that Tommy has never eaten. We've never seen Tommy eat. He sat down at tables, but has never consumed a morsel. So then we made it a kind of running gag. So throughout the 36 hours of television, Tommy Shelby never consumes anything."

'When you have the luxury of being with a character for so long, these little things arise'

If we were to take everything we see on-screen in "Peaky Blinders" at face value, we'd have no choice but to accept that the entirety of Tommy Shelby's diet consists of Irish whiskey, multiple packs of cigarettes a day, and a heaping dose of brutal violence to keep him going. Should you have ever caught yourself wondering why the life expectancy during the early 1900s was so low, well, there's your answer. As it turns out, serving as the PTSD-afflicted leader of the Peaky Blinders in smog-choked Birmingham tends to be hazardous to one's health. Who knew!

As silly and amusing as it was to institute an unofficial "ban" on letting Tommy have anything to eat, Cillian Murphy sees a greater benefit to giving television characters the time and space to create their own little quirks and oddities. In the BBC Radio interview, the subject of Tommy's eating habits only arose after a question about the peculiar way that Murphy always rubbed his lips with his cigarettes before lighting them. As he explains, this came about as a practical concern — the specific herbal cigarettes they used would always stick to his lips in a very un-cinematic way, so that quickly became a habit that Murphy directly integrated into the character. As he put it:

"So these things develop when you have the luxury of being with a character for so long, these little things arise. I will say to Steve or Steve will pick up on it, and then we'll just kind of run with it."

Although the series came to an end in season 6, the planned "Peaky Blinders" movie means we haven't seen the last of Tommy's quirks just yet.'

[mimeparadox]

I myself wouldn't have made it without prompting--not when Alex/Gabrielle and Alex/Callisto are more obvious (if not necessarily more fruitful) comparisons--but this clearly works too, especially if you center on the idea that they were both left behind by Nikita/Xena, and left at the mercy of harmful (and ultimately traumatic) influences, which they now seek to overcome--sex slavery in Alex's case, the Roman army in Eve's. Their backstories are also clearly set up as mirrors of Nikita/Xena's.

The thing is, though, that they're mirroring different things, with Alex reflecting Nikita's pre-Division life, and Livia reflecting Xena's time as a warlord. This colors everything else: Alex's backstory is about being a victim and the trauma that comes from that; Eve's about being a perpetrator (love that useful POI lingo), which also means her story is about redemption in a way Alex's isn't.

Consequently, their present-day stories take a while to become comparable, since Eve has no real equivalent to Alex's Division/REVAHNGE arcs. It's not really until Alex reaches season 3, and finds herself in Division out of a lack of anything better to do other than following Nikita, that her story once again resembles Eve--but that eventually gets resolved, and Alex finds her own path. Does the same hold true for Eve? Not having seen season 6 in its entirety, I can't say, but given that Livia's experience is specific where Alex's is general, it's hard to imagine that their final destinations will be similar--she's likely not going to be helping other warlords become good. Additionally it's quite important that Alex's path involves embracing Nikitaness (and even surpassing her in peculiar ways, such as becoming quite cavalier about killing) while Eve, as we've seen, is nowhere near as violent as Livia, and specifically follows Eli.

(That said, even here one can find interesting resonances, not in terms of violence, but in terms of drug use. Much like Xena can use violence without succumbing to EVIL, Nikita, despite her past addiction, can drink and presumably use things like painkillers, while Alex is a teetotaler.)

Should they kiss? Yes.

Has anyone made this comparison yet?

[matan4il]

Buddie 404 meta

Thank you so much to @evaneddie​ for creating the gifs for this meta post, I can’t tell you enough how much I value your help! xoxox

I keep going on in my meta posts about how Buddie are battlefield boyfriends, but it’s true on so many levels. The first call in this app proves they’re not just partners in how they take on the firefighting tasks during a call, they’re also partners when they try to solve the crime (yes, 911, please give us that podcast) and in how, when Buck is feeling that something is off with Chim, he turns naturally to Eddie. Even though Hen knows Chim better and asking her if something was off with him might actually yield some info. But this is really about Buck feeling a little distraught that something’s off between him and Chim, and when he’s in emotional distress, it’s Eddie he turns to.

* * *

OK, but speaking of battlefield boyfriends, you know how so often their movements are in sync? In this ep, they said “copy that” to Bobby at the exact same time. It’s ridiculous and cute and soulmate material, for real. Later on, when Buck makes an unintentional pun about blowing stuff up while Chim is inside with the bomber, it’s Eddie he apologizes to for his choice of words. Not that Eddie is bothered, but the levels on which they’re tuned into each other… I’m speechless.

* * *

I love that Buck isn’t keeping his therapy a secret from his colleagues. But when Bobby, who’s his boss (in charge of knowing the whereabouts of his team) and his dad figure, is asking about him, it’s Eddie who knows where Buck is and not only that he’s having a therapy session just then, that it’s an emergency one and exactly what Buck is going to talk about. The level of details he’s privy to is one usually reserved for an actual partner. And doesn’t the fact that Bobby *knows* to ask Eddie rather than anyone else just scream how much their close partnership is acknowledged and accepted?

* * *

God, the boxing scene is so much. Eddie’s the guy that Buck confides in with the anger that he normally hides from everyone. And Eddie’s the person who defends Buck, even from himself, verbally (telling Buck he did nothing wrong and he shouldn’t be apologizing), physically (grabbing the bag so that Buck wouldn’t go too hard and hurt himself) and emotionally (pulling out of his own painful experience to advise Buck to stick with therapy and not go down the path of rage). Together with the hospital jail scene in 213, this is also a reminder that Buck does open up to Eddie, not just the other way around. I swear to God, I have never seen any TV couple with these levels of mutual giving and caring, including canon romantic ones. That this scene also parallels their gym confrontation in 201 (as pointed out by the amazing @bvckleydiaz​ based on the promos already), so we get to see how far they’ve come from that initial tension to this place where they’re inarguably partners in so many ways, is a beautiful bonus.

* * *

I’m thinking of how throughout the ep, we see how much of a team Buck and Eddie are, while at the beginning of it, we see Buck telling Maddie they’re a team, but as the ep progresses, he discovers that’s not quite the case, culminating with discovering she’s been lying to him for 29 years. Add to that what I mentioned in my initial post about this ep, that Buck’s speech to his parents (telling them that when someone makes mistakes, you don’t give up on them and that you love people regardless of mistakes) parallels Eddie’s speech at the end of ep 303 (that he’s made countless mistakes with Chris, but he loves him enough to keep trying and he can tell that Buck does, too), all of this says that the show is building a better case than any of us ever could about why Eddie and Buck are the perfect couple. They complete and heal each other. Eddie’s parents thought he was a failure as a dad, while Buck admired him instantly for what a good dad he is. Buck’s parents gave up on him, but Eddie never did, even when Buck was really struggling, after quitting his job and then after the tsunami. They’re the perfect fit to heal each other’s parental inflicted wounds, to love each other where even their own parents failed to, and that says everything about why Buddie should be a canon couple, IMO.

* * *

(the following bit contains references to the Buckley secret and 406 synopsis)

So, I considered the older dead sibling theory and it became my front runner during ep 403, when we saw Maddie’s fear not only for Buck, but also over not being able to protect her child once it’s born. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about the secret, connected to my own life and family, but in connection to Buddie, I find it really comforting to see that I can correctly read the big twists and reveals of the show (this season, the therapist and the dead older brother), because it means I’m I’m not too off in reading how the show builds these up, how it constructs its narratives. When the show does carefully plant hints and then later delivers on them, it makes me feel like all of the hints and subtextual touches with Buddie can’t be ignored either. I always say that this is no guarantee of anything, but because the show does deliver on the groundwork it has laid out, that’s at least a positive sign. And I’m guessing with the released synopsis for 406, people will need some positivity. So what I can offer is this: every slow burn has some obstacles, often in the form of temporary Love Interests. I don’t think the show has invested enough in Ana’s character so far to give her staying power and be anything but a temp LI, def not when compared to Buck’s place in Eddie’s life.

(if you’re looking for more of my content, you can find it here)

[foibles-fables]

what do we think of bea not wearing her habit the entirety of the trailer or the teaser?

SO!!!! I talked about this on Twitter a little bit yesterday, but Bea's lack of habit is immediately raising some bells in my brain. One thing the trailer did super well was not giving away a lot in the context of relative timeline for its different portions, but with what were given, here are my preliminary thoughts.

Looks to me like prehaps Ava&Beatrice, Camila&Superion (seen still in their original habits in the flower shop and whatnot), and Lilith will all be separated after a short timeskip at the beginning of the season. This means that Ava and Bea have either broken off entirely from the others, or are still in cahoots with Camila&Superion but doing long-term plainclothes reconnaissance together. In Switzerland, considering the Swiss flags in the background of one of their plainclothes scenes. (guess who went to boarding school in Switzerland. Oh Bea. Poor honey.)

I think the latter would be very interesting for Beatrice's character development. Beatrice being told to very specifically NOT act like a nun, to not wear her habit, to purposefully remove herself from her vocation, and then her following those demands? That's just ripe for an identity crisis. How will she feel, in that state? What will she admit to herself and to others? What if she starts to feel too comfortable and free when she finally acts outside of the burden which she took on to protect herself from herself? Absolutely delicious.

This would lead gorgeously into the tearful Avatrice hug we saw in the teaser trailer. In that moment, Beatrice is clearly in the gray habit we've also seen Camila wearing in behind the scenes stills. Maybe restraining herself within those confines once more takes a toll on her. Maybe after experiencing herself as she should be, putting the burden on feels worse than it ever did before. I personally think this moment is going to have to do with her family, which doubles the angst there.

We do know for sure that this season looks SPECTACULAR. Absolutely cannot wait.

[messymindofmine]

So now that I've had time to think about it, I actually don't think the problem with this season wrt what's happened with Robby is a result of bad writing so much as it is bad framing. Don't get me wrong, there are issues with the writing as well in general (one particular thing comes to mind most of all) but as far as characterizations go, it's all pretty consistent to how its always been. That's what makes it worse. Robby's character as well as that of others lines up pretty well with how it's always been. Robby's doing what he has always done this season. He's adapting to his environment by becoming whatever he needs to in order to survive. He realizes that his place in Johnny's life is even more precarious now and so immediately puts on a happy face and becomes the son that Johnny wants him to be in order to survive an environment he clearly doesn't feel safe in. We can see as much the second he hears *that* news and then again in that scene with Carmen with the way he speaks to her and then gives her that lingering look. Then again when it comes to the apology tour that he does where he is apologizing to everyone yet nobody apologizes to him. Robby has always been the sort to take on blame that he doesn't deserve and we see this in his scene with Daniel where he interrupts Daniel as he's talking about juvie and takes the blame on himself. We see this immediately after with Sam as well. Robby mentions in that scene with Daniel that he heard from Johnny and Sam what happened. Since we don't see this happen, I would imagine that he heard from Johnny and then Sam told him everything when he went to see Daniel. It makes sense that Robby would want to reach out to Daniel bc that is who he is anyway. But given what we've seen of this season as well as everything we've seen before, it's safe to assume that Sam didn't apologize to him either. This isn't me hating on Sam btw, her arc this season was actually one of the very few things that I liked but if we go back to her behavior towards Robby in s3 and 4, the truth is she never apologized for anything and never really considered his feelings just like everybody else. The difference is that this time Robby doesn't turn her down and stays with Miyagi-Do. He is clearly happy to be there. That doesn't change the fact that he had to stamp down on his trauma and his feelings in order to do so. He even tried to make amends with Hawk despite Hawk literally calling him a piece of shit. If I see one more person talk about how funny the way Hawk spoke to Robby is, I will scream. Robby apologizes to Hawk but Hawk never bothers to apologize to him. No, he in fact gets offended when Robby calls out his behavior. Of course then Demetri interrupts and tells them to just forget about it. Demetri who Robby was actually a better friend to than Hawk was in the entirety of s2. Demetri who also turned his back on Robby just like everyone else.

Then of course there's Miguel and Johnny. Now that Johnny has well and truly carved himself a place with the Diazs and Robby knows for sure that Johnny values them above Robby (he told Carmen he didn't want her in danger while having no problem lying to Robby to put him in an extremely difficult situation), he knows that he has to fit in to whatever mold Johnny wants in order to stay a part of Johnny's life. It's obvious from the moment he finds out *that* news that he's faking every smile around them. People say that the scenes with Robby, Hawk and Miguel felt exaggerated. That's bc they are. It's Robby trying to make himself as much like them as he can bc he realizes that even his place at Miyagi-Do (what was once his safe space) is now contingent upon acceptance from Hawk and Miguel. If you look, his style and the way he conducts himself change to be as much like Miguel as he possibly can bc he knows that this is how they all want him to be.

So no, it's not bad writing at all. In fact it's good writing bc Robby's body language and every facial expression that he has are very deliberate. It drives home just how unsafe he feels in this new situation that he's in. The issue is that while the writing makes it obvious that this is a very toxic situation overall, the framing makes it seem as if it's all acceptable. As if Robby feeling so unsafe that he has to yet again change himself in order to survive and the people around him (every single one of them) either not doing anything about it or making him feel even worse is all perfectly acceptable. I'll be writing more of my thoughts later on (God knows I have more than I can even handle) but for now I just wanted to say all this

[etherealnoir]

Comparing Hannibal to Found isn't exactly fair to Found because Hannibal was built on a pre-existing IP. We already knew a LOT about Hannibal Lecter before the show started, so it's a lot easier to jump in with the story when you know exactly what kind of show you're walking into. Even Law & Order: SVU did case of the week episodes before there were long-term storylines that spanned the entirety of the season/series.

Found is only on episode 4, but we've still learned a LOT in a short amount of time. As of now, we have multiple different storylines that sometimes tie into the Case of the Week. We still don't know about Zeke's abduction and what led to his agoraphobia (and we've seen him make attempts to recover), we don't know what happened to Dhan yet aside from a few hints here and there, we JUST learned about Margaret's home life in episode 3 outside of Jamie's disappearance, we're watching Lacey become more intent on finding Sir, and we're watching Sir and Gabi do this relationship waltz to figure out how they're navigating this arrangement.

In last night's episode, they introduced a child trafficking ring that may become a long-term storyline, because almost everyone on the team has a deep relationship with Child abduction cases. Also, unlike the last three storylines, there wasn't a total resolution and we watched someone get seriously injured for the first time.

I think some shows are wary about jumping into super deep storylines in season one, because it's difficult to start something when you're unsure if you'll even have a chance to see its conclusion. Once the Found writing team has confirmation that they'll have more time to build up a storyline to a satisfying conclusion, they may be more ambitious.

I realize I'm over the "Case of the Week" police procedural, not every one but most of the new ones. One and done really doesn't interest me anymore. I need a lasting impact, I need an overall story.

I think it's the fault of Hannibal. That show really did case of the week right.

They had two cases, the Minnesota Shrike and The Copycat (Hannibal), that had an impact over the entire show. The audience got to watch Will change and adapt because the case really impacted him (TMS) and infiltrated his minds. While then trying to solve the main case of The Copycat/Hannibal the Cannibal and using everything he was experiencing on the case of the week to solve the Copycat.

Take Found. I like it, but I think it would benefit from Gabi trying to solve a confirmed long-term kidnapping, like hers. It would be much more impactful emotionally and give a better reason for her detaining Sir. Then, in between her looking for the long-term kidnapper, she makes him help her find other kidnappers.

They have the case right there. Margaret's son. That case only being used for her story is irritating. Make it the case of the season. It's so much more interesting than her going to the bus station looking with no real reason other than that's where she chose (maybe that's where he went missing, I might've missed the explanation), and it makes her "super power" less of a gimmick.

To be fair, we haven't seen the episode of how Gabi came to find Sir, so who knows, that could change everything for me, but so far, I'm just not understanding why she chose detaining over turning him in.

Will Trent does killer of the week in a way I enjoy. But again, it's about lasting impact and having something to solve in between cases.

I also think it's a writing thing. I do watch and love police procedurals, and I know the whole point is that a casual or first-time viewer can just hop in whenever. But the writing can be a little too on the nose and never give the viewer anything to interpret themselves can be done in a show with an overarching story.

[mc-critical]

Despite of the "rough" first season, I think we can all agree that the Janissary rebellion episodes were great. There is so much to enjoy here: a situation quite different from what we've seen, with comparatively higher stakes and especially, Mahidevran and Hürrem protecting each other's children. The amazing showcase of their motherly instincts that care only for the nurturing and safety of these kids, without ever taking into account that they are the enemy's, completely stole the show.

However, what I loved even more, is the aftermath of this protection, that served to drive one of the most human moments of Mahidevran's in front of Hürrem: her going to her chambers and trying to return her ring.

It was definetly an unexpected visit, a move no one would really see coming, judging by both Gülşah's look when she found out they were going to Hürrem and Hürrem and Nigar's surprised faces when they see her there. But it's been something she has thought through, something she's been wanting to settle for a while now. Given their previous confrontations, it makes us question what exactly is Mahidevran up to, what will she say and how exactly will she return that ring.

We see that Mahidevran's intentions were, in fact, genuine. She immediately reveals what motivated her and the fact that she starts off right with this is very telling in that she wants to be in good terms for once. There is only that feeling of gratitude. No insults, no vitriol, no acting proud in order to prevail. Can she manage that completely in front of her rival, though? Can she pull it off until the end?

I love the role of the ring here, because it serves as a visual demonstration of Mahidevran's inner conflict. Throughout the whole scene she's fighting with herself, consistently wondering whether to do the right thing or let her utter disdain for Hürrem overcome her once again. The reason she decided to come is something she would never allow herself to disregard: Hürrem's protection of Mustafa means something, because it's something she didn't even consider possible for her enemy to be able to do, something unbelievable. ("Hürrem was the one who protected you?") It's shocking and incredible for Mahidevran and she would certainly feel obliged to return the favor the only way she knows how, with the thing she now has, but Hürrem is desperately searching for. This is the first time she makes an effort to reach out to her, that's why it's not so easy. The person in front of her is unpredictable and fierce and her words could possibly drift Mahidevran away from her purpose, ignoring her attempts of solidarity. For every instance of this, she looks at the ring, as to remind herself why she's there in the first place.

But the same emerald ring in itself, is another aspect of her struggle in this scene. Up to this point, it is not the symbol of the SOW yet, but a symbol of love, a personal current or former gift with a deeply personal value. The ring meant a lot to Mahidevran even before Hürrem and it still holds its meaning, even after the supposed loss. That's why she wanted it so much after all, would she just willingly let go of it despite of the reason? Even after all these years, it was a chance for her to maintain hope in SS's love, to show to herself that she holds a place in SS's heart anyway. If she gives it to Hürrem, no matter how much she wants to, wouldn't it mean defeat? Wouldn't it mean her symbolically letting Hürrem to Süleiman's love permanently? Is it something Mahidevran can afford? She can't put her finger on it throughout the entirety of their conversation here and it shows. She knows she has to return that ring, but doesn't really know how, hence her diverting the conversation to a different topic entirely after she thanked her for Mustafa:

Mahidevran clearly wants to work her way until she reaches the desired moment, for she has to find out how is she gonna tell her that she has the ring, let alone give it back. She's still figuring out what to say, since she's doing something she's never done before.

And here come her "obstacles" that create and empower her inner conflict:

Don't get me wrong, I completely understand Hürrem's defences here. It's obvious she would put up that attitude to the person who would principally never miss a chance to humiliate her. How could she predict a peaceful visit from the one she forcefully had to ask forgiveness from, who derides her at every turn, who, not three episodes ago, gave a present to her son, but then appeared in front of her and "revealed the whole facade"? No way. It's a mask she has to put, to act high and mighty, to show she's the favored one his majesty shall consistently visit, to make it clear she shall always have that over Mahidevran. She's used to it already, treating it as something she needs to do during their every encounter.

But these same words, along with Hürrem telling her she will invite her for a şerbet on the terrace, put Mahidevran in a rocky position and make her doubt her first-try decision more and more. The moment she hears Hürrem mention Süleiman and all her lines one after another let her slowly "snap back into reality", be who she's always been for Hürrem, creating a neat parallel between both of them that seals the whole scene: with how Hürrem was like here, Mahidevran also saw her as she always had, leaving all existing contradictions behind. Because after Mustafa told her what her rival did, she saw a new side of Hürrem that she had never shown in front of her. And she acted accordingly, by attempting this very thing in the first place. Hürrem could've also witnessed Mahidevran's "weird" behavior, however the only thing she could do is act in utter disbelief - expecting another tricky "facade" and "preparing" herself with words just in case.

With the way the confrontation develops, they both get the confirmations they seemed to have wanted, setting up and then discarding the theme of a possible change, especially in Mahidevran's eyes. Hürrem is still the same Hürrem she's always known and it's not worth the try anymore. Conversely, Hürrem makes of this a usual conversation between them, with Mahidevran later giving her the hint that she has the ring to "call out" the symbol Hürrem thinks it is. ("That ring is my soul. It would harm anyone but me." - "If that ring is your soul, don't drop it. They will trample it underfoot.") Hürrem realizes the intention eventually, but it was too late and the probability for Mahidevran to ever return it to her is still out of the question.

And Mahidevran leaves without doing anything, with Hürrem figuring out the ring is in Mahidevran's hands. This way the dynamic between them stays the same.

This scene feels incredibly telling of Mahidevran's character development. There is a chance to let go of what the ring entails at the moment (her love for SS), but the feelings she has for both Süleiman and Hürrem render it impossible so far. She couldn't let go of it all, even for a moment, as of yet. But I find admirable and neat that she was willing to try it at this point of the show, it's just that it would still take her a long way to go to get there. She will get there, but not yet. Not from the first try.

[i-choose-liam]

Stress Buster - King Liam x MC

A/N: I apologise for the length of this post for those who want to scroll past. I wrote this on the fly and I'm posting it from mobile, so I couldn't add the "Keep reading" line. Sorry! 💙

Hello! This is my first time posting a fic in quite a few months. So any feedback is appreciated. It's sort of a continuation (with a major leap in between) of my TRR Chapter Tie-Ins series. You don't have to read the previous parts to make sense of this story. For those who haven't read the previous parts, my MC in this series is Riley Spencer, a law school dropout and twin sister to Dani Spencer, the MC from Lovehacks. So this is actually a The Royal Romance and LoveHacks crossover.

This is for the anon who asked me to write a fanfic about Liam teasing a tired Riley. It's a bit different than what you asked for, but I hope you like it, anon! ☺️

***

It was the end of a long, tiresome week. Liam was holding himself back from grabbing Riley and jumping into bed together. He took deep, calming breaths as he sat on the ottoman and took his shoes off, watching his Queen fire away some rapid texts on her phone. He wondered how it was possible that she grew more and more beautiful with each passing day. There she stood by their bed, holding her phone up at eye level.

"Constantly looking down at the phone causes neck and spine problems, babe", she had told him once.

A small smile curved the corner of his lips, as he took in the sight of her. Those silken locks in ombre, which he had curled around his fingers nearly every night since their wedding. The graceful bearing with which she carried herself, even as she stood still. And that face - the one which had illuminated his life, like the moon did to a clouded night.

"Are you texting Madeleine?", Liam teased.

"Yes"

Normally, that name was enough to make Riley roll her eyes or crack some joke about the Countess. But she kept typing away, filling in Liam about some event she had to attend on Monday and how important it was for the apple export. It didn't sit well with Liam to see his lovely wife in her Queen mode when they had done with their duties for the day and were now alone in their bedroom. He shed his coat and unbuttoned his collar as he walked to her. The fading smell of her shower gel and deodorant, with just a smidgen of that womanly musk, was what greeted him first. Liam placed his chin on Riley's shoulder from behind, letting his arms wrap themselves around her. He closed his eyes as he kissed her cheek, gently rocking her sideways in his snug embrace.

"Honey, not right now. This is important stuff", she said, without looking back at him.

Liam didn't get upset or angry. He smiled in defeat as he recognised what was happening. He let go of her, but couldn't help putting his hands on her shoulders. He said,

"Do you realise what's going on?"

Riley said, still looking at her phone screen,

"What?"

"You're pulling a Riley"

That earned him a tired glare from over her shoulder. Liam grinned.

"I'm sorry but that's what this is. You have been doing so much these last few weeks. And unlike a normal person when overworked, you just jump deeper into the deep end"

She said, pouting a bit at her phone as she typed,

"This is not a "Riley". I'm just... just busy"

"Darling, you remember what happened the last time you got overburdened and wouldn't let anyone help you?", Liam reminded her, "You ended up eating all the cake at Maxwell's birthday, you called Drake a denim whore, then you wept while hugging both our corgis, and kept saying "It's a cool name, Mr. T! Mr. T's a cool name!*"

Riley's shoulders stiffened a bit under his hands. Liam smiled and massaged them.

"Do we want an encore of that?", he asked, trying to keep the smile out of his voice.

His wife was stubborn as she was beautiful. She said,

"There's not going to be an encore cause I'm not overworked. I've got everything under control. Totally"

She shrugged his hand off her shoulder and took her phone to the bathroom. Liam decided to let her have her privacy. But he was worried about her now. She had confided in him about her law school days, and how she had been put on "leave" by the school for reasons concerning her own mental and physical well being. That was when she had started working as a waitress and met him.

'Ah, fateful night', Liam thought.

How fearless and carefree she had seemed to him then. In a way, she was still all that. But her type A personality reared its head every now and then when the going got tough. If she kept throwing herself into work 24x7 like she had been doing lately, Liam was sure there would be repercussions for her health.

'If only there was someone who could...'

Liam smiled to himself. There was. There was someone who could pull Riley out of her workaholic spiral. The only person who could do it in fact.

Liam checked the time, and making sure it was still daytime in San Francisco, he called.

"Liamm, hii!", answered the voice from the other end.

Liam grinned at that enthusiastic tone and the thumping sound of music coming from somewhere behind his sister-in-law. He said,

"Hello, Dani"

***

Riley had back to back appearances scheduled before apple picking season. As a suitor for Liam's hand in marriage, she had hated the Cordonian obsession with apples. But as the Queen of her people, she had come to realise that the apples were a symbol of the Cordonian spirit. The Cordonian Ruby was one of their most valued exports and she knew its importance to the Cordonian morale and economy quite well.

"Riley, this is such a lovely dress. I didn't know you had something from Ana de Luca's summer '19 collection", Hana said.

Riley had to turn her head to look at Hana, who was sitting next to her in the car. At first glance, she saw a large apple in place of Hana's face.

'What?'

Overworked for the last few days, she had to shake her head to clearly see the winsome face of Lady Hana Lee.

"I haven't even seen Ana's summer collection this year, let alone buy something. What are you talking about?", Riley said.

Hana showed her the webpage on her phone, the picture just taken that morning... of Liam and Riley leaving the Parliament.

Her mind was so bungled with apples and all the bullet points on her schedule for the day that she had to take a minute to think. Hana pointed out,

"This was taken a few hours ago. But you've been with me since morning"

Riley asked, clearly confused,

"What?"

Hana looked concerned. She said,

"Riley, you were photographed with Liam outside the Parliament this morning. But that can't be you cause you have been with me all day. So who is this? And what happened to you? Are you okay?"

In a quick snatch, Riley had Hana's phone in her own hands. She speed-read through the article and slowly scrolled past the three pictures. Only her side profile was caught in the pictures, most of it hidden by a gigantic hat. Riley scowled, angered but not scared. She handed the phone back to Hana.

"That's my twin sister", Riley said, "And she and Liam have a lot to answer for when I get to them"

***

Come evening, Riley nearly stormed into the palace, followed by her assistant who frantically tried to keep in pace with her. She had confirmed with Liam's assistant that he was at home after the day's work. Dani she hadn't bothered calling because her head already felt like it would burst. If she had to argue with her reckless, impulsive sister for one...

"That's one big butt to carry on your neck, butthead"

Riley turned around at the call that had come from behind her. Dani stood laughing in the distance, in casual attire that made her stand out even more amidst the palace interior. She met Riley halfway, hugging her tight.

"Oh Riiless, it's been sooo long!"

Dani hugged her tight, shaking her a bit. Riley would have offered an even tighter hug which her family, the Spencers, were known for. But she remembered what had put her in a bad mood for the entirety of her day.

"The photos this morning", she said, without any emotion.

Dani drew back, still grinning,

"Your press secretary didn't tell you? I was on my way to surprise you here at the palace. She... what's her name... like that cookie Mom likes?"

"Madeleine?"

"Yeah, that one. So she saw me and she was like, "Ah the twin sister". I tried to be polite and all but she didn't seem to have time for that. She asked me if I'd be okay to stand in as you for a few pictures for the paparazzi. I thought what the hell, and did it"

Riley folded her arms and asked, raising her eyebrows,

"Oh really? You just conveniently happened to run into Countess Madeleine and she asked you, even though I was just a phone call away, to take pictures with Liam? And for whom, the paparazzi? Dani, I know this is some stupid prank of yours but you've really lost your touch. That is so absurd I can't even..."

"I'm not kidding, seriously", Dani explained, with an earnest expression, "I told her that someone might notice the slight differences in our features. You know, twins being mirror images and all. She said that your face was plain enough to not warrant such close scrutiny. Yikes"

Riley bit her lip. She said,

"Fine. That does sound like something Madeleine would say but it doesn't make any sense why she would want me and Liam to be photographed together by some paparazzo"

Dani explained,

"Right? I asked her the same thing. She said it was because rumours have been going about your marriage losing its spark cause you two are barely seen together in public anymore"

Ouch.

It took Riley a moment to counter that. She tried,

"But... it's not... it's just because we've both been busy with our individual duties. There's nothing wrong with our marriage. We love each other"

"I'm sure you do, Riles. Don't listen to what the haters say. They have nothing better to do", Dani assured her.

Riley couldn't stop thinking about it though. Had it really been so long since she and Liam had been seen together in public? She couldn't recall the last time they had had a private moment together let alone one in front of other people. She had thrown herself into the role of the best Queen she could be and yet...

"You okay?", Dani said, "If I had known it would bother you so much, I wouldn't have done it. That Madeleine said she would let you know and you'd be okay with it"

What hurt her - more than the speculation about her marriage - was the fact that Liam had gone along with this scheme. He had let himself be photographed with Dani as a substitute to his lawfully wedded wife.

Riley had to ask,

"What did Liam say? He must have felt pretty uncomfortable pretending you were me"

"I don't think he noticed it was me and not you. We didn't say anything to each other. We just walked side by side, not even holding hands. And that was it", Dani shrugged.

'No way. Not in a m...'

Riley shook her head, giving a little laugh of disbelief.

"Now that's taking it too far. Liam would have immediately known it was not me. Or Madeleine must have told him it was you. Yeah. That's why he..."

Really? She thought to herself. Did Liam really not care or notice that the woman next to him wasn't his wife?

It hurt. But Riley endured. She put on a smiling face for her sister and saw her to the guest chambers.

***

Riley dropped the impassive act when she walked into her own bedroom that she shared with Liam. He was sitting on the settee, reading a book. Like a child in want of attention, Riley walked over and stood right in front of him. Liam looked up at her from his book then, asking,

"When did you get in, my love?"

Oh the nerve.

She folded her arms across her chest, trying her best not to let her cheeks swell in anger like they always did. And which was enough to make Liam not take her seriously as he kept trying to "puncture" her cheeks instead.

"Did you seriously pose with Dani this morning and not know it wasn't me?", she asked.

Liam closed the book, his perfect eyebrows furrowing just a bit. He asked sweetly,

"Dani? Your sister?"

"You posed for paparazzi bait shots with her this morning. Did you really not know it wasn't me?"

Liam stood up and peered down into her face. He said sincerely,

"Riley, I really didn't think for a moment that it wasn't you. And Dani... when did she arrive? And why was she the one posing with me?"

Riley recapped for him what Dani had told her. He sighed, scratching the side of his brow.

"That's too much, even for Madeleine. I'll talk to her"

"I'm not jealous or something that you posed for a picture with my sister. It's not that", Riley said in small voice.

"What is it then?"

She could feel her stupid cheeks inflate as she spoke.

"It's just that... you couldn't even tell that it wasn't me. I know Dani and I are identical twins but I thought...", she mumbled, "I thought you would always be able to tell"

"Oh"

That's it? Oh? That was what he had to say in his defence?

Liam said, a bit sheepish,

"Well, to be honest with you, we didn't talk during the photos. She was wearing a very... interesting hat that hid nearly half her face from me. I supposed that you were busy and didn't want to talk, that's all. I didn't want to annoy you"

This wasn't something she had expected to hear from her Liam. Riley gripped his arms with her hands, saying,

"You don't think I'd ever be so mean and want to avoid you? Not you, Liam. You're the only reason I'm even here. You know that, right?"

He took her in his arms. But cautiously, she noted.

"I know. I'm sorry", he said, "It's... you have been so busy lately. I know how hard you try to give your best to everything you are called upon to do as the Queen of Cordonia. I just didn't want to annoy you when you have been working yourself to the bone lately"

That sure did it. Riley could feel the tears murking her vision. She had been so occupied with being a good queen lately that she had forgotten who she was doing it all for. The man who was holding her in his arms like she were made of fire and would burn him any instant.

She didn't want to know the answer to it but she asked anyway.

"Liam?"

"Yes, dear?"

"You're not scared of me, are you?"

He stroked her hair away from her forehead, smiling.

"Of course not, my love. I'm in awe of your strength and your courage every day. But you have never given me any reason to fear you"

Throwing herself into his embrace, Riley muffled her face against Liam's shirt. He seemed to panic.

"Hey. You okay? What's wrong?"

Riley mumbled,

"I pulled a Riley"

She could feel the laugh reverberating through Liam's chest. He kissed the top of her head, saying,

"There, there"

"I'm so sorry", she said, sniffing.

"Don't be. I appreciate how much effort you put into being a good ruler. You have no idea how grateful I am for that", Liam held her face so she was looking up at him, "But nothing's worth the anguish and damage to your health. You are the most important person in the world to me. And if anything were to happen to..."

Riley sniffed petulantly, interrupting him,

"Why am I like this?"

Liam kept reassuring her, kissing her tears away.

"There's nothing wrong with you, my love. I just wanted to remind you to take it easy"

She wiped another tear falling down her cheek. The exhaustion of the past few weeks was catching up with her. More than that, she was chiding herself for reverting back to her old workaholic ways. She didn't need all the stress when they were trying for a baby.

Liam looked at her like a sad, guilty puppy, which just added to her confusion. He suddenly pulled her closer.

"Oh my darling, I'm sorry. Don't cry. I'm so sorry", he said.

"Why?", she wondered.

"If I had known it would make you feel so bad, I never would have agreed to Dani's plan"

Hold up.

Riley looked up sharply through tearful eyes that were now blazing with a slow fury. She repeated,

"Dani's plan?"

Liam confessed,

"Yes. I asked her if she knew how I could stop you from overworking yourself to a burnout, and she said that she would fly to Cordonia and help. She didn't tell me much. She just said that I shouldn't speak a word to you or her today if we met in public, and that she would handle the rest. I knew it was not you with me this morning outside the Parliament, but since she had forbidden me from speaking to either of you, I didn't say anything"

Liam was startled when a woman's voice in an American accent called him "Tattle tits!". Both he and Riley turned to see Dani standing in the door to their bedroom, with her hands on her hips.

"For the record", Dani said to her sister, carefully taking a step backwards, "Lady Hana and Madeleine were in on this too. So you can't just punish me for the whole thing"

Riley gave her husband a sweet smile that spelled murder. She said,

"I'm going to deal with you tonight, right after I kill my sister"

She could tell from Liam's eyes that he was up for whatever sexual punishment she had hinted at. He said softly, so only she could hear,

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me"

She shook her head at him in horror, saying,

"Oh my god. You only spent like half a day with her... Jesus Christ. Dani!"

Liam couldn't help but grin as he stood there watching. Dani dashed out of their rooms with a laugh, followed by the Queen of Cordonia and her shoe.

"Oww!", he heard Dani yelp from somewhere outside, "That hurt, you jerk!"

The loud bickering he - and the guards - could hear outside reminded him of similar occasions from his own childhood.

Not wanting to get in Riley's way when she was in an avenging mood, Liam took his phone and dialled a number.

"Leo?", he smiled on hearing the voice, "Hello to your filthy self, brother"

He sat down to catch up with his own sibling while Riley punished her imp of a twin outside.

---

*That line's from a Key & Peele sketch. God I miss that show.

[oliverdant]

"Prochnost" takes Oliver and his newfound family (his adult kids just arrived from the future, no big deal) to Russia to track down a way to going up against the Monitor and deal with the impending Crisis, and that apparently means several things: 1) The return of Oliver's (Stephen Amell) good ol' frenemy Anatoly (David Nykl), and 2) Oliver and Mia (Katherine McNamara) get to show off their fighting skills in an underground fight club.

That's no sweat for Mia, since that is, after all, how we met her in the first place. She spent most of her life training with Nyssa Al Ghul, and she's pretty much a pro-fighter. And her dad's the Green Arrow, so basically this should be a piece of cake. It's those long-buried emotions that are going to be the tough part to deal with.

The whole cast is also dealing with their own emotions in real life, as the show just wrapped production on its series finale last week. We hopped on the phone just a couple days after wrap with McNamara to get the scoop on all of it.

E! News: Is it really strange for you guys to have fully wrapped production?

McNamara: You know, it's funny, 'cause yesterday we had one more pickup day where I shot one scene for episode nine and then insert shots and all of this, and yesterday was just such a short day. It was just fun play time with the crew. But the day before was the big day, the last official day of production when Stephen wrapped, and Emily wrapped, and everybody else. There was one scene in particular that we had so many people in that they series wrapped about 10 people when we finished the scene. And that's when I cried, because there are so many possibilities for the future of what the Arrowverse could be, especially for me, but it will never be the same. This is special, this is unique, and you know, the people are what made that show so iconic, and that was really special to be there for that moment.

This next episode is heading to Russia and it looks like there are some really good family moments for Mia and Oliver. Can you talk about what's happening in Moscow?

It's really great for me, because when I found out who I was on the series, I watched the entirety of the show. At that point, it was six seasons worth of Arrow, and one of my favorite moments was Russia. I was absolutely head over heels for David Nykl. I just think he does such a brilliant job, and Anatoly is so fun. He's a fun character where his loyalty is always switching. They're always wondering whether he's going to appear as a friend or as an enemy, and when I found out I was going to get to work with him, I was simply over the moon. I just think he's absolutely brilliant.

Anatoly is such a huge part of Oliver's past, so what can you say about how that factors into the father/daughter bonding? How much is Mia going to learn about his life?

The thing about this is that Oliver is very aware that if he's bringing his children to Russia, there's a lost of his past that could get exposed that he may or may not necessarily want his kids to be aware of. And he struggles with that, and he tries as any parent would to shield and or protect his kids from discovering his dark past, and whether or not he succeeds will be another story, because he happens to have two very smart, strong-willed children who kind of don't follow instructions all the time.

But what's great about it too is you get to see Mia follow in his footsteps in many ways in this episode, and you saw a few moments in the trailer that are very indicative of what the entire episode has in store. It's my first episode where I really got to work with Stephen in an extended period of time and a lot of one on one stuff with him. It's such a great episode to get to watch him and be a part of the story in so many iconic ways.

When I talked to Ben Lewis, he was saying that you guys didn't really know Stephen that well, so the actors were kind of going through the same thing the characters are going through, getting to know this person they knew so much about without actually knowing them. Did you have that same experience?

Absolutely. Most of my interactions with Stephen up until that point had been social interactions or show gatherings or wrap parties or things like that, and that's a different experience than when you're spending a day on set with a person. And it was kind of a wonderful way to get to bring the story to life in getting to know Stephen and getting to know the character relationship and getting to build that very organically. And I think it played out really beautifully on screen, and Mia and Oliver have very similar sensibilities, but also there's a lot of Mia's sense of humor that mirrors Felicity. So you get to see quite a bit of banter between the two fo them, and Oliver's trying his best to be a good dad, but Mia will only accept so much help and direction, and she has a mind of her own and Oliver very quickly discovers that, much to his chagrin.

Mia has quite the past too, and so far she hasn't been very willing to share that with him. Is she going to get to that point where she feels comfortable opening up to him?

I mean, at this point Mia isn't very good at emotional conversations. Her childhood was spent Nyssa Al Ghul, who is also not the best at emotions, so it's interesting to get to see that. But what Oliver does get to see in Mia and what she does get to show him is her fighting skills. It's the first time that Oliver really gets to witness Mia do what she does best, and I think it surprises him, and it's definitely a sense of pride for Mia that she gets to show her father, this is what I do, and this is how I do it, and this is my domain. And it's something that the two of them can connect on and relate on, but it's also...she wants to impress her father. She wants to make him proud, and she has many opportunities to do that in this episode. Whether or not she succeeds is another story, but that's to be seen.

How does he react to finding out his daughter is this badass fighter?

I mean, I think he's worried for her, right? He wants her to be safe and wants her to be OK and to not have to fight for her life, but when he sees it, I think it makes him proud. I mean I can't speak for him, but I would like to think that he sees a lot of himself in her and uses this opportunity for the two of them to work together and to build a future together even in the limited time they have. Because of course Oliver knows that his time, at least according to what the Monitor says, his time is potentially coming to an end, whereas Mia doesn't exactly know that or know the exact timeline of that. I think he has a little bit of reassurance that she's gonna be OK no matter what happens.

Are Mia and William at all worried about the fact that they were just thrown into the past and they left a whole future behind?

There's so much going on that they don't really have time to think about that. All they can do to make the future better is to worry about the present or past or whatever...whatever verb tense we're using. Future, past, present, whatever it is, the time that they're currently in is the time they are concerning themselves with, and that's only by nature of the fact that in the hopes of changing the future, maybe they can affect something while they're helping Oliver complete his mission. Plus I think both of them are overwhelmed by the fact that they're actually having a chance to bond with their father in a way they never had the opportunity before.

Can you talk at all about the backdoor spinoff you filmed? How much more are we going to get to know Mia?

I mean, I can say it's very exciting, and very different, and there's really not much else I can say.

Can you talk instead about the journey that Mia is on for the rest of this season, since we're now halfway through?

We see Mia grow quite a bit this season, and she's very sure of herself in certain aspects of who she is as a person. She knows she's a fighter, she knows she's competent in that realm, and that is where she finds her strength. It's the other side of who she is, the emotional side, the human side that is underdeveloped at this point, and time and time again—we've seen it in the last couple episodes and we'll continue to see it for the rest of the season--she is, and so is Oliver, they both have a lot to work through when it comes to their relationship. His choice to leave her, her having to grow up without a father, her having to grow up in his shadow, the effect that it had on her mother and on her brother, the fact that she never had a chance to have William in her life because of her father's choices. And there's a lot of resentment there.

The one thing she's always wanted in her life has been her father, but in her mind, he's also the reason that her life wasn't what it could have been, and being confronted with him and having to deal with that is a lot for her. And it forces both of them to deal with that uncomfortable elephant in the room. And with the tensions as high as they are given the greater world conflict, it brings things to a head over the next couple of episodes, and it forces them both to deal with it in a very direct way and you get to see aspects of their character that you otherwise wouldn't have. And it definitely leaves a mark on both of them.

Can you tell me everything about the crossover?

That's the one thing I can't discuss, but it is so epic. I was definitely fangirling quite a bit while shooting the crossover.

Seems like a dream if you're a fan of this kind of thing to get to be on five shows at once.

It was pretty great. I mean, I got to kind of have this tour of the multiverse, as it were, while shooting it, and getting to work with everyone and kind of witness everything...it was really amazing. It's something I'll never forget.