#opinion not facts

[hopepaigeturner]

Hope's Review of S3: Polin

Right...let the main show begin!

Note: These are my opinions, that does not make them right, nor am I posturing that they are the only opinion. Very up for discussion with y’all as long as it’s respectful.

Note: I do not stand for hate against any actors/actresses or writers. Please, please, do not send hate to them.

As I said in my past post:

I loved moments, far more than the writing.

Penelope:

Nicola Coughlan did so well this season as the lead. 10/10 acting from her. A great female lead who carried a lot of scenes. Also the representation of a plus size girl in the sex scenes was so good.

Penelope’s looks beautifully represented her journey—e.g. her hair, the colours of her dresses.

Penelope’s character arc and growth were the best part of the season hands down. The journey of her confidence so she could face her past, expose herself, step into the light was probs the best writing.

Portia and Penelope storyline. I liked that Portia came to understand her neglect and Penelope understood the similarities between them. I was worried in pt1 that they wouldn’t be able to do this, but thankfully they did.

Penelope and Eloise. Oooh, I loved the slow burn. I liked that it was obvious the longing between the pair of them, so I had no doubt that Eloise would reunite with Pen. I liked the parallel that Colin reconciled with Pen through reading her letters, and Eloise reconciled after reading Old Whistledowns. I also liked that Eloise did apologise to Pen. But whether Pen truly apologised back…a little murkier.

Penelope and Whistledown. I’m a bit mixed about this. I was glad that Pen took some accountability and received some heat from her actions. I am glad that we were shown that Penelope was starting to use her pen to ‘give voice to the voiceless’. I’m not sure a couple speeches really showed true remorse, I've had chats with others and rewatching the scenes she apologises but then counterargues it/justifies it. And the writers definitely shied away from some of the more pricklier parts of Whistledown. But I knew they were going to do that so 🤷🏻‍♀️

The whole Whistledown has always been a bit dodgy for me. Yes, in a patriarchal system, it is a woman making a successful business. But it is also profiting off the misfortune of others, and Penelope has not been kind. It’s not exactly #feminism. @dollypopup has a really good post here about Whistledown being all of Pen's worst qualities and she also has a really good resolution to this.

The decision to have Pen, not Colin, make the plan/decision to reveal Whistledown was a change I welcomed. It allowed Pen to have her moment and take control of her actions.

The decision to keep Whistledown…I’m wondering where the writers will take this going forward for there will be a lot more complications now. Will they show hostility? Will they brush it under the carpet? Will people be ‘fake friends’ to Pen?

Polin:

Same thing again, I loved moments but I was less impressed with the couple’s general arc.

The softness and giggles, and laughter between the two was so sweet to see. I was quite sold on the friendship aspect.

The mirror scene!! Need I say more?

I liked that amongst the Whistledown drama there was never the question about whether the two loved each other. It was never used to heighten stakes. However, the fact that Penelope literally just shouted ‘I love you’ in the face of Colin’s accusations on the street—and that was able to quell the ire in the moment didn’t do it for me.

The violin covers we got? Yellow, You Belong With Me, pov?? LOVED IT.

The wedding scene. Pen’s initial hesitation before Colin nods and encourages her. How they shot the vows. Penelope’s wedding dress. The holding hands. I found it really sweet and romantic.

All their dances? The fact that they love dancing together--swoon

But the writing…

I did like the progression of their friendship to lovers in part 1. I liked the lessons part, as it was basically Colin hyping Pen up, rather than Colin tutoring Pen as I first feared.

But in Part 2, Polin were a little sidelined? I felt that even though Whistledown was hanging over them in the latter part of the season, that the pair spent a lot of time apart. I think it didn't help that the subplots meant we literally had to wait long periods of time before we returned to them.

I’ve been hearing rumours about a lot of scenes, especially steamy scenes, being cut which makes sense because from the amount Nicola and Luke were talking about it I was expecting more. Then again, the ones we got were definitely…spicy. But also, in all honesty, if a production is running short for time and needs to make cuts, the first thing to go will be steamy scenes over dialogue/character scenes. Even if this is Boinkerton.

I cannot believe they cut out Colin's love speech from the book. Like, the classic Bridgerton love speech? His Bridgerton love speech? While I did like the one in the show, they could have easily added the other speech as the sentiment is exactly the same.

But I think the biggest problem with Polin was…

Colin’s lack of character exploration.

So, on we go to the equally most important character this season, even if he felt like the fourth or fifth.

Colin

This is my biggest annoyance. We get all this complexity from Penelope, the journey of self-love and confidence, coming to terms with the past (although not as much as I would have liked). And also, all the development/healing with her family and Eloise. But we barely get anything from Colin.

And yes, this is a romance show that is geared towards women and a wish for complex female characters. But gosh darn it, you need your male romantic lead to be interesting too!!! He’s the main plot of the season!!

We had all this talk about him putting on a mask and needing to just be himself, we had Pen talking about his sensitivity, we had this interesting concept of jealousy around his writing. And yeah, we got a bit of exploration, (more talk rather than showing), but he did not get nearly enough screentime to explore these things in depth. And that’s so annoying. Just because he’s the guy doesn’t mean he shouldn't get a meaningful arc. I also think that is why Polin flagged for me in the second half, because you had a really developed individual and a half-baked one.

When Colin gets to the conclusion about his purpose being Penelope, we only got one prior scene of him on his own to show that he came to that conclusion. Only one?!?!? Why didn't we have a full scene of Penelope exploring with Colin why he was jealous? Or why he felt the need to put up a front? Or why he feels that he must prove himself to be worthy of her?

He's one of the main leads!!!

However, once again I did love moments:

I liked that Colin didn’t beat around the bush. Once he realised he loved Penelope he went straight for it and didn’t dawdle unlike other Bridgerton boys.

I liked that Colin cried at the Whistledown reveal. Also, the whole thing about him being sensitive. I really like that in a show that has a lot of classic masculine tropes they went with that direction. (Even if they didn’t execute it well).

I LOVED Colin putting Portia in her place. YAAAAS.

I really liked that Colin didn’t have to do a big act of love to be worthy of Pen’s love. A lot of traditional male love interests (I’m looking at you Disney Princes) must slay the dragon or swoop in with a grand gesture to be ‘worthy’ of love. I liked that Colin just needed to be himself. I found that refreshing for a male character. Although again, this could have been explored better.

I liked that through reading letters, Colin found a way to reconcile with Penelope, just as Eloise found reconciliation with Penelope through reading Old Whistledowns.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Alas, the ghost of my English lit degree comes to haunt my brain once again.

Let me know what you guys think!

[astr0disiac]

"toxic yaoi" this "password" that

THIS being one of stan's lowest moments is the saddest thing i've seen and no one has talked about it what the freak :(

[kerrste]

I can’t beleive they just walked around like this for the whole movie

[demaparbat-hp]

She will (and he'll let her)

[brokenmachinemusings]

ok finally posting this on here but the fact they mirror each other. ugh they make me so ill i need a moment

[lucksea]

don't be scared, i'm your friend

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

cnetizen: it is not recommended that you call your partner baby..

[overheard-at-camp-half-blood]

“They changed the narrative from the books to make Athena bad.”

Athena was horrible in the books too, it was just glossed over by everyone. 💀

[moyarb]

It’s not lost on me that when someone talks about how “Beyoncé is overrated” or that she’s “not that talented” I’m supposed to respect other people’s music opinions, but if I say Taylor Swift’s music isn’t my style or I don’t care for her that much it’s like I said the most heinous thing in the world and I don’t support other women.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Gaslighter? I hardly know her!

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[starry-bi-sky]

"Stillborn? No, no, still born." -- DPXDC AU

Based off a comment I saw where Bruce knew about Talia's pregnancy in the earlier comivs, and was ecstatic to be a father. So much so that Talia feared he'd give up being Batman for it, so when she gave birth she put the baby (Damian) on a doorstep and (seemingly) told Bruce that the baby was stillborn.

Instead of Damian, that baby was Danny! Meet Daniel Brown, the 14 year old foster kid whose been living with the Fenton family for the last two years. He's about two years older than Damian.

His last name, "Brown", was a generic surname given to him because the note he came with didn't have one on it. It just had the name "Danyal" on it, but albeit 'Daniel' was the one that had been put into the system for, I'll be totally frank here, racism reasons.

(I looked it up to make sure, and it's generally not permissible for foster parents to change the names of their foster kids even if it's a permanent residency, and for that reason Danny doesn't have the last name "Fenton".)

Danny's got ✨~issues!~✨ He's been through a handful of homes growing up, most of them terrible for a variety of reasons. Which has, as a result, left lasting scars. He's generally a very sweet kid, just very distrustful and jumpy. He's got the signs of a kid suffering from PTSD, and a handful of other issues including attachment and insomnia. His inferiority complex could rival Damian's, and that's going to make for an interesting mutual hatred for when they finally meet.

(something I'll get into later)

He still has the blanket he was found in. It's made of a very high quality material and is a beautiful emerald green with little golden thread accents, it's high quality as a result has Danny clinging onto a desperate hope that his bio family might be out there, and the only reason they gave him up was because of some outside factor. It's been taken a few times in old foster homes, and he's flipped out each time.

While he still calls Jack and Maddie by their names, he likes them well enough. The bar isn't that high though, and while they're some of the better foster parents he's had, "better" doesn't equal "safest". Their laboratory malpractice. Basically, C- Fenton Parents. They're negligent by virtue of being engrossed in their work, but they do care equally about Jazz and Danny. So he doesn't hold it against them that much.

He kinda prefers it that way, their loud affection is overwhelming and Danny doesn't know what to do with their attention, even if he craves it. It's a bit of a complicated situation.

They took in Danny because they genuinely wanted another child, but didn't want a big age gap between them and Jazz. It was actually Jack's idea to foster, and they discussed it with Jazz beforehand. She was all for the idea. Thus, a handful of weeks later, a ton of paperwork, and inspection later, and Daniel Brown entered their household with a trash bag in one hand and eyes like shards of stained glass.

His relationship with Jazz is kinda strained, but that's by virtue of her constant psychoanalyzing and helicoptering. Like with the parents, Danny's overwhelmed by the attention and also just, straight up doesn't like the fact that she's telling him that there's something wrong with him. He knows that, thank you. He pushes her away when she does this.

Other than that though? When Jazz isn't smothering him and is acting like an actual sibling and not a third parent, they're pretty close, and Danny really likes her. They've hung out a few times on their own volition, and Jazz showed him how to take better care of his long hair.

His school situation,, pretty similar to canon with the bullying, albeit with a few more instances of him blowing a fuse and lashing out against his attackers. He's a rather angry kid, but it's quiet. It builds up, piles on top of itself, until eventually, like a volcano, it erupts and burns everyone within radius.

Danny's got a fire core, not an ice core. Phantom's hair is made of white magma; thick and heavy, setting itself on fire when his anger runs hot. When he gets angry, his skin begins to char and split open to reveal pulsating lava underneath, and he crackles and pops like a raging forest fire.

I haven't decided yet on how he meets the batfam -- i've got two ideas but they're both in opposition to each other, and drastically alter how the rest of the plot goes. But I do know that him and Damian hate each other in the beginning. And it has nothing to do with inheritance or "being the blood son" -- although their blood relation absolutely plays the major role in their disdain for each other.

Simply put, they're jealous of each other for the same thing: thinking that the other was wanted.

Damian hates Danny because, unlike Damian, Bruce knew about Danny since conception and wanted him from the moment he heard about him. He had a whole nursery set up, and still does. He never took it down -- just locked the door. Damian was thrust upon Bruce without warning, and he feels like he forced himself into the family. And while on some level Damian knows and understands that Bruce wants him and loves him as much as his other children, that doubt and feeling of inferiority still remains. He looks at Danny and sees him with what Damian always feels he needs reaffirmed.

Meanwhile, Danny hates Damian because he looks at him and sees him with everything Danny's ever wanted. He hates him because Damian grew up knowing both of their parents, with one of them for most of his life, and then moved over to the other. There was never a moment where Damian was (seemingly) left to doubt his place within the family. Damian was raised with the very same woman who left Danny on a doorstep, with no clue to his identity beyond a little green blanket and a note with only a first name. Damian was wanted everywhere, and Danny was wanted nowhere. Damian is Danny's replacement in his eyes.

(It's the little revelation that Damian grew up with their mother that elevates Danny from being quietly envious of Damian to downright despising him. What did Damian do, that Danny didn't? He could live with Damian living with Bruce -- Bruce didn't know Danny was even alive. But him living with their mom? Are you fucking kidding him?)

Damian never outright attacks Danny physically, but it's not like he hides that he didn't like Danny. Meanwhile, Danny, in all his repressive anger, quietly despised him from a distance until finally one wrong snide side-comment has him blowing up and it becomes a screaming match. They're both just enough similar to each other that when they look at each other they really just see a mirror.

They'll work it out together, eventually. But it'll be ugly and cruel and explosive, and they'll start mending the bridge to become brothers in more than just blood relation in the end.

But yeah, stillborn Danny has... a lot going for him.

[astrhae]

+ bonus:

aziraphale not changing crowley's clothes (not even to add a tartan collar)

[christhopersturniolo]

in my head chris is the horniest man alive

look at his face and tell me he isn’t thinking about getting his dick sucked

[utilitycaster]

I've definitely said this before but I'll say it again: the argument for killing the Exandrian pantheon because the status quo must change is absolutely nonsensical and shows a profound lack of imagination and understanding of both past and currently relevant lore.

There are aliens from the moon who have arrived on the planet. Magic might be fundamentally changed, permanently. Geopolitics will be drastically different, particularly on the continent of Wildemount where the absence of Ludinus Da'leth has led to the dissolution of the Cerberus Assembly; in the long term this might open up a potential for actual lasting peace talks between the Empire and the Dynasty and a reduction in both powers' isolationist tendencies, particularly since the Empire's seizing of archaeological sites will probably end. The widespread reveal of the nature of Predathos, the two gods killed by Predathos, confirmation on the story of the creation of Ruidus, and the information from the Thalamus would have world-shattering effects on Exandria's understanding of history and the divine. The Exandrian Accord will almost certainly foster countless new international relationships and alliances. The reveal that Ludinus was responsible for Molaesmyr will also be massive and could lead to any number of dramatic changes in the political, arcane, and literal landscape in the region of the Savalirwood. The portal to the moon in Ria'Doin may transform an otherwise isolated region of Issylra. If Predathos and/or the Weave Mind are defeated, destroyed, or banished, it will upend Ruidian society entirely.

Any single item above would be significant. Several have already occurred. Exandria will be forever changed even if the campaign were to end next week with the party killing Ludinus and destroying Predathos in a poorly-done Rocks Fall BBEGs Die scenario. We've checked off "change the status quo"; that is no longer a valid Doylist argument for killing the gods and never was much of a Watsonian one, and can now be entirely disregarded.

[whathappeninglestappen]

I cannot express how much I think about this stat 🐐

[himehomu]

“Homura can't stand the idea of moving on. So she's isolating madoka from everyone who's ever cared about her.” Are you fucking stupid? She literally rewrote the entire universe so that Madoka could be happy with her parents and her little brother, so that Sayaka could have another chance with Hitomi and Kyoske, so that Kyoko can have a life with Sayaka, she literally revived Mami and Nagisa and gave them a life together. What the fuck do you mean she's “isolating Madoka from everyone who's ever cared about her??”

The only person she's isolating Madoka from is herself because she knows Madoka will regain her godhood sooner ot later and she knows that her desire for Madoka and her friends to be happy will directly rebel against Madokami's rules that require Madoka to die to maintain order to the broken world that traps Magical Girls in their cycle of hope and despair, even if maintaining order means making hard choices and sacrifices, which in this case, is Madoka sacrificing herself again and again not only because she cares so much for others but because she cares so little for herself whilst Homura is the only one who can see that she's so much more than her sacrifice and that she shouldn't reduce herself to a means to an end.

She took Madoka's immortality for herself to spare her of anymore loneliness in Heaven as a trapped Goddess. She literally gave Madoka and the rest of her friends a second chance at life and you people have the audacity to just blatantly fucking lie on her to justify hating her for how she reacts to the psychological torture of having to watch the love of her life and her friends die for 12 years worth of time loops then to live in a world where no one remembers the girl she loves but her. Let something like that happen to you at the age of 14 and then come and talk to me about Homura. Idgaf that she's a fictional character. If y'all continue to treat her like a heartless monster that deserves to be “held accountable for her actions,” then I'll defend her like the traumatized 14 year old child that she actually is. Fuck off and stay away from Madoka Magica. It clearly isn't for you.