#pam watches hotd

[iheartbookbran]

Harrenhal was literally created for the disturbed goth girls so you know Daemon will fit right in.

[hacawijo]

My Top Ships of 2022 Countdown

10. Timmy and Zeta (Love Island USA) - Okay yes, this is a real-life couple, but the point of dating shows is to ship real-life couples, and Timmy and Zeta are the best. They both came into the show with the right balance of self-awareness and optimism, and they were by FAR the most mature and likable people on the show.

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9. Aaron and Bobby (Bros) - Definitely the rom-com couple of 2022! Aaron is cute, but Billy Eichner’s Bobby is definitely the reason I ship this couple so much. He’s a gifted comedian and actor, and it’s really cool to see the perpetually sarcastic Eichner playing a little earnest in this movie. The ship itself is well-developed and I particularly love their P-Town moments.

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8. Aloy and Kotallo (Horizon: Forbidden West) - This is the first of several crack ships on this list. Aloy is the protagonist in the Open-world RPG Horizon: Forbidden West and Kotallo is one of her companions. I love Aloy from the first game and she continues to be awesome in the second. Kotallo’s voice acting is deep and commanding (but not loud) and he’s a great blend of competent and tortured (like a cross between Rowan from Throne of Glass and Hunt Athalar from Crescent City) and I found many great fanfics to feed my interest in them together! Full disclosure, there’s no indication of romance between the two in the game and a lot of people speculate that Aloy may be queer or asexual.

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7. Rhaenyra and Alicent (HotD) - I’m sure I don’t need to expand on this too much given that House of the Dragon is a worldwide sensation. Needless to say, I think Olivia Cooke is incredible as older Alicent in the show, and there’s something incredibly tragic about the love they had for each other (platonic or romantic) being destroyed by the men around them. I do read a romantic undertone in their relationship, but I don’t know that either of them realizes it themselves.

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6. Bruce and Selina (The Batman) - The Batman was probably my favorite movie of 2022 and I loved the chemistry between Selina and Bruce. I’m glad that she’s more than a love interest for him - she has a real role in the story - and there’s something pretty lovely about how she teases Bruce because he’s so awkward. It makes sense that Bruce would be awkward in romantic interactions! He’s not a stud! He’s a traumatized man who has devoted all of his time to destroying crime in Gotham, of course he doesn’t know how to flirt! But it’s just even more endearing and a cool, (relatively) un-explored take on Batman.

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5. Draco and Hermione (Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Falling in Love — among others) - It would be difficult for me to not include my OTP on this list. Not just because they’re my OTP, but also because the Dramione fanfic economy is incredible! New works are published and updated everyday, many of which are better quality than a lot of published novels. Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Falling in Love was my absolute favorite - incredibly well-written, with a believable and multilayered interpretation of both Draco and Hermione’s characterization. Unfortunately the slow burn is agonizing, and the fluffy part of me wishes there was more time in the story where they’re truly together, but it’s a great story. Below illustration by @elivrayn - who is insanely talented!

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4. Janine and Gregory (Abbott Elementary) - Janine and Gregory are like those two friends you have that would be perfect for each other and who deserve to be a lot happier than they are. Obviously the show has to keep up a will-they-or-won’t-they dynamic— it’s practically a requirement of sitcoms like Abbott Elementary thanks to Jim and Pam from The Office — but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating to watch them dance around each other! I love the characters, the actors, and the show, and I won’t be surprised if I eventually rank them among my favorite TV sitcom couples.

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3. Lidia and Ruhn (House of Sky and Breath) - HOSAB came out at the beginning of the year and so I almost forgot about this great new ship! Their couple name (NightBright) is fire, their circumstances are beautifully tragic, and Lydia is especially a fascinating new character in the series. Ruhn was already a fan-fave, so SJM probably knew she needed to DELIVER for his ship. Their relationship is particularly aesthetic and ethereal, and the cliffhanger at the end of HOSB is so incredibly heart wrenching, maybe more so than any other couple SJM has ever written. by @sncinder - INCREDIBLE

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2. Leighton and Alicia (Sex Lives of College Girls) - So this might technically be more of a 2021 ship, but things DID happen for them in 2022 AND I only watched season one this year. Leighton is one of the best characters on the show and following her journey of understanding privilege through season 1 feels pretty realistic, as does her hesitance to come out of the closet and it’s affect on her relationship with Alicia, whom she loves. In Season 2 she does come out and has a whirlwind semester, only to realize in the end that she doesn’t want to be in a sorority or date someone who is close-minded and rude (RIP Leighton and Tatum). She and Alicia reunite and even in just those last two episodes she seems SO MUCH HAPPIER. I love them.

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1. Hannah and Fox (Hook, Line, and Sinker) - My number 1 for 2022 really just couldn’t be anything but Hannah and Fox. It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey was lovely, such a great read, especially because Piper feels a lot more fleshed out than many female romantic leads. That being said, it’s Hannah and Fox’s love story (a sequel to Piper and Brendan’s) that truly blew me out of the water. Fox’s grappling with the expectations of the people around him and the way he’s constantly over sexualized by everyone around him is heartbreaking. People expected him to be a player and so he played into their expectations because it felt better than being rejected for trying to have something real. Hannah and Fox are so completely lovely, and their ending is perfect. It’s refreshing to read a het romance where the woman is ultimately the one who feels more self-assured about who they are and the one who is positioned to do the big romantic gesture, even if she doesn’t see it as such.

Honorable Mentions/Ship Seeds of 2022

Ithan and the Fendyr heir from House of Sky and Breath

Sandman and Johanna Constantine from Sandman

James and Erin from Derry Girls

[mikaeled]

Creations from every month of 2022: post your favorite & most popular post from each month this year (it’s okay to skip months)

Got tagged by @animusrox - I gotta say my most viral sets were for @junkfoodcinemas 😁 Joining group blogs really took a toll on how many sets I post to main, but I’m excited to dive in and see what I did post! Expecting a lot of actresses.

January: Favorite: Top 10 first watches in 2021 Most popular: Jessica in The 355

February: Favorite: Aloy meets Petra Most popular: Lily James in Pam and Tommy

March: Favorite: Zazie Beetz 😩 Most popular: Bloodborne Kart

April: Favorite: Alison Brie Most popular: Pam Grier

May: Favorite: Kate Kennedy 🫡 Most popular: Judy Alvarez

June: Favorite: Big set of The Quarry Most popular:  The Quarry L word joke

July: Favorite: Wise words from Leanbeefpatty Most popular: Jessica in The Forgiven 🤗

August: Favorite: Rebecca Hall in Resurrection 💞 Most popular: That moment in The Rehearsal

September: Favorite: Betty Gilpin 👀 Most popular: That HotD lady that came and went

October: Favorite: Scorn environments Most popular: Important Hellraiser gifs

November: Favorite: Bayonetta 3 Most popular: Tár

December: Favorite: Extra large and crispy Armored Core VI gifs Most popular: Alan Rickman in Die Hard

(Stats Credit to jetblackcode.com)

I’ll tag @acecroft @onewingedangels @eurodynamic @mistress-light @thelvadams @jabberwocky1996 @harrison-ford

[iheartbookbran]

HOTD’s continued insistence on characterizing men as warmongers whose first response to any conflict is violence and women as helpless victims who only desire peace without allowing any kind of nuance in between is honestly such a boring and spineless outlook, this is probably the show’s biggest failing for me

[iheartbookbran]

the biggest surprise this episode was me begrudgingly liking Otto

[iheartbookbran]

I still can’t believe it because “Helaena is a nothing character in the book” is true enough statement BUT… that scene, that single scene in which she’s forced to make a choice no person ever should have to make, offering her own life in exchange of her children’s, all the while Alicent, her own mother, is forced to watch as her only daughter and grandchildren are being mentally tortured and being completely helpless to intervene, knowing that an innocent little boy is going to die no matter what. All of that was turned into nothing.

It was just… nothing.

[iheartbookbran]

this is the face of the you make when you realize the bloodiest civil war in westerosi history was started over a misunderstanding the writers made up in order to give one single character something to do over the seasons

[iheartbookbran]

the Brackens are so fucking petty they’d rather die by dragonfire than be on the same side as the Blackwoods 😭😭😭

[iheartbookbran]

My biggest gripe with how HOTD writers depict women is how they’re never allowed to showcase their anger and bitterness at their circumstances in full. We know it’s there, we see Alicent’s frustration about loosing the kingdom’s regency to a unstable nineteen year old, but she’s never allowed to fully express it (the closest we got was her outburst when Aemond lost his eye, and she was made to regret it directly afterwards). Her role in Rhaenyra’s usurpation isn’t born out of a desire to have what she believes is her due after years of withering away and suffering as Viserys’ wife, but as a desire to carry on what she believes to be her husband’s wishes.

When it comes to Rhaenys, since last week I’ve seen a lot of speculation on why she decided to turn back to fight Aemond and Vaghar, because in the show she has no reason to do so. The thing about Rhaenys’ story, at least how I understood it in F&B, is that she always seems to be holding back. It is one thing for her to say to Corlys that she doesn’t resent the fact that she lost the throne to Viserys and another to actually mean it, because if she (allegedly) lost fairly to Viserys, how could she in good conscience initiate a war? How could she inflict that on her whole family? So she holds back. And she doesn’t have to like Rhaenyra, but watching the same thing that happened to her repeat itself must be frustrating. Watching Rhaenyra be expected to give up her crown for the sake of maintaining the peace without her half-brother having the same expectation placed upon him must be painful. So she should want to encourage Rhaenyra to fight for the throne this time, she should want to turn back to fight those greedy, stupid boys playing at war, who could never understand her pain. She should want to show Baela and Rhaena that it is possible to fight back; she might not be able to save them or shield them or get them what she believes they deserve, but at least she can show them that they don’t have to take on their circumstances passively. They can fight back.

Or at least that’s how I would have written Rhaenys, anyways.

[iheartbookbran]

hotd writers are fucking cowards for having Baela not actually want to be Lady of Driftmark, and being totally ok with Corlys giving the seat to whatever rando he happens to fish out. you know what lets bring this even further because she should be bitter about not getting to be queen neither. she’s the eldest grandchild of Aemon, Prince of Dragonstone, never forget that

[iheartbookbran]

tbh I think my visceral dislike for Criston Cole goes beyond him being an unlikeable piece of shit but rather that his presence in my tv triggers an everpresent but usually dormant form of Show!Jon Snow PTSD where there’s a man on my screen who is consistently incompetent at his job yet somehow ends up being promoted at every turn and without question. also he’s the direct cause of a Targaryen woman’s life being ruined.

[iheartbookbran]

Daemon was literally infiltrating Harrenhal like…

[iheartbookbran]

not Aegon’s frat bros becoming the new members of his kingsguards 😭

[iheartbookbran]

There’s so many ways they could have depicted Rhaenys in the show, so why choose a pacifist???

[iheartbookbran]

no but can you imagine if Jace had been successful in giving Harrenhal to the Freys? here’s how Robb Stark can still win…

[iheartbookbran]

listen idk if this is the better written plot they could’ve given Alicent for season 2 but it is definitely the funniest one