#season 1 of mash had no right being like this

[thebreakfastgenie]

[saudadeko]

ADHD tips from a girlie who was diagnosed in her late twenties and has had little to no support since and is being so brave about it:

1) Make it easy, make it accessible, and make it appealing. If anything this is the most important thing, all tips going forward are based around this concept.

2) That thing you think would help you but you haven’t bought/done it yet because you’re technically surviving without it? Buy it, you need it. It doesn’t matter if people around you might think it’s wasteful or that you’re lazy, you’re not, just do it, trust me.

3) Expanding on tip #2, if you’re like me and eggs are your main source of protein because they’re quick and easy and feeding yourself is a near insurmountable task- buy yourself an electric egg cooker, make a bunch of hard boiled eggs and keep them in your fridge for quick and easy protein to add to any meal (handful of crackers, a hard boiled egg and a banana? 5 star meal right there. Or mash them up with some mayo for egg salad sandwiches). Other easy proteins include: potstickers (put them in instant ramen), edamame (they have microwaveable snack packs), chickpeas (put in salads!), beans (can of beans microwaved with shredded cheese and some tortilla chips), peanut butter (with crackers, apple and cheese, adult lunchable style), and tofu (cut into cubes, throw them into a ziplock with some seasoning and potato starch, shake that shit up and bake it until crispy).

4) Spend a little extra (if you are able) on daily use items that excite you, it will make you more likely to remember/want to do said daily task. For example: the only reason I remember to use sunscreen is because I bought some fancy japanese sunscreen that smells like roses so I get excited to use it, same for laundry detergent and body wash! there’s a gajillion different body wash scents out there, switch it up!

5) If there’s a task you continuously struggle with take a moment to think about which part of the task is making it difficult, it could be something even as small as “I don’t put my dirty clothes in the hamper because my hamper has a lid on it and lifting the lid is one step too many-”, sounds a little stupid huh? But trust your gut, it’s not stupid if it works. See tip #2 and BUY A HAMPER WITHOUT A LID.

6) If you are having trouble starting a task, break the task down further, sometimes the way I start a task is just by going “Ok step 1) stand up-“ and so forth. Don’t worry about the task as a whole just take it one step at a time.

7) If you’re halfway through a task and have to stop, leave it out. All this, “Put things away when you’re done with them.” is bullshit. you will be much more likely to finish the task if restarting it is easier because you left it out plus it’s a visual reminder. You can also create faux deadlines like “I gotta finish this project before my friend comes over on tuesday because after I finish it I can clean off the dinner table.” etc.

8) It’s okay to outsource tasks and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, humans are designed to ask for, and to require help (what do babies do when they’re first born?? cry for help!!) ask for help and receive help without shame, if it makes your life better, you are WINNING.

9) If you have one big overwhelming task that you think you need to get done before anything else, but you feel motivated to do other tasks, do those other tasks first, it’s okay. Otherwise in all likelihood (at least in my case) you’ll put everything off until the last minute and then have to do said overwhelming task and those other tasks won’t get done at all. Doing those smaller tasks also lowers the mental load and you can use them as a motivation launch pad to tackle bigger things.

10) If you notice you tend to not put something away/forget to do something, perhaps consider moving and storing the item closer to where it ultimately ends up or where you are more likely to see it. For example, my makeup, pills, and mail are all stored on my desk because that’s where I tend to do my makeup, take my pills and deal with my mail. I used to store my pills in my bathroom medicine cabinet but all too often I would forget because they weren’t in my line of sight. Now that they’re on my desk, I have multiple chances per day to pass by them, go “oh I gotta take those.” and take them.

11) Open storage, open storage, OPEN STORAGE.

12) Motivation can look like all kinds of things. sometimes the only reason I get out of bed is because I remember I have a fun snack and I get to go eat it if I get up. It’s okay to lean into those simple “animal-brain” type motivators, you’ll eat because then you can use that fun new kitchen gadget you got a daiso? Neat. you’ll shower because then you can paint your nails that fun new color you got? Fantastic. You’ll go to the dmv and do that annoying thing because you’ll take yourself out for boba after? Superb. Lean-IN to those small motivators, they aren’t stupid or childish, they are VITAL.

13) Don’t buy into the cult of “if it’s worth doing, do it properly” it’s guaranteed to set you up for failure. If it’s worth doing, do it in whatever capacity you are able to. I put sunscreen on once a day because that’s fucking better than not doing it at all and I sure as all hell will fail at reapplying it multiple times a day. If it’s worth doing, do it half-assed babieeee.

Go forth and prosper!!! xoxo ✌️🩵

[kcrossvine-art]

G'morning all! Its nice to get back things,. Theres been some roadblocks with med shortages and life, and also with the material for these recipes. So far we've covered a lot of pastries, not because theyre mentioned more often in the series, but because being mentioned lends them more specificity in flavor than things like gravy, peas, or various meats. The latter can be prepped, seasoned, and served in so many different ways that it feels harder to make them 'faithfully' because a packet of instant potato mash is just as faithful as a pot of buttered potato mash. Baked goods tend towards 1, maybe 2, 'base' recipes that get altered and added to. 

 Today, we'll be making Beorn's Honey Cakes! A dish from one of my partners favorite characters- a delectable little treat befitting the… warm personality of the character.

(As always you can find the cooking instructions and full ingredient list under the break-)

MY NAMES CROSS NOW LETS COOK LIKE ANIMALS

SO, “what goes in to Beorn's Honey Cakes?” YOU MIGHT ASKSimple stuff! Simple sweet stuff!

All-purpose flour

Baking powder

Salt

Ground nutmeg

Unsalted butter

Whole milk

2 eggs

Honey

Vanilla extract

The veins of honey cakes ancestry can be traced back to any moment where people began baking bread. Honey is a natural preservative, and sweeter still on its lonesome.

AND, “what does Beorn's Honey Cakes taste like?” YOU MIGHT ASKLike your aching muscles repairing themselves

Tastes like a honey graham cracker

But the texture is softer, wetter- somewhat like banana bread

Oh, and this will make your house smell So So Good

If you can resist the temptation of eating them immediately, they taste even richer the day after baking

Would pair well with milk green tea

Would also pair well with fresh orange slices (or those chocolate 'orange slices' candy)

Genuinely don't forget to flip them upside down when they go to bake the second time, not sure what it is but i was curious and did a test where i flipped half of the batch upside down and kept the other half of the batch right-side up like they cooked in the muffin tin. The ones i flipped upside down universally had a more consistent texture and the honey was able to permeate further.

.where honey called for, used clover honey

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From start to finish this recipe takes about an hour of work, give or take some negligible time for prep.

The batter is perhaps the babybird of all cake batters. The gloopy, protruding crumbs of butter, not unlike a squabs beady pupils visibly dark under its skin, break up the mass of sickly smooth and reassuringly sweet-smelling oak-colored liquid. You can feel the confusion of bees outside your home, wondering if this your attempt at making royal jelly.

Just like a babybird, it becomes more than the sum of its parts. Layer on that honey drizzle, layer it on thick, theres no risk of drowning subtle flavors. Its crisp edges will keep its form, springy and warm, inviting you as if you're not the one who crafted it (food you didn't cook always tastes better). The bees are sooooooooooooooo jealous of your opposable thumbs and muscular strength.

If you dont have eggs you could try substituting with apple mash. I can't vouch for it in this recipe but replacing eggs with mashed up apples for pancakes gives it adds a nice fruity flavor without changing the texture, and in theory should work here as well.

I give this recipe a solid 10/10 (with 1 being food that makes one physically sick and 10 being food that gives one a lust for life again.) 

🐁 ORIGINAL RESIPPY TEXT BELOW 🐁

Ingredients:

270 grams all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1 stick unsalted butter

160 grams milk

2 eggs

110 grams your favorite honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

Muffin tray and parchment paper

Method:

Preheat oven to 350f

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.

 Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 

In a small bowl beat the eggs until just combined. Pour in milk and then vanilla extract while stirring.  Keep stirring vigorously while slowly pouring in honey.

Stir until the mixture is consistent in color.

Pour the liquids over the dry mixture and stir until just combined.

Pour the batter into a greased muffin tray, don't use any muffin paper/lining/cups.

Bake for 16 minutes, or until they reach their full height.

Carefully remove from the muffin pan and place the muffins upside down on a parchment lined tray.

Using a silicone pastry brush, generously cover the tops of the cakes with honey. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes to let the honey soak into the cakes.

Bake for an additional 8-10 minutes, or until the cakes are golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

[locke-esque-monster]

There's a part of me that wants to think that House MD is a spiritual successor to Mash (which is a whole separate post). It's fascinating to me because outside of one brief reference in the early seasons to Trapper John, and the whole similar "POV of the patient" episodes, there aren't really any references to Mash within House. And frankly, I'm surprised their aren't unless it was deliberate on the part of the creators. But I honestly prefer to believe Greg House within the confines of the show itself is actually an old Mash fan.

Picture it with me, will you...

A young 13 year old Gregory getting obsessed with the show. In part because it's anti-military and anti-authority sentiment pisses off his dad. But he also loves it's mix of drama, goofiness, and quick-witted banter.

He mostly gets to keep watching it because his Mom also likes it, it reminds her of the quick banter of old screwball comedies of her youth.

Sixteen year old Greg being torn between appreciating the accurate harsh reality of killing off Henry Blake, and the fact he wants to write angry letters to the studio on behalf of his mom because the episode made her cry.

Do you remember in Sherlock (2010) how Mycroft brought up that Sherlock had the mind of a great thinker, but chose to be a detective? And his original hope was to be a pirate? I think of that when I think of how Greg became a doctor. He was never going to be the empathetic doctors he saw on Mash, but the show did infuse an interest in medicine he never quite shook.

Imagine Greg at 24, exhausted from med school and a little choked up watching the finale of a show he's spent half his life watching.

Greg starting our his doctor's career with a hatred of doctor's coats like Hawkeye hated uniforms. He knows it's a cliché for doctors of this era to love Mash so it's his own dirty little secret. The thought of wearing a Hawaiian shirt one day has crossed his mind, but is ultimately rejected because it's not worth the teasing, or really his style.

Greg brings his love of banter and hatred of authority right into his work environment. He also has had no problem mixing the bleak with a sense of humor, maybe a residual effect of so many episodes of Mash.

He also maybe took Henry's season 1 speech about doctors not being able to save young men from dying maybe a bit too seriously, and that mixed with his own cynicism has helped inform his distance from his patients.

House meeting Cuddy and him taking great joy from their Margaret/Hawkeye "pushing back against authority but also kind of flirting" . He knows it'll never work, but damn if it isn't fun. It's fantasy straight out of his teenage years.

His ducklings (Cameron, Foreman, Chase) are his other assorted characters of the camp to bounce off of - the Radars, Klingers, and whatnot. He'll run circles around them verbally, but they have the potential to surprise him with a good idea or a clever comment.

When he met Wilson, it was like meeting his own tentmate in the Swamp. He maybe envisioned a little of having their own Swamp when he convinced Cuddy to move Wilson in next door. He was always sure Wilson was his BJ, with his commitment to his wives - even if maybe he went through them like Trapper did with nurses. But when Wilson left after Amber's death, he wondered if Wilson was maybe really his Trapper all along and his BJ didn't exist. When Wilson came back, House immediately thought back to BJ coming back to Hawkeye in the finale.

Wilson is the only one, other than his mother, who knows of his secret love of Mash. Wilson is also fond of it (he maybe internalized Hawkeye's commitment to his patients). And he sees a bit of Hawkeye in House's sense of humor. They occasionally watch it together and will makes jokes about it when the team or Cuddy aren't around. That said, Wilson has to convince House every so often that "No, we're not building our own still."

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

Our Flag Means Death Costume Designer Breaks Down Season 2's Punk-Pirate Looks

Gypsy Taylor explains the surprising historical details that influenced the 'rule-bending' comedy's costumes

Rhys Darby, Our Flag Means Death (Nicola Dove/Max)

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Our Flag Means Death.]

Packing a ton of plot twists and emotional upheaval into a tightly paced eight episodes, Our Flag Means Death just concluded its tumultuous second season. Season 2 ends on a heartwarming note, with Ed "Blackbeard" Teach (Taika Waititi) and Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) settling down to open an inn together. This gives fans a satisfying happily-ever-after if the show ends here — although showrunner David Jenkins intentionally left things open for a potential third and final season, teasing a team-up between Stede, Blackbeard, and pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao (Ruibo Qian).

Along the way, Our Flag Means Death continued to deliver its unique brand of historical storytelling, offering a chaotic mash-up of 18th century sources and modern themes. Working in tandem with theatrical visual effects and a soundtrack featuring Kate Bush and Nina Simone, costumes play a key role.

To cap off the season, TV Guide spoke with costume designer Gypsy Taylor. Among other topics, we discussed Stede and Blackbeard's evolving wardrobe, the historical research behind characters like Zheng Yi Sao, and Taylor's favorite unsung costuming details among the supporting cast.

This season there's a lot of journey to the costumes. Characters are experimenting with self-expression. I'd like to talk first about Stede, who starts as a caricature of a foppish aristocrat, but looks a lot more practical this season. What was the vision for that look?

Gypsy Taylor: The story is that he's lost everything. Blackbeard's gone on a heartbroken rampage and he's destroyed everything that looks like Stede on the ship — which would include that wonderful wardrobe. You know, like how you'd throw your boyfriend's clothes in a box out the window.

Stede was on his boat heading to the island at the end of Season 1, just wearing this one outfit. We see him in a filthy version, he's been living in it for two or three months. Rhys [Darby] was a little bit disappointed because he was like, "Do I get to wear any rings?" And I was like, "No! You've lost them all!" Then as the season starts to go on, he starts stealing some other pirate clothes and he starts to get really sexy and come into his own gorgeous pirate self.

And he gets that cursed suit.

Taylor: The cursed suit was so much fun! That's the first time in months that he's seen something beautiful like what he used to own. It's on this Spanish ship, so we went with a dandy matador look. Rhys put the calico version of that on in the fitting room and instantly embodied this character. He was flicking the tails and spinning around and he stood up straighter and his butt clenched… It was magic to watch.

I love that dandy side of him. There's a lot going on in terms of gender presentation with the main guys. They're both trying to escape toxic masculinity, but Stede's also chasing this idea of being a badass, and then Ed is doing the opposite because he abandons his leathers. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that, and how Ed is for half the season wearing things like sackcloth and linen.

Taylor: The leather is very constraining, and it's very much his persona of Blackbeard. To lose all of that means he's lost his toughness, and that exterior that's sort of like armor. So we went straight for the opposite end and just put him in a rice sack that he'd made into a jumpsuit. The idea behind it was that Wee John had sewn it because he'd started to learn to sew and knit — the concept being that there [were] rice sacks below the decks, which was very common in pirate ships.

Once Buttons turns into a seagull, his clothes were left behind on the ship. So Blackbeard takes those linen clothes, and he's like, "This feels right, this is kind of light."

I don't know if you're able to speculate about Season 3, but given the symbolism of Ed's leathers, do you think we've seen the end of that outfit, or is it going to stick around?

Taylor: I can't say anything to Season 3, but I do know that in the finale the leathers magically come back. I had a conversation with [showrunner] David Jenkins because he says, "Well, we have to end the show with him wearing his Blackbeard leathers, that's what we all know of him." And I was like, "How the hell has he gotten them?" You know he's thrown them off the boat, into the ocean, never to be seen again. And David just turned to me and went, "He's Blackbeard, he can do anything." I thought that was pretty funny.

Taika Waititi, Our Flag Means Death (Nicola Dove/Max)

That's exactly the kind of fairy-tale logic the show thrives on.

Taylor: We often refer to it as Looney Tunes. It's not exactly historically correct. Funny sh-- happens and we all sort of took on that Looney Tunes theory of like, episodes change and something appears and then it doesn't.

The good thing with costume and pirates is that the way they get their outfits is they just steal them. So whatever we came up with, I was like, "Oh well, they run into a French ship and they've stolen a great leather jacket." Costume elements could appear based on that rule that pirates steal anything.

I'd love to hear a bit about the crew's looks. The show does a really good job of illustrating their personalities, but this season a lot of them also have this makeover where they start out wearing Blackbeard's goth/punk outfits, then change into something more comfortable.

Taylor: Characters like Izzy and Fang were already established in the Blackbeard gang, so we didn't change them too much. With Fang I added extra sperm whale teeth and extra studs. I got rid of his shirt and we covered him in tattoos. Time had passed and he'd evolved a bit. Izzy was very classic, so we didn't need to change him at all. He was pretty adamant not to be evolved as the other guys had been.

Frenchie and Jim, which are the biggest transformations we see, they've spent months at sea with Blackbeard, who is a tyrant. He's made them wear head-to-toe black, and they've had to piece together outfits from around the ship. So Jim is covered in all these ropes to make them look tougher, and their belt is a giant fish hook. Frenchie's an artist, and he's stolen a beautiful leather jacket — he's brought the little flag element into the back of his jacket with some embellishment. Then Archie just looks like she's picked out of a crowd of pirates from the Republic of Pirates.

As far as the other characters go, we continued on from Season 1 and just kept their same outfits, but three months later. They were stuck on an island, so I gave Wee John a little necklace that he'd tied out of old rings that he'd found. And we gave Olu some shells and pieces that they could've crafted on the island.

Once we see them all go to Zheng's ship, I wanted to keep elements of the Zheng uniform. So you see with Black Pete, he kept the shirt but ripped off the sleeves and got some new pants, and Roach kept the pants. It starts to become like a mesh of all the little adventures that they've gone through, or the trauma that they've gone through.

Our Flag Means Death (Nicola Dove/Max)

I love the contrast you mentioned between Izzy and the others. All the other characters are having fun experimenting with their looks, and Izzy is so static. Do you think he's more sure of his identity?

Taylor: Definitely sure of his identity, you nailed it there. He's also very sentimental, like he's got his mother's ring around his little scarf. You know his glove on his hand, he wanted to keep it on that hand and I was like, "Shall we add some studs to it?" And he was like, "No no, keep it as it is." He's just very much about routine and rules and sentimentality.

Even for Calypso's party, I was like, "How far do we wanna go?" Everybody's dressing up and covering themselves in flowers. Once we learned that he was singing La Vie En Rose I was like, "I think we should keep it classic." Just put a little rose here, and Wee John's done your makeup, and you'll look classic and beautiful.

This show has a really fun relationship with historical accuracy. I was interested to read that you do a lot of historical research, maybe more than other members of the creative team. How do you decide which characters should look more historical and which ones are more anachronistic?

Taylor: I always started with the historical first. I actually didn't know much about Captain Zheng, so I got really into the history of pirates. I would always start there, with that 18th century historical moodboard of the paintings that were done of them, or the etchings. Then I'd add our rule-bending concept, which was to make everything a bit more rock 'n' roll and a bit more streets of New York in the '80s.

I was able to push completely out of the historical, and put things like safety pins and screen-printing and bleach. You know, zips and studs, and all these things that are very 20th century costume elements, but on an 18th century silhouette.

Is Zheng based on a specific 18th century outfit?

Taylor: There's one really specific [etching], she's wearing those Chinese pants. I looked at a lot of 18th century Chinese work uniforms as well, I looked at one from a collection from a museum. We copied that exact neckline of an 18th century Chinese smock. The same with the shoes. I looked at some workers' shoes from the 18th century, and they had those kind of black ballet flats with a woven bottom and little white socks.

I was using beautiful Chinese silks and Japanese embroidery techniques that were used in the 18th century, and sort of mish-mashing it all together because she would travel the Silk Road through Egypt and Morocco, and collect all these fabrics.

Same with Anne Bonny. Again, there's some etchings of the real Anne Bonny — quite a famous one with her gun and her pants. I was like, "Oh yeah, I wanna start there and then I wanna sex her up a lot," because her and her girlfriend have a really great S&M relationship, really sadistic. I wanted to bring that fetish element into her. That's where the corset came from. We based that on an 18th century corset, but made it leather because it was more pirate-y.

The twist on her was that David Jenkins came to me and said, "This episode is basically Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" And I was like, "Great, I love that movie!" So I went home and watched that movie, and noticed that Elizabeth Taylor has this beautiful necklace and this patterned blouse. I was like, "Let's recreate this pattern on Elizabeth Taylor's blouse," which is set in the early 1960s. So we recreated it and then made an 18th century blouse.

Driver Minnie and Rachel House Our Flag Means Death (Nicola Dove/Max)

I feel like this season the villains are the most historically accurate. There's this contrast: Ned Low and Prince Ricky have a formal look, like with the British naval uniforms, and then the good guys have this anarchic vibe.

Taylor: Yeah, I never really wanted to mess with the uniforms. That was actually a really fun one to get historically correct. We had the proper frock coats and the heavy wools, and the heavy brocade. Ned Low and Ricky were very much straight out of an 18th century historical book. But then with Ricky, I gave him the one black lace Madonna-meets-Michael Jackson glove, just to mess with it a little bit.

With Ned Low, once we had his beautiful Paganini-inspired 18th century suit on, David Jenkins was like, "I just picture him being silver." We painted his suit silver, and then art department and props came up with a silver violin, and makeup put these silver teeth in. So he's instantly turned into a rock star.

Finally, are there any little details that you'd like to highlight for viewers?

Taylor: One of the background characters that I love the most is one of these pirates when Stede is the maitre d' at Spanish Jackie's. His first encounter with a customer is this horrible swearing pirate. I'd been listening to a pirate podcast that morning on the way to work, and I was learning all about how many rats were on board. I was like, "I reckon that pirate should just have a whole jacket made out of rats." That's what you'd do with all the dead rats, right? You'd have a little fur bolero.

I asked one of my team members to make me like a hundred little fur rats. She'd hand-sewn all the tails and little feet and ears. Then we built this vest and they covered it in blood and dirt, and made it all like wet rats that had been living at sea for a hundred years.

That's the kind of thing you might see a fan wearing at a convention, a really specific background character.

Taylor: God, I hope so. You'd have to get in real close to see there's actually little tails all over the whole thing.

I'm trying to think of another really sweet thing. That whole Silk Road thing was really interesting to me. I found this museum piece of a necklace that was all these little leather satchels that collected little pieces along their travels. We started making this beautiful piece, and we ended up giving it to Auntie. It's these little trinkets from Japan and Egypt and Morocco; she wears all her souvenirs around her neck close to her heart. There's a lot of little things like that where we go into great detail and I give a little backstory, but maybe no one will ever notice. Or they might! You never know!

Our Flag Means Death Season 2 is now streaming on Max.

Source: TV Guide

[majorbaby]

some early and candid thoughts on MASH: The Comedy that Changed Television

I thought Gary Burghoff had the most illuminating commentary to offer. he was specific, technical and detailed when recounting how the show was constructed, a style of media commentary that caters to my preferences. he has one comment that really stuck with me as a strong descriptor of the Radar character (paraphrase from memory): they needed a character who was experiencing the concept of war for the first time, for whom you could see the

after Burghoff, I thought Jamie Farr had some interesting things to say re: Margaret - 'she contains multitudes' being one of them, and a recurring theme when everyone was speaking about the character

i have to talk about mike farrell's comment on anti-war vs. anti-military: i've talked about how I feel that the post-reynolds/gelbart years have heavily watered-down messaging re: war before, and i've pointed to several episodes where i feel this is obvious, but mike farrell saying (quite strongly) that he felt the show was anti-war but never anti-military is pretty damning evidence.

i mean, i think this is good characterization for BJ, to take a more, let's call it 'broadly', anti-war stance, rather than be opposed specifically to military, particularly to the US military. it fits with his aspirations to live a quiet, middle-class life, with his insistence that he's always done 'the right thing' and imo, a good motivation for him to butt heads with the more radical Hawkeye, who opposes authority figures in general (per Alan Alda himself in this same special) - which actually goes beyond the military...

so i love it for BJ but i hate it for a show that never framed him as being wrong about that idea specifically. i can't say for sure whether BJ always held Farrell's beliefs of course, or vice versa, but if BJ ever did oppose the military as a system, Farrell doesn't know it. this knowledge makes episodes like Preventative Medicine and Back Pay land even worse with me.

'some of us were IN the military' he added, as a justification for his point that the show could not have been anti-establishment which i would speak on even more candidly if i was going to make this unrebloggable lol. but truly it's not that serious except in terms of how i think about the themes of this show - he seems like a perfectly lovely person who really loved making MASH and i think his fans will enjoy watching him speak about that.

Mclean Stevenson makes a point about how what Radar anticipates about a character tells us something about that character beyond what we would receive if we just heard the character say it themselves (which they usually do, at the same time as Radar) - I need to think about this some more when re-watching those scenes...

dlfkjaljfk I've never heard David Ogden Stiers' natural voice I thought someone was giving commentary over footage of him and then i realized he was actually giving the commentary - I feel like everyone knows this, but he was immensely talented, a master of voice and speech

1 hour and 10 minutes (including ads, or 'commercial breaks' as we used to call them back in my day) spent on seasons 1-3. tbf there's character-specific commentary in the first half that is for characters that were with us for the whole run, but, there's also a lot of time devoted to talking about how the show was initially constructed, the pilot being good (correct), and something that made me smirk - Larry Gelbart's commentary on how people were incensed and outraged at Henry's death and felt they had been misled, lied to, about their funny haha, wholesome weeknight comedy (set in the Korean War???) is almost indistinguishable from how people talk about plots they don't like in media nowadays

it was good! i had fun!

[wheredidhiseyebrowsgo]

Hi, could you please recommended any fics that were basically stiles or anyone from the halen pack join the BAU. Thank you

Yeah, @ashton23458!

I'll Blow This (open wide) by LadySlytherin

(1/1 I 12,595 I Teen I Sterek)

FBI intern Stiles Stilinski is beyond excited at the prospect of joining the elite Behavioral Analysis Team. The BAU seems happy to have him joining their number.

When a fellow-intern comes to the mistaken conclusion that Stiles Stilinski and Dr. Spencer Reid are both dating the same person, Stiles sees it as an opportunity to bond with his future-teammate. One should never underestimate the pranking ability of two geniuses with devious tendencies.

Temporarily Misappropriating the BAU by L3T5_G3T_KR4K3N

(6/? I 15,423 I Mature I Stanny)

Stiles Stilinski would like it known that he did not intend to break the law. Or get a new boyfriend. Or be forcefully adopted and recruited by the BAU. He never intended to solve murders, just as he never intended to get his best friend turned into a Halloween stereotype. Though he doesn't regret it, he would like to blame it on Scott and Jackson for leaving Stiles and Danny unsupervised in a lockable room with alcohol. Honestly, their lives would have been much simpler if they had just stuck to the normal teenage things like making out, instead of hacking the BAU. - - - - - - - - - - - You created a Group Chat with PG and 5 others.

The Lawston Butcher was a woman, not a dude. Pretty sure she was your third witness, Mrs. Alfia.

DM: What?

George Gelding wasn’t one of her victims, which threw off your data. His killer just used the Butcher’s method to throw off the trail. Also, his killer was most likely Kyle Freeden.

AH: Thank you for your input on one of our past cases. May we have your name for the record of the tip?

LOL no. I’m drunk, not stupid.

I'll cross this country on a frequency by illusemywords

(18/18 I 53,541 I Mature I Sterek)

“Stiles, I need you to run a license plate for me.”

“Whatever you need, babe.”

“Don’t call me babe.”

“Stop being such a sourwolf, just tell me the numbers.”

or

The one where there's a serial killer on the loose, Stiles Stilinski has a stalker and Derek Hale doesn't know how to express his emotions.

The New Member by Shadowofahunter

(30/30 I 60,241 I Mature I Stydia)

After losing Prentiss the team is raw, but when the new Agent Stilinski joins in her place they begin to heal.

Set in season 6 and ignores the cases.

Unforgettable by Sallyasher1994

(18/18 I 161,523 I Explicit I Sterek)

“No, I guess not,” Stiles shakes his head distractedly, “What’s this about anyway?” What was it about? Had his dad called and complained about his attitude over the phone? Technically it was made from a work station but it was a personal phone call. He can’t get in trouble for that right? Then Stiles thought about how his stand in boss had mentioned Derek. Derek who is in Beacon Hills right now. Within driving distance of his father. All alone. Without his scrawny, children’s book comparison of a husband to defend him. Stiles felt his heart sink with dread. What had his dad done?

“Everyone get your go bags, we’re heading to Beacon Hills,” - Derek and Stiles are married and work for the FBI, with Scott, Stiles best friend and Derek’s brother. Stiles has always struggled with his father hating Derek, but he never thought it would culminate in the man arresting Derek for several murders. Stiles and Scott have to take the team to their home now and see if they can not only free Derek, but also catch a killer, and do it before anyone else gets hurt… they can’t do all three.

Sheriff is not awesome. Like he was, but now he sucks. Seriously it’s so worth a read but don’t expect to love the sheriff.

Raised By Wolves by auburn 

(6/6 I 186,765 I Mature I Scallison)

An alternate universe mash of season one and two (with later elements), where the FBI is called in to investigate the murders in a small town. Peter doesn't manage to kill Kate, the kanima is not Jackson, Scott McCall is a failure as a friend, Stiles has to face some hard truths, Derek's never been human, the BAU sees what they expect to see, and Gerard Argent is still more monstrous than any werewolves.

[marley-manson]

M*A*S*H for the fandom ask

Thank you! 💖

Favorite character:

Hawkeye!!! My guy! I have written so many odes to him so I'll refrain here, but man. Big fave.

Least Favorite character:

Potter. Sorry, he's a sweet loveable old traditional man and that absolutely sucks ass for the political messaging, which is my second favourite aspect of mash after the homoeroticism.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):

Hawk/Trap

Hawk/Frank

Hawk/BJ

Hawk/omc

aaaand Hawk/Charles I guess

Character I find most attractive:

Margie probably

Character I would marry:

Honestly, none of them. All the women with speaking roles are either military volunteers or have established lives and obligations in a war torn country.

Character I would be best friends with:

The random tertiary characters who don't do anything obnoxious and are just kinda there. Kellye, Igor, various unnamed nurses. I don't want to be friends with someone who could be a sitcom character.

a random thought:

I love how long running episodic tv eventually gets like, a fanfic esque vibe, where the writers are writing fully established characters in a fully established setting and incorporating fully established details into their ideas. I find it very satisfying and enjoyable. There's an exchange in Peace on Us, it's a random little offhand line, totally nothing, but basically Charles tells Hawkeye to stop complaining because he has the most points since he's been there longest, so he'll be going home before any of them anyway. And Hawkeye's response is basically, yeah I've been here so long that I have every right to complain.

And I love that in order to write that exchange some writer had to remember that Hawkeye's canonically been there the longest so logically he would have more points than Charles and BJ.

Like I said, absolutely irrelevant detail, there's hundreds just like it, but it's just a good tiny example of something I like about older tv. It's not about consistency either since Mash is bad with continuity lol, it's just about knowing that the writers are building on a world that exists with or without them, I guess.

An unpopular opinion:

Is there one I haven't already talked about at length? Today I will say:

Hawkeye doesn't have a character arc. He doesn't get more worn down, he doesn't lose his resilience. He has ups and downs throughout from season 1 to 11 and he has a breakdown at the end, not a tangible decline. The seventh episode of the whole show was about Hawkeye and Trapper being extremely burned out, there's no down to go from there. The entire show is one big down for Hawkeye. The change is solely tone, and Hawkeye's the only one this really affects because he's the only character there from start to finish, aside from Margaret who did have an arc.

Hawkeye's biggest breakdowns pre GFA are, imo, Dr Pierce and Mr Hyde, and The Late Captain Pierce, both episodes in the first half of the show, and at the very least anything in later seasons like eg Depressing News is equal rather than worse. If anything it could be argued that he gets a little more of a handle on himself and the situation in the later seasons thanks to being there so long. He certainly has enough of a handle on himself to emotionally support the hell out of everyone else for very little support in return lol, and there are moments when he gives others cautionary advice based on his own hard-earned experience, like when he warns Winchester about insomnia in Dr Winchester Mr Hyde.

Like, basically in the early seasons Hawkeye was miserable in dark comedy, in the later seasons he's miserable in character drama with a side of comedy subplots. There's no devolution there.

my canon OTP:

None. The most a canon romance is to me is neutral.

Non-canon OTP:

Hawkeye/Trapper

most badass character:

Klinger. And I love how the show frames him sometimes along those lines - like Margaret and Hawkeye's "isn't there one man among you?" / "The job's open" exchange when they're being held at gunpoint, followed by Klinger showing up in a dress and disarming dude with his stole in White Gold.

pairing I am not a fan of:

Hawkeye/Mulcahy I'll say. I don't dislike it on principle or anything, I'm happy for the fans and its surge in popularity, but I can't say I'm a fan, because I just can't really suspend my disbelief when it comes to Mulcahy fucking - gay fucking even - without like, having an immense religious crisis. And I don't particularly care to read about a priest having a religious crisis, so idk, doesn't work for me any way I slice it.

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

Yeah Klinger's a good choice for this, when he became company clerk, when the show has him flip flop on whether he loves the army because all his friends are in it (I can fanwank it away but if I have to do that it means the show fucked up), when they make him the guy who makes stupid mistakes... all a downgrade.

favourite friendship:

Hawk + Margaret. I love them because they're very odd-couple, they would never be friends outside this circumstance and only became friends within the circumstance after years of enmity and change from Margaret. I don't think they'd remain close after the war, and that's part of what I like about their friendship. It feels real, but temporary and very much a friendship of convenience, because Margaret's the only person around Hawkeye can really have certain kinds of emotional talks with.

character I want to adopt or be adopted by:

n/a

ask meme

[adder24]

Flowers for your hotdogs

A crossover fic with the Mentalist and Castle, since we never got the crossover of the centurary.

A/N: The timelines are not accurate I admit since I have mashed season 6 of the Mentalist with season 4 of Castle. I know I know but it's a bit of fun right?

Summary: Fed up of being restricted by the FBI, Jane makes a break for it while working a case in New York. He manages to throw the FBI off his scent but in doing so, he manages to bump into one of New York's finest detectives and a famous Author come consultant who both require Jane's expertise.

@profwonderbearthementalista @captkatecastle @untilthe12ofnever @nuggsmum @loops911 @nikki-rook @loops911 @hellostickerdoodle @myfriendtheurbanlegend @bonnie131313

Story below the cut

Chapter 1 - Damp Warehouses

When a dog is put on a short leash, it loses the ability to explore, to get acquainted with its surroundings and familiarise itself with the locals so to speak. It’s a tactic used to make a dog fall into line and a Tactic that the FBI were currently using on Jane. The problem was the more restrictions they put on him, the more Jane tested them and the trip to New York and being denied a Hot dog, was the breaking point.

He created a suitable distraction, by getting a suspect on a homicide to tell Kim Fischer she was going to inform the media, and while her and Lisbon ran after them, Jane decided to make a break for it, evading the other agents on the ground and blending in with the crowds of people around him. With his new found taste of freedom his first stop was a hot dog stand on the Manhattan side of Brooklyn bridge, next to the City hall park. Understandably there was a queue but eventually Jane reached the front of it and put in his order for a hot dog all the way.

A child like smile spread across his lips as he was given his hot dog, Jane made sure to pay the vendor generously, using the leftover change that he got from the disallowed hot dog earlier, but as he was about to take a bite, he sensed someone close by watching which was soon confirmed by an excitable sounding “Patrick Jane?!”

He turned his head to the voice and upon recognising the tall,stocky looking man coming towards him, he too got a little excitable.

“Richard Castle?!” He replied, chuckling when he saw the other man's Jaw drop and then turned to the woman standing next to him, the woman he could only assume would be the inspiration behind Nikki Heat. Kate Beckett.

“He knows me! Kate, he knows me!” Castle squeaks happily

“How can I not know you? The Derrick Storm novels and now The Nikki Heat stories? You’re pretty well known” Jane replied calmly as he took a bite from the hot dog and savoured the taste “I have been craving this all day”

“The man likes hot dogs too” Castle whispered as Kate gave him a look.

“A lot of people do Castle, now can you stop fangirling for five minutes and explain to me who Patrick Jane is” Kate replied firmly.

“He’s a Psychic!” Castle replied happily.

“No such thing as Psychic’s, more like an elaborate con artist” Patrick interjected with a smile

“A con artist?! You’re fangirling about a Con artist pretending to be a Psych-Wait hang on, Patrick Jane? The same Patrick Jane who’s fam-”

“Family was murdered by a serial killer! Yes, that Patrick Jane, I was trying to avoid bringing that up around him Kate but nevermind” Castle grumbled

“It’s okay…I have grown accustomed to it now.” Patrick replied as his smile fell a little. “Yes I am that Patrick Jane and yes I know you two are more than just Colleagues and I am guessing you’re trying very very hard to keep it a secret from those you work with”

Both Castle and Kate looked at him dumbstruck. They had literally only just met him and the man was already picking up on the fact they were an item and desperately trying to keep it hush hush.

“Oh he’s good!” Castle said a little too enthusiastically.

“Yeah, he’s a con artist Castle” Kate replied unimpressed, “He probably followed us-”

“Or I have a good read on people. Castle here, he’s like a Labrador, Excitable, always sees the world as his playground, can be tamed with food and is loyal to his family and those he loves but you Kate, you’re a little more complex. See you want to be like him but you lost someone very close to you and their death has given you a thirst for revenge, one that hasn’t been quenched yet but you have been tantalisingly close on a few occasions. And that drive, that quest you have set out in your mind, it’s what has closed you off a little from all the good things he sees in this world...You’re opposites but you need one another. You need him to help you lighten up and he needs you to ground him and reel him in a little, otherwise he becomes an untameable, bouncy labrador that humps all the furniture” Jane interrupted, watching their expressions as he accurately described them. “Am I close or do you still believe I followed you? A bit of a feat considering I crossed over from Brooklyn”

“I don’t hump furniture!” Castle blurts out, watching Jane as he takes another bite from his hot dog, chuckling.

Kate however was a little more shaken up. It felt like Jane had reached into her soul, pulled out her memories and was poking at them, seeing what kind of response he would get from her when he was able to discover her life story in mere seconds.

“How did you do that?” She asked him carefully

“Like I said, I just have a good read on people” Patrick replied casually as he finished off his hot dog.

"Right…come on Castle we got a case to work on" Kate says cautiously, watching Patrick closely.

"We do-wait, I got a brilliant idea" Castle replied, his voice filled with excitement.

"Oh no" Kate groaned.

"Oh no? What's Oh no?" Patrick asked, being his usual nosey self.

"Why don't we get Jane to help us solve the case quicker?! That's only if he hasn't got anywhere to go or isn't working" Castle suggested, watching the death glare form on Kate's face.

"Excellent idea, I'm not working on anything, I'm just here visiting" Patrick replied with as much eagerness as Castle.

"We can't just bring him into the precinct like a stray dog and hope Gates will let him work a case" Kate growled 

"Then like a stray dog, we sneak him in, tell her he's a witness or something." Castle replied

"You know the times where I hate you? This is one of them. He can tag along but there are rules." Kate said sternly 

"It's okay I'm house trained" Patrick interjected.

"Oh great, he's just as Snarky. Okay Patrick, rule one, you don't tell anyone what is going on between me and Rick, do and I lose my job. So unless you want me to use your inside as a football, I suggest you keep it quiet. Rule two you only read the suspects. Castle I don't want you encouraging him either" Kate said firmly giving the man that look "Rule three and the final rule, if you want a coffee…make it yourself"

"But I only drink tea" Patrick replied

"Then you should be fine" Kate said as they started to walk towards the car "You coming?"

“Absolutely!” Jane said with a beaming smile, chasing after them, eager to see how this dynamic partnership worked together.

The journey to the precinct was a bit of a whistle stop sightseeing tour for Patrick, he got to see the Empire State building, Times Square, a peek at the Chrysler building and a fleeting glance at lady liberty herself before they finally reached the precinct. Patrick got out of the car and took a moment to get himself acquainted before Castle showed him the way in and signed him in as a guest. They then made their way up to where the magic happened, a small area that was alive with the hustle and bustle of detectives working cases or acting on call outs. It felt a little like home for Patrick, reminding him of the CBI before it was disbanded.

“Do you have a couch?” Patrick finally asked

“Yeah in the family room…where we talk to the families, why?” Castle asked “Oh it’s just how I do my best work, laying on the couch, staring at the ceiling, listening to my environment. Something I asked from the FBI but they're not in the mood to bend and consequently I’m not doing my best work for them” Patrick replied, giving Castle a coy smile.

“You think Kate will buy it?” Castle asked him

“She will buy it if you are in on it, say ... .I tell you it’s a technique used to gather your thoughts, see clarity in your decisions and all you have to do is tell her it works”  Patrick suggested, knowing full well Castle was up for a bit of mischief making.

“I’m in!” Castle replied Defiantly 

“Excellent, show me the way to the family room and I will show you the magic” Patrick replied confidently

“Certainly and may I say, I like you, we’re going to get into so much trouble” Castle said happily.

“Oh we are, we really are” Patrick replied with a chuckle as Castle showed him to where the couch was kept.

Oddly enough, it was a similar one to the one Patrick grew accustomed to, only this one seemed a little more supportive. He sat down, bounced on it a few times before laying down on it to get a feel.

"Oh this is comfortable, I can work with this" Patrick said as a grin spread across his lips "Wanna give it a go on the other one Castle?"

Castle quickly looked around to make sure no one was looking in before he too took his place on the other couch, laying his 6 foot 2 frame across the cushions and letting out a contented groan.

"Oh yeah…I can see why you like this way of working" Castle said huskily 

"It's great, you can relax and let your brain unravel the case but what's even better, is you can listen better like this…you can hear everything going on, channelling in on the right conversations, picking up little nuggets here and there" Patrick says as he closes his eyes to tune his listening skills  "What's the case you're working on?" 

"A guy killed by a Zombie" Castle replied nonchalantly 

"You're joking right?" Patrick replied surprised 

"I'm not. We got video evidence. It's really cool but a little creepy!" Castle replied excitedly

"There is no such thing as Zombies. It's illogical for them to exist" Patrick replied calmly, knowing Castle will argue against him.

"Okay well I guess I'll have to show you the footage to make you believe" Castle replied.

"Guess you will" Patrick replied softly 

There was a moment's silence between the two men, both of them listening to their environment momentarily before Castle's curiosity got the better of them.

"You know how you freaked out Kate? Can you do that with me?" Castle asked "Just curious to know what you're psychic abilities picked up on me"

"Not psychic and I already did" Patrick replied as he turned to look at him "You ready to hear it?"

"Fire away" Was Castle's response, not truly prepared for what Patrick was about to say.

"On the outside you appear as this loveable guy that has a good sense of humour, wit and charm but on the inside you've experienced a lot of heartbreak, sensing your father was never around when you was born, that you took on the responsibility to be the man about the house, look after your mom, pay the bills and help keep a roof over your head." Patrick replied

".......I never told-"

"I'm not done" Patrick interrupted "You put on the playboy act after a broken heart by a childhood sweetheart, you didn't want your heart broken like that again so you played the field for a very long time…got married a couple of times and had a child. A daughter who is and always will be the apple of your eye. You're loyal, loving to your family and now you actually feel ready to have a serious relationship with someone, who I believe is Kate or Beckett as you call her at work. Problem is you love her but you still keep things from her and I can tell you, you need to be open with Kate, stop hiding behind the playboy act, lower your walls a little and just be you. You don't need to impress her Castle, she likes the man you are." 

Castle just stared at him, he was impressed by the man's skill, if somewhat a little uncomfortable by the man's accurate reading. Of course it did cross his mind that Patrick may have researched him beforehand but something was telling him that it was not the case, that somehow, Patrick leapt into his mind and relayed all that he saw before him.

"How far off was I?" Patrick asked

"Did you research me?" Castle asked

"Nope, didn't have time and didn't know I'd end up working alongside you." Patrick replied casually.

"Well for someone who hasn't done his homework, you got it spot on. You gotta teach me how to do it, it would be a cool thing to do at parties!" Castle responded enthusiastically.

"I'm not one to give out my trade secrets but as a tip, people give out visual clues all the time, you just need to know where to look and how to read it." Patrick replied with a smile.

"Kate can be my test subject" Castle replied thoughtfully

"Yes she can but don't be too obvious with it, try and be subtle" Patrick advised.

He then went on to spend ten minutes schooling Castle on how to subtly get a read on someone, reminding him to keep eye contact with someone but not make it uncomfortable, all before Kate burst into the room and stood in the doorway, a disapproving look on her face and her arms folded across her chest.

"She's upset" Castle said calmly

"Yeah it's quite obvious" Patrick replied

"Castle you asked to have this man work on the case and here you both are, laying on the couch, gossiping while I am out there busting my ass off trying to catch a lead" Kate said in frustration.

"This is how Patrick works, you lay on the couch and lis-"

"I don't care. Get your asses to my desk. Now!" Kate demanded, giving Patrick her trademark death glare "I don't care how you work, when you are under my command you do things my way. Are we clear Mr Jane?"

"Oh we're clear but you'll be surprised what you hear from the couch" Patrick replied in an annoyingly optimistic manner, hoping he could make Kate crack a little.

"Desk!" She snapped back at him as Castle hurriedly ran to get another seat setup at Kate's desk.

"But I don't know where you sit" Jane protested "And I still need a cup of tea"

"Tea can wait. Follow me if you know what's good for you" Kate replied.

Patrick shrugged his shoulders and followed her through the office, watching the people around him work and noting two detectives that were giving him a quizzical look as he passed them by. He then approached what he assumed to be Kate's desk and sat in the empty seat next to Castle, the man presenting Patrick with a cup of tea he had made for him.

"Did you put the water in, make sure the tea bag stewed a little and then the milk?" Patrick asked him.

"Yep, my mom knew this English guy who was very precious about the way his tea was made and he taught-"

"Guys. A little focus here" Kate said sternly

"I made him tea," Castle said proudly.

Kate rolled her eyes and shook her head before presenting Patrick with the file they were working on. Inside was the report on the body from Laney, pictures of the body and the crime scene and a few statements from those who attended the scene along with information gathered on the victim and a list of potential suspects.

"For someone to bite another human and leave behind a deep wound, they would need to be high or deranged" Patrick said as he continued to read the notes.

"Or a zombie,"  Castle interjected.

"You only ever bite someone if it's in self defence or…you're sexually aroused by it. This doesn't come across as either…was there any chemical residue left behind?" Patrick asked

"As a matter of fact there was, traces of a chemical found only in this specific Warehouse district downtown which is on the to do list" Kate replied as she studied Patrick "You thinking drugs are involved?"

"Could be, where's this Charlie fellow?" Patrick asked

"Down in holding, he believes he's going to turn into a zombie" Kate replied with a sarcastic tone in her voice.

"Ooof. Someone's been watching too many horror films. Can I speak to him? I want to know what person we're dealing with here" Patrick asked

"I'll take you to him, I would say take Castle but it'll only encourage his zombie fixation" Kate replied.

"Don't come running when he turns and hungers for your brainy goodness" Castle quipped as he started going over the files again.

"Nice tea by the way" Patrick said, raising his cup to him as he walked alongside Kate. 

They didn't speak much but Patrick could tell that this was a woman who was strong minded, stubborn and confident. He could see It in the way she walked, the way she commanded authority and kept her team in check but under that tough exterior he knew there was a soft spot, someone who was warm, caring and understanding. He just needed to gain her trust a little.

"Do you have a team you work with in the FBI?" Kate asked him finally.

"Yes…yes I do it's still being put together but all the right ingredients are there, it's just getting them to click into place" Patrick answered as they reached the holding cells and waited for someone to sign them in.

"I'm guessing you're an agent" Kate said as she began to fill in the forms.

"No actually, I'm a consultant like Castle I guess" Patrick replied. 

“So who’s lucky enough to have you as their pain in the ass?” Kate asked with a chuckle

“Theresa Lisbon, you’d get along, she has things she can teach you and you have things you can teach her” Patrick replied as he signed the forms where he needed to “We have worked with each other a while now, she’s the only one I truly trust when it comes to things close to my heart”

“Sounds like you have a soft spot for her” Kate says with a smile

“I’ve worked with her for years, of course I’m going to develop a soft spot for her” Patrick says defensively as Kate walks him into the maze of holding cells, every single one of them empty bar one, which was occupied by Charlie, tall man with short black hair, wearing a grey shirt, white tee and Black trousers. Sure enough, Patrick saw the bite mark on his arm, same as the one found on the victim.

“That is interesting!” Patrick says gleefully as he sits down on the floor, placing his cup of tea on the ground between his legs “Hey I’m Patrick Jane, I’m another consultant. Look I need to ask about the attack, smooth out a few details. Now according to Zombie lore, by now you would have turned and that wound on your arm would become a lot more redder and angrier, your veins would be purple and more to the surface and you would be clammy and sick looking, like you have the flu. None of that has happened so I think you’re still able to help me understand what happened to you and David.”

Charlie slowly looked at his arm and then back at Patrick, indicating for the man to carry on with what he has to say.

“I want you to close your eyes for me and slow your breathing down, breathe deep in through your nose, hold for three seconds and breathe out slowly. Can you do that for me?” Patrick asked

“Yeah ... .I can do that” Charlie replied as he slowly closed his eyes and followed Patrick’s instruction.

Patrick waited a couple of minutes, watching the man calm himself down and fall into some form of trance that made him a little more amicable and easy to coerce.  The perfect moment for Patrick to try and draw out some information they couldn’t get out from him while he was hysterical and focusing on his bite.

“I know the attack was quite violent and disturbing for you but I want you to try and remember that day for me, recall any smells or sounds that put you there, maybe there is a colour that reminds you of that day” Patrick says softly, watching the man relax.

“Glue….I could smell Glue….like latex glue” Charlie replied

“Okay that’s good. What else stood out to you?” Patrick asked him

“Rust and…staleness, no damp, the clothes smelt damp” Charlie replied

"Good and did you recognise this person who attacked both you and David?" Patrick asked.

"No idea they just…they came for us and then ran off" Charlie replied 

Patrick took a sip of his tea and looked at Kate with a smile.

"Rust and damp smelling clothes would fit warehouses, especially the leaky ones. But…I don't think our killer was of sound mind and I have a feeling, since Charlie here doesn't know them, is that they were hired to kill or maybe coerced" Patrick suggested before he clapped his hands, snapping Charlie out of his trance "Thanks Charlie you have been a big help"

Charlie blinked, confused and disorientated, unsure of what happened to him as Kate gave Patrick a perplexed look.

"Did you hypnotise him?"She asked

"No just calmed him down and made him more cooperative" Patrick replied with a smile as he got to his feet and picked up his tea from the floor “Castle makes a good cup of tea”

“I'm sure he will be thrilled to know” Kate replied as she walked with him out of the holding area. “Fancy having a walk around some of New York’s finest warehouses in the middle of the night?”

“Sure. I don’t sleep much anyway so maybe a walk around some Warehouses might make me sleepy” Patrick replied with a sarcastic tone and a cheeky smile on his lips.

“I’m guessing you have a hotel room for the night?” Kate asked as she started to sign them out 

“Err…not really I was just going to take a chance on luck” Patrick replied as he started to sign the documentation.

“Well Castle has a spare room or three you can make use of, I’m sure he would love to have you around” Kate replied as they made their way back to the bullpen 

“I’ll be sure to ask him” Patrick replied

Once they returned to Beckett’s desk, she started to put her plan into action. Her, Castle and Patrick would take a few warehouses within  Manhattan, while Ryan and Esposito took a few spots along the Hudson and of course they would move at night, usually the time where crime would be at its peak and they may catch a few breaks with some drug dealers that could potentially have a role to play within the case. So as soon as Darkness fell over the city, Beckett and her team got to work, Esposito and Ryan headed to their spots while Kate, Castle and Patrick went to theirs. Their first spot was a bust, nothing happening, no suspect behaviour or even drug dealers but the second spot, the second spot was interesting. There was steam and a creepy atmosphere around the place which oddly put a smile on Patrick's face.

“Oh this is deliciously creepy” Patrick said joyfully

“Even more reason to have your wits about you Patrick” Kate retorted as they walked through the grounds of this particular spot.

“Oh I have my wits about me, don’t you worry about that” Patrick replied as he marvelled at the spot, chuckling when he saw how on edge Castle was, despite the man trying to disguise it with the macho front he put on. Of course, it teased out Patrick’s mischievous side, he couldn’t help himself and when the right time presented itself, Patrick struck. He managed to find a discarded paper bag,collected air into it and popped it, the explosion loud and reverberated around the grounds of the warehouse. Castle must have lept twelve feet in the air, causing Patrick to laugh loudly before he realised Kate’s gun was trained on him and he flung his arms up in the air to show submission.

“Do that again and I’ll tell Lisbon personally why you came home with a hole in your body” Kate snapped.

But as Jane was about to reply with a witty comment, something caught his eye, something running frantically behind them.

“You might want to turn around” Jane said hurriedly

“If you’re tricking me, I swear-”

“I’m not tricking you! Turn around, there is someone running for their lives!” Patrick pleaded

Thankfully Castle saw it too, despite his nerves already being shredded by Patrick’s antics.

“Kate I think they need help” Castle said

Kate slowly took her eyes off Patrick and looked in the direction both men were looking in, sure enough there was a young woman emerging from the steam in the distance, sprinting towards them, horror etched on her face.

“Get out of here! They’re coming!” She screamed as she ran past them, Patrick watching her path as she ran by..

“Gotta admire a woman who can sprint in heels!” Patrick said before he then turned to look in the direction she came from and sure enough, emerging from the steam was a horde of people also running in fear.

“Okay what’s going on?!” Castle blurted out as he watched Patrick and Kate watched as these people ran past them screaming.

Then there was an eerie silence as the screaming died off into the distance. A moment for them to catch their breaths and try to figure out what had just happened. Patrick was about to speak before he noticed a crowd of slow moving people In the distance, people that stumbled over their feet, that had their hands outstretched. They could hear the distant growls and groans before they emerged from the shadows, coming from every direction. Patrick's eyes lit up in wonder while Castle appeared more panicked. He knew what this group of people were.

“We need to run!” He shouted

“Why?” Patrick asked, confused.

“Because if we don't they'll eat out brains, they're Zombies Patrick!” Castle replied

“.....Zombies? Well this should be Interesting” Patrick replied calmly.

“How are you calm?!” Castle yelled

“Err…I dunno, maybe I know the difference between fact and fiction” Patrick replied 

But the Zombie horde got closer and closer, Patrick fought  back the urge to yell out Lisbon's name as he became increasingly uncomfortable with the amount of people coming towards them, vacant, soulless eyes staring right at them. Unsettling, unnerving and creepy. Kate quickly drew her gun and stood her ground.

“CASTLE, PATRICK, GET BEHIND ME!” She yelled as she kept eyes on the horde.”This can’t be real…”

“WE’RE OUTNUMBERED!” Castle replied, panicked by the sight.

“Significantly! You don’t have enough bullets in that gun to hold them back,so I hope you got a plan, Detective” Patrick warned as he backed himself up against Castle

“Only one. Hold tight and be prepared to fight!” Kate ordered.

[demareth]

OK

finally watched the final season of the umbrella academy

this is my verdict:

the first four episodes of the season were actually really really good, in fact while we were watching i kept thinking that i liked it way more than the prior season, even possibly on par with 1 and 2. the writing was actually really good and funny, the story lines were engaging, the music choices were superb, and most importantly the PACING was good. everything felt like it was getting the time it needed. characters could have a moment for a conversation and it could just breathe in that moment.

and then we got to the last two episodes and it was like what the FUCK happened?? it just kind of fizzled and fumbled quickly through everything to a nothing ending that, once again could have worked and been a good emotional ending if the build up was right, but it was so fucking rushed.

heres what i think happened:

they must have been initially been planning for more than six episodes. i have a feeling they were aiming for 8-10 episodes and started making the show with that in mind, and they were at about the fourth episode when the network or whoever told them they only had six episodes. because it VERY much felt like the first four episodes had their own flow and pace and then all of a sudden everything was mashed into the last two episodes.

idk if it should be called the game of thrones effect or any of the countless other shows who have done it but im sick and tired of the networks or whoever the fuck is responsible for these decisions deciding shows need to be shorter and shorter and not giving the creators the space and breadth they need to tell the story right. there have been so so many pieces of media the past few years that could and should have been better but they wanna churn out their marketable shill as quickly as they can to the masses.

anyway, tldr

it started off really really good but ended up being another disappointing speedrun of an ending

[mylittleredgirl]

Hi! I'm so excited you're finally watching MASH! I hope you enjoy it and I selfishly hope you grow to like Margaret who starts off as not great and then becomes great and my fav.

i am having a great time!! i started at the beginning of season one and just finished season two. some of the discs in the complete series set i got as a gift last year don't play right or cut out mid-episode, which is driving me a little nuts, but i guess i'm having the classic syndicated tv experience of randomly missing stuff and always having some episode i've never seen floating out there forever.

my long form thoughts so far for those interested:

it's such a great collection of characters for comedy, because they are all pathetic and terrible in their own unique way, but are so charming and funny and easy to watch while they commit their little crimes against common sense.

i really like the mix of episodes -- the We're Having A Caper episodes and then the ones where it's like we're just kind of living here and things happen in some kind of order, but the things aren't necessarily related, which feels very appropriate for the setting.

i'm watching without the laugh track, which highlights one of my favorite things, which is that the main and background characters laugh out loud at what's happening. it gives the show such a lived-in and messy feeling. i just came off of watching the good place 5 times in a row, where the dialogue and plot are especially tightly packed, so this feels especially like it has a lot of just hanging out.

i keep thinking about how i'm watching this show fifty years later, not knowing what is the 70s lampooning itself, what is the 70s lampooning the 50s, and what is actually being played straight but i assume is a joke because of my perspective. some scenes are hard to watch on purpose and some are hard to watch by accident.

i wish i were watching it with my dad so he could keep pausing it to explain things to me, even if they don't need explaining, because i think that would add to the experience.

character feelings after two seasons:

hawkeye: alan alda being so charming and having such great timing really makes this an easy get. of course i'm going to love him equally in both success and failure (mostly failure).

trapper: my bestie!!! there's something about his face that makes me feel like i know him personally. i just love his physical acting choices. it's always funny. my fave i think.

margaret: i definitely enjoy her!!! how can you not?? they introduce her as being both highly capable and The Sexiest American Woman In Korea, who either can have or has had every high ranking officer in the army, and then she's soooo horny for the most pathetic man alive that she can't function.

frank: the narrative requires him to suck sooooo much every minute of every episode, because everyone else also sucks, so he really needs to put his back into it. he's gotta be there and he does it well, idk what more to say.

henry: he fascinated me in season one because i was like... clearly he's supposed to be A Caricature, but i couldn't figure out which one, and then he turned out to be A Character instead. i love his complexity and his serious moments, but i don't tend to find drunk acting that funny, so a lot of his shtick is lost on me. i wonder if he's the only character (and maybe klinger?) where the laugh track would actually serve him.

radar: as a former assistant yeah bro i get it, you keep on keeping on.

father mulcahey: the only one who is not terrible at all so far even once. Protect Him. i am so happy every time he comes on screen.

klinger: i'm still warming up to him as a character since he's mostly a sight gag still.

the parade of nurses: i have decided to take it at face value that 1) they are all here at war because they're super horny, 2) they are playing hard to get for fun, and 3) the pill was somehow invented before 1950, and under those conditions GET IT GIRLSSSSS.

my largest outstanding question: were they all actually functioning people before the war? i assume war did this to them but it's also possible they were like this before and their wives are all like THANK GOD they're overseas cheating on me because imagine how much worse it would be if they were like this but in my house.

on to season three!!!

[lover-of-mine]

IDK enough about when scripts for S7 were written vs knowing 10 eps only and S8 renewal, but I kind of feel like eps 1-5 were written with Eddie/Tommy leading to Buddie in mind and then when the switch happened they changed a couple of things in eps 1-3 (not much, just Buck speaking to Tommy before he headed off after Eddie) and then ep 4 became a mish mash of what was originally planned with Eddie (his whole meeting someone and clicking thing and their "dates"). I feel like they were going Buddie (making Buck jealous while Eddie figured out he liked men in 7a and then going to spend 7b with the fallout of that leading to Buddie) but then found out they had only 10 eps and the woman who played Natalia couldn't come back so they switched it to Buck because it was easier to make him bi/they didn't have a storyline for him anymore if Eddie wasn't dating Tommy, making Buck question everything while still dating Natalia. And THEN they got renewed so instead of pushing Buddie to end S7 they moved it to S8 to give Eddie a better coming out arc, but then had to come up with a storyline for him beyond the nun thing and TM happened to watch Vertigo late one night... IDK maybe I'm crazy, but I just feel like S7 was planned buddie (starting with Eddie/Tommy as catalyst) - even including how they marketed the season before it aired with a lot of Buddie stuff and talking about it in interviews, etc (and that Family Feud ep) after filming the first 5 eps that had been written - and then between only 10 eps and a S8 renewal the plans changed. Does that make sense or am I delusional?

If you're delusional, we both are delusional because I'm right there with you. They already had episode 6 recorded by the time of the renewal but not anything past that, and assuming that the renewal allowed them not to rush things doesn't feel crazy to me. Also I think they switched things around because they realized Buck was more straight forward to get out of the closet than Eddie along with the actress availability, I don't think they planned on shoving Buck on the back burner, they just happened to not know what to do with him because Natalia couldn't come back so they couldn't use her for whatever plan they had about his death, and then they gave him something they had planned for Eddie, because the switch happened while they were filming the cruise, and just kept him in Eddie's storyline for the rest of the season because they didn't plan that far ahead lol the vertigo thing was very clearly a last minute decision because if they had thought about it earlier, they would've expanded the situation to happen all season, imo they could've used Kim in 705 for the conflict with Marisol instead of that nonsense of moving in/moving out, along with actually giving us the backstory on Eddie and Shannon. That deleted conversation with Chris adds a lot and it would be interesting if we had seen some version of it during 701 when Chris is having his crisis about Shannon and talking to 5 girls, and if they had laid the groundwork from the beginning of the season, that storyline wouldn't be so out of pocket. I think it was a combination of the way the actress couldn't come back, the show was renewed early and the way that Buck bi was well received, they kinda realized they could use Eddie being queer to bring the same type of buzz to s8 as biBuck brought to s7, and looking at it from a business perspective, to cram both storylines into one season when they could milk the exposure is kinda dumb, so we ended up with them not knowing what to do for the back half of the season and just winging it. And Ryan said they were getting scrips hours before shooting, so like, it was very clearly we did not plan for this but we need 4 more episodes so they let Tim play in his sandbox of madness.

[7grandmel]

Rip of the week: 08/07/2024

Riki Ricch

Season 4 Episode 2 Featured on: Summer-Colored Smiles ~ The SiIvaSummer All-Star Festival Collection

Ripped by Knay

While I've now settled into this new rhythm of posting pretty nicely, it has come with a bit of its own unexpected baggage. A big part of why I was hestitant to make this switch to weekly posts was the expectations of having each of these posts feel worth the 7-day wait, a sort of pressure that daily posts didn't really have. If I found a really simple but effective rip that I just enjoyed enough to want to share, akin to Imperial Touwer or kirby will never have drip *spits out cereal*, it felt fine to make a smaller-scale post about them - the big, significant-to-the-channel stuff would just be a few days away. But in starting this whole thing with The Legend of Cage: Staff Roll and giving each post more buildup, it started to feel like I was obligated to ONLY post about these insanely large-spanning parts of SiIvaGunner. Yet doing so would, of course, be ignoring part of the channel's core appeal - that rips of all kind, big, small, simple, complex, predictable, unpredictable, and everything inbetween, are all welcome so long as their quality comes from the heart. Today, we're scaling things back and talking about nothing but a single rip and its sheer vibes: Riki Ricch.

Or, well, I still think it might help to set the stage at least a little bit first. Hell, part of what even motivated me to start this blog, and to keep talking about SiIva's history in general, has been to get new fans to realize that the channel has a stage to set to begin with. Each season of the channel, and many times periods within said seasons, come with their own sort of vibe: be it the chaos of Season 1, the lower, more tense energy of Season 6, or the ongoing pure Silliness of Season 8. Uniquely with Season 4, things were split into two halves - the sheer excitement and magnitude of Episode 1 driven by the King for Another Day Tournament and its extensive pre-release period, followed by a somewhat more laid-back vibe, of gleeful celebration, in Episode 2. The tournament was over! Everyone, the SiIva team, the fans, the in-universe characters, were all just happy to have wrapped up such a gargantuan, season-spanning event at last! And if I had to hazard a guess, I'd probably say that Season 4 Episode 2 was, by extension, the least irony-filled season in the channel's entire life even up until now - the set list for much of the year, at least in my memory of it all, had a vibe of grateful sincerity, which brought us rips like Locked In The Underground, vs SAYU (Based Version), Beyond the Floating Isles, and many more.

And right in the midst of all that sits Riki Ricch, the rip in focus for this week. In execution, it's a very simple rip - mashing up Frontier Village from Xenoblade Chronicles with Roddy Ricch's Down Below to create a fantastic example of patented SiIvaGunner "rip-hop". It's a term I've used before which loosely describes rips like Noonsummer Madness and God's PS2: Rips that leverage the emotional connections and nostalgia that binds us to video game music, and elevate those feelings further through being mashed up with low-tempo rap music. The end result puts a fresh spin on what we'd otherwise only consider background music - with Riki Ricch in particular, it takes the soothing stillness of Frontier Village, a tune that oozes comfort and hominess out of every corner, and just makes those vibes hit all the more through Ricch's personal lyrics. I've said it in many posts before that I'm hardly a connoisseur of the music world and even less so the hip hop world, but I really don't feel as if I need to be for Riki Ricch to hit home for me - I've spent so many hours taking it slow and steady in the world of Xenoblade Chronicles to where its music is already bound to cause a reaction, and giving it the smallest of twists such as this is enough to get me vibing in a whole new way.

That sort of returns to the musings from the start of this post - how much can I truly write about rips this simple but effective? Knay is a ripper with many sides, most notably for this blog being the mind behind CG Man HD Remastered Edition and its non-remastered counterpart, but otherwise contributes to the channel at their own pace with whatever they seem fit to make on that day. And I think that's awesome!! Like many of Knay's other rips, Riki Ricch, whilst not necessarily the most multi-layered rip ever made, feels like a completely original idea pursued to its natural endpoint by a ripper who genuinely cares about both pieces used to create it, a "I wonder if that would work" made into something for all of us to enjoy.

At little over 20K views, the rip is far from a runaway classic on the channel - yet, really, that only means there's many more people out there yet to have found it for themselves. And if you take anything from this post, other than the sheer quality of Riki Ricch itself, it's that I encourage all of you to really go hunting for quality rips that are similarly - unjustly - left in the dust, simplicity be damned. Season 4 Episode 2's celebrations may be far behind us, but its spirit of joyous good ought to still be upheld by us in the audience for as long as we can muster.

[b-plot-butch]

Besides Daniel, who else could have become Dream of the Endless 2.0?

So, I don't have a full copy of The Kindly Ones on hand right now so I may be remembering incorrectly, but my impression is that Daniel was passed the mantle of Dream of the Endless because of his unique connection to the Dreaming via Lyta being pregnant with him in dreams, and because Morpheus chose him and gave the emerald dreamstone to him (and he likely chose Daniel because of the aforementioned connection). I also like to think these two factors acted in conjunction to each other—the Endless do get to pick who their successor is, but that person has to be someone with an especial bond to their realm.

All that to say! Taking those factors into account, I started playing around with ideas of who else could have become the second Dream, in the context of the Netflix adaptation, and here's three possibilities I came up with:

1. Unity Kincaid

Unity spent over a century in dreams!! She’s a mortal human who spent almost her entire life there—that’s a damn strong bond. Also, when Morpheus was planning to kill Rose, he told her that she could stay in the Dreaming after her death, if she wished. I imagine Morpheus would have extended the same offer to Unity. If she took him up on it, she would have had a double connection to the Dreaming.

There is SO MUCH potential for some really zany humor if we start thinking about Desire’s relationship to Unity. Like. Imagine if your baby mama got reincarnated as your sibling. How weird would that be. Even Desire would be thrown by that, I think. And I can't imagine Unity would take kindly to finding out Desire only seduced her as part of a revenge plot on their brother, and also given how much she ADORES Rose, knowing Desire was just setting Rose up as a sacrifice for their own selfish reasons...oooooh, Desire, watch your fucking back honey. Family dinners were already hilariously fraught, and to add this to the shitstorm? I Would Like to See It.

Also Sandra James-Young would serve cunt in that pirate's outfit Morpheus rolled up in during the Season of Mists family dinner

2. Rose’s unnamed grandmother/Unity’s child

(In the intro I said this post is based on the show and I’ll stick with that for consistency, but this idea would really work better if we mashed comic and show canon so it’s Miranda Walker who’s Unity and Desire’s child, so feel free to imagine as such)

OKAY SO. Daniel was gestated in dreams, and you know who else was?? Unity’s daughter! It would give her a similar “claim” on the Dreaming in that sense.

The family drama is RIFE in this possibility, and you know I’m always a slut for Endless family drama. The kid that Desire sired purely as a revenge plot against their brother…has now taken the place of said brother. And is none too happy about finding out about the truth of why she was conceived.

And! There’s the added fact that Unity’s daughter is the grandmother of Rose Walker—a vortex. An incredibly powerful mortal with the power to tear the Dreaming apart. In the show, Gilbert posits a theory about why vortexes exist at all: “When a human is at the center of the Dreaming, is it not to remind us that we exist because humans dream, not the other way around?” That would be an interesting thing to think about when you become the sovereign of the Dreaming, and your granddaughter was a vortex, and your mother was who the vortex should have been all along.

And that brings us to the last possibility I’ve thought of, and one who is so dear to my heart…

3. Lucienne

*visibly struggling to present my thoughts on my beloved calmly and professionally* So, the two factors: connection to the Dreaming, and being chosen by Morpheus. It’s quite possible that Lucienne is the being who has spent the most time in the Dreaming besides Morpheus himself. “Dream of the Endless always has a raven.” Hell, it’s hard exactly what “always” means to an Endless (Death talks about being present for “the first living thing” and ravens are far from one of the first living things to die or dream—much younger than, say, sea sponges, or cockroaches), but it’s safe to say Lucienne’s been around for a longass time. She was the steward and caretaker of the Dreaming while Morpheus was imprisoned. The residents trust her and go to her for counsel. Her bond with the Dreaming is one of the most powerful save for Morpheus’s own.

As for the “chosen” component…you’ve seen the way Morpheus looks at Lucienne. He’s already chosen her twice: as raven and as librarian. And other than that, he chooses her every day, as his advisor and confidant. I’m thinking here of how Dream says “we have work to do” to Lucienne in Imperfect Hosts, and how she accompanies him to Cain and Abel’s houses when she didn’t technically need to be there: they’re a team, and they’re stronger together.

Also…there’s this added element that in becoming Dream, Lucienne would gain all the memories Morpheus had. Including memories he had of her, of everything they experienced together. She’d know everything he’d been thinking at the time, whereas before Lucienne the librarian could only have guessed. And I think that would be strange and emotional for her.

Conclusion

If anyone made it to the end of this post—thanks for indulging me! Additional thoughts and other possibilities are absolutely welcome. Please feel free to tag me if you make any posts related to this concept! <3

[jade-bright]

One day or Day one, am I right?

Okay, so god knows the amount of ideas I have for a few of the fandoms I hold close to my heart. The main one as of right now being Teen Wolf.

So here's a list of ideas I had written down or just in my mind for a long while :P (BTWs, a few of these I honestly don't remember my thought process for them, even tho I included a bit of context for myself in my notes)

Gone, Gone, Gone - Phillip Phillips /// Childhood Friends/Sweethearts AU [Sterek Animatic]

a lil montage thing of them growing up together, or something

Friends on the Other Side (Mash Up) - Thomas Sanders & Friends /// Kind of a mafia vibe w/ Spark Stiles [Pack Animatic]

- Stiles = Dr. Facilier - Isaac = Oogie Boogie Man - Others (couldn't think of which characters would fit with which disney villain)

Backstage Romance /// [Sterek Animatic]

- Some sort of ceremony, maybe? With how sexual the music video or whatever is, the idea is lowkey a mating ceremony...in dance??? Like obviously not sex, it was idea of the ceremony was going to be more them exchanging the mating bites - Derek (the male role/voice) goes first in kind of seducing (dancing around) Stiles, then Stiles (the lady) would have his turn, and then both of them kind of seducing each other, aka dance together and are abt to bite each other - Interrupted by hunters??? Or separated by their respective family / friends - Flashback to b4 b4 the ceremony or when they were kids @ the "some of them want to use you," which in the flashback it'd be both their parents warning them about, well, people wanting to use them because they're a spark and a werewolf >>> then back to the ceremony - But it is a whole ass dance like in the BGT video performance

Lover boy X Killer Queen /// I had three separate, but ultimately similar ideas for this one [Sterek Animatic (more tiktok formish)]

1. >>> Stiles talking abt Derek (Loverboy) / Derek talking abt Stiles (Killer Queen) <<< These are interchangable, like the songs could be either one of them 2. Derek describing himself to Eli / Stiles describing Derek to Eli 3. How Sterek acts like "now," (ignoring the movie) they're married and openly show that they love each other / How they used to act before, so like maybe Season 1-2 ish (?)

Inspo from reading title "Wolves who cried boy" - 3 ideas that kind of combined and became a 5 + 1 idea [Sterek Fic]

1. Stiles isn't known by the pack yet. So when the 5 pups (I think I included Jackson???) spot him in different areas around Beacon Hills, they all go to Derek or call him to come over. But Stiles is always gone by then, including his scent. 2. A *Stiles and Derek are around the same age,* where Derek keeps finding Stiles in the forest/preserve and his family never believes him or something 3. The '5' being idea #1 and idea #2 as like a flashback for the 5th one, and the '+1' being when Stiles finally showing up to the pack house by himself or w/ Derek

Mandalorian!Derek and Jedi!Stiles /// Star Wars AU [Sterek]

Only notes I have for this idea is, use "We're (a little bit) in love" as reference(-ish). Which I'm assuming is a fic I read, but I read so many damn fics I don't know which one this is. And my second note, Pack = Clan

"So what if he did? it's none of your dang business kid. My mom, there's no-one else quite like my mom" /// Art edit/animatic idea [Stilinski, Hale or Sterek Family (centric-ish)]

1. Eli -> Stiles -> Claudia 2. Eli -> Stiles -> John/Noah 3. Eli -> Derek -> Talia Thought process: - Claudia had a past w/causing trouble or slightly disrespecting the officers if she was questioned - The Sheriff and Stiles are both badasses in finding evidence/proving ppl wrong - The Hales would obviously be pissed at being chained/tied down and most likely bamfs when getting out of it :D

[hiccupmistress]

Trying to Make Peace With Strange New Worlds’ Controversial New Episode

Warning: This post will contain major spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season 2 episode 8, “Under the Cloak of War”, and will refer to the episode with the assumption that readers have already watched it.

 This week’s episode of SNW has already proved very divisive. Some people are calling it the best episode yet, others are calling it the worst. It tackles a difficult subject and doesn’t pull its punches. I’ve seen people crying “character assassination”, and others suggesting that its “character development”. And in all honesty, both parties are right. We’re used to seeing main characters in Trek be virtuous paragons, especially medical practitioner characters, and we’ve had fifty-five years to build up our own headcanons and ideals about Dr. M’Benga. But at the same time, in terms of actual canon content, M’Benga got nothing substantial in his Original Series episode and only one aspect of his character was focused on in season 1 of Strange New Worlds; you can’t contradict a character that hasn’t been developed yet. And I’m saying this as someone who was on the “character assassination” side when I first watched the episode!

It reminds me of M*A*S*H, and bear with me, because its probably not for the reasons you’re thinking, although this episode of SNW has a lot of scenes set in a popup medical camp in a warzone, that’s not it; there’s a specific episode of M*A*S*H its reminding me of. For the uninitiated, M*A*S*H was a show that ran from 1972-1983, following up from a movie in 1970. Set in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War, M*A*S*H started out as a sitcom. As the years passed though, it became a lot more sombre, dealing with heavier subjects, even though it never fully lost its comedic origins.

In season 7, there’s an episode (“Preventative Medicine”), where the hospital is flooded with tons of new patients, apparently a Colonel by the name of Lacy has been getting reckless and wilfully endangering his troops. Lacy even drops by the 4077 MASH unit to give his men purple hearts and hollow platitudes, neither of which his men want from him. The worst part is that Lacy isn’t even done. Once his men are recovered, he plans on sending them on a mission with a projected casualty rate of 30%, equating to one-hundred soldiers. And all for a hill with no strategic importance other than bragging rights. Nobody in the 4077 likes Lacy, but our main character, Captain “Hawkeye” Pierce decides to take it into his own hands. With the help of his buddy Captain BeeJay Hunnicut, he spikes Lacy’s drink to trick him into thinking he needs his appendix out, with the intention of actually removing his appendix so that he’d be unable to send his troops on that suicidal hill mission; he’d pulled a similar trick back in a season 3 episode (“White Gold”) with Hunnicut’s predecessor, Captain “Trapper” McIntyre. This time though, Trapper’s long gone, and Hunnicut’s having none of it. He lambasts Pierce, telling him:

“That man is crazy, but that doesn’t make this right. Some things are wrong and they’re always wrong.”

But Pierce can only see the troops he’ll be saving and goes ahead with deliberate malpractice anyway. Afterwards, wounded keep coming in. There’s a war on, after all. Colonel Lacy being out of the picture doesn’t stop the rest of the war.

The bottom line there is that Hawkeye did a very bad thing, and the episode doesn’t have any last-minute resolution or remedy for that. The audience are just left to contemplate that maybe the funny, charismatic Pierce isn’t the hero he makes himself out to be. And that’s kind of what “Under the Cloak of War” is doing for Strange New Worlds. Doctor M’Benga does a very bad thing, and the episode smartly ends on that note, leaving the audience to contemplate. The difference is, back in the M*A*S*H days, the landscape of TV was different - Continuity was rare. Whilst SNW isn’t as serialised as the other modern Star Trek shows, there’s still though-lines and ongoing stories for the main characters. Even if there were no immediate consequences at the end of this episode, that’s not to say M’Benga will never face consequences.

Its not a perfect episode. There’s certainly a number of things I’d do differently. And yes, that ending was absolutely a shock, one that makes us perceive one of the main characters differently, but that’s the point. You don’t have to like it, you don’t have to agree with what M’Benga did – on the contrary, if you you’re disgusted at what M’Benga seemingly got away with, the episode did its job. That’s not to say you have to like or agree with Ambassador Rah either. Like with “Preventative Medicine”, “Under the Cloak of War” is (in my opinion,) very much about the risk that in our attempts to stop heinous people, we can allow ourselves to sink to their levels. Colonel Lacy and Ambassador Rah were both very nasty people in their own ways. But that doesn’t mean medical malpractice or murder are okay, and sometimes, on rare occasions, we need to see heroes become villains for a story to send its message.

I hated “Under the Cloak of War” when I first watched it on Thursday. I watched it again in preparation for writing this. I still don’t “like” the episode, but I can make peace with what I think it was trying to do, and I look forward to seeing how it shapes M’Benga’s character arc going forward.