#so it's essentially 'crazy for cocoa puffs'...

[chirpsythismorning]

Me when I remember what the Cocoa Puffs featuring in S3 of Stranger Things are meant to signify:

[redheadedrenagade]

Wicked Game

Chapter 3: White Winter Hymnal

Chapters 1 & 2 can be found here and here.

No warnings. This takes place one month after the second chapter. Hope you enjoy. :)

The town is bustling in a flurry of wintery solstice and chattering teeth. Snow had just started to fall lazily from the sky, blanketing the grass thinly. Charlotte looks out the window at the passersby anxiously, dying to finally be cleared of house arrest by Maria. She loves and appreciates her with her entire heart for keeping her sorry ass alive, and she knows that she wants to prepare something truly special for her this Christmas. Something that she can look at and hear the words “thank you, I love you” every time she sees it. There would be time for that soon enough, because today her plans consisted of something she’d have previously sworn she’d never miss: patrol.

Oh, god, I’m going to drive everyone crazy…

She has so much pent up energy, and far less fear than before her survival against death, (she was kind of a certified badass now, obviously), and all she can think about is having a bow in her hands again, hunting in the forest, eating at the mess hall, spending time with Ellie and Jo-

Nope. No. We’re not going there. 

She brushes the thought off like a snowflake and gently pulls on her coat, making sure Maria sees her being careful with her almost healed arm as she walks into the room.

“Well, you ready to face the outside world yet or what?” Maria smiles warmly at her and walks forward to embrace her in a warm hug.

“I wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for you. You…you really are the best leader,” Charlotte says and pulls back to hold Maria’s shoulders and look her in the eyes, “the best friend anyone could ask for. Now that I’m out of that bed I can get back to convincing you of that.” 

Maria’s blushes and waves her off, but not dismissively. She’d always been relentlessly modest about her leadership in Jackson. “I’m just doing what anyone else would. Now, listen, I know you’re excited to be back in action, but I need you to promise me that you won’t – “

“Maria, I promise I won’t put all your hard work to waste. You literally saved my life. Anything you say from here on out, I’m gonna’ do, no questions asked,” Charlotte assures her with a signature crooked grin, patting Maria’s shoulder.

Maria snorts loudly and walks to grab Charlotte’s bag with her essentials and hands it over to her. 

“You’ve never listened to anyone a day in your life, Char.��

Charlotte can’t hold back a loud laugh that instantly feels so good after such a painful month. “Okay, you have me there. But there are exceptions. Well, one exception,” she replies with a wink.

Maria escorts her out the door, already making dinner plans for this coming weekend after the mandatory optional but highly encouraged Christmas celebration, and Charlotte starts the half mile walk back to her tiny cabin. The cold, brisk air feels like heaven against her face, the crisp feeling of snowfall bringing her immense comfort. Winter had always been her favorite season, even now that it was admittedly much harder to handle since the world went to shit.

It was lunchtime in Jackson, so she didn’t run into anyone on the way, which she was secretly grateful for. As excited as she was to re-enter the world, she needed some time to just be home for a moment. She stops short when she sees a large figure sitting on her porch steps. Cautiously, she walks on and as she gets closer comes to the shocking realization that’s it’s Joel of all people.

She shoves the hand not holding onto one of her backpack straps into her jeans pocket, looking only at the ground until she gets to the porch, where she’s forced to confront him. He’s just as handsome as she remembers. His cheeks are tinged pink from the cold, and his black hair peppered with grays is slightly unkempt from the wind. His hands are clasped together, elbows resting on his knees.

And those eyes. 

How the fuck do you make me feel like this?

She manages to give him a quiet hello, nervously re-adjusting her backpack and letting her eyes fall to the ground.

“Hey. Heard that – Maria told me you were – just thought I’d come say, well, I’m glad you’re doin’ better, kiddo,” he manages to stutter out, and it makes her heart jump a beat at how…nervous? And unsure of himself he sounds.

“Oh! Well, yeah. Um, that’s – thank you. It’s really great to be out of that damn bed. Was going a little koo-koo for Cocoa puffs in there,” she replies, laughing nervously and kicking the ground lightly with the toe of her boot. When she looks up at him again, he has a bemused expression on his face that she can’t help but chuckle at. “What’re you smilin’ about, sir?”

He breathes out through his nose in a laugh and shakes his head a bit, giving her a subtle once-over from head to foot, then back again. Charlotte feels her stomach flutter and her face becomes suspiciously warm for a winter day.

“I forget that other people remember things from back then. Sometimes I even forget I’m not the only one alive that had a life of some kind before it happened,” he replies, his eyes not leaving hers and her eyes not leaving the half-smile on his face that she caused.

“I…well, yeah, I feel like that sometimes, too. It happened to the whole world but it still feels like no one understands, somehow. It’s weird,” she says, tucking a lock of long red hair behind her ear and lingering a moment too long on the past. Her face darkens as her own memories of horror and loss flash across the forefront of her mind before she can push them back.

He clears his throat a bit as if he understands what she’s thinking and pushes against his knees to stand up and walk down the steps to her. She feels her heart pounding annoyingly hard in her ribcage as he approaches. He always had a way of snapping her out of her thoughts.

He’s so tall. And damn, does he look amazing in that sweater. Oh, jesus, get ahold of yourself, woman!

“Listen. I – well, I ain’t never been a man who knows the right things to say, or when to say ‘em. Just wasn’t born gifted with words like you, I guess.” 

She opens her mouth to protest and tell him that she can’t articulate things for shit either, but he holds up a hand telling her he needs to say more. His expression is almost pained as he awkwardly struggles to share what’s on his mind.

“I didn’t act right. That night, when you…when we brought you back. I’ve been kickin’ myself over it and I just wanna’ set the record straight.”

She nods gently and for once, revels in not being the most nervous person between the two of them. He scratches the back of his head sheepishly before continuing.

“It ain’t just because of Ellie. Not just because you bein’ okay is what’s best for her. I’m very…glad, that – Charlotte, when we first saw you, I was sure you were just about gone. I thought we were too late, and I…”

Charlotte is starting to feel bad for him at this point and decides to end his misery. She lets her backpack slide down her arm onto the snowy earth and even as he looks at her with confusion, she leans into his broad chest and wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him hard against her. This is her second thank you for that night.

For a moment he doesn’t even budge; just a solid wall of concrete Joel. But he quickly rights himself and lets his strong arms enclose around her, allowing his chin to rest against her shoulder. Her face is nestled into his neck, just like before, when the world was fading into darkness. In the back of her mind, she remembers one thing as she was fading that night, a low voice saying something to her, comforting and calm as a sunset.

Sweetheart.

She blushes fiercely into his sweater and pulls back a bit to smile up at him shyly with her lop-sided grin. Looking directly into his hazel eyes is liking staring into the sun, and she swallows thickly in her nervousness. He, however, seems calmer now, with his big hands now resting lightly at her waist from pulling back from their embrace. Then, he smiles back, and Charlotte feels a burst of warmth bloom inside her belly. She's thankful to have her hands on his shoulders to anchor her.

“I don’t regret any of it. I’d do it all again if I had to,” Charlotte says, her voice soft and sincere as she struggles to maintain eye contact. Her face feels like it's on fire. He chuckles then and takes a step back, and she immediately misses the warm presence of his body against hers.

“I’ll make sure it won’t come to that, darlin’.”

She feels a pang of something in her heart that feels completely foreign and somehow as natural as breathing. The same feeling she felt when he called her sweetheart. 

People who are just friends don’t usually say things like this…do they? 

Before she can think too deeply on it, a youthful voice all but bellows her name. She knows instantly who it is and turns around just in time to have Ellie barreling into her chest, hugging her so hard she might’ve broken a rib, and Charlotte laughs joyously despite the pain.

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me you were out today?! And you went to see Joel first? Like, c’mon, dude, I'm way more important,” she declares with passion, and it makes Charlotte smile even harder and hold her closer yet.

“Wanted to surprise you. Thought we could walk to patrol together in a bit. God, I missed you, girl!” Charlotte exclaims, swaying them side to side and enjoying every second of having the girl in her arms, safe and happy.

“She didn’t come to see me. I, uh, I had something I needed to talk to her about. An’ now I have, so I’ll let you two be. Ellie, careful of her wounds, your bein’ too rough,” says Joel, shaking his head slightly but he grins, nonetheless. Ellie finally parts from Charlotte to narrow her eyes at him suspiciously, a hint of mischief in her expression.

“Yeah, it sure looked like you were doing a lot of talking with all that hugging you two were doing.”

Oh my god, Ellie. If I didn’t love you so much, I’d strangle you!

Much to Charlotte’s surprise, Joel’s smile widens as he opens his arms to Ellie, advancing on her quickly, “Yep, and now it’s your turn, kid. No need to be jealous.”

Ellie shrieks and tries to escape, but he’s too quick as he grabs her around the middle with her back to his chest, and Charlotte can’t help but burst into laughter at the tiny girl kicking her legs in the air as he spins her around. Joel’s rich laughter fills the air amidst Ellie’s slew of curse words, but when he puts her down, her cheeks are tinged pink and she’s got a big, toothy smile on her face.

“Such a jerk!” She fake pouts and punches him lightly in the shoulder.

“That’s my job,” he replies with a wink, and Charlotte can’t help admiring the relationship and love between the two of them. She wonders if she’ll ever have something like that of her own one day.

“Well, I’ll see you ladies later. Have to go help set things up for that damn Christmas party next week,” Joel sighs, rubbing his forehead in an annoyed fashion before turning to leave.

“C’mon, where’s your holiday spirit Joel? There isn’t anything you like about Christmastime?” Charlotte enquires, eyebrows raised in surprise.

How can someone not like Christmas? That’s like not liking puppies…or chocolate…

He looks at Ellie with a soft expression, and then his eyes flicker back to Charlotte’s. She feels an electric current rushing through her veins as his expression subtly changes as he studies her face, and his eyes hold something very different within them than just moments before. 

Joel turns back to look at her and pauses, his expression neutral and unreadable. He then crosses his arms with a wry smile forming on his lips.

“Well, I guess there’s a couple things that ain’t too bad about it.”

Then, as if nothing had transpired at all, he breathes a small laugh out of his nose and takes his leave. Charlotte stands rooted to the spot, feeling like she’s just been wacked against the head with a frying pan. Her heart is still stuttering at the memory of that look in his eyes.

That look he gave me. 

Charlotte huffs out a laugh and shakes her head incredulously before picking up her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. She looks down at Ellie and sees that she’s looking up at her with an eyebrow raised and a slightly smug expression on her face. Charlotte shoves her lightly and can’t help but chuckle as they make their way into her cabin.

Ellie snorts loudly and elbows her in the side, bringing her swiftly back to reality.

“What the hell was that all about?”

“Honestly, Ells? I have no fuckin’ clue.”

[jbuffyangel]

Truth and Lies: Arrow 6x18 Review (Fundamentals)

I love Vertigo. We get the best Olicity episodes out of this drug and "Fundamentals" did NOT disappoint. Angsty Arrow driven mad by his own internal demons and the love of his life fighting through the darkness to reach the light within him? 

If you are wondering why this review is delayed it's because I've been watching "Fundamentals” on a loop. And binging Westworld, but that's not my fault. @callistawolf​ told me to watch it. But really also watching "Fundamentals" on a loop. There’s so much to unpack that this took me three days to write and another full day to gif.   

I am prepared to say 6x18 might be my favorite episode of the season. I think I liked it better than the wedding AND the wedding RECEPTION. I know I know. That's crazy talk, but that's what Vertigo does man. EMBRACE THE INSANITY BECAUSE IT IS AWESOME.

Let's dig in...

Olicity

I'm not really sure how to divide this review into sections primarily because it's just a mass of Oliver losing his shiznit, punctuated with extremely excellent scenes with Felicity. So we're rolling fast and loose on the headings. Cool? Cool.

I like angst. No, that's not right. I LOVE ANGST. You really can't survive seven years of watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer live, in your formative teenage years, and not come out with the ability to embrace the pain. But I don't enjoy angst that's just angst for angst's sake. (Yeah that's a sentence. I think.) I want angst with purpose. I want it to move the characters somewhere or at the very least reveal truths. Maybe they are truths we already know and simply need confirmed once and awhile. Maybe they are truths we didn't even know existed. Regardless, if angst has a point then I'm in.

Some may disagree with me regarding the angst in "Fundamentals." It may feel like ground we've already covered, and I can certainly understand why some may have that opinion. I have a differing one, however. I feel 6x18 unearthed some new truths regarding Oliver Queen and his journey this season that I have not previously considered.

Source: @olivergifs​

The opening is familiar, but new. The Arrow is back! It's been so long since we've seen Oliver as the Arrow that the action felt fresh. Immediately there was a different vibe compared to all the other action scenes we've seen over the past three years. It is dark, brutally violent and fast. And extremely hot.

The Arrow moves like a shadow and creates a visceral reaction of fear. That piece is familiar. The skill set of the Arrow and the Green Arrow remain the same, but their tactics are not. The Green Arrow works within a team. He is quick, but deliberate. Strategic, but adaptable. He is threatening, but instills a sense of calm. The Green Arrow doesn't shy from the light the same way the Arrow does. Both masks serve justice, but one instills hope while the other instills fear. We are supposed to notice a difference between these two personas, which is why "Fundamentals" opens fast and hard with the violence of the Arrow. It's to remind us of Oliver Queen's evolution and how far he's come. What drives and fuels the Arrow is something the Green Arrow does not have:

Rage.

Oliver has opened up his heart over the last six years. He rediscovered brotherhood and friendship. Oliver fell in love and became a father. The anger created by the injustice all around him and his five years of trauma is no longer burning him up inside. Oliver faced the worst parts of himself, and by doing so, the anger gave way to something else. Something more hopeful. The Green Arrow fights injustice just like the Arrow, but the tactic is not merely to beat it down. The Green Arrow wants to build upon the ashes of injustice. Oliver also recognizes the mask is not the only avenue in which he can be of service to Star City. He finally realized the man behind the mask can also have an impact.

Or at least... that's what Oliver tried to do. As usual our hero fails as much as he succeeds, but real change does not come without failure. The problem is Oliver does not understand where he went wrong. Team Arrow has fallen apart. Rene and Dinah betrayed him. Curtis turned his back on Oliver. And John Diggle, his brother, left him.  

"You've become a better man, but a worse leader."

John's words are haunting Oliver because he doesn't understand them. How can he be a better man, the man John always asked him to be, and a worse leader?

Listen, I am 100% on Team Oliver with this one. That's straight up bonkers and Diggle doesn't have Vertigo as an excuse. We're also supposed to wonder what in the blazing hell happened to Oliver that he's wearing the Arrow suit, going full rage-a-thon, and walking into what is obviously a suicide mission (even for him).

*Drugs, drugs, druggidy, drugs* Oh sorry. We're supposed to be pretending we don't know why Oliver is cuckoo for cocoa puffs right now. My bad.

Source:  felicityssoliver

So, we're flashing back to ten hours earlier. Now it's really important to remember we are supposed to be confused with the timeline. Both the police captain and the DA have accused Oliver of firing them to impede the Green Arrow investigation . Unfortunately, Oliver just fired them because they admitted to being Diaz's lackeys and not because he has actual proof. I think. Last week's episode was so many levels of screwy I kind of stopped paying attention to some of the details. Anywho, Oliver begs his genius wife to get some rock solid evidence against them so he can hold onto his day job. Also, avoiding prison would be neat.

The SCPD security monitors go white noise at exactly 10:13 every night, so Felicity rapidly deduces Diaz is monitoring his lackeys at that time. Oliver agrees and wouldn't you know that's prime Green Arrow time! Felicity immediately tells Oliver he can't go in there alone because suicide, but he's too jazzed about ending all his Diaz problems to listen.

Source:  felicitysmoakgifs

Felicity, bless her heart, decides to play marriage counselor one more time and parent traps Oliver and Diggle into meeting into the bunker. Yes, she actually uses the words "parent trap" and it's awesome. I love one cupcake. Also, the original Parent Trap with Hayley Mills will always be the superior version. Come fight me.

It's a disaster. Both Oliver and Diggle are still extremely pissed off at each other, which is fair. This was one horrid fight. Diggle informs Oliver he's considering taking a job at A.R.G.U.S. and Oliver offers a solid burn in return:

“Last time you needed something from A.R.G.U.S., you had to steal it.”

I, once again, am on Team Oliver on this one. I don't mind the snippiness and think it's fairly warranted. If John is looking to find a purpose beyond Oliver Queen and live outside his shadow (and he is - even if he can't admit it yet), then I fail to see how A.R.G.U.S. is any different. Diggle needs a purpose of his own. As much as I will love seeing a Dyla team up, I don't think it really solves John's problem all that much. A.R.G.U.S. is Lyla's purpose. It always has been. I'm not saying John can't find purpose with his wife and her employer. He certainly can, but a lot of John's argument against Oliver was about striking out on his OWN. This isn't exactly an independent venture. So, I understand why Oliver may see some hypocrisy on the wall.

Diggle: Oliver, you keep up that attitude man you are gonna end up all alone.

Oliver: I've listened to your advice for the last six years. I think I've earned a reprieve.

Oliver has taken, what I feel, is a lot of unnecessary shit from everyone and quite frankly it's way more entertaining to see him swinging back than simply taking it. Felicity is disappointed her little make up session didn't end with bromance hugs and kisses, but Diggle is not surprised. He essentially tells Felicity Oliver is stubborn, alienates people with his attitude, and likes to be alone - and nobody knows that better than her.

It's an irritating comment and not a fair one. If that was all true than Oliver would have never married Felicity in the first place. Diggle keeps throwing ALL of Oliver's past mistakes in his face (and now Felicity's) to continue making his argument as to why Oliver is a crappy leader. Again, Diggle's beef and his snarky comments would have made so much more sense in SEASON THREE. 

The real goal of the comment is to make Felicity worry Oliver will ice her out next, which is as about as mean as John Diggle gets. However, it's primarily intended to make us worry about the status of their marriage. I RAISED YOU BETTER THOUGH.

Oliver has a meeting with Councilmen Kullens who tells him he can't fire the very people who are investigating him. That looks really bad. Oliver insists the two are working for Diaz.

Kullens: From what I understand, Ricardo Diaz is a second rate drug dealer who was released from prison on a technicality.

He got the second rate part right. Kullens cannot fathom how a two bit hood like Diaz could possibly coerce city officials like the DA and police captain and oh my god it's even more stupid when I type it. Can we put an arrow in this guy? He bugs me. Kullens informs Oliver impeachment proceedings begin that afternoon and he'll have a chance to please his case then, which means Oliver is on the clock and needs to get some evidence FAST.

Oliver races home to check in with Felicity and take William to his science fair. The kid cloned cabbage. Yes, CLONED. 

This is one character we never want to have a dark spiral on Arrow. Use your powers for good William. That's all I'm saying son.

On top of being a child genius, William is also extremely OCD about time. So, when Oliver comes in late his son is extra anxious to get going. This is my child in TV form. She puts her winter coat and snow pants on 20 minutes before she leaves for the bus, stands in the kitchen watching TV, so she's in direct eye line to clock because GOD FORBID she's a micro second late.

Unfortunately, the evidence Felicity compiles against Diaz is only something a police department to get their hands on or... the Green Arrow.

Oliver drops to that lower octave which increases the hot by several levels.

Felicity tries to joke her way out of it by telling Oliver to inform the council he's married to a super hacker and HUBBY IS NOT AMUSED. It's one thing for him to get imprisoned, but he cannot joke about it happening to Felicity. Ugh. I love him.

Unfortunately, Oliver's adorableness is short lived. He rapidly spirals into an asshole. Felicity tries to explain that she tried to set up a believable trail for the evidence but that she ran out of time.

Oliver: You ran out of time because you're focusing on making John and I reconcile instead of doing your job!

HIT THE DECKS. HUBBY IS ABOUT TO BLOW! I think my husband values his life to much to ever say something like to me, but he's been at this a little bit longer than Oliver. Give him a decade. He'll learn.

Felicity is WTF and rightfully so. They segue into arguing about whether or not Felicity is on Oliver's side.

(She is you big, angry tree trunk).

William chooses this exact moment to interrupt their argument by reminding his father that they are running late. When my parent's fought I found the nearest exit.  Read the room kid.

Oliver blows. Big time. He yells at William while simultaneously destroying the science fair project. Ah man, that was cloned cabbage dude. That would have made an interesting salad.

Cue awkward silence and horrified looks from Felicity and William. I am so uncomfortable. This feels voyeuristic. *She says while having zero issues watching Olicity sex scenes on a loop.*

Source: @olivergifs

Oliver tries to apologize to William, who storms out, and explain to Felicity it was an accident but she tells him to get the fuck out. I added the fuck because that was the tone and if we were on cable it would have absolutely been there. 

Source:  oliverfelicitygifs

MAMA BEAR MODE ACTIVATED.

Nobody messes with the cub. Not even Dad. Honestly, the addition of William was one of my big worries for Season 6 because I questioned how Arrow would integrate the child into the story lines. But William has become one of my favorite parts of the season, particularly when it comes to his relationship with Felicity. Felicity becoming the world's best step mother is not remotely surprising, but it doesn't lessen the joy watching it develop on screen. William has come to depend on her just as much as Oliver. Maybe even more because they bond frequently over their genius level IQs.

Sometimes you need to tell your child "Not right now" in a stern voice. Sometimes raising your voice is required. Sometimes you blow a fuse as a parent. We are, after all, only human and humans are imperfect. Parents make mistakes. Oliver raising his voice to William didn't bother me too much. Although, I think he could have directed a little more tough love when his son wandered off from the bunker into the field and almost got himself blown up. Screaming over being late to the science fair was a gross overreaction. A stern "take a number buddy" would have sufficed just fine. And yeah, sometimes you have to tell a kid twice because he’s a kid.

What bothered me was the violence of Oliver's reaction. The way he whirled around at William, breaking the science fair project as he did, wasn't simply frustration. It was rage. We haven't seen this level of rage from Oliver in an extremely long time. Even in his fight with Diggle, he tempered his anger and fought defensively during the brawl.

Oliver has a temper. It's a fact of his personality. Nearly every person in Oliver's life has been on the receiving end of it at one point or another - including Felicity. However, Oliver has directed a violent reaction to those who can physically take him on - Diggle, Roy, Rene and Dinah.

Oliver has always been calculated, even to a certain extent controlled, as to who he responds physically to in anger. He has NEVER reacted violently against those he views as physically defenseless against him. 

His physical altercation with Thea was defensive even though Thea can kick his ass. He never took Laurel on even after she became BC and I know there were times he just wanted to lay her flat on her ass. The only real exception was when he confronted Moira as the Green Arrow, but she shot him so we see how that went.

There is only one time I can recall Oliver using his body in a physically threatening way against Felicity. Although, there was so much sexual tension I often wonder if he just used the moment to get up in her bubble and enjoy a little physical proximity. Regardless, there's a reason the first time Oliver Queen got in Felicity's Smoak's face was the last time. SHE was the one who put HIM down hard. Strength doesn't have to equate to the physical kind. Felicity Smoak is Oliver's match in every way. She puts his alpha male ass in its place every time he's ever tried to pull this nonsense with her, which is why it only happened once. Any time after was often in defense of others. Felicity always makes Oliver back down.

But this moment is different. The hair trigger rage we often saw in the early seasons of Arrow has returned and Oliver directed it at his son, a defenseless child. There's no excuse for it. Yet, Felicity's reaction is no different than the one we saw in 1x15. 

She steps from behind the counter and defensively approaches Oliver with so much speed and protectiveness over William he is the one who immediately backs away. 

Source:  mingrose

The movement immediately forces Oliver to turn his attention away from William and direct it to Felicity. It's essentially Felicity putting her body between William and Oliver. That said, she always uses her anger and strength to deescalate the situation. Felicity essentially puts Oliver in a time out by kicking him out of the apartment and rightfully so.

So, obviously we are supposed to be asking what the hell is wrong with Oliver? Diggle's words are supposed to haunt us. Perhaps Oliver hasn't changed after all.

Oliver descends to his bunker of solitude. He's obsessively watching the video feed of white noise on a loop, so he's in a super healthy space.

The scrambling of the video and the white noise in between is symbolic for what's happening in Oliver's mind. He's on a loop of white noise that he can't figure his way out of.

There's a knock at the bunker door and this should have immediately tipped everyone off to something being amiss. Why would Felicity knock? When Oliver turns around she just appears. Out of nowhere she's standing behind him. He's startled and Felicity wonders why. Oliver tries to explain what he heard, but can't. The knock had a pounding, distant, echoing sound to it. Like someone trying to open a tightly shut door closed long ago. It's the sound of Oliver's past beating it's way open. He just doesn't know it yet.

Felicity has her arms tightly crossed and keeps her distance from Oliver. He immediately tries to explain what happened, but again he can't because Oliver doesn't understand it himself. He doesn't know why he lost it on William other than things are beginning to pile up.

That's as far as he gets. Felicity coldly and resolutely tells Oliver they should take some space. Oliver is heartbreakingly confused until he looks down at Felicity's crossed arms and realizes she took her ring off. 

Source:  oliverfelicitygifs

The devastation rapidly begins to overtake his confusion, but even then this has to be a joke right? 

Oliver almost laughs until he realizes it’s not. Then he becomes helpless as his world begins to crumble.

Source: @olivergifs​

Felicity tells Oliver he crossed a line with William. A line he should never cross.

Felicity asking Oliver for a separation sounds like a protective measure for William, but it still doesn't make sense. It's a 180 degree turn. It's too fast. Too abrupt. If you are still harboring PTSD from the Olicity break up in Season 4, and particularly if you read cast interviews previewing the episode, it's understandable why this scene would be extremely alarming. For some, I am sure it was confirmation of a deeply rooted fear Arrow is going to divorce Olicity soon after they married them. This is just another stop in the never ending "will they/won't they" ride.

But there is something in Felicity's speech to Oliver that should have tipped you off something else was going on.

No matter how disappointed or angry Felicity is with Oliver this is simply not something she would ever say under any circumstance. Felicity never believed, not even for a second, that Oliver was the violent, rage filled, monster he tried to portray himself as and believed himself to be. And that's the key right there. This is something OLIVER would say. 

William discovering the monster within is a deep rooted fear of Oliver's - not Felicity’s. She never believed the monster existed. 

When Felicity looks at Oliver all she has ever seen is a man with a deeply good heart. Felicity always saw the light within Oliver, even when he could not see it himself. Especially when Oliver couldn't see it. 

Felicity has admitted she fell in love with Oliver the first moment she met him because of what she saw. Her love is rooted in that belief.

That's not to say Felicity's belief in Oliver's goodness has not been challenged over the years. Particularly when Oliver was doing everything he could to make Felicity believe the monster was real and he was beyond change. Yet, time and again she saw through the facade of darkness to the truth - the light within.

Oliver has "killed" Felicity via LOA gas and shattered their life together with a lie that seemed almost impossible to forgive. I'm not saying yelling at William and shattering cloned cabbage wasn't bad, but I wouldn't rank it in the top ten worst things Oliver Queen has ever done. Let's remember she fell in love with him when he had a penchant for breaking necks. All I'm saying is, Felicity has a high threshold for Oliver Queen darkness.

Source:  oliverfelicitygifs

So, surgically cutting the cord on their marriage like this feels offs. Extremely off. It is Oliver who fears William will learn of his father's darker side. Not Felicity. Felicity confirming Oliver's worst fear, that he is truly a monster, doesn't sound like her voice. It sounds like Oliver's voice.

Now would be a real good time to remember Diaz and BS maniacally laughing over their last vile of Vertigo at the end of last week's episode. Although, I will give Arrow kudos. They did their level best to fool everyone with the way they cut this episode together.

Source: @olivergifs​

The knocking returns after a heart to heart with Lance. This time it is louder and more insistent. Oliver cannot ignore it. Instinctively he picks up a gun, walks to the elevator doors as they open 

Source: leraswift13

and there stands Adrian Chase. 

Prommy is back to play mind games! TIME FOR SOME CRAZY!!!!

Oliver doesn't understand how Adrian can still be alive because, ya know, bullet to the brain. Adrian's response is basically, "It's Arrow man.. Didn't you fall off a mountain once? Nobody ever really dies."

Now, I know Oliver is trippin on the light fantastic, but that's some solid logic under Vertigo. I give him credit. Prometheus still scares the ever loving crap out of me and the ensuing battle with Oliver is more exciting than all the villains combined this season. I miss you Josh Seggara. Please come back.

Oliver holds Adrian in the same neck hold in 5x23. He dares Oliver to do it and once again we see the moral struggle tearing Oliver apart. He fights the urge once more, but then Adrian reminds him that his mercy cost the mother of his child her life. Oliver snaps when Adrian threatens William and Felicity once again. He snaps his neck. 

Source: @olivergifs​

Sparing Adrian's life was a moment of triumph for Oliver in Season 5. It was proof to Oliver that he was not the man Adrian Chase accused him of being. He knew the threat Adrian posed, but taking his life would simply be confirmation Oliver was a monster. Killing Adrian Chase would be proving him right.

If Oliver killed Adrian the island would have exploded and everyone, including Oliver, would have died. His mercy didn't stop Adrian from killing himself and ultimately killing Samantha, but that choice was Adrian's. Not Oliver's. There was no avenue Oliver could choose that would not result in the spilling of innocent blood. It is why Adrian Chase is so diabolically evil. Yet, Oliver still harbors guilt over Samantha. Particularly since Diggle used her death as a knife to twist in his back. He still believes there's a way he could have saved everyone, which is the curse of being a hero. The God Complex is often more crippling than any villain.

If you didn't figure out Oliver is hallucinating by the time Adrian pops up alive again, then I can't help you my friend. But if it helps Oliver figures it out and tells everybody what's going on.

Source: @olivergifs​

Hallucinating Adrian Chase is the pitch perfect choice to show the manifestation of Oliver's fears. Refresher course - this is what Vertigo does. It really makes you wonder why anyone willing takes this drug if all you get from the high is seeing your deepest fears become real. Can't say that's a party favor I'd be interested in partaking in.

Oliver Queen essentially created Prometheus, so therefore Adrian Chase represented Oliver's darker half. Prometheus is what Oliver could have become if he never met John Diggle and Felicity Smoak. He was Arrow's most effective villain because he was a living confirmation of everything Oliver feared he was.

I give you The Adrian Chase As Oliver Queen's Inner Voice highlights:

Adrian: I always was the one person who saw you for the murderer you are. What are you doing? Oh you are running a blood test. you think you've been dosed with something. You know there is another explanation. A more likely one in my considered opinion. You're finally going crazy. It's completely understandable, Ollie. You've lost everything, even the people I couldn't manage to take from you. I really like this Ricardo Diaz. If he didn't exist I'd have to think of him myself. He's going about this exactly right. Don't hurt the people that you love. Just get them all to abandon you. It's actually the easiest thing in the world. I told you this Ollie. I told you this man! Everything you touch dies. What you're going through right now, losing your team, your wife, the impeachment, all of it is happening just like I told you it would. And nothing in that blood test is gonna change that.

Adrian: It's tough to say you're in a good place when your oldest friend leaves you high and dry.

Oliver: John made his choice.

Adrian: And deep down you know he's right. You've changed Oliver. Sure, maybe you are a better Oliver Queen. A happier Oliver Queen. But it has sure made you a worse hero. You have a wife, son, you're the mayor - all of which yes may be going away, but still it's a fair assumption. You are stretched too thin buddy. Maybe you've gotten so good at being Oliver Queen that the Green Arrow's mission is suffering. You may be happier, but the people that you love - they're not.

Yes, I typed that all out because every line is gold.

Source: dctvgifs

It's very difficult to watch Oliver's brain beat the shit out of him so effectively. Stay strong my son!

In a nice reverse from 3x01, Oliver and the Arrow come face to face once again. Only it's not Oliver Queen who is the villain. It's the Arrow. 

For those wondering haven't we déjà'd this vu already, the answer is yes. But the point is to show the flip. Oliver isn't afraid of being Oliver Queen anymore. His fear has shifted into something else entirely. Oliver is afraid being Oliver Queen isn't enough.

He's become everything John and Felicity believed he could be. Oliver has embraced his humanity and in doing so has become a better friend, lover and father. He is actively trying to save the city during the day and in the night. Oliver is trying to be everything to everyone all the time. And yet everything is falling apart. Oliver is still losing everyone he loves. He is still all alone.

It's one thing to be afraid of embracing his humanity. It's another for Oliver to realize even when he does he still falls short. The city is still in shambles, people he loves still die, his team betrayed him, his best friend, wife and son left him and Star City is intent on taking not only his job, but his freedom. And it all happened when Oliver was being the very best version of himself.  

Oliver compartmentalized himself because he feared if he merged the two personas then all that would remain is a monster. 

It took a very long time, 

and facing the absolute worst in himself, to realize there is a good man 

under the mask. 

However, now Oliver has combined those two personas and yet nothing is getting better. Trying to be everything to everyone and yet still not feeling like enough is crushing.

It's almost more comforting to believe he hasn't changed at all - that Oliver can understand. If Oliver Queen "the hero" is simply a facade, and the monster who fails and alienates everyone while leaving a trail of bodies in his wake still remains, then this all makes sense. As much as it terrifies Oliver, he can understand why everyone has finally left him.

Oliver chose to stop hiding from love. 

It is the bond that tethers him to his humanity and what allows the light to break through all the pain, loss and trauma. He has chosen to love with everything he has, and to his horror, it's not enough. His love for his city is not enough. 

Source: @olivergifs​

His love for his team is not enough. 

His love for his brother is not enough. 

His love for his son is not enough. 

His love for his wife is not enough.

Source:  feilcityqueen

This is a different ballgame. It's not a repeat of Season 4. Oliver tried being his best self and FAILED. 

Season 6 he succeeded, but it did not create any different result. 

It's a confirmation of his worst fear. Any version of Oliver Queen is alienating. Any version of Oliver Queen is a failure.  

Oliver always had the mask to blame. He always had the monster to hide behind as the reason why everything he touches he destroys. 

But that's gone now. 

He conquered his demons. 

So, all he's left with is Oliver Queen, but he is incapable of building anything. 

He will never be the man he wants to be, the man Oliver promised his father he would be, because that man still falls spectacularly short. That's almost a fate worse than death for Oliver. We've asked Oliver to try for six years. He did. He failed. So now what?

Source: @olivergifs

The only conclusion Oliver can come to is... he was right all along. The monster and the man are one in the same. Oliver will never escape the darkness because he is darkness. Whatever light he has is ultimately powerless to overshadow it.

So, suffice it to say Oliver is spiraling down the insanity hole. The drug is taking a stronger hold on him. He can no longer distinguish the lies from the truth. If he was right all along then the only option is to shut Oliver Queen down again. He lost sight of the mission and losing everything even as Oliver Queen proves to him that the mission is all that matters. He has become the mask and only the mask. The only way he can truly serve it is the way he originally intended. Alone and as the Arrow - the conduit for the darkness within.

If you think Oliver is off his rocker then you'd be right. HE'S ON VERTIGO. He's supposed to be off his rocker. None of this is right. Our boy is so many levels of wrong it'd take me another six years to explain all of them.

Oliver decides this is still a really excellent time to make decisions that will absolutely impact his ability to live as a free man. 

Oliver hands over the evidence because it's the only card he has to play to stop the impeachment.

AND QUENTIN LET’S HIM! For the love of God man don't hand Oliver the bullet and help him load the gun! Tackle him. HE IS HIGH AS A KITE. This is not the time we allow Oliver to make decisions. This is the time we tie him to a chair!

Then, Adrian/Oliver convinces himself to go after Diaz.

Adrian: The only way to prove you are the hero you say that you are and keep being mayor is to take down Diaz tonight.

The way Chase uses his finger as a gun to Oliver's head when he says, "I'm in here" sends chills down my spine. It's a striking parallel to the last image we saw of Prometheus. 

Adrian always believed Oliver would be the hand causing his own destruction and we are alarmingly close to him being right. Even closer than we were in Season 5.

Source:  oliverxfelicity

Felicity and William return from the science fair and her purse starts beeping. Felicity has a GPS on Oliver's bow because that's the smart thing to do when he's fighting crime every night. So the newbies can pass me with their royal indignation. Don't want to get dead? Then get okay with trackers dipshits!

Enough of this hallucination bullshit. Let's get down to what is REAL and TRUE. 

Felicity calls Quentin after Oliver doesn't pick up his cell and he fills her in on what's really going on.

Quentin: He said you kicked him out.

Felicity: No, I didn't. I would never!

For all those worried Arrow will eventually take another Season 4 route with Olicity, it’s time to let it go.

Arrow is not interested in will they/won't they with Olicity anymore. Admittedly, they drove that arc into the ground, but THIS episode is about the shift not only in Oliver and Felicity's relationship, but in the way Arrow views it.

Yes, they are going to have angst. Yes, they are going to face problems. Yes, they are going to fight. But none of this will break them apart. Their love is Arrow's anchor. It is what holds this show steady. 

The pattern is the same Every. Single. Year. We get snip its of Olicity scenes punctuated by big episodes. 6x18 is a big episode with a big purpose. Arrow played on the audience's fears and insecurities with the promo and cast interviews, because they are Oliver's fears and insecurities too. The show is giving Oliver and the audience one last scare (because it's a television show and that's what television shows do), but now it's time to get down to business. Now it's time to deal in truth.

Oliver and Felicity are married. There are no more break ups. This is forever. PERIOD. Oliver will never leave Felicity and Felicity will never leave Oliver.

FUNDAMENTAL DEFINITION:

adjective

1. serving as, or being an essential part of, a foundation or basis; basic; underlying: fundamental principles; the fundamental structure.

2. of, relating to, or affecting the foundation or basis: a fundamental revision.

3. being an original or primary source: a fundamental idea.

noun

5. a basic principle, rule, law, or the like, that serves as the ground work of a system; essential part: to master the fundamentals of a trade.

There is a double meaning to the episode title. Yes, Oliver is returning to what he believes were the core “fundamentals” of the mission. However, Arrow is outright stating that the solidity of Olicity’s relationship is also a fundamental of the show. 

Still don't believe it? Well, then buckle up because Arrow is going to show you how true it is with what can only be called FANFICTION COME TO LIFE.

William, bless his pure soul, eavesdrops on Felicity's call and is all in on mission "Save Dad." 

Source:  dctvgifs 

He hands Felicity a pair of running shoes and holy mother of freaking crap I've never seen the show make this much sense! Felicity is wearing practical shoes in the field y'all!!!!!!!!! 

Quentin does his best to stop the beast, but he's no match for Oliver on a regular day. Oliver high on Vertigo and reverting back to the Arrow? Umm... no chance Quentin. Oliver knocks him out cold. A for effort though bud.

Source:  oliverfelicitygifs

Felicity channeling her inner B*rry All*n to save her batcrap crazy husband is a big mood. 

Source:  oliverfelicitygifs

Felicity saying she's going to save her husband is an even bigger mood. And Felicity saying the word husband is hotter than Oliver saying wife. I don't know why. 

This is not the first time Arrow has used Felicity to break through Oliver's delusion, 

but is the first time they've used such a direct approach. What follows is probably one of my all time favorite Olicity scenes - and that's saying something after being on the air for six years.

Source: feilcityqueen

Everything swimming in Oliver's mind is lies, so Felicity has to use the truth to break through. At first she tries using William because he used to be a hindrance to Oliver's willingness to sacrifice himself. However, even in the haze of crazy Oliver knows if he dies then William still has Felicity. He will never be alone. Typically, this should be a comforting line, and while it remains a beautiful commentary on the bond Felicity and William have formed, it is utterly terrifying to hear Oliver so willfully discard his own necessity in his son's life. And that's because of the lies in his mind. His love for his son is not enough. He is a monster. He is a failure. William will be better off.

So, Felicity uses another truth. It's the one she finally confessed to Oliver the day she asked him to marry her. The day all Oliver's dreams came true. Losing Oliver is Felicity's worst fear realized. Would he willingly do that to her? Will Oliver abandon her again?

Oliver believes he can't abandon what he doesn't have. Felicity left him first. Another hallucination Felicity can only combat with what is real.

Felicity calls Oliver baby. It's canon. 

I really wish I could sew worth a damn because I'd embroider "I'm glue, baby" on a pillow. Also, be prepared for me to abuse that gif in asks. Fair warning.

Source:  oliverfelicitygifs

Oliver hears her voice and the truth in her words. He desperately wants to believe she is real, but he is so terribly lost. Oliver cannot see what is real with his mind. So, Felicity tells him to feel with his heart instead.

From the moment Felicity Smoak entered Oliver's life she found a way to not only touch his heart, 

but to break it wide open. 

Felicity has found Oliver every moment he's been lost.  

Vertigo is not a challenge for Felicity Smoak. 

She found her way through Oliver's darkness and showed him the light within. 

He hears her words, feels the certainty of her love against his chest, 

and Oliver knows who he is again. 

Felicity's truth is the very beat of Oliver's heart.

Oliver reaches for Felicity's hand, holds her close, and lets the light guide him through the dark. Just like they've done before. 

Just like they will always do. 

Light can travel without end. It is infinite and so are Oliver and Felicity.

The relief Oliver feels is overwhelming and he smiles.  Just like that the Arrow fades and Oliver Queen returns.

Diaz gets impatient and decides to attack,  

Source:  oliverfelicitygifs

which means we get an old school Olicity stunt.

I am super chill about it.

Felicity offers Oliver a Vertigo cure all based off of her hard core partying days of the past. 

My kingdom to see Goth Felicity Smoak at a rave... high.

Quentin commends the bad assness that is Felicity Smoak while he recovers from his absolute trouncing.

All it takes is Felicity calling Oliver her man and he becomes a friggin rainbow. He is putty in her hands. 

Source: @oliverfelicitygifs​

I cannot even believe we are getting these lines.

There is so much eye sex in their trip down memory lane that I am convinced they took the Arrow suit home for their own special kind of spin. 

Source: @oliverfelicitygifs

You know Felicity has fantasized, so I think it's high time they make it a reality.

Oliver's high on crazy has given way to clarity. 

This is worrying given everything we've heard his brain say over the last hour. He's not completely throwing the baby out with the bath water. He remains committed to being a husband and father. He’d like to remain mayor, but finds out he's going to be impeached. Still, Oliver believes in the good he can do as the Green Arrow. However, he is reverting back to doing things alone.

Source:  dctvgifs

Felicity stresses what a colossally bad idea this is back at the apartment, but Oliver is determined to separate his worlds again.

Source:  oliverfelicitygifs

Lord, boy. It took us five bloody years to get you to this spot, one fight with Diggle and some bad crack, and we're right back to Compartmentalization Oliver.

Oliver regresses in some way every single season. It's always a mistake and it always reveals some greater lesson Oliver has to learn. Comparatively speaking, this is fairly late in the season for Oliver to be regressing which in and of itself shows some character growth. It probably means we'll be dealing with the consequences of this choice into the beginning of Season 7.

So, where do I think this road leading? The fundamental and inescapable truth is compartmentalization does not work. Oliver was on the right track merging his two selves. Quentin is right. Oliver is a better man, but everyone's reaction to it (fueled by their own issues) is throwing him off.  He will fail even as Oliver Queen and the Green Arrow, but that doesn't mean the path is wrong.

This road Oliver is about to travel alone is only going to lead to more problems. The season trajectory is pretty clearly moving from Oliver united with those he loves to Oliver separated from those he loves. My guess is prison. But I don't believe Oliver is the character who needs to change the most. My hope is watching Oliver travel this road alone, and still fighting to be the hero he is, will trigger change in the supporting characters. A fallen hero could stop all their childish nonsense and make everyone realize they have to stop blaming Oliver for everything and take responsibility for their own lives. I include Oliver in this as well. For better or worse, Oliver holds himself responsible for EVERYONE. And that's what he has to learn. Oliver is enough, but he cannot be everything.

Source: olivergifs

Quentin and Oliver

Quentin Lance is firmly wearing his Team Oliver hat this episode and it's a welcomed reprieve from his usual crazy pants talk.  I guess since Oliver is going insane Quentin had to sober up - mentally speaking.

The scenes between Oliver and Lance are some of their best all year if not the duration of the show. 

Source: @olivergifs

Oliver is still a young man trying to make his way through the world. The fact that he's also an orphan seems magnified now that Thea and Diggle have left him. Captain Lance, bless his soul, steps up into the father figure role Oliver desperately needs right now.

Oliver tells Lance Diggle quit the team and blames Oliver for its disintegration. Lance is quick to defend Oliver, who to his credit, does remind Quentin he's not there to witness Oliver's leadership style.

Source: @olivergifs

STANDING. FUCKING. OVATION. 

A supporting character is talking sense y'all! 

And it's LANCE. Did not see that coming given his trajectory this season. He's spot on. What Oliver has wanted more than anything from Quentin Lance is his respect and he has it. Oliver earned it with six years of hard work and NOBODY gets to take that away from him. Not even John Diggle.

Oliver calls Lance to give him the evidence that clears him of impeachment but incriminates him as the Green Arrow. Quentin asks what Oliver is going to do and he answers helplessly, "I don't know." He tearfully tells Lance that Felicity wants a separation and that he lost his temper with William. Oliver is as lost, alone and heartbroken as we've ever seen him. Quentin accurately points out that losing his shiznit on William is more of a night on the couch punishment and a separation is extreme. Ummm.... YEAH. 

But Oliver simply believes Felicity has left him like everyone else. UGH.

Source: @olivergifs

This might be one of the most heartbreaking lines Oliver Queen has ever spoken

and again shows how much he's grown. The old Oliver would simply shut down and solider on. The fact that he's allowing himself to feel this pain and question where everything went wrong shows Oliver embracing his humanity rather than hide from it.

Quentin has probably the best answer and gives the most insight into what is going on with all the people in Oliver's life - particularly John Diggle.

Source:  clevercloudpoetry

Can I get an amen? 

This is as close as Arrow has come to confirming my suspicions about John Diggle. Oliver becoming a better man means he doesn't need John in the same way. That's incredibly painful for Diggle and would certainly cause him to question his life and purpose.

I am the youngest of three girls. My parents sold my childhood home when I graduated from high school and moved away to college. My father was anxious to move out of our increasingly violent area, but my mother had other motivations. She told me the house made her sad. Every where she looked was another memory of raising her babies and now we were all moved out. We didn't need her in the same way anymore and it hurt. My mother needed a fresh start - a new purpose. The new house was really good for her and allowed her to shift into the new phase of life with my father more easily.

Oliver has grown up and moved away to college for lack of a better word. Everywhere John Diggle looks on Team Arrow is another memory and a stark reminder that he's no longer needed in the same way he once was.  He's looking for a fresh start and a new purpose. John needs something beyond raising Oliver Queen the same way my mother needed something beyond raising her children. Unfortunately, Diggle hasn't dug deep into any of this yet. Instead of some self reflection, John has relied on an old standby to explain his rudderless direction - it is all Oliver Queen's fault.  John believes this is a stagnancy in Oliver's growth, and not his own, when in fact the direct opposite is true.

What has not changed is the power of Diggle's words and the impact they have on Oliver. He acknowledges what Quentin says might be true, but also fears Diggle may be right - that he hasn't changed at all. Quentin delivers another humdinger of a line:

"Come on. I don't buy that. From what you've told me about John and Curtis and all those guys - they've got their own issues alright? They're just putting them on you."

Hello Quentin Lance. I have missed you.

Source: @oliverfelicitygifs

Oliver's voice breaks when he asks Quentin about Felicity, but Lance is unwavering. He adamantly reassures Oliver that Felicity loves him and this will all blow over eventually. He just needs to stay the course and Quentin will be by his side. Robert and Moira Queen could not have done any better and I have never loved Quentin Lance more than in this moment.

While this speech gives me all the feels it also fills me with dreaded certainty. Lance is reminiscing about the past. He's admiring how far Oliver has come and is basically the perfect father figure. These signs tend to point to full character evolution. We are on episode 18. This means one thing:

Quentin Lance is going to die.

Just mentally prepare okay? His character arc has circled the drain all season with this "BS is my daughter" crazy. Now he's done a 180 by embracing sanity and offering wise and sage advice for Oliver. You know who else offered sage advice to Oliver just before their deaths?

Sara.

L*urel.

Sageyness is one of the seven signs of impending death on Arrow. Particularly when it comes to Lances. Prepare your souls.

Oliver and L*urel

Speaking of L*urel, we are paid a visit from Oliver's departed ex when he hallucinates his way back into the Queen Mansion (I miss the mansion y'all). There is L*urel, 

Source:  supercanaries

wearing her Red Coat of Pain.

Since Oliver's deepest fears often equate to his deepest guilt then seeing L*urel at her most innocent, before she knew about Oliver's cheating and the consequences for all parties involved that it unleashed, is not surprising. 

Source:  katie-mcgraths

In some ways, Oliver kept L*urel frozen in this time even when she was alive. The image of who Oliver saw L*urel as, eternally innocent and broken by his deceit, never quite matched up to the woman we saw on screen. Particularly when Arrow went above and beyond to show L*urel was anything but innocent.

Sara: Do you remember when you spilled that beer on me at Tommy’s party? Well, I wasn’t even supposed to go. But I snuck out out of the house because I knew you were gonna be there. And I had this embarassing crush on you. And, Laurel she knew it. And that’s why the party got broken up by the cops. She tipped off our dad. Then I was grounded for a month and the next thing I knew... you and Laurel were together.

Oliver: You think she did all of that on purpose?

Sara: Not everybody is what they seem.

L*urel was not broken by Oliver's deceit, but by her own anger.

What's important to remember is this isn't Adrian's voice we're hearing. This is Oliver. So everything Adrian is saying is what OLIVER believes. 

How he really feels about L*urel becoming the BC is not a pretty picture.

Adrian: My question is why did you let her become the Bl*ck C*n*ry in the first place? She's a lawyer. What, after a couple self defense classes and a few sparring sessions you think she's ready to go handle thugs and killers?

I mean... he's not wrong. 

It's refreshing to actually HEAR Arrow admit to the unbelievability of L*urel's training. Yeah yeah, I know she trained with a boxer/vigilante for a couple episodes. Somehow that's supposed to equate to the years Oliver spent training with martial arts experts, an ASIS agent, a highly skilled and lethal Russian mob organization, and an elite member of the League of Assassins. Or the years Sara trained with the League of Assassins. At least they gave Thea six months of intensive training with Malcolm Merlyn, who was also trained by the LOA. 

Oh that's right. She trained with Nyssa too. For three episodes (that we saw). L*urel was barely able to stop a knife attack in 3x21 (after supposedly training with Nyssa for several weeks) and then suddenly she's taking several armed LOA members down in 3x22. But you bet, totally believable arc. Made total sense.

Oliver harbors serious guilt over L*urel's death and this hallucination is simply a manifestation of that. There are truths, but also a hefty dose of lies. 

Source:  supercanaries

The primarily lie being Oliver believing he could have stopped L*urel from becoming BC, or is responsible for the life she chose, or her death in any way. The truth is Oliver wasn't supportive of LL becoming BC and he did everything he could to stop her. 

In fact he told L*urel, to her face, he thought she was a liability, a loose cannon in the field, and was going to get herself killed one day.

And he was fucking right.

Oliver begrudgingly accepted her decision, but that was primarily because Diggle and Felicity illogically had L*urel’s back. 

JOHN DIGGLE IS A SPECIAL FORCES SOLIDER AND HE SIGNED OFF ON LL IN THE FIELD WITH NO TRAINING AT ALL. AGAIN, MAKES TOTAL SENSE SHOW.

Quite frankly, Oliver had bigger fish to fry in Season 3 and he had to move on. 

 After L*urel resurrected Sara in Season 4, who then tried to kill Thea and put her in the hospital, she threw another "it's all about me" bitch fit 

and Oliver folded. 

He helped get Sara's soul back and all of their issues were swept under the rug. 

Then Arrow killed L*urel.

So, listen buddy.  Sure, L*urel eventually worked her way to capable, but to be frank you had very little to do with it and THAT'S where the guilt comes from. The sparring sessions you speak of only took place a few episodes before she died. This is Oliver's God Complex rearing his ugly head again. Maybe if he trained L*urel more (or at all), maybe if he protected her better in the field, maybe if he found a way to keep her out of the field entirely - then she would be still be alive.

Nope. Sorry fella. None of that would have worked, because L*urel was L*urel and she was gonna do what she damn well pleased. Never mind the fact that Damien Darhk magically froze the team and they were all essentially defenseless when he killed her, but that's just details. Oliver thinking he is somehow responsible for her death in any way takes away from the legitimate heroism L*urel earned. 

He understood that in Season 4, but he's pretty high right now. So, I'll give him a pass this time.

Legit question though. If you are a LL fan - why are you still watching Arrow? 

I am curious, because I have never seen a show so willingly shade their own creation at every turn like Arrow does with LL.  They flat out called her BC arc a bunch of illogical nonsense. 

I appreciate the brutal honesty from the show, but it's a zing that packs some punch. After six years of this aren't y'all tired? A few interspersed scenes of Bl*ck S*ren should as hell wouldn't keep me around.

Straight Thoughts

I've never felt so spiritually connected to Felicity Smoak in all my life. Source: felicitysmoakgifs

I appreciated that Arrow used a flashback during Oliver's hallucination with Rene to show his injury was not remotely Oliver's fault. I like when my show talks sense.

Oliver's hallucination of the newbies was the most accurate. They are petty babies in real life too.

Adrian's scar on his temple from the bullet wound is unnerving.

Don't ever kill Raisa again, show. My heart can't take it. Not even when it's fake.

"I always wondered why nobody just does that. Kill you straight." Diaz needs to watch Season 3. See how that option goes.  Source: dctvgifs

"Not a great track record when it comes to hiring DA's though." Of all of Adrian Chases' lines are fab, but this is my fave.

This evil cupcake.  Source:  olivergifs

"He's buying us expensive gifts if he knows what's good for him." Felicity wifes like I wife.

I love this kid. Source:  olivergifs

Arrow wisely previewed an Olicity kiss for the all villain ep this week. 

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me. 6x18 gifs credited.

[elizabethrobertajones]

2x13, aka I'm  now up to a very solid bullet point no.4 on the list of Why And How To Ship Destiel In Seasons 1-3, and I probably need to put it under a cut because this episode is ridiculous. You all probably know it but I want it in one place and this time I'm a bit more awake so adding a few meta thoughts here and there :P

2x13:

TELEVANGELIST You don't have to suffer, you don't have to be lost. The lord is talking to you right now; he's saying, you are my child and you have a purpose! You think God forgot about you? I tell you no! All you got to do is listen! Can't you just hear those angels singing? Isn't it beautiful? It's time. It's time to receive the message he's sending. It's time to listen to the Word of God! Do you hear the glory? I said, can you hear it? I said, can you just hear the glory?

Once again, these 2 exchanges about purpose...

4x01:

DEAN Right. And why would an angel rescue me from Hell? CASTIEL Good things do happen, Dean. DEAN Not in my experience. CASTIEL What's the matter? You don't think you deserve to be saved? DEAN Why'd you do it? CASTIEL Because God commanded it. Because we have work for you.

4x02:

DEAN Proof that there's a God out there that actually gives a crap about me personally? I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it. SAM Why not? DEAN Because why me? If there is a God out there, why would he give a crap about me? SAM Dean -- DEAN I mean, I've saved some people, okay? I figured that made up for the stealing and the ditching chicks. But why do I deserve to get saved? I'm just a regular guy. SAM Apparently, you're a regular guy that's important to the man upstairs. DEAN Well, that creeps me out. I mean, I don't like getting singled out at birthday parties, much less by... God. SAM Okay, well, too bad, Dean, because I think he wants you to strap on your party hat.

& here, this is an interesting one I'm sure someone's put the two visually side-by-side already with them both sitting in a hospital staring up and generally Anna using the same sort of aesthetic, but in word choice they compare as well -

GLORIA I've never felt better. SAM So, no disturbances lately? GLORIA You mean am I stark raving cuckoo for cocoa puffs? SAM I didn't say that. GLORIA It's all right. I know what people must think.

4x09:

ANNA I was trying to warn them. PSYCHOLOGIST Warn who? ANNA Everyone. Forget it. It was stupid. PSYCHOLOGIST What were you trying to warn them about? ANNA Look... I get it. You think I'm nuts. If I were you, I'd think I was nuts. But it's all true.

Some more obvious side by sides...

2x13:

GLORIA I know, it sounds strange. But what I did was very important. I helped him smite an evil man. I was chosen. For redemption.

4x16:

CASTIEL Yes. When we discovered Lilith's plan for you, we laid siege to hell and we fought our way to get to you before you— DEAN Jump-started the apocalypse. CASTIEL And we were too late. DEAN Why didn't you just leave me there, then? CASTIEL It's not blame that falls on you, Dean, it's fate. The righteous man who begins it is the only one who can finish it. You have to stop it.

(Ignoring all the earlier stuff, this is what they essentially put Dean to work doing between his random resurrection and telling him it was all just a scam to soften him up for being Michael's vessel. He was SUPPOSED to be filled with a righteous purpose and brought back after doing unspeakable evil in Hell to be redeemed by his actions/choices... Which being possessed would have supposedly to them been the ultimate redemption Dean could ask for... I think he and Cas are seeing right through it by this point but still, it makes it more clear than anything else so far what they ACTUALLY wanted him for)

2x13:

SAM Yeah. Gloria Sitnick. And I'm not so sure she's crazy. DEAN But she seriously believes that she was ... touched by an angel?

4x02:

SAM Well, then tell me what else it could be. DEAN Look, all I know is I was not groped by an angel.

(I like that one because of the way Dean changes the reference when it's about him - after all he's been through he can't imagine anything good happening here so the more innocent "touched by an angel" reference gets corrupted into an attack on himself. And by "like" I mean "AAAAAAH" *clutches Dean girl feels and curls into a ball to weep*)

2x13:

DEAN Well, little odd yes, supernatural maybe. But angels? I don't think so. SAM Why not? DEAN (as if it's obvious) 'Cuz there's no such thing, Sam.

4x01:

CASTIEL I'm an Angel of the Lord. DEAN Get the hell out of here. There's no such thing.

Bonus refuted nonsense line coming out of Dean's mouth just to prove that the show wants you to know with hindsight that this episode is the biggest prank the universe ever pulled on Dean "literally married to an angel" Winchester:

DEAN Yeah, you know what? There's a ton of lore on unicorns too. In fact, I hear that they, they ride on silver moonbeams, and they shoot rainbows out of their ass.

(repeated conversation from Faith to tie 1x12 to 2x13 with reminding us of Dean's stance about believing only the stuff you see bexause these are stepping stones to Dean being proven epically wrong - seemingly culminating in the end of this episode but really just to soften him up for later and I am convinced again that Michael or someone orchestrated this whole little thing for Dean to witness in order to make him a bit more credible and properly awed by divine wrath... Anyway I won't quote all this back to back stuff about seeing is believing but Dean's stance hasn't changed)

2x13:

DEAN You didn't see any fluffy white wing feathers?

2x13:

SAM (nodding to a painting on the wall) Father, that's Michael, right?

#no

FR. REYNOLDS That's right. The archangel Michael, with the flaming sword. The fighter of demons. Holy force against evil. SAM So they're not really the Hallmark card version that everybody thinks? They're fierce, right? Vigilant? FR. REYNOLDS Well, I like to think of them as more loving than wrathful. But, uh, yes, a lot of Scripture paints angels as God's warriors. "An angel of the Lord appeared to them, the glory of the Lord shone down upon them, and they were terrified."

4x02:

DEAN I thought angels were supposed to be guardians. Fluffy wings, halos -- you know, Michael Landon. Not dicks. CASTIEL Read the Bible. Angels are warriors of God. I'm a soldier.

(And Dean's problem might be that this 'wrathful' thing didn't stick in his mind because the 'guardians' thing was his impression - what Mary told him, the idea he clung onto all that time with the kind of miserable feeling that it was too good to be true... But bonus points for clearly aligning Michael with what they do and we know with hindsight, it's talking specifically about Dean.)

2x13:

DEAN I mean, what's next, are you going to start praying every day? SAM I do. DEAN What? SAM I do pray every day. I have for a long time. DEAN (startled) The things you learn about a guy.

(... the temptation to add the "I prayed to you Cas, every night!" gif from 8x02. But yeah not the point although a very good point others have made. I love that it establishes that Sam has a completely different relationship to faith and angels than Dean - he's been fighting that it might be angels all episode but this point is where we get a statement on his feelings - that he HAS faith. Sam has faith to be broken, Dean has no faith for the sake of deeply, deeply complicating that for him. And in the end faith is a crappy thing to have anyway in this universe when it comes to higher powers, but when it comes specifically to angels and Cas within that, the lesson is very, very different for Sam as it is for Dean. Mittens just reminded me of Sam casually talking about Cas's vessel as an "it" for example, while Dean thinks of Cas as "he" in any situation, and that's from the end of season 11.)

2x13:

SAM It just, it appeared before me and I just, this feeling washed over me, you know? Like, like peace. Like grace.

oh boy, angels and peace. This is also a great parallel to 12x19 and what happened to Cas with Jack - he sees a future with peace, and Jack uses him but other than giving Cas a very obvious new purpose he doesn't change at his core. Sam is still Sam here, he just utterly believes that he has to go kill this guy and that it's right.

(Jury still out on Jack and what exactly this future is...)

DEAN Well, what's to tell? She was wrong. There was nothing protecting her. There's no higher power, there's no God. I mean, there's just chaos, and violence, and random unpredictable evil th, that comes out of nowhere, and rips you to shreds.

(How Dean dies in 3x16 because fuckin' OUCH he's smile-crying through this incredible speech. I think his eyes are still wobbling with tears even when I have it paused)

4x02:

DEAN If he doesn't exist, fine. Bad crap happens to good people. That's how it is. There's no rhyme or reason -- just random, horrible, evil -- I get it, okay. I can roll with that. But if he is out there, what's wrong with him? Where the hell is he while all these decent people are getting torn to shreds? How does he live with himself? You know, why doesn't he help?

Wait I skipped Mary entirely.

DEAN Okay, all right. You know what? I get it. You've got faith. That's — hey, good for you. I'm sure it makes things easier. I'll tell you who else had faith like that — Mom. She used to tell me when she tucked me in that angels were watching over us. In fact, that was the last thing she ever said to me. SAM You never told me that. DEAN Well, what's to tell? She was wrong. There was nothing protecting her.

*screams at this incoherently*

Favourite nice bit: makes 1x01 retroactively Destiel because Dean puts this into his life story off-screen. Overt awful use of this line is probably 5x13:

MARY Ohh...quite a kick there. Troublemaker already. It's okay, baby. It's all okay. Angels are watching over you.

Her obliviousness to the Grand Plan at the worst moment in season 5 for feeling they can resist the Grand Plan comes after Dean ironcially names Team Free Will sarcastically and miserably.

Buuut then Mary comes back and everything she ever seemed to have built is all fucked up - her family is gone, her sons are grown up, John is dead, she caused an apolocalypse... But hey, one silver lining - her first real interaction with the concept of the wider family they've made on the other side of all that is seeing there is an angel that watches over her sons after all... He's not exactly what Dean was expecting and he's not what Mary would have expected for totally different reasons, but hey, there he is :')

Although not like this is even something that escapes criticism/being taken too far (it was Cas's downfall in season 6 and 12) - I think this bit from 12x19 shows best how Cas is acting like this in a way where watching over them is crossing a line from fighting with them to feeling like he has to protect them more than they'd want him to

Kelvin: You're doing the right thing, you know. Committing to Joshua's plan, putting angelkind above the Winchesters. I mean, your reputation in Heaven is – Castiel: This has nothing to do with my reputation. I am doing this for the Winchesters. I-I stole the Colt to keep them out of this mission and to keep them safe from Dagon, and I – I will kill this girl so that Sam and Dean don't have to.

Anyway.

2x13:

DEAN That's funny, actually. Seriously. If Father Gregory's spirit is around, a séance will bring him right to us. If it's him, then we'll put him to rest. SAM But if it's an angel, it won't show. Nothin' 'll happen. DEAN Exactly. That's one of the perks of the job, Sam: we don't have to operate on faith. We can know for sure. Don't you wanna know for sure?

I am in a world of pain about Dean wanting to summon an angel to prove it's not their because nothing's out there looking out for them and aaall those times Cas isn't answering when he needs him >.>

That's not a firm meta thing that's just me clutching my heart and sobbing

FR. REYNOLDS Oh my god! Is that ... is that an angel? SAM No, it's not. It's just Father Gregory.

UGH I hate watching Sam's faith take a kicking. Considering how shitty angels and God are to him and how he's the one set up to have it all kicked out from under him... Bleh :P

FR. GREGORY Those innocent people are being offered redemption. Some people need redemption. Don't they, Sam?

Also pointing out again Sam feels guilt/is one of these people who needs redemption, to go along with how terrible he feels about finding out what John said about him/being hunted by other hunters. ... I forget how this episode is used to make Sam feel bad in the here and now because it's so focussed on Dean and where his arc GOES.

...

Anyway this was meant to be a basic compare and contrast post and I got a bit carried away and by a bit I mean a lot but YIKES this episode... It's just such a great little building block episode for a ton of arcs which are really rarely covered before they're in your face relevant.

[anditjustmadeherkind]

Deep, soothing breaths, everyone, or, 'how I learned to stop worrying and love Rob Thomas'.

Comment to the author of meta on the following link: 

http://cadhla.livejournal.com/?skip=50&tag=veronica%20mars

Deep, soothing breaths, everyone, or, 'how I learned to stop worrying and love Rob Thomas'.

Mar. 14th, 2005 at 3:28 PM

All right: there's a lot of kerfuffle in 'Veronica Mars' fandom right now, over some spoilers that have managed to get leaked to the general public. There's always a chance that they're actually foilers*, but since that's difficult to count on, there's been an understandable amount of consternation. I will now weigh in. Because I am a very pushy blonde who does this sort of thing, especially when she can't put everyone involved into a hot bathtub with lots of lovely bubbles until they feel better.

(*For the fandom-impaired, 'spoilers' are leaked bits of information about the show -- things like 'Smurfette was actually created by Gargamel, gasp!' or 'Doctor Who regenerates in this episode!'. 'Foilers' are bits of false information leaked intentionally to confuse the issue; 'Buffy decides to kill everyone and stay in happy la la psychosis land' or 'Megan and Firefly finally get married in a simple, tasteful, trans-species ceremony'. Simple, universal terms.)

( Collapse )

So here's the basic skinny: Logan turns out to have been involved in Veronica's rape, in that he a) supplied the drugs used on her (although they weren't intended for her, and nothing says he would have agreed had he known she was the target), and b) did body-shots off her while she was out cold, for which he winds up apologizing, and for which she apparently forgives him, as they appear to be dating, and are, in fact, caught making out at a surprise party for Logan. He winds up defending her in front of all his friends and family, and takes her back to his room. Veronica is waiting on the bed, alone, when she catches sight of a camera on the ceiling, and flees. The next shot is of her riding away with Weevil.

The actual spoilers are more detailed than this (as

ohimesamamama

will doubtless point out, when she sees this post), but that's the general gist of it. The item causing the most furor is, obviously, the camera. 'How DARE they?!' shriek the fans. 'How can Logan DO that to her?! How can Veronica run out without telling him?! How...' And then there is wailing and gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, and then comes the lamentation of the women, especially those women who like the Logan/Veronica pairing. There has been, unsurprisingly, a

lot

of lamentation. Nothing laments like a 'shipper who fears their cruise has been cancelled.

But worry not, lamenters! Worry not, because there are a few facts we're tending to overlook in the general wail-gnash-rending. Most notably, these are:

1. Rob Thomas is not Joss Whedon. Say it with me, folks: Rob Thomas is

not

Joss Whedon. More importantly,

Rob Thomas is not Marti Noxon

. Look. Joss was a great guy; he created great characters and a great universe; he poured his heart and soul into making something we could care deeply and passionately about; then he went away and left it all with a half-crazed Romanian au pair who thought the original 'Dark Shadows' was the height of thematic subtlety. Rob? Rob has not done this thing to us. Rob has not said 'wow, I think I'll go play in another sandbox, here, Angst Queen, use your super angst powers to keep the viewers coming back while I enjoy myself elsewhere'. Rob is, in fact, right there, every day, working his butt off to make the show as good as it can possibly be. If he has a Romanian au pair, she's chained up in the closet, being used as a script-checker -- whenever she gets excited, they drop that plotline.

2. Logan is not Spike. Veronica is not Buffy. Logan and Veronica are not Buffy and Spike. Logan? Is not so sick and crazy with denied love that he's going to throw her down on the bathroom floor and try to claim his territory. Veronica? Is not so self-centered and neurotic that she's going to wind up him up with disgust and lust and need and loneliness, then dance a happy contra on the shattered wreckage of his heart. They are, in short, not making each other cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. They annoy each other. They irritate each other. They brace each other up. But they don't cause raw insanity to come into the picture. For which I am very thankful. Also, Veronica, while she can be both careless and heartless, is not self-centered -- if anything, she's self-

sacrificing

. She's giving up what she wants in favour of what she thinks is right: she's throwing away her chances at going back to a happy obliviousness in favour of finding the answers about what happened to Lilly. If Veronica were the Chosen One, she wouldn't whine, she'd just go kick some undead ass.

3. Just because you get hurt once, that doesn't mean you're going to get hurt every single time. Joss Whedon comes up a lot in discussions of the current spoilers, and the basic theory seems to be 'Joss wouldn't have let them be happy, so Rob won't either'. Folks, it doesn't work that way. Seriously. One girl saying something mean about your hair doesn't mean all girls hate it; one show creator whose outlook on romance seems to make the relationships on 'Swan's Crossing' look stable doesn't mean all show creators are going to rip away the happiness of their characters just for fun. Let 'Veronica Mars' rise or fall on its own merits -- and so far, those merits lead me to trust in Rob.

This is also where the topic of tropes has to come in. Every creator, from the rawest writer of fanfic to the most well-established and famous producer, has tropes. Wes Craven loves him some unexpectedly evil boyfriend who was totally supportive right up until he tells you that he's the one who boiled your bunny. Stephen King adores putting beautiful girls with men who do some form of physical labour, and destroying writers with the products of their own imaginations. Michael Swanwick likes modern pageantry as a means of showing you the corruption that underpins society. Tropes are unavoidable. What does Rob Thomas believe in?

Well, if we go by his own work, he believes that opposites attract. He believes that love is fundamentally broken but just as fundamentally necessary, and that if you work for it, it will happen. He believes that the snarky guy gets the girl. He believes in true love, lasting love, love that is forever, love that redeems your sins, love that sees you home. He believes that the surface is only one layer, and that there's a lot more out there worth looking at.

Rob Thomas believes in happy endings. And Rob Thomas believes in redemption. Two things Joss never really showed us he had any faith in.

That message is there in his fiction -- most specifically in 'Rats Saw God', although most of the stories in 'Doing Time' are redemption stories, one way or the other -- and in his television work; I mean, 'Cupid' is one long story about redemption

through

true love, and if

that

isn't support for calling those his tropes, I don't know what

is

. He doesn't believe that these things come easy, but he does believe that they will come, given time and sufficient effort on the parts of the people involved.

That's another thing. Rob Thomas doesn't waste effort. Especially in a show as crammed with symbolism and meaning as 'Veronica Mars', there just isn't

time

to spend this much screen time and energy making the audience fall in love with Logan, a statement that becomes even more concrete when you consider the fact that he's extremely unlikely to have been Lilly's killer -- there won't be a zero-hour unmasking of the Luna Ghost in which we find out that it was Logan all along, and he calls Veronica a 'meddling kid'. Logan has had a

huge

redemption arc this season, and there's simply no point to that if you're going to turn around and throw it all away doing something that most of your audience is guaranteed to hate. Can he be villified next season? Sure. But this season? The timing is off. If Rob wanted Logan to be a bad guy in season one, he'd have just left him that way. As it stands, he's used Logan to prove one of the essential concepts of noir. Namely:

Your narrator is wrong.

Veronica starts out by lying to us: she tells us Logan is a psychotic jackass. She doesn't tell us until later how close they were, how good a friend he was to her and to Lilly, or that she used to enjoy his company. Just that he's a jerk. We get the details on Duncan right away, but on Logan, her glass is clearly clouded. Logan, meanwhile, targets her a lot, but never actually hurts her. Now, he does hurt her car -- which

ohimesamamama

has symbolically explained better than I could -- but he never lays a hand on her, never strikes her in anger, and isn't even seen being particularly active in spreading the nasty stories about her. There's old love there, and old love gone sour hurts more than almost anything else.

Logan is, oddly, a very honest person; he doesn't like to lie, he doesn't like to act, and when you push him far enough to make him hurt you, it's either calculated, distant and remote, or it's immediate and in your face. Planting a camera to catch Veronica, who he's publically called his girlfriend, having sex? Doesn't fit either of those categories. Also, frankly...okay, great. You now have a tape of yourself having sex with someone largely regarded as the town slut. How does this hurt her? Other than the betrayal -- and she's nearly numb to those -- what does this get you? You could hand the tape to her father, but he'd kill you. And as high school students on their age and social level, and little boyfriend-girlfriend sex? Sort of expected. It's not

surprising

. Doing that to Meg would be calculated and mean. Doing it to Veronica? Is pointless. It's not Logan's style.

Something is missing. The spoilers don't include dialogue; they don't include context; they don't include Veronica's voiceover. There is, in short, something very large missing from the scene -- we're panicking over a picture without words, and those can mean

anything

. If you step back, and take a moment to trust in Rob's already-proven ability to be true to character, genre, situation and plot? We have to have it wrong, because right now, as stated, the scene makes no sense. Rob has always been very true to his characters. This? Is not true to his characters. And that means something we don't see yet will put it all into focus -- another major trait of noir.

Veronica is the detective; Logan, in a way, is thus the gangster's moll. And since Veronica's real enemy is the town of Neptune -- the 'gangster' Logan belongs to, whether he likes it or not -- her winning him away from it, bit by bit, stumble by stumble, is part of the long-term observance of the genre. In noir, in the end, the hero walks away. Sometimes with the dame, sometimes without, but always having made the choice. That dame may betray him, reject him, stab him in the back, but they always find each other again, until the sun is going down and the gumshoe rolls out of town. Veronica has a long way to go before she sees the city limits. That means, by genre, that she and Logan can't be finished yet.

Trust Rob. Just because Joss let Marti take us into a dark alley and beat us up until we handed over our lunch money, that doesn't mean Rob's going to. Trust the man who gave us Trevor and Claire. Trust the man who introduced us to Dub. He's a good guy. He's never handled me wrong, and that's saying something.

Also, breathe.

[mesonishashank]

From Star Wars To Super Mario: 22 Crazy Cereals Based on Movies, TV, And Video Games

The most utterly ridiculous cereals ever based on movies, TV shows, video games, and more

The 1980s and 1990s were a great time to be a kid if you loved cereal. Every trip to the grocery store would find a new offering on the breakfast cereal aisle, taking a movie, TV show, video game, or celebrity and turning it into a sugary morning treat.

While themed cereal can still be found in stores--we're looking at you, Fruity Pebbles--the glory days that saw practically every title getting its own special blend of marshmallows, corn, rice, and oats have come to an end. Ralston, the company behind many of the best-remembered offerings, no longer dabbles in licensed foods. In fact, based on their website, the company now specializes in cereal that looks similar to name brands like Fruit Loops and Cocoa Puffs, while being different enough to be marketed as a different product.How the might have fallen. Then again, in its heyday, Ralston was actually known as Ralston Purina and dedicated a sizable chunk of its business into making pet food, so perhaps its better off now.

How important is taste and originality in these cereals anyway? After all, one of the biggest reasons anyone bought these was due to the characters emblazoned on the boxes and the prizes that were included with the cereal. Who cares what Batman cereal tastes like when it comes with a bank in the shape of the Caped Crusader? Thankfully, there were still some colorful and tasty cereals to be found back then, right Spider-Man?

Take a trip back in time with GameSpot as we revisit 22 of those cereals--both good and bad. How many of these do you remember sitting down with at breakfast?

Image: Sony Entertainment

1. Urkel-Os

There was a time when nothing in pop culture was hotter than Steve Urkel, the nerdy character on Family Matters. In an age where the TGIF programming block ruled the world, Urkel was its king. This cereal that was first released in 1991--and remained in production until 2000--is proof of that.

Image: Ralston

2. Nintendo Cereal System

When it came to video games, nothing was hotter in the late '80s than the Nintendo Entertainment System. It permeated pop culture in such a way that it spawned merchandise, cartoons, and even the movie The Wizard. Naturally, like many popular properties, it also got a cereal--two if you want to get technical. In each box were two bags, one a Super Mario Bros. cereal and one for The Legend of Zelda. What a time to be alive.

Image: Ralston

3. Bill and Ted's Excellent Cereal

Excellent! A Bill & Ted cereal not only existed, but it wasn't based on the movies. Instead, this cereal followed the cartoon and featured the animated versions of Bill and Ted emblazoned on the box. The real joy of this breakfast wasn't the marshmallows, though. Instead, it was the prize that came with the cereal--a cassette tape holder shaped like Bill and Ted's phone booth time machine.

Image: Ralston

4. Smurfberry Crunch

For many, Smurfberry Crunch is the gold standard for sugary cereals based on TV shows and movies. The fruity corn and wheat cereal first debuted in 1981 and lasted for years before an addition to the Smurf's cereal line--Magic Berries--that added marshmallows to the mix in 1987.

Image: Post Cereals

5. The Addams Family

Addams Family cereal sounds like a great idea, in theory. However, its pieces were made to resemble skulls, dismembered hands, and headless dolls--all things very familiar to this particular family. Serving a bowl of that to a kid could be pretty traumatic, though. However, there was a period of the time where the "toy" it included was a flashlight made to resemble a character from the movie. That's pretty exciting for a kid.

Image: Ralston

6. Donkey Kong

Mario and Zelda had to share a cereal. Before that, though, Donkey Kong got a box all to himself. According to the box, it was "crunchy barrels of fun." While that doesn't exactly found appetizing, what's not to love about a video game-themed cereal with a taste similar to Captain Crunch?

Image: Ralston

7. E.T. Cereal

While the E.T. Atari game may have been a colossal bomb, the cereal was not the same case. Taking a note from E.T.'s love of Reese's Pieces in the movie, the cereal was flavored like peanut butter and chocolate. Among the bonus prizes included in the box were trading cards, as well as a picture of Michael Jackson and E.T.--because why not?

Image: General Mills

8. The Real Ghostbusters

This is another cereal based on a cartoon that's based on a movie. This particular cereal was released three times under three different names and was incredibly simple, in terms of design. Marshmallow ghosts mixed with fruity Os, to create the Ghostbusters logo in your cereal bowl. The best part of this cereal, though, was the prizes that came in the box--from glow-in-the-dark door hangers to buttons to frisbees.

Image: Ralston

9. Batman

Like many Ralston cereals, Batman essentially consisted of themed corn pieces--bats in this instance--and a standard sweet flavor. The prizes were where Batman was able to shine. Honestly, the only reason to get this cereal was for the Batman bank that came attached to the front. Who's going to keep your change safer than the Dark Knight?

Image: Ralston

10. Gremlins

This sweetened cereal may not be all that exciting--its pieces are meant to look like Gizmo but they don't--but it's hard to resist something as adorable as the mogwai on its box. Inside the box with the cereal was a sticker, which is a decent bonus. However, the big prize was something you had to actually mail away for--a plush Gizmo.

Image: Ralston

11. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

It's essentially Rice Chex ("ninja nets") with marshmallows. The marshmallows in question are shaped like ninja weapons and pizzas, everything needed for a radically tasty breakfast. None of that matters, though, without what is perhaps the most beloved prize of all time-- a Ninja Turtle-shaped cereal bowl. You could eat your Ninja Turtles cereal out of a Ninja Turtles bowl.

Image: Ralston

12. Fruity Pebbles/Cocoa Pebbles

Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles are undeniably the most successful licensed cereal of all time. They were first released in 1971 and can still be found in stores today, almost 50 years later. Clearly, Post stumbled onto something good when it came to The Flintstones.

Image: Post Cereals

13. Spider-Man

The Spider-Man cereal from 1995 is very similar to Ralston's Ninja Turtles offering. This time, though, the "ninja nets" were spiderwebs and the marshmallows were supposed to be pumpkin bombs, "spider symbols," Peter Parker's camera, and Kingpin. In reality, they were essentially blobs of various colors.

Image: Ralston

14. GI Joe Action Stars

This cereal arrived in stores in 1985--the same year the cartoon premiered. It wasn't colorful or flashy, but it was part of a complete breakfast to help create a real American hero… probably. What's most important is the mini-comic books that came packaged in the box. Cereal and comics, what more do you need?

Image: Ralston

15. C-3PO's

And you thought the Star Wars Christmas Special was the most shameless cash-in on this franchise. These were essentially Honey Nut Cheerios in a figure-eight shape. As for prizes, they varied from trading cards to a Rebel Rocket toy.

Image: Kellogg's

16. Mr. T

We pity the fool that never got to try Mr. T's cereal. Why did Mr. T have a cereal, you ask? Between his appearance in Rocky III and his role on The A-Team, Mr. T was a pop culture sensation in the early 1980s and that got him his own breakfast. If only they'd come up with a better idea than pieces shaped like T and literally nothing else, though.

Image: Quaker

17. Pac-Man

Following the success of Donkey Kong's cereal, it was Pac-Man's turn. This cereal features Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and ghost marshmallows, along with sweet balls of corn. Among the prizes offered inside was bubblegum. There was also the possibility of winning a full-size Pac-Man arcade game.

Image: General Mills

18. Donkey Kong Jr.

Donkey Kong cereal was a little too basic--thankfully, Donkey Kong Jr. righted the wrongs of his father. Out are the crunchy barrels. Instead, this cereal is made up of pieces shaped and flavored like bananas and berries, putting a fruity twist on breakfast.

Image: Ralston

19. Rainbow Brite

Of course, the Rainbow Brite cereal--based on the cartoon and movie--is rainbow-colored and shaped. It's essentially Fruit Loops, but with half-circles instead of full loops. The only notable prize, really, was a colorful chain necklace you could mail away for. What's the point of buying cereal without a toy in it?

Image: Ralston

20. Morning Funnies

With so many cereals based on well-known cartoons and movies, opting to create one based on newspaper comic strips might not seem like a cutting-edge idea. What's even more bizarre is the cereal itself had nothing to do with the various comic strips it licensed. It was simply made up of smiling faces in a variety of colors.

Image: Ralston

21. Booty O's

Where do you start with Booty O's? What started as an on-screen joke made by the trio known as New Day became an actual breakfast cereal you could buy in stores and a never-ending string of merchandise. The oat-based breakfast comes packed with marshmallows that look like trombones and booties, to name a few shapes. If only Ralston was still a cereal giant that could mass produce it.

Image: WWE

22. Pro Stars

Not every cereal can be based on a fictional character, right? That's where Pro Stars, which puts the spotlight on sports celebrities, comes in. We know what you're thinking: That's what Wheaties are for, right? Thankfully, Pro Stars added funny to the mix and included a contest to win breakfast with Wayne Gretzky. Top that, Wheaties.

Image: General Mills

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[anundefinedwoman]

Epiphany

It’s Christmas Eve eve and I proofed what I wrote last night when I had this epiphany that blows my mind. I think if I had lived long ago I would have sought to be a philosopher or an apprentice of Jung’s. Ha!!

I don’t even know what it will do to your mind. If you can even wrap your brain around the concept or if you will think I’ve gone Cocoa for Cocoa Puffs or Fruit Loops. 😬 like what I did there? I am a Fruit Loop. 🙄

Back to the story. You know how I’ve often said that I have felt we are one in the same? That you are the female version of me and I am the male version of you? I’ve said this very early on too. Yes? I know that’s why I developed this very deep connection and bond with you and have been able to tell you anything. Many things I’ve only been able to say within the confines of my own mind. Things that’s aren’t pleasant. That don’t always paint a pretty picture of me. And what I have found are shared commonalities, understanding, compassion, open-mindedness, and kindness. Have things always been easy? No. Have there been bumps in the road, mistakes, complications? A resounding, yes. Our circumstances, our life experiences, and the choices we have made along the way have caused those.

Are you familiar with the concept “shadow self”? It’s a psychological term coined by Jung that is essentially the opposite of “persona” or the masks we wear- how we want to be seen vs. the repressed parts of ourselves that are oftentimes dark, embarrassing, are shrouded in fear. The parts of ourselves we hide from everyone and more often than not won’t face ourselves. Read on the concept. It is completely fascinating. They say you identify your shadow by noticing the traits you project onto others. When you deny a trait in yourself, you tend to be very aware of it in others. You can also notice traits you admire. Shadows don’t have to be about total darkness. Are you with me so far?

Anyway, there’s a practice apparently of “Shadow Work” that’s rooted in Shaman practices. I don’t really know much about it. Just what little I’ve read on it, which is little. But it is fascinating to me as someone who has been on a journey of personal discovery or a vision quest of sorts for years. Looking for purpose or meaning and connection. I’m not saying I subscribe to anything other than what I’ve clearly stated, but I am open minded and have an open heart to most things.

So if I were to take Jung’s theory a step further which I’m about to do because this is where my epiphany took me this morning, it hits me that in you I may have found my shadow self. Not only do I see so many of my dark, repressed similarities, I am able to voice these to you without shame or judgement. And here too it’s not all about darkness. There are qualities you possess that I don’t, that I admire and wish I possessed. I don’t think it’s supposed to be possible to actually meet the human form of your shadow self. And I don’t mean literal. You know I mean in a figurative sense.. I’m not Shirley Maclaine crazy. If we recognize these parts in each other and see that they are parts of ourselves that we possess and fault, hate, shame, cannot forgive ourselves, judge, criticize, or whatever negative emotion we may attach to it - we see past it enough in each other to not judge, shame, hate, criticize – but to accept….

Why can’t we do this to ourselves? Yesterday when I was in the car in between the grunge music I was rocking out to, Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” came on my shuffle. I had always assumed this was about a great love between two people. I really listened to the words yesterday and they made me tear up. It’s about loving ourselves. That’s the greatest love of all. The only love that matters.

http://highexistence.com/carl-jung-shadow-guide-unconscious/amp/

https://lonerwolf.com/shadow-self/

https://scottjeffrey.com/shadow-work/

http://www.shadowwork.com/about.html