#so its all up to interpretation and headcanon atp

[fruitpunchjollyrancher]

my shitty treatise on "ants from up there" and gale dekarios

this is the gale album of all time. and i WILL elaborate. (also warning im only posting this because i have been obsessed with this fucking album and gale for a WEEK and need it out of my brain. im probably not going to explain too many lyrics and i get nervous expressing my ideas because tbf to me it seems quite obvious but ofc i can explain, assuming anybody reads this post)

"Concorde" immediately stood out to me like oh this is so gale. i dont even think i need to explain how gale this is. the rest of the song is super gale too, i just don't want to include screenshots of the entire song

"Bread Song" has a LOT of worship imagery and also below alluding to appearing fine but rlly inside he is not well <3

oh my god. "Good Will Hunting". the mentorship but also wanting her to depend on him a little but it's unfeasible, weaving a whole life in his head that can never be because mystra will never see him as an equal... also the pre-chorus 👍 i am so well

"Haldern"... i literally dont know how to explain my feelings about this song in relation to gale pls someone tell me u see the vision

"The Place Where He Inserted the Blade" is more headcanon/my interpretation but im just gonna focus on the parts that i think everyone can agree on. first 2 lines arent super applicable to mystra but ig i can rationalize it as her being detached from the world/not rlly participating (i.e. why didnt mystra just stop the absolute herself (im aware its because ao doesn't like it when they meddle, im smoking that true forgotten realms pack trust me)). but the MAIN part of this song that is so gale to me is the vines breaking bones, bones heal, our school friends sign our cast on the playground, my body is yours. like holy shit being a chosen of mystra is a huge fucking deal and despite the pain it can cause (that he doesnt even notice because "tied me up slow with your vine stuff / it takes a few years") but it's definitely encouraged among wizards/mages in any circles he was in and by elminster ("we tell all our school friends / and they sign our cast in the playground"), then of course the last line breaks my heart. rest of the song is also rlly fucking good please listen to this album.

"Snow Globes" has more religious imagery but tbh i dont know precisely how i feel about it in relation to gale so im just gonna skip it

"Basketball Shoes" shows a more hopeful future but still #suffering because thats just how it is. concorde being mystra/his relationship to her tears his life to shreds, defines his life, leaving him with nothing. keeps seeing her everywhere (wizard stuff, his damn earring, he's always saying "by mystra" like bro you're intersecting at the market town on purpose atp (i get it)). i interpret the part after that line break (idk why genius doesnt just say its a different verse, don't quote me on this idk anything about music theory) as post-game where he's still Not Great but it's better and moving on, there is a future. doesn't look to mystra anymore (throughout album especially in good will hunting and bread song the s/o is mentioned through headphones, wifi passwords, phone calls, so "never look at our phones anymore" means he isn't thinking of her anymore or trying to curry her favor).

alsoooo should mention that i didn't include the part of "The Place Where He Inserted the Blade" that mentions a lunch metaphor in relation to panic attacks and possible cheating so the "feelin kinda normal with a packed lunch" is doubly meaningful, he isn't freaking out while making lunch anymore

this verse is tav (or whoever u romance as gale origin idgaf)/gale as he is trying to find a new object of devotion in his romance. "the clamp" could be many things, from reminders of mystra to all his perceived inadequacies to lost opportunity to become a god w/ the crown of karsus.

third section of the song im kind of undecided on w/ gale like we got the religious imagery again, could interpret "generous loan/crippling interest" as mystra's deal for him to return the crown of karsus in exchange for no orb. but yea idk yet

and that is the entire album (- chaos space marine, i didn't really think of anything related to gale when listening to it but it's still a great song, PLEASE listen to this album). so yeah if im horribly wrong on any of my takes be sure to send me hatemail k thanks bye

[carlos-in-glasses]

hiya! i hope you're still down to answering asks about That Line, sorry if you're not, do feel free to delete this too!

i think my initial reaction to that line was like a sucker punch to the gut with the way it was setup, i.e. the framing, him standing next to TK, and TK looking at him after he'd said that line. i was so pissed and i'm still pissed about it now. in no way is that fair to TK for him to have said that, no matter how angry or hurt he is. i'm not saying right/wrong bc it's never as transparent as that, i'm coming from pov of an audience and having witness both sides of the argument. yes, tk crossed a boundary when he visited iris even though both him and carlos had agreed not to, and i understand why carlos would react the way that it did. i hated it, but i don't really wanna get into it now. which brings me to,

i think, or at least i'd hoped that this might be setting up for carlos' character arc where – you'd previously mentioned that 403 is essentially confronting his past before taking that next step into his future with carlos, and i agree! – we'll be able to see carlos realising that he needs to be able to learn how to let go of the unfounded guilt he had towards this whole mess (i.e. marriage, iris getting kidnapped), and iris would swoop in and be like, 'hey, i'm no longer your legal responsibility now, and i am no longer your responsibility, period. i can take care of myself, and i'm sorry for the way things were but we're still best friends and i still love you. you can let go of this now.' something something about him having to confront and address things rather than chalk things up until he absolutely had to confront it, in order to move forward in his life, bc atp its at a standstill. and it's kind of like a full circle moment for him to realise that he didn't need to, and will never need to take on this weight and responsibility all by himself and pushing away the ones he loves in the meantime (i.e. TK 😭😭💗💗💓), when there's someone so willingly to take on this weight with him (back to my boy TK). i know i'm dreaming big but if i had to cope with shitty writing choices from a professional who does this for a living, i can pretty much read between the lines and interpret it however i want to.

which brings us back to That Line, so if the writers are willing to explore that route with carlos, it would make much more sense in relation to him implying that it was the marriage, and TK having been drowning in his own guilt and misery, misunderstood and took that to mean that carlos had meant with him (imagine the angst we would get from this if it was addressed on screen i'll cry).

i know i'm putting myself through the mental gymnastics and i'm pretty sure i'm 100% wrong in this. atp i'm still pissed at everything and especially carlos (i know its warranted but i'm still pissed and that's ok bc i'll get over it), but this is a headcanon i'd like to believe in until we have more context in 404 IF (and that's a big fat if) it ever gets addressed. if its just a result of a poor writing choice, i'm more than willing to pretend it never existed too.

thank u for reading, sorry it's this long!

Hello anon! Very happy to discuss, no worries at all. <3

I think 4x03 was a hard pill to swallow after how easily 4x02 went down. We've never seen Carlos shut out TK like this, even in the ice storm (he was mad but he was there. Although I should note I did not see the ice storm arc play out as it aired, so my experience of it is different to those who did watch at the time), but we've seen him be 4x02 Carlos before. The contrast is extreme after last week's squishiness. It's implied he 'doesn't like TK right now' immediately after being madly in love. It's new for us to get to grips with, how he goes from one to the other so quickly. I share your sucker-punch feeling and I still have it now to an extent – even after having talked myself into thinking Carlos was referring to himself and Iris. I guess I wish I didn’t have to *think* that, and rather I could just know. I’m happy for plenty of things to be left up to my interpretation as a viewer, whatever I’m watching, but a lack of clarity around something like this line doesn’t sit well with me. I have a very nervous disposition!

You’re right, the framing and the whole vibe made it seem like a super passive-aggressive reference to his own relationship, yet as I mentioned it’s total whiplash for the man who’d so recently comforted TK on the couch to say such a thing. If he *was* making a reference to being super displeased with TK to the extent of suddenly finding their relationship bad (just writing this reinforces to me how it makes no sense…) then the punishment does not fit the crime. Especially as Carlos is canon-aware that TK and Iris hugged rather than had a falling out.

Essentially, I share your headcanon and would really like to see them address this comment so we and TK aren’t left in the dark. There are actually so many good things that can come out of this arc, even if the writing itself leaves us with neon question marks blinking over our heads. By trying to ignore his past and leave it behind him, Carlos has inadvertently looped it tightly with his present and now he has to unpick it from this point. That’s fascinating! I want to see it. This is contrasted nicely with TK, I think, who in some ways ‘left the past behind’ when Owen brought him to Austin, but has been doing the hard work to face it and overcome it ever since, by going N.A meetings, taking his sobriety seriously, talking to the crew about it and his relapse, and finding an incredible man who opened up his heart again. Carlos is on a similar journey, in his own way, he just has to stop resisting and pretending and lying. I love Carlos so much – and it’s because I love him that I care. That lad needs to apologise to his fiancé. TK needs to understand that Carlos’ reaction was due to 99 problems and TK was maybe 1-ish (due to a transgression that was actually nbd). And they are going to be okay.