#so much happens in one episode of this show i would LOVE to see their show bible and writers room

[sashayed]

ok now it is time to air my grievances with severance s2, a season of television i thoroughly enjoyed and looked forward to every week. s2 is mr milchick putting on a spectacular drumline Just For Me and what do they get for it. trapped behind a vending machine (readmore cut) while i batter them with a trombone. classic ingratitude.

my umbrella gripe btw is that showrunner dan erickson's figurative innie is actually Ricken and he won't admit it and until he does we are never going to see the show that severance Could Be. like ricken is a pretentious nightmare who is insulated from the consequences of his own actions. he's also got a fascinating way with words (fond, derogatory) and a heart that yearns for love and he is really trying to Say Something. ok well that's what this show is. accept this and reconcile with yourself Dan Erickson (or should I say DAN: SO RICKEN??? boom anagrammed!!) or keep displacing all your sins onto that one character and doom this show to eternal alienation from its own core themes.

i think we can all admit that pacing in this season sucks and they had enough time to do it better. and the thing is imo if you were really committed to storytelling you would have to cut some of the most fun/fanservicey individual scenes of the season. i can see why you might choose not to do that! like for instance the baby goats thing. i get it. it looked soooo fun to film with the baby goats. visually the pasture room is great. gwendoline christie is a gift. it's fun! but it doesn't actually uhhh serve the story to spend all that time on it. it doesn't shed any new light. "they are sacrificing the goats because lumon is a creepy cult." we KNOW they are a creepy cult. "lumon thinks innies are non-people who don't experience love and care, but they DO experience love and care and that motivates them." brother we know that too!! "ok but wasn't it all worth it for that heavyweight christie/olafsson finale fight scene." i will concede this point. that ruled.

pacing problems never worse than in "sweet vitriol," an episode i actually enjoyed more than everyone else, but it didn't need to be a standalone and in fact was badly served by the format!! many in your audience have forgotten to give a shit about ms cobel so the revelation that she invented severance doesn't hit for them. splitting her storyline up and dividing it among episodes starting earlier would have kept her more consistently in play and opened up space for underserved character arcs, like dylan aND IRVING—

—because as much fun as burving demon threesome is it is so underbaked and wastes one of the show's coolest characters. WHO IS IRVING. WHY IS HE SLEEPERAGENTING LUMON. you're gonna put him on a train to the farm for old dogs and be like "all was well because love is more important than revenge :)" ??? like sure but again it DOESN'T HIT because it doesn't require the viewer to struggle with WHAT IRVING'S DRIVING FORCE ACTUALLY WAS. and he doesn't even get to kiss. let him kiss!!!!

I actually think having reintegration move at an unpredictable pace and having its side effects be unclear is not the worst idea, and in fact as an allegory for like, real life healing and becoming a Whole Person i maybe even prefer it. but the pacing problems move it beyond "this process is unfolding gradually and erratically" into "we have forgotten this is happening" and it just didn't have to be that way, man. side note there is something fascinating going on with helly's uncomfortable, unwilling quasi-reintegration from the innie side! from the moment she finds herself in front of that gala to hearing jame say he doesn't love his daughter, she is accepting the fact that SHE IS HELENA. she is thinking about how She as a first-person experiencer of the world could find herself in helena's position (which helena—who is less of a grownup than her innie—is still unable/unwilling to do). i've read some criticism of that final scene (which i loved btw) that was like "helly's goal has always been to dismantle lumon, why would she give that up for A Man? wouldn't she push mark s. out the door and be like BURN THIS PLACE TO THE GROUND?" sure, but i think that doesn't engage with helly's arc either—which is not about revolutionary conviction OR about A Man but about about discovering that SHE wants to live, she doesn't want to hang herself in the elevator out of spite, she wants her half-a-life even if it means a degree of complicity with her evil outie. on the other hand, does the WRITING actually engage with helly's arc? or am i getting all that from britt lower??

speaking of making actors do all the work: we as a show are going to grapple with corporate racism and the Black experience :) no we're not :) or are we? ;) you're welcome :)))

i don't love gemma's backstory boiling down to Woman Want Baby. "Greatest Agony for Woman Is Want Baby and Can't Have Baby" is a storyline that makes me personally grimace. but i accept that that's a personal preference and honestly dichen lachman sells her character/s so beautifully that i didn't even remember to bitch about it when i originally wrote this. i just remembered it and had to edit this post because god forbid i don't complain about something. (although. now that i AM complaining about it: putting someone through three years of torture and then being like "we'll prove this fresh consciousness is unaffected by suffering by going all the way back to the baby thing, because 'no baby,' not years of torture and isolation, is the fundamental pain at the root of this woman's being," is...........a choice!!!!! it's a choice. and if it were a deliberate narrative choice, like if it were about how the lumon ideology fundamentally conceives of women, that would be one thing! but i just don't think it is.)

did i mention i really liked this season and had a great time. i did. i am bitching about it because i have a fun time rotating it in my mind. maybe it's actually very brave and artistic to make a show that is not as well-crafted as it could be because then you are opening up intellectual/creative space for your viewers. what about that. if you think about it maybe a slightly less good show is better than a great show. in a way. checkmate haters

[moghedien]

I love the Forsakens in the Show so much and their dynamics are so fascinating. S2 Lanfear was just girlbossing her way around cause she was just in a different league entirely (everyone gotta do a full interpretative dance to light a candle while she just finger guns and blows bridges up) and Ishy was just doing his shit asides. Then the First interaction with the other Chosen was her getting caught in a trap by a girl she can probably physically power bomb. The next group meeting she gets called out so hard by a middle aged man that she was about to throw hands until they both got called out by that one dude in the office who is the shadiest but whom also somehow has the most alliances. Also, everyone ALWAYS reminds her of her one bad break-up. You know instantly why Lanfear was giggling and giddy at the thought of sending their prison rock things to the bottom of the ocean or something at the end of last season. Truly the character group of all time. Want at least 1 episode exclusively of the Forsaken doing their shit. Especially want to watch what tomfoolery happens with the Black Ajah & Maidghedien.

That's the beauty of the Forsaken.

When you first hear about them you think they're scary monsters. Then you find out they're actually humans but still scary and more powerful than anyone else alive, if even just in their knowledge alone

When they're by themselves and threatening the good guys, they're the scariest threat you could have. They're terrifying. You don't want them around the good guys because they can do unspeakable things to them.

Once you start seeing them around other Forsaken though, you realize they aren't a unified threat. They may be scary, but they're not being scary together. When they're together they're just cats in a slap fight, throwing paws and screaming at each other and accomplishing absolutely nothing else.

Like, they are scary and powerful and know how to do all kinds of things that the heroes can't even imagine. But also they are, at their core, petty bitches who hate their coworkers and would like to see each other gone as much as the good guys would.

Everyone in the Wheel of Time is in a typical high/epic fantasy with some minor twists for flavor. Except the Forsaken who are in a post apocalyptic work place comedy about them suffering through a hell of their own making with coworkers they hate and HR is the devil

[richardsphere]

On the one hand, i like the "destruction isnt evil, you can destroy a bad thing and thus make the world a better place" angle. but this should've been a part of the show since season 1. Like Horrificator and Kung Food both had giant walls they made to cut off access to places. Creation doesnt fix that, destruction does and we've been complaining about that shit for 5.5 seasons. It's nice to see this acknowledged, but its too little and too late. I dont like having it crop up now so marinette can have a veneer of deniability though. "I didnt mess with Alya's memories, i just told Chat to do it for me". this is some Pontitus Pilate washing his hands-level delegation. Because in the end, this episode is just pretending Oblivio didnt happen so Mari doesn't need to be held accountible for either the lies or the memory-tampering. Maribat salt mini-rant about this new power and all the ways i hope it gets used under the cut btw.

I need one of those stupid-ass Batfam crossover fic's to have Chat just... remove the joker-chemicals and fix the joker. I need that after all the "adrien sucks" in those fics, him having powers that can canonically fix the worst and most overhyped batman villain without breaking the Hero Code is so irrationally important to me you wouldn't believe. I need a Maribat/Adribat fic where he destroys the pit-corruption from Ra's al Ghul... I need this... Or have Adrien de-venomise Bane mid-combat. I need this power to get used so much. Its such a cool power and i hate that the show introduces it in this shit-ass way that makes me hate a power i should be loving I need a fic where Adrien destroys the connection between the Akuma and Lila. I need this power to be used and explored in ways that the show never will (because it would fundamentally break the formula, like its justifiable not using it in this last way in cannon but i need to at least see it in a fic)

[nekohime19]

The "problem" with Macaque's redemption arc

So I want to talk about something that is slightly bothering me regarding Macaque's redemption arc and see if others agree with me on those points. I genuinely like Macaque's redemption arc (you are free to disagree with me on that) and I indeed think it's not over yet and we will see more of it.

I really like how LMK handles Macaque's character in the first three seasons, and especially how they add depth to him in season 3. But I have a bit of a problem with season 4 and 5 and it is the lack of interactions between Macaque and the other members of the main cast.

In my opinion, when it comes to MK and Wukong, Macaque's redemption arc work well. We especially see how MK see Macaque as more than a common villain in season 2, how he offer a helping hand after realizing why he works with LBD in season 3, and how they work together in season 4. Same with Wukong, I think it's well built and their tentative allyship/réconciliation in season 5 makes sense.

BUT when it comes to other characters (Pigsy, Mei, Tang, Sandy) the interactions are... lacking.

I think, Pigsy, after seeing that Macaque hangs around MK in season 4, should come forward and have a confrontation with Macaque. Especially with how protective Pigsy is.

Mei should have a confrontation about the whole samadhi fire debacle. The two characters fight together in season 4 and there is no words exchanged regarding that incident.

Tang, who had a whole episode with Macaque in season 3 and is in a position to emphasize with him on certain points (being "benched" / left out) should, at least, try to have a conversation with Macaque.

Sandy, with his history of anger issues, could also have very interesting interactions with Macaque.

In my opinion, one of the reasons why his redemption can sometimes feel "rushed" or "plastic" is because he doesn't truly have any interactions with the rest of the group despite having serious issues that he needs to solve with some of them (Mei and the samadhi fire incident/ Pigsy and his protectiveness over MK / Tang and everything that happened in the "benched" episode...). So this feels as if those issues that Macaque has with the group are brushed aside in favor of Macaque's interactions with MK and Wukong.

Don't get me wrong, I love MK, but I think the show would gain more by shifting the focus from MK and highlighting the interactions between its side characters a bit more.

We have a lot of interactions between side characters when it comes to specific duo : Tang/Pigsy often interact with each other and share episodes, same with Mei/MK (or recently Mei/Red Son)... But we don't have a lot of interactions between, let's say, Mei/Pigsy or Tang/Sandy.

I like the MK/Sandy episode in season 5 very much because I don't see those two interact one-on-one very often and it was a nice change of pace. I kinda want to see more of that, I think a Mei/Pigsy episode would be so funny or even a Pigsy/Macaque episode. So many potential and interesting dynamics.

Besides MK and Wukong, Macaque has no true interactions with the rest of the group. And I get that Macaque is a reserved person, but I feel like those interactions (Mei/Macaque, Pigsy/Macaque, Sandy/Macaque...) needs to happen to make his redemption feels more genuine. In fact, I think the main cast needs to have a lot more interactions for them to feel more compact. Sometimes, it feels like the main cast itself is divided in specific duos (or trios) and characters don't interact with each other that much outside of that.

That being said, I'm waiting for season 6. I feel like Macaque character will be more central in season 6 considering how his powers were linked to the chaos at the end of season 5. I'm hoping that by being central to the season he will have more interactions outside of MK and Wukong and we'll get to see a resolution of his redemption arc! Of course I also hope both monkeys will come to terms with their fight and becomes sort of friends again. Crossing my fingers on that 🤞.

[gibor-zolel]

Avery; the not so chill plant enthusiast

Well I am late as per usual but here it is;

This post will mainly be analyzing Avery's character but I will also be going over who I think Avery is the comparison and contrast to (it's "Wayne")

This is over 2,000 words with screenshots so I'm putting it under a read more. Enjoy :)

When we first see Avery they are portrayed as more of a minor character or someone that can easily be overlooked despite being one of the main love interests. Now part of this is because supposedly there's going to be 7 episodes and we're only on 4 but I believe the devs intentionally made the majority of Avery interactions up to the player's decision to include them and speak to them.

Depending on how you play the game; you may only see Avery as a passerby when you visit the diner or the general store. You don't actually have to invite them anywhere; it's up to us to make Avery feel included and wanted in the story unfolding.

The first thing we learn about Avery is that they're working for their aunt because they had "issues" with their family about their education. I don't believe it's ever expanded upon but I'm eager to learn more hopefully in episode 5.

Avery the supportive but left out "friend"

Avery also does their best to hype up and encourage the people around them. Such as in episode 1 when you go to the diner with Stella and Avery tells Stella not to downplay her success. On the wiki it states that Avery dislikes it when friends devalue themselves. The problem is that this type of friendship seems to be a one way street at times. We never see Stella or Kaneeka or Oscar or whoever invite Avery to places or put in the same level of effort of trying to connect that Avery does. Avery is extremely observant to people they see as their friends; such as when Avery not only notices that Gretchen is gone but also that Stella isn't her usual self.

Avery is nonjudgmental and tries their best to be empathic and sort of a mediator for the group such as pointing out to Kaneeka that the mines are obviously failing and Tabby clearly isn't some coal baron or when Avery directly calls the animal in the video a mountain lion despite knowing how Stella's refuses to accept any evidence contrary to her worldview.

When you go to the diner in episode 2 and question if Avery will even believe such a wild story, they say this;

I do think Avery can be a bit nosy at times but this isn't a malicious urge to get dirt on other people but rather a desire to be a part of someone's life and fill the loneliness in their heart.

Avery feels like a new character on a show that's already been running for 5 seasons. People are nice but you're not part of the OG cast ya know?

If you have Keen Eye you can say that Stella has talked up Avery's party and you don't think she would have done that if she didn't feel that Avery is a part of the town. So some of this isolation may be in their head.

Now personally, I do think Stella and Kaneeka often leave Avery out of things but I think this isn't because they don't like Avery but rather they're too caught up in their own business and inner worlds to take a step back and notice how Avery feels. However; there is also truth in acknowledging that loneliness can sometimes just be you overthinking things or situations in your head and I think Avery tends to do this.

Avery's boredom clashing with their empathy

A particularly interesting clash of traits in Avery is that they're empathic but also crave excitement so much that it can be borderline insensitive at times. After telling your story of what happened last night; Avery expresses remorse about Gretchen or Duke but then follows it up quickly with "how exciting"

This follows into episode 3 when you visit Avery and say "I've enjoyed the challenge"

Avery is someone who appears cool and collected but craves excitement and chaos. They seem to enjoy playing Nancy Drew to an extant too as they're always willing to help fill you in on any information they hear and they comment on being in the loop due to working at the diner. They're like a reverse Shaggy from scooby doo!

But Avery does pull back when you comment on it being wrong for us to feel excited.

"I wouldn't hate it"

This makes me think that in an upcoming chapter, Avery is going to come face to face with a dangerous situation and is either going to regret it or fully embrace it and endanger themselves or possibly others. There are several times Avery can "joke" about being okay with a ditchling putting an egg in them. I'm praying this doesn't foreshadow Avery being eaten alive...

The lonely drifting musician with too many plants

We learn that Avery's obsession with plants started when they bought a pothos to make their apartment feel less lonely and empty. Then they got a bunch more until it turned in a jungle. They joined a plant community online, both as a way to become more knowledgeable about their plants but also a way to connect with others.

When you ask if they have a favorite; Avery tells you their favorite plant is the dragon scale alocasia, which was a plant that someone from the online community gave them. Life got busy so they don't talk anymore but Avery still sees the plant as a way to remember that someone thinks of them.

Plus the leaves look like big puffy cartoons.

We learn that Avery is also a musician that plays synths, but started with the bass because it "called to them". On the Scarlet Hollow wiki it states that "Avery's love language is sharing plant cuttings with others. However for something more serious, they write songs for them."

Which is super cute and while Avery obviously loves plants; I think their ultimate passion is music as they state that music is their joy and they'd rather juggle having a job and playing on sound cloud than music becoming their livelihood.

Avery uses music as a way to express their emotions, connect with others, and carry on folk traditions.

Despite this; they have plans to move on. They state they don't want to work at the diner forever but also aren't sure what else to do or where else to go. They like to be on the move and meet new people and exciting situations.

What's strange is that it appears Avery is unhappy yet when you ask if they're unhappy; they say that this is actually the happiest they've ever been. Which implies that pre Scarlet Hollow they were even more lonely and lost in life. I think Avery desires a friend that they can be more vulnerable and open around.

Once again Avery is very perceptive and points out that Stella has walls up and Kaneeka is too busy with the store and family drama. They're also the first person to point out that something is strange about Sybil and will later on just straight up ask her if she's a witch.

Avery's potentially dangerous friendship with Julius?

Avery ended up forming a bond with one of the Holler's more prickly residents; Julius Tremaine. Julius apparently overheard Avery mentioning to aunt Winnie that they needed a bench for the garden and lo and behold a bench appeared the next day. I think Avery really appreciated that someone went out of their way to do something for them.

Avery explains that they and Julius now talk a lot more and that Julius got them a new frame for one of the beds recently. I get the impression that out of all the residents of Scarlet Hollow, that Avery has a soft spot for Julius in particular.

When you point out that Julius hasn't been in the diner; they express concern and say that they'll start getting worried if he doesn't show up tomorrow and states that no one else checks up on him. I don't think people outside of Winnie and Julius check up on Avery either.

The reason this friendship concerns me is I believe the next "choice" will be on the Tremaine farm and it'll involve Avery getting hurt or killed by one of Julius's traps or perhaps even getting attacked by one of the ditchlings. Sybil says that ditchlings don't attack humans but it's important to remember she also says she's never heard of this many before. The ditchlings may start off killing the small, weaker creatures and then begin killing people once the animals are gone.

Again there are weirdly a lot of dialogue options for Avery talking about being incubated or possibly killed by some otherworldly being. I've heard theories that the giant pumpkin may even be alive or have some kind of creature living in it. Makes me wonder if there's going to be a little shop of horrors homage....

Avery and "Wayne"

It's explained later to us that the ghost haunting Oscar and Rosalina's house chooses it's victims based on how well they fit the characters in the "play". It's obvious these aren't perfect cast choices but it's making due with what it has. It chooses Stella for The Lover because she and Tabitha were in a situationship, it oddly chooses Rosalina to play the mother protecting her child, Kaneeka to play the Witch, Oscar to play the dad and......if you invite Avery, you'll get an exclusive scene where Avery is playing a character called "The Entity"

Now I'm not going to go full theory mode into why I think the spirit possessing Wayne is the Entity but there's several hints to this such as possessed Avery's eyes opening when speaking and then relaxing while silent. Similar to how Wayne's eyes glow when talking and then fade out when quiet. There's more hints but I don't want to derail this post.

Rather let's discuss why Charlie choose Avery.

Firstly it appears this "Entity" is listening in on other people's conversations and is quite observant. It even knows that Eddie is pregnant. Avery is observant by working at the diner and overhearing conversations while Wayne is.....well he's a stalker. Standing in the background and listening in on our conversations and has been implied to be with for all our lives.

So it has Avery's observant nature but what else? Well if you have Street Smarts and Powerful Build in episode 1 you can explore the estate. In it you find someone with glowing yellow eyes who slinks back into the darkness after you almost catch them playing the piano. Assuming this is "Wayne"; that would mean he also is found of music.

Both Avery and Wayne desire connection and are loyal to those they care about. Avery seems to desire a close knit group of people but is friendly to everyone in town and is eager to help others even if they don't know them; while Wayne is obsessively focused on one individual (us) and is honestly quite nasty to other people or completely ignores them.

Avery and Wayne are also more in the background at times. With Avery needing to be included or else they'll end up as a stranger that hangs around other people and Wayne literally hiding in the background.

Avery calls their relationship with Sybil more of a business relationship and we know that Wayne has been hanging around Sybil's tea room and that Sybil has been helping him with....something.

Both Avery and Wayne appear cool and collected at first glance but there are moments which show us their hidden emotions. With Avery this is their desire for danger and excitement brimming beneath the surface while for Wayne there seems to be an underlying anger and possibly even hatred he's hiding from us. Dustin mentions there's a "human" in the estate who's eyes are always watching and hateful. I'm 90% sure this is Wayne.

I think the "compare and contrast" between Avery and Wayne is that Avery is an example of a positive loving friend who wants to make connections but is often feeling left out and lonely so they try their best to make sure no one else feels that way.

Meanwhile Wayne is an example of a toxic obsessive person who crosses boundaries and is hostile to anyone he deems a threat to the person he "cares" about. I get the impression that Wayne is jealous of our connection with the other characters in the story too and wants to show us that we don't need anyone but him.

Also a quick tidbit but I think "Wayne" is nonbinary like Avery but we refer to him using masculine pronouns because the spirit is possessing a man's body.

But that's all I have for now! I'll be making my Kaneeka and Reese post next so stay tuned!

[salty-autistic-writer]

Written for @bucktommyangstweek, Day 6: Bedside Vigils (Spoilers for season 8 episode 11)

“Hey, Tommy. Sorry, I'm late today. I was a bit busy.

I tried something new. My therapist suggested that. Said an activity that includes taking care of something might help me with, with the restlessness and the overthinking. 

So I started to build a little garden. It’s not much. Yet. Just a beet for vegetables, berries, and a few pots for flowers. But it’s fun. I’m getting excited about seeing everything grow. I mean, hopefully, it grows. If I don’t mess it up.

I’m most excited for the strawberries. Going to bake a cake for you when they’re ripe. You have to be awake to eat it though.

I know you ... you needed a lot of rest. So that your body can heal. But you can wake up anytime now, okay?

Please. 

Tommy. Please wake up.”

* They crash through the door, unable to keep their hands or mouths off each other.

Buck feels delirious. His heart is racing, his thoughts are in shambles. Is this a bad idea? If it is, it doesn’t feel like one. He doesn’t want to stop. His world consists of Tommy’s familiar smell and warmth, Tommy’s big hands, Tommy’s lips mouthing at his neck, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy.

Buck doesn’t want to stop.

So he doesn’t.

And when Tommy leaves in the morning after his face shows a tiny fracture of pain before he closes it off again, his walls up, Buck can still hear the echo of a moan reverberating in his head.

“Evan …” *

“Hey, Tommy. 

Today was Jee’s birthday party. It’s amazing how fast kids grow. I baked her a cake. Also brought a piece for you. I know, you can’t eat it. So … I’m going to eat it. It’s chocolate. I think you would have liked it.

She asked about you, you know? Asked about Uncle Tommy. She also did that after we broke up. When we were baking cookies together at the loft, Jee said she wanted to bake one for you too. With extra chocolate she said.

She was here with Maddie and Chimney yesterday. So if you wake up and see the card with the drawing of the helicopter, that’s from Jee. Please. Wake up, Tommy. Wake up, so that you can eat your cake and tell Jee how much you love her drawing.

I do have strawberries in my garden now, by the way. A lot of them. I would love to share them with you.

God. Now I'm crying again.

I can't believe how many tears the human body can produce. Please. Tommy.  You are missed. You ... You have so many things waiting for you here. Please. Come back."

* “Hey, thank you for agreeing to meet me,” Buck says and it’s a deja vu.

“Of course,” Tommy says quietly, sitting opposite him. He takes a sip of his coffee and smiles. “You got it right this time.”

“Yeah.” Buck clears his throat. “So … I, uh, I wanted to apologize. I wasn’t fair to you. Not only was that comment I made about not having feelings for everyone I have sex with … really bad timing. I also realized that … I was lonely. That house. It didn’t feel like home at all. And then you … I saw you. And I wanted things to get back to how they used to. So I pulled you back with me. I tried to, at least. I guess I was using the sex with you to distract myself from the fact, that I was unable to deal with all the changes that have happened in my life lately. In a very short time. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

He stops, feeling a bit breathless.

Tommy looks at him for a moment, his expression hard to read. Finally, he nods and says, “I get it.” “You do?” Buck asks, relieved.

“I was lonely too,” Tommy says. “So, I guess we kind of used each other that night. It’s okay. We don’t have to … overcomplicate things. It was sex.”

“Amazing sex,” Buck blurts.

“It was,” Tommy agrees, glancing at Buck while taking a sip of his coffee.

Silence falls as they look into each other’s eyes. The sun is falling on Tommy’s, making them sparkle like the ocean on a clear summer day. Fuck. Buck grips his own knee tight. He wants him. He wants him so bad it hurts. It's probably not a good idea again ... But, Tommy is not angry. And it’s just sex, right? Amazing sex. Tommy said so himself.

“Hey. Do you, uh, want to see my new bed?” Buck asks as casually as possible.

Tommy puts the mug down with a swallow, shifting his weight like he’s already about to get up. “Hell yeah.”

* "Hey, Tommy.

I, uh, had a talk with your cousin today. Please don’t be angry. I … I had to know some things. 

I’m so sorry you had to go through all that … With your Dad. My parents aren’t great either, well, you know that. But at least they didn’t get drunk and … and I didn’t have to hide in my closet. Your cousin told me about your Mum too. I’m sorry she died so soon. Too soon. You probably missed her a lot.

I can understand you went to join the army as soon as possible, to get away. From things. 

Your cousin told me you always were obsessed with flying. Planes. Helicopters. I, uh, I bought a book. I’m sure you know all these things already. But I don’t. I thought I was going to read it to you. So I can learn. And you can … maybe you can listen and wake up and tell me what’s your favorite type of helicopter. I really wish you would talk to me.

I miss you.

Please. Wake up soon, Tommy. Wake up.”

* “You’re already leaving?” Buck asks, disappointed. 

He shouldn’t be. After all, this is … something they do now. They have amazing sex. Fun times. And most times, if they have the time, they’re eating breakfast together, just talking about what is happening in their life right now. 

Well. It’s usually Buck who does the talking. Tommy is mostly listening and reacting. Buck tries to think about something he learned about Tommy this week. His throat tightens.

“Yeah, I have to be at the station a little earlier today,” Tommy says easily, putting on his shoes. “I promised to show the new probie around.”

“Okay,” Buck says. He should just let Tommy go. It’s not like they are … in a relationship. But still. Something about this hurts.

He stays in bed a little, thinking. Thinking back to when Tommy broke up with him. Tommy said he knew Buck would end up breaking his heart. He said he couldn’t be Buck’s first and his last. Tommy thought Eddie might be competition. Tommy was hurt when Buck said he doesn’t need to have feelings for everyone he has sex with, but instead of addressing it, he quickly decided to not try again and left. He left. Again.

Buck slowly puts the pieces together. They show him a painful image. Is Tommy scared of committing to a relationship because he did that in the past and got hurt? So hurt that now he’s guarding his heart? Does he agree to the sex because he does want to be with Buck but is too scared to take the next steps in a relationship?

Fuck.

Buck swallows and reaches for his phone, opening his chat with Tommy.

Hey. Can we talk later? Just talk. He types.

* “Hey, Tommy.

I did some digging again. Please don’t be mad. And don’t be mad at Lucy either. We … we are trying to cope, you know? And I’m trying to understand some things. Before ... Nevermind. We have to keep the hope up, right? Yeah. That's what we do.

Anyway, Lucy told me that you had a boyfriend. And … and that he left you because of someone else. Right when you were ready to propose. I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I can imagine how painful that must have been. You didn’t deserve that.

You deserve someone who stays. You deserve to be loved, Tommy. I know you probably don’t believe that, but you’re such an amazing, caring, loving, interesting, funny, handsome person. You really are. You took such good care of me. And every time I see you, I feel a little shy suddenly, haha. I really do. Shy and awkward. Like a duck.

Tommy. I … I still want to try again. I really do.

So, please. Wake up. Come back to me. Come back home.”

* “Buck.”

“Hey, Bobby, I was just about to clean -”

“Buck, I need you to come to my office with me.”

Buck’s smile drops.

Bobby looks at him seriously. Too serious.

Buck looks around the firehouse. The others are glancing at them, surprise and worry in their eyes. 

“You can say it,” Buck tells Bobby. “It’s okay if they hear it. Who … who got hurt?”

“I got the call a few minutes ago. Tommy’s helicopter crashed.”

Buck forgets to breathe. The world blurs. “No …”

“He’s in critical condition. And not conscious. You’re still his emergency contact. And they want to talk to you, since … Since Tommy also put you as his proxy and they believe you might have to make a few decisions.” Bobby puts a hand on Buck’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Buck. I know things have been difficult between you two. But this … You’re excused, of course.”

Buck doesn’t know what to say. His blood is rushing in his ears. “I … I wanted to talk to him today,” he breathes.

“Buck,” Chimney says, placing a hand on his back. “Hey, I will drive you to the hospital, okay? You shouldn’t be alone right now.”

“I wanted to talk to him,” Buck repeats numbly.

~ “You can talk to him,” the doctor tells him. “We do believe that coma patients recognize voices.”

Buck nods, unable to tear his gaze away from Tommy.

He looks so small. He’s never small. 

“Hey, Tommy,” Buck says hoarsely. “I wanted to talk to you today. So … That’s what I’m going to do.”

* “Hey, Tommy.

Tommy?

Tommy! Oh my God, Tommy!

Hey, look at me! You will be okay. Everything will be okay. Just … Just keep looking at me.

I’m here. I love you, you hear me? I love you, Tommy.

I’m here.”

(AO3 Link)

[bagels-and-cream-cheese333]

MUST rant about the disaster duo stuff for a second.

it’s prolly a fandom hot take that I DO NOT like fanon disaster duo. like, at all. obviously these characters are just dolls that people get to play around with and make their own stories with, and I love people’s creativity!! I think it’s very cool that people are so invested in these characters and honestly the stories people make with their whole “twin” thing is mind blowing. Poetic, even.

buuuut at a certain point, it just feels like poeple are stretching leo and Donnie’s characters into something they definitely weren’t originally, you know? because SO MUCH of the content I see of them is sickening codependency. and like I get if you think it’s cute to see Leo and Donnie being close twins, but I mean… I’m praying that y’all know that outside of your story, they are DEFINITELY not that close. I mean they’re brothers so they obviously love eachother a lot. But the way I see them characterized sometimes pisses me off.

this kinda stems back to my fanon leo mischaracterization post, but so much of what I see in the fandom is “Leo and Donnie this!” “Leo and Donnie that!” while mischaracterizing them in a way that also somehow disrespects and disregards their connections with every single other character! Its insane! Pretty much everything I see about them is something happening to one of the “twins” and the other being really broken about it and Mikey and Raph acting as nothing more than therapists who “simply cannot understand the level of twinship Leo and Donnie have with eachother!!”. sometimes it borderlines making Mikey and Raph and brothers which I do NOT stand for. (also note that Mikey and Raph are more often than not being written by people who have NO GRASP on how their characters/minds work, and leave them as empty husks of a turtle. even if a character isn’t your favorite, the least you can do for your audience is learn how to write them.)

aaaaaand here is where we get to thing that inspired this post to begin with. The Twin Thing™. if you’ve noticed during this I’ve refrained from calling them twins without the necessary quotation marks, and that’s because I’m not going to because I don’t think they’re twins. (Which is hella petty, but I’m gonna do it anyway.) It’s pretty much canon at this point that Leo and Donnie are twins, and somehow they have come to a mutual agreement on this. This is….. uh in the nicest way possible, troublingly out of character? Seeing eachother as twins and calling eachother so possesses a level of self reflection, self consciousness, and emotional intelligence neither of them quite possess, especially at the young ages I see them headcanoned as telling eachother about their twin stuff. I guess I kind of understand people seeing two characters who are similar in height, stature, shape, and who bicker constantly and thought “wow, definitely twins right there!” But really, aside from them both being fan-favorites, there is like. Absolutely no basis for them being twins. I’m pretty sure people only saw two characters they liked separately and thought “huh. wouldnt it be cool if they were like super duper close?” which I guess.. yeah? A lot of the stuff I see about them is super touching and is pretty decently written, but a lot of it seems fundamentally empty because I know these characters would never act this way because they wouldn’t see eachother as twins, nor would they have the twin senses everyone’s talking about. Honestly, in the show, they constantly bicker, and aren’t really that close! The one Leo n Donnie centric episode we have is them competing agaisnt eachother. Not to say that siblings who are competitive can’t love eachother, because they obviously love eachother to the moon and back. But they wouldn’t love eachother more than they love their other brothers.

if you’re asking my honest and humble opinion? Leo and Raph are the true twins in ROTTMNT. The magnetic twins partnership has a lot of hints alluding to this in the show, like Leo being the only one to care when Raph is missing in Man Vs. Sewer for example (something i’m sure that disaster duo fans would use as hard evidence for them being twins if Raph was Donnie.) But in the MOVIE? Oh don’t get me STARTED. Them both sacrificing themselves to save the other? Pure gold (and pure twin behavior if you ask me.) The Kraang Raph and Leo fight scene? LOOK AT LEO’S FACE. LEO’S FACE IS THE FACE OF SOMEONE WHO’S HAVING TO FIGHT HIS TWIN, THE TWIN HE’S BEEN AVOIDING AND MAKING OUT TO BE HIS ENEMY FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS. And in the Bad Future, when Leo wears RAPH’S ARM for a prosthetic once he’s dead?? Literal fan behavior dude. It’s wild. Also, in all of the other iterations I’ve watched, I’ve considered Raph and Leo to be the twins. Why should it be different in rise? @somethin-strange-27 said it perfectly, actually. “They both have the same issues while desperately wanting the other be normal and okay.” that pretty much summarizes the movie. And I can hear the angry mob already, “oh no! but they can’t be twins! they’re both soooo different, they can’t be biological twins!” Well, in almost every fanwork i’ve seen about the disaster duo, being twins is more of a state of mind rather than them being “biological” twins. Them being twins hits home for me more than any random pairing of two popular characters does because they mirror eachother MUCH more closely than leo and donnie.

my final issue with them is that all the disaster twin fans pretty much block out every single other fan of any other duo. It’s been said in @t1atam3ra’s post about the other duos, but there’s so much to the other duos that gets pushed to the side in favor of non-canon and mischaracteristic disaster duo content, meaning that other duos never truly get their chance to shine. Sometimes I even see media that steals rare moments from other duos and makes it disaster focused, which I mean. Sure. Play with your dolls, I guess. Everyone’s entitled to that. But if you’re entitled to do that I’m entitled to feel atleast a little angry about it.

And that concludes my rant. If you actually read all of this then I applaud you. Feel free to DM me if you wanna hear more (surprisingly I could’ve gone on LONGER, but I cut some of it out for convenience’s sake. (Especially if you wanna hear more about how the fandom disrespects raph and Mikey, mostly raph.)) if you disagree then you can just block me or scroll lmao, I definitely don’t expect everyone to like this take.

also note, I DO NOT hate the disaster duo. It’s very fun and chaotic and evil and bickery and I love it. I only have a distaste for the large majority of interpretations of their relationship. Anyways that’s it

[kinardsevan]

Ngl, I was so optimistic after last episode but the newest OS interview dumped my mood af… do you think there’s still hope for BuckTommy ending up together?

I’m gonna say the same thing I’ve been saying for months: yall gotta stop reading so much into those interviews. Oliver quite literally cannot tell you that a reunion is coming. In terms of storytelling, that would be such a major spoiler that it would defeat the purpose of bothering to tell it at all.

They are so limited on what they can actually say versus what they can’t, and I have also done myself the favor of not reading most of the interviews anyway. The video ones where we can hear context? Sure. Because tone of voice does a LOT for understanding what someone is saying. The only one I watched this week was the one in which Oli stated that Buck has both personal and professional hurdles to overcome in the coming weeks.

Realistically, we’ve just opened the door for bucktommy again. The fight we all so desperately want still needs to happen. They still need to hash things out. They both presented themselves at that bar as having gotten on with their lives just fine, when we know the reality of it (for Buck at least and I’m sure also Tommy) is not the case. Literally one episode previous to this one, he was saying to Eddie that everything was right in his world until he and Tommy broke up.

I will also specify (because I’m assuming this is the interview you’re referring to based on the one quote I’ve seen), where some people are taking his “I don’t know, I don’t think so” as he’s not still in the same place, I read it as, he hasn’t moved on. You can still very much be in the same place emotionally about someone but believe they aren’t coming back to you/that things are over. That doesn’t actually mean that they are.

We know that 814/15 is coming. I know some people are assuming LFJr is only going to be in one of the episodes. I’ve assumed he’s going to be in both, in some form or another. And given the assumption that the story is going to be based on Birds of Prey, my own inclination is to believe that they’re using these episodes as a soft launch of “if we give this character more of a story, will people care?”. We, the bucktommy fandom, have wanted him to stick around for a while now, but from a storytelling standpoint, all TM&Co know is that when they broke up, it upset the fandom and GA alike. In a perfect world with endless money and time, the answer would be just to make more space on the show to tell Tommy’s story. But I think the latter half of this season really has to go to the point of showing their work and being able to go back to the network and say “this is the impact if we give him a bigger role”, regardless of whether RG stays or goes after this season.

Beyond that, I’ve personally questioned if we won’t see some form of (at the very least Maddie) Evan’s people kinda giving Tommy the cold shoulder for how he ended things. I don’t think it’s lost on anyone that Evan isn’t over him, and how much the break up hurt him. But I could very much see the narrative as “you left and hurt him needlessly” without the full context of the fact that while we know they love each other and want a future together, we don’t know that anyone else does because we haven’t seen Evan actually tell anyone about the context of the breakup. I’ve also wondered if we won’t see some version of Maddie seeing Tommy and coming to that conclusion herself, and that softening the edges a little.

Another thing I’ve wondered about, especially as we’re moving into the latter half of the season, is if we aren’t moving towards a version of events where Evan finally tells people he gets to make his own decisions, and maybe even tells the team off a little for checking out on Tommy. They’re all supposed to be his friends, right? And yet we know Eddie stopped calling him. I get the whole “Eddie was busy, had stuff going on” of it all… except we know that Evan wasn’t doing well following the break up and er can infer Tommy wasn’t with his “resisting the urge to call”… and you’re telling me Eddie could send a text? When we know for a fact that even Tommy was thinking about texting Evan, but was likely too scared? It says to me even more that the only time Eddie cares about a friendship is when he can gain something out of it.

Ultimately, I don’t actually know how we get to the reconciliation, but I have zero issue in believing it’s coming. I’ve watched way too many romcoms, procedurals, and second season breakup stories to know how this ends. And it doesn’t end with Tommy walking off our screens single. Yall have to let the story continue to be told. Everyone thought after 806 that these two were dead in the water, and yet Lou was back in 811.

Let it simmer and marinate. We’ll get there.

[azaharinflames]

So, this vent might break containment and metamorphosize into a rant. Apologies.

Anyway. I get why Buck always turns to Maddie for advice for life and relationships. They've been THROUGH it and back again countless times. But, does she have any experience in queer relationships? Like, why hasn't Buck asked Hen about anything?? They are an established "pair," since Tim just loves pairing people up and not having them actually be a firefam...have them talk to each other!!! Hen's participation in the phone-keep-away made no sense except to place her as a condescending queer elder who just knows what's going on, which is a disservice to her character / her potential!! Karen especially has the perspective to push Buck to see just how his, idk, one-sidedness / superficialness of thought because of his abandonment issues (which Tommy is also guilty of just seemingly on the commitment side of things and with his whole schtick of telling Buck what he should feel / think) could be really traumatic for an older queer person who lived through DADT and was maybe burned by it.

The unending need to know before committing and a paradoxical preoccupation with always having one foot out the door before everything ex-/implodes and one's life / livelihood is ash swept away on the winds of an indifferent populace. If anything, Josh's Glee speech (derogatory shudder) should have come from Karen through the lens of her experience with DADT. The retconning of Tommy's backstory has made this soooooo messy in canon and fandom spaces, and honestly I need ClipoardBuck! level organization of this show that is so half-assed I shouldn't even care this damn much! Henren are literally the definition of a messy queer relationship, of the "I love you anyway" discourse that's been floating around. I have loved seeing how they have ovwrcome obstacles (inside and outside of their relationship) and have become so much stronger for it not only as wives but as mothers amd friends who support onw another when people get kidnapped. Bring back firefam, including those who live on the periphery but nonetheless are an integral, load-bearing part of it, convos because each and every one of them can benefit from the life experiences (past and ongoing) happening to their overly codependent coworkers.

Hi, Nonnie! No need for apologies, I love a good rant!

You make such excellent points, I have little to add, truly. I agree with everything you said.

I think, overall, the show is missing a great opportunity not having Hen helping Buck out with this. Karen, too. I understand if they cannot use Karen for this, as she is recurring and might not be in as many episodes as Hen is, but it is such a missed opportunity, and it's been so since Season 7.

It would've been so good. Karen being able to speak on her past experiences and helping Buck understand Tommy a bit better would've been amazing, and it would've been way better than the Glee speech which - I share your shudder. Glee was amazing representation for its time, but not to make a speech like this, bfr.

Honestly, you put it in a really smart way and I really agree with what you said. And it's a shame the show is apparently not making any moves to have Buck and Hen talk about it or bond over this. And it's sad, and a waste of some very good scenes. I'm sure OS and AH would love to have them and would knock them out of the park. TT as well.

My inbox is open for ranting, venting, giving your opinion (unpopular or popular, I'm happy to receive and discuss both), and even confessions! However if you don't want yours posted, please make sure to say :)

Take care <3

[trenchcoathunnybee08]

Can we talk about Matt saying “goddam it” after he hits Frank?

I saw someone point out that even though Matt curses pretty often (in the first episode of the original series he gets told to watch his language because he cursed in confusion) he never actually takes the lords name in vain.

Now I don’t actually know if that’s true (that he never took the name in vain) but for the connection I’m wanting to make I’m going say it’s one of only a hand full of times.

So far we’ve only seen Matt fight twice since Foggy died. Both times were only after he was provoked and with both his immediate reaction after is a mix of regret and frustration.

Matt blames himself for what happened to Foggy and that’s why he gave up the mask. That’s why he is leaning so heavily into the system that he once said was broken. He doesn’t believe that what he was doing was worth the price but he also can’t see past the need for someone to operate outside the law to do what the police can’t. He put away the mask because he doesn’t see it as a way of helping people anymore. Instead he’s ignoring why he became Daredevil in the first place and trying to do everything by the book no matter the cost. (As shown with Hectors case when he outed him as the White Tiger)

Matt justified it to Hector by using his own experience giving up the mask despite the fact we all know it was a lie. We’ve seen him be his biggest hypocrite before but this was one of the moments where it was just so obvious.

With that we’ve also seen Matt give up a lot of his faith. He couldn’t even bring himself to step inside the church. At the end of season 3 we see him to some extent reconcile with his faith coming to the conclusion that he won’t ever understand Gods full plan but he believes he plays a role in a much larger thing. He no longer feels like he is cast out and forsaken by God.

After Foggy’s death though we see Matt forsake himself rather than feel as though he has been forsaken. He doesn’t let himself enter the church, instead opting to treat the courtroom as his place of worship.

Why? Because he doesn’t believe he is worth being saved. He has fallen by his own accord and though he wares the mask of being well adjusted and having processed what happened he has done everything but.

When he says “goddam it” I don’t think it was only directed towards Frank but towards himself. He only says it after he hits Frank, a physical act of retaliation that has always been linked to his “darker half”. A part of himself that he has repressed in attempts of paying penance for Foggys death and his shortcomings in protecting those he loves.

He has dammed himself because 1) he doesn’t believe he is worthy of gods love because of his failures and 2) because there was once a time where he believed he and the Devil were one in the same meaning that to condemn his time as Daredevil is again to condemn himself.

People ask why Matt took the lords name in vain if he is Catholic. I say to you it is because he doesn’t believe himself worthy of it. He damms himself because why would someone still love him after everything he’s done? How could his god love him after destroying everything good he has ever been given?

Season 3 shows us a version of Matt who thinks God abandoned him because he deemed him unworthy of redemption.

Born Again is a near perfect mirror of this by giving us a version of Matt who chooses to abandon his faith because he deems himself unworthy of redemption.

He still wares his cross, he still stands outside the church. He still believes. The only difference this time that he thinks he’s the one who can’t be saved.

(Im actually losing my mind over this show. I can’t!!)

[more-better-words]

I'm curious about Archer or Shran for the ask game!

Why not both! 😆

Archer:

How I feel about this character

I have a complicated relationship with Jonathan Archer. He's so obviously an out of his depth nepobaby in the first couple of seasons, but the show stubbornly refuses to engage with this idea, and it's incredibly frustrating. And then in season 3, he's so obviously trying against his nature to be Hard Man Making Hard Choices, but again, the show refuses to actually allow him more than a few flickers of doubt or self-reflection. There's a much better version of him lurking in the story of Star Trek: Enterprise, we just have to imagine him.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Nobody lol. Honestly (hot take incoming), I kinda headcanon him as ace, because he just does not have romantic chemistry with anybody, in my opinion.

My non-romantic OTP for this characterMy unpopular opinion about this character

My non-romantic OT3 is him, Trip, and T'Pol. I love as a friend to their relationship, I love the brotherly love between him and Trip, and I love the respect and admiration that forms between him and T'Pol. (After the writers stopped trying to pretend he and T'Pol had sexual chemistry)

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Letting him actually be out of his depth! On purpose! Engaging with the nepobaby angle! Giving him those opportunities for self-reflection!

Shran:

How I feel about this character

Shraaaaaaaan.

Hey there, handsome. Over there being full of rage all by yourself? 😚

All the people I ship romantically with this character

I'll make Shrancher jokes, but real talk? I love him with Jhamel. Yes, she's only in one episode, yes he's still mourning Talas, but I love their chemistry and how easily he slides from tough warrior to gentle and supportive with her. It's great, and I won't apologize for loving it.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

I do love his relationship with Archer, though, even if I don't read it as romantic/sexual - they make a great team. And we were ROBBED of getting to see him and T'Pol become best snarky bitch friends.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Probably my refusal to ship him with Archer. 😅

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

See above, not getting to be snarky bitches with T'Pol. ROBBED, I tell you.

Character ask!

[generalluxun]

It's a case of the storyline not matching the show format.

Miraculous Ladybug: Protagonist centered morality, episodic, status quo.

These are all structural choices, and on their own they are fine! They just don't mesh well with this particular plot.

Status quo means any major ML developments happen on a seasonal basis. Nominally the finalé, rarely in another episode, but always slowwwly. You have to be able to watch the episodes within a season out of order and not miss much.

Episodic means episodes are self contained. This means what us a deep burning secret in one episode that weighs on a character's consciousness, can be completely unmentioned and make zero impact in the next. 25% of the season's episodes out and we get one serious mention of it. It can't resolve yet because (see above) so it'll just keep hanging out, but maybe we'll have a couple light hearted episodes in between where everyone is smiling and happy and that won't seem psychotic at all, will it?

Lastly and most important, the protagonist centered morality. If all this happened to a secondary character, or one who is supposed to be generally wrong or grey by default, it would work a lot better. Marinette can make mistakes, but the show structure means she is always 'right by the end of the episode'. Whether she learns a lesson or is vindicated by events. Marinette=Right/Good/Sympathetic is a core element. So she comes off as more aware/authoritative/thoughtful in all these other elements and so dragging this lie with her feels less like a mistake and more like a deliberate self serving choice.

The Marinette we see day-to-day *should* realize her mistake but she *can't*, nor can she act like it is constantly eating at her. All these structural elements combine to make her look awful and make people reach for desperate and unhealthy defenses because they've been trained to love Marinette. That's the hero! She's just like me! Etc.

I can't wait for this plot to be over.

This season is really showing us Marinette cannot handle other people’s negative emotions. Like she could handle Chloé being confrontational, but her attempt to “help” with Audrey is one of her worst early fumbles. She can’t stand somebody thinking bad of her. Not even complete strangers.

Boy oh boy is this character flaw gonna punch her in the face when her avoidance and lies get exposed.

Yeah like

Understandable behavior for a teenage girl BUT I do hope this is a growing moment

[hplonesomeart]

Hey!! So turns out a video I made between a certain “well beloved but highly sensitive/emotionally reactive T.V” and an “orange haired inkling-turned-human” has managed to sweep my YouTube channel and accumulate 100k VIEWS!! THAT’S A LOT OF PEOPLE ACTUALLY?? My most widely viewed video EVER to exist in this moment in time?? AAAAA?? Not even mentioning the various comments and staggering increase in subs! It’s so much more then what I expected or even prepared for—might even be the most impactful thing to happen for me this year <3

…aside from graduating high school + the social connections I’ve been fortunate to make lol

BUT THE POINT IS I’d been closely monitoring the YouTube growth through the entirety of October. It’s make me smile like a dork, gawk in astonishment, dance frantically in my room from the energy boosts, and grow courage to stop being so selective/self-conscious with what I wish to share with the world! It’s kept my ambitions going!

I needed to find some way to celebrate the occasion and express my thanks—because I can’t NOT acknowledge this milestone jksjskp. Typically I try to avoid getting tunnel visioned focusing on the metrics/numbers. Mr. Puzzles had already demonstrated how much those things can mess with the minds of creatives. Caring too much about chasing views or placing your artistic value in attention seeking gets damaging. But at same time…it’s hard to deny the sense of pride the 100k achievement has filled me with. I understand that reaching 100k views doesn’t immediately make me any “better” or “worse” then I was before. I’m still just me! It only helps me feel seen by others—and that’s all I really needed. To hear some nice words & receive reminders that my ideas are cared about. So thank you SMG4 fandom for that, seriously thank you.

Please accept this Mr. Puzzle drawing as a way of sharing the happiness around. He’s so entertaining. Love him for simply existing. So glad we can all collectively be super attached to him (and the rest of the SMG4 cast of course). Can’t wait to see more incredible artworks from the fandom :)

Just incase anyone is confused by my vague description over which “animated video” I’m referring to here—hopefully this photo will help clarify lol. It’s this one!! Sorry about not outright stating the title at the start, I got carried away with writing!!

I’ve been in an odd place mentally when thinking about it. Wondering to myself if any of the attention is deserved considering it’s not even fully colored and could be dismissed as “low effort” content (despite taking several days making it). It’s easy to get into a trap of comparing yourself to others and questioning how much of the videos success is based on your skills, sheer algorithm luck, or only because you used popular characters and catered to a specific fandom. And then judging yourself by looking at other peoples videos. I’ve seen several artists post higher quality works then my own but it somehow gets less views. So why did mine succeed when others (who should have gotten just as much attention if not more) didn’t? Sometimes you feel like you’ve unfairly robbed them of that chance to be seen. However I’ve realized that I can’t ever expect views to be consistent—and comparing is pointless. So why worry about it or feel inadequate? I mean it’s pretty common for funny cat videos to go viral, so who am I to question the system lol. “Popular” YouTube videos can range from a passion project which took 7+ artists…to a clip of Toad singing Chandelier or a nonsensical Vine sketch. Anything can happen when it’s the internet! And just-so-happened my video was chosen. I should stay glad about that and get rid of all the overanalyzing. So that’s what I’ve chosen to do :)

[skallyeen]

Oh yeah, I'm not saying taking the drugs from an addict is a good move--neither is what Adora is doing here! Just that I'm willing to believe it's well-intentioned. That it came from a place of care and concern and the desire to keep a loved one safe, despite being unhealthy/ineffective/hurtful/overall a shitty thing to do. The kind of move you'd expect from someone well-meaning but poorly equipped* to deal with the situation in a more thoughtful manner. (That's all I meant to get across with the comparison. Painting with broad strokes here, don't take it too seriously ^^; )

(*by which i mean, in this context, the literal Situation of being out in space with no safe places for Catra to go and certainly no mental health professionals to help her--and Adora herself being just. terribly emotionally ill-equipped to handle this situation. the opposite of equipped even. she in fact deeply conditioned to handle this situation very very poorly)

Adora cares for Catra, but as you described, the dynamic she was raised with is that to "care for" Catra is to control her. That Catra's hurt is the result of Catra's actions which are Adora's responsibility (to prevent). Regardless of who actually hurt Catra, or whether Catra can realistically be blamed, as far as Adora's concerned, Catra gets hurt when Adora doesn't lock in and make sure that Catra's staying in the (literal or social) position that would keep her safe.

So as I read it, this is (at least in large part) about Protection: from the circumstantial dangers, yes, but more significantly, that skewed sense of what "protecting" Catra looks like, drilled into her by SW from the start. Her controlling possessiveness was and continues to be rooted in fear for Catra--and it is far from a baseless fear.

Unfortunately (when it comes to trying to read character motives here) that dynamic is validated by the episode's actual Fantasy Plot Happenings. Given what we're shown, Catra will likely get captured by Prime again if dropped off on a random planet. Or like, we can assume it's at least risky.

I won't harp on that point too much since it feels like a technicality--as you said, the Fantasy Plot Happenings aren't the point, they're set dressing to frame the much more real emotional journeys and relationships that are the focus of the show. But they still inform how characters behave. Adora leverages the threat of Prime to keep Catra on the ship in no small part because he is a threat--Catra would be in greater danger of capture if they left her behind.

Don't get me wrong, Adora is being controlling and pushy and all around toxicbad throughout, I'm not disputing that at all! Her coming to respect Catra's freedom to choose whether or not to engage in this Second Chance is the appropriate character development for the episode--establishing and respecting Catra's agency is vital to Catra's redemption, Adora's character growth, and their relationship.

All I meant to get at with my response is that its very understandable that "I don't want to see anyone, just let me go endanger myself" would initially be met with "um no what the hell?"

Especially given allll the events leading up to this. Even if we do disregard any actual danger Catra might be in if dropped off, Adora's still running on years of conditioning telling her that "catra being difficult = catra getting hurt (and it's my fault for letting it happen)"

That final "You'll never have to see me again," is her relinquishing her desire to be with Catra, yes--but I think more than that, she's relinquishing that relationship. Her "duty" to protect(control) Catra. Accepting that no matter how badly she wants Catra here and safe and with her and making amends, she can't force it; it's Catra's choice to make, not hers.

This is a years late shitpost, but one of the funniest objection I've ever seen to one of my posts is a really insistent objection to me saying Adora is holding Catra prisoner in Taking Control.

And, like -

Catra wants to leave.

Adora isn't letting her.

If that isn't Cata being detained against her will, what do you think it is?

[bloodbatty]

The hair is hairing✨

[thatonesquintern13]

📺| the way home - season 3

season 1: 🩵, season 2: 🩶

episode one - you ain’t seen nothing yet:

• HIIIIIII

• okay i did watch the first like minute on air day but i couldn’t watch the whole ep so here we go

• a baby!?

• is this bella swan

• bella swan is writing the baby a note

• i paused it and all i’m seeing is “i love you” and “i’m sorry” and “remember me.” 🥺

• bella swan looks like alice but idk

• they’re just leaving that baby ALONE!? (i thought they were putting the baby in the pond so i guess this is better)

• okay byeee

• (like that’s definitely alice and the cool guy right???)

• JACOB

• i can’t believe they’re doing this

• like where does the show go from here

• DELL

• THE FLASHBACKKSSS

• “mom?” 😭😭😭😭

• and how do we explain this to dell !

• i was SOBBING when i watched this the other day

• it’s crazy that alice has the most recent memories of baby jacob

• oh we just hopping right in to the time travel of it all

• “you remembered your chair?” 😭😭

• JACOB RECOGNIZES ALICE

• that’s actually so funny that he’s the only one who recognized her

• “how do you know alice?” oh dell honey it’s about to rock your world

• “the pond isn’t just a pond” AND SHE HAS A LOOK!!! what do you know delly!!

• the real and true story of jacob landry was actually a GREAT detail to add to this storyline bc it takes the brunt of the suspended disbelief

• elliot is that a load bearing wall

• oh! wall traysure!

• a small clock i’m sure that won’t be relevant later

• very emotional about kat getting to tell elliot that jacob is home

• sorry the hole in the wall is not the pressing matter here kat

• “thomas..? i thought he was…” “he’s alive, faked his death” LMAO

• yeah yeah the time knife we’ve all seen it

• also i was right lmao

• I CHOOSE YOU AND I CHOOSE HERE AND NOW

• KATELLIOT KISS LETS GOOOOO

• a kat and dell front porch sit and talk 🥹

• dell: that’s a lot of information to get in 30 seconds

• “but it must be true, right? because my son is home.” yeah 🥺 he is 🥺

• dell and kat are in the era of healing and communication 🫶🏽

• “he fits colton’s clothes, katherine” SOBBING 😭😭😭😭

• now why is he shaving…..

• jacob and colton flashback 🥺

• (okay wait baby jacob looks kinda exactly like the baby colton from last season’s cliffhanger…)

• jacob the man looks so young now???

• his old room doesn’t looks anything like he remembers )):

• (he could stand a haircut if i’m being honest.)

• KAT AND JACOB BACK ON THE BED JUST LIKE OLD TIMESSSS 😭😭😭😭

• THE STARS!!

• DELL

• THE LANDRYS ARE REUNITED

• THE TEDDY BEAR 😭😭😭😭😭😭

• this feels too good to be true. what’s gonna happen to them….

• alice your mother just woke up from the weirdest night of her life you can’t spring time jumping theories on her right now like at least let her have a coffee first

• “are you implying kacey is from the future?” oh like that’s so strange

• “they were not even remotely damp” oh yeah i forgot about that detail LOL

• OKAY BUT WHY DO THEY HAVE THE RING

• oops dell doesn’t know kat was technically the one who caused colton’s accident 😭

• at this point, i’m not convinced colton is dead. don’t know how he’d pull that off but

• (bc the window for him to jump back to the bonfire night is so slim. like a couple of months?)

• AH! SAM. go away dude we have other things going on here

• was hoping they’d new guy him and we wouldn’t ever mention him again 😪

• (where is new guy…)

• get a job! stay away from her!

• elliot getting the family pass but not sam feels good feels organic 🙂‍↕️

• JACOB AND ELLIOT 😭😭😭

• that’s his little brother fr 🥺

• casual katelliot i love winning

• “oh, i see. took you long enough.” jacob CLOCKED them

• “okay kids we need to talk” she hasn’t had a house full of her kids in 25 years 🥺😭

• “just so i’m clear, everyone at this table knows about the pond?” elliot: 😁😁

• let dell jump in the pond

• oh yeah jacob cover up time

• the landrys are famously bad at keeping the time traveling thing a secret so idk how well that’s gonna work delly

• it’s giving coven i like it

• oh! on the news and everything!!!!

• this is going to backfire i can feel it

• okay but this story is technically true

• “he found his way home” *leo pointing.gif* roll the credits!!!

• NINE MONTHS LATER!?

• thinking about that baby from the beginning for no reason

• dell on her horse nature is healing 🙏🏽

• yesss a jacob the man haircut!! he looks so much better now

• “i’m so late for work” girl you were in 1814 like every day last year i don’t think it makes a difference what time you get there 😭

• oh! good morning elliot 😏

• “since you’re the boss and only employee, i don’t think it’s a problem”

• DOMESTIC KATELLIOT 🔥🔥

• happy kat landry wow didn’t know she existed

• hand placementttttt 👀 + “i can’t wait until we can have breakfast at my house 😏” elliot augustine i was not familiar with your game 🥵

• ohp. dell’s here let’s talk renovations 😁

• “it’s going to be hard not having you at our kitchen table morning, noon, and night. hard, but not impossible” this is a woman who lived alone for 16 years there are tew many people in her house right now

• I LOVE YOU !? wowowowow

• a letter???? to delilah,,, okayyyyy

• oh! we recognize it, do we?

• the herald!

• oh yeah forgot about alice lol

• suzanna’s book 🥺🥺🥺

• “your name in print, finally.” 🫶🏽

• the point! and former nemesis monica!

• sam’s here.

• oh it’s tense okay

• you can take the boy who used to be a man out of the 1814 fields but you can’t take the man out of the 1814 fields. or something like that jacob is farming okay

• i wonder if we’re gonna get a jacob and his friend (i wanna say? danny?) reunion !

• okay back at the house and dell is reading her suspicious letter

• “your lie is known. time will tell.” 😟

• taking the time to hand stamp this is crazy

• bet it was new guy

• (actual prediction: kacey. they’re back to being suspicious)

• GHOST COLTON!?

• colton please the port haven police could not even BEGIN to understand what’s happening here

• “there are holes. and someone’s poking at them.” after i spent last season saying there are no plot holes in this show lolllll okay writers i see you

• oh! it’s not the first letter!! okay!!!

• elliot’s kitchen is done slay

• just hit me that there are three (3) bedrooms in this house meaning elliot is for sure staying with kat in her old bedroom the layers here

• and we’re throwing alice a welcome home party! fun!

• love the commitment to the term “renos”

• “speaking of alice we need to talk about sleeping arrangements” hey i literally just was!

• evan williams is kinda like a canadian johnny bailey i won’t be expanding on that

• anyways

• oh okay so elliot isn’t staying at the landry house but alice will need a bedroom when she gets here! kat. down to the basement 🤧

• though dell did tell jacob he shouldn’t have to do that “again” sooooo when was the first time? did they put a child in the basement???

• also. kat does not want the basement

• “you know… kat could always-” “i think we should just put a pin in it.” oop! a lovers quarrel

• PHOTOGRAPHER JACOB JOURNALIST KAT 😭

• dell will not be letting that boy out of her sight again

• “i’ll say goodnight as well!” king of tension breaks

• a concerned, eyes wide open kiss yeah katherine you goofed. elliot wants you to move in and you put a pin in it 😭

• oops! we (dell) have accidentally had to come to terms with the idea of your children leaving and now we’re angry!

• “jacob can make his own bed, mom. don’t coddle him” his big sister for real

• “he’s just a boy.” he’s jacob the man now dell ):

• the alice in wonderland books!

• do we get to know what dell meant by “you found your sequel” last season 👀

• ohp there’s wine on the book. tbh, would be my last straw.

• i’m sure this won’t lead to anything 😀

• A SECRET MESSAGE

• “No curse is on The water believe in magic Come to the pond.”

• kinda silly that the wine fell exactly where the message was 🤭

• IT WAS COLTONS BOOK

• wait why am i gasping i know colton knew about the pond already

• okay love that we went straight to elliot with this

• kat just saying everything i wrote about in these live blogs VINDICATIOOOONNN

• narrator voice: colton would not have said something if he knew about the pond

• it could be a message to him. from…. also him? 👀 no. unless!

• “i hate that disclaimer” “it’s a good way to keep you from getting sued, kat.” yeah victor augustine would have his lawyer at your door in a HEARTBEAT kat

• oh right the goodwins too

• sore-ry 🫵🏽

• “i miss her” oh i’m sure

• “you know, you could try to go back” he jumps one time suddenly he’s mr lets jump all the time

• “i wouldn’t hold you back” “which is why all i want is to stay right here. with you.”

• COUCH CUDDLES IVE NEVER BEEN MORE BACK

• oh, colton flashback!

• “remember, our future is stronger than our past. it’s our legacy.” okayyyyy

• oh is this a dream, not a flashback?

• kinda both

• “mom! why’d you let me sleep in?” “i didn’t want to coddle you.” DELILAH the southern sass lives

• alice? took a cab??? to port haven???

• didn’t know they had those there

• alice dhawan, business bitch.

• “it’s not so easy watching them grow up, is it?” we love complex generational relationships 🥹

• colton’s guitar! i wonder if we’ll discuss the “coyle’s” sticker on it this season

• okay when is the contractually obligated chyler and sadie song im ready

• aw she didn’t get to play it

• “i was busy with other things. important things.” “like boys? 😏” “i said, important things, mom.” IKTR

• oh! we’re talking about the sticker now! wow i’m tuned IN to this episode

• “that’s thomas’ last name.” “you mean the guy that shot you?” finally a voice of reason

• THE POINT WAS COYLES!?

• SUZANNA’S POINT WAS COYLE’S

• *pepe silvia board* so something that was suzanna’s was taken by thomas but eventually was given back to her kinda like how katherine was in lo-

• there are layers is all i’m saying

• “i spent a lot of time there my first summer in port haven” ooooooh okay i see the promos are making sense now

• kat, teenage dell was not asking around about the history of the name of a burger joint in the 70s

• “i just met somebody with that name a long time ago” heh

• colton used to sing at coyle’s bc ofc he did

• “just like you do at the point” 🥹🙂‍↕️

• “gotta take jacob his lunch” boy moms, man. something else

• the real reason dell hasn’t let jacob acclimate with society is bc she’s hoping he’ll stop talking Like That*

•*like he’s from 1814

• it WAS his dream to be a farmer 😭

• i really have no gut feeling about what jacob is going to pick. i can see it going either way, or him finding a way to be both at the herald and on the farm

• aw mother daughter pond time

• pond bonding. ponding.

• “whenever i would miss 1999, i would come down here and talk to the pond. it felt like my friends back then could hear me.” and they were literally at her present day house so silly

• KATS TALKING TO SUZANNA 😭

• she’s telling her she’s published 🥺 like jane austen 🥺

• “i miss you. i miss everyone. sometimes so much that it actually hurts.” girl….

• okay kat everyone is telling you to go, i fear you have to go.

• but i also fear you will not land back in 1814.

• there she goes.

• elliot alice bestie time!!

• alice also using “renos” is this like. a new word in canada why are they using it so much is this chip and joanna gains’ fault?

• he’s asking alice if he should ask kat to move in with himmmmm 😭

• “you want my mom to move in with you 🤨” (with the intent of torturing your bestie)

• “you really are alice 2.0” “who called me that? 🤨” who do you think girl

• - 1814 - (or around there)

• ELIJAH

• i’m a little scared tbh i don’t know why

• woooah did she jump back too far 😟

• this is about to get confusing

• wait so ALL of that jacob stuff last season took place in like one week??? that’s crazy.

• and it’s only been one 1814 day! but nine 2024 months since jacob jumped!

• whaaaat you mean we couldn’t trust cyrus goodwin this whole time???

• (he was still going after jacob despite thinking he had already killed thomas as per their agreement)

• jacob jumped back to avoid being HUNG

• just casually forgot to mention that

• “in your world, where he belongs” “jacob belonged here too, elijah” 🥺

• now why we asking about thomas you know who you’re here for

• aw thomas is gone boo. oh well anyways

• riiight right the white witch.

• “there’s one more person that i need to see” 🥹

• SUZANNA!!!!

• also, technically, the point!

• “do you have an idea how many times i’ve pictured you just like this” OH IM SURE 🤨📸

• they’re going to burn you at the stake katherine!!!!

• suzanna is not happy to see us….. ):

• we need to get her out of there 😭

• “please, heed what i say. you need to go. now.” “is that what you really want?” “it is what is necessary.” 😭😭

• i can’t believe they’re breaking up right now. i-

• “okay i’ll go. if only to keep you safe”

• like if they didn’t want katzanna shippers, they shouldn’t have made them so forbidden love coded and then written them the most romantic lines

• katherine’s telling her to write 😭 she’s giving her the way out!!! 😭

• “you can do anything.” cut the cameras ✋🏽😞

• “goodbye, katherine” ouch ):

• i was gonna say something but the season is still young and i don’t wanna jinx it (hello it’s me from the future hehe i have no clue what i was gonna say, so! i guess i really won’t be jinxing it)

• THE PAINTING OH MY GOD

• 🤨📸

• this is truly the gayest thing hallmark has ever produced and they’ve had gay couples kissing on their network

• - present day -

• dell has a vinyl of colton playing at coyle’s 🥺

• omg young colton and del 😭😭😭😭

• i can’t believe we get to see their love story i’m so excited

• - 1814 -

• THOMAS!? i thought you were gone ✋🏽

• “you faked your own death!? are you serious!” lmaooo

• “i, for one, would rather be a liar and alive than an honest dead man.” hmmmm i feel like. that’s not the flex you think it is…..

• STOP KISSING HER

• that’s right it’s over 😤

• “there is somebody else” yEAH

• “i really hope that he’s good to you. good enough for you.” don’t ✋🏽 talk about elliot like that he’s the best

• “be free of this” she won’t be /: but that was a nice sentiment

• NOOOOO IS HE GONNA JUMP!?

• if the finn factor is correct it won’t work but i have a feeling the finn factor is NOT correct

• - present day -

• jacob with a camera likely place for him to be

• oh! polaroid flashbacks!

• colton YELLING?,??, to stay away from the pond????

• oh. that’s post-halloween festival colton coming back to warn him isn’t it )): what happened will always happen, col ):

• ohp mama mad.

• mama being kat

• someone get jacob the man a twenty-first century dictionary please

• actually i bet people would believe he grew up amish (or the canadian equivalent if there is one)

• anyways

• “i’m a coward here” 😭

• no it’s really not that hard to be a white man in 2024 you can do whatever you want jacob!

• “this is so much different than the life i lived” i TRIED to tell y’all last season

• yeah i don’t know how they thought dell wouldn’t hear them with all this yelling

• but still ): she shouldn’t have had to hear that

• played her like a fiddle 🙂‍↔️

• elliot’s reno’d house!

• i’ll be honest don’t remember what it looked like before

• but the kitchen is nice!

• “plus, now i have a five year plan!” business bitch 😌

• wow not one mention of brat summer it’s like she didn’t even experience the states properly

• r*chel got her an internship! the nepo treatment is international!

• hmmm suspicious of this internship.

• “organic concoctions” “tarot” “organic beauty” likely story

• queen of cups i’m sure if i knew anything about tarot that would mean something to me

• okay searched it. “queen of cups shows up to affirm your intuitive gifts” so they’re telling me i’m right to be suspicious got it

• “and she’s wearing the merch” same kat

• a career!? you’re 16*???

• but also she can move to london and work for kbpr 😌

• yeah what about music and singing!

• oh i forgot she went to a performing arts school. i don’t think they really explained that

• “music as a career? what does that even look like?” girl, taylor swift!?

• where is r*chel i just wanna talk

• “focused on the future. not the past.” okay so we’re getting a little bit of a call back….

• “oh, alice. you’re only 17!*” exactly dell!!

• “dad and r*chel agree with me.” “of course they do. remind me to call brady.”

• “something from when i was 17, and fancy-free i might add. no five year plan in sight” and then she met the love of her life wow 🥹

• i love that alice was 15 when she met 15yo kat and 17 when she’ll meet 17yo dell. complex generational relationships!!

• we’re gonna hear baby colton singing? 🥺

• “did he ever make a real record?” “no, he didn’t. it’s a long story.” okay s3 here we go!!!!

• southern dell cleaning up even though she’s the guest checks out

• OH! someone running! hated that! that was scary!

• i-uh. what was that? james?

• not dell mothering elliot in his own house 😭

• idk alice maybe you shouldn’t be running after mysterious figures in the woods by yourself!

• it lowkey looked like kat tho. or maybe they just had short hair

• and it’s a full moon!? oh heck no

• this is literally so much personal growth from dell i’m so proud of her 🥹

• jacob gets to exist outside of the farm now yay!

• andie macdowell is so pretty

• is ghost colton gonna show up

• is REAL col- SAM!? NO

• jumpscare for real

• not secret dating in the barn 😭

• nooooo this is right up my allyyyyy how dare theyyyy

• phew okay some katelliot time

• doing the dishes talking about time travel 🥹

• “it helped me close the door on it all” hate to say it but this is one of those swinging saloon doors kat, i don’t think its closed for long

• oooh colton vinyl b-side

• WAIT

• “i know a path to the past is it a secret worth knowing” ??????? HELLO!?

• me and kat made the same face lmaooo

• oh she did not catch the lyrics

• DANCING!!! IN THE LIVING ROOM!!!! 🥹

• oh she heard em

• “come on, you don’t think that he knew?” exactlyyyy

• the song is literally laying out step by step jumping into the pond and she thinks it’s a STRETCH!?

• “i was brought down below sunken and cold” !!!!!

• “there’s a lesson to learn from yesterday and the future could be our way out” there’s that f word again! and the finn factor theory!

• okay elliot shoot your cohabitation shot

• hello who is THAT

• a GORL

• is it alice 😧

• elliot’s never gonna get to ask her now

• IT IS ALICE OH MY GOD

• THEY RECORDED A SONG TOGETHER 😭😭😭

• alice and colton are soulmates in the sense that they might BE the same soul

• “okay uh i’ve gotta go find her.” girl she chased a dark figure she is GONE

• yep the figure lead her to the pond

• a SWEATER !?

• WHO IS WATCHING HER

• is this the first time we’ve been concerned about a cell phone when jumping into the pond?

• that was the one plot hole in this show

• oh no she’s calling kat but kat’s phone is at elliot’s!

• wait jacob flashback.

• colton is telling him he loves him. it’s gotta be future colton 😭😭

• “no matter what happens. no matter what… will happen”

• WHAT HAPPENED WILL ALWAYS HAPPEN *leo pointing.gif*

• there’s so much happening oh my god

• is alice going to jump or is someone going to push her 🫣

• “someone else is time traveling” !!!!

• PUSHED 😨😨😨😨

• IS IT COLTON?!

• AHHHHH

• fin.